I'm starting to feel so at home here! It's so great, and having a schedule helps SO MUCH.
This weekend was wonderful, and more or less curbed any fears I had about a lack of a social life. There are tons of people here who just seem to love foreign people. There have been assistants from my program here for quite a few years, and in the course of all their time here, Auch seems to have paved the road for us in terms of meeting people. It's a pretty small town, but it is pretty rockin, as far as I can tell. There's about 7 other assistants, and through them and Cedric, I've met quite a few other people. It's pretty exciting.
Sunday, we went on such an excursion. Cedric (who is a fantastic organizer thank goodness!) brought us out to this gorgeous lake in the countryside. Marcela and I, plus Lauren, another primaire assistant, a couple from Spain and their French bulldog puppy, Lola (!!!!!!! she was so adorbs) met at Cedric's, and then we walked about 2 km to this exceedingly picturesque lake in, really, the middle of nowhere. Apparently, we were on private property but they live nowhere near it. A bunch of us jumped in and swam for a while (in October!!) and took in the scenery. When we were done, we ate the great potluck lunch that we'd brought, then we played with the dog and relaxed in the great sunshine. It was so great it was surreal.
Today, I had my first day of orientation. It was so nice to get up and be productive! The ecoles primaires work differently than the high school, it seems like, or at least on a somewhat different schedule. But we get to have a one-on-one, personalized orientation with the people we'll be working with for the rest of the year. How great is that? I have a conseilleur pedagogique, or a teaching advisor, that I've met with a few times so far, and he has helped me get everything squared away, from a bank account to making sure I have sheets for the bed. He is unbelievably helpful, and just super fun to hang out with.
Today, all the English and Spanish assistants that are going to be in primaire here met, about 5 of us total, at the office downtown. We learned all sorts of things in the morning about the French school system, and some of the more political, controversial topics that we might come into contact with. Like, for instance, the question of 'la laicite', one of the biggest conversation topics ever. The French government passed a law saying that you cannot blatantly reference any religious symbols in a public place, including schools. So I'm not allowed to use any super Christian references in the lesson I plan about Christmas celebrations, for example. Or I'm not allowed to wear a huge cross around my neck. Obviously, the big question is for Muslim women who aren't allowed to wear their veils to school, or turbans or yamakas, etc. But it's kindof cool that this issue that I've been talking about for forever, actually somewhat applies now.
Anyway. We learned a lot. And then, because god forbid we exert our minds too much, we went out for a two hour lunch. Clearly.
Then we came back and watched videos of cute French kids speaking English, played some kids games and colored some pictures. Needless to say it was a spectacular day. Afterwords, we came home and relaxed, I went for a run (because I'm trying to do that now. And where better to start running than along a cute French river, past a couple cathedrals and chateaux?), talked to my parents and Mike, and then made dinner! Not only that, but I made dinner with my awesome roommates, and we just chatted about our days and life in general. It felt like the beginnings of a pretty nice routine, and I can't wait for it to actually take hold and be my life!
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