that la bise is three kisses here in the Drôme

La bise is the kiss that French people do when they greet one another.  It varies from region to region, but tonight I found out that it's 3 in the Drôme department.  The Spanish assistant arrived tonight, so the four assistants (two American, one Italian, one Spanish) and the two teachers went out to dinner.  Found out la bise info from the two teachers.  The town seems to shut down around 7 or 8, but we found a good restaurant to go to with a jazz concert after dinner that the owners said we could listen to for a little while for free.

At dinner, we were sitting there and the teachers started whispering to us in Spanish (?).  One of them said, "Comment est-ce qu'on dit jefe de la ciudad?"  We figured out that the MAYOR OF CREST was sitting behind us having dinner with his daughter.  Ha!

Earlier today, I did some observation hours at one of the schools where I'll be teaching.

Here is how the French grade levels work (according to Wikipedia).  I need to figure out a way to memorize this!

Cours preparatoire (CP) = 1st grade

Cours elementaire niveau 1 (CE1) = 2nd grade

Cours elementaire niveau 2 (CE2) = 3rd grade

Cours moyen niveau 1 (CM1) = 4th grade

Cours moyen niveau (CM2) = 5th grade

The first class I observed was CE1/CE2, so 7- to 8-years-old.  I walked into the room with them after recess and one little boy comes up to me and goes, "Hel-lo."  At the beginning of each class, a student volunteers to go up to the front and point to four different posters to say the day of the week, the month, the season and the weather.  So, today, a student went up front and said "It's Thursday, It's September, It's Autumn, and It's 'ot."  Very cute.

They were learning about colors and played a game where they were split into to teams, and there was a shirt in the middle.  When the teacher said "Red," the students wearing red would run to the middle and try to grab the shirt.  Some of the kids tagged each other and froze for awhile... I'm not exactly sure how it works!

In the CM1/CM2 class (9- to 10-years-old?), there is a girl from Utah - her mother is teaching at the high school for a year.  It's interesting because when her classmates take a vocabulary test in English, she does the same test in French.  I introduced myself in English, and they raised their hands to tell their teacher what they understood.  They are currently learning about school supplies, so they played a game of Simon Says to review before the test.  ("Show me your ruler."  "Show me a pen." etc.)  The teacher asked me to plan a lesson about Halloween for my first lesson with them.

Also found out I'll be helping out with Maternelle at this school, which is 3- to 5-year-olds, I think!

that I was a little too excited about ALDI

Here is the map my French contact drew for me to show me how to get to two of the schools where I'll be teaching.  Please note that ALDI is a landmark.

Also, here is the view from my apartment window!

that I live on Big Henry street

I have a place to live!  Tomorrow I'm moving to the town where I'm teaching.  Today, the French teacher I've been emailing picked me up from my hotel and helped me out with EVERYTHING.  She showed me where I'll be living, helped me open a bank account, took me to the grocery store, showed me where I'll be teaching and introduced me to her coworkers.  I'll be living at a high school on Rue Henri Grand (Big Henry Street?).  I have my own studio, and there are going to be two other language assistants living there.  Supposedly, it has wifi, and it might even have a phone that calls the U.S. for free!  I'll find out tomorrow for sure.  Definitely a crash course in French conversation today.

I've been speaking a lot of French.  So far, I've successfully ordered a SUB 15 sandwich (15 centimeters?) from Subway (I know I'm in France, but it was only 2.90!), gotten insurance for "in case I hurt someone", and kicked a Frenchman out of my rightfully assigned TGV train seat, all in French.  Also, it's been nice meeting some of the other English assistants.

Hmmm.. what else.  Marge Simpson's French voice is pretty funny.  There was a teacher's strike today (already!), and hopefully it won't last too long.  I'm supposed to start doing observation hours on Thursday.  Also, today I learned that part of my contract is to lead a conversation group for the English teachers in town.

So far, pretty much everything has worked out.  It's been really sunny and warm, which I wasn't expecting.  The only bad thing that's happened so far is my Woolite exploded in my suitcase all over some of my clothes, but that's really not such a bad thing.  I'll try to post more tomorrow!

that 3 zebra cakes is too much

Okay, this blog is going to be a little pêle-mêle.

Last night, my friends threw a little going away get together.  I was informed (warned) there was going to be an overload of "American food," but I did not expect the smorgasbord that appeared last night:  Buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, sliders, hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, caramel/cheese popcorn, spinach artichoke dip, zebra cakes, twinkies and swiss rolls.  Wow.  I learned that there's a reason the zebra cakes are in packages of two. One is not quite enough, and three (in the past 24 hours) is just too many.

Anyway, thank you all so much!  The decor, theme song, friends and food were a lot of fun.  I'm going to miss you!