Monday 11/14: Native Americans, God Save the Queen, and Gorgonzola

This morning I had class at 8:30am, so I quietly snuck out of the room and left Alison sleeping. Her morning class had been cancelled (the class was on a trip to London), so she didn’t have to teach until 12:55pm!

Today I taught my first class (10-11 yr olds) some American history. It was really basic and really quick (we only spent 25 mins), but I gave them an overview from the Native Americans living there before the Europeans arrived until just after the American Revolution. I made sure to clarify that Christopher Colombus was not as great as he’s made out to be… It was actually fairly difficult to explain everything in a very simple manner—and in French! Oof. I think they understood…

I had a long break this morning, so I came back and slept for about 45mins, then Alison and I hung out while I prepared a bit more for my afternoon classes. We ate lunch together, and then she had to leave. I finished preparing and then biked over to the other school.

Both classes were rowdy today (I told the younger ones that if they didn’t settle down, they wouldn’t get to do any coloring…they kept talking, so they didn’t get to color!) and that was, of course, tough. It’s hard enough that I only have 30 minutes!

After my classes at the other school, I returned home to quickly make up a page with the lyrics to “God Save the Queen” (the English national anthem). Then I headed to my last class of the day—the really difficult 9-10 yr olds! But, today the teacher stayed in the room AND the most obnoxious student wasn’t there! Excellent! It was a million times better! I explained about the UK and how it’s a country that is made up of 4 smaller “countries” and they had to color a map (one color for the UK, a different color for Ireland) and the flags of the UK and Ireland. Then we listened to “God Save the Queen.” Next time we might listen to the Scottish or Irish national anthem—we’ll see.

When I got home, I had tea with Catherine and we talked about plans for Thanksgiving. I invited Alison yesterday and Pablo (the assistant from Argentina) today—I think both of them can come! Chantal & family will be there as well, so it should be quite the party!

I went grocery shopping with Catherine tonight (we found cheddar!!! Hopefully it's decent...) and then helped her make pasta with gorgonzola sauce for dinner. After dinner (and after the news) Twilight #1 was showing on TV. Margot and Hugo (who stayed home from school today because he’s sick) suggested we watch it, so we all saw the film. It was dubbed over in French, which was better—at least I was practicing French!! They were all thrilled to see me onscreen and I enjoyed seeing the Colombia Gorge and reliving some of the memories from filming.

Sunday 11/13: Exploring Saint Jean de Luz

I woke up at 8:10am when my phone went off. Alison texted me to say that her bus hadn’t come (it was supposed to arrive at 7:50am) and so I called her to find out the plan. She decided to take a taxi to Tyrosse (which cost her €10), where we met at the train station. From there we headed to St. Jean de Luz—which is a town on the coast that’s about 40 minutes away.
Since neither of us had eaten breakfast, our first stop was a patisserie! I got a pain aux raisins and she got a long pastry with chocolate inside. We headed toward the church while munching and then strolled down random streets. Not much was open (it was only 9:45am), but we just looked around. We wanted to find the beach, but we ended up getting lost. That was fine, though, because we found a sign that said “Cinéma” and we thought we might as well go see what was playing.

Unfortunately all the showings were in the evening and we were only staying until 4:15pm. So, we left and eventually found our way to the beach.

Photo: The beach at Saint Jean de Luz

By this time it was starting to warm up considerably (and I was very thankful because I wore my sundress and flip flops…and it was a bit chilly this morning) and there were blue skies and sun.We decided to continue to wander around the streets for a while and go back to the beach after lunch.

Photo: The Harbor

Since it was now around 11am, more shops were opening up. We stopped in a chocolate shop (amazing—huge bars of all different kinds of chocolate just stacked all over the place!) and we ended up buying a piece of dark chocolate with caramel bits in it.

