Throwin' in the towel...

Okay kids, here's the scoop.

By this point in time, it has become painfully clear that I will not be finding a job in France this time around. So the practical, logical, and fiscally responsible thing to do is to come back to Seattle ahead of schedule.

I certainly have enough money saved to stay here for another month, and as tempting as that sounds, I think it would be a poor decision. I would be eating into my life's savings to bum around in Montpellier while still not being able to experience it to its fullest because let's face it, one should not spend their life savings like they're on vacation, especially when I don't have a job or even an apartment lined up back in Seattle.

My coming home ahead of schedule does not mean that I have failed at my mission here. I knew prior to coming here that finding a job would be difficult. But it was only after having spoken to people face-to-face that I truly saw what a challenge it is. When the best advice people can give you is to get married, there is something seriously wrong. I have heard several times now that I should have gone to Paris, that there are more jobs there. I understand this, but to me (and the vast majority of the French population), France and Paris are two completely different entities. Living elsewhere in France and living in Paris are not equal. Paris and I are not a good fit.

Before I bounce out of my favorite place on Earth, I am heading to Lyon where Florent will pick me up (there is talk of going to the Alps!), and then to Paris for a couple days to see Stéphane and if Katherine or Aimée are available while I'm there, I'll hit them up too. I plan on enjoying these last few days to the fullest, and certainly stuffing my face with as many escargots as I can manage before my arteries clog from the butter overload. I have only been here 2 months, and in that time I have met some really great people. You will be missed, all of you. Especially Terri, the British woman from whom I rent my apartment. She is quite possibly one of the best human beings on the planet, and I hope I see her and her equally-as-kickass husband again soon.

I have mixed emotions about this decision. Part of me can't wait to get back to the States, and the other part of me is shrieking, "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" But ultimately, it is the right decision and I'll hopefully be better off for it.

To be unemployed in France...

Sorry for the radio silence everybody...I don't feel like I have that much to update. But here's what's going on!

Now that I have finished my course and am officially certified to teach English as a Foreign Language, the job hunt has begun.

I finished my course a little over a week ago. Since then, I have spent hours updating my CV in both English and French (there is a HUGE difference between what a CV looks like in America, and what is expected in France). Thanks to Florent, my amazing friend who took hours out of several days to debate the differences and help me assemble mine in both a professional and aesthetically pleasing way.

In terms of long-time employment in France goes...I have applied to Universities and language schools. I have also read on several applications "will not sponsor visa" and have been told outright "no", usually followed by a little chuckle. Hiring an American is a bureaucratic mess, apparently. But I am assured by the bartender at a local English pub that there are several Americans who come into the pub who work here legally teaching English, who are not married to a European, and who are not students themselves. I forgot to ask if their parents are both American or not. Oh well. He has encouraged me to hang around more in order to meet them and get their stories. Just what an unemployed person needs: to hang out in a pub.

As far as short-term employment: I have applied to several teaching online positions, and I have papered the city of Montpellier with flyers for English lessons. I have one client so far, but there was a screw-up on timing, and I won't actually get to meet him until next week. I've seen several of my flyers with my phone number ripped off, but no actual calls yet. It's a good thing I like to read. I've also been doing odd jobs for my landlady and her husband, which provides me a tiny bit of extra pocket money.

English teaching positions in France are in fairly low-demand, poorly paid, and because it is such a desirable place to live, the competition is pretty fierce. I am not discouraged though. If I am unable to find a job here, I will be setting my sights on other countries where the demand is high, competition is low, and the jobs are better paid. These exist in countries like Japan, Thailand, Vietname, China, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E., all of which I would not mind spending a year or two teaching in. And it is this kind of experience that can lead to a better position in the long run. Because the demand for teachers is higher, they tend to pay for things like visa, housing, airfare, vacations, and insurance, as well as a decent salary on top of all that. There are very few, if any, teaching positions available to someone with my little experience that would pay for even half of that. So that is my backup plan. Either way, I will most likely be returning to the States on the 2nd of July, as previously planned.

I have been putting my photos on facebook because uploading is about 200X faster than loading them onto my blog, so sorry to anyone who doesn't have facebook! I will show you pictures at some point, I promise!

Started class, and some photos.

So...Montpellier, eh? This place is pretty amazing. The weather has been perfect. Sunny, warm, and breezy. We've had the windows open in class all day, and I keep my window open in my room when I am in it.

Class has been enjoyable (granted it has only been two days so far). My instructor is a British man named Huge, and my classmates are Welsh, Canadian, French-American, and Russian, all of whom are great people. We start teaching in a private high school next week...something I am dreading given past experiences I have had with French high schoolers...

