Christmas in France

Hello my favorite readers!!!  I know that Christmas is over, but bear with me...

I’ve been to France many times, but this year is the first time that I have witnessed the holiday season.  And let me tell you, the French are OBSESSED with Christmas!!  Before it was even Thanksgiving, I was hearing about all of the Christmas markets that I would have the opportunity to attend.  I had never even heard of a Christmas market and all of a sudden they were to be popping up everywhere: in the main square downtown, the three neighboring towns (including where I work), even a mini Christmas market on my street!

I was also surprised that Christmas was discussed so openly in schools.  French schools pride themselves on being secular, and while religion is allowed to be taught in a historical context, no personal opinions may be discussed.  You also may have heard that the French have banned headscarves, and all other religious insignia (kippot, crosses, jewelry, etc) from all public institutions.  (But notably headscarves, because as mentioned before, there is a lot of racism in France). 

I have seen my school’s proviseur, or principal, twice.  Once was the day that I met him, and the other time was when I saw him and his entire staff setting up a large (15 foot) Christmas tree in the entrance hall to the school.  What happened to secularism?!  When I asked my students about it, they told me that Christmas isn’t considered a religious holiday and thus can be discussed and celebrated openly in schools.  Hmmm…

Not only are the schools decorated, the streets are decorated too.  If there is no Christmas market, one can count on walking past a light display that says “Happy Holidays in (Neighborhood)!”  Stores paint their windows with messages of “Happy Holidays!”, and pictures of snowflakes and Santa Claus.  It’s funny that leaving America and coming to France really convinced me that Christmas is a secular, Hallmark holiday. 

Anyway, that’s all for now, folks.  Thank you, as ever for reading!

City-sponsored holiday decorations on my street

At a Christmas market

One of the market booths on my street - notice the trees covered in fake snow!  It's in the 50s in Toulon so we don't have a hope for real snow.... Also, those trees are nailed into the ground, so don't get any ideas about trying to "borrow" one...

Happy new year!

xoxo

Lurrrve,

Samantha

Cassis

A few weekends ago, I took a day trip to Cassis with some French friends.  Cassis is a small coastal town, in between Toulon and Marseille, and home to some beautiful calanques, or fjord-like water inlets.  I hope to get back soon, as we didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked! 

The port of Cassis

Calanques!

Basking in the light of the sunset

Sunset

Constance, one of my French sisters!

Love y'all, and happy holidays!

xoxo

Samantha

PS I'm back in the US, so hope to see you soon!

Discrimination in France

Racism in France is more upfront than racism in America - the idea of political correctness doesn't really exist here.  The word "racist" doesn't carry the same stigma as it does in America, and many people are unapologetic about their beliefs.

For someone who spent much of her time at Tufts interning for a team that worked to promote awareness and understanding of racism and racial inequality (among other issues), as well as to combat it, learning to consider the racism in France has been hard to brush off as a "cultural thing".  It's wrong.

One of the things I learned at Tufts was the importance in picking your battles.  If you decide to start a discussion with someone who is unprepared to listen to you, you are most likely wasting your time.  Unfortunately, that's how I feel about many of my students.

A few weeks ago, we were playing "Never Have I Ever" - and one of the questions was if anyone had stolen something.  Most of my classes are small groups of 6 to 10 students who know each other pretty well, and they often joke around with each other.  When we got to this particular question, my students pointed out their classmate - and said that he liked money because he was Jewish.  When I clarified that I wasn't misunderstanding their accents, I pointed out that the idea that Jews like money is actually a stereotype.  "Not in France!" was the response.  "In France, it is real." .... How to respond?!?!

