WOOF Weekend

My roommate James spent the two weeks before arriving in Lyon on an organic goat farm about two hours to the southeast of us. He raved so much about his time there that we all managed to get ourselves invited this vacation when he went back to visit. I have only a bit of time here, but in the four days we had there, I herded goats, picked apples, helped feed animals, harvested potatoes, made fresh pasta, attended a wild hippie jazz soirée in a barn, and ate lots of extremely local and delicious food. Here are some photos, and hopefully a more thorough update to follow. Until then, I am off to Florence for the rest of break!
PS. So if you haven't yet had the pleasure of hearing about or experiencing this global phenomenon, WOOFing is working on an organic farm. Check out the details on wwoof.org.

Captions: the barn party, the two male goats fight over an uninterested female, goats graze peacefully, and the farm from the fields.

Toussaint!

I think it is ironic that I was almost better at updating while biking cross-country, but I swear, life is busy here. The biggest news of the day is that we bought a bread machine! It sounds a little ridiculous for a year abroad, I admit, but seriously, bread is a big part of life here, and seeing as it was only 49 euros, and we 5 colocs (=colocataires, roomies) certainly have already spent that much on bread, it was a bargain. Not to mention that unless Obama is elected, I never plan to come home...
Anyway, other than that, I have been working a lot this week, trying to catch up on things before the vacation that starts now. I made my short stories class read my old favorite, Angela Carter, which was loads of fun, and interesting, as the guys ended up liking her crazy feminist stories better than the girls in the class. Who'd a thunk it.
So tomorrow morning bright and early I leave with three of the roomies to the organic goat farm where James WOOFed (international organization, which lets you Work On an Organic Farm) before arriving in Lyon. I am absurdly excited, and plan to post pictures upon my return. We will be there until Tuesday, and then Tuesday night I leave on a sleeping train from Lyon to Florence, where I will hang with Erin, and surround myself with art, gelato, and pasta. Check back in a week or so for more stories!

Aix Les Bains etc

Life was good this weekend. It was the most amazing Indian summer. On Saturday we went to Aix les Bains, a charming town by the largest lake in France, where we found a market, ate by the lake, and walked all over town. Sunday we went to Vieux Lyon to walk around and enjoy the weather while it lasted. Since I haven't yet uploaded the photos from that adventure, accept this one of Puy en Velay, where we went last weekend to see an old cathedral, a huge Mary statue on a hill (photo) and a cool monastery way up on a strange pointy mountain.
Now it is raining, and I feel like I am behind in lesson planning as usual. I have a lot of respect for teachers, I can't believe how hard it is to keep all the classes straight and try to remember everyone's individual questions and schedule conflicts etc! I like to think I am starting to get the hang of it, but I have a feeling this whole semester is going to be a little hairy. I am constantly just barely staying ahead of the game, and still getting used to my materials and finding good resources and struggling with the many technologies of the language lab and teaching myself the ins and outs of English grammar at least well enough to come up with answers to the many questions that inevitably come up in class. I can't believe how complicated English grammar seems, full of exceptions and nuances as every language is, I suppose. I am currently making up my very first test! Oh, the power...

On y va!

So I have been meaning to start a French blog, because I am busy and/or lazy I can't respond to individual emails. But having had a cast and brace and such on my wrist until this week, it hasn't happened until now. In case you missed the story, I was riding my sweet french bike that I bought used from this awesome old guy, when suddenly this kid whipped out on his scooter from behind a bus stop to cross the street without looking. I swerved hard in order to avoid him, but I took the fall instead. So I fractured my wrist in early September which was unfortunate, but I got to witness the French socialized health care system up close, and had pretty good experiences. It was interesting to have a cast for the first time, and it was exceeding awkward to try to teach myself to be a lefty, but I am newly free wristed and loving it. It still hurts if I put a lot of weight on it, so I try not to and it seems fine.

So life is Lyon is really awesome. Teaching is a little terrifying because it turns out I am essentially a college professor. I teach three courses, six sections in all, and I was given the course titles and then was told to run along and create my own lesson plans, find all my own materials and etc. Considering my students are college and grad students attending the most prestigious university in France, this is kind of intense. It's tons of work, and I still feel sort of overwhelmed by the whole thing. I spend most of the time trying to appear basically intelligent and rapidly overcoming any fears of public speaking which I may formerly have suffered. And when I am well-prepared, which is much the time, I really do love it, so it has its own rewards.

My living situation could hardly be better. My room is huge, I have my own bathroom and little balcony. My roomies here (a Tunisian, a Brit, a Canadian and my colby friend) are amazing, we are great friends and do almost everything together. We take turns cooking family dinners every night, and hang out with a bunch with a ragtag band of International and French students we have befriended. Lyon is beautiful, there is the most glorious park/zoo/botanical garden (see photo), beautiful old historic silkweaving sections, great museums, restaurants, etc. There are great bike and pedestrian paths all along the Rhone River, the markets are always fun, and we have been exploring the larger French countryside, and generally revelling in all things (especially gastronomically) French.

I will post some photos also to get started on a good foot, and post any questions you have! Thanks for reading,
Charlotte