To continue on the theme of ultimate, I'm pretty pumped because apparently my effort to make connections with ultimate people has payed off. I just got an email from the Paris team saying that they want me to play in the playoff for mixed club finals even though I live really far away. This not only means that I will get to play some ultimate on the weekends, it also means that if we qualify, I could go to worlds on an entirely different team (watch out Barrio! Ah ouh puc is going to be ... less than slightly intimidating). On top of that, this is a team that has a bid to Paganello, so I have also completed my goal of finding a team for that as well. Wooo! I'm pretty happy, because I've found a way to feed the addiction.
I have also picked a family to stay with! I haven't moved in yet, because they had to get the room ready and stuff, but I am still pretty excited. It is the family of a PE teacher who teaches at the middle school I am working at. He is very nice, and he has a big family that lives in a big, old classically French looking house with a big garden in the back. I will have my own room and my own bathroom, and I will be able to eat with the family as well as use the kitchen to cook if I want. They also have a bike I can borrow and they even said that I could use the car from time to time. The only downside is that I might be without internet for a month or two because they will be in the process of getting it. Hopefully, the room will be ready by tomorrow or the day after. I am looking forward to having my own space and moving out of this room at the high school.
This weekend, I went down to Laval, which is the biggest city in the département, because there are a bunch of language assistants down there and I wanted to meet them all. They were incredibly nice--it's really going to be great knowing that I can go down and visit them if I ever get a little lonely up here. As far as a city goes, Laval is just like a bigger Mayenne, with more shops and a more developed city center. I'm glad to know that the other assistants will be there, but I'm still happy to be up here because I won't have to commute every day and I like the idea of having to do things on my own.
I also went to something called "nuit blanche" on saturday with the social worker from my school. It was pretty cool; the town opened up all of the public buildings and spaces and had local artists display their work. A lot of the stuff was fun to look at or interactive. By far the coolest thing was this guy whose specialty was monumental architecture made out of cardboard boxes.
The cool thing is that the structure are made by the people who are watching and he directs. It was really fun to help out. I don't have my camera yet, but here is an example of the guy's work from his website. It's pretty impressive how big these things can get. He has every tape together a level and the get everyone to lift it at once. Which is a nice feat of cooperation. Here is a video of it in action to, because I think it is hard to appreciate how awesome it was just from a still photograph.I started introducing myself in classes today. It has been pretty fun, because it's interesting to see what the students are interested in. I think I am also a real curiosity to the students because most of them have never heard an American accent, let alone have been to the United States. I also get a lot of teenage boys asking whether I have a boyfriend or not... it's pretty amusing, and it making me less afraid of teaching, which is definitely a good thing...
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that video was exciting.
ReplyDeleteWow, the energy! Totally excellent fun!
ReplyDeleteAmy