Weirdest Halloween Ever.

Halloween 1993 - The Balges hit the streets!

I wasn't expecting to see a lot of Halloween decor, or tons of kids dressed up for Trick or Treat, or grocery store aisles full of candy especially for the holiday. I wasn't expecting to see temporary Halloween Express stores crop up every few blocks. But I guess I had hoped for a little bit of Halloween spirit...to remind me of being at home this time of year. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and at Valpo there were always parties to attend and plenty of costumes to ogle. But out and about in Laval yesterday and today, I only saw a handful of kids in costume: 2 girls who had written "666" on their foreheads in lipstick (scary, and not in a Halloweeny way), and a couple toddlers, one of whom was just wearing a cape with his normal clothes...so I'm not entirely sure that was a costume. Oh, and we saw a few teenage girls dressed in all black (like that took any effort, this is France!) wearing witch hats.

I guess we kind of got the costume bug out of our systems early this year (with Jen's birthday party) because no one really made a fuss about not dressing up. But we went out anyway, which gave me an opportunity to get rid of some of the 200 Halloween tattoos I brought (thanks Target!). I'm happy to say Halloween did not pass without me eating way too much sugar; the Tootsie Rolls and Fun Dip my mom sent took the place of bags of trick or treat candy. I definitely got nostalgic reminiscing about sorting my candy on the family room floor, and deciding which piles to eat and which to save. Any peanut butter cups would be gone first, no matter how hard I tried to ration them.

Also: I just realized that not a single person mentioned Charlie Brown or The Great Pumpkin this year. And I didn't hear a single note of creepy haunted house music!

Busy weekend....

I haven't been posting a lot lately because, to be honest, there isn't much happening around here. I've been running errands around town, relaxing. It's been nice, if a little boring. The weather's been a bit on and off the past couple days...some misty rain and fog. But today has been beautiful! One thing I still can't get over is the sunsets here. I literally take a picture of the sunset every other day. And the sunset is fleeting, probably only worth looking at for 5 or 10 minutes. That's probably why I like it so much.

I get to see this sherbet-colored sky every single day!! 

Last night I went to Anne-Marie's house to babysit for her adorable daughter Anaelle. It was so fun, and I think I made a new friend haha. We played Barbies for 2 hours. Anaelle has such an imagination! She kept coming up with elaborate stories (most of which involved witches who wanted to imprison animals...) and she would tell me what my character was supposed to say or do. The best part about going to Anne-Marie's house? They have a dog! I've really missed my dogs and just cuddling with animals in general, so you can imagine I did my best to take advantage of snuggle opportunities. I had a lot of fun, and I stayed for a delicious dinner after babysitting. It looks like this will be a semi-regular thing, so that'll be nice!

One crazy thing: Anne-Marie told me she's never seen a fresh cranberry before. We had some cassis/cranberry yogurt stuff, and she said, looking at the picture on the container, that she could only assume it was a picture of a cranberry because the other berry pictured was cassis. I couldn't believe it! Cranberry is my favorite thing in the whole world. I told her I'd try to bring some fresh ones back for her after Christmas and we could make cranberry sauce. Mmmmm.

Then today, I met at a cafe with Ludovic, a man who wants to start English lessons/conversations every week. We chatted about his job (something about pumps?) and the military. He was really curious about military service in the US. I am like the least knowledgeable person on that subject. I tried to answer his questions but it was tough because he doesn't understand English very well. Anyway, he just wants to converse in English a bit and be able to express himself. It'll give me something to do on saturdays!

Ambroise Pare

Since the weather was so nice, I walked over towards school to check out the weekly market. I bumped into two women whom I had asked for directions last night on the way to Anne-Marie's, and we chatted a bit. So friendly! I snapped a couple pictures of the school in the sunlight, and a really cute cat came over and meowed at me. Of course I had to pet her! I'm sure she was someone's pet, because she was super clean and fluffy.

You can bet I scratched the heck out of those ears. So cute. 

Beautiful weather for a picnic!

We're all on Fall Break this week (and for part of next as well), so instead of having very little to do, we have nothing to do. A lot of people are traveling, to Dublin, Norway, around France. I'm ashamed to admit I dropped the ball on my Granada plans...so I'm sticking around here for most of the break. I'm hoping to visit Kellie in Rouen and possibly head to Paris next week. I don't know, we'll see. I'm so bad at making all these plans...I need someone to nag me a little bit or it'll never get done! Today though, Charlotte and I packed a picnic lunch and went to the Jardins Publiques. It was beautiful and relaxing and quiet...perfect!

