Just another day...in France

Well, I am still not in my room yet because the landlady came on Saturday to fix the wall, but she said she didn't have the right stuff. It has now been three days, and we haven't heard anything from her. It is a little annoying because the other girls are all unpacked, and I have everything just falling out of my suitcase and I have my mattress on the floor in Sarah's room.

At the moment we also don't have anything to cook with. The landlady said she was going to change the stove from gas to electric. In the mean time she gave us a hot plate to use, but when we tried to use it it didn't work...surprise, surprise!

Anyway for the past few nights we have been eating salads and sandwhichs. I am sure that in a few days we will be really tired of eating only cold food. At least it is cheaper than eating in a restaurant everyday.

Other than those few things the place is nice. It is close to all of my schools, so I can walk to all of them. The other girls have to ride the bus, so at least I can save some money because I don't have to buy a bus pass.

On Sunday Mandy, Sarah and I went to this huge bookfaire that Belfort holds every year. It was so cool. We were there for almost three hours! I was in heaven because we all know how much I love to read. I found the first two Harry Potter books in French, the first Briget Jones book, and some other classics that I have wanted to read for a long time. In all I bought 8 books for 15 euros. To top it all off I opened a bank account today, and they were sponsoring the fair. So they reembursed me the 15 euros for the books. In the end I got 8 books for free. It was really cool!

Yesterday we had a training day in Vesoul, which is a little over an hour from Belfort. On the way there we drove through the country. It was the first time I had been out of Belfort since I got here. The country side was so pretty. The trees are all changing colors, and in the morning there was some fog on the hills with green pastures and a few cows. Everything was just beautiful, and it all looked quintessentially French. The drive was the only good thing about the day though because the training was useless in my oppinion. At least it was the last one!

I have the rest of the week to visit my schools and make a lesson plan for next Monday when I start teaching. I have 6 of my 8 classes on Mondays, so it will be busy but lots of fun as well.

I am off now to go deal with France Telecom to set up the Internet for the apartment. This is always a bit difficult, but it is even more when it is all in French. Wish me luck!