Quick Update

So not a whole lot has been going on in my life that's worth noting, but I thought I would give a general update anyway.
I'm now well over halfway through my 9 months of voluntary servitude in France and things are finally starting to go well. I've almost hit my stride in teaching. I find that a mix of bribes, bitchiness and business add up to a productive class. The kids are, for the most part, progressing nicely, and I feel comfortable enough with a few of the teachers to have real conversations which is always nice.
Outside of the classroom things are going even better. I decided to quit my tutoring job since I was in WAY over my head and the company didn't seem to be quite on the up and up. But since I have started privately tutoring 4 women on English for their upcoming oral and written exams at teacher's university. They're really great and it's nice that they have really specific goals because it makes it easier for me to prepare things for them. And it's nice to meet people. Speaking of meeting people I have a French friend! Her name is Amandine and she just moved to Chartres. She spent a few months in the UK and wants to keep up her English so we've met to speak in English for her and we plan on meeting to speak in French for me. It's really nice!
I also start physical therapy this week for my knees so that will introduce a whole new level of vocabulary that I'm excited about. And I made reservations for my April vacation. I'll be exploring Prague, Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary for a week before I have even more visitors. I'm really excited because I've always wanted to visit these two cities and now I actually have the chance! There's some other miniature trips in the works, but I don't want to jinx anything.
Other than that there was a birthday party for two of the other assistants up in Paris a few weekends ago and I didn't look totally terrible, so here's the photos from that. It's me with the birthday girls. The first is me with Lisa. She lives next door to me here in crap-fest apartment building and we've had quite a few adventures with the interesting characters that seem to frequent our humble abode. The second is me with Deborah who actually works at a high school in a neighboring town, but chose to live here in Chartres.
So that's my life in a not-so-interesting nutshell. Hope everyone reading this is surviving March as well! A bientot mes amis!