ben oui

so.
i know you were all curious as to whether or not i had TB. i don't, i got my lungs x-rayed today in orleans to make sure that i don't. and then, i got my titre de sejour. it's pretty much just a little card that says i'm a temporary citizen of these parts until july 15th of 2008. pretty sweet.
i had forgotten, being over here, that schools get time off for thanksgiving. when i found out friends of mine were going home, i asked "why?" and then felt like an idiot.
so, to make up for it, we're learning about thanksgiving in all of my classes this week. although i only have three classes total out of the eight, because i had to cancel all of mine today (although i was only going an hour away, there is a train strike so transportation is limited and i had to be there all day) and thursday i have an all day training in tours with the other elementary school people.
i've decided the title of assistant does not work for us, especially considering one of my teachers told me that the reason why i'm hired is because the school doesn't want to pay for a full time teacher - so i get the duties of a full time real teacher with only half the pay. super.
my bank stuff is finally straightened out. i have french checks, money in my french account, and my bank of america business has been handled. THANK GOD.
although i tried to overnight the affidavit concerning the fraudulent charges, and it got sent back to me since it was going to be mailed to a PO box, and that's not acceptable with chronopost. so i paid 50 euros to mail it from tours, to tours. i finally faxed it, paying four euros. super.
also - did we know the euro is almost a dollar fifty? yes. i think that's great. no, no i don't. dammit.
we're having thanksgiving dinner with the american assistants on friday, i'm responsible for mashed potatoes and wine. let's all note that i believe that in itself is an acceptable meal. so. i'm excited.
my classes are going well, although i have one level of CM1s (9 going on 10 years) that i CANNOT control. all those years of camp for the troubled kids and teaching dance class and learning psychology are of absolutely no help because i can't play my little games and manipulate them the way i want in my stupid second language.
although, i have been learning more french with my french friends, one of whom saw some of the material i had to work with in college and decided that my level of french is high enough that he will only speak to me in french. thanks, thomas. i've also become friends with the son of a friend of the host family with whom i stayed (yay six degrees of separation), who speaks english with a jamaican accent since he loves reggae. i met him right after arriving here, and he and i kept running into each other on our nights out. so we decided to bite the bullet and be friends and it's been working out nicely. first acceptable french man i've met under the age of 33. because the rest of them seem to have some serious social problems - they come on WAY TOO STRONG and are WAY TOO ENTHUSIASTIC and it's disturbing. but basil's a cool kid. other than that, i've been mingling with the friends of another american's boyfriend, and one of the american assistants is fluent in italian and lived in rome this summer - now his italian friends are here and we've only got french in common so that's the language we all speak when we're together. and yes, these are the crazies i have mentioned in past posts. they are the most fun, most amazing people i have EVER met. i love 'em.
as of right now, i am exhausted, after getting up at 545 to catch my train to make it to my appt on time this morning. i think i may be turning in soon, considering i have to get up and see some of my youngest students tomorrow morning at 830. yehaw!
hope all is well in the states.
you have no idea how much i miss it - especially now that it's winter - the snow and the woodfires and the egg nog and the family and friends - we don't have all that here. we've got rain and nutella and some people we barely know but are clinging to because we've got nobody else to turn to.
it's been real.
catch y'all on the flip side.