Search in progress

So, I can’t really say too much about the job search so far. I’ve had several interviews and have seriously considered a couple of positions, but at this point I haven’t yet made any commitments. While the process is sort of stressful and I’d like to just settle on something, I just want to be honest and straightforward and find the best fit for myself.

In the meantime, I will continue to garden, read, clean, and ponder life at my parents’ house.

teaching

I spent the entire day at Jeff yesterday, observing and helping whenever I could. I have to say that it was exhausting! And I wasn’t even the one doing all of the teaching. It really amazes me that our society disrespects teachers so much (a.k.a. “those who can’t teach.”) when these are the people who are trying to guide the next generation of our society into being productive, responsible, and hopefully respectful people. I have to say, I really never realized how much hard work goes into teaching one day’s lessons – I really have so much respect for teachers now that I am starting to see the inner workings of schools.

“Australia”

Okay, so I love this song called “Australia” by the Shins. Today I randomly decided to watch the music video for this song on youtube, and I discovered that not only do I love this song but the music video is sweet! I love the lyrics to this song as well as the video, but I can’t say that I really understand the connection between the two. Anyway, it’s just a good video, so check it out:

Life is pretty good at the moment. I’ve just started a six week methods course which focuses on how children learn/acquire language and therefore what sorts of methods teachers should use in teaching foreign language at the K-6 level. It’s pretty interesting so far, and I’m glad that it is only twice a week because there is already a lot to do in preparation for student teaching.

A couple of good reads

So, after a cold during finals week, the ear infectoon which followed, and just recently an unpleasant encounter with the stomach flu, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will be healthy for the rest of this break! I did, however, get to read a couple of good books while recovering, so I thought I’d pass along the titles in case you are interested. The first is called _Ella Minnow Pea_ by Mark Dunn; it’s a novel written in letters and is very clever. The second is _The Birth House_ by Ami McKay; this is a story about a young woman who learns to be a midwife in Nova Scotia. It’s an interesting and thought-provoking story.

Well, that’s all for now. Happy New Year!

end of the semester

Not too much to report – it’s the end of the semester, so things are a little crazy. I’m teaching my last lesson (for this semester) at Jeff tomorrow. I’m just trying to stay organized and will try to study as much as possible this week. Honestly, I don’t think that my finals week will be too horrible this semester, so I’m thankful for that. I think I’m just ready for winter break and a little time to relax and organize my thoughts before student teaching. So, that’s about it for the exciting news from my life… hmmm.

Monsieur Strawberry

So I went to my first week of classes this past week, and I decided to go to too many so that I could find the ones that best suit me, etc. For most classes, you have a “cours magistral” and then “travaux diriges” – those are sort of like recitations that go along with lectures. So since I am taking French literature, I had to choose a century to go to, and at first I chose the 20th as I would have the opportunity to read Proust. However, the professor for this course started off the class by stating that he keeps a catalogue of the grammar / language mistakes his students make and that he would frequently interrupt his own lectures in order to point out the finer aspects of the French language which most people don’t understand as he does. He then talked for two hours (interrupting himself frequently with “langue francaise” notes) about how to present an exposé. This class is supposed to last for an hour and a half… Yes, that pretty much sums up the way this man teaches - ”well, surely you all don’t have another class until 10:00, therefore I can teach for two hours.” As eccentric as he is, it’s almost funny to listen to him. I think I will try to audit the class, because apparently this man is a sort of expert on Proust – he has written many books on him. However, I think I will take 17th century (aka Madame de Lafayette and ”les precieuses”) for a grade.

This leads perfectly to an article I read in Newsweek today (the library on campus has Newsweek in its periodicals room) about Sarkozy versus Sartre. I ended up really not enjoying the ending of this article as the writer praised Sarkozy for his lack of interest in intellectual pursuits… but the subject itself was quite interesting. Essentially Sarkozy wants the French people to become workers rather than thinkers, saying that French people really don’t get anything done because they over-analyze and over-discuss. I suppose there is validity in his request for the French people to work more, because those who are not contributing to society are certainly not all sitting around reading Rimbaud and Sartre and trying to form their own schools of philosophy. However, this article presented the opinion that thoughts are really not valuable, but rather action… work. I find this really baffling… how often do we say “think before you speak”? How often do we wish that we would have reflected on something a little longer before making a decision? I just can’t help siding with the French tradition of “le penseur.”  

My lack of snail mail correspondence

I know that I am way behind on writing / sending postcards, but please be patient with me. I have some already written… I just need to buy a bunch of stamps for the US!

