Entries tagged with "assistantship"
You, you will be mean/ And I... I'll drink all the time!
posted by srah on November 5, 2007 10:51 PM
Tags: absinthe, alcohol, assistantship, nablopomo, nablopomo 2007, tea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40k7SkXi3Rc I just came across this video on the preparation of absinthe (how do I find these things? I don't even remember) and it reminded me of our parties back when I was living in Vichy. I tasted some absinthe at one of those parties, but it didn't make much of an impression. For one thing, about 4.5 years later, I don't remember what it tasted like. For another thing, even when I came home from the party that night, I blogged about tequila and Michigan accents instead. It all seems like so much work, with the special flatware and...
Hello. Is it me you're looking for?
posted by srah on December 5, 2006 8:52 PM
Tags: assistantship, lionel richie, middle east, music, teaching
One day back when I was a teaching assistant in France, one of my students called me over to him in class. The students were supposed to be working individually on some assignment, so I assumed he was trying to get my attention to ask me a question about English for the work he was doing. I walked over to him and he quietly asked me (in English, if I remember correctly), "Do you like Lionel Richie?" Of all the things he could have asked me, I think that may be the last one I would have guessed. Lionel Richie...
Lost and found
posted by srah on October 11, 2005 9:38 AM
Tags: assistantship, cleaning, french, writing
I cleaned off my desk last night. To some of you, this may be a throwaway comment about the status of my moving efforts. Those of you who have seen my desk will realize what an undertaking this was. I haven't seen the surface of this desk in over three years. As I got to the bottom levels, I started discovering cards from my college graduation in 2002. This desk was piled in papers, to the point where I felt like it was impossible to tackle. But I have tackled it and wrestled it into some semblance of order, put...
'Can it be true? That I hold here in my mortal hand a nugget of purest green?'
posted by srah on July 15, 2004 5:58 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, harry potter, harry potter and the sorcerer's stone, paris, travel
On our last night in France last year, at the end of the assistantship, Renata, Jenny and I went out for Indian food. We found a restaurant just by wandering around and I happened to look up and see that it was in the Rue Nicholas Flamel. At the time, I only knew Flamel as the "only known maker of the Philosopher's [or Sorcerer's] Stone" from the Harry Potter books, but it turns out that he really existed. Flamel was a fourteenth-century French alchemist and that he really was rumoured to possess the Philosopher's Stone, which is supposed to create...
Bise me not
posted by srah on October 29, 2003 2:31 AM
Tags: assistantship, cultural differences, france, teaching
A friend of my sister had to interview me for her French class. Ooo-ee, I am so important. So I figured I might as well post my answers here as well. 1. What is the primary difference you found when teaching in France? I've never taught in the US, so I can't be sure of any differences between the two systems. I think that the American system is more coddling, but the French system is less supportive of the students. 2. Where in France did you teach? I taught in a technical/professional high school in Cusset, a small town just...
Olé!
posted by srah on September 18, 2003 12:11 PM
Tags: assistantship, overseas opportunities office, work
The Librarian Hat and Webmaster Beanie are thrown to the wind*. My head, today, is clad in the Peer Advisor Sombrero. I've been enlisted to participate in a Work Abroad information session, representing the France assistantship. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? All of this must be summarized in a presentation of less than five minutes. As you may know, when the subject of the assistantship comes up, I am either completely reticent or completely unshutuppable. I have also been asked to write articles about my experience for the Office. How many do you need? Because I could write about...
Enthusiasm galore!
posted by srah on August 8, 2003 2:11 PM
Tags: assistantship, links
This morning's cheese rant has been published as the first of the Assistant Stories at the brand spanking new Assistants in France website (courtesy of the talented Lee). Do you have any suggestions for future Assistant Stories? It could be a story I've already posted, something you'd like to know about my time as an assistant, or a short post that needs to be fleshed out into a full story. Let me know if you do. Or if you don't. Inspire me. Or don't....
Would you like some Fourme d'Ambert with that St-Pourçain?
posted by srah on August 8, 2003 10:17 AM
Tags: assistantship, cheese, food, france, study abroad, wine
Before I left for Grenoble, I would tell people I was going to live in France for a year, and they would inform me that I was going to return full of valuable knowledge about wine and cheese. I did eat some cheese and drink some wine during the year, but not huge amounts of either. I never knew what I was eating or drinking because it was whatever was in the bottle or the cheese box at my host family's house, and it didn't make much difference to me. I found a cheese or two that I liked and...
Votre dévouée élève, qui vous aime de tout son coeur
posted by srah on July 24, 2003 12:07 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, french, grenoble, quote, reviews, teaching, the professor, vichy
While reading The Professor (thanks for suggesting it, Katie), I was full of fantasies about updating it (à la Pride & Prejudice/Bridget Jones), writing a novel loosely based on it, or bringing it to the big screen. The book is about an Englishman who is unhappy in his work, so he goes off to Belgium and teaches English. I like it despite the protagonist's airs of grandeur, because there are parts that remind me of my experiences as a teaching assistant in France. No man likes to acknowledge that he has made a mistake in the choice of his profession,...
Crazy girl was not shunned by others at Borders
posted by srah on July 16, 2003 11:16 PM
Tags: assistantship
It is very comfortable when you can meet with strangers and, within minutes, get into the kind of conversation where you can't finish one thought before you start a new one, so you speak completely in varying layers of parentheses. I, who am often so shy with strangers, was so happy to meet other assistants that I bubbled over and was unshutuppable. I believe, however, that a good time was had by all....
