Chance Encounters and the Cathedral

So today I ran into another assistant by accident. We had met through the Bordeaux Assistant Facebook group, and I knew that she had arrived in the city yesterday. I wasn't sure when I'd be meeting her, but I thought she was living in the Foyer like me, so I'd run into her surely in the common room at some point.

I was in desperate need of groceries today, and a few odds and ends for the apartment that I've just been picking up slowly other the past week. Normally, I take the bus to Leclerc (since the bus stop is right in front of it), but there's a Carrefour behind Leclerc, and since that's where I shopped pretty much exclusively when I lived in Orléans, I decided to walk the extra 3 minutes to check it out. Well, it's a lot bigger than Leclerc, and of course I didn't know where anything was, so I resigned myself to walking up and down the aisles.

Lo' and behold, I run into a family in the aisle with all the dishes. Didn't really think anything of it, until the daughter says "Hey mom, I like this one," in perfect English. I stopped for a moment, incredulous. No British accent, no French accent. Just American English. In a town like Dax (where NO ONE speaks English), I just had to ask. It still hadn't occurred to me that it might be the girl I knew from Facebook. So I blurt out, "ARE YOU AMERICAN?!" Of course, she was; she recognized me almost instantly (she said that I "looked tall" from my Facebook photos), and so there we were. Two Facebook acquaintances, both thousands of miles from home, in a city of about 19,500 people and we're both at Carrefour. Talk about a chance encounter.

I also went to the Cathedral today since there was a free guided visit. It's a gorgeous cathedral, but really not my style. Neo-Classical, built in the 18th and 19th centuries; eh, I'm really a medieval gal. Give me a cathedral built in the 14th or 15th century. It's not that I'm religious (pas du tout -- not at all), but there's something awe inspiring about walking into a building that's THAT old. And I just love the architectural style.

But the visit, though long, was extremely informative.

pigeons on the outside of the cathedral

The facade of the church, finished in the 19th century (last thing done)

Detail of the tower

On the lower left is the guide

interior detail

The ceiling

   

The old gothic door

Jeanne d'Arc

Immaculate Conception by Murillo

A painting at the DIA.

I added in the painting at the DIA because when I first saw the painting on the left in the cathedral, I thought it was the same as the painting on the right--a painting I fell in love with on a trip to the DIA a few years ago. When I got home and looked at my old DIA photos though, I realized that they're (clearly) not actually the same painting.

I'm *thisclose* to having wifi chez moi. I went to SFR today (a phone/internet/television company--a bit like Comcast or whathaveyou) after finally getting my bank account opened and started my subscription. All I've got to do is wait for the text message telling me that my stuff is ready to be picked up; then I get to go pick up my wifi port and set up an appointment to have someone come set it up.

BUT, in addition to wifi, I will also be getting a ligne fixe ("fixed line" or house phone) on which I will have unlimited calling to the US (to mobile phones as well as house phones) all included. So that's pretty awesome. :D

I also figured out that I can sit on the bench outside the common room and get wifi, so I'll be able to check my email and stuff at least a bit this weekend.

Sunday there's the bullfighting championship of France (who knew?!) and I'm going to go check it out with maybe some of the other assistants. I am, in principle, against bullfighting, but when in Dax, do as the Dacquois do, yeah?

Other than that, it's just paperwork paperwork paperwork. And, of course, French bureaucracy is notoriously slow. First, I need my bank account (CHECK), then I need to fill out papers to apply for Social Security so I'll be covered with French healthcare, but to do that, I need to have a paystub. But we don't get paid until the end of November (we can apply to get an advance on our salary for the end of October). I also need to apply for the CAF (French housing assistance), but to do that, I need to have my social security all set. All the papers/emails/handbooks say that SS can take a month or more to complete. So....basically I'll have everything all set by the time I'm ready to come home. VIVE LA FRANCE! :D

My Very First Apartment (Ever)

So I ended up moving into the Foyer, which is not as bad as I expected. I think I just freaked out a little because of creepy guy following me home, but I've not seen him since (but have met a lot of nice old ladies who live in the area and go shopping at the same time that I do). I was also kind of caught up in the dream of a perfect little French flat right in centre ville (perhaps above a boulangerie or a pâtisserie.... hey, this is a dream....) with an eccentric door and tons of charm, etc, etc.... But I've got a studio that is all white (freshly painted, which I suppose is good) with green linoleum flooring, in a modern complex that's a 10 minute bus-ride from centre ville. So much for charm.

Half of my closet (oohh, look I brought too many clothes...)

The other half of my closet (still way too many clothes...)