Today in a different class we did a lesson on the Kanye West and Jay-Z song, "New Day", in which the rappers discuss hopes for their future children (not having an ego, staying true to your word, etc).  So to follow up the listening activity, as a class we made a list of rules for our own future children.  I was pretty surprised, the class is a rowdy bunch and based on their reactions to Kanye's rules for his children, I was expecting the list to be interesting (the first thing they added to it was "he will go to the strip club" - a response to Kanye banning his child from going).  But after that answer, they switched and the answers I got were "no drinking alcohol", "no smoking cigarettes or drugs", "do schoolwork".  I wasn't sure if they were just giving me answers they thought that I would want to hear or what... until Cyril said "for a girl - no sex before marriage" and the rest of them agreed.  "Why just for girls?" I asked.  "I don't know" was the response.  Before we could really talk about it further, the next rule came - "He will be racist."  "Excuse me?!" I responded, looking disparagingly at my room full of giggling 19 year olds.  "That is unacceptable, I need a different rule" I told them.  They came up with "Eat fruits and vegetables" and I dismissed them early...

xoxo
Samantha

I like school

Hello family, lovers, and friends!

Thanks for taking a quick second to check out my blog, I know some big holidays are coming up (obviously the most important of which is Dec. 14, my birthday) so I really appreciate your taking time out of your busy schedule (planning the best party for me ever) to pop on over to my little corner of the internetz!

Now that I'm back in high school, I've undergone some surprising changes.  Most importantly, I REALLY LOVE MONDAYS.  And I don't particularly like Fridays.  This is 100% because my students on Mondays are mega-fun and at the very least, mildly interested in learning English, whereas my Friday students couldn't care less about my existence.

In my attempts to keep everything as fun as possible for everyone, my most recent lesson plans have been based on music - specifically pop/rap music.  So far, I've done a lesson on Daylight by matt and kim, Never Forget You by Lupe Fiasco, and tomorrrow is New Day by Kanye West and Jay-Z.

Last week I got to go to a new class and do a lesson on slang.  The teacher has studied in London and asked me -the day before- if  I could pronounce things in British vs. American accents, so that her students could hear the difference.  I politely informed her that this idea was unfortunately impossible because I am TERRIBLE at accents, and proposed an alternative activity (students guessing which terms were American and which were british - chips/crisps, fries/chips, etc.). She agreed enthusiastically to this alternative....Yet when I got to class, she asked me again in front of everyone to demonstrate the different accents.  HOMEGIRL TEACHER I'm not British!!  I've never even been to the UK!  You've spent more time there than I have!  Whatever, it was fun anyways.  Since I had never met the class before, they got to ask me any and every question that they had about me or America or Americans.  One student asked me, "Do you own a gun?"

Also, some of my students choose American names for my class.  Which means on Thursday I have class with both Usher and Denzel Washington.

More later, lovers!!!
xoxo
Samantha

Trip to Marseille

Last week, I had the good luck to go to Marseille - twice!  I went one day with some of my fellow assistants for our mandatory medical visits and the day after with my school to learn a bit about the history of Marseille.  Here are a few snapshots of the days (click on the photos for bigger versions) - 

Holler to Nicole for this photo - she somehow managed to make our walk through highway underpasses and construction site en route to the health office look beautiful

Again, thanks to Nicole - me + assistants with our chest x-rays - we don't have TB!

Fisherwoman with the catch of the day!

And a fisherman with his octopus

Reading at the book giraffes (yeah, I don't know either...)

Longchamp palace 

Cooks placing navettes - a Marseille specialty cookie - in a 200+ year old oven

With school, we got to visit a workshop where santons- Christmas nativity figurines - are made

My students talking with an artist

An artist at work

Inside the Notre Dame de la Garde church - Dad and I were here a few months ago

View of Marseille from Notre Dame de la Garde

That's all for now lovers!!!

xoxo

Samantha

Doctors in France

Ok y'all, before I start the body of this blog post, I'd like to get some business out of the way. My birthday is coming up, next Wednesday, December 14, which means that if you want to send me a card then you should get on that so I receive it in time.  Email me for my address (because I'm not going to put my address on the WORLD WIDE WEBZ).  ;) (Or just send it to my home address because I'll be home Dec. 18)  Thanks LOVERS!!  :D

Anywhoooo, in order to get social security in France, (obligatory for my work visa), I needed to declare a Primary Care Practitioner.  Which means that I need to FIND a PCP.  Luckily, I live right near a medical lab, so I just walked in and asked and they pointed me to the nearest doctor's office.