Pay no attention to that girl behind the weblog
posted by srah on July 10, 2003 4:07 PM
Tags: assistantship, france
Upon further reflection, maybe I'm just hitting my normal post-France mal du pays a bit late and being overdramatic....
La manque
posted by srah on July 10, 2003 3:15 PM
Tags: assistantship
I feel a bit alone. There is no one I can share it with; there is no one who knows exactly how I'm feeling. When I left Grenoble, I knew exactly where to find my host family, who were the only people I really knew in France. I knew that we would keep in touch, and I was sure that I would see them again and that they wouldn't forget me. I have no such guarantees for Vichy, so my heart is broken - 200 times over. I want to cry when I hear about the final exam results. I'm...
Language Week: Friday
posted by srah on July 5, 2003 11:27 AM
Tags: assistantship, french, in french, language, language week, memes
(Except posted on Saturday, because we were having Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and a National Holiday on Friday.) Bon, ben, voilà, je suis trop paresseuse pour écrire en espagnol, même si j'ai inventé cette semaine pour pratiquer cette langue-là. C'est trop difficile sans dictionnaire, et je n'ai pas très envie de chercher chaque mot sur Babelfish. Je suis très heureuse d'avoir réçu un mél d'Agnès, qui m'a dit que les résultats des examens finaux au lycée ont été affichés et qu'elle me les a envoyés. En travaillant en France, ça m'a choqué que là-bas, les résultats des examens sont affichés, sont...
"You guys gotta be... ambastards."
posted by srah on June 16, 2003 12:21 PM
Tags: assistantship
I think that as an assistante, I took more seriously my role as a cultural ambassador than my role as an English language instructor. One of my favorite lessons of the year was the one on Martin Luther King, Jr., where the students watched a video on MLK, and then were supposed to talk in English about their reactions. Sometimes they ended up speaking French instead, but had a good discussion. I should have made them speak English, but I was happy to be able to share American culture with them and cared more about comprehension than English. I think...
Dream
posted by srah on June 13, 2003 8:59 AM
Tags: assistantship, dream, music
I dreamt that I was in a parking structure, driving my old car, Roger. Alex was in the passenger seat, and I laughed at him because the attendant was on his side, so he had to pay. I hate paying parking attendants, then quickly trying to get myself together to drive under the bar. So Alex had to do it, but as soon as we'd left the attendant, we came to a barricade where some kind of agent asked me to shift my weight back and forth from one butt-cheek to the other. When I did it and the car...
This is just an excuse to try out the TrackBack function
posted by srah on June 10, 2003 10:05 AM
Tags: assistantship
I have re-discovered the assistants' group and am trying to lend my Great Knowledge and Experience (ha) to next year's crop, including the eleven million of them who are from Ann Arbor. I wish I had my archives in order, but instead I will have to point out the incomplete category archives for the assistantship, Vichy, and France, and let you read more as more posts get sorted into these categories....
Yes sir, it's glasses soup
posted by srah on June 3, 2003 12:14 PM
Tags: assistantship, fashion, glasses
Do you really care about whether your glasses match your outfit? It never occurred to me to own more than one pair of glasses at a time, but I knew people in Vichy who would choose their glasses for the day as a fashion accessory. Of course I hung around a lot of opticians, so maybe they could afford to be fashionable like that. I dunno. Glasses are for seeing, and clothes are for being not-naked. Fashion be damned....
Even más fotos
posted by srah on May 31, 2003 10:49 PM
Tags: assistantship, auvergne, bruges, new york city, photos, shenandoah valley, travel, vichy
Vulcania Vichy Brioude Brugge/Bruges Various trips in southern Auvergne NYC trip Shenandoah Valley...
I... I went to France, y'know...
posted by srah on May 24, 2003 2:58 AM
Tags: assistantship
I am a bit disappointed all of a sudden because I just realized that I can't remember a single person asking to see my pictures since I've been home. I've foisted them on several people, but I don't remember any requests. No one cares......
As if I haven't quoted enough songs lately
posted by srah on May 21, 2003 4:00 PM
Tags: assistantship, french, music
I hadn't missed speaking French as much as I thought I would. I hadn't had a nervous breakdown and taken to wearing a tinfoil hat and muttering to myself in the corner. Then I listened to La pêche à la ligne on my headphones. ... C'est à peine l'aurore/ Et je tombe du plume/ Mon amour dort encore/ Du sommeil de l'enclume/ Je la laisse à ses rêves/ Où je n' suis sûrement pas/ Marlon Brando l'enlève,/ Qu'est c' que je foutrais là ?/ Sur un cheval sauvage,/ Ils s'en vont ridicules/ Dehors y a un orage,/ Y sont mouillés...
Quiero mas hispanophones
posted by srah on May 15, 2003 4:25 PM
Tags: assistantship, language, spanish
I guess I was mentally prepared from last time for people not to understand me in French. My problem now is that no one understands me in French or in Spanish. It's frustrating when I say "Quiero una zanahoria" and Cheryl doesn't understand that I want a carrot. I am a mutant to come back from France speaking Spanish, but everyone in Vichy spoke some Spanish or could be taught....
Makes srahs happy:
posted by srah on May 15, 2003 9:13 AM
Tags: assistantship
Email from students. It's nice to know they haven't forgotten me already....
