In the Land of Pink Toilet Paper

So far everything has been going well!
 

Rouen - Old Marketplace

Last weekend, the train from Rouen to Dieppe wasn't leaving at a convenient time (after we'd arrived by train in Rouen), so Lidia and I stayed and checked out Rouen. We saw the dungeon, cathedral (which was huge), the Gros Horloge (big clock), and checked out one of the bridges in Rouen. We only had a few hours and Lidia didn't have comfortable shoes, so we will go inside the church and the building with the Gros Horloge another time. We were, however, hungry. We asked the tourism office where to find food at 4:30 pm since everything was closed (Sunday), and she said either a marketplace or suggested a street where food would be cheaper. We checked out the cheaper option and quickly learned that restaurants open for dinner at 7:00 pm (if at all on Sunday). We stopped by a kebab place that was open and a homeless guy followed us in and hassled the guy working there until he got some fries in exchange for a handful of change, which the staff guy put on the counter. Then when we ordered, he started making our sandwiches without washing his hands, and put the sandwiches in the change. When we said we were no longer interested in the sandwiches because it was dirty, we could hear him cursing us as we walked away. I have since been told never to trust a kebab place. Lidia and I ended up walking past the marketplace just after 7, and everything was open. Thanks a lot, information lady!   


Rouen - Old Marketplace



Church in Rouen's Old Marketplace

 

Restaurant in Rouen's Old Marketplace

School is also going well! It turned out that we are only supposed to observe classes of all kinds for the first two weeks to familiarize ourselves with the French school system. We begin teaching after these two weeks (including another training day next Friday). The students are nice so far, but we learned that we're not supposed to let on that we speak French, which is really hard when I'm trying to help them translate terms or I respond to a comment. Apparently they will try to speak to us in French if they know we can speak French, so we have to play dumb! I will be teaching at the normal lycee (high school - 15-18 year-olds) and the lycee professionelle (students who are generally weaker in languages and are studying a specific profession like accounting) for a few hours per week (I teach at the public lycee, but there is also a private lycee, and an agricultural lycee since we live in a very "agricultural" town...the big chain stores have farmer's fields with sheep, roosters and chickens, and horses right next to them and behind them). The students' knowledge of English varies WIDELY. And yet the girls all seem to wear American and British flags on their bags, scarves, and shirts. I guess it's more of a style and not a personal statement.

So far, in the talkative classes, I have been asked if I have ever seen a caribou (sadly, I have not) and if I like maple syrup (which I do). I also had to smile when I had to explain to a student that they meant "smoked a lot of green" instead of "eating a lot of greens", although I preferred the idea that Wiz Khalifa ate a lot of salad and vegetables :).

The paperwork is intense here. Not only did I get my visa, but I have to submit multiple things to French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII in French) and attend a doctor's appointment one afternoon as well as a radiology appointment another morning to have x-rays done. Both are, of course, in Rouen, which is 30 minutes away by train, as is my training day. So as of Thursday afternoon, I will be on my way to Rouen for doctor's appointment #1, then Friday I have training all day, then I will spend the weekend in Paris (and hopefully visit Disneyland!!!!!), and then return to Rouen Sunday night for my next doctor's appointment on Monday morning...before finally coming back to Yvetot on Monday afternoon. And that's not even including the paperwork required. I had to open a bank account (paperwork), give the info to the school so that I can be paid this month (paperwork), give information to get my social security number (paperwork), give info to OFII (paperwork), and submit info to OFII after my doctor's appointment (paperwork).

Rouen - On the Seine River

On top of that, having a long-form birth certificate translated is a new procedure (they're now cracking down on people who have been abusing the system), and the Canadians were told to have our birth certificates translated by a certified translator on the consulate's website. No problem. $45 later, it was done. Then I had to get it legalized at the consulate. Done. Now they are telling us that it has to be done by someone from their list in France, so we are waiting to hear if we have to have the whole thing redone. *FACEPALM*. As they said in our first training day, the 4 principles of France are actually "liberté, égalité, fraternité and paperwork". Vive la France.

