Aquagym

Okay so it's been a fairly long time (in my world) since I wrote about my life in France.

A brief summary before I launch into my daily happenings. My house here is great, I have a lot of independence, but at the same time, I do have a surrogate mother here. I haven't had to faire any cuisine which is really nice and lets me experience the vrai French culture.

Last Thursday was the social with the teachers, in a village hall, where everyone brought food. So delicious, and so middle class. It was really nice to meet all the teachers and I'm quite impressed with myself that I can actually understand French. Clearly my £3,564 a year is giving me some benefits.

So Friday came around and I went back into the college, sat in on a few more classes and had that embarrassing "This is the new English assistant, take pity on her because she's new. Now ask her questions" [insert awkward silence here] moment. After that, I had my first experience in a French college canteen. Pretty impressive if you ask me. The French are so cultured that they give their kids brie and grapes at lunch time in schools, rather than the chewed up grey meat and random combinations one usually finds in British school dinners.

Friday evening swung around and I visited La Ferté-Bernard, a teeny tiny town near here with a pretty swell Church (research it if you wish, I give you permission). Lots of Gothic architecture and olde towne buildings. After that, a sample of a most delicious fruity beer and then back to Nogent for some dinner.

On Saturday we had a soirée, consisting of mainly crêpes and a really rather tasty cider, made by the cousin of one of the guests at said soirée. The woman who came over brought her children, who generally tend to look at foreigners as if they have an extra leg on their head. A nice evening nonetheless.

Sunday rolled round and I decided that, instead of getting up ridiculously early on Monday for our induction day in Orléans, I wanted to book a hotel. I was expecting the arrival of Ara, the new Argentinian assistant at 11 o'clock so off I toddled to the station to collect her. Alas, no sign. I returned later when the next train came in and alas, again, no sign. When I returned at 5 to make my merry way to Orléans, there she was, looking so tired and fed up. Apparently a broken suitcase in Paris can delay you for a few hours... Two hours [and a whole dose of guilt] later, there we were in Orléans, and after a few suitcase-related mishaps, we arrived at our hotel. A little later we met up with another assistant for pizza (nom nom nom) and then back to our hotel to sleep.

It's rather nice to hang with Ara because elle ne parle pas anglais, so we always have to speak in French. Which I guess is sort of what I am here for.

So, the induction day on Monday. The inevitable happened and all the English were magnetised together et donc au revoir le français! Anyway, it was nice to meet all the assistants and when I got back I was glowing with what lay ahead of me.

Today, I have been watching lessons all day. It was enlightening and I got to know what sort of thing I'll be helping with next week. Surprisingly, given that they're French and all, everyone at the school has been really good with the admin side of things. My co-ordinator is really nice and I went swimming with her this evening.

A little word of advice; aqua gym is the hardest thing ever. Okay, imagine tread mills, cycle machines, all your normal gym machines, but underwater. Now, imagine a minute on each of these machines, being shouted at in French to go faster, even though all your limbs are crying, then changing for the next machine for another torturing minute. For 45 minutes. Et voilà.

In terms of my French, I can already feel that it's improving. I think, however, I must have said the words "d'accord", "exactement" and "oui" about a million times since I've got here.

Tomorrow is my first day with nothing to do and I'm going to cherish the opportunity to be in bed for as long as is socially acceptable.

If you have read this far, congratulations, and I hope you have been enlightened to my franglais life.