BRRRR!

So im happy to say that winter has finally arrived here in Moulins. I have two more days before Christmas break! IM SO READY FOR A BREAK!!! I need a minute without having to deal with screaming kids. They are great and full of heart, but it shows that they need a break just as much as I do...they have been a handful this week. This past week its been around -5C in the mornings which is around 23F. in the afternoons its only getting up to 2C which is 35F. I knew it was gonna happen like that all at once because everyone kept saying they'd never seen Moulins so warm in November, then all of a sudden BAM, Freezing! anyway, Im gonna go to bed now, but i'll be back around mes potes.... Bonne Nuit est Bonne Vacances, Joyeux Noël, et Bonne Année à tout le monde!

My Crib

Finally, as promised, I was un-lazy enough to tidy up just a bit and post some photos of my new studio.... and Here they are!!

Photos from my schools.

So far I've only taken photos at one school, but I will post photos from the other 2 as the week continues. Except for Les Champins because my class is cancelled thursday afternoon so It will have to wait until after Christmas Break.

My Job! My students and schools.

talk to you all again soon! A lot of you heard from me last night, those who didn't probably will soon. Like I said, leave me a facebook message or email at elklips@gmail.com with your phone numbers! Free calls to the USA people, FREE!!

YAY FOR BROADBAND!!!

OK! So i don't want to say it was worth the wait, because i shouldn't have had to wait a whole month BUT!!! My broadband now works and yes....it was worth the wait...averaging about 4megabit download (~500 kb/sec) and up to 8megabit (one megabyte per second...meaning an mp3 in 3-5 seconds and cd's worth of data (700mb) in less than 12 minutes. ok sorry...the nerd is happy...let him be happy. Even my upload is one megabit! ok so, also the phone works GREAT! I have unlimited FREE calls to the US, Canada, and 25 other countries including all the european union so, if u want me to call u, leave ur number either here or on facebook or email me and you shall be summoned. So i dont really have time to write a huge post now because i want to upload some more pics and make some phone calls but here are the pics I've uploaded so far, And be sure to revisit because I haven't added all the descriptions yet.

Clermont-Ferrand II -- Various Clermont Photos (with a couple Moulins shoved in)

Clermont-Ferrand III

Joyeux Noël de Moulins et Clermont-Ferrand

Tété

Le Reste....La Fin de L'Année 2006

check back often on this last on as I will be adding more photos (probably tomorrow, I should have time)

Love you guys and I should be in touch more from now on!! Bye!

Updates! Updates! Updates!

Sorry its been FOREVER guys i gotta do better, ive just been busy and i know thats no excuse but i just really dont sit down at my computer very often, mostly because having only dial up internet makes me wanna off myself with a bazooka blast to the colon... anyway, still waiting on my ADSL which could be AFTER christmas now....blaggle...at least i have dial up though... So seriously though im sorry and i will update more often... oh and by the way...Neuf Télécom says they wont be performing the dégroupage of my number from France Télécom until the 25th of décembre. So where as they told me the maximum delay would be 21 days, i put in my command for the dégroupage on the 20th... so that makes more than a month...blarg what can i do?? So where to begin?!? I've been going to Clermont-Ferrand every weekend now for a month straight...all the assistants there are a blast and theres a lot more to do, but im definately staying in Moulins this weekend because its the birthday of Lizette and Trésor. We´re all gonna go out to eat at trésor's restaurant, La Gloria, then probably go to the small nightclub Le Pressoir here in Moulins. So the freaking SNCF is worse than France Télécom...its almost two weeks now that they've been en grève which means on strike... I swear people here just quit working if ANYTHING goes wrong...so SNCF is Société Nationale de Chemins de Fer which is National Railroad Company. It surprises me that there aren't more trains in the USA because here it can be cheaper and quicker than taking a car. It costs me €7.40 to go back and forth between Clermont-Ferrand and Moulins and it takes about one hour and ten minutes. but normally its 14.80 i get the discount because of my 12-25 card which gives discounts to young people. so weekend before last i RAN to the train station to catch my train only to find out that they were on strike, so a friend of mine who works as a librarian in moulins 4 days a week but lives in clermont, Sandie, let me crash at her place and we took the train out monday morning. apparantly there were some disgruntled employees who had laid down onthe railroad tracks to prevent even the trains that should have still been operating from departing...and already its one train out of 3 that is running, and the grève is STILL going on right now...which leads me to my next note of interest!!!!! PARIS!!!!! Yes you are all jealous right now because I, Patrick Ladue, will be spending december 31st through january 4th in PARIS! Yes that is correct, I will be spending four nights (including new years eve!!!) in the fabulous 2-star resort (lol jk) Hôtel Malar. (click to see the location). Which is pretty cool because Its the same hotel i stayed in the last time I was in paris before going to montpellier so i know what to expect. Its small and quaint but located in between the Champs élysées (main strip) et the Champ de Mars (eiffel tower). just a 5 minute walk from each! Most of the other assistants are going home (to germany or Great Britain) for Christmas but I'm just gonna stay here and celebrate with Lizette and Santiago (US and Argentina) since we are too far to go home. So as far as the Christmas Decorations here in Moulins...wow....I think its not even worth the effort. I'll post pictures as soon as I get my internet but I tried to post some pics with my dialup and its just not worth it, waiting 45 minutes just for it to glitch out at the end to upload 5 pictures...just know that when i get my dsl you will have a LOT of new stuff to look at :) but contrary to Moulins, the Decorations in Clermont Ferrand are spectacular! On the main place (Place Jaude) there is a HUGE Sapin de Noël (Christmas Tree), and an even bigger Ferris Wheel...and when i say ferris wheel i dont mean some petty county fair crap, i mean a full blown Ferris Wheel...I will post one picture here, but just know that there will be a lot more soon.
So voilà, there you have it, Place de Jaude full blown Noël style... Also this past weekend I went to a Concert in Clermont Ferrand which was AWESOME considering the time I've been in France is definately the longest i've been without seeing a concert in the last four years. I went to see a French singer-songwriter named Tété (click for website) If you want to listen to some extraits, click on Tété on the bottom left of the site, Tracklisting, and then Try out Fils de Cham, Madeleine Bas de Laine, La Relance, Caroline, La Croisée des Chemins...hell the whole album is excellent. Also from another album, absolutely BEAUTIFUL is A La Faveur de L'Automne... I recommend the download to anyone interested in French, or just in good Music. but the words are truly amazing. I might also go see Grand Corps Malade which is the "Slammer." Slam is somewhat like rap, but more resembles poetry. Check out the website here, the track Les Voyages en Train is my personal favorite, he compares peoples love stories with travelling by train... and my other favorite is Toucher L'instant where he talks about poetry and writing's ability to overcome evil and pain. The visual metaphors are amazing in this song...