I find your lack of nervous breakdown disappointing
posted by srah on May 10, 2003 11:28 AM
Tags: assistantship
Five days back in the United States and I'm still not wearing a tinfoil hat. Frankly, I'm disappointed in my adaptability....
Hellooooo nurse!
posted by srah on May 7, 2003 8:07 PM
Tags: assistantship
I am happy to be home with my family, boyfriend, and computer. In any order in which you prefer to read them....
Qh1111 The reqdjust;ent1
posted by srah on May 6, 2003 8:42 AM
Tags: assistantship
I can4t type any;ore on these stupid Q;erican keyboqrds....
Pop idle
posted by srah on May 5, 2003 5:57 PM
Tags: assistantship, music
There is a series of vidéo clips showing on the plane. Jennifer Love Hewitt should not act, let alone sing, and looks disturbingly like Gene Simmons. What kind of horrible pop music have I missed in the last seven months? How has America changed in my absence?...
Richard Gere in underwear causes airsickness
posted by srah on May 5, 2003 5:53 PM
Tags: assistantship, chicago, maid in manhattan, movies
Our in-flight movies were Chicago and Maid in Manhattan, both of which I had already seen and neither of which I had particularly liked. Unfortunately I finished my book about two hours into the 8+ hour flight, so I was forced to watch. If you are interested, Maid in Manhattan was better in French....
Delicate mental state
posted by srah on May 5, 2003 6:59 AM
Tags: assistantship, travel
I was going to cry before we left Paris, but I decided I was too bored to cry. Now, after crossing the Frankfurt airport, which is full of Germans who didn't understand when I spoke French to them, I think it's time for the blubbering to commence....
Meanwhile, back at the ranch
posted by srah on May 5, 2003 5:45 AM
Tags: assistantship, school of information, srahfam, university of michigan
When I tell people that I'm going to grad school at U-M, they have a tendancy to say "Oh, so you can live at home! Oh... so you'll have to live at home..." as if living at home will be miserable or upsetting. I lived at home during my undergrad summers and had no problem, and when people react in this way, I tend to say that my family's not bad to live with. But now, 1.5 hours away from landing, it occurs to me that they may have been making those "Well... good luck..." faces not because it will...
'We're from Vichy and we like to poop'
posted by srah on May 4, 2003 11:25 PM
Tags: assistantship
"Why did you miss your train, srah?" "Jenny locked me in our hotel room." Thankfully this scenario was only imagined, but... The door of our hotel has three locks, none of which really work from the inside. But after the receptionist hit on her, Jenny was concerned about being Raped By The Man and tried to lock him out. Which was all very well and good, except that she couldn't get it back open. We had visions of trying to break the key off the rings and slide it under/over the door so Renata could rescue us, but after 5...
Travel woes
posted by srah on May 4, 2003 8:20 AM
Tags: assistantship, travel
How on Earth am I going to get all the way home? Why on Earth do I have so much luggage? At least Renata, Jennifer and I are all leaving from Paris on Monday so we're making the impossible voyage together....
'Tis the season
posted by srah on May 4, 2003 3:07 AM
Tags: assistantship
I feel the need to point out that today, May 4, 2003, I heard the song Last Christmas on Cherie FM-Vichy....
Boba Fett in Vichy
posted by srah on May 2, 2003 3:00 PM
Tags: assistantship, star wars, vichy
Just when you thought Vichy couldn't get any stranger, along comes the Cusset Star Wars Convention complete with special guest Boba Fett. It's a shame it's coming at a time when I have so much to do, because I would have gone just to experience the weirdness and to say hi to Boba....
And I have pictures
posted by srah on May 2, 2003 1:14 AM
Tags: assistantship
This weekend I have worn a turban and a flowered crown. I have been granted a diploma for weirdness. I have witnessed the birth of Shakiro, the Colombian thong-wearing street performer. I have helped to hold down a cat so that it could be given a mohawk haircut. I have learned how to say "take off your pants" in Italian. Just a normal weekend in Aurillac, quoi....
Please don't mug me
posted by srah on April 30, 2003 3:51 AM
Tags: assistantship
I went to the bank to close my account and they gave me all of my money in cash. I have never seen so much money in one place. The freakazoid teller compained that she hadn't known in advance, when I had made the appointment to fermer mon compte a week ago. Thus she was not prepared and only had one billet de cinq cent, so everything else was in 100s and 50s. I now have this enormous wad of cash and I don't know whether to carry it with me everywhere I go for safekeeping or hide it for...
Just another day at the cybercafé
posted by srah on April 29, 2003 12:15 PM
Tags: assistantship, cybercafe
Dennis/Christophe just gave me roses as a going-away gift and kissed me on the top of the head. This is a strange place....
Vincent had the wrong idea
posted by srah on April 28, 2003 4:01 PM
Tags: assistantship, ears
You have to keep them on the head. One year ago today, I was blogging about earwax. And now I am all alone in France with no ears but my own. Plenty of ears turn in my general direction during school hours, but they don't do a lot of listening. More importantly, I don't have any ears to fondle. But the day will come when I will have several pairs of ears at my caressing disposal and I can go back to being the weird ear-fetishist that everyone knows and loves....