First French dinner party

Tonight Alicia and I went to our first French dinner party! Her advising teacher is married to my advising teacher, so we went to their house for dinner tonight. The rest of the guests were also English teachers, friends and coworkers.

When we arrived at about 7:45, we enjoyed some samosas as an appetizer, with wine and beer. There was a lot of conversation among the teachers, with snotty jokes about Nicolas Sarkozy sprinkled in. A few comments on the strike (thank goodness no one asked my opinion…). After about 45 minutes in the living room, we moved to the dining area for dinner. Of course more wine. The meal was really good, possibly Kenyan-inspired (Jo is from Kenya)? We had a beef stew with cabbage, sweet potatoes, cassava, and a sort of flatbread. It was all really flavorful and yummy! The conversation around us was loud, fast, and confusing. There were a lot of jokes and side comments and conversations. I had a really hard time following it, and after a while I just kind of switched off my brain. Easier to just zone out. After the main course and a long pause, Jacques and Jo brought out bread, cheese and salad. And more wine. By the time we finished the cheese and bread, it was after 11; Alicia and I were exhausted. Jacques ran us back to the foyer before the dessert was served.

Some weird things:

The conversation focused on a couple of topics: the school system, politics, healthcare, the strike. The “grown-ups” seemed to greatly enjoy the discussion, and they all got really into it. But no one ever tried to incorporate me or Alicia into the conversation. We just basically sat in silence as they all talked and talked. Not that I would have had a lot to add, but it was just strange since we’re kind of the new kids in town. There wasn’t even any talk of, like, “how has your time in France been so far?”

It was overall a really tiring evening, but I’m glad we went!

Signs of cold weather to come...

I was up before the sun today to go to school. I opened my window when I woke up, and two things happened. First, I realized I could see my breath. Second, I heard someone scraping ice off their car windows. Two signs that, though winter isn’t quite upon us yet, it’s right around the corner. The mornings are so tough already. Getting up when it’s still pitch black outside is not easy. It’s weird to walk through the center of town at 8 am. Cars have headlights on, the lampposts are all still lit, and there are even small lights lining the sidewalk across the bridge. It feels like the middle of the night, and without a clock, you wouldn’t know the difference. Yet, everyone walks around normally in the dark, carrying briefcases and backpacks on the way to work or school.

Dawn.

School today was pretty good. I talked with one class about Rosie the Riveter. They just finished a unit on stereotypes of men and women, and gender roles. I showed them a video of the song about Rosie that came out in 1942. I’m not sure they totally got what I was saying about women in the workforce, but they definitely liked the song. A couple of the boys were singing along.

In the other class, I watched a bunch of really terrible skits about going to England. I shouldn’t say they were terrible; there’s a handful of kids in the class who speak English really well. They must have learned the phrases “my accent is rubbish” and “I’m crap at English” in class, because almost every group used one or both of those lines. Something that surprised me: only one student (the one girl in the class who does drama) even made a tiny effort to act in the skit. There was literally NO emotion otherwise. I feel like, when I was in high school, that was my favorite thing to do. Anyone can write something to prove they know the language. It’s a lot more fun to write and perform a skit, isn’t it? Maybe everyone is just too afraid of making mistakes to enjoy themselves?

Other than that, not a lot going on. It was my birthday on Tuesday so a bunch of us had dinner together (including an enormous and fabulous cake made by Jen) and then a little party. We had so much fun hanging out! It feels like, because there are so many of us, we’ll be celebrating a birthday every couple of weeks. Not that I’m complaining, of course…!

The strike continues

I woke up super early to go to school this morning, because I wasn't sure if classes would be canceled. Just my luck, the gates were closed and the students had created bigger barriers. Everyone was just kind of hanging around. I figured that meant the school was on strike so I came back to the foyer and took a nice nap.

But more importantly!! I saw my first French Guido today! I didn't know they existed in France but I guess they do! It was kind of hard to tell because his fake-bake looked more like a sunburn, but he still had a variation of the Guido hair. Yikes.

Yogurt Review!

