Two weekends ago I went on a weekend trip with Emily, Deliece, and Janine to Rouen, France. We left really early Saturday morning via train. Rouen is in the Haute Normandy region of France and is where Joan of Arc was held captive by the British (since this city used to be under British rule way back in the day). She was also burned at the stake in this city, a little eerie. We tried to sleep on the train, but I think we were too anxious for the trip and the train was rather old and rattled a lot making it too difficult to sleep. When we got into the train station we quickly scanned a roadside map and started out our trek for the hotel/main part of the city. Like champs! We had to wait a couple of hours before checking into the hotel so we strolled around the city getting an idea of where everything was located. We quickly visited a christmas market and ate lunch on a park bench on the side of the road.
The hotel we stayed at was very very nice for a european hotel, and was placed right between the river that split Rouen in half (Le Seine- yes the same river that splits Paris in half) and the inner part of the city. Throughout the day we visited Le Seine, the christmas market on several occasions, the Hotel de Ville which had an ice skating rink out front, an abbey, the location where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and a church dedicated to her, an art museum which was free (Deliece and I had some fun imitating the paintings) and we got a couple glimpses of a famous astronomical clock placed right in the middle of town. We ended the long day with a hearty dinner at a restaurant called Holy Cow. I had a grilled chicken burger with all the toppings and thick cut french fries. They had ketchup bottles at each table that were bigger than the size of your head. Of course I couldn't pass up a photo opportunity.
On day 2 we slept in a little and made our way out for another fun filled day of adventures. We started off the day with another trip around the christmas market and then toured some more churches. Since all the museums were free for students in the city we decided to see as many as we could. So, we toured a pottery and ceramic museum, a iron and metal work museum and the tower where Joan of Arc was held captive. We had lunch in the christmas market where I tried Tartiflette. It's kind of a thick stew of stinky cheese, potatoes, onions and lardons or slices of ham. It was very very good! We had to take a little break in the middle of our day for a coffee and pastry break. I bought a little man made of bread and dipped in chocolate.
The architecture in Rouen is so distinct and striking to this part of France. I'm going to include a couple photos so we can all enjoy the regional architecture of Rouen :)
After months and weeks of counting down the days till Chad would come visit me, my present finally arrived!!! Unfortunately I had to work the morning he flew into Brussels so he had to navigate the train system from Belgium to France on his own, but luckily he made it safe and sound and on time. As soon as I was done teaching I high tailed it to the train station to pick him up. It was so nice to see him again, almost surreal.
We have been enjoying our time together this past week, touring Lille and meeting my new friends. It took him a couple days to get over the jet lag and change in sleep schedule, but I think he has finally converted to the European way of life. So far we have visited parts of Lille: the chirstmas market, the art museum (just from the outside), Euralille, old book sale, and plenty of shopping. When we were touring around Lille last weekend we came across several street performers, but only one group was worth stopping and watching. There were 4 men who all played different musical instruments and danced and sang together. So French and so entertaining. We also went bouldering this past week. For those who don't know bouldering is a means of exercise similar to rock climbing but without the harness and you don't climb nearly as high up the wall. While I'm away at school Chad just stays home occupying himself with reading and writing until I can come home. I've been introducing him to french food and drink, all of which I think he likes so far.
Last Sunday my housemates and I celebrated christmas with a traditional British christmas dinner shared with some of our teaching assistant friends and Chad. Janine and Emily cooked the meal. We had "crackers" that we opened and contained a paper crown and a little prize. The food was very good!
School has finally finished for the semester and I'm glad for the small reprieve. Now that my schedule is becoming more firmed up I can better plan for my classes. My students aren't becoming any easier to work with but that could have been due to their excitement for the holiday. I had planned to do christmas lessons and activities with the students, but then at the last minute several teachers changed their minds and had me do non cultural lessons. Not nearly as much fun for the students or I. At my school in Hellemmes (my better school) there is only 1 full time teacher left and two part time teachers. All the others have up and quit their jobs and so have their replacements. Next semester shall be interesting.
So far I have been able to handle France and its nonsensical chaos will minimal composure and ease but this past Thursday was the straw that broke the camels back. Thursdays I wake up around 6am to be at school a little before 8am. I got on the metro as usual and when I got to the main station in town to change metro lines to get to my school I was informed my transport personnel that the metro line I need to take to school was not running at the moment and would be down for an undetermined amount of time. Great! How am I to get to work?! WALK?! Nope, don't worry France has it covered. The brilliant solution is to use 4 public buses to run the metro line transporting people where they need to go. 1. The buses hold about 1/4 the amount of people the metro can carry. 2. The bus takes 2-3 times longer to get to each stop than the metro, prolonging a normal transit. 3. The buses operate above ground and there was a mass of at least 150-200 people waiting outside in the freezing rain at 7am in a hurried panic to get to work and school. I made sure to text one of my teachers informing them that I would be late due to the metro, but I am making an attempt to catch a bus to get to school. After waiting an hour and forty-five minutes in the rain crowded in my sneezing coughing people I decided this job was not worth the trouble to continue putting myself through this mess. So, I went home and took a 2 hour nap. It was lovely and well deserved. I later found out that the metro was not operating due to a computer malfunction. You see the metro lines in France are predominately operated by computers rather than human conductors driving them. You can't leave everything up to technology...
Christmas is coming up and even though I will be far from home, family and friends at least I have Chad here with me :) We will be spending christmas in Lille and then leaving the day after for 4 days in Florence, Italy and then 3 days in Paris. Rough life, I know. (I probably won't have another blog post for a while, and the next one will be a big one!)
I will end this posting with a wish of health and happiness for all of my readers and followers. May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and congratulations on surviving the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar.
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