Vacation has already arrived! Starting today, I'm on vacation for 2 weeks thanks to la Toussaint which is observed by all the schools. This kicks off the first of my 5 weeks of paid vacation during the program- the French system has its perks. Strikes still caused several of my classes to be canceled this week, but those that I did have were wonderful! We worked a lot on Halloween, and I had the kids color their own jack-0-lanterns so that they could learn the shapes! They thought this was super cool, and I showed them a bunch of neat pictures of jack-o-lanterns online and me dressed up in Halloween costumes when I was little. The kids love when I come to their classes, and they're always really excited to see me around the school. Provided I continue to come up with interesting things for us to talk about, I think we'll have a great time in the class together!
Strikes translate into beaucoups of free time for me! (got to love a french word turned english) I've had plenty of opportunity to wander and (window) shop with girlfriends around town, play tennis, plan my vacation time, and do whatever I want. I even met with a lady at Maison Pic this week to get things straightened out so that I can translate for a cooking class here and there. The great thing about my program here in Valence is that all of us assistants have loads of free time, so we're able to plan things together, invite each other over for gatherings, etc. This week's culinary adventures include Vichy carrots, cauliflower au gratin, and homemade pizza with market ingredients! I also went to a crêpe party with people from church (NUTELLA CRÊPES), and last night I tried out another cool restaurant and bar with my roommates, our Argentinian assistant friend, and Cloé's childhood friend Pierre-Julien. It's been awesome to get to know some of Cloé's friends and hang out completely en français. As a general rule, I always speak French unless I'm teaching or interacting with another assistant where French isn't really possible or practical. I can already tell loads of improvement, and I'm even getting familiar with some slang. It's always encouraging to hear compliments from the French people I meet about how I speak. I know my accent will always prevent me from sounding like a native, but people mostly seem to be finding me easy to understand.
This weekend I'm headed to Paris with a couple of girlfriends! One of our friends from church is driving up there for business and offered us a ride in his car and a flat to stay in for free! Then I'm going to take the train over to Bordeaux for a couple of nights to visit my friend Whitney (Vandy TriDelta love over homecoming weekend), then head back to Valence on Tuesday night. After that I still have a week left of vacation, so I think I might try to do a little hiking around the area before it gets too cold and hopefully entertain assistant friends from other cities who pass through!
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