Things are still going well with the roomies and we're meeting my professeure référente (the one who looks after the English language assistant) tomorrow morning at the Saturday morning market in "downtown" Yvetot, and then meeting another one of my teachers to visit Étretat https://levoyagedelola.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/etretat.jpg. Sunday, we're meeting with yet another teacher (the Spanish professeur référent) to visit Rouen. We're amazed by their incredible kindness and willingness to show us around. 
 
Unfortunately, these trips also mean that I will not have time to make any sort of Thanksgiving anything aside from perhaps a turkey filet here. As my family knows, Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favourite meals of the year and to miss the stuffing and gravy is tough!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Rouen

Photos of Yvetot and Le Havre

Photos of Yvetot:

Hotel de ville

"Downtown" Yvetot

Church

Our neighbours

Our very own mailbox! And I thought people had trouble with my name in Canada...

Visit to Le Havre on Saturday with Benni (German language assistant)

The style of housing by the water. The entire city was destroyed in WWII, so no super old architecture.

Heineken at McDonald's and Involuntary Exercise

After discovering a notice on the wall of the McDonald's about a policy on being drunk, I wondered if this was a typical post-night of drinking hangout....until I saw the Heineken in the fridge behind the counter. McDonald's sells beer here!

After my last blog post, I searched and searched and searched for train tickets to Munich and NONE were available. I even tried covoiturage (rideshare-esque) sites, buses and planes. I searched again today and there is still nothing. Instead, I will spend the weekend in Yvetot, which would normally be fine, but with all of my excitement about heading to Oktoberfest, it is a little disappointing.

On my way back home from McDonald's, the other two language assistants and I got caught in a rain storm, and nature forced us to run as fast as we could or we would risk ruining our electronics (I had my camera, phone, and laptop) and soaking our clothes (which we did anyway). The German language assistant recounted a saying where someone says that Yvetot has nice weather... in between the rain, and boy those clouds move quickly here!

We stayed up late chatting, and then woke up at a reasonable hour to get our internet access on the school premises (it will take a few days), and get set up with the canteen swipe cards (2.30 Euros for lunch). It's a very reasonable meal. I looked at the menu later, and I couldn't figure out what 90% of it meant, but it looked edible and I ate it anyway!

Then we visited one of the several banks in Yvetot to begin opening bank accounts and later did groceries (les courses), and for a town of 15 000 people, they have a Superstore-sized grocery store! Bought our TP, bath mats, garbage pales, slippers (the floors are very cold here), food and alcohol (the section is almost bigger than in an LCBO), and recharged my SIM card here.

Later that night, after making dinner together, we stayed up late having drinks, and my 2 Euro wine was quite delightful and sweet. It goes down so smoothly! I gave them each a maple candy and the Austrian assistant (Benni) gave us Milka chocolate from a town 30 kms away from his parents' home. Lovely!

Today, the Spanish assistant (Lidia) went to visit a friend in Paris, so Benni and I went to explore Le Havre (a 30-min train ride away) and see the Atlantic Ocean. We walked around the port and used the free wifi and bathrooms in the mall, saw the cruise ships, and walked around to the beach (made of pebbles, not sand), and back through the "downtown" to get back to the train station. I tried on a few shirts at Morgan and they were very short, either in the body or the sleeves! I may not get much shopping done here! And since I didn't know if I might find food before we reached the train station (after 6 on a Saturday), I have to admit that I ate at...... Subway. The menu was the same and everything. I am now guilty of eating at McDonald's and Subway within a week of moving here. Shame, shame, shame. If it helps, I also ate a chocolate from a bakery/chocolatier and a chicken thigh thing from a butchery.

Anyway, the city was very nice and although the train was supposed to take longer because there was a problem with the electricity, we made it back to Yvetot on schedule and walked back to the apartment with Lidia, and stopped to see the pizzerias and hot spots around the town (for the record, apparently American pizza has oregano and eggs on it).