Photo: The chocolate shop

We happened to be walking past the church and were spotted by the two assistants we had met at the orientation in Dax! It was such a coincidence—we had no idea they were visiting St. Jean de Luz! So, we stopped to chat for a while and decided to meet up after lunch at the beach.

Alison and I wandered around looking for a restaurant that served pizza and we ended up finding a nice one that had a pizza for €8 (definitely more than I would normally pay, but I hardly ever go out, so this time I decided to splurge). We had a lovely meal (very filling) and plenty of free water. I love it when they put a whole bottle at the table—sometimes they frown at you if you don’t want to buy bottled water.

Photo: Lunchtime!

After lunch we went to the beach and found a nice place to lie down. It was so sunny and warm! I was really glad I wore my sundress! The other assistants—Iris and Gabie—(and their friend, Jessica, an assistant from Bordeaux who we'd never met) came down for a while to hang out. They were catching an earlier train, so we didn’t get to talk with them for very long.

Photo: Jessica, Me, Gabie, & Iris

It was lovely just relaxing on the sand, listening to the waves. We stayed there until 3:15pm, when we decided to visit the church because it was finally open. It’s a beautiful church, built by the fisherman who lived in St. Jean de Luz. The ceiling was built in the same way as the bottom of a boat because the fishermen were only familiar with building boats, not churches!

Photo: Inside the church

On our way to the train, we stopped the pâtisserie where Alison had gone the last time she visited St. Jean de Luz. She knew they had amazing pastries, so we headed directly there.

Photo: The beautiful pastries

Alison got an almond cream croissant and I got a piece of the traditional Gâteau Basque (a sweet crust, filled with cherries). Delicious!!

Photo: YUM!!!

We took the train back to Tyrosse (arriving around 5pm) and spent the rest of the “afternoon” working on lesson plans. I hadn’t done any work for my classes, so I had a lot to do. We ate dinner with my host family (tomato soup!) and then returned to our lesson planning. We had a good time listening to kids songs that I might use in my classes! Tonight Alison is staying over and we’re heading to bed early-ish (11pm) because we’re both tired and I have to teach early tomorrow.

To see more photos from this weekend, check out this link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2158699014292.2101305.1451010052&type=1&l=8b1d7413c5

Saturday 11/12: Swimming at the Beach!

I actually got up today when my alarm went off at 9:30am, instead of re-setting it. The plan was to make the crust for my apple pies before I made pancakes for breakfast. I finished one crust, but by then everyone was up and it was time to make pancakes. They turned out really well (I used a recipe that Chelsea sent me—one that doesn’t have buttermilk!) and everyone liked them.

After lunch I put the apple pie together and while it was baking, Catherine had me listen to some classic Basque songs. The group that was singing was started in Tyrosse and she knows a few of the singers. She says I can make a copy of her CD, so I’ll definitely have to do that!

At 1:30pm, Catherine, Ralf, Margot, and I headed to the beach in Capbreton. It was 74° and very sunny with pretty much no wind, so it was the perfect beach day!

Photo: Margot and I boogie boarding

The water was even colder than last time, but it’s still much warmer than at the Oregon Coast! I went right in and eventually everyone else followed. There weren't many people in the water when we arrived, but over the course of the afternoon, more and more people decided to go swimming.

Photo: Margot rides a wave

Photo: Catherine and I waiting for a good wave...

After about 20 minutes, Alison met up with us and we persuaded her to come swimming as well. We boogie boarded for a while and then headed back to our towels to lie in the sun.

Alison, Margot, and I played a little bit of catch with the frisbee and then around 3:30pm we headed home.

Photo: Alison and I enjoying the sun!

On the drive back, we stopped at the little store that sells the amazing dried fruit. I bought a big back of dried fruit and a bag of marzipan fruits (Catherine and Margot wanted to try them) for the family.

