Assistante de Langue Anglais

My teaching career has come to a close. This past Thursday was my last day, and I am sad to be leaving Lycée Sonia Delaunay. I was just beginning to get to know my students and the other professors really well, and I will not forget them or my time here!

Some things I have learned teaching in France...

PREPARE and ADAPT. Come prepared for the worst. Some students don't care, won't try, and give you a hard time. On the flip side, some students really want to learn and teach you more than you could ever teach them. BUT they can always tell if you are unprepared for a lesson or when a lesson doesn't go as planned. I have learned to go with the flow and with what works best.

BE PATIENT. I can't make these students improve their English, but I can be patient and encouraging and hope for the best.

FORGET STEREOTYPES. The French do NOT hate Americans... actually most love them. TV shows, movies, music, clothes, the American teenager lifestyle... some of my students know more about American pop culture than I do, and most of them would jump at the chance to visit the good old U.S. of A.

INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS. It was hard making friends with the other teachers at first, but over time I have found that they are really caring and loving towards their coworkers and genuinely are interested in each others lives. I was able to get to know one teacher especially well because I tutored him in English every week. I am very lucky to have had the chance to get to know him and hear his opinion and perspective on so many things.

HAVE A GOOD ATTITUDE. Come ready to present the best lesson you can. My job wasn't just about me, I had to lead 6 classes every day and keep the students interested and involved. It can be exhausting, but I want them to remember me as a teacher who really cared about every single student.

BE HUMBLE. Some of the terminale (aka senior) students spoke better English than I do and are very intelligent and informed about the world. Again, I feel like I learned more from them. I learned to do the best I could to help them speak English and learn about American culture. Also, no student wants to have a condescending teacher with a superiority complex. I tried my best to make my classroom a place where my students and I could learn from each other.

I can't imagine having done anything else this past year after college. I am so blessed to have had this opportunity and have learned an incredible amount not only working at my first job, but being an unexperienced teacher in a foreign country. I recommend this job and opportunity to anyone who would be willing to move abroad for a year and challenge themselves in a new way.

One of my terminale classes that I will miss dearly.

The teachers' lounge. They had champagne and cookies on my last day, so kind!

English professors (L-R) Sophie, Catherine, Stephanie, and Carmine, a history professor that I tutored in English.

French Culture website and Teaching Assistant program here.

Two weeks of Chris Ramento

The past two weeks, my roommates and I have been lucky enough to have another visit from our friend studying in Scotland, Chris Ramento. He decided to come last minute, and I think I speak for us all when I say that we are so happy to have him here! It is so great to have friends visit anytime, but especially Chris because he is so funny and there is never a dull moment when he is around. Good thing I will be visiting him in Scotland in about 2 weeks.

Emily’s birthday was last Tuesday, and her, Kara, Faye, Sean, Becca, Chris and myself celebrated baller style…. By staying in a hotel and going out on the Champs Elysées this past weekend! We stayed in a two room HUGE suite at Hotel Raphael, which looks like Versailles inside (seriously). It was nice to stay somewhere else in the city for a night and to be pampered with room service! On Friday night we went out to Duplex, a club right around the corner from the Arc de Triomphe. It is a really fun club with three different rooms and themes, and we stayed really late dancing and imitating the dance moves of an old guy who was standing on the stage all night and acting like he was orchestrating the crowd.

I slept SO well on the comfy beds at Hotel Raphael, and we all got up the next morning to have free breakfast. It has been a long time since I have had such a big breakfast… bacon, eggs, sausage, fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, pain au chocolat... I wish that could be every morning!

On Saturday evening, Andrew and I flew to Germany to visit his grandma Yola for Easter. She lives in Vallendar (Koblenz). We had a great time visiting, resting, and eating great food with her and we owe her a lot for her hospitality! It means so much to be with family for the holidays. We also visited her church in Koblenz and I wish I could comment on the service but unfortunately I don’t know any German. Everyone was very welcoming though and I saw a few of Yola’s friends who I had met when I visited her in October. We love you Yola!

