what a day!

Wow what a day, not bad but ranks up there with crazyness! I left (as usual on a Wednesday) at 7:25am to catch my 7:39 train. As I got nearer to the station I noticed a train sitting there, I thought oh, that's funny usually there's isn't a train to Cherbourg at that time, huh. As I got closer I realized it wasn't moving... oh well it looks like its on the other tracks, should be fine.

I got up to the station and realized it was on my tracks but was not my cute little TER but a big Paris-bound train... glup.

On the board my train was supprimé and the next train (leaving at 8:02) was expected with a 30-minute delay.. double glup.

So I called my collegue and then the secretary's office saying that not only would I be late for my 9:15am class but that I was giving them one of their final exams today and so please don't let the students leave! They both said no problem, they would make sure the students stayed.
So I finally arrive at 10am and rush up to the classroom where my angles were waiting for me. But alas, it was a video exam (comprehension) and the TV I ordered was not there... glup glup glup...

Track down the TV guy, admit it was my fault (even though it wasn't!) to appease him and get a TV. He brings it. I rush through the beginning of the exam, turn on the video and glup glup glup glup no pause button on the remote. So I had to sit with my head bent under the TV pausing it as they take their test.

Things go well, I haven't graded them yet but I think the students did pretty well. I had a nice lunch with my colleges and Sarah and I grab the tram to head into town. A few stops in, glup, the tram stops and says that a big demonstration has blocked the tram system and we could wait or get out there! So we got into town and continued on foot.

I went on my way to the pool (told Sarah that if the pool was closed I might have to kill someone) and had a lovely swim. The rest of the afternoon went great, got to see a good friend and have some tea before catching the (ontime) train home.

But man was that a stressful morning! So glad my students kept their cool even after their teacher was on the fritz! :-) I guess its easy when you blame the SNCF ... !

bad blogger!

Shame shame! I've been a lazy blogger! But a busy one ;-) Last weekend on Saturday the Katester and I made a little journey out to Cherbourg, complete with rain and al! One of our colleagues from the lycee sings in a choir and they were giving a free concert in a beautiful (but frozen as the heat was en panne..) church. We got into town late afternoon and took a look at the Christmas market. I think that one is one of my favorites! There were so many local stands and not just made in China stickers like in Caen.
As it got darker we wandered around, did some shopping and then ran into a bubble machine! There was a random little machine like some sort of soapy pied pipper blowing bubbles all through the streets!
The concert was fun, but since the heat wasn't working I was so eager to go home and thaw out my feet! We got a ride back to V-town and the next day the weather cleared up and with Mystery Guest we took a drive out to Portbail to do a little geochaching. Sadly we didn't find the cache but we had a great time :-)
Since then things have gotten a little hectic, tram strikes in Caen etc.. But I've also had fun preparing Christmas and Mystery Guest's birthday on the 23rd. :-) I've got a little mystery Christmas presents up my sleeve tee hee.

I've also taken care of a lot of administrative things today, finally got around to calling the Prefecture about my driver's license. It is true that I can pass the written exam (le code) without going through an auto-ecole but it was difficult to get the right info. I went into our town hall in the afternoon and the poor woman there was even more confused, I don't think they get a lot of Americans in asking about taking the French license... ha! I went into an auto-ecole after the town hall directed me there, I was worried about them trying to rope me into signing up there and paying them money but the woman was really nice. She helped me fill out the paperwork and told me that after I passed my code I could come in and take a few hours of driving lessons without having to pay the frais de dossier! Cool beans. I might get through my license without spending more than 200e (if a French person starts from scratch it can cost well over 1,000e!)

I also made sure to call the unemployment service this week since there had been a miscommunication concerning my last paystub. I had good news though! Because I took a job this year that was a big pay cut from last year I get a certain amount of compensation from the unemployment insurance per month! Cha-ching! I thought I was only going to get money for the month of September when I was unemployed but actually it keeps coming! Great! I guess it makes sense, the thing is that I would be getting more money by being on unemployment than taking a low paying job (like this one) so it encourages people to work I guess. Works for me anyway!

for KC

The manif from Thursday at my lycee in C-town.

commute

This photo was taken this morning in V-town waiting for the train only to arrive at work to find out that the students had blocked the high school protesting the new reforms. According to the teachers it is the first time the students have ever blocked the school in its 20 year history, not even during the CPE a few years ago.

I wonder how long the strike will play out, I could see it gathering momentum and lasting until Christmas... who knows...