On a trempé notre plume dans notre envie de changer de vision
De prendre une route parallèle, comme une furtive évasion
On a trempé notre plume et est-ce vraiment une hérésie
De se dire qu'on assume et qu'on écrit de la poésie
Il existe paraît-il, un instant dans l'écriture
Qui oublie la page blanche et efface les ratures
Un véritable état second, une espèce de transe
Qui apparaît mystérieusement et s'envole en silence
Que l'on rape ou que l'on slame, on recherche ce moment
Il allume une flamme qui nous éclaire brièvement
Cette flamme est la preuve, laisse moi t'en faire une démo
Qu'il est possible de combattre le mal par les mots
C'est tout sauf une légende, on espère juste toucher l'instant
Les quelques secondes du poète qui échappent à l'espace-temps
Les moment rares et irréels que la quiétude inonde
Rouda, n'oublie jamais notre parole du bout du monde

On ressent comme une coupure dans la nuit, comme un rêve
On oublie les coups durs de la vie, comme une trêve
C'est un phénomène puissant, je ne te parle pas d'inspiration
Mais d'un souffle plus profond comme une seconde respiration
On voit et on entend l'encre devenir vivante
On goûte et on sent la saveur d'une rime errante
On touche du doigt l'instant qui nous enveloppe de sa puissance
C'est sans cesse la renaissance de l'essence même de nos cinq sens
C'est le moment où on passe de l'autre côté des paysages
On sympathise avec le vent et on tutoie les nuages
Il fait jour en pleine nuit et il fait nuit en plein jour
Profite de cet instant, il ne durera pas toujours


C'est tout sauf une légende, on espère juste toucher l'instant
Les quelques secondes du poète qui échappent à l'espace-temps
Le moment où le voile se lève et la magie s'élance
Là où j'ai croisé Souleymane au bout du sixième silence
Si on a pas atteint le Nirvana, on doit en être au seuil
Pourtant je suis simplement assis là devant ma feuille
Peut-être que cet instant n'existe que dans mon esprit
Et que je suis complètement mythomane lorsque j'écris
Mais laisse moi mon stylo, y'a pas moyen que je m'arrête
J'ai une envie d'écrire comme t'as une envie de cigarette
Et pour m'enlever ce désir je te demanderais de repasser
Car tant que je pourrais écrire je continuerai de penser
Que c'est tout sauf une légende, on espère juste toucher l'instant
Les quelques secondes du poète qui échappent à l'espace-temps
Les moments que l'on redécouvre, que l'on connaît plus ou moins
Tu l'as déjà touché Jacky, j'en suis témoin
On a trempé notre plume dans notre envie de changer de vision
De prendre une route parallèle, comme une furtive évasion
On a trempé notre plume et est-ce vraiment une hérésie
De se dire qu'on assume et qu'on écrit de la poésie.


I also love where he says J'ai une envie d'écrire comme t'as une envie de cigarette. One day im gonna translate all this stuff into english and post it on here... Definately this song though. The only reason i hesistate to go is because i dont think hes coming to clermont ferrand and also, i find it touch to pay 20 euros or more just to go watch someone talk...there isnt really much value in the "Live experience" with Grand Corps Malade. Getting back to Tété however, the concert was AMAZING the venue was the Coopérative de Mai in Clermont Ferrand where the concert hall wasn´t much bigger than the Georgia Theatre in Athens, so it was pretty intimate, which i really like, i hate huge arenas for concerts. it was great though he talked in between all the songs and had everyone laughing, and at the end he even hushed the crowd and turned off his mic and amp, and sang the last song completely acoustic which was awesome because not one person in the whole venue so much as coughed while he sang. The Song was "La Croisée des Chemins" which is one of my favorites. The guy who opened was pretty awesome. It was some guy from Australia named Jeff Lang who played slide on this dobro type instrument but it was very much NOT australian music at all. it reeked of bluegrass and had a good bit of derek trucks-ish slide action so if course i was glued. so if u get a chance, check out Jeff Lang on the internet. Also the guy couldnt speak french at all which was pretty funny when he tried to talk to the crowd. ok its official im rambling. but just to let you all know im doing really well, ive been living it up on the weekends either here in moulins, or throwing down with the assistants in clermont-ferrand. My classes are going pretty will im definately getting more used to that, and am finding that its not too terribly difficult. There are still moments when i wanna rip out my entrails with a golf club but other than that its pretty straight. as far as speaking french, its starting to get kinda scary...like the english speaking assistants we dont even speak english anymore..its like 100% french now. i definately think in french when im walkin around or layin in bed or what not. It doesnt bother me to read english or hear it, but to speak it or write it seems kinda weird, and i can already tell im gonna have trouble when i come back home getting used to everything again. anyway i will try to update more often with more banal things and not try to cram 3 weeks into one post next time. bye!

