School, School and more School

Monday October 12th we met with a french professor at 10:30am and he drove us to Chavigny to meet the professors at our other school. This year I'm working in two schools (last year I worked in two schools too, but they were in the same town, these two are in seperate towns) the Lycee Jean Moulin in Montmorillon and the College de Gerald Phillippe in Chauvigny. Chauvigny is famous for the five castles that are located in and around the town. The day was spent, being introduced to the professors that I'll be working with and being given a tour of the school. A "college" is actually a jr high school in France (a Lycee is a high school), so the kids are all pretty young around 11 to 14 years old. The teachers were all very friendly and I look forward to working with them. In the evening after we'd hitched a ride back to Montmorillon (we carpool with other professors) we went to the cinema and watched "Inglorious Bastards" in french. It was pretty good, but I definitely didn't understand everything that was said.

Tuesday I went to a doctor's office to get my flu shot. Going to the doctors is always an interesting experience. I'm not impressed with the French's national health care which is probably why I'm not a big supporter of the Obama national healthcare plan. But I won't bother you with to much information. Lets just say that if I walked in and claimed I needed a prescription for anything, all I'd need to do is ask and I would recieve without having to have an exam or anything. Getting a flu shot in France varies greatly from in the states. First off you have to go to the doctors (no running to the safeway or costco pharmacy here), then the doctor has to give you a prescription (but first you have to wait in a line for your turn to see the doctor, there ain't no appointments here, so it usually takes at least a hour to get in), then you leave and take the prescription to a pharmacy and they give you the bottle containing the vaccination, then you have to return to the doctors (wait in line for your turn again) and have the doctor give you a shot. Needless to say it was a lot of work and time for something as simple as a flu shot vaccination.

The rest of the week was pretty basic. Going to classes, going to the store to buy groceries, going for a cafe, reading, etc. I finally spent a weekend in Montmorillon. I did absolutely nothing, but lay around, clean and read. I thought it was a great weekend, because it was the first time since I'd arrived in France that I was actually home and didn't have work to do. Plus its always nice to lounge around after three straight weekends of travelling.