La Mayenne is known for its dairy products (just like Wisconsin!) and I have really been enjoying the dairy stuff so far! Obviously I eat cheese and bread basically all day, every day. And I’ve been eating a LOT of yogurt. It’s strange because I almost never eat yogurt at home—it always makes me feel sick. But not here, for some reason. Selective geographic lactose intolerance?

I just bought a giant pack of fruity flavored yogurt: Danone Taillefine. The first one I tried was lemon. It was SO refreshing! It was a really light flavor, and granted I love anything lemon, but it’s really just a tasty yogurt. It’s funny because I feel like in the U.S. it would have to be lemon meringue pie or lemon cheesecake or something. There’s always a gimmick. Extra creamy or fluffy or moussey or whatever. They should start selling more basic flavors. I bet that would do well. 

On my 3 hour lunch break...

Just tried to have my first serious conversation about the grève with 2 of my colleagues at the lycée. Did not really go well. I said I didn't understand how kids--14, 15, 16 years old--could really be thinking about retirement. They said that it DID concern the students because raising the retirement age means people will be working longer, which means that these kids will have an even harder time finding jobs. Well, to me (and I think to a lot of young Americans) that's just reality. There haven't been enough jobs for years. Recent graduates are scrounging around for any job they can get (TJMaxx, anyone?) and a lot end up taking positions like the one I have, as a way of postponing the real life job search. Or they choose grad school, in hopes of better qualifying themselves and getting the edge over competition.

In the US, if you're complaining about people not having jobs, you don't show it by skipping out on work! Seems counterintuitive to an outsider like me.

I'm tempted (and it would be easy) to say that this strike is stupid. But that's not really true...It's just not something I understand.

So when I got to school at 7:45 this morning (in basically pitch blackness), there were tons of students outside the front gates. That's sort of normal, because usually they all stand out there and smoke before school. But they had also blocked off part of the street with traffic cones and garbage cans, and they had made a couple signs attached to the fence. I had to fight through the crowd to get in, and I even had to break up some guys who had linked arms to form a chain. When I got to the teachers' lounge there was a meeting under way. Apparently, they were voting about whether or not to join the students on strike.

The vote was a yes (from the 10 teachers present), and they made signs declaring their support. Isabelle (not participating) and I went to our class and only had 2 students. They decided to switch the schedule around and combine classes for English. This meant that Isabelle and I had a free hour, so we went and had a coffee in the lounge.

When we went back to the room an hour later, there were about 7 students in our class. Another 4 joined us from another class, and there were rumors going around that the headmaster had told all the profs to go home. We decided to have class anyway, and spent a good half hour talking about what was going on. Eventually we got to some English. I introduced myself and told them a little about where I come from, and then they asked me questions. Typical. I can't wait to actually teach a real lesson.

Everyone keeps saying that things will be back to normal after the fall break. That's three weeks from now! I seriously don't know how anyone gets anything done in France! If I had this much extra time in the US...imagine how productive I would be!

Baby's first manif

Today after school I went to the grocery store, dealing with delayed and canceled buses on the way because of the strike (perturbé is the big buzzword these days). Oh, maybe I forgot to mention...the national strike is under way. Obviously there are still some people working, but lots of teachers and students are not coming to school. They had to shut the Eiffel Tower and turn away hundreds of tourists the other day, and 30% of the flights from Charles de Gaulle were cancelled. For us, the main consequence is limited buses and missing teachers and students. For those interested, the strike is in response to a government announcement that they're raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. Anne-Marie really reamed out one of  our classes today when they expressed interest in demonstrating. She said (and I agree) that the students skipping class for the strike were just looking for a reason to skip class. This issue doesn't affect them, so it's really silly for them to get behind in class just for this. I sat in the back of the room with my mouth hanging open, really glad she wasn't yelling at me.

On my way back from the grocery store, though, the buses were really messed up so I just decided to get off and walk back home. As I turned a corner, I heard chanting and was face to face with this:

A group of hundreds of high school students, diverting traffic and marching towards the center of town. As you can see, there were police officers around too, which made me nervous, but they were helping to direct traffic, so I'm not really sure what purpose they served. Here's a video of the exodus. The big cheer at about 00:22 is when the two groups of demonstrators came together in the plaza. I would estimate it was over a thousand kids in total. All missing school in the middle of the day....tsk tsk.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. We celebrated Jen's birthday on monday with a costume party. I went as Rosie the Riveter....symbol of American femininity, all that. Love her.