photos!!!

ok i realized that you CAN in fact still share facebook photos so here are the most recent
for you non-facebook users (ie. people with real lives):

http://uga.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131001&l=bf1e3&id=4923654

http://uga.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131007&l=384d8&id=4923654

I have a lot more i want to upload but as im limited to public computers for the moment i dotn really have te chance so be patient with me!!!

Ma nouvelle adresse...

no time for an update now...internet café...paying for time...flat broke and annoying keyboard.
but quickly for everyone my new address is below. I should have internet within 3 weeks. yeah it takes 3 freakin weeks in france to get adsl set up; even though they charge you immediately for the subscription:::blag. hope to be around more often by the end of the year.. hope everyone has a great thanksgiving; ill be celebrating it teaching class since it doesnt exist here but the students are really interested to learn about it even though they find the concept of pumpkin pie disgusting. im gonna try and find the ingrediants and make them one to show them its the best dessert on earth... also with my new internet subscription i can call fixed phone lines in the us for free so you should literally be "hearing" from me by the end of the year... bye everyone!!


Patrick Ladue
15 rue de l'Oiseau
Résidence St. Pierre, Bâtiment A
03000 Moulins, France

Le bordel qui est France Télécom

So yesterday i waited in line two freakin hours in order to open my phone line so i can get adsl with SOMEONE else...avoiding france télécom as much as possible. so anyway everyone in there was pissed off needless to say because there were only two workstations out of 7 open... so the lady finally calls my number around 615 and tells me she cant do it because she cant call the service technician after 6pm.... so i have to go back today...freakin awesome...ça me fait chier...in other news Im starting my move tonight i already have the keys, signed the lease and they delivered my sofabed this morning....freakin awesome!!! anyway bye.

Sorry for the wait!

hey everyone...sorry for the long time since my last post...been busy teaching full time (finally!) which is actually already starting to go a lot better than i expected. Today was a good day, it was my first day at my second school which went much better than the first day at my other school. Im much more used to the kids now. I went to clermont this weekend for my medical visit which went smoothly so i should have my carte de sejour within a couple of weeks so i can start getting reimborsed for my rent. I finally got paid for the first time last week! that was nice because i was starting to run a little low. I ended up staying in clermont all week and going out some with the assistants there...I was truly almost dead this past weekend. Thursday night was this annual Soirée d'étudiants here in Moulins. Its this huge party for the whle department of allier (which is kinda like a county, but a bit bigger) so they took this convention type center and basically turned it into a huge discotheque which was open till 5am. I didnt want to go because i was already tired cause i hadnt slept much the night before but lizette talked me into it...promising me we'd only stay like an hour...should have known that wouldnt happen. It must be noted that my train left for clermont ferrand the next morning at 7h13.... So anyway, i ended up going to bed at 4h45 and got up at 6h00 to catch my train...so thats one hour of sleep. missed my train, had to change my ticket, so i was late, had to RUN to the doctors place from the train station, then walk to the other side of clermont (5-6km) for the xray of my lungs (they are all worried about tuberculosis...cant say that i understand why) anyway so after that i met up with some other assistants and was completely exhausted but i didnt nap or anything because i didnt have anywhere to stay...just drakn a lot of coffee...so that night we went out and i was up till about 430 again and got up at 9am on saturday, hung around for the day, then went home around 8pm....also didnt know that nov 11 was a holiday in france for the end of the first world war so there were no trains on saturday had to take a bus so it took me 2 hours to get home instead of one. Got home and was supposed to go La Gloria the other italian restaurant for the birthday of the owner, Serafino but i went and told them i was too tired lol, so now im just now recovering from all that.

Been keeping up with the elections here too, I could almost say its talked about more here than in the USA, its a pretty big deal. I really wont get into the results much more than to just say that the French are very aware of American politics. I guess they have to care though because what we do affects everyone. itll be interesting to see if anything can get done with a democratic congress and a republican president.

I recently found out that on the channel CNN international which i have in my room, but wont have right away at my new apartment :( there is the Daily Show Internation edition which is awesome because I was really missing some john stewart....Here it is your international moment of zen lol...

I go today to sign papers for my new apartment and i move this weekend. im hoping that I can get the process started for the internet connetion because it can take up to 3 weeks... The problem is that before in france, France Télécom had a monopoly over all phone service but in the last 5 years or so i think, it was opened to other companies...so now france telecom is the most expensive but if you want to use someone else for phone or internet they make you wait because the other companies have to get permission to use the equipment of france telecom...its stupid too because all it is is someone flipping a switch somewhere to turn the phone on and then set up the line for adsl, they dont even have to come to the apartment... anyway sorry this update wasnt too long, i wanted to write in more detail but i dont have much time right now because i have to go meet the owner of the apartment. also i bought a phone card to call some of you but the freakin thing doesnt work...I called the customer service and all she could tell me was to wait 48 hours and try again....anyway here is a small list of what im listening to these days...