Subtitles ahoy!
posted by srah on April 27, 2003 12:57 PM
Tags: assistantship, france, language, nice people, tv
Sophie and I are hoping that the Nice People will get frustrated with their shortcomings in French (the presenters are already making fun of them for misgendering things and saying someone has nice horses instead of hair) and revert to English, a language they have probably all been studying for longer and know better. Not because we are great fans of English or Watching Subtitled TV or anything, but just because all that extra subtitling work would somehow teach TF1 a lesson. Live broadcasts will be interesting, if they find several languages to communicate in. Translators, start your typing! I...
Obrigado
posted by srah on April 27, 2003 9:04 AM
Tags: assistantship, nice people, portugal, tv
We really don't have enough contact with the Portuguese in the US. I don't think I had given Portugal another thought since we learned about their XVIth century conquests and the Line of Demarcation. They seemed to disappear from history and geography after that. I desperately need to find an attractive Portuguese man. I am in danger of creating my entire image of XXIst century Portugal based on the two Portuguese men I've seen on TV, in C'est mon choix and Nice People. There must be interesting and attractive men in the country, but apparently they don't export well....
Travel panic
posted by srah on April 27, 2003 8:44 AM
Tags: assistantship, travel
Ces connards at the Grenoble train station sold me a ticket for the 25th when I asked for the 27th. For the TGV, it doesn't create any graves problèmes, but for the Thalys to Bruxelles, my billet n'est plus valable. What unbelievable assholerie. I am an idiot myself for not checking the date on the ticket, but I've never had this happen to me before and it never even occurred to me. If they make me pay for a new ticket, I will bite someone....
La question que tout le monde se pose
posted by srah on April 26, 2003 6:09 PM
Tags: assistantship, belgium, language, nice people, tv
The damned Belgian on Nice People speaks five languages. The damned Belgian I'm visiting tomorrow speaks at least six. Why was I not born in Belgium? Sophie and I are both disappointed that our parents aren't foreign, as this would have given us a fine linguistic head-start. Being Belgian or Luxembourgeois wouldn't have hurt, either....
Shameless watcher of bad TV tells all
posted by srah on April 26, 2003 5:49 PM
Tags: assistantship, nice people, tv
I watched the first episode of Nice People tonight. It's a reality show where they're locking young people of various European countries up in a villa, then voting them off one by one. A sort of cross between The Real World, Survivor, and an auberge espagnole. Personally, I think it's a shame that anyone has to be voted off, because the pleasure could just be from watching people from different nationalities interact, like the assistants do. Voting people off means we won't see them anymore and that someone will have to win. Yechhhh....
De retour à Grenoble
posted by srah on April 25, 2003 7:30 AM
Tags: assistantship, grenoble, host family, travel
I am spending the weekend in Grenoble with my host family. Sophie slept in, so I snuck out to run errands and take advantage of the Big City. Everything is pretty much as it was, the mountains are still lovely, I got to do a bit of shopping, and I even had 54 minutes left on my cybercafé account. I find that my disdain for Americans In France extends to my fellow CUEF students now and that even when one of them was talking about Michigan, I couldn't bring myself to associate with them....
Hey you! On the bicycle!
posted by srah on April 24, 2003 12:32 PM
Tags: assistantship, vichy
Spotted today in the Capital of All Things Weird: a car inching (or should I say centimetring?) down the road, a speaker strapped to the top. Unfortunately, they were not advertising a Rhythm and Blues Show, but some kind of reptile extravaganza in Cusset with Real Live Crocodiles From America!...
Life is a bowl of vichyssoise
posted by srah on April 23, 2003 4:48 PM
Tags: assistantship
I haven't decided yet why, but it is. It would have made a good tagline, if I'd come up with it more than 12 days before my departure......
Going to the movies alone
posted by srah on April 23, 2003 4:36 PM
Tags: assistantship, movies
Saw Laisse tes mains sur mes hanches tonight, which wasn't particularly spectacular and just made me feel lonely. My observations on the film and its previews: Jean-Hugues Anglade looks like a French Kevin Spacey. Mmmm, French. Mmmm, Kevin Spacey. If I see another preview for The Recruit, I am going to bite someone. The Hulk looks disturbingly similar to Shrek. And the saddest thing about my departure from France is that I will miss the June 11 release of Mais, qui a tué Pamela Rose?, the greatest French cinematic classic since La Tour Montparnasse infernale....
Whirlwind ending
posted by srah on April 23, 2003 4:06 AM
Tags: assistantship, travel
I'm off to Grenoble tomorrow, then to Belgium from there, then I'll return around the 29th to close my bank account, and I may be off again on the 30th or 1st to Aurillac, if I'm all packed and ready to go. Don't worry if I'm not posting - I'm sure I'll be writing anyway and you'll get a big glut of posts whenever I get a chance to type!...
More ennuis
posted by srah on April 22, 2003 4:01 PM
Tags: assistantship
Another thing that will be difficult to handle is the inevitable question: How was France? "Good," I will reply. My interlocutor will look at me expectantly. "Really good," I will add. On the other hand, I may end up with someone who will press me for more information, and who will unwittingly open up the floodgates of monologue, so that I will talk for hours on end about everything that's happened to me over the past seven months. I can already envision the difficulty I will have getting people to understand the sheer Stefanocity of Stefan. I don't know if...
Another fun day at the cybercafé
posted by srah on April 22, 2003 9:37 AM
Tags: assistantship, music
LOVE CATS! LOVE! CATS! Make it stop......
