I know. I know. It’s been nearly a month since the last update, but life has definitely been in the fast lane lately. To save you from all the boring details, most of which I can’t even remember myself, I’ll touch of some of the big events of the last month and hope I can update more regularly from here on out.
One of the great things about the French education system is the number of days you get off of school. I’m sure this all works out to be about equal when you take into account that the summer holiday is much shorter here, but I only work until the end of April and thus get the best of both worlds. My contract technically started on October 1st, although I didn’t go to work until the next week because of scheduling issues. Even then, I only worked the odd day here and there because of numerous orientations. By October 23rd I had been to school a total of 5 times and what happened then? The first school holiday (October 24th – November 4th). This worked out great since my mom was coming over to England during this time so we got the chance to meet up and I spent some relaxing time away from the stresses of Paris and with family.
However, before this restful time, the night of October 27th happened. Oh what a night. I had noticed that day that my drains seemed to be acting up. I tried a few home remedies that I found off the Internet but all to no avail. I figured it was time to call the landlady and she told me she could come in the morning. Um, I’m leaving for England in the morning. You’ll come anyway and sort it all out? Ok, great. At this point, my shower, toilet, and kitchen sink were full of water since EVERYTHING is connected. Oh, and it was blue water because of the drain cleaner I put in.
I went out for dinner that night since cooking was obviously not an option, and when I came back home a heard a series of really loud knocks on the door. Um, who even knows I live here? I opened the door to a man and woman who were freaking out. She was screaming that there was water pouring into her apartment. Uh oh. She storms in my apartment, sees what’s happened there and flips out. Then she leaves. So I freak out slightly wondering what I’m going to do. Then she comes back, slightly calmer, and asks why I didn’t come find her when the problem started. I’m sorry, who are you? Then she explains that she’s Maria. Um…ok. What, they didn’t tell you about Maria the gardienne (the lady that is in charge of the upkeep of the building etc.). Um, nope sorry.
So, my water and sewage was pouring into my gardienne’s apartment. We then came to the realization that my landlady never told me that she existed, which really set her off – although now she was no longer angry at me, but furious that the landlady refused to come until the morning. So, we spent the next few hours bailing all the water out of my shower, toilet, and sink into buckets and taking them to the courtyard. Nothing like that for bonding with a stranger. Her husband happened to be a plumber, and they built a whole new pipe that runs along the inside of my wall while I was in England. All is fixed (for now) but talk about being thrust into adult life where nobody speaks your native tongue. Needless to say, I learned a lot of plumbing technology in French (and some other choice words).
In the teaching realm, things are definitely starting to pick up (as in multiple full days of work a week. WHAT?! I thought this was France. Only kidding.) Today proved to be quite an interesting day. Here’s a brief highlight of things that happened.
- 2 of my BTS students (they’ve graduated from high school but are doing an additional professional degree) thought it would be a good idea to flirt with me in class. One asked if I was dating their teacher because I shouldn’t let my looks go to waste by not having a girlfriend. The other told me I looked like Leonardo DiCaprio. I understand he’s been through a lot of phases, but sorry, I don’t look like any of them.
- I learned that one of my students sells the best drugs in the area. The class then claimed that he was only joking…
- 2 of my students had bones broken by police during the riots of 2005.
All in all, things are going well. I’m finally finding a routine and actually feel (at times) like I live in Paris. Sometimes I forget that I live in a foreign country because the language barrier becomes less and less of an issue each day, but then there are those times when I can see the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe all at once. Then I remember.
Time for sleep now so I can prepare for…oh wait. Tomorrow is another day off of school (Armistice Day).