Club Music
David Vendetta - Love to Love You Baby
David Guetta vs. The Egg - Love don't let me go
Fedde La Grande - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
Moby et Mylene Farmer - Crier la Vie
Supermode - Tell Me Why
Tom Snare - Philosophy

Other Music
Evanescence - The Open Door (album)
Faf Le Rage - Pas Le Temps (Prison Break)
(i must note here that the french are NUTS about the show prison break...)this is the french theme song for the show...
Faudel - Mon Pays
Gérald De Palmas - Un Homme Sans Racines (album but mainly Elle Habite Ici)
Grand Corps Malade - Midi 20 (download Toucher L'instant and Les Voyages en Train)
Julieta Venegas - Sí (album but mainly Lento and Andar Conmigo)
Kyo - Le Chemin (album)
Olivia Ruiz - J'traine des pieds
Pleymo - Rock (album, French hardcore music...didnt think it existed)
Tété - Le Sacre des Lemmings (very good album, download Fils de Cham also La Relance) this is the best; you must download this album!!!

Enfin! Je déménage!

Finally, I'm moving!!! This will be a short post because its 930 on a saturday night and i think im going to go meet the other assistants or maybe Toni and Trésor later to see whats going on tonight. Just wanted to say that YES I found a studio. I'm going to take the first one I looked at because it was the perfect size and in a perfect location just outside of downtown but i can still walk to my schools... Maybe...it is already freakin cold here...-5C this morning... which is 23F. Which is why Im so ready to move. Its no problem to take a bus during the day from downtown (my new apartment) to the schools, but now when i go out at night, i have to walk back home 30 minutes in the freezing cold because the buses stop at 8pm. I move November 20th. Everything fell into place nicely actually. This is the first studio i went to see which was disgusting, but the owners are really nice and have hired a company to clean it. Also they are putting some new furniture in there. A "clique-claque" (click-clack) i LOVE this word..basically a fouton...A couch that also serves as a bed. lol. And the fact that im moving the 20th is perfect, because i went to the CAF office, where they were extremely helpful...I should have done my dossier myself to begin with but the woman here at the foyer insisted on doing it, and taking 3 freaking weeks to do what would have taken me 5 minutes. Annnnnnyway... :) I went to the office and she told me to still recieve the rent aid for my time here at the foyer i have to be here 2 months...well i arrived september 21, so i will have been here exactly 2 months ;) also with the fact that i was a student last year with no real income, and the fact that im under 25 and recieving such little pay, When i take the studio, the CAF will pay 100% of my rent (Sometimes...you just gotta love socialism :) (supposedly 100% ...time will tell on that one). All that will be left for me is electricity which is gonna be pretty high during the winter because i have an electric radiator as opposed to gas :( also cell phone, internet, food, etc. The only drawback is that I have to get my Titre de Séjour for my passport first, which could still take a month or two... so for right now i have to pay the rent, but later i will receive a fat wad of cash paying all the previous months as well...hopefully i will get that by christmas vacation so i can hit up new years in paris as planned...But i have my medical visit in clermont ferrand this friday the 10th so i think thats the last thing i need to do to get the titre de sejour, but knowing france it could still take a month after that. I think I'm going to go ahead and spend next weekend in clermont since i will have already bought a train ticket to go there for the medical visit. ummm im sure im forgetting a lot of stuff, but ill leave it at that..hopefully i will be on more...i DEFINATELY will be updating more once i get into my studio and have a stable internet connection. Also did i mention france is number 2 in broadband after north korea....14 euros here for a 20megabit connection! 20 megabits!!!! w00t!

finally...what should have been 10/27/06

Im on vacation right now and while everyone else is traveling or whatnot, im staying here saving money looking for an apartment. Ive seen 2 furnished so far but they were both disgusting and the 2nd one was way too small, there wasnt even a closet to put my clothes in! I think i might take the first one but first i gotta find out if i can get the CAF which is the government aid for my rent, im pretty sure im eligible. I get it here at the crappy foyer tower... By the way, i wanna say that the logo for this place has little dots which are "Hébergement, Formation, Restauration, Réinsertion sociale, Hébergement d'urgence" which means "lodging, ummm formation is like the transation from school to work, i.e. writing resumes and internships and whatnot, restauration just means there is a restaurant, you can eat here; and now the scary part... "reinsertion sociale" which is exactly what it looks like social re-insertion which only makes me think of one thing....Prison... and also "hebergement d'urgence" means Emergency lodging. Plus the fact that there IS a prison right up the road from here AND the fact that there are some pretty rough looking people living in this place... Im so ready to get out of here... Also the first apartment i looked at was PERFECT for my needs and a good location, but it was completely filthy, but i looked through it with the owner and he didnt know it was like that, because the last guy who was there said he left it clean and apparently he hadnt been to look yet. it was GROSS!!! But he was very embarrassed about it and said he would have it cleaned immediately (which in french could mean....months lol) and he was also gonna put some new furniture in it. But its in a good location very close to downtown but still walking distance to 2 of my 3 schools. anyway i wasnt really intending on writing a post right now because i dont really have time.
I will keep you updated though...Im on vacation right now until nov 7th... I only worked about 3 real days and then i got 13 days of vacation...cant complain... "on ne peut pas se plaindre!" I think i am going to visit some local stuff next week...go visit some castles in the region and possibly go spend a couple of days in clermont ferrand... anyway bye all and PLEASE email me! keep in touch! i love nothing more than opening up a full inbox! And I will try to do better as well about emailing you all and keeping in touch, its just hard not having internet access in my room now...it hasnt worked in over a week now, ive just given up pretty much...

