Long Overdue Update

Welcome back. I've been back in France for almost three weeks now and not a lot has happened. Winter is a fairly depressing season in general, and it's quite a bit warmer here than it has been back in Ohio, but sunny days are far and few between and the general wet atmosphere makes curling up under the covers and reading a book sound like a much more preferable option. Despite my lack to drive to go out, I have a few times and the following is an overview of the few exciting things that have happened since I got back:

Last weekend I, and quite a few other assistants in the area, got a very generous invitation from Katherine. She works in Chateaudun, a much smaller village about an hour south of Chartres. She invited us to Chateaudun for a Friday evening for some company and a traditional French meal at a restaurant in town. I arrived in the early evening, so the photos of the town aren't very flattering, but here you go..

The chateau that gives Chateaudun its name.

A view of the courtyard of said chateau.

A war memorial in town. I believe it was to soldiers of the first World War.

An adorable window in town.

I was, and still am, very jealous of the assistants at the lycee in Chateaudun. A lycee is a high school, and the vast majority of lycee assistants in France are provided housing... even though their contract is shorter than primarie assistants like me. Katherine and Lucia's apartment is in the lycee on the top floor. It has a fabulous foyer, two bedrooms that are each about the size of my entire apartment, a living room that is quite a bit larger than my apartment and has provided internet and cable television, and just to top it off they have a great kitchen with a stove, oven, and (get this) a washing machine. Oh and did I mention that they pay about 40euro per month all utilities included? So I guess it is possible to have this job without living in abject poverty, I just got assigned the wrong age group. :(
But back to the positive, dinner was fabulous!! It was at a great little place in town just filled with ambiance. We all got the three course meal and it may be the best meal I've ever had in France. If you ever happen to be in Chateaudun I highly recommend going to La Licorne in the center of town. Below is a photo of us chatting post- dinner.

Left to right: Deborah (hidden behind Deb are Rachel and Julia), Lucia, Katherine, Molly, Danielle, Cheryl, and Jes.

All in all it was a really nice evening, even if we didn't get much sleep. After that not much happened. The last week has been just teaching and sleeping. Thursday there was a teacher's strike. I usually have six classes on Thursdays, but this week I only had one, which was really nice. I ran into the striking teachers on my way home. They had a parade with a flags and little stickers and such. I was enjoying the ridiculousness of only 100 people protesting when so many teachers in the region had taken the day off "because of the stike"... then the bagpiper came through. Why was there a bagpiper at a protest against the government slashing jobs in the education sector? Because they're French. I decided that was my line, so I left.
Another total random observation: The French put a non-smoking ban into effect the first of the year. It's now illegal to smoke in almost any public building. This is great news for me because I can now buy a newspaper, go to a bar with my friends, or enjoy a meal at a cafe or restaurant without decreasing my lifespan by simply breathing. The only problem is that now everyone steps outside to take massive group smoke breaks. So while everything is great indoors, walking down the street or getting up to the door of an establishment makes me wheeze and cough and wave the clouds of smoke out of the way. So I'm not sure if this was a good law or a misguided one.

Friday was one of those fabulous sunny days that appears so rarely. I needed to run some errands and so did Danielle so we headed out. Along with getting our errands run we stumbled across a fabulously cute, picturesque, and romantic park. As you tell from the photos below, the view is great, the Eure River runs through the park as do some smaller streams, there's even a little farm with goats and pigs and such, and the entire park is surrounded by cages with various exotic birds. I can't wait to go back with a book and hang out.

There was also a random HUGE tree.And a slide. We like slides.

That evening we went to the Hotel de Ville (town hall) to see Segolene Royal. She was a presidential candidate in last year's election. She was in town to support a local candidate in the Chartres area. Next Sunday the French have elections (which I find especially hilarious because the French don't do ANYTHING on Sundays... ever!). It was really cool to see her. I even understood the vast majority of her speech. She's like the French Hilary Clinton with better hair, makeup and wardrobe. I was so close to her too. The second picture below is without zoom.

And then finally I went to the cathedral in town to see a free concert. They had advertised it pretty heavily and I thought it was just organ music, but it was also a brass band and choir from local music schools. It was great. The video has nothing to see since the cathedral was dark (and freezing) but you can get a good idea of the music. The acoustics are great. I did giggle that it's the same song NBC uses for the Olympics.

So that's the update on my life. Two more weeks of teaching and I'll be on winter break. Then it's off to southern Spain!! I promise to update before that though. Have a great week everyone!