When we got home, Catherine and I made the second pie (she wanted to learn how) and I skyped with Brigid while it baked. At 7:30pm, we headed over to Chantal and Philippe (her long-term boyfriend)’s house for dinner. It turned out to be more like snacks, as opposed to a sit-down dinner. Most of them contained meat, so I just ate a lot of chips and guacamole (yum!!) and then some potato salad. After about an hour or so of chatting and eating, Chantal called the kids down to play the Name Game! There were 14 people there, so we had even teams. We squashed ourselves into their little living room area and commenced the game! It was so fun—lots of laughter and accusations (“You mimed that!!!”)

Overall a really fun evening. I was sitting there (during the game) and it hit me: I am really going to miss these people when I go back to Corvallis. It’s really hard for me to leave people who I’m close with (hence the homesickness), so I know it will be very sad to make all these close friendships and then leave. Especially as it’s not easy (or cheap) to come back to visit. I guess this is “real life.”. After the game, the kids headed back upstairs to play and we enjoyed some apple pie (the kids had eaten theirs earlier). Everyone liked it and Chantal got to keep the leftover pieces.

Today I got a letter from Aunt Barbara and more photos from LaDonna!!! :)

Friday 11/11: Make a wish—it’s 11-11-11!

Météo à Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse

23 °C | °F

ven.

sam.

dim.

lun.

Ensoleillé

Vent : S à 6 km/h

Humidité : 51%

20 °

12 °

20 °

12 °

20 °

13 °

18 °

12 °

Météo à Corvallis, Oregon, États-Unis
2 °C | °F ven. sam. dim. lun. Brouillard Vent : N à 0 km/h Humidité : 100% 13 ° 4 ° 9 ° 7 ° 11 ° 7 ° 9 ° 7 °
Sorry...I just had to post this...

This morning I set my alarm for 9:30am, but was so tired when it went off, I ended up sleeping until 10:30am. Luckily I didn’t have anything urgent that I really needed to do. After breakfast, I headed to the market to pick up apples. I’m making two apple pies tomorrow for a dinner we’re going to at Chantal (Catherine’s sister)’s house. Ralf also asked me to pick up some honey soap for him, so I did. On my way home, my phone alarm went off to alert me to the fact that it was 11:11am…..on 11/11/11! So, I made some spectacular wishes! :)

Today was 73º and blue skies! I cannot believe this weather! It definitely doesn’t feel like mid-November. Tomorrow we’re planning to go to the beach, as it’s supposed to be nice all weekend.

When I got home from the market, I rested for a while. Then I went downstairs and found that Margot, Ralf, Lucas, and Alexandre (Lucas’ friend from school, who stayed over last night) had all went to the school to shoot some baskets. I headed down there and we ended up playing 2-3(Alexandre and Lucas vs. Ralf, Margot, and me), half court.

Photo: Playing bball at the school

It was probably not just a great idea, since I’m sick, but I really couldn’t help myself! I haven’t played basketball in so long!! It was a lot of fun—and a really close game! It was a game to 20 (but you have to win by two points) and we were down 19-16…with a couple of blocks, steals, and turnovers, we ended up winning 22-21! Nice! Hopefully we’ll get to play again when I feel better.

Photo: Margot & I after the game

When we came home, I was broiling hot (I’d been wearing jeans), so I changed into a sundress. It’s the first time I’ve worn a sundress, so I’m really appreciating this weather. I would feel stupid to have brought it, but have never worn it! :p

We ate some leftover soup for lunch and then I read for a while, out in the sunshine. I bought The Princess Bride (25^th anniversary addition) in Glasgow, and the author wrote a new 78 page mini-sequel in the back! It’s his “abridged” version of the first chapter of “Buttercup’s Baby”—it was excellent!

Photo: Reading by the pool...

Later this afternoon, I went for a walk in the woods with Catherine and Dunja. We went a longer route that I didn’t know about. It was absolutely gorgeous—perfect weather! Unfortunately my foot started hurting pretty soon after we started. :(

When we got home, we had tea and then I went upstairs to rest for a while. Basketball and a walk today might have been a bit much… But, I’m glad I got out to enjoy the good weather!