So, I walked around the corner and down the alley and sure enough, the first door had the names of three doctors right beside it, as well as a sign that said "Ring the bell, then enter".  I thought it was odd that you ring the bell for an unlocked door, but figured that it was probably just a French thing.  So I rang the bell and then .... couldn't open the door.  After a few moments of struggling, an older man came and opened the door for me, and then explained that it was a finicky doorknob.  I thanked him and tried to figure out who he was - the receptionist maybe? (Despite definitely being retirement age?)  I followed him inside- through the entry hall consisting of a sink and a box to leave papers for each of the three doctors, (what about patient privacy?!) then down the hall to a room where 4 other people were sitting.

Seeing no receptionist, and realizing that the kindly older man was here to see the doctor himself, I addressed the people in the room, who informed me that this windowless chamber was in fact the waiting room.  I figured that maybe the administrative part of the doctors office was separate, so I left and went down the alley to look at the other doorways.  It's truly amazing how I try to rationalize things in France that I don't understand.  Of course the other doorways in the alleys were to peoples' houses and not to the receptionist.  Because my new doctor has no receptionist.  Duh.

So I returned (successfully opening the door this time) and sat down in the room with the other people - who magically seemed to know who was seeing which doctor next.  Through sheer luck, I figured that I had a place in line and eventually met my doctor.  She explained that her practice did not have a receptionist (no need when your insurance system is single-payer, thanks French government) and that she and the doctors switched off who took drop-in and who took appointments, depending on the day of the week.  I suppose that's logical...she did fill out my paperwork herself, and pretty efficiently too.

Now all I have to do is wait for my social security number to arrive!  I'll be checking my mailbox ;)

Ok, thanks for reading and I PROMISE that the next post will include pictures!!!

Love always,
Samantha-mybirthdayisnextweek-Frank
xoxo

Samantha is a grown up (kind of)

Moving to France really made me feel like a grown up.  I got a job, found an apartment, found a roommate, signed a lease in another language, opened a bank account, got a doctor, made lesson plans and started actually teaching, the list goes on and on.

But last Friday, my ability to handle the unexpected was tested.  Annnnnnnnnnd I passed ...by the skin of my teeth.  Here's what happened:

I had gotten home from my day at school (where one of my students told me that his girlfriend is pregnant, #reallife) and changed into my sweatpants, and was happily washing dishes and singing along to some music when my buzzer rang.  Surprised, I wondered who it could be.... maybe someone was sending me a package!!!!  "Oui?" I answered via my intercom.  "We're here to sweep the chimney" said the voice on the other end, and I buzzed them up, remembering the sign posted in the hallway of my building about the Chimney Sweeps passing by this week. (Thanks for nothing, blog readers and POTENTIAL PACKAGE SENDERS!!)

Aside from the 80 euros it cost me to have the chimney swept (I love being broke and waiting for my paycheck to process through), the chimney sweeps quietly went about their work.  Just before they left, however, they informed me that they smelled gas and that I should call Gaz de France (the gas provider) immédiatement, because it was really très sérieux.

And, here comes the part where I do an awesome job of navigating the real world.  A bit shaken due to the surprise chimney sweep visit, the 80 euros flying out of my hands, and being told in French that THERE IS A GAS LEAK, I did the first thing that popped into my head: called my parents.  I reached them on my Dad's cell phone because they were in the car on the way to visit my grandfather's grave in Pennsylvania and have lunch with much of the PA Frank clan.  My SAINT OF A mother told me just to remain calm and call the gas people (duh).

So I followed her sage advice and ended up calling the electric company (a subdivision of the gas company, rockin) and realized that I need a Client ID so I couldn't call the gas people anyway.  Also, calling the electric company in France isn't the price of a normal call, they actually charge you 40 cents a minute.  And put you on hold.  EXCELLENT.  I LOVE THE (FRENCH) REAL WORLD.  So after that fun mini-adventure, I called my landlady and left a message asking her to call the gas people PLEASE.