Shortbread depresses me
posted by srah on April 22, 2003 4:23 AM
Tags: assistantship, france, language
When I lived in Grenoble, I never stopped being amused by France and the French and Europe in general. I think the difference is that I have accepted and adapted to a lot more this time, rather than being amused and staying on the surface. I lived with things and was amused by them in Grenoble, but went back to my "normal" life in the USA afterwards. Now it feels like this is the normal life and I will actually have to readjust to my own country. My concern is that I will find it boring and bland and will...
Bon cinéma!
posted by srah on April 21, 2003 5:17 PM
Tags: assistantship, movies, vichy
For weeks now, I've been looking forward to seeing Bon Voyage. The previews looked incredibly stupid, but the leading man looked really hot. No, not Gérard Depardieu. The other leading man. Anyway, WWII-era costumes and Grégori Derangère were all this movie had going for it in my opinion, but I am shallow, so I considered it well worth paying 6€ to see a Hot Guy In Costume. I am glad I did, because it turned out to be a funny, dramatic, good movie with, as an added bonus, scenes filmed at the Aletti Palace Hotel in Vichy. Rather ironic that...
Ah, ces Américaines!
posted by srah on April 21, 2003 12:59 PM
Tags: assistantship, holidays, vichy
Vichy, as we know, is insane. While everything was unexpectedly open on Easter Sunday, everything was unexpectedly closed on the fake fake holiday of Easter Monday. We managed, however, to have a visit to our favorite salon de thé (yes, THOTs, we are old ladies), where I nibbled on a Paris-Brest and drank a thé au lait (rather than protein-rich beet juice). There's a joke in there somewhere, but I don't expect you to get it and I'm certainly not going to explain it....
Thirsty?
posted by srah on April 20, 2003 5:46 PM
Tags: assistantship, french, indiana jones, movies, music, renaud, wanted
Renaud was so adorable in Wanted that we squealed whenever he came onscreen. I was in a Renaud mood when I got home, so I put on the Best of '75-'85 CD I burned from Renata. In Dès que le vent soufflera, Renaud sings "La mer, c'est dégueulasse/ Les poissons baisent dedans." In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, after Indy bluffs to the Germans that Marcus Brody will blend in and disappear in Egypt, it flashes to Marcus in Cairo, looking for someone who speaks English or ancient Greek. When someone offers him some water, if you listen carefully,...
'If you say baseball one more time, Zéro is going to shoot you.'
posted by srah on April 20, 2003 5:23 PM
Tags: assistantship, movies, wanted
A cinematic masterpiece has been born! Renata, Jennifer and I finished off our Traditional Easter Sunday with a kebab and a movie. We went to see Wanted, wherein a band of French braqueurs including Gérard Depardieu, Johnny Hallyday, and an adorable gun-toting Renaud, set off for Chicago for a heist. They wind up with the FBI, the Chicago Mafia, and a Latino gang all after them, and hijinks and gunfights ensue. It is wonderful and perfect, and yet not really a good movie. Nonetheless, I suggest it highly. The weird thing about the movie is that it seems to have...
Sunday, damn bloody Sunday
posted by srah on April 20, 2003 1:07 PM
Tags: ann arbor, assistantship, vichy
One thing I will not miss about Vichy is Sunday afternoons. It reminds me of Art Fair in Ann Arbor. Suddenly the town is invaded by hordes of shoppers who descend upon it, much to the chagrin of the natives who can't get anywhere because of the crowds. Strangely enough, both cases involve Andean pipe bands playing on street corners and selling their discs. Vichy, as a heavily touristic town, is one of the few places in France where shops open on Sundays. Thus people come from all over the region to shop, to see, to be seen, and to...
Frightening prospect
posted by srah on April 20, 2003 12:40 PM
Tags: assistantship
People threatened me with nervous breakdowns the last time I came home from France, and nothing happened. I'm afraid it will this time....
Easter morning in Vichy
posted by srah on April 20, 2003 12:01 PM
Tags: assistantship, holidays, tv
We woke up this morning and Renata made us French French French French French French Toast. Then we ate cookies and chocolate-covered marshmallows, and watched Télé-Foot. We have come to the decision that we will reform the rules of soccer by requiring all footballers to remove their shirts after every goal. We feel that this would make a great difference to the sport and increase ratings in the ever-valuable Female and Gay Male demographics. Then we watched a crappy talk show where the subject was Who is the most seductive European? They brought on male guests from Norway, Italy, Portugal,...
Briouding in the rain
posted by srah on April 19, 2003 5:52 PM
Tags: assistantship, brioude, travel
Everyone left this morning, and only the Americans remain. We took a trip to Brioude today, to see Eleonora, yet another assistante colombienne. It's a small town, but it has a XIth century basilica and several assistants and is very nice. We had a walk around town, a drink in a café, and pastries chez Eleonora, then tripped off towards the gare in the rain before regaling our fellow train passengers by singing delightful songs that they really appreciated. Almost as much as they appreciated the smell of Renata's feet. We came back to Vichy, made Whatever We Have Sitting...
Last post from Valéry Larbaud
posted by srah on April 18, 2003 12:05 PM
Tags: assistantship
And I have nothing to say. Bye folks. Hope I'll see you again soon. If not, behave yourselves and be wonderful people. Hasta la proxima. Ciao....