Me and the birthday girl!

It was a really fun party and luckily I didn't have to go to school until 3 pm the next day! My schedule has been pretty easy so far, but I'm not looking forward to tomorrow...I have 5 classes, starting at 8 am! And with the buses as perturbés as they are, I may end up walking to school. Have I mentioned how short the days are here? It's still dark at almost 9 am!

Hilarious story in the local news

20 tons of ham spilled on the highway, near Saint-Roch.

Yum yum

The best thing about living in France is that I'm totally justified in eating bread and cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The downside: crumbs all over my apartment...

Personne ne laisse Bébé dans un coin

 

Translation:

"That would be SO cool, if our guys knew a whole routine by heart so they could do that with us!"
"Yeah, even if that implied that they were gay."

(Image from the delightful http://www.penelope-jolicoeur.com/. Can I just be her best friend already??)

Day Trip to Rennes

Yesterday a bunch of the female assistants headed out on the train to Rennes. We've come to realize that weekends are basically full of nothing here, so we should take advantage of any opportunities to get out and about. So the 8 of us enjoyed a day of shopping in Rennes!

The train took us past some beautiful countryside and adorable towns. It took less than an hour to get to Rennes, so it made a great day trip. We headed straight for the center of town, and probably ended up hitting a dozen shops. The streets were crowded with people and the stores were even more full. Apparently saturday is the day to shop in Rennes? It got a little overwhelming at times, with the music and the talking and the chaos. But overall it was a good day and the city is beautiful. I'll post some pictures later of the architecture in Rennes.

As we walked over one of the many bridges in the city, someone remarked, "Does every French city have a river running through it?" It makes sense, if you think about it. Rivers were/are ideal for communication, transportation, and industry. I'm sure we've talked about this in one or more of my classes over the years. There's a quote by someone...can't remember who, that talks about how in France and Europe, the cities were here first, and then the roads were built to serve the cities. In the US, the railroads and highways dictated where cities would be placed. Sarah Vowell has this amazing essay about the intersection of Michigan and Wacker in her book Take the Cannoli. It's all about how the entire history of the US can be told from that physical location.

Wow. This has gotten really off-topic. I bought a cute dress for work and some earrings, and really enjoyed the day out.

Later we went out to L'aventure Cafe, a sort of beach/jungle-themed bar that has a couple of inches of sand all over the floor (yuck). It was fun, and definitely very different from O'Regans! Today is another jour de rien, so I'm going to clean my apartment and maybe force myself to write a few lesson plans.

Tomorrow we're having a costume party to celebrate Jen's birthday. Should be fun to see what everyone comes up with out of our very limited wardrobes!

Meeting in Nantes

Wednesday, Robin, Alicia, Michael, Doug, Sibel and I journeyed to Nantes for a meeting of all the assistants in the académie. We were up really early to catch the 7:40 bus from the train station. It was still dark out. The bus ride was almost 2 1/2 hours of anonymous French countryside, with a handful of small, picturesque towns.

We arrived in Nantes about 10, already an hour late for the meeting. After a small snafu with the bus, we took a tram to the meeting location. We walked into the auditorium as a panel was discussing insurance, banking, and finding an apartment. Luckily, everyone in our group had already completed all these things, so we hadn't missed much important information. Shortly after we arrived, the group broke up into 3 smaller rooms: one for middle school, and two for high school, divided by last name. We went over some very basic information, most of which was common sense, and then broke for an hour and a half long lunch.

After a delicious ham and cheese panini, we came back together to work on planning a hypothetical lesson plan. It may have been my exhaustion by that point in the day, but I didn't really feel like this was a helpful exercise. I did get a few ideas about showing an advertisement or comic, but covering up some or all of the text. I think I'll be able to use those to have some good discussions in my terminale classes. Finally at about 4:30, we finished and caught the tram back to the bus, and the bus back to Laval. I was disappointed that we didn't get to spend more time exploring the city, but at least now we know how to get to Nantes! It seems like a really cool place, so I'd love to go back soon.

Yesterday and today were spent at school, observing classes and going through the hundreds of ideas left for me by previous assistants. I was glad to find worksheets and handouts already prepared, but considering the varying personalities of the past few assistants, I'm not sure all of them will be used. I know I'll be writing my own lessons as well, and adapting those left for me. It's been a beautiful couple of days, a welcome change after all the rain we've been having. Even on the bus, you can tell people are in a better mood! I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of my school and the town.