I opened a window to aerate the place and then went downstairs (because the landlady works 20 feet from the apartment, convenient when you have a gas leak) and found my landlady's secretary.  She seemed skeptical but informed me she'd pass along the message and that I could just turn off the gas if I was worried.  Ah, if only I knew how....

So I returned home and googled "how to turn off the gas" and then "what does a gas heater look like" and then did the really difficult task of turning the knob in the kitchen labelled "GAS" 90 degrees.  Next, I called my parents AGAIN (bless) and videochatted them to make sure that I had done it correctly.  They ever-so-patiently affirmed that I had.

Finally, about 45 minutes later, two repairmen appeared at my door to fix the problem.... which was two gas leaks. Nope, not one.  TWO.  Thank you chimney sweeps for alerting me!  Before the repairmen left, I verified everything that I had learned via google... the appearance of and location of my gas meter, the hot water heater, and most importantly, how to turn off the gas.  I had figured it all out correctly, with the exception of the fact that the knob that I had "correctly" turned to stop the gas is not connected to a pipe.  So really, after all that panicking and googling and parent-harassing I did nothing.  Coolness.  (Don't worry, I found out how to realllly turn off the gas - you didn't think I'd let them get away without figuring that out, did you??)

Well if you've read this far, you know that I'm safe and sound and that my apartment did not blow up and that I now know about my gas meter.  WHEW!  Tomorrow I'm off to attack the French bureaucracy and go for my mandated medical visit.  FUN TIMES!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful and hopefully stress-free day!

Lurve lurve lurve,
SAMANTHA

Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone !!

Thanks to everyone who has written to me this past week, especially a big shoutout to Jody.  Love ya lots!!

A lot of the correspondance that I have received has asked if I was missing home, especially now.  I feel minorly guilty admitting it, but ... not really.  OBVIOUSLY I miss all of my family, and I would have LOVED to have been home this past weekend, but the weather is too nice to feel like it's really Thanksgiving.  And with the beach so close, even though I'm going to work every day, I still feel like I'm on vacation.  Plus, France doesn't do Thanksgiving.  So it's not as if everyone around me is celebrating with their families and I'm far from mine, as on Thursday everyone just went about their business as usual.

Last week I told you that my students were really excited to bring me Thanksgiving food and that I offered to bring them pumpkin pie.  WELL, predictably, those lucky ducks FORGOT to bring me food but because I am a woman of my word (well, almost), I brought them sweet potatoes with marshmallows (because I couldn't find pumpkin to make pie).  I also brought some to the school secretary since she helps me with everything all the time (and because I am a suck-up...WHATEVAH).

After my school "celebration", I returned home and tidied my apartment before my Thanksgiving guests arrived.  Yep, I hosted a potluck Thanksgiving dinner for 3 other Americans and ... 8 other Toulon friends.  

Here are some photos of the evening, photo cred to KASONDRA!  Thanks gurlfrann.

Enthusiastic Turkey Cooks, Rachel and Amanda

Focusing

Finished product

Saying what we're thankful for

nom nom nom

 L to R: Canada, England, USA, Jordan, USA, Italy, Italy, USA, USA/Burma, Australia, USA

silly faces

xoxo
Samantha

This weekend I went to Paris.  I love Paris.  Paris is basically the best city in the world.  Even though I was only there for two days, I felt like I was in multiple distinct cities.

• The quiet, calm 16th arrondissement, where I lived during my semester abroad.  I am most likely to run into someone above the age of 60 in the street, or someone walking their dog in heels.  It's comfortable, I have my favorite boulangeries and metro routes.  You can read about my best day abroad by clicking here.  While I was here, I slept in the room I stayed in abroad.  Obviously, I had to take a picture of my view:

• Galleries Lafayette in full pre-Christmas mode.  OMG IT WAS A ZOO, overwhelming crowds at every turn.  Obviously because I am a masochist, I had to brave the crowds to try on a pair of boots that I can never in my dreams afford.  Overheard a French woman say to her daughter "it really feels like too much!"  