It was so nice this past Tuesday back in Paris… it felt like summer! My roommates, Chris, Andrew and I went to play frisbee in the Champ de Mars. After a long day at school, it was the perfect way to relax and look forward to more days like this to come. Seriously, as soon as it is consistently warm, I am sure you will find me every day at the Champ de Mars with a book, a blanket, and some baguettes and wine.

Last Wednesday I took Norgay and Kay Sar to Invalides and the Musée de L’Armée. Napoleon’s tomb is there and the museum shows a great history of WWI and WWII, and there is also a room showcasing old medieval knights armor. The boys loved that.

This week is my LAST week teaching. I can’t believe how fast my time here has gone! More reflections on teaching to come…

Andrew left last Friday for two weeks in LA. I will miss him very much and pray he has a safe and fun trip home, and that the surf is good (ha!). He has been talking about it for the last month!

This past weekend Chris and I explored many parks around Paris because the weather was BEAUTIFUL. I finally got some sun on my pasty skin! We had picnics at Champ de Mars (1 min walk from my apartment and right next to la Tour Eiffel) and les jardins at Versailles Palace. At the Versailles gardens (which are HUGE!), you can rent golf carts, bicycles, and even boats to row in the big pond. We also got to see Le Petit Trianon on the grounds of Versailles, where Marie Antoinette lived. It was so beautiful! Lucky Queen…

Last night Chris, Faye, Sean and I played some pong at my apartment. After playing at Miller’s Bar, we wanted to relive college all over again!

Annnnddd…. My Vacances de Pac (French school vacation in the last two weeks of April) plans are set: 6 days in Mallorca for a birthday trip with Becca and Em, 4 days in St. Tropez with Kay Sar and Norgay’s family, and 4 days in St. Andrews, Scotland! I am really lucky to have all of these experiences and can’t wait to tell you all about them!

Hotel Raphael

17 Avenue Kléber, 16^th arrondissement

Métro Kléber

Le Duplex

2 Avenue Foch, 16^th arrondissement

Métro Charles de Gaulle Etoile

Invalides (and Musee de l’Armee)

Esplanade des Invalides, 7^th arrondissement

Métro Invalides

Champ de Mars

7^th arrondissement

Métro La Motte Picquet Grenelle, Ecole Militaire, and RER Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel

Versailles Palace (and La Petit Trianon)

78000, Versailles, France

RER Versailles Rive Gauche

Kay Sar and Norgay

Yesterday I took the boys I babysit to the Musée de la Marine at the Trocadero. The museum displayed a lot of model ships to show the history of the French Navy, and it was free! Norgay loves anything involving WWII so he loved it and Kay Sar is just always happy. These boys are so sweet and so, so entertaining!

Musée de la Marine

17 Place du Trocadéro, 16eme arrondissement

Métro Trocadéro

grandmaster

Le 1515

32 - 34 Rue Marbeuf, 8eme arrondissement

Métro Franklin D. Roosevelt

Saturday night, Andrew and I went out with some friends to Le 1515, a club (formerly Worldplace and Man Ray) on rue Marbeuf off the Champs-Elysées. That night was a performance by Grandmaster Flash, a DJ from the 80's. Andrew said he was a big deal back then.... but keep in mind he is now 50! Anyway, he opened by shouting "I don't speak French, you don't speak American, but we speak hip hop!!!!" about 20 times. He played some pretty good old school songs like "Gangsta's Paradise" and some Biggie, but he also kept shouting over the music... things like "Everybody say hey... everybody say ho" and "put your hands up, put your hands up." It actually was pretty cool and he was entertaining in a funny way. Strange how 50 year old DJs can be so cocky. Le 1515 is also a great club, with a high ceiling and wide open layout.

Also, check out this new marketing campaign by IKEA in the Métro... how cool is that?

..and this view on my run tonight.

