i love it here ! i am lucky to be living with a family this time around, and one that is so welcoming and loving. beatrice is a wonderful mother to their three little boys (4 years, 3 years, and 2 weeks) and goes out of her way to make us comfortable and loved as well. she always has a story to tell or a question to ask – conversations are easy with her. she smiles a lot and has taught her boys the same. the boys are quite playful and have taken to giving me a goodnight kiss when i retire downstairs for the night. i have only spent about two hours with the father, guillaume ; he is quite shy, but i look forward to getting to know him better.
i am living in their basement – but it has a door which goes out to the driveway because their house is built on a hill. everyone uses this door. i have a small bedroom and i share a kitchen with two girls who also each have a bedroom downstairs. holly is from perth, western australia and will teach half-time at the lycée (high school) with me and half-time at the collège (middle school). sadie is from exeter, england and will teach at four different écoles (elementary schools). we are getting on very well – we have spent four days together, but it feels like weeks. they are good friends already and i can’t wait to pass more time with them.
if you have done the math you realise that 8, yes 8 people share 1 bathroom.
we try to make a plan for the next day each night before we go to bed, but things always take longer than we expect, so we haven’t done everything we have planned to do. what a blessing – we thought we would get bored in this small town waiting for school to start but, in fact, we are glad we have so much time to complete paperwork, meet teachers, visit the schools, get groceries, enjoy meals together, buy cell phones, and take a vacation or two ! we will visit paris on friday and saturday.
a quick story before i go…
two days ago we decided to take their three bicycles to e. leclerc (a target-type store with groceries and everything else you might need). it was the most halarious bike adventure i have ever had. first, the off-road bike holly was riding squeaked everytime she pedaled and the front break didn’t work - at all. she hadn’t been on a bike for years, so it was like watching an elementary student weave between cones on a line when she tried to ride straight. then, my hybrid bike was so small that i was sitting straight up and when i pedaled my knees went above the handle bars. when i coasted the back cassette was rubbing on something, but i couldn’t tell what. finally, sadie was riding an road bike from the 40’s, i suppose. neither of the breaks worked, so she had to drag her feet and then ride into a curb to stop. we were quite a sight – we rode all over town doing errands, so we got to show off to a lot of people ! i don’t think we’ll use them for a while – they really need to be serviced !
i can already tell that i am writing the way my roommates talk and the way i speak gramatically in french. it will only get worse, i suppose.
i have included some photos of the town, school, and house. please write or call soon !
molly
The front of my new home.
Our kitchen. If you look out the window you can see the 11th century castle!
Our kitchen, again.
My quaint room!
The Nogent rooftops as the sun sets.
The Hotel de Ville - this is the mayor works and it is always on the main square of French towns. At the bottom of the picture you can see the market we were at. One of the vendors wished us a good holiday. We obviously don't look or sound like we belong here!
This is an arch of a church which I will walk under on my way to school each day!
The school I will work at... with the 11th century castle in the background!
Guillaume - named after his father, he is 4.5.
Françcois - currently quite jealous of his new baby brother, he is 3.5.
Sadie, Holly and me at the "target." They both really want some french glasses so we were shopping.