¡La hora de la siesta!
posted by srah on April 18, 2003 11:11 AM
Tags: assistantship, classwork, in spanish, spanish
And now for the resumé of today's Spanish lessons, just because the THOTs seem to be amused by it. I will talk about my lesson with the 1ASMS, because the mendigo cartoon wasn't very interesting and de toutes les façons, Rémy has already read all of the notes I took during the first hour. En mi segunda clase de español del dia, vemos un comic que habla de una familia que ve demasiado television. Una noche, la mujer se despierta a las dos y veinte de la mañana. Mira a su marido, que sigue durmiendo. Se levanta y pone una...
I need a nap
posted by srah on April 18, 2003 8:25 AM
Tags: assistantship
I may keel over dead. Two and a half hours to go. I may also fall asleep in Spanish class. I have just realized that I came completely unprepared for Spanish. Great. Must aller renseigner myself as to what we're doing today. On the positive side, I finally got my cup of tea and watched opticians playing mini-golf. I feel like the school has gone insane today. Maybe it's me. Carrément. Ouais. C'est sûr. I felt that had to be said: further proof that it is me. Night night....
Ho hum
posted by srah on April 18, 2003 5:51 AM
Tags: assistantship, tea
Never mind. I'm a dumb ass. Tables and chairs and a sign that says "Tea Room" really should have tipped me off. Must go consume liquids....
La balade anglaise
posted by srah on April 18, 2003 5:44 AM
Tags: assistantship, tea
It's the day of the Commerce students' big project. They have decorated the school like an English street and brought local merchants in to sell British wares. It's a bit surreal that in addition to the electronic humming bell we usually have, we also have a recording of Big Ben to announce the breaks between classes. If we are so English today, why can I still not get a cup of tea? Teeeeeeeeeeeeeea....
Good morning!
posted by srah on April 18, 2003 5:33 AM
Tags: assistantship
Went out faising la fête with a mess of opticians last night. Opticians like cookies and Reese's cups, if you are ever interested in buying their affections. They also like to drink alcohol and then speak English... or just drink alcohol. Or just speak English. Would you like some pâté? But of course! And I would like some carrots also! I give you some wine. Yes, I want some wine! We went to Aurélie's for the apéro, out to dinner, to the Fous du Roy, and finally ended up at Le Loft, a newish night club with an excessive number...
Dream
posted by srah on April 17, 2003 9:43 AM
Tags: assistantship, dream
I dreamt last night that I pinned one of my students down on the ground and tickled him. I won't identify him here, and that way all of my students can fantasize that they were the lucky victim....
Retour au futur
posted by srah on April 16, 2003 6:12 PM
Tags: assistantship
Agnès and I were talking about my return to the US and she mentioned that my universe will change completely when I return. I've realized she's right. When I was in Grenoble I met people and had experiences, but between classes and family life, things were quite similar to my life aux USA. Now I will be moving back to an environment completely different from the one I've adjusted to here and there are probably over 300 faces I will never see again. Three hundred people I have met here, who I might never see again, whether they be students,...
Movie night - again
posted by srah on April 16, 2003 6:02 PM
Tags: assistantship, movies
I went to Agnès' ce soir for dinner and a movie. We talked about end-of-the-year activities and watched Mon Oncle by Jacques Tati, a comedy without dialogue. There's speech, but it's almost unnecessary. Monsieur Hulot must be the ancestor of Mr Bean, but his character was set in a futuristic world from the 1950s. Very funny little thing and I'm glad I passed up Pile et Face to get a chance to see it....
Renata's money can buy knives
posted by srah on April 16, 2003 5:57 PM
Tags: assistantship, food, thiers, travel
Renata, Jennifer and I made a trip to Thiers this afternoon, to revisit the site of one of our first voyages ensemble, and so that Renata could buy some knives. We had a walk by the river and up and down the hills of the town, enjoying the delapidated romance of the lovely city. We returned to the same pâtisserie we'd loitered in the last time and I had a thiernoise, the local delicacy: layers of meringue and praline cream covered in a chocolate shell. Jehosephat, it was tasty. We returned to Vichy and - much to the delight of...
L'ennui
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 6:46 PM
Tags: assistantship, vichy
It has suddenly struck me that when I go home, the main problem may be boredom. This is completely ridiculous, since I regularly complained of boredom here in Vichy, where I don't have a TV or computer. I think, instead, that I fear monotony. I fear that life won't be as incredibly strange and unpredictable as it has been here in the Epicenter of All Things Weird....
Movie night
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 5:46 PM
Tags: assistantship, finland, french, movies
We saw the Club Cinéma movie Mies vailla menneisyyttä tonight. I am now fascinated by Finland and the language, and even more fascinated by the fact that French has two different words for the people (finlandais) and the language (finnois) of the country....
There's vomit on her sweater: mom's spaghetti
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 12:34 PM
Tags: assistantship, weather
First of all, I am in no way in favor of wearing vomit-stained clothing. In fact, you might go so far as to say I am against this practice. Second of all, if I was wearing a sweater onto which I had vomited my mom's spaghetti, it would be unspeakably atrocious. I haven't eaten my mom's spaghetti in at least seven months. Can you imagine how that would reek? So no, I am not wearing a vomit-stained sweater. I just felt I needed a title for this post. So after the long introduction and explanation, I bring you the main...