Miller's and Velib's

Last night Emily, Sean, Becca, Melissa and I went out to a bar in the Marais called Miller's Bar to meet up with one of Becca's friends for his birthday. My first impression of the bar was that it was an unoriginal bar for Americans (even the bartenders were speaking English), but then we went downstairs and found... beer pong tables! IN PARIS! We ended up staying the whole night until the bar closed because we were having so much fun! Emily and I dominated for four rounds. It was like being back in college again! Weird how that feels like yesterday and years ago at the same time.

We left at about 2:30 a.m., so the metro obviously was not going anymore. We normally would take a cab home, but we were right by a Velib' station, so we decided to bike home instead! Velib' is a bike company in Paris that has stations all throughout the city where you rent a bike and then return it to another station near where you want to go. We have wanted to do this for a while but the rental process and cold weather had prevented us. It was so unbelievably fun going home at 3 a.m. by bike! It was the perfect temperature and there were not as many cars out on the streets as in the day. I felt like a kid riding my bike through the city! Until I tried to jump a curb and crashed... even when I did this I was still laughing though because it was so fun! We will definitely be Velib'-ing a lot now that it has warmed up and we have figured out the system.

Miller's Bar

3 rue des Haudriettes, 3eme arrondissement

Métro Rambuteau

OO-LA-LA

Living so far from home can be hard sometimes. I love Paris so very much and can’t believe how lucky I am to have this opportunity to live here, but there is always part of me that misses home, the sense of familiarity, family and friends. Luckily for me, I have some of my best friends here… my Pepperdine girls without whom I probably wouldn’t be here, new friends I have made while here, and now of course my best friend Andrew. I am really blessed to be able to experience this great city with all of them!

This past weekend was even better than usual because we had visitors come to see us. Nicole Serleto came to visit us (again!) from Florence and it was good to catch up and show her a little more of Paris. Also, Ally Sturm and Sam Roesler were in town from Heidelberg and they came over to our apartment for a while to visit. It was so great spending time with these girls and sharing our European adventures, and I wish them all the best last month studying abroad!

Also, I recently booked my flight to Edinburgh, Scotland to visit Chris Ramento and his life at St. Andrews while Natalie Berger, Megan Carolin, and Alex Johnson are there! Thank God for the great friends that I have been blessed with and for the chance for all of us to get together even though we live in different parts of the world.

More about this past week…

FRESH BAGUETTES!

My roommate Kara is a student at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school where she takes pâtisserie classes (meaning we always have desserts to come home to!). Sometimes they make savory foods as well, and this past week she made baguettes. For anyone who has ever tried to make baguettes from scratch, you know how difficult and precise it is and the French still manage to have it down perfectly! Well, Kara made just about the best baguettes I have ever eaten… comme une vrai francaise!

Le Refuge des Fondues

17 rue des 3 Frères ... 18^eme arrondissement ... Métro Abbesses

Friday night Em and I went to this fondue restaurant with Nicole and some friends from the Pepperdine Florence program. We had been there before so we knew it would be a great experience for them. It is the definition of a hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurant. Its small, with only two long family style tables on each wall of the place and always crowded. Many tourists know about this place and I am always amazed at how busy it is. The owner literally gives you a hand up to step over the long table because the place is so small. You are served a sweet kir first along with a plate of appetizers, like potatoes, cheese, and salami. Then you are asked if you want vin blanc ou vin rouge, which they bring out to you in a baby bottle! You then have a choice of fondue: either meat and potatoes to be cooked in an oil fondue pot, or bread to be dipped in a cheese fondue pot. If you have two people you should get both and share because they are so good and they bring you a lot. Finally when you are so stuffed and think you can’t eat any more, they offer you dessert: fruit salad, or for an extra euro ice cream or chocolate cake. The food is simple but really good, and it is fun to be able to make it and serve yourself right from the fondue pot!