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Also last night I went back to "Les Murs Ont Des Oreilles" (the walls have ears) for the soirée bouef where everyone plays music together and not only did i play drums the majority of the night, I sang too! lol, The people playing at the time started playing "Welcome to Paradise" by Green Day, and i couldnt resist, so i jumped up and sang it all lol, then we went right into "She" by green day. Some of the girls took pictures so I will try to get those pics at some point and post them on here...I think the time change is tonight which all the discotheques are advertising for, because they get to stay open an extra hour its "The 25th Hour" as charlie folie's advertises, so i assume we will all go out tonight. Im starting to eat tuna and pasta all the time and im not really drinking much when we go out because im still waiting on my first salary which i dont really know when ill get it or if i even will before the end of november. I requested the advance but i have no way of knowing if all the paperwork went through or not.

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Hey everyone, I can't remember what pictures ive posted links to on here and which ones i havent so ill just put them all up from newest to oldest. Anyone with facebook can access these already but I know there are some of you out there without facebook... anyway here they are!

WELL @E#R?I@"o38h/w2OIEF@o3h923rf I hate facebook...Now i see they have decided to remove the ability to share photos with non facebook users...isnt that special...I'll see what i can do and get back to you...this REALLY annoys me...that stupid website changes formats about 13 times a week..its impossible to keep up with it...

Je vous jure que je suis toujours vivant!!

SORRY EVERYONE!!! I know its been forever since I've posted and I have three excuses, and you can take 'em or leave 'em... I've been real busy hanging out with people, getting prepaded to start teaching, or just knockin around town, 2.) I've been really tired a lot from all the walking i'm doing here or just the weird schedule of staying up till 3 one night and getting up at 11 or 12, then going to bed at 10 the next night to get up at 6am to teach. My schedule is kinda weird here lol, because i have to get up to teach early during the week, but on the weekend the soirée doesn't start until about 11 and goes till 4-6am... and finally the main reason i havent updated very often, MY INTERNET CONNECTION IS GARBAGE or as I hear from the brits here always, Rubbish lol... by the way the title of this post is "I swear to you all, I am still alive!" anyway, this morning i taught for the first time all by myself four classes back to back.. Lets just say that I have a lot to learn about how to teach children!! I spend the past 3 days in Clermont-Ferrand 100km away at the stage d'accueil which was like a meet-and-greet/ orientation session for all the assistants in the region. Although I received a good bit of instruction and training on how to teach the children, all the teachers were using tons of visual aids (flash cards, posters, storybooks, etc.) which I can't seem to get my hands on anything here in Moulins though I do have some flash cards. Another thing is that I get extremely nervous in front of the kids and I definitely didn't spend enough time preparing my lessons for today, but I was exhausted by the time I got home from clermont-ferrand last night so I didn't have much time to spend getting ready. I only have one day of classes with the same students as today then I won't teach again until after the Toussaints holiday which goes from Oct 24 - Nov 6. So i will have about a week and a half to start preparing my "real" lessons. Today was more of an introduction and basic stuff "Hello my name is Pierre, What's your name?" which i will have to probably do several more times. They told us at the stage that each lesson should be 10% new material and 90% review, so apparantly teaching a language to young children is a very slow process. Add the fact that most of my classes i only have one 45minute session a week, I don't see how they will learn much more than "hello my name is" over the next 9 months. Especially with the 8 weeks of vacation spread throughout the year. I am currently looking for an apartment here in Moulins, because I know now there is NO WAY i can stay in this foyer all year. The room is too small, the people here arent too friendly, its WAY too far from town (though two of my schools are right next door) its in the ugliest poorest quarter of moulins, it costs too much, and i cant cook. Currently I am spending almost all of my money paying for 2 meals a day either in the restaurant here (€6.35) or somewhere else (€ 5-10) Even a big mac meal at mcdonalds is € 6 which is absurd since thats twice as much as you would pay in the US when you convert the euros... And I find that Moulins is much more expensive than other parts of france...even bigger cities. its cheaper in Clermont-Ferrand and Montpelier than Moulins, which i dont understand at all. Rent is high here, food is expensive..i cant get a haircut for less than €18 which is rediculous because in montpellier i found a barber for €9. I doubt Euros have inflated that much in two years... So Im looking to share an apartment with the Mexican assistant, Lorenzo Recio. Then we can split all the bills and he can cook me some great mexican food, and i will cook him....ummm....pasta, vegetables, and hamburgers. I keep getting the question about american cuisine and im like...umm aside from a few casseroles and stuff down south, "american food" doesnt exist... As far as the upcoming vacations, I don't think I'm going to do anything because I need to prepare to start teaching plus I can't really spend any money right now. I might go back and spend a couple of days in clermont ferrand as some of the assistants there told me I could come stay with them. They are so lucky, Clermont is AMAZING with two universities, tons of young people, libraries and great shopping every where (for example a four-story FNAC, which is kinda like best buy but better, more books and media, less hardware stuff)