I found a place to live for May and June, thankfully! It is half the price of the rent I paid for this month, and I will have my own kitchen. I can't wait to take photos of this place, it makes my current apartment look pathetic in comparison. This means no more OCD landlady! (Seriously though, this woman could use a psychotherapist.) Okay, here are some photos!

My current room:

The stairway inside my apartment building:

A church near my building...

The church again...

An old bath...

I need to take more photos of these, but every time I see a new one, I smile. I love Exit Through the Gift Shop. I've found three space invaders so far!

My walk home from school...

Walking home from school through the park where I rollerskate...

Place de la Comédie

One of the many cafés next to my place...

I miss my scooter!!!

La préfecture...

If you turn left from this road...

You see this little alley...

And if you go down that alley, you'll find my giant door.

Inside my building! (or at least my building until the end of the month!) For scale, that little white mailbox is at eye level for me, and that door is HEAVY.

Hope you liked them! I'll write more next time...

L'arrivée...

After what was quite possibly the shortest 22 hours of my life, I find myself sitting in a cafe in Montpellier, drinking my 3rd coffee of the morning wondering what the locals think of this tired, stinky (I really need a shower), and slightly twitchy (copious amounts of coffee and fatigue shouldn't always go together) girl sitting in the corner surrounded by stacks of luggage. Probably nothing, but I can't help but wonder.

The three flights over felt short and incredibly easy - probably because I slept through the majority of them. Paris was overcast and dreary, so when we took off for Montpellier, I had no problem falling asleep instead of looking excitedly out the window. I woke up right at the perfect time - as the overcast clouds came abruptly to an end, all that could now be seen were tiny villages dotting the French countryside, grey stone gorges lined with trees, and the occasional snow-capped mountaintop. As we came closer to Montpellier, the snow-capped Pyrenees came into view, followed shortly by the brilliant blue of the Mediterranean. Landing in Montpellier is great, you come from the north, fly out over the sea, then turn sharply around and land right on the edge of the water. If you hadn't spotted the runway in passing, one would most likely think that you were going to land IN the water. I will admit that I definitely thought that for a blip of a moment... I grabbed my bag and got to the city in a matter of minutes, grabbed a French cell phone, and found where I would be living. Pamela is currently at work, which is why I am saturating in my own filth in a cafe right now instead of stashing my luggage and getting cleaned up. She should be home soon, so I'll have to trudge back up the hill in the warm sun with all my luggage here shortly.

I start classes on Monday. After that, I should have a better idea of how this whole job hunt will go. But until then, I have a weekend to adjust to the time change and explore this beautiful city!

Coming to America...

Well, I am back in the States. It has been a tumultuous and emotional ride. I have a great apartment, and I got a job right away (as a waitress in a hotel restaurant who plays nothing but elevator music...FML). The stress of coming back and dealing with everything has subsided for the most part, but I really miss France and my friends (Kat and Cait especially, this is painful without you guys).

I have been working for Manda on the side, whitewashing fences Tom Sawyer-style. It is good money, tax-free and everything. Plus it is outside, which is a nice change.

I don't know if I will keep up the blog or not now that I am back in the States, but just know that my ultimate goal is to go back to France. So basically I will be working my butt off constantly.

The End is Near...

Well family and friends, my stay in France is coming to a close (this has made me extremely sad). But, as the French say, "il faut profiter". This is a saying that translates to, "one must take advantage [of the situation]"...but I like the French version better. Anyway, I have been "profiting" with what little time I have left here.

It seems highly improbable that I will be returning next year. It is not definitive, but basically I have a place only if next year's assistants decide not to come. Apparently this is a new thing this year...no one is really happy with it, either. My friend Stéphane has said he will try to help me get a job so I don't have to leave, so last night I translated my CV into French. My fingers are crossed!

This is what I have been up to lately:

Gad Elmaleh
---I drove to Nancy (about an hour away) with Cait to see the stand-up comedy of Gad Elmaleh, a Moroccan actor/comedian who is in most of my favorite French movies. It was fantastic, aside from getting stuck in the parking lot for an hour afterwards and getting home at 2:30 am when I had to be at work at 8:30. It was well worth it though! I don't know if I have ever laughed that hard in my life.

Jules' Birthday
---Jules is my favorite student, and I also happen to be friends with his mom. Cait, Kat, and I were invited to his birthday party. His whole family was there plus us and some other family friends. It was beautiful out, so we had a long, very French lunch outside on the patio. Sylvie (Jules' mom) bought him a bike for his birthday, and he had no idea - it was the cutest thing when she disappeared and reappeared with a bike much to Jules' surprise.