Je me sens comme une vrai française maintenant. (I feel like a true Frenchwoman now.)

Messy desk

The window is nice, though all I can see is a pine tree.

Bed! (White walls, green linoleum floor...wasn't kidding)

Desk/kitchen table

Accidental selfie in the bathroom mirror

pretty bare kitchen cupboards

My kitchen for the year

View from the front door

So, it's not very charming, BUT the people here are really nice. Every Monday they have an atelier cuisine (cooking class) in the common room kitchen, and last night was Mexican food (fajitas, woohoo). My tummy was very grateful for something other than pasta (which is all I'd been eating since Friday night). Also, did anyone else know that you can put potato in fajitas (like bits of baked potato_ and IT IS DELICIOUS. Try it. Do it. And I also put some guacamole on the other half of my baked potato and THAT was also delicious.

Friday I ended up going to Morcenx to visit the schools I'll be teaching at. So far, it looks like a really charming town (but definitely too small for me to live in), but I spent most of the day in the schools, so I didn't get to look around much.

Mostly I kind of felt like a lost puppy following various teachers around. There wasn't really a plan other than "Meet the principals and maybe the English teachers" which: CHECK. Sort of. I met the vice principal of the high school since the principal wasn't there. But I didn't really have much of a clue as to what was going on other than that, so I ended up spending a couple hours after lunch sitting in on a French lesson (which was alright--brushed up on some of the basics).

I got a ride home with a couple of the other professors (one a painting teacher, one a science teacher, and the other one, I don't know) since most of the professors there carpool. So that was really nice of them to let me tag along and get me home. I also had lunch at the high school, and let me just say that it was DELICIOUS. And so much better than anything we serve in high schools in the US (at least that I've ever seen). (Not that i don't appreciate the junk food, but wow!) I ended up having carrot salad, duck (yeah, seriously, duck), pasta with some sort of mashed veggies (squash, I think?), bread (of course), yogurt, and some sort of.... orange-y fluffy....thing....mousse maybe? It was all pretty delicious, and all this for less than 3 euro (maybe $4).

Then I did nothing all weekend. I did some shopping Friday afternoon, and some more shopping Saturday morning. Then I went to go into the common room so I could get online and it....well, it was locked. So, no internet all weekend. I really should have gotten up and done something outside, but I ended up just watching TV shows (Catherine Tate Show and Being Human, yeah BBC).

I am still trying to figure out all the paperwork and administrative stuff, plus how to get wifi in my room so that I don't look like a creep sitting on my computer in the common room all the time. School starts in a week and I got my train ticket so that I can get there in plenty of time before my first official meeting with the high school principal.

Since we're so close to Spain, bullriding/fighting is apparently a pretty big thing here (there's an arena for it and everything)

Bathhouse (or spa, I think; still not sure)

I like taking pictures of people's houses because they are gorgeous

More pretty houses

My first meal in the apartment: pasta with pesto

Probably heading into town today; might visit the cathedral tomorrow. Not really sure what's going on. At some point I need to go to Bordeaux to get my birth certificate translated, so that will hopefully be happening this week.

À bientôt, mes amis! (See you later, friends!)

Exploring Dax

So, I threw myself a little afternoon pity party yesterday because I hate not being in control, so I stayed in for the afternoon and called on a couple apartments, and then made myself get up and get out of the hotel. So I went exploring.

AND YOU GUUUUUUYS.

I'll just.... casually leave these here.

All my crap on the bed, and my lovely balcony

View from my balcony of every one else's balconies. :D

The lovely construction view from my balcony (They're working on the outside of the train station)

Some little park near le vieux pont

La Fontaine Chaude -- The Warm Fountain (hot spring, I think)

Hard to see, but there's little streams of water that pour down for dog watering, hand washing, etc

The library

It's not a French city without the Palais de Justice

Some Roman ruins (I think)

More ruins at the end of the street

Foie Gras

How to eat foie gras (with bread YUM)

Lamb

Chocolate cake

Espresso, my love

Twinkling lights

Le vieux pont

I'll take some better pictures when I actually take my camera out with me (and when it isn't raining like in the last few photos).

I met a really nice lady who owns the bar that I ate at. She's got an American friend coming to town next week and she invited me to stop by to chat since her friend doesn't speak any French (and not many people here speak English).

Tomorrow I'm moving into the Foyer. It will be nice to just get unpacked (living out of a suitcase is ROUGH). So after that I'll feel a little bit freer to roam around and explore some more. There's a manga convention this weekend and then I might head up to Bordeaux next week or down to Spain. We'll see where the wind takes me.