Plans for the future
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 11:12 AM
Tags: assistantship
"So, Sarah, you finish work this week, but you don't leave until May 5. What are you going to do inbetween?" No idea. First I have to get through L'homme sans passé, a trip to Thiers, movie night chez Agnès, faising la fête avec les S2OL, la Balade Anglaise, a goodbye party for all of the assistants, shutting off my phone, filling out paperwork, leaving information for the next assistant, and setting up an appointment to close my bank account. Then, and only then, can I start to think about vacation. So it will be a while. Beurk....
A rather uninteresting tale
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 11:00 AM
Tags: assistantship, stalking neighbor
As requested by Katie, here is the suite of the Story Of My Stalking Neighbor. As my loyal readers know, I finally got up the nerve and told him I didn't want to see him. And now I don't anymore. I am almost disappointed, because it's so anti-climactic. It doesn't give me any fascinating stories to write about in my blog, and thus I forget to inform my readers... because nothing has happened. We still pass each other in the courtyard and I say "Bonjour" because I am civil and American and such, but he has left me alone. So......
Hooray, I am popular
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 9:33 AM
Tags: assistantship
The S2OLs have invited me out for couscous chez somebody on Thursday night. I will be there with bells on. Figuratively. More likely with cookies on, I imagine....
Notes on the cahier
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 9:29 AM
Tags: assistantship
I am hiding out in one of the computer rooms, trying to come up with things to do on the computer in order to avoid popping into the salle des profs every two seconds. I have left my cahier de souvenirs in the teachers' lounge for the last hour and a half, in the hopes that at least one teacher will have signed it when I finally emerge and peek. Probably not. I'm wondering if it would be indiscreet to quote some of the entries left by students (males in particular) in my cahier here in my weblog, just because...
Wouldja like to take a survey?
posted by srah on April 15, 2003 5:18 AM
Tags: assistantship
Renata and I have been conducting a survey for the past few days and I would like to invite you, dear readers, to take part. There are two questions. 1) Is the best flavor of tea "Renata's Ass"? Yes or yes? 2) Spanish sucks. Thank you for participating. Your answers will be ignored. Oh, the insanity. This is what happens when Renata and I are hopped up on chocolate chip cookies and Franglais....
Last day of classes
posted by srah on April 14, 2003 10:27 AM
Tags: assistantship, teaching
I'm going to miss these little buggers. Even the ones who never wanted to work. Especially the ones who never wanted to work. There are so many silly things, but also so many lovely things written in my cahier de souvenirs. You make me laugh out loud, and I'm going to go cry now. I'll miss you....
More end-of year observations
posted by srah on April 14, 2003 6:15 AM
Tags: assistantship, teaching
I feel so much happier these days, especially after reading the inscriptions in my cahier de souvenirs. Even if they're flat-out lying, it's nice to finally realize that I was appreciated, and I find that the last-period classes are very happy and fun and relaxed. I should have done this earlier!...
All hail Sarah
posted by srah on April 13, 2003 9:52 AM
Tags: assistantship, cybercafe
Once again, I am the chouchou of the cybercafé. And all it took to buy their affections was a dozen homemade American-style chocolate chip cookies. Yay me....
Be wary
posted by srah on April 12, 2003 7:53 PM
Tags: assistantship
It has suddenly occurred to me that this kind invitation to spend the night may be nothing less than a ruse to keep my cookies hostage in the apartment. We must be on the alert for cookie-rustlers....
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night
posted by srah on April 12, 2003 7:46 AM
Tags: assistantship, baking
My marathon of cookie-baking is finally at an end and I am spending the night in Stefan's bed. Unfortunately (or "fortunately", as it is pronounced in Chilean), Stefan is not in it. I knew that I had some chocolate chips and I thought I would use them up before I leave, by making cookies for my SMS students' wee party on Tuesday. When I got home and actually looked, I discovered that although I no longer have a four, I had managed to accumulate 1.5 bags of chocolate chips, a bag of peanut butter chips, half a bag of Hershey's...
Today's longing
posted by srah on April 12, 2003 4:15 AM
Tags: assistantship, food
I miss popcorn and toast....
Foutez-moi la paix!
posted by srah on April 11, 2003 5:23 PM
Tags: apartment, assistantship
It's a shame that young people today living in apartments can't have a little party without the cranky neighbors getting upset and writing angry diatribes about the little fuckers in their blogs. Go to sleep, dammit, and stop leaving the door to my apartment building wide open in the middle of the night. This is what happens when you let young people rent apartments. Damned rabble. Go home....
Go away, Mr Clown, you scare me
posted by srah on April 11, 2003 4:57 PM
Tags: assistantship, clowns, movies
Saw an entertaining movie called Effroyables Jardins ce soir with Renata and Andrés. Despite a large number of clowns figuring prominently in the film, it managed to be enjoyable and sad. It is unusual for me to be unhappy during scenes of violence against clowns, but this film managed it....
En la clase de español
posted by srah on April 11, 2003 11:16 AM
Tags: assistantship, david sedaris, in spanish, language, me talk pretty one day, spanish
Hoy, estudiamos la grammatica de francés. Para aprender lenguas, es muy importante conocer bien su misma lengua, entonces revisamos el subjunctivo y el condicional de francés antes de estudiar esos tiempos en español. Correct me, lurking Spanish speakers. I know you're there. If you let me prattle along in bad Spanish, I will always sound like an evil baby. Please help me learn to talk like a hillbilly instead....
A plaintive wail
posted by srah on April 11, 2003 7:54 AM
Tags: assistantship
I don't want to leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeave......