COS

4 rue des Rosiers ... 4^eme arrondissement ... Métro St. Paul

H&M started another brand of clothing called COS and a store has been opened in Paris recently. The line is more expensive, but is also higher quality and carries more classic clothing. Andrew, Nicole and I visited this past Saturday. The store is located in the chic (or branché) Marais and has some really nice pieces… too bad I am a poor teacher! Nonetheless, a good fashion inspiration.

Musée Carnavalet

23 Rue de Sévigné ... 4^{eme arrondissement ... Métro St. Paul}

Showcasing the history of Paris, this charming (and free!) museum was a great way to spend Saturday afternoon. It is housed in the Marais in two old mansions and has many paintings, drawings, sculptures, and artifacts to tell the story of the city. I especially liked the art from the French Revolution era (love that revolutionary spirit) and the models of what Paris looked like back in the 1600-1700s. It was a different world in Quasimodo’s time.

Rue Mouffetard

Métro Cardinal Lemoine, Place Monge, or Censier Daubenton

In the 5^th arrondissement of Paris is this lively little gem of a street where Angie and Blake Thompson are lucky enough to live. All day and night stores and cafes are busy with customers and passersby. You should go here for the fromageries, wine tasting outside wine shops, and unique clothing boutiques. If you prefer the night and are looking for a cool place to go out to dinner, dessert, or drinks, this place is it. There are many young people around and not only sit down cafes but great places to take-away all kinds of foods: Greek, Lebanese, Gelati, crepes, etc. The bar The Wall has a 3 Euro house beer, and there even is a bowling alley! Not to mention very cheap movie theaters.

Home-Made Mexican Food mmmmm

Saturday for dinner we decided to make Mexican food at my apartment. Paris claims to have a few good Mexican restaurants, but all the ones I have tried have not been real Mexican food like I have had in America. Last time I flew home, I was so sad about being without Mexican food in Paris that I brought back some refried beans and Mexican rice (because they are impossible to find here) in my suitcase! These plus grilled peppers, onions and chicken in tortillas and Nicole’s phenomenal guacamole with tortilla chips equaled a fantastic meal. Haifa and Abass joined Andrew, Nicole and I to eat and Ally and Sam came over to visit. Eating in can be just as good as going out when you have great people to eat with.

CAB

2 Place de Palais Royal ... 1^ere arrondissement ... Métro Palais Royal Musée du Louvre

We went to this centrally located club Saturday night, and to be honest, it was a disappointment. First, we were put on the guest list by a friend, and when we got there they told us there was no list. The cover is usually 20 Euros, so we were not about to pay when we were told we would be able to get in free! I told the bouncer that I received an email invitation and he told me that I was supposed to print it out. Who brings a printed-out invitation to a club? Anyways, I ended up showing him the email on my phone to convince him and he finally let us in, but with a warning to print our invitation next time (??).

Once we were inside, we found some lame music, a poorly designed basement type setting, and all drinks cost 15 Euros! Also, we got there before our other friends so it was lame on top of having to wait for them. And this is supposed to be a very popular club too… we left by 1:30am and found a huge line of people as we exited. Did I miss something? I guess it just wasn’t my style.

Babysitting

I recently started babysitting for a French family living in Paris. They have 2 boys (Norgay, 6; Kay Sar 3) who are French-Cambodian and they are so sweet! They lived in London for most of their lives, so Norgay will speak English with me in a British accent but Kay Sar will still only speak French. He is so cute the way he explains things! Yesterday they used my scarf to tie me up in “prison” and then took off my shoes and socks. Kay Sar also told me some bad words I am not supposed to say… I couldn’t stop laughing all while saying “No, we cannot say those words”…. Too funny!

GAGA

Kara and Emily and I got tickets to see LADY GAGA! It is in May in The Netherlands, so we are going to take a weekend to Amsterdam to see the city (which I have never been to) and to see her in concert! “Ga-ga-oo-la-la…!!!!!!”

And running through the Champ de Mars tonight in 60 degree weather, I see the Eiffel Tower start to sparkle above my head… perfection.

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