• 20th arondissement: This is where I feel like my parents would settle if we lived in Paris, and where our cousins the Lepretre-Girard live.  Their neighborhood is really lively and very diverse.  They buy both Algerian and Jewish bread for the weekend (not just baguettes)!  They also live walking distance from Pere Lachaise cemetary and I got to pay my respects to my cousin Maurice.  Maurice was keenly interested in genealogy and he is the reason why I know the Lepretre-Girard family, as well as my wonderful cousins Lise and Maxime and the Lellouche clan.  

The Columbarium, where Maurice and his wife Pitsy are located.

They're in the middle

And some more pictures from my trip:

A gravestone in Hebrew in Pere Lachaise

Another one

 

 A beautiful tomb

Place de la Concorde

and again

Hotel de Ville

Oh hey Eif...

THANKS FOR READING, LOVERS

XOXO

SAMANTHA

Things I talk about with Other Assistants

• How to fill out our forms to receive housing assistance
• If our proviseur-adjoint (vice principal) is sexy or not
• The most effective way to get our kids to listen to us
• What we're doing Friday night
• Which wines that cost less than three Euro are drinkable
• How to make our health visit to OFII, the French immigration agency, as fun as possible
• The rules of "Le Jeu des Rois" (The Game of Kings)
• Which city fêtes, or celebrations we should attend (Options include: chestnut festival, soup festival, cat festival)
• Where to go to the gym and do yoga
• The number of baguettes we eat per day
• If superglue will fix wooden chairs

Thanksgiving Prep

Today I finished my lesson plan early and figured that the last 8 minutes of class were the perfect time to discuss Thanksgiving.

"Does anyone know what big American holiday is next week?" I asked my students, nine 20-year-olds studying machines and maintenance.  They didn't, so I told them: "Thanksgiving!"  "Ahhh, Zanksgeeveeeng!" they echoed.  "Does anyone know the story of Thanksgiving?" I pushed.  "The Indians" - "Native Americans" I corrected him - "helped the colonists and gave them food, so to thank them, the colonists killed them!" Pierre cried gleefully.

.... Ummm .... pretty accurate, actually.  Of course, this isn't the Thanksgiving story that we like to tell, and based on the gestures that Pierre performed while explaining this sentence (which implied that immediately upon receiving food, the colonists shot the Native Americans in the face), this might not exactly be the story that he meant, but nevertheless it isn't far from the truth.

Much as I wanted to continue that conversation, my students' English skills aren't quite good enough to fully discuss genocide, so I persevered to the next most important thing about Thanksgiving: the food.

"So, Thanksgiving is next Thursday, and instead of being home with my family eating all of this delicious food, I have to be here with you" I continued, assigning them each a dish to bring to class next week.  Now, as I said, it was getting to be the end of class and I could feel that my students were getting antsy and bored.  Thus I tried the age-old, 1000% effective teacher-trick: yell at your students repeatedly and they will give up ignoring you and listen.  I restated that they were each to bring Thanksgiving food next Thursday, and finally after about the fourth time it seemed to sink in.  "Madame, we have to bring that to class next time??" they inquired.  "Yes!" I heartily confirmed.  "No, just kidding" I quickly said... and watched their faces fall.  So, I changed my mind again: "If you want, yes!"

Looks like I might be having a French Thanksgiving next week.  I'm not sure that they will remember but I promised to bring a pumpkin pie nonetheless...

Thanks as always for reading!
Mucho amore
xoxo,
Samantha

Toulon Weather

You guys, apparently, it's November.  I have to keep reminding myself that because THE WEATHER HERE IS AMAZING.  It's been in the mid-upper 60s and sunny for the past week.

Here are some photos I snapped this weekend ...

The beach (yep, the one that's a 5 minute walk from my house)

Some randos who agreed to pose with me

They were really nice

Intersection at the end of my street

Boats in the harbor

xoxo
SAM

SCHOOL

Hello fabulous friends, family, and lovers,

Thanks to everyone that I've heard from this week - I love getting your emails!  Also, speaking of email, if you don't want to check my (awesome) website every day, you can sign up for email updates - my posts delivered right to your inbox!  Click on the link to the right of this post.

You guys are asking me a lot about teaching.  I GUESS since that's the reason why I'm here I could address it...