Note to students discovering my site for the first time
posted by srah on April 10, 2003 10:32 AM
Tags: assistantship, french, teaching
Si j'accomplis une chose cette année, je voudrais que vous reteniez ces deux mots et que vous cessiez de dire le mot français avec une prononciation anglaise: interessant interesting et soucis worries. Interessant and soucis do not exist in English, and it is my mission in life to prevent you from using them. Have a good vacation and go sign my guestbook....
The final Thursday
posted by srah on April 10, 2003 10:31 AM
Tags: assistantship, french, in french, teaching
When I first arrived at the school, I said that one of my hobbies was making websites, and I wrote the address on the board. Now, at the last session of each class, I write my email address and website address on the board so that my students can keep in touch, and give them a little song and dance about how this is the last time I'm going to see them and if they'd like to keep in contact with me, they can find me there. "C'est quoi, ça?" they ask. "Ben... c'est mon adresse de courrier électronique et...
Nearing the finish line
posted by srah on April 10, 2003 6:52 AM
Tags: assistantship, teaching
I just found out that both of my Thursday classes are cancelled next week. My Tuesday classes are having parties, so I finish working Monday at 4pm. It's all happening so suddenly. I want to take pictures of my students, but I'm not going to catch up with everyone. I want to tell everyone to look me up if they come to the States, but I forget when the end of the hour rolls around. I'm still learning people's names. I barely know these kids, and I would have liked to have had the chance to know them better. I...
Sarah Sarah über alles
posted by srah on April 10, 2003 5:37 AM
Tags: assistantship, health
I have declared myself la reine des mouchoirs, due to my constant sniffling and nose-blowing. I have invited Andrés to be le roi, as he is the latest victim of the Vichy Death Plague and we sniffled and suffered together all weekend, surely infecting everyone else. I also declared myself Emperor of Germany, but that's just because I'm insane....
Well? Who needs to get well?
posted by srah on April 8, 2003 4:09 AM
Tags: assistantship, health
I am off to Aurillac again this evening, to spend some bonding time with my fellow assistants before we are cruelly torn apart by the Fates. Hopefully I will come up with something to do in class on Thursday while I am there. Hopefully I will get some sleep and my cold will get better - or at least not any worse. Hopefully my little friends will all sign my cahier de souvenirs and we will dance and joyously sing. Or something. Goodbye and I'll blog to you on Thursday....
Un seul élève
posted by srah on April 7, 2003 4:25 PM
Tags: assistantship, teaching
One student. ONE STUDENT! At the last class session before I leave! Cursèd bureaucracy. They could have told us in advance that the students would be doing oral exams today and would miss class. It is a lot harder to be an assistant if you never have any students to assist....
Have you been snuffled by a mammoth today?
posted by srah on April 5, 2003 4:34 PM
Tags: assistantship, auvergne, travel, vulcania
Andrés, Claude, Renata, and my drugged-up self went on a car trip this afternoon to Vulcania, a museum/learning experience in the middle of the chaîne des puys. It is an enormous place and required more than the three hours we had for it. The subject is volcanoes and it focuses a bit on the puys, but it also touches on other seismic activity and volcanoes all over the world. It reminded me somewhat of Dynamic Earth, minus the lovely narration by John Hannah. There were many interesting video presentations, including one in 3-D (complete with groovy glasses) showing different eras...
What to do?
posted by srah on April 5, 2003 4:25 PM
Tags: assistantship, teaching
I have two weeks left teaching. That means I'm going to see some of my students for the last time this week. I ought to do something really special, but I don't know what. I have to take pictures and bake a lot of cookies or banana bread or pumpkin pie. I have to come up with a superfun game to play and remember to give everyone my email address, but I also still have to keep from giving the teachers the impression that I'm slacking off because it's the end of my time here (even if it's true). Ah,...
More drug-crazed ramblings
posted by srah on April 5, 2003 7:21 AM
Tags: assistantship, boys, health, medicine
At least I realize they're drug-crazed ramblings. That's something, at least. In between sending telegrams to The Front (textos to Renata), my other personality, the Major-General, has come up with the observation that girls are like cats and boys are like dogs. Or maybe it was me who came up with that. It's so crowded in there, it's hard to tell. Anyway, between the two (or seventeen, or however many there are) of us, we have managed to forget the evidence to support our claim, except that boys are often less complicated and more eager and drool a lot more....
What ho!
posted by srah on April 5, 2003 7:01 AM
Tags: assistantship, health, medicine
I don't believe in silverware. Especially when I'm sick. It's soup bowls to mouths for the duration, laddies! Has anyone else noticed that these drugs seem to have turned me into a British officer from a WWII movie? I better not run into Stefan or Johanna until I've recovered, or I might feel obliged to "stick it to the Jerries." Whatever that means. Toodle-oo, chaps!...
Lunchtime... or the munchies?
posted by srah on April 5, 2003 6:39 AM
Tags: assistantship, health, medicine
I sink I am a widdle dwugged out by the Fervex. It may be, however, that I want to be drugged out and am making myself think that I am. Intewesting....
A la pharmacie
posted by srah on April 5, 2003 6:20 AM
Tags: assistantship, france, health, medicine
I don't know what it's like at a pharmacy/chemist's in England or Sweden or Jamaica or Australia or wherever else you're reading from, but American pharmacies tend to be quite discreet. If you have diarrhea,