Now we find ourselves again at McDonald's using the free wifi (pronounced wee-fee here) until our internet from Orange is installed on October 8th. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Perhaps a trip to Dieppe? Perhaps attempting to conquer the laundry machine? Discovering life in a small town where it is possible that no stores whatsoever will be open? I found an advertisement for a pony farm here in Yvetot, so it has quickly become a must-do! :) We'll see what the day brings.

Bon soir!  

P.S. Loving the heated towel rack!

The apartment! Missing: Lidia's room and the laundry room. <- Hallway<- Kitchen

<- Living/Dining Room

 <- My bedroom

<- La salle de bain

<- La toilette

<- Walk-in closet we all have access to!

 

 

 

Arrival in Yvetot

After a long flight with a very chatty man sitting next to me, I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and took a bus (on the advice of others, including the info desk) to the Opera stop, only a 5-6 minute walk to the train station. When we arrived an hour later (instead of the 30 min train ride it would have taken me), I had missed my train, and my suitcase with around 60 pounds in it had a broken wheel and I had to drag it like dead weight, along with my other 40-pound suitcase. After the most grueling walk ever, I was nice and sweaty, and I tried buying a new train ticket at a machine.... Only Visa and Mastercard Europeene were accepted, so I had to go inside and wait in line to see a teller. As I was stripping off layers down to my t-shirt and people started staring, I realized that everyone else was wearing long-sleeve shirts at the very minimum. Meanwhile, this crazy canuck was down to a t-shirt and sweating like I'd just run a marathon. First faux-pas. The gentleman was kind enough to exchange my ticket and put me on the next train.

Side note: As I was dragging my bags along, my backpack must have come open, and a man informed me and luckily nothing was stolen, even though my laptop would have been very visible.

Next challenge: Getting up to the train platforms upstairs when the elevator was out of service. I asked a nice-looking young man to help me, which he did, although he certainly looked at me like it was an unusual request.

So I spent the next hour waiting for the train's platform info to appear on the screen, and I was certainly not losing the seat I had hovered over to get. I refused to seek food or a bathroom, and when I asked the people next to me if a phone within sight was a public phone, they said yes, but that I would need a calling card to use it. Sigh. I needed to call and tell the professor picking me up at the train station that I would be later, and texting or sending emails from my phone wouldn't work. Luckily an older gentleman allowed me to use his cell phone. He ended up being on my train, and as we walked to the platform together, he was going faster than me...and he had a cane.

When I got into Yvetot (still trying to control my bladder), two teachers welcomed me with the traditional kisses on both cheeks. I thought I was going in for a hug. My teacher-boss brought me to the most charming French countryside home, and we ate homemade quiche lorraine, wine with cassis liqueur, salad with homemade dressing, and cheese with fruit salad for dessert. Since I'd only eaten a yogurt and an applesauce that day, the food was most welcome. I learned my second lesson when I was taught that the trick is taking more cheese and less bread that I would have thought.

I went to buy a SIM card for my phone, and it turns out that to buy an internet plan, you need ID, proof of residence and a French bank account. I had one of those, so I will add internet later. For now, I have a few Euros on there to text in case of emergency. My phone functions as an expensive clock unless I have wifi, it seems.

Today I woke up at 11:30 after 12 hours of much-needed sleep and showered and relaxed until the teacher came home and we went to move me into the apartment, which was being renovated until today. It is amazing!!! Plenty of space! I'm living with a Spanish language assistant from Spain and a German language assistant in the studio apartment next door. Since he has no kitchen and living room, we will share those. Now we are at McDonald's for the free wifi since the school's wifi signal isn't strong enough to reach our residence, and it does not work during evenings and weekends. They will order it tomorrow since I'm gone to Munich in the early morning. Apparently it takes about a week to have it installed and all :(. Guess I will learn to enjoy Royal burgers!

The assistants and I are all trying to improve our French, so we speak in French, but sometimes use the English word to figure it out.

We also went to the grocery store (more like a Wal-Mart), and it's only open from 8:30-8pm (9 on Friday), and not open on Sundays. Looks like I will have to get my act together and start grocery shopping during normal hours!

Anyway, time to buy my train tickets to Munich and find the directions to the train station from our apartment. A bientot!