The boys wanted to go to McDonald’s tonight for dinner, so they biked there. Ralf picked up dinner (at McDo) for the rest of the family and I had a delicious bowl of homemade rice, beans, & spinach with cheese on top! I win.

After dinner, Margot, Catherine, and I played SCRABBLE! Ralf bought us the real version at the store this morning, so we taught Margot how to play.

Photo: Catherine helps Margot find a word...

It was a real challenge (I don’t know all the helpful little scrabble words in French), but overall I did pretty well!

We didn’t end up finishing because none of us could play all our letters (like Z, K, Q…), but it was super fun! Hopefully we’ll play again soon!

Photo: Our finished SCRABBLE board!

Thursday 11/10: SUN! SUN! SUN!

Alison had to teach class at 9am, so I got up at 8am to have breakfast with her. I didn’t feel so great, so I just had a cup of tea and we talked until she had to leave. Then I went directly back to bed to sleep for an hour. That helped (so did the hot shower) and I headed off to teach at 10:45am.

It was a fairly decent class (went by pretty fast) and I only sneezed a few times in front of the class. Then I had to go home to prepare a bit for my two classes at the other school and have lunch. Luckily it was very sunny and warm (in the low 70s), so my bike ride wasn’t bad. I just went slow and tried not to tire myself out too much.

My class at the other school with the CE1s (7-8 yrs) was pretty unpleasant, but I finally had a good class with my CM2s (10-11 yrs). Normally we don’t really get that much done in our 30 mins, but this time I used flashcards that had tape on the back, so I would pick one to come up and use the flashcards to make a sentence. Then they would copy down the sentence and I’d pick a new person. They really liked it and everyone was engaged! YES!!

After class, I stopped at the supermarket to get some shampoo and conditioner. It’s such a huge place—and it’s always interesting to see what foods I don’t recognize. Then I stopped at the post office to mail some letters… I forgot to mention yesterday that I GOT A LETTER from LaDonna! She sent me some old pictures she’d found of Tasha (and Brigid and Chelsea) and I from middle/high school! Great to see those! :)

When I got home, I spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, resting. My window was wide open, so the fresh air and sun coming in felt marvelous. My nose is still super runny and my head is just really congested, so I often have headaches.

I helped Catherine by making the salad for dinner (we had veggie pizza) and afterwards Margot asked if I would watch a movie with her. Since all I felt like was lying down, I figured I might as well. We decided on Home Alone 4 (which I’ve never seen), which was not so amazing. However, it was dubbed over in French, so at least I was getting some good practice. Though it wasn’t hard to understand.

I’m so so so glad it’s the weekend!!

Wednesday 11/9: “Bump”, Scones, and I’m still sick. :(

Ugh, still sick. I slept in until 10:30am this morning, but was still really congested and not feeling so great. I had a small breakfast and then decided (since it was really sunny and probably about 70 degrees) to walk downtown to get a baguette for our lunch and some bar soap (because I’m out). It was a leisurely walk and the fresh air made me feel a little bit better.

Photo: Baguette!

I also realized that it was the first time I’ve been into a pâtisserie (pastry shop) in Tyrosse! Eep. I never need to buy bread because there’s always plenty around the house and I have been saving my money, so I haven’t gone out for any pastries (except the one time in Bayonne). I think it’s good, though, because it would be a lot worse if I was addicted to pastries!

When I got home, I rested for a while and then Alison texted me. She was leaving the high school, so I decided to walk to meet up with her. Margot wanted to come, so I brought her and Dunja along! We met up with Alison and then decided to go over to the school to shoot around on the basketball hoops. I wasn’t sure if I was really up to it (since my head wasn’t feeling so good), but I decided to go anyways. Margot taught us a shooting game called “21” and then I taught them “Bump”—the middle school classic. We didn’t really play Bump, though, because it was time to go home to make lunch (and because there were only 3 of us).

