It rains in Provence!

Anybody who tells you differently is a liar! It's like springtime in Oregon here: sunny and hot one day, rainy and gray the next: I can't take it! I went running for the first time since I've been here yesterday, and it was great, along a beautiful country road that was just lovely. Then it rained a lot today and made me sad. Tomorrow I'm off to Marseille, to hopefully check out the Chateau d'If, the famed Alcatraz-esque prison from my favorite book of all time, The Count of Monte Cristo, which I am currently reading in French and is beyond fabulous! The day after tomorrow I'm taking a ferry to Tunisia, where I will: see my thesis professor Laura, hopefully ride a camel, and go to an all-night election party hosted by the US embassy! I'm so excited! Then on my birthday I will take a ferry back to Marseille...hopefully it will all work out! I'm broke, but I'm loving life and having some great adventures, so I can't really complain! As I said, though, life is not all sunshine: teaching is challenging, and not all the teachers are the most helpful of people. The other day one of the children even took the time to come over and tell me during recess that another kid was making fun of me. Precious! But overall, I'm learning how to cook and having crazy adventures at the one bar in my little town! Will keep you posted, if, as Stephanie says, anything happens in my life worth posting about! :) Love you all!

Moving to France

my mailing address:

Annette McFarland
9 Rue Autheman
Studio Nº 4
84800 L’Isle sur la Sorgue PACA
FRANCE

I have been in France for just over two weeks. In that time I have accomplished many things, had many fabulous unforgettable experiences, and had some crappy ones too.

Upon arrival, I was very proud that I was able to navigate a huge backpack, a suitcase, a purse and myself from the Charles De Gaulle airport onto the RER train, transfer to the metro, and make it to the Place d’Italie stop before calling William. The last time I was in France I paid too much for a taxi to an overpriced hostel. I stayed with William, his sister Aimee, brother-in-law Julien, and 1 ½ year old nephew Max. For two days I hung out at Aimee’s tea shop (in the 13^th arrondisement, it’s called L’Oisive Thé, a play on l’oisiveté which means leisurely). Then I bought a 12-25 card (to get discounts on trains) and a ticket to Lyon, where I stayed with my friend Maren for a night, eating bread and cheese and drinking wine and tea. Then on to Avignon and Steve, who is a dear. I ended up staying with him for over a week as I looked for an apartment in L’Isle sur la Sorgue and thought of options. My first day in Avignon was magical: the centre ville is completely surrounded by an old city wall, and anyone who’s anyone lives intramurales (Steve and I are afraid to go extramurales too often)... We saw a woman akin to Esmeralda singing opera outside of the Pope’s Palace.

One day Steve and I rode his scooter to Saint Remy (evidently a very posh area of France...Brad and Angelina just bought a house there), which is about 20 km southwest of Avignon. We went to see bullfighting, or rather “bull bothering” (they didn’t kill them). A dozen or so men would take turns running at the bull, trying to grab prizes off his horns. If the bull was chasing them they would vault themselves over a fence to get away from him. One bull kept leaping over the fence into the alley between the ring and the spectators. Everyone in the alley would jump into the ring until the bull was led back in. He did this about 10 times. One man yelled “Saucisson!” which means “Turn him into sausage!”

A few days later we had some meetings in Marseille. Steve had to be there a night before I did. I was hoping to get my apartment that day, but the process moved a little slower than I realized, so I was essentially homeless. As I was preparing myself to sleep on a park bench, I texted the one other person whose number I had. Megan from Wales was able to give me the phone number of another assistant, Raina, who without hesitation, without having met me, agreed to house me for the evening. As it turns out, Raina went to Reed, in Portland, and is amazing.

The most incredible experience I’ve had thus far was when the US Consulate General in Marseille hosted the American assistants from the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region for a multi-course buffet at her home overlooking the bay and the Chateau d’If, the prison in my favorite book, The Count of Monte Cristo. I scarfed down one plate of food and then jumped up to talk with the consulate general. She was amazing! I asked her dozens of questions about her career, her education, her life. She’s done tours in Haiti, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, among other places, and couldn’t really talk about Brad and Angelina, although she did say that after hobnobbing with Arabian princes, American movie stars seemed like small potatoes. I also chatted it up with her intern Jonathan, from Puerto Rico. Watching the sunset from the Consulate General’s house, drinking good wine (some of which, Steve noticed, was from Napa Valley) really made me excited for a career in the Foreign Service!

I have visited my schools, but I haven’t met the kids yet (that will come Monday). I’m hoping to get a bike, so I can bike around the region, but I’ve been going one day, one step at a time. I also want to try to find a way to play soccer (or at the very least use the municipal pool). Zandra (another assistant) and I found out today that the kayaking in my town is only for the club in the winter, and it’s now too late to join the club...whatever. I have a pet cat. Well, practically. My first night in my apartment it was hanging out on the roof outside one of my windows...it even came in once! This morning it came in and hid under the bed and wouldn’t leave...maybe that’s because I gave it some cream last night...my hallway stinks because the owner lets it poop in there, but it just needs some love. I don’t have an oven or a microwave, just a range, so I’m going to HAVE to learn how to cook, and where better to do it than Provence? The cheap version of Herbes de Provence that I bought at the grocery store (which are apparently for BBQing) include the following ingredients: sarriette, romarin, serpolet, marjolaine, origan, basilica and thym in variable proportions.

I’ve been alternately lonely and happy, excited and nervous, and wanted to run away a few times, but really, it’s just 9 months! I’ve made some good friends, including some assistants in Avignon and Marseille, and Ruth, the other assistant in my town. She’s from England. I don’t have internet in my apartment, but it may be too expensive. We will see...I may think it’s worth it...I may decide that just like learning how to cook, reading, and learning French, living without internet is just going to be one of my challenges this year.

I love and miss a lot of you fabulous people in my life.