Crocodile Tears

While riding the bus to campus this morning, I noticed a French lady with her very small son get on and find a seat. Thoroughly enjoying the ride through the city, the little boy exclaimed at each new thing he saw… a boulangerie, the Ill river, a beautiful church. As we approached the stop called Saint-Guillaume, the lady rose to move toward the exit. As you might imagine, the little boy was having much too good a time to comply with his mother, and therefore he decided to start crying hysterically as his mother forced him off the bus. What happened next really caught my attention. Upon exiting the bus, the boy was immediately facing a boat restaurant on the river. What could this place be? Curiosity arose immediately. And as quickly as his tears had come, they vanished and a grin spread across his face.

We never truly grow up, do we? I thought about this a lot today, as I have been shedding the same crocodile tears this week. Right now I can only see the mountain of reading and studying ahead of me and the lack of a certain scenery. But what could be better than stopping for a moment and enjoying the sight before my eyes? It’s true that things come more easily and quickly for me at Purdue, that the internet just works, and I can go home to see my family at just about any time I want.  However if I were to truly examine my situation I might find that I am experiencing something totally new and I have some pretty amazing opportunities right in front of me.  

Studying abroad is a truly unique experience, and I really can’t quite categorize how it’s been for me the past few weeks. It’s truly a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. So I hope this provides a little insight into my thoughts right now. 

French scrabble!

Note to reader: I wrote this blog post Sunday night (sept. 22)

 

I spent the day yesterday in Kehl, Germany which is just across the Rhine river from Strasbourg. A lot of things are much cheaper there, so I did a bit of shopping for school supplies. I think that everyone who lives in Strasbourg had the same idea as my friends and me, because I only heard French spoken while we were there. Oh, but good news – I saw lots of Birkenstocks for sale in Germany, and I think my goal for the year is to buy a pair of Birkenstocks in Germany to bring home with me. There is a park that stretches along both sides of the Rhine called le parc des deux rives, so we all sat there for a while and played French scrabble and talked about what classes we are going to take.

This morning I played with the toddlers during church, and that was really quite fun for me… I miss all my little cousins. I also met a French lady (Isabelle, I think) who teaches English in a high school in Strasbourg, and she was really interested to hear about how my university works in the States. She seems like a really lovely person, and she’s really nice about helping me with my French. Later I met Fatme, Romy, and another German girl to go see a band, but that turned out to be nothing much. So we walked around La Petite France for a while and then sat by the river and ate pizza. It’s funny, I’ve only known them for about a week and there’s a bit of a language barrier, but they’re really my closest friends so far here. I think they’re going to teach me German this year.

I haven’t watched television in over three weeks, and honestly I don’t miss it. I’m so glad to have my music, but I really don’t care that I don’t have/watch tv anymore.       

Better

Note to reader: I wrote this Friday night (sept. 21)

Well, what can I say, life is pretty good right now. My bank account is open, I have some pots and pans to cook with, and I think I’ve pretty much figured out which classes I am going to take. I went to IKEA yesterday with Fatme and we got some cookware, drinking glasses, etc. for really good prices. So tonight I tested the kitchen on my floor and made myself some dinner… which is actually a lot better than I thought it would be.

So, I need to explain about my classes… when I first went to the fac to get a copy of the course list, I explained that I am an exchange student etc. and the girl said yes no problem and gave me a really complicated dossier to fill out which had a lot of rules concerning which classes you can and cannot take. So I was pretty stressed about the whole situation, but yesterday I went to speak with Mme Pfaff who is responsible for foreign students within the letters department. And I found out that I have a lot more freedom to choose classes, I have a different form altogether to fill out, etc. So I was really quite relieved when I learned all that. I think that I will be taking mostly literature classes, maybe latin or an introduction to another language, a linguistics class, and perhaps a history class. And I think Fatme and I are taking mostly the same classes, which is really nice.

Tomorrow I am going over to Kehl which is in Germany, but it’s only like a 20 minute bus ride… I’m pretty excited to go just because I’ve never been to Germany and I’ll be with at least two German girls, so I think it should be really fun. I’ve also heard that it is much cheaper to shop for everyday stuff, so I’ll probably check that out. Last night I went to an Erasmus party which was not bad. I met a Swedish girl who lives in Robertsau in the same building that I do – she’s really nice.

And some other lovely news: I went to the fnac today and found that they have a lot of really good literature for really good prices… I bought an Andrée Chedid book for two euros.