No Power, No Heat

The electricity went off in my school yesterday around noon, and with it the heat and hot water! Something broke just on the school's power grid so that all the buildings next to us were perfectly fine. After my last class, I spoke to the teacher (I had taken a group of four to a separate room to discuss job interviews), and she told me that the power wouldn't be on until the evening. Later, as the sun was going down, that prospect seemed doubtful. Luckily, Lizzie had come over as is now a Monday ritual to watch the new episode of The Walking Dead. She suggested I could stay with her if the power did not come on, and happily the family she works for didn't mind having me! I packed up a few things in the last minutes of daylight, with the aid of Lizzie's headlamp (how many girls keep one of those in their purse?), and went into Rennes for refuge from the cold and dark night descending upon us (and in search of crepes). On the way out we ran into the nurse, who was coming to check on me, and I learned that the power was not to be on until the next morning, and that classes were canceled until the afternoon because of it!

I was able to spend the night in a warm house after all, and meet the kids that Lizzie works with. The little boy Léon is so cute, as of course is the baby. I do not know as of yet whether the power is back on at school... I will venture in that direction shortly. It has been quite cold for Rennes this morning, -5 Celcius (23 Fahreinheit), but it seems to be unusually cold all over at the moment! I had better go, à bientôt!

Parisian Gargoyles and French Cowboys

Happy Thanksgiving!

I confess the end of November is not my favorite time to be in France. The lack of Thanksgiving here stands out to me like a sore thumb. The Christmas markets are being set up, but not yet open, and the town is still in the process of being decorated. There is a lull where Thanksgiving should be. Still, there's been lot's going on here.

Saturday night I was invited to a "Bal Country" in a little village just south of Rennes... I was surprised at what I found there! A whole load of French people had gathered to do line dancing in cowboy hats & all sorts of gear to good ol' country tunes, a lot of which were probably recording in Nashville. I imagine it wasn't all that different from what I might see at the dance club Cotton Eye Joes in Knoxville, but we were missing a mechanical bull. These people apparently had been taking classes for a while, because each song had a corresponding dance that was not exactly self-evident. Lizzie, Elza (a russian language assistant I invited along), and myself tried to follow along the best we could to the less difficult dances. Still, it was great fun! They sold food, drinks, and cowboy gear, and everyone was very friendly.

Tonight I am tutoring the vice-principal's two oldest kids for the second time. Their family lives just next to me, and they asked me if I would be interested in giving English lessons weekly to their daughters, ages 8 and 14. The family is really nice. They also have a young son with autism. Apparently there is a concert for children with autism going on at a hospital nearby next month, and I might have the opportunity to participate in it! I think a little banjo and wazoo would entertain any crowd.

Over the long weekend thanks to the eleventh of November, Lizzie and I had the chance to go to Paris. It was grey, cold, and rainy for most of it. But hey, it's Paris! I had already been to most of the known sights and museums, but one thing I hadn't done is climb the tower of the Notre-Dâme de Paris. This was my favorite activity of the weekend. Although we didn't have to pay because I have my "Pass Éducation" and it's free for EU citizens under 26, I still had doubts about it being worth the line we waited in to get up there. It definitely was, and the long, narrow spiral staircases up to the top with rusty handrails were only part of the experience! The view from the top was excellent despite the fog, but even better was a close-up look at all the grotesques and gargoyles jutting out from the sides of this massive church. I encourage taking a look at the pictures!

note:
I had to go to Quick to post this, a French/Belgian fast food chain. You'd think the Belgians would know their fries, but they were not up to the standard of McDonald's! I don't like either restaurant, but I confess I can appreciate a few french fries (but not the French kind...) every once in a while.

Talking Immigration and Metro Danger

It is Tuesday yet again; how time flies! I didn't work today because the students I normally see had fallen behind due to the strikes and needed to be tested. So, that means that today was like most of my days as of late: of my own making. What with grocery shopping, buying train tickets, listening to all of the new music I checked out from the library, meditation practice and yoga, the day filled up quickly. I am at the library in Rennes at the moment, and planning on checking out even more cds... most of them Blues of course. I found a five-disc set of Charlie Patton recordings. Oddly enough, not all the songs are of Charlie Patton.

Yesterday morning I walked into class to be handed a sheet of paper by the teacher depicting three scenes related to immigration in the U.S., and was told to take a handful of students from the class and spend the hour discussing the definition of immigration, the pros and cons of immigration, and helping the students describe the three photos on the sheets. "I wonder how this is going to go," I thought to myself as I received these instructions. Talking about such a topic with no preparation struck me as a bit odd, but as I began asking the students about immigration things fell into place, and in fact we didn't even have time to describe the last of the three pictures. I can't say that we discussed anything terribly insightful, but I think the point was more to get them to talk and expand their vocabulary. Later that afternoon I worked with four students on reading and responding to a text about high school part-time jobs in the US. I must say, I am surprised to find the immense difficulty some students have in reading aloud in English. I hope I can be of assistance, but as I see the same students so very little I fear I will not help them improve much!

This weekend Lizzie and I met up with a few other TAs, one Irish, one German, and one Jamaican, for cider and a chat, and then dinner at their apartment the following night. We had planned a trip to Mont St Michel on Sunday, but alas, the rain made the prospect rather unattractive. Lizzie and I did, however, have an adventure of sorts Sunday night. Coming back from a film, we were walking down the stairs of the metro station only just in time to see the train pulling away. Then we heard an announcement: that was, in fact, the last one that we had just missed. We walked back up the stairs to see a gate slowly closing over the second set of stairs leading to freedom. We though this meant we had better take the elevator. We stood at the elevator for a few seconds before Lizzie pointed out the "hors service" light lit on the side. The elevator was closed for the night! We ran back to the stairs and literally just made it in time to slide past the closing gate before being caught underground. I assume we could have contacted someone if we had been closed in, but I don't really want to find out! Moral of the story: find out when metro stations close and stay away from them at this time. Walking home from the center of Rennes wasn't exactly what we had in mind for the evening, but I am just glad it wasn't raining like it has been the past few days.

I have more pictures up of Lannion. I encourage a look; it is truly beautiful along the coast!

Breton, Seafood, and a New Old Car

My vacation is coming to an end, and soon it will be back to the grind, slaving away with French students 12 hours per week. Before this happens, let me recount some of the notable events of the past week or so. First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome little Anna into the world. The mother who my girlfriend Lizzie is working for had a baby girl a week ago today. She was back from the hospital two days later, and as far as I know everything is going well.

I was a bit of a film addict last week. Lizzie and I saw "Kaboom," a bit of an avant-garde film that I think is most enjoyable, provided one is prepared to accept the inexplicable and absurd. We also saw "The Town," which wasn't half bad. Last Wednesday night I saw "The Duelists," an English film from 1979. It was set during Napoleon's reign in France, and although the period costumes were quite nice I didn't really get much out of the film. I had brought my banjo into Rennes center that night, intending to play at an open mic I had read about after the film. I found the bar where the "scene ouverte" was taking place, but it was not what I expected. The mic was, in fact, open, but it came with a full band. Indeed, I was invited to play my banjo backed by a drum set, a bass, and electric guitar. I decided to forgo playing "Liza Ray" or "Graveyards" (originals) and instead play some "Sweet Home Chicago". You couldn't really hear the banjo over everything else but it was fun. I then did "Wagon Wheel", which none of them had heard of. I suppose that song hasn't made it to France. I hung around and watched others sing Eagles and Beatles songs, and later sung "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and helped out with "Come Together." The evening reminded me of playing a live version of the video game "Rock Band" more than anything. Apparently that was the last evening they will be having the open mic until December, but I was told about another one that I intend to look into. I have decided that claw-hammer banjo doesn't really fit into rock music, so hopefully the next one will have a solo option.

My good friend Benjamin (old roommate from my days in Besançon) and his brother came to visit Friday, spending the night on their way to a wedding. Then Saturday morning Lizzie and I met my friend Iwan (old roomate from freshmen year of college) who just started work in Paris, and who was in Rennes with his car ready to take us to his parents' house in Lannion for the weekend. His parents speak Breton (the traditional language of Brittany) to Iwan and one another, which is closely related to Welsh. Experiencing the northern coast of Brittany was really interesting. We were able to walk along the coast in several locations and see gorgeous bays, islands, rock formations, and ports. I encourage you to check out the photos on Facebook. I was able to try a lot of seafood from the region, including oysters, shrimp, crepes with smoked trout, and mussels with french fries (the ever popular "moules-frites" dish).

Overall the trip was relaxing and very pleasant, which proved to be a stark contrast to the way back. Iwan had a train to catch at 9 pm Monday night, and we left Lannion around 6 pm. The drive normally takes 1 hour and 45 minutes, but Iwan did not factor in the large amount of people that were also traveling back towards Rennes as the vacation period was coming to a close. Traffic brought us to a crawl, and then a standstill. By 8 pm, we were still 68 kilometers from Rennes. We were beginning to doubt that Iwan would catch his train. The plan was originally to take the car to his grandfather's house and keep it there, with the possibility of me coming to use it later since Iwan could not keep it in Paris. By 8:30, Iwan knew that there was no time for this, and as the traffic had let up, he decided to race the clock to get to the station on time, and if he made it leave me with the car at least temporarily. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it! All three of us were in the car stressing unnecessarily about getting to the station while Iwan was cursing and weaving down the highway.

Unbelievably, we pulled up to the station just a few minutes before Iwan's train was due to depart. He jumped out, grabbed his suitcases, and ran into the station. I switched to the driver's seat. I would move the car to a nearby location and wait to make sure Iwan had caught the train. I cranked the engine. Uh-oh. The engine didn't start. I tried again. Cars in the drop off point behind me were getting impatient. I checked that the starter was on. It was. Still no luck. Lizzie pushed about 10 the car while I steered so we could let people by. I tried again. Then I got a call from Iwan, he made it on the train! I told him I was having some difficulty with the car. He assured me it would start if I kept trying. I was beginning to feel pretty anxious at this point, and unsure what to do if I couldn't get the car started. Finally I tried it with the starter off. The engine came to life! Now to figure out how to get from the center of Rennes to my school by car. I was surprised to find I managed it quite well! So, I currently have a car at my disposition, but I will use it as little as possible until I make sure I can be added as a secondary driver to the car or that it is fine for me to drive. At any rate, Iwan is happy for me to use it because otherwise it would be sitting in his grandfather's garage for as much as a year. This could come in handy!

Thanks for reading everyone.