I'll be honest, things aren't getting a lot better here. I can't even get settled into a routine of any kind to keep myself busy as my timetable now will not be ready until after the holiday (November) which is just ridiculous. Over the holiday, I will be on my own in this shitty, freezing cold room with sod all to do and not a lot of places to go or people to see for 12 days. Yay.
Started to get pretty down again at the end of last week through til Saturday for lack of human contact :s something I've learned about myself here is that I don't do well on my own. That's not to say that I'm particularly dependent on anyone for anything material, I just don't think I function properly without having other people around me most of the time.
Howevs, did go on a cheeky 10km hike yesterday (Sunday) becaue it was something to do. Did use my last 4euros in the world on it, so now I am fucked, but it got me out and talking French for a few hours! I went with the American assistant in Thiers, the Spanish assistant at my lycée (sadly she still sounds completely Spanish to me when she speaks French) and a french girl that they know from their foyer, who was lovely and has a car (score).
Bit embarrassing when I got there. Ever the ignorant Londoner, I rocked up in jeans, a hoody and some plimsoles. Suuuure. When I say 'hike', I don't mean 'walk', I mean HIKE hike. While it was only 10km, it was a proper mountain hike, so I felt like even more of a douche after I'd done it. These women fussed and raised their voices and hit me on the arm as I stood in the starting centre utterly bemused whilst one of them actually drove to her house and back to bring me a selection of proper shoes and a waterproof jacket. Needless to say, they were not impressed. Anyway, it was freezing cold and mon cul is hurting today, but it was sehr good and some nice people in a barn in a field gave me coffee and brie half way through, which is always appreciated.
Talking of the cold, maaatteeee!! It's cold here to the point where you're like 'Whoa there, France. Calm yo'self'. The heating is apparently on in the staffroom, but I am wearing a vest top that I'm ashamed to say I am actually using as a vest, a long-sleeved top, a cardigan, a hoody, jeans, uggs, my duffell coat and a hat. The gloves are off so I can type and I'm not happy about it!
So, I've been here for 3 weeks now and am noticing no change in my spoken French which, considering no one here speaks English, is a bit of an achievement. There's been a noticeable improvement in my ability to understand what people are saying, though, which is brilliant as aural has always been the thing that I fail in life at the most. Hopefully, when I'm back in England, if I just keep watching and listening to French stuff regularly, I won't lose that. Now, my spoken French. I have a sneaking suspition that it might actually have gotten worse for my being in the country. 'How the fuck did you manage that?' You may ask. Well, you know all those times I've mentioned how miserable, lonely and isolated I am up here? Not exaggerating. In fact, I think I've been making a lot of it out to be better than it is as I'm usually in an alright mood when I write me bloggy. But I see so little of people (French or English/American) that I think I might be forgetting how to socialise. Yesterday was alright, but I'm actually petrified of talking to the other teachers in French, especially my résponsable, which isn't good. If I ever get paid (they're really pissy about paying assistants, here), hopefully I'll be able to move into the foyer in Thiers where there are people. You'll be overjoyed to know that moving to the city is almost no longer an option for me as my absolutel angel of a résponsable is giving me at least 2/3 8am starts. Bon.
Uggghhhhh enough ranting, Marge is posting me 5 dvds for the holiday of shitness so that I'll have something to watch for 5 of those 12 days. She's sending 'Mamma Mia' ('in case you wanted a bit of a sing-a-long, I don't know' - LOVE HER LIFE!!) and 'Troy', because it's long. Clever, clever mammy.
Anyway, 60 days til I'm back from the japside of the earth for 2 whole weeks eyyyy :)
Love to all, hope my other French homies are staying strong haha. xxx
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