Il faut le faire

So, forgive me if I have a few typos in this blog. Due to a series of unfortunate events (ahem, the slowness of French administration) my room mate Susi and I are still without internet. Thus I am obliged to use a French keyboard. Yes, yes it is true what they say: Technology in France is definitely antiquated. Alas, I shall make do!

Last week was quite excellent as I spent three days chit chattering with other assistants in my Académie, Clermont-Ferrand. I think I made a great friend from Missouri who is also blogging this year. Her name is Shannon and rest assured that when I find her blog I will post it here for you all to read. She's just twoish hours south of me in a tiny town called St. Flour. While it seems like you would pronounce that 'flour' I think you pronounce it like 'fleur'. It's kind of funny really because fleur means flower and flour..is ..pronounced like...flower...

Only funny to me? Fair enough.

So yes, Clermont-Ferrand was great and I really tried to take in all of the information we were presented with. Most of the other assistants have to come to France with the sole purpose of learning French. I understand their reasons, but for me, I feel much more inclined to hang out with the kids and really help them improve their English. I have found out how hard that makes things when I have attempted to speak French at the same pace as the other people around me. Not so easy when you speakinzes Engrish tout le temps!

To help me improve my French then, I purchased two dictionaries: French-English and just straight up French. On verra...

In other news, Susi and I will be heading to Camp des Cimes with the GBSE, or church in Saint Etienne, this weekend. Susi is not a believer but she still wants to come. I think that is cool. Anyway we leave on Friday and we will be spending a weekend in the glorious Alps. Pray that the weather is good! Can you imagine getting caught in a deluge in the Alps?? I can't, nor do I want to.

Spaking of Susi, she is fantastic! My normal inhibitions about living with other people occasionally surface when I want to lay on the sofa for hours undisturbed, but usually we get along great. She's from Berlin and she is working here as a volunteer. I know God has brought us here for special purposes and I feel very blessed to have her as a room mate. Really, she's great :)

Tonight Susi took me to play volleyball in town and we had a blast. I was a lot more competitive than I thought I would be and I actually attempted to trash talk in French... Yikes. The good natured gentlemen, as we were two ladies and four gents, played at our level and we had some pretty good rallies. They even asked if we would come back next week. How about that!

Next week I start giving lessons, so keep that in your prayers. My main goal is to give the kids what they need because the education system here is pretty cut and dried: you are either a great student, or you're not. If you're not a great student then your job options diminish rather quickly after junior high. English is a core subject here, so they need to do well.

Je suis fatiguée donc je vous laisse. Bonne nuit à tous et à bientôt aux autres :) Bonne semaine mes amis!!