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So as far as what I've been doing lately, really im still trying to get settled in still...there is constantly something I still need to buy so I'm shopping a lot but trying not to spend too many Euros. My birthday was fun, I hung out with Toni and some of his friends, and all the assistants invited me to this little bar where they had a cake and stuff, which was really nice considering we had all just met. As far as the assistants are concerned we are all getting along GREAT! We definately have a range of personalities and the chemistry is awesome within the group. Its really a shame that we arent all lodged at lycee banville. Natalie (germany), Santiago (argentina), Lizette (american), Jennifer (canadian), and Aimee (scottish) all live at the Lycee Banville. Jan (germany) just found a studio so he lives downtown alone, and the last two of us, me and Lorenzo (mexico)still live in the foyer but we both hate it...we are looking for a furnished apartment which is not easy or cheap here in moulins. Also im worried that if we live together we wont be able to get the CAF which is the program where the government subsidizes your rent, for example if i stay here, i will only end up paying about € 110 of the €300 rent (For the studio) or € 260 for the room. Also the lycee is real uppity about us coming to visit during the week because there are students who live there during the week too and apparantly there was an incident with some foreign students last year, bringing like 30 people into the lycée, throwing a party, and i think some girls ended up running around the campus naked and screaming at 3am, so now they are kinda uptight about us coming in, even though its just two of us...but what is cool is during the weekend, no one is there, not even the surveillant. I will explain the lay out, a lycee is a usually fenced in compound with several buildings with classrooms, living facilities, a cafeteria and administrative offices. I will try to take some pictures to show you, but there is one main door that must be opened with a key or by the guy at the reception. but on the weekends, the language assistants are the only people in the whole compound, so we usually get together and cook dinner together in the kitchenette and just hang out, watch a dvd, go out together, or whatever. Its actually quite fun. it makes me wish i lived there, or at least within walking distance.

anyway i have tons more i want to say, but im going to take a nap...plus my internet just croaked so i dont even know if I will be able to post this...wish me luck!

Le français parlé

Ok, this next post might seem a bit...égoïste but I'm going to write it anyway just because we all like to toot our own horns from time to time. I cannot believe how well I've done with speaking french since I've gotten here. Its so strange, I was curious before I left if I would just slip back into the culture in language and not experience much culture shock since I've already spent 3 months in France at a time before. Well there is still a bit of shock as far as the culture itself, but I think thats because Moulins is a much more French town than Montpellier was. Montpellier was a university town situated on the coast of the Mediterrenean with a lot of foreigners and students of my same age group, so the town has less of a french feeling, and its easier for foreigners to cope with the difference because one doesn't have to search very far to find someone who speaks your language, or even from the United States. But as far as Moulins is concerned, I haven't met any foreigners other than the other English assistant from El Paso. But concerning the language, I have ever surprised myself. Even on the flight from Atlanta - Paris, I sat next to a young french guy and we spoke a lot on the way here, and he couldn't believe an American could speak french so well. And in the taxi from Clermont-Ferrand airport to the train station, the driver thought I was from Québec. He thought I was a native french speaker! Here in Moulins too I have had several people comment on me not having a strong english accent, and some of them will even talk to me for 2 or 3 minutes before asking me where I'm from as if they just realized I wasn't French. And even those that do notice keep asking me what part of Great Britain I'm from. Apparantly its usually quite obvious when an American speaks french, I assume its because the vowels in Great Britain are closer to the vowels in French, and not so open and rounded and dipthongized as they are in most American dialects. I had dinner with Madme Lecole and her daughter sunday night, and her parents came over for a while to visit. Her father told me I was a liar and I wasn't an American, lol. He called me "un français qui comoufle comme un américain" which means a Frenchman in American camouflage lol. As far as the French accent itself here in Moulins, I like it a lot. It is a very very general accent, and to me it really sounds like basic french. It might have the smallest tinge of the bizarre nasal vowels that there was in Montpellier, but only in certain speakers, and in certain words. These speakers are probably native to southern France anyway. All in all, its an accent I would much rather adapt as my own than the accent in Montpellier, which makes me sound like a plouc (redneck).

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Today was an interesting day. I had my first meeting at l'inspection académique which is like the board of education that administers all the primary schools here in Moulins and the surrounding areas. (I must not that when I say primary school, it refers more to the english elementary school. The school system here is as follows; école maternelle [maternal school] is free but not obligatory from ages 2-5, and is required at age 6. School is compulsory in France from ages 6-16. École primaire [primary school] starts at age 6 and goes to age 11. Then the collège [middle school] begins which is age 11 to 15. Then begins the lycée which is like high school though age 18. Students are required to complete at least one year of Lycée to age 16.) Whew! Just thought I'd get that out of the way! Anyway at the meeting this morning I met with several professors of English and German from the area who were mostly older French women or English or German men or women; of course I was the only American present. But they all seemed very nice and willing to help me with how to prepare lessons and what not. As far as the job itself I am somewhat scared because there was a lot of talk concerning discipline and keeping the kids attention. I also learned that I will not be allowed to speak any French while teaching, which I think is actually going to make the job harder rather than easier. But alas, on verra! We will see! Anyway It's midnight and although I don't have anything extremely pressing tomorrow to do, I would like to get up in time to eat breakfast which ends at 7h45! I think I'll put a movie on and crawl into bed. Thursday morning I go to visit the schools I will be teaching in...I'm pretty excited to have any opportunity to meet more people here in Moulins. The fact that it is a smaller town and most people here already know each other is making it a bit more difficult to meet people at first, but I think after some time, it will make it easier to meet more people as my social network grows more. I mean, it hasn't even been a week yet; I shouldn't expect to know everyone in the city yet. It just gets lonely in this little room sometimes, and especially when I'm out walking and everyone else is walking in a group and I'm alone. Anyway, Good night everyone and you will hear from me again soon! Bonne nuit à tous!

