So sorry! I know this post is like 2 weeks overdue, but I've been waiting for properly working wifi so that I can share some VIDEO with you! That's right, actual, proper, edited, put together with music VIDEO! HUZZAH!
So not too much has been going on lately. The absolute coolest thing I've done (so far) is go to a couple bullfighting events.
The first one, the morning of September 30th, was pretty cheap (5euro) so me and another language assistant decided to go to that as well as the Championnat de France which was a bit for expensive and later on in the day.
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| The entrance to the Arènes |
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| Tickets for the two events |
Honestly, the one in the morning (The Finale des Cocardes) was SO COOL. And just kind of really fun. A lot easier to get into that the Championnat later that afternoon. Basically the premise was this: a team of 5(ish...maybe 6) guys would get in the ring with 1 bull. The bull had a bow on his forehead and a string tied around each horn. The main object was to remove the bow from the bull (without getting beaten up too badly by the bull). It was kind of a big game of tag (if, in tag, you had to touch the person who was "It" without getting headbutted). Once the bow was removed, the players? contestants? would then try to remove the strings.
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| The band that played throughout the event |
It was extremely entertaining. To get a better idea of what was going on, you can go ahead and check out my video below.
After getting lunch, we headed back to the Arènes (arena) for the Championnat de France de la Course Landaise. We had no idea what we were getting into (not that we knew that morning either). Basically, the afternoon was men taking on bulls one-on-one and either artfully avoiding them (the écarteurs -- points given for form as well as how close they came to the bull) or jumping over them entirely (the sauteurs). Definitely hard to describe, so go ahead and take a look at the videos.
First, the sauteurs:
Then the écarteurs:
I mostly ended up taking video since it's a lot easier to capture the action than attempting to snap a photo at the perfect moment; but I did get a few.
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| The entrance of all the competitors and their teams |
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| Colorful jackets |
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| This is where the bull starts from |
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| The sauteurs |
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| A much bigger crowd at this event |
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| Statue at the Parc des Arènes (Arena Park) |
Since the bullfighting, I've been mostly waiting for my Wifi to work properly. OH, and I did start working, too. :D
Tuesday, October 1st was my first official day at the school. I basically went in, filled in some paperwork (was admonished because "you never came back to see me!" to do the paperwork that I didn't realize needed doing), met la proviseur (the principal) of the high school, and observed a couple classes. The high school emailed me my schedule later that night, and then I had Wednesday off before going to the regional orientation on Thursday. Orientation, though long, was good--filled out my French Social Security paperwork (which was not the same paperwork as I thought it was--we get different stuff because we're technically teachers) and subscribed for essentially French health insurance (super cheap, pretty excellent) just in case anything happens while I'm here.
I still have not received my schedule for the middle school yet (though it should be finalized soon...I hope!) but it looks like I'll have Monday's off (woohoo long weekend!!). Thursday was my first official day actually taking a group of students by myself. I ended up relying on an old favorite that I did with my classes back in Orléans (and that I did when I was learning French in high school--thanks, Madame!). Basically, I made a list of words related to the vocabulary they're learning at the moment (food) and wrote each word on a slip of paper. Each student had to come up, pick a word, and explain the word ("In English, please!") so that the others could guess it. They all seemed to enjoy it, and I got to talk to them about some cultural differences in vocab (pop v. soda v. coke v. "fizzy drinks"; American "chips" v. English "chips").
Friday I had another class and we did the same activity; and then hopefully next week I'll be starting at the middle school as well.
It's hard to believe, but a week from today starts our very first vacation and I am in full-swing planning mode. I'm thinking I'll spend a week hitting Reims, Brussels, and Amsterdam (all by train--substantially cheaper). Tomorrow I was hoping to head to Mont Perdu, but the tour was full so I'm taking a tour to a winery and castle instead.
You guys might start noticing some changes around my blog as I'm working to make it a little more interesting to visit in between posts. I've already added a UNESCO page and am working on figuring out how to add a map widget there to mark all the cities I've been to, and I added a translate widget for those of you who don't speak English (maybe? anyone out there who doesn't?) or who want to read the blog in another language (*coughcough*MESAMISFRANCOPHONES!).
I look forward to updating you all again soon! As always, thanks for reading. :D
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