Venice Verte

Venice Verte, Coulon

Venice Verte, Coulon

Venice Verte, Coulon

Venice Verte, Coulon

Monday October 19th I woke up early and carpooled to Chauvigny with Leidy and the computer teacher, Eric, who will be driving us to and from Chauvigny for the remainder of the year. I really enjoy Chauvigny the teachers are very friendly and helpful and the town is gorgeous and tranquil. I have a huge break between my morning and afternoon classes from 11:30-2:30 so my professors proposed that I ride the school bus with the students every week to the town pool and go swimming. How awesome is that!! I don't know if I'll go every week, because I'd like to explore the town a little too (there are castles and tons of tourists sites here) but I'm still super excited to be able to exercise during my lunch break. One of the english teachers also informed me that her family owns a house in Rouen (in the north of France) and if Leidy and me want to take a train there one weekend she'd give us the key (I think every french family owns a cabin somewhere that they only use on some weekends and holidays, usually near the coast). I was also invited to have dinner at a teachers house in Poitiers later in the year (nothing better then a little homemade french cooking as long as you like escargot, because they are usually on the menu). So needless to say they've made me feel right at home and I'm looking forward to working with them all throughout the year.

On Tuesday Leidy and I caught an early morning bus to Poitiers for the second half of the language assistant "stage". This time instead of going over documents and making us fill out a lot of paperwork they were training us on how to teach a class and prepare lesson plans. Needless to say I was extremely bored again. I already knew all this stuff, because I'd taught last year (of course I had to change my teaching style a little because I'm working with older students this year) and I'd already spent hours researching it all on the internet. The teachers constantly had us break up into pair work and come up with lesson plans. I seem to have a natural talent for coming up with things to do. People actually told me after we finished that my students are lucky to have an assistant like me in their classes (some actually told me they wished they worked with me, because I have all the best/creative ideas), go figure I'd be really good at something I don't really care about (I have absolutely no intention of becoming a teacher, although I might stay a language assistant for a few more years so I can do some more travelling...I'm thinking Asia next...). After the "stage" a few of us went out for a few drinks and tried out some new bars before catching our buses and trains home.

Wednesday I found a message in my teacher cubby hole stating that I was to meet the bus outside the school the following morning at 8:30am. I was at a total loss. Had I volunteered to be a chaperone and if so what for?? The teachers usually talk to me in french and I always think I understand everything, but then something like this occurs and I think I've missed something very important during one of our conversations (or maybe they'd just asked me a while ago and I'd forgotten). I went to one of my classes and tried to play it cool by asking nonchalant questions to the teacher about the field trip, but apparently they weren't nonchalant enough because she quickly caught on that I had no idea what was going on (I don't know what gave me away all I did was ask a few questions like do I need to pack a lunch with me). Thankfully I hadn't forgotten about the field trip, I'd just been volunteered and no one had bothered to tell me until the day before. That's France for you. But no complaints here. I free trip to another town, full of fun/free activities and they call this a job.

So bright and early Thursday morning I eagerly waited in the front of the school with 50 students standing around me (25 french and 25 british, it was some weird exchange thing they have set up with a town in England, the brits get hosted here for a week and the french are hosted in England for a week). I think I was looking forward to it more than the students even though I still had no idea where we were going. Once aboard the bus the teachers quickly filled me in what the plan was and where we were going. We spent the day in a town north of Niort called Coulon, also known as the "Venice Verte" or "Green Venice". Basically the area was built on huge wetlands/marshes so a bunch of monks in the 1300s decided to start building canals everywhere to take control the marshes. Now there are canals throughout the countryside, which why its called the "green Venice" because its in nature and not the city. We started our day in Coulon with a little walk and then a trip to a museum that showed us a video on the history of the region and some other displays about the region. After the museum we had a picnic in a park and then walked to a place called the "embarcadero" where we climbed into some boats and went floating around on a guided tour of the canals. It was very beautiful and tranquil. After the boat ride the Embarcadero provided us with some samples of the regional foods. All in all it was a very pleasant, relaxing day even though I had to share it with 50 students.

I had one class on Friday and then my two weeks of paid vacation commenced. YIPEE!! Since the start of vacation I've basically spent my time wandering around Montmorillon exploring all the streets and planning my vacation to Norway and Sweden. Yep, you read right I'm headed to Northern Europe for a week. I'll post my itinerary online here soon. Friday night Leidy and me checked out a band that was playing in one of the bars in town and it was really good, although really quite funny to me. The band was dressed as greasers and playing 50's rock music, but the best part was that the songs were all old american songs and the lead singer was singing them with a french accent which kind of sounded as if bugs bunny was singing the song. I was trying really hard not to laugh, but I couldn't help myself (thankfully no beer sprayed out of my nose). The band was great and they seem to have a following because the bar was packed with people dressed in 50's outfits (it was like something out of the movie crybaby) including little kids (who apparently are allowed in bars in France, I even saw one of them drinking). Monday night we went a saw a french movie called "Les Regrets" which I thought was a comedy because at least that's what it said in the movie listing, but it was a romance (there was no comedy about it, but lots of drama) and it sucked and like all french movies it didn't really have an ending and just kept you hanging. Oh well.



Here's a quick clip of the band that played Friday night. They call themselves Las Vargas. They are singing an oldie the goes "...but Memphis I won't do what my big sister does...". Check out the hair style of the lead singer and the huge cello they use. I actually really enjoyed the music (it made me want to sock hop ;P)