I Love getting shafted...

So today I went the the Préfecture to start the process of getting my carte de sejour. Everything went very smoothly, I had all the necessary documents except for 4 photos d'identité; which was a problem easily solved by walking to Monoprix and taking four pictures in a photo booth. Then I turned everything in and recieved my récipasse which is basically a reciept valid for 3 months showing that I've applied for the carte de longue sejour. When I was leaving the guichet (booth) I saw that Lizette from El Paso was waiting to apply for her carte as well. So I waited on her to finish and we walked downtown and ate at a nice chinese resaturant which was delicious except it cost me €11... She is an American citizen but of Mexican decent, so we spoke Spanish at lunch. I am happy about this because I was very worried I was going to forget all my Spanish while i was here, and since she is the only other American assistant in Moulins, I imagine we will probably hang out a good bit. After that since I had my récipasse for the carte de longue sejour, it was now possible for me to open a bank account. This is where the shafting begins. Actually I got a great deal on the account itself. I opened an account at Crédit Agricole Centre-France which is a widely used popular bank throughout France, and my debit card will be valid all over France and most of Europe. There are CA atm's all over France. Normally it costs money to maintain a bank account in France, anywhere between €2-4 a month. Also it usually costs €15 for the carte bancaire but I opened a Compte Mozaïc which is only for those between 18 and 25 years old, where I get my checks and bank card for free, and the account is free for the first 3 months and only €1.80 per month after that. How I got shafted was in the exchange rate for my travelers' checks. This morning I looked up the exchange rate online and it was €1 = 1.279...well at the bank the best they could give me was 1.349...Its not a massive difference but I would prefer to keep my money rather than watching it fall into the void of nothingness, lol. Not to mention a 6 euro fee just for accepting the travelers' cheques...thanks american embassy for telling me that travellers' cheques would be the best way to avoid fees... I should have just taken cash from an ATM with my American debit card and given them that to start the account, i would have gotten away with a better exchange rate probably, but only time will tell, when my reciepts start rolling in from my debit card transactions and I can calculate the exchange rate on those... anyway enough financial talk. Now I have to go and deal with more paper work and apply for the CAF (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales Which is the government program for subsidizing my rent. I now have to pay 262 euros a month, but I should be able to get about 156 back thus only owing a little over €100 a month which will help greatly seeing as my monthly income after taxes is only going to be €760. kbye. Will update more later, New pictures of my walk downtown and downtown Moulins here.

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Bienvenue à Moulins!

