Kick the Tires and Light the Fires.

Well this is probably the last thing I thought I would ever see in this slightly sleepy town of Orléans. I didn't even know about it beforehand. Usually when the frenchies are planning a strike they let everyone know in advance. They are so polite about their complaining. Anyway, I left for school at 7:30 and it is 30 minutes away. I was there until about 12:30 and on the way home my teacher lady (who will be referred to as Simone from now on) was talking about how the farmers were doing a demonstration today. I was thinking "Oh ok banners, marching, yelling whatever." WRONG! They set tires on fire! It smelled awful and I'm almost positive I'm going to develop cancer from it. The most hilarious thing was seeing people watch the events, in the midst of burning rubber smoke, sucking on a cigarette. As if the black cloud of smoke hovering about you isn't enough. Ha. Anyway I wrapped my trusty scarf around my face and trudged on, trying to capture the mayhem that was downtown Orléans. I'm not entirely sure what they were asking for but I know they are pissed at Sarkozy. I think they are mad that the supermarkets can charge whatever they want to the public, but the farmers aren't allowed to charge over a certain price. So they can't make more money even if the supermarkets decide to raise their prices. I'm really just speculating. I still don't really get the vegetable dumping. How does that help them? It helped me, I got free lunch out of it.... Yeah, thats right, I rummaged and scrounged like a homeless person. But hey, I'm broke and everyone was doing it. So yeah, I can't wait to see what it looks like tomorrow. Sweet.



Thats all folks,
Leah

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Side note... the next day it looked like nothing happened. So yeah maybe their taxes are high, but their streets sure are clean.

Leffe is a delicious beer

Just some more pictures for all you jealous people. Also to anyone that thinks french people are mean, then you have just met mean people that would be mean anywhere because everyone I've met here has been so kind, generous, and genuine. Ok so sometimes the boys can be a little too much sometimes but what can ya do, I'm a pretty foreign girl. Who can blame em right? Jk Anyway its cool here too because its pretty much a small town, so everywhere I go I see someone I know. It reminds me of Austin and feels homey. On the other hand my life just isn't the same without all you Americans. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. But, don't cry for me Argentina cause I'm havin a grand 'ole time here in the land of frogs.

Love Leah

Hey is for horses

Hello again,

Sorry its been a couple of days. I havent had internet as you all know but my roommate is kind enough to lend me hers. So my life here is a piece of cake. I work for 12 hours and I sleep... a lot. Something new and different for me because in Austin I worked for 50 hours and slept very little. I think Ive decided to teach middle school. They are so funny. I dont think I could stand to deal with real teenagers yet. These kids still have an essence of childhood. They still think Im cool and it makes them want to listen to me and they tell me I'm pretty a lot and, hey, who hates that? High school kids would be way to cool to even act like they liked me, I think. Middle school kids dont know who they are yet, so they cant know what kind of person they shouldnt be... if that makes sense. Today we played pictionary with animals and talked about family trees. All of the teachers here are super nice and helpful.
I cant wait to get paid, I want to go somewhere cool, any ideas?

Love LeeLee

Get out of here Binx II

Well I am officially a technology addict. My internet doesnt really work and my phone is out of minutes. What is really troubling is that I dont have a reliable source of contact for work. On top of all that, Im typing on a french keyboard and its hard. The whole phone thing is only bad because everyone expects that they can get a hold of me. If no one cared then it wouldnt matter.Anyway...

Im really enjoying our apartment. We have these gigantic windows that I would really like to keep open but Binx II, the neighborhood kitten, loves it inside our house way too much. Hes really cute and everything but he has sores and stuff... I dont want to pet that. GROSS.

Ive now seen most of my classes, and at this point all of the kids in the school know who I am, even if they dont take english. So, when I walk across the quad, everyone screams hello at me. Its almost tiring how much a french person says hello during the course of his or her day. They say it to EVERYONE! This is the weirdest age for kids especially in french schools because middle school is from 11-16. So there are these tall dudes, im talkin young men, sitting next to little boys whose balls havent dropped yet and could sing soprano. Its hilarious hearing them talk to one another. One of the classes though is insane. Its pretty much because the teacher has zero classroom management abilities. She was so nervous and spent the entire period saying shhh. And the kids just ignored her completely. When I was talking they were a little better because they didnt know me but they just dont give a shit. Plus she kept calling them stupid, which is a big no no I think. I mean if I raised my hand and the teacher said, and I quote, "What is that question, are you stupid or something?" I would never want to raise my hand again. On the other hand the other teachers I observe are amazing and so helpful. One offered to take me with his family when they tour chateaus. And my mentor teacher is letting me do my laundry at her house. Everyone is so nice here.

Thats all for now Im hungry,
Leah

Chips, Cheese, Chocolate and Champagne

Ok so it was sparkling wine... but the title describes what I had for lunch today at school. WINE... AT SCHOOL. That is just so illegal to me, so very punishable. So I drank a glass and toasted to the sober, chaste biznatch that is the USA. Here's to you prohibition.

Just a quick tid bit before I forgot :)

Leah

House Warming Party

Well you know the party was a success when someone throws up in the bathroom. :) I guess French people just can't handle their whiskey. Anyway the party was pretty awesome. We had a handful of people at the beginning and then I buzzed someone in who brought an army with them. They're all assistants so it was cool but seriously 20 people showed up together and they all came in a line through the door that just never ended, like they were coming out of a clown car. There were a ton of different people there, different countries represented. Lets see let me list a few:
Trinidad Ireland England Scotland France Switzerland Reunion Spain Senegal and Canada, just to name a few. Its pretty neat that we're all here just to work 12 hours a week and expand our notion of the world. Its only now that its hitting me how very seriously lucky I am. I mean I knew that before but I really get it now. So here are a couple of random photos from the night.








See told you it was good, don't worry there's not far to fall out of that window. Anyway the only thing that sucked is I dropped my phone which is not an uncommon occurrence for me but this one has one of those nice screens that looks pretty and has pictures so it broke... and that ladies and gentlemen is why I will never get an iphone. They can't make one strong enough to withstand the abuse that I will undoubtedly put it through.

Maybe I'll go for a walk.
Love Leah

Queen

Well hello there time for an update,

So I've been to both schools now, and the first one (which is rural) was pretty easy going with easy kids. The second one is mostly minorities in the ghetto part of town and of course the first question a kid asked me was, "What does son of a bitch mean?" I of course responded with "Something bad." But they were just as curious and excited as the other kids were and of course as I am.
Today we had our assistant de langue orientation and for those of you who know me, you know that I hate these kinds of things because probably my hugest pet peeve is open forums with morons. I hate people that ask personal questions and I hate people who ask the same question someone else just asked because they weren't listening. We were in a large classroom because there are a lot of english speaking assistants. This includes British, Australian, Canadian and even a Trinidadian. Of course the most obnoxious girl in the group was american and well she was just so angry at the way the French run things. She asked a question every 5 seconds and even yelled at the lady giving a presentation for not knowing enough. Sit down and shut the fuck up you are not that important. Anyway, the bright side of this is that I got to broadcast tomorrow nights House-warming party to lots of people and I hope they show up.

Also any of you who really know me also know how much I love Bohemian Rhapsody... and now the French know it too, because I sang it karaoke style. That one is for you Sarah.

Love Leah