I really like teaching!  Every day and every hour is a new challenge, but I generally to feel proud of myself at the end of each lesson.  Typically, I have between 6 and 15 students in my own classroom - I either have half the class or the teacher sends me a few students.  My main job is to talk with the students - to get them to talk with me and to work on their oral comprehension.

My peach of a grandmother keeps emailing me and saying that "my students must love me!"  Of course, I always adore such grandmotherly support, but I'm not so sure that all my students love me... Because I don't care if they do!  We are there to speak English, and I don't stand for any bullshit.  Sometimes they try to get me to understand a French word and I get a big sigh when I stare at them blankly and then pass them the dictionary.

That being said, I do try to make my classes fun.  A few weeks ago, their task was to describe their favorite movies.  I learned that the Harry Potter movies are about a character who must "avenge the murders of his parents" (because that's definitely an apt description of a movie series that focus on the triumph of love over evil).  Whatever, they described it in grammatically correct English, so I was satisfied.

Last week we played the game "Never Have I Ever."  In the US, this game is usually accompanied by alcohol.  Everyone holds up both hands, and people take turns saying something that they've never done.  If someone says something that you have done, you must put down a finger and tell the story.  Now, most of my students are 18-20 year old boys, so you can bet that I changed the rules a bit.  I came in with a list of things that I had "never" done and it was up to the students to tell their stories.  A few highlights:

• "Never have I ever had something stolen from me" got confused with "never have I ever stolen something" - and things that my students have stolen include: deodorant (because he needed it), a bike (because it was there ?!?!?!?!!!, - yes apparently people actually think like this), and the head of a blowtorch (to sell it).  Oh okay. (!!!!!!)
• I happened to play "never have I ever" with a group of students on the same day that I first met them.  I didn't have a class list, so they introduced themselves to me and wrote their name on a piece of paper propped on their desk so I could see it when I called on them.  When I got to "Never have I ever lied about my name", two of my students burst into laughter and put down a finger.  "Ok, so when did you lie about your name?!" I prompted them.  "Now!" They exclaimed.  "Excuse me?  Now?"  "Yes... to you!"  The whole class started laughing and they told me their real names .... I was mostly impressed with their classmates.  Sometimes students have tried to give me a fake name, but usually their classmates laugh and give them away.... Gotta be careful with this class of apparent LIARS!  Haha. 

Ok, enough writing!  Have an excellent weekend and belated Thank you to all of our veterans, especially those reading this post ;)  

xoxoLove

Samantha

Berlin

As a Jew who has done many a school project on the Holocaust, who has met her relatives that were directly impacted by the Nazi takeover of France and Belgium, who feels connected to Israel and is proud of the Challah recipe she learnt from her mother, the idea of going to Germany never really tugged at my soul.  But Steph wanted to go, and I checked out some travel guides which told me that Berlin2011 is a very different land than Berlin in 1933, 1944, or 1961, so figured I might as well push myself out of my comfort zone.

And I am so glad that I did.  Berlin MIGHT have been my favorite city out of all of the cities that we visited.  Because Berlin knows its destructive and cruel past, it is rebuilding itself as a place of acceptance and celebration of those who are different - a dynamism I've never before experienced in a city.

Berlin City Hall from across the street

From closer

Brandenburg Tor at night

During the day

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Doors at the current tax office - former Luftwaffe HQ - you can see - covered in bullet marks

At the Berlinerdom

At the National Museum

All the art that I wanted to buy

At the Reichstag - WHAT A HISTORIC PLACE - during the #occupy protests

#occupy-ing

At the Berlin Wall

Rememberance to the victims of the Holocaust at the Jewish Museum in Berlin

Stairs to nowhere at the Jewish Museum in Berlin

Cracks of the original ceiling in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church - it was bombed during WWII

The new Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Ampelmann, traffic light man

At Tacheles, (click for deets!), a building squatted by artists for the past 22 years

Artist trash

OBVIOUSLY

The Human Project Lives

Berlin at night

XOXO peace out playas !

p.s. Next time I promise to talk about TEACHING since thats all anyone seems to be asking me about!  Haha.