One of the courtyards at my school. This building houses a computer lab and a study hall.

A Vieux Laval street right around the corner from my school.

The view across the river. Notice the Hollywood-esque "LAVAL" sign on the hill...

The Rain and the Bureaucracy

Well, if I was ever homesick, I needn't have worried. The rainy season has started, and it's looking a lot like fall in Valpo. That is to say, everyone has wet ankles and my hair is a huge poofy mess all the time. We've been told by a couple people that it'll be basically like this until about February, when it snows. Then it'll rain some more until about April. Great. I suppose I should get used to it. I invested in more mousse and gel today, so hopefully that'll help.

One thing I've noticed so far in France (and it hasn't really been a surprise) is that in getting all my documents turned in, there are a TON of hoops to jump through. Offices to visit, papers to mail in, meetings to set up. Considering I have never had this exact experience in the US, I can't say that things would be different there. But for my experience, things are slightly more....streamlined in the US. It's just interesting to experience the way business is taken care of here.

Anyway, I've just been running errands and getting stuff done these past couple days. Yesterday I went to school to try to work out a schedule with the English teachers. I struggled to keep up with the conversation, but in the end I think I have a pretty good schedule. I'll be following about 7 or 8 different classes, which might be tough at times, but I'll just have to be very organized. After the meeting, we all walked down to the pub on the corner and had a beer together. Anne-Marie brought her 5 1/2 year old daughter so that I could meet her. She asked if I'd be willing to babysit, and of course I said yes! Her daughter is adorable and was kind of shy, but she warmed up a little when I let her blow air in my face with a straw, haha.

Also, I've been eating awesome things. For lunch yesterday I had a kebab from a tiny restaurant on the street, with fries and a peach iced tea. It's basically my favorite meal in France, and I really enjoyed it after the rainy bus ride home. Reminded me a lot of Cergy...

Then today after grocery shopping, I enjoyed a very French lunch of baguette, cheese (Caprice des Dieux, my FAVORITE), and a tart Granny Smith. Yum.

Tomorrow is a big day: huge training meeting in Nantes. I'm wondering what exactly will be covered...
I'm supposed to start teaching next week Tuesday, but my teachers reminded me that a teachers' strike is starting on Tuesday...so I'm not really sure what will happen. It depends on who participates in the strike, I guess. I'm excited to experience this beloved French tradition first-hand!

First weekend out in Laval

Today is the 20th birthday of Charlotte, who is an assistant from Scotland, so last night we all went out to celebrate. It was a really great night, but I'm not sure I can handle it every weekend! First we had crepes and cake for dinner at someone's apartment. It was about 15 people crammed in a tiny room full of smoke from the crepes. I got to meet a bunch of people I hadn't met before, including more assistants and others. We had lots of food and wine, and everyone looked like they had a great time.

After singing and cake and coffee, we all headed out to the Irish pub in Laval, O'Regan's. It wasn't very crowded, which was good since we brought a rather large group with us. We all crowded into a long booth and chatted over a fresh round of drinks. I was lucky enough to spend the evening hanging out with Laura and Michael, two lovely British people. We had a great time imitating each others' accents and getting to know one another better.

The final leg of our journey brought us to a club called Le Donjon (The Dungeon), which was empty when we arrived at 1 am and completely full (with a line of about 30 people outside) when I left at 2:30. It's a strange nightlife culture here. No one does anything on Sundays (I'll get to that in a minute). Because of this, people stay out all night, until 5 or 6 in the morning. Not exactly the kind of lifestyle I'm used to...but something to experience once or twice all the same. We danced a lot and had the DJ wish Charlotte a happy birthday. There were definitely some creepy guys there looking to dance with the young ladies in our group, but we were able to fend them off for the most part. I left close to 2:30 am, out of breath and ready for bed.