Chantilly and the Prix de Diane
---This last weekend, Cait and I went to Paris and Chantilly. We didn't do a whole lot in Paris on Saturday, just walked around and then hung out in a park for an hour and a half. Sunday we went to Chantilly (about 30 min away from Paris by train) to see the Prix de Diane (aka the French Oaks)! It was beautiful out (I got sunburned), and we walked around les Grandes Ecuries (the Grand Stables of Paris) and the Château before the races. Everyone was dressed so nicely, and there were many an extravagent hat to be seen! All the photos are on my webalbum.
Did I mention the horses were breathtakingly beautiful?

An American Breakfast for some very French children
---I decided to treat two of my classes to a classic American breakfast consisting of pancakes and maple syrup, bacon, and orange juice. It was, needless to say, a huge success. Photos are on my webalbum.

Reims and Champagne!
---Cait and I didn't work yesterday (I didn't work today either, but that wasn't my fault) so we decided to take the train to Reims (pronouced rhnnce), one of the two capitals of the Champagne region (Epernay being the second). We toured the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims, the Basilica of Saint Remigius, and the champagne cave of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. The weather was beautiful - I am again sunburned (I swear I wore sunscreen both times!), and we did a lot of walking. Reims, with a population of 200,000+ is a little bit bigger than Bar le Duc (18,000) and requires a lot more walking than we were really prepared to do. It was a Wednesday well spent, and I would love to go back and tour more caves! Photos on webalbum.

So today I did everything I could possibly do to prepare for my departure, other than packing my bags. My insurance, internet, bank account, social security and address are all lined up to be canceled now...sigh. I don't want to leave! But hey, at least I have a week in Barcelona before I go back to the States!

I apprehensively return to the States July 13th, around 7pm. See you then!

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/koehn.kathryn

Ca fait longtemps...

Well family and friends, and whoever so chooses to read this blog, it has been awhile.

The family came to visit for Easter vacation, which was fantastic. Photos complete with captions are available on my picture site.

http://picasaweb.google.com/koehn.kathryn/


Work -

Work has been better than ever. I am taking my job much more seriously than in the past, and actually sticking it to several of the teachers by actually assigning and correcting homework. I have decided there is a fatal flaw in the education of English to the French, which is that the English teachers (the majority of whom do not actually speak English themselves) focus on vocabulary, but not grammar. The kids can say individual words but not actually formulate a simple sentence or question. The vast majority do not know that "is" and "are" are actually the same verb.

We recently gave the most advanced level of students (CM2) the national evaluations. I found that the only classes in which the children had a remote chance of passing were those in which the teacher actually spoke English. This is what spurred my desire to actually fix this problem. Amazingly enough, my kids still like me after I went from nothing but games and singing to actually having to write.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't forgotten about games completely! Here is a puzzle I created in order to teach the vocabulary of the body, using everybody's favorite lazy bum, Homer Simpson.

Home Sweet Crap -

All of my roommates had shorter contracts than me, so they are all done working. Scott and Kat moved out (Kat found a job in BLD, so she is still around, thank you Jeebus!), and Julia is leaving sometime this week as well. This leaves me all by my lonesome in a 6-floor dormitory. There are high school students here during the week, but all they do is make irritating sounds. On the weekends, I will be completely alone. They also don't turn on the outside lights on the weekends...fun.

Oh, and the fire alarm rings a lot. It is ringing at this very moment and I have gotten so used to it that I no longer leave the building. This place is like living in a skinner box without the reward system.


The Social Life -

My dear sweet Burgey (Katherine) came to France before Easter vacation, so I went to Paris to hang out with her for a day. That was fantastic!


Manda came to visit right before the family did, and with her credit card I rented a car for us and we drove to Germany for the day. Sadly, my faithful little Canon Powershot died on this trip, forcing me to get a new one and be completely broke for a month. I survived, and I have a new camera!
I am still hanging out with the normal French crew, but I have made many other friends in recent weeks. I spend time with Sylvie, who happens to be the mother of one of my favorite and brightest (and incredibly polite) students, Jules. Sylvie and her friends and I get along great and we have tea every once and awhile (they all have kids so they are all busy busy busy). Sylvie has put me on her insurance and lends me her car when she doesn't need it. (And I love driving manual transmission!). I have also made friends with the son of Coco (a friend of Sylvie), and his friends, but they are only here on weekends as they are away at school. It has only been getting better living here, amazingly enough. I would have thought I would be home sick by now, but as the date to leave gets closer and closer, I find more and more reasons to stay.


Bureaucratic Mess -

Kat and I have applied for this program a second time. Apparently the French Ministry of Education has eliminated the longer contract (the one I have now), so if I come back again next year, it will be only for 7 months.

There is a lot up in the air at the moment as to what I will do this summer. It hasn't been stressing me out, strangely enough. I am debating between many choices at the moment, but most of it will be determined by my re-acceptance to this program or not. I will find out about that in May, and then I will know what to do.


That is pretty much it - I hope you enjoyed my post! It may be awhile until there is another!