Ok everyone, it's me again...finally. It's been four days and things are actually going better than i expected them to! I sit now in my room in the Viltaïs foyer de jeunes travailleurs which is a residence for students and young workers (which is the translation of jeunes travailleurs). It took me a looong time to get here though, and there were some initial problems at the airport but everything went smoothly after that. First of all when I tried to check in at the airport in Atlanta, the man behind the counter told me I couldn't leave for France without a return flight, and my ticket was only a one-way. After arguing for a while, I explained to him that no one ever told me that I would need proof of return, and I asked him if the US was so scared that I wouldnt come back, and he said that it was actually France that wanted proof of this. Basicaly he told me I couldn't leave the airport without a ticket, and according to him the cheapest one he could find was $3600! I was like, "I don't have $3600 dude, but I am getting on that plane today!" Finally he asked a man at another counter and he told that guy "Oh I wouldn't worry about that...they won't care, the guy in passport control will probably be asleep!" And alas, he was right, they barely even glanced at my passport, they didn't even look at my visa! So anyway, 9 hours and a couple of drinks later I landed in Paris at 6:20am (inflight movie = X-Men the last stand, good call Delta...) So I had two hours in Paris, well the Charles de Gaulle airport is under massive renovation and construction, so i had to ride a bus like 30 minutes from my plane to the terminal, then walk probably a mile in the airport to the gate for my flight to Clermont-Ferrand, where we didnt get on the plane...we got on another bus which took me almost to the same spot where i left the first plane! anyway After the flight to Clermont, I took a taxi to the train station where i bought a ticket for Moulins that left like 3 minutes after i bought it, so i had to run to the train with all my heavy luggage, but I made it! I arrived in Moulins, and called my contact Madame Lecole, who came immediately to pick me up. I must say that though she never answered my emails, she is a very nice lady and very helpful, she took me to her house for a cup of coffee, then took me straight to the residence where i am currently living. Luckily they let me go straight to my room and sleep without bothering me with paperwork at the time. I did eat something in the cafeteria there first (cous cous) which serves awesome food! The next day we had steak! I was so tired and delirious that i could barely eat however. Then I slept 9 hours in my room from 2pm to 11pm... When i woke up, I couldn't sleep anymore so I walked downtown to check out the city for a couple of hourse. Unfortunately the residence is on the south side of moulins, it takes about 30-40 minutes to walk into town. But there is a commercial center not far south of me, you can see it on this pic i will post at the end on the main road south out of moulins, where there is a Carrefour (like a super wal-mart but probably bigger) and one thing really cool about carrefour, all the price tags are electric, so anytime a price changes they dont have to physically go change it...also there is a pretty big best-buy like store but I can't remember the name. I found a cool bar downtown called l'Apostrophe with a dance club called le Triptic right next door. I hung out for a while friday night at l'Apostrophe where these 40-something businessmen kept buying me drinks and telling me how much they love America, I couldn't believe it. One guy was like "I have so much respect for americans, y'all saved us back in '45" My jaw hit the floor, i never thought I would hear that. I told him not to thank me but my grandfather. But I got to talking a lot with the bartender, Jean-Marc for a while, and there was this HUGE ripped arabic guy, Sahid, in there too talking to the bartender, and i later found out he was the bouncer at the Triptic. When I went to leave l'Apostrophe, Jean-Marc was like "come walk with me" and he took me over there and told them I was English and to take care of me(i guess he didnt want to say I was american lol) but they let me in for free and everyone was talking to me which was cool. This town is very interesting because everyone seems to already know each other. For instance, Sahid greeted everyone coming into the Triptic en faisant la bise (the cheek kisses) and they all seem to know each other already, which i feel might make it difficult to meet people. Also, there weren't many people there my age, they were either younger high-school students, or like 30 or 40 somethings. I have never seen so many forty-year-olds throwing down in a dance club before! But anyway saturday I went shopping for stuff for my room at Carrefour, and then I walked back to the Apostrophe and Triptic that night, but i found this place, the Solex Cafe first, which was pretty cool, but mostly younger high-schoolers, not really my scene. I met a bunch of kids at the Solex, who wanted to go to the Triptic, so I walked there with them, and the bouncer was going to make them pay, and I was standing behind them all, and he waved me on in, it was awesome lol! I got invited to a little party/gathering for tomorrow (monday) night by the people who work at the Triptic. There is only the bouncer, and another guy Sébastian, and his girlfriend Catie is the bartender. Its a pretty small place. So far there isn't much else to say. I am still just trying to get settled and learn the city, it has been raining almost the whole time I have been here, which sucks. They tell me it rains a lot here so, blah. I'm ready for the cold so it will just snow instead. Earlier today I met Lizette, the english assistant for the high schools who is from El Paso, TX. She seemed nice but she has been here a week already and she seems to be struggling a bit. Tonight I went to have dinner with Madame Lecole, and I met her parents and her 12 year-old daughter and her dog, Zaza :) Dinner was great, and that brings me here! Sitting in front of my computer at 12:25am on a sunday night! Tomorrow I have to go to the Prefecture to start the process of getting my carte de longue séjour (long stay card) which will let me stay in france until the end of July, if I decide to stay a month after my contract ends. I also need to find a cell phone company that suits my needs though i might wait until I actually make some friends to pay for a phone, lol. I also have to find a bank that suits my needs and go ahead and open an account...which is gonna kill me because the exchange rate sucks so bad right now. 1 eur is almost $1.28... so when i put my money into the account i will only get 78 euro centimes per US dollar...blah... I will write again soon with more info. I'm enjoying my time here, but im still trying to get settled in, and I'm still a bit jet-lagged (décalage horaire). I also want to go take some pictures of the city, but I want to wait until a sunny day to do so!



You can click on this picture for the Full size version. I took this a little too late but I didn't even think to take a picture when I realized I was flying over Moulins! I have marked my Residence which is a pretty tall round tower. I will post a pic of it from the ground later.

Just wanted to add a quick link showing exactly where Moulins is! I just noticed i forgot to even mention the location. Its situated about 310km from Paris, 100km from Clermont-Ferrand, and 190km from Lyon. Anyway here is a quick link to google earth showing the location.

T- 2 days...

Hi everyone... Patrick here. Never thought I would buy into all this "blogging" business, but alas, here i am. I figured this would be the best way for people to keep up with my adventures in France during my year as an Enlish teaching assistant. So the basics i guess will be a good place to start. I will be in the town of Moulins, France (moulins = windmills) which including the surrounding areas has a population of about 40,000. Pretty small, right, but I'm hoping the small-town atmosphere will help me in meeting a lot of people and also in avoiding english-speaking tourists. I will be living in a foyer d'étudiants which doesn't really translate into English very well. I guess you could describe it as a dormitory that isn't really associated with any specific school. Hopefully I will be living in close proximity with the other language assistants for Moulins which means people my age from Spain, England, Portugal, Germany, etc. etc. This should be pretty cool because we will all speak French amongst ourselves as a common language. As of right now I don't really know anything! My contact in France, Madame Lecole (ironic name, since L'école means school!) refuses to answer my e-mails with anything more than a 4 or 5 word answer. I know I will be teaching in up to 4 different primary schools with children ranging from age 9 to 11. Should be interesting since I have no formal training in teaching! And as the assistants from last year in Moulins have told me, I will not be a teaching assistant as my job description implies, but rather the full-blown English professor. They told me I would most likely be the only person in any of the schools who even speaks English! I'm working on packing my suitcase right now and trying to decide what on Earth I need to take with me while minimizing the amount of crap I'm gonna have to lug around two airports, a cab ride, and a train station. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to take up lodging immediately in the foyer d'étudiants or if I will need to stay in a hotel/hostel the first few nights! Tout va se montrer en deux jours... All will reveal it self in two days! I will post again upon my arrival where I am sure I will have adventures to tell from the 20 hour process of getting from Dudley, Georgia to Moulins, France.

2.5 hours Dudley - Atlanta
3 hours International check-in, security, etc.
9 hours Atlanta - Paris
2 hours layover in Paris
1 hour Paris - Clermont-Ferrand
1 hour layover in Clermont, cab-ride to train station
1 hour train from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins