est située à mi-côte. Une rivière
baigne ses murs et coule ensuite
dans un jour si favorable
que je compte ses tours et ses
clochers. Elle me paraîte peinte
sur le penchant de la colline.
LA BRUYERE
Voyage de Clermont à Thiers
Wee poem to start you off, there, about the (train, I assume) journey from Clermont to Thiers.
You haven't heard from me in a while because I've been 'busy' and am currently struggling to recover from a 2 day hangover. It was my 21st, what can I say? 1) I'm getting old. 2) I could have been worse haha. 3) We had a funny, funny night on Tuesday, so that's ok!
This week, I haven't had all of my classes as my pupils have been doing their BAC blancs - mock exams for their Baccalauréat. Poor things. Hate exams! And last week was quite eventless in terms of teaching. Have had a few really good weeks with BTS, though, which is good. Even got a bit of banter going with some of the second years (Crédit Agricooool). Bon.
Before Christmas, I gave a lengthy summary of my first few months here. Voilà a shorter and probably much more positive one (apart from Thiers :p):
Clermont-Ferrand
I don't mind Poomont, now. I think the week and a half of sunshine definitely helped. And getting out to Paris and Lyon lol. I am fully aware that it's shit compared to most of the rest of France for reason upon reason, however I really aime the rugby team (ASM) and do now have a bit of a soft spot for le Puy-de-Dôme, our biggest volcano. You 'eard. I've become a bit attached to a volcano. Evidently, France has driven me completely insane. I was also told by a teacher about a month ago 'tu es complètement intégrée maintenant' when I wore my ASM hoody to work. That was nice to hear :) not such an outsider anymore (after 5 months...).
Thiers
Bloody Thiers haha! Being here, it still feels a lot like how I'd imagine Soviet Russia would've felt. This part will, sadly, never change and I ask God and my friends 'Why? Why me? Why was I chosen out of hundreds of French students to be placed in Thiers?' every day I come to work. Just because I like this volcano, doesn't mean I aime the mountains/countryside as well, now! Well, maybe a little bit more :p Things I like about Thiers are (that's right, I just typed 'like' and 'Thiers' in the same sentence): The place has made me a more tolerant person!! I know this, because you have to have the patience of a SAINT in general to spend lots of time in a place like this and also because, on the train back from Lyon, Sam started getting wound up quickly by the trees and fields and fields and fields and ooh, mountains, fields, fields, a shack, fields, treeeeees, trees, TREEEEES etc. etc. (I did try to warn you all) as we entered the Auvergne and I was calm as can be. Kinda like hey, look at me, I can handle this greenery that's all up in ma grill. I also recognised Thiers from the other side of the mountain. It's freaking me out how I recognise different fields and tree 'families' and sky lines etc. Thiers has also made me appreciate Clermont and the rest of the world, more.
The Peopolz
Ok, so, you know how when I first got to Thiers, the teachers (none of whom live anywhere near, obviously) told me that everyone in Thiers is very poor and that's why there's no shops, no work, no nothinnng etc.? And then how I found out that a teacher at Erin's lycée had taken her on a walk and pointed out how nice the BACKs of the houses are, how nice their gardens are, how many swimming pools can be seen...? Me and Erin discussed this at the beginning of our placement and remarked on how bizarre it was that the vast majority of people living in Thiers seem to be trying to hide their wealth. Before Christmas, I couldn't be bothered to lesson plan (casual) so I discussed stereotypes with some of my students, and it emerged with some of them that Auvergnats (in general, so people from the Clermont-Ferrand/Vichy/Moulins areas) are known for being stereotypically tight with their money and their possesions. One guy gave the brilliantly-worded example 'If I have cake and you say me I can have a part of cake I say NO you can't have some of my cake'. Obviously, after each example, I was told 'but not me, not me, me and my family aren't like that'. Hmm, we thought. Could this be part of the reason for the Thiernois wanting to hide their wealth? Are they a bit paranoid about something related? The most recent piece to this puzzle surfaced in a class I had last week. I gave them role play scenarios which they worked on in groups of 2 or 3 (so there were several groups) and the first scenario was around the subject of bullying. Fascinatingly, the victim in every group's scenario was being bullied because they had a lot of money. Weeeiiiirrrddd, huh? Erin and I are still trying to figure out what all of this MEANS haha but there you are. There's my little social study of Thiers.
The Good Times
Well, Tuesday night was definitely a highlight! I won't even go into what/how much alcohol I consumed, but you should know that I am an absolute hero. Shout out to Victor the barman who also loved his life that night and made me a birthday cracker with some cream that ended up, through no fault of my own, in my hair and face. What a guy. Here we are:
Here is Beardmore's toilet maze from a different night:
From left to right: Pauline (the best Frenchie everrr), Lauryn and Rachael/Deji (my favourite female Scot):
Jemima (Mike), Laura (Bran/Wales), Dan (... Dan/Beiber) and Lauryn in Jaude this Christmas:
Halloween:
Some random pricks who ruined my hair and, consequently, my life:
Only joking, love you boys! (... Sometimes).
Tomorrow I return to Angleterre for 2 weeks! Reeeeeally looking forward to seeing most of the fam and 2 of my best mates in the evening for a meal! In the same restaurant in Stanmore that my Marge went to for her 21st - aaawwww isn't that nice? :) And I'm afraid (no, really, I'm genