Finally some Teaching Updates and Lyon Day Trip

Alrighty so I had a pretty busy weekend filled with some adventure and some updates!

On Friday, I finally learned some more information about where I will be working!  I had a meeting with my inspecteur and conseiller this afternoon and I finally know the exact schools I will be working at during these seven months. I will be working at two schools in Roanne and one in Villerest. At the meeting, we all talked over my work schedule and I will only be working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday I will be at two schools, Wednesday I will be at one school, and Thursday I will be teaching via video conference. I think that it will work like skype and that will be with 2 or 3 additional schools in the area. I am really excited to have a long weekend every weekend! It will make traveling to places a lot easier :). So after the meeting, my conseiller took me to visit all three of my schools. I got to meet all of the principals, some other teachers, and I got a little tour of each school. After that, my conseiller took me to get some bus information because I will have to take the bus to all of these schools. I am so grateful that my conseiller is so helpful! He is so welcoming and friendly! He told me to call or email if I have any problems or questions about anything. I think later this week he is taking me to see the schools where I will be teaching via video conferencing so that I can meet the teachers and students. 

Housing update: There is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is maybe an apartment available for me but the bad news is that it is not really in Roanne... it is a bit further away. I imagined it would be closer so I was ready to move there but I don’t really want to move away from the other assistants or from the centre-ville de Roanne. I quite like the location and I am getting used to where everything is around here. The other good news is that my conseiller asked someone higher up if I could stay in my same apartment at the high school even though I would be sharing it with two rugby boys and they agreed to let me stay. So he made it seem like I don’t have to move at all! But, alas this would be too good to be true... Kate ran into the secretary of the school today who told her that there would be three rugby boys arriving instead of two :( so I don’t know if I will be able to stay here. This housing situation is so messed up... I really hope that it all gets sorted out soon. The good news is the boys don’t arrive until Tuesday (supposedly), so I still get to stay in my apartment at least for the weekend!

Friday night, Kate, Kim and I randomly decided to go out to check out the Roanne night life. We ended up staying out way later than we expected... places close here like super late in the morning! We left at 4 something am and the night club was still open! The club was a little strange.. it required that you check in your coat and purse when you first walk in and then you got a slip of paper with a number on it that corresponds to your stuff. I’m not sure if this is a normal thing in French clubs or not. I was a little worried about leaving my purse but everything ended up being fine.

On Saturday, we all slept in late because we had a long night Friday night. The weather was not very good all day. It kept raining on and off. For lunch, Kate, Kim, and I went to MacDonalds. I haven’t eaten at MacDo in forever! I think the last time I ate it was two years ago when I was in France. I have heard that the food is better here than in the US  but I’m not really sure. Later in the evening, Melissa came to spend the night and we watched the majority of Les MIs because I finally got the dvd player in my apartment to work!

On Sunday morning, Kate, Kim, Melissa, and I took a train to Lyon for the day. Our apartments are close to the gare (about 15 minutes walking) so we left about 30 minutes before the train was supposed to arrive so we could have some time to buy our tickets. There was a line when we got there and there was only one person selling tickets... uh oh. We cut it really close... we boarded the train about a minute before it was about to depart! We got lucky but next time we will probably leave earlier for a trip like that especially on a Sunday (when few people work). On the train, we all chatted and even took a little train survery. We were all talking on the train and all of a sudden a french lady comes up to us and basically tells us to stop talking... I didn’t catch everything she said but she mentioned something like about how not all people sleep at night... I don’t think we were talking that loud and we were definitely not the only people talking on the train. Maybe that lady just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and so she was in a bad mood or something. 

Once, we got off the train, we bought metro tickets and then walked around Vieux Lyon. There was a race going on in Lyon when we got there. Many streets were blocked off and we saw a lot of runners. Then, we got started getting hungry so we bought some lunch at a market. I had some yummy grilled sausage, hashbrowns, and bread for lunch!

Here is a pic showing some road blocked because of the race

Here's a bit of the market

After we ate lunch, we went to a cafe where we had some crepes and tea/coffee. I tried a new tea which was red fruit flavored. I liked the tea a lot and of course I enjoyed my Nutella crepe! 

Nutella Crepe

Then you have to spread the Nutella yourself

There it is all rolled up and ready to eat!

Then we went to explore more of the city! We went into a beautiful church! Afterwards, we chilled outside the church while waiting for my friend Tony to come meet us in Vieux Lyon.

Cathédrale Saint Jean

Hanging out in Lyon

After Tony arrived, we took the metro to see another pretty church in Lyon! I actually came here two years ago when I was last in France, but I really enjoyed seeing the church again!

Basilique de Fourvière

Some of the church ceiling

Pretty angel statue inside the church

Awesome view of Lyon from the church!

All of us girls with the view

 Next, we walked down from the church back into the city, where I bought some postcards! I will be mailing some soon once I get my address situation sorted out. After walking for a bit, we soon discovered yet another church! Seriously the churches here are really beautiful!

Another cool church

Then, we went to a bar restaurant and relaxed there for a while. At first we sat outside, but then we had to move inside because it was pretty windy and chilly outside. I really enjoyed speaking French with everyone today and it was great to have Tony with us. He was very helpful at correcting our grammar mistakes and just answering questions that we had about the french language. I am happy that he hung out with us for the afternoon! Then we walked around some more and saw the city hall, opera house, and the huge fountain! 

Kate and I in Lyon

We really enjoyed our day in Lyon! We caught a train back to Roanne at about 5 40pm, this time after we bought our tickets we had around 10minutes to spare before the train departed! It takes a over an hour to get to Roanne by train but it didn’t feel long at all! We all talked the entire time we were on the train and we had a great time. There was this young boy (maybe middle/high school age) who sat near us on the train. I bet he overheard our entire conversation lol... I am sure he was entertained! We just chatted about random things on the train. We saw so many cows while on the train, and that made us think of the cow festival that is going to be taking place soon near our city. I wonder what there is to do at a cow festival...

Tonight was a relaxing night. Melissa and I had dinner and then we finished watching Les Mis. Also, we ended up watching Bruce Tout Puissant (Bruce Almighty) in French because someone had left it in the DVD player. 

Enjoying France,

Magdalena