I put the leftover gratin (casserole) in the oven and then we waited for Catherine to get home from work. She was really late (45 minutes), so we just ended up lying around in the living room watching a TV show and talking. I was so tired, I didn’t feel like moving.

After lunch, Alison, Catherine, and I made scones! It’s kind-of a nice Wednesday tradition, really. Too bad I didn’t have any clotted cream or lemon curd to go on top… thanks a lot, Airport Security. :(

During the afternoon, Alison and I just hung out and talked in my bedroom and then ended up watching 10 Things I Hate About You (her suggestion) and lazing about. Very necessary, as I was feeling downright crappy.

We had green beans with tomato sauce (and they had meat) for dinner, with cheese and bread, and a pear for dessert. The pears are so delicious right now—I could probably eat them all day!

After dinner, I had to prepare for tomorrow’s classes. Alison and I had some fun looking through the packets I’d been given by the school. There were some pretty funny posters…

Photo: Such useful flash cards!

Photo: What IS this supposed to mean??

Tonight we watched the show “France a un incroyable talent” (basically average people come and perform some sort of talent in front of three judges who decide if the talent is incredible or not). The best was a guy who dove from 6 stories high, into a fairly small pool—it looked pretty terrifying.

Alison is staying over tonight, but we made up Lucas’ bed (the twins are away at school) so she can sleep in there instead. It seemed like a bad idea for her to stay in my room, as I’ve been coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose non-stop.

Just one day more of teaching, and then the weekend! Right now it feels like I’ll never make it through 3 classes tomorrow…..

Tuesday 11/8: Sounds like a blast!

I felt a little better when I woke up (probably because I got to sleep in until 9:30am) and I had bit of toast before heading to my first class. I had the 8-9 year olds and it went pretty well. Then I went home and did a little bit of laundry (handwashing some socks because I’m out!) and rested. I made a sandwich for lunch and then returned to the school at 1:30pm.
This afternoon I had three classes: one with the 10-11 year olds and two with the 7-8 year olds. In my last class (7-8 yr olds), I had them practice saying a little conversation. They could choose between “Hello” and “Hi”, then they asked each other “What’s your name”/responded “My name’s ____”, then they chose between “Good-bye!” and “Bye-bye!” I did a few examples by having a conversation with different students. Then I had the conversation between my two hands (each pretending to be a mouth) and they thought that was hilarious. So, I had them all use their hands and they repeated after me for the conversation. Everything was working well, so I then I said that I was going to pick two students to stand at the front of the class and do the dialogue. They did pretty well, so then I chose another two. We ended up going through everyone in the class—and it worked really well! I’ll have to try that in other classes!
When I got home, I had tea with Catherine and then she had to leave for work. She’d started some soup for dinner, so she gave me instructions on how to finish it. While I was waiting for it to finish, I cleaned up the kitchen. After I’d finished the soup and taken it off the stove, I decided to take Dunja for a walk. It was a lovely evening (finally, after all the rain!) and I decided that I could use some fresh air. Unfortunately after walking for about 5 minutes, my foot started hurting in the same place it was hurting while I was on vacation. Bummer. I went on the walk through the woods anyways, but I wish I knew what was wrong with my foot!
When I came home, Margot and Ralf were tossing a rugby ball in the yard, so I stopped to play catch for a few minutes. It was soon too dark, so we headed inside and Margot asked if I would play “speed” (the card game) with her. We played a few games and then I taught her the game “palace.” She really liked it and we played that a few times. I had to head to bed for a bit because I started feeling really sick (it’s definitely a head cold). My nose is now really runny and I have headaches off and on. And the throat still hurts. Ick.
For dinner we had the soup and bread and cheese (old gouda is my favorite!!). I watched the news with Catherine and Ralf, but left before any shows came on. Luckily there’s no school on Wednesdays! Tomorrow will be a relaxing day with scones and a visit from Alison!