Still kickin'

Oops. It's been awhile since I've posted. I guess I was busy last week...though now that I'm pressed to remember what I did, it doesn't seem like I did that much.

I'm writing this blog post from the living room in Marina's apartment. I moved all of my stuff over here this weekend, and I'm going to crash here until I can move into my apartment (still no word on when exactly that will be). I'm sleeping on an extra bed in the living room and my stuff is all over the place - which stresses me out because I like having everything in order and I'm so tired of living out of suitcases - but it's far more comfortable than living at the school. I can now use a stove and eat food that doesn't have to go into a microwave to be edible.

The weather here finally cleared up today after being horrible and rainy for days. Karen, my friend who is an assistant in Villefranche-de-Rouergues, north of Toulouse, end up coming for the weekend to visit. It was so much fun to see a familiar face and to catch up with her. She got to meet my assistant friends here and we ate some delicious galettes (crepes, but with actual food, like vegetables and meat, in them). She's doing okay in her village and with her job, though Villefranche is tiny, and she's the only assistant in the town. I can barely deal with how small Perigueux is, so I realized I should definitely appreciate that I'm in a town with other assistants!

Friday afternoon Marina, Daniela, Azahara, and I christened Marina's apartment by cooking a big lunch. Marina and Azahara made traditional Spanish omelets with potatoes and onions (they're not omelets as Americans would think of them, they're more like fritattas) and Daniela made quesadillas and guacomole. I couldn't think of anything American to make that didn't require an oven, so I bought wine and desserts. I think that one of these weekends I will cook brunch on a Saturday or a Sunday; that's very American and I don't think I need an oven for it...

Like I said, I didn't do anything too exciting all week. I observed classes, I hung out with other assistants, oh! and I bought tickets for my trip. I leave on October 30 for Prague with Katie. We're in Prague for a few days and then we go to Vienna! We'll be gone for about a week and then head back to Perigueux, and hopefully afterward I'll go and visit Karen so I can see her again. I'm looking forward to going on a fun trip again!

I have a lot to say about the job itself - but it involves me ranting, and I'm feeling pretty calm right now and don't feel like getting myself worked up. The spark notes version is that the school is utterly disorganized and has made little to no effort to help me get started. While most of the other assistants in Perigueux (and, I would assume, in France) have started working and teaching their own classes, Marina, Daniela, and I are just kind of drifting and continuing to observe and pretty much being useless. It's not our fault...but it's still frustrating. But more on that next time, cause I just don't have the energy to get all worked up about it now! But, needless to say, the school has made this transition much harder than it needs to be.

I'll try to be better at blogging this week - then I won't post really lame summary blog posts like this as often!