Today is Sunday, a day when everything in Laval closes and everyone stays home with the family. Since we assistants have no family here in town, we mostly lay around our apartments and came to the lobby to use the wi-fi. In a way it's a relief to have a day of compulsory rest on Sunday; no one can run any errands, so no one feels guilty that errands haven't been run. At dinner Laura and I sat with a group of French guys, and our conversation touched upon this topic. They asked about Sunday dinners in the United States, and we said that often, family dinners didn't happen, that it was more normal for everyone to grab something for himself in between work, meetings, etc. The guys couldn't believe that people actually had things to do on Sundays, especially work. I told them, "La vie continue, même le dimanche..." and we talked about how in the US, life/work/money/responsibility often takes precedence over family. I think we're a culture that values hard work and achievement, even if that takes away from a person's family life. This will probably come up again in my teaching experience, so I have no doubt that I'll reflect on the topic again here. It's just an interesting comparison to make....and a little daunting to think of all the Sundays I'll have to fill.

Tomorrow I'm headed to school, to record some poems for use in the classroom, I believe. Then I've got a meeting with the English department and I hear we're all going to go out for a drink afterwards. That should be an interesting experience!

Surprising discoveries

Spent the day wandering around the city with Laura. We went first to a museum/gallery-type-place on the other side of town to try to sign up for some classes that the city offers, called the Universite Populaire. There are conferences on economics, politics, history, music, and literature. While we found that we couldn't actually sign up, the woman was very nice and gave us lots of information about the program.

The building is located in a beautiful park called the Jardin Publique. Laura and I had no idea that it existed and were happy to wander around for a while. We stumbled upon a mini-zoo within the Jardin, a huge wooden boat (that probably has some meaning...), and amazing views of the city. 

After that, we decided to browse the "junk shop," called Troc. It's a kind of resale shop for just about everything you can imagine (the first of its kind in Europe, of so the sign says). The other assistants have bought lamps and dishes there, as well as other trinkets. It was huge and had a ton of great stuff, for really good prices. I had to stop myself from buying things I won't have the space to bring home! 

All in all, a good afternoon and another newly discovered part of the city. I love the Vieux Laval area, with its cobblestone streets and cute little shops. I love that there's a zoo hidden in a forest in the city. I love that the French are only just learning what a resale shop is.

Tonight we are having a little party and going out for Charlotte's 20th birthday. She's from Scotland and has one of the greatest accents I've ever heard. Really looking forward to seeing a bit of Laval's nightlife!

A problem I have with the French language

Today I went to school for a meeting with the secretary (some housekeeping and paperwork) and lunch with the English teachers. I'll get to the lunch later...it was amazing. First, the secretary, who is probably only a few years older than me, asked that I use the informal tu when speaking with her. I agreed, only because we're about the same age and we are sort of peers. Then when I met up with the teachers, M. Goubin (who is trying to get me to call him Jacques) insisted that I call all of them tu as well. Except, he said, for Clothilde....I'm pretty sure he was making a joke about her age?

So my issue is that this is not the first time someone has insisted I tutoyer them. I really have no idea what the rules are on this! I tend to use vous way too much, just to be on the safe side. But I think sometimes people get offended, like I'm implying that they're old. Sigh. I think eventually I'll get the hang of all this.

The lunch. It was like no school lunch I've ever had! I had turkey with some gravy-type sauce, rice with almonds and raisins in it (that's a big thing here and it's pretty awesome), a salad, a banana, and this apricot mousse with fresh apricot garnish for dessert. There was also a selection of cheeses, sliced baguettes, about 4 other dessert options, and 3 other entree options. I walked through the lunch line (actually skipped to the front, since I am a teacher) wide-eyed, just taking it all in. The French students looked just as bored with their vast array of options as American kids are with typical American cafeteria fare. I wonder if they realize how great they have it?

the truth...

"People are so much bigger than the stereotypes we give them..."

- An English teacher at my lycée, talking about the conservative Texan assistant with whom she worked last year.

Another reason to be proud of myself...

Big news tonight is that we had a Soiree Quiche for dinner. And, despite my intense distaste for all things eggy, I ate some and didn't hate it! It probably helped that there were lots of lardons, thick cut french bacon, in my piece, plus a thick puff pastry crust.

Some of the girls got together for a glass of wine or beer, and then went out to an Irish pub in town. I decided to stay in because I have a meeting at school tomorrow morning. Really excited to get settled at school and start working with the kids!

In other news, I got a bus pass today! I also rode around a little bit so I could get the hang of it. It was kind of fun to see the city that way. The bus drivers are a little crazy, though....who knew you could take a bus around a corner at 40 mph??