One-handed gimp

Friday, November 13, 2009
Well I haven’t written in a while, but it’s been really hard for me to type recently- here’s why. Last Wednesday, November 4, I sliced open my right index knuckle while doing the dishes because one of the glasses had a crack in it and broke while I washed it. Although I’m interested to see how the hospital and medical system work in socialist France, it’s more an interest to compare it to the US system rather than to need medical attention first-hand for myself. And I don’t have my social security card yet, so I would’ve had to pay out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed next spring (ha, they tell me I may not even receive my social security card before I leave in June- it really takes 8 months for a little piece of paper to arrive?) Anyway, I was able to avoid a trip to the hospital for stitches because the mother of my au pair family is a doctor and had steri-strips, so she performed the minor surgery in her kitchen. My hand didn’t completely stop bleeding for about 6 hours, and I got little to no sleep that night because I was in so much pain. I went out and bought disposable plastic gloves to wear, per doctor’s orders, so I could keep my hand dry in the shower, brushing my teeth, doing the dishes (which I’m now scared to do, by the way), washing my face, etc. It seems simple to NOT have to wash my hand, but of course, the true trick is keeping my hand clean in the first place to not warrant having to wash it. Thursday and Friday teaching went ok, I wasn’t able to write on the board or write up my lesson plans for class with my right hand, and writing with my left hand was pointless because I could barely read what I wrote and it took me 4x as long to write. On Friday coming home, the métro lurched suddenly at a stop and I reopened my cut while trying to get my balance. So I had to re-do my steri-strips because the first ones fell off when the cut started bleeding again. I was able to keep the steri-strips on for 7 days and basically keep the cut dry, although plastic gloves didn’t always work in the shower. It will be a grand scar when the thing finally heals after who knows how long.
Unluckily for me, I was also planning on moving my remaining teaching supplies from the old apartment to my new place last Wednesday night, which didn’t happen after I cut myself. So I had to do quite a bit of improv last Thursday and Friday without my teaching materials. I was able to go on Saturday when my hand felt a little better to do my final move-out. Now that everything is with me I feel truly settled in Paris, even if my room doesn’t seem very arranged. I’ve always had a messy room (ask my parents), so keeping all my clothes and books strewn all over the floor because I don’t have enough storage space in the tiny apartment just makes me feel more at ease :) I’ve been getting to know the family I work for a lot better now that I’ve spent time with the kids for 2 weeks and I’m still overjoyed that I found this job. The children are extremely smart and fun to talk with; I’ve enjoyed playing “Guess Who” and different card games with them in English. My French students at school continue to keep my day occupied and full of excitement- one of my favorite questions so far was, “Justine, do you fly home every weekend to be with your family?” Yikes, that would be expensive and tiring! I just bought my plane ticket back to France for after Xmas vacation- I fly to Paris on January 1 and don’t return until July 16, so my sister and I have enough time to tour Europe for two weeks after I’m done teaching. I wasn’t expecting the $1,050 price tag seeing as how my first plane ticket was $750. Ouch. But, I’m probably the luckiest teaching assistant in Paris right now because I don’t have to pay rent or utilities, so the fact that we haven’t gotten paid yet isn’t hitting me hard at all (big thanks to the Bank of Mom and Dad for a generous loan). The other teaching assistants are getting extremely riled up that we haven’t been paid, but I’m not joining in the complaining. I didn’t think we were supposed to get paid before the end of November for our first paycheck, but apparently it’s written somewhere we’re supposed to be paid by the start of November. So, now that it’s November 13th and no one has been paid yet, frantic mass-emails are going around with angry letters people have sent to the Academy, as well as talks of strikes (grèves). Not sure how serious they are, but seems pretty silly to me. Personally, if I went on strike and didn’t show up at my schools, I’m not sure how much they’d miss me. I take over the classroom for 45 min/week and the regular teachers are with the students the remaining 25.25 hours- if I don’t show up, they’re not missing much. The only true statement I agree with is when people say they’ll have to break their contract and return home because they don’t have enough money. In this I see logic, and I find it hard to believe this teaching program has been going on for so long and they still can’t figure out a way to pay the assistants on time. Some justify their desire to strike with the idea that French workers would go on strike if they weren’t paid, but the thing is we’re not French. We are foreigners who are living here, yes, but we will never merit the same social justices as residents of the country, such as the right to strike. Plus, I’d prefer to keep my working visa active and not have it revoked for doing something crazy like going on strike!
I finally went to the movies last weekend for the first time since getting to Paris- a true French tradition. I can’t vouch for other cities in France, but the Parisians truly enjoy their cinema and I think they go out to movies more often than Americans. It’s practically a weekly ritual. Another assistant and I went to see “Away We Go”- just because we’re in France doesn’t mean we only have French movies to choose from! I would say at any given time in a mainstream chain theater at least 60% of the movies are American and play in English with French subtitles. I liked the movie, didn’t know anything about it going it, but it had a good story- somewhat bizarre characters, but a good ending. I’m not doing anything particularly exciting this weekend because I’ll be working on my med school applications, they sure are not something fun, but it will be very fulfilling to finally complete them! I’ve discovered the Farmville application on Facebook, so I will definitely be taking breaks from applications to harvest my strawberries…
I’ve been seeing a lot of Xmas decorations going up already here, both in Boissy-Saint-Léger and in Paris. The main things I’ve seen are lights that hang across the street from one building to the next, sometimes spelling out words like the name of the street or district in Paris. I kept thinking to myself, “This is crazy, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet!” before remembering France doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving like we do. So, they don’t have the excuse over here to wait to put up decorations. About 10-12 teaching assistants are getting together and having our own Thanksgiving, one of the girls lives in a bigger apartment and her French roommates are going to partake in the festivities with us. I’m just glad I don’t have to cook the turkey. I wonder when I will have to cook one for the first time, and I’m thinking about all the friends I have who got married in the past year- will you be cooking your first Thanksgiving dinner this year? Yikes, seems scary to me! I’ve obviously not picked up on the French cooking tradition yet, we’ll see if that happens. I’m not against cooking, but I don’t really have a kitchen to start in here, so I’ll keep using that as my excuse. I’m proud that I figured out how to make toast without a toaster, instead using a frying pan on my burner. Basically, it’s like I’m camping in my Parisian apartment, luckily with running water for a shower and electricity for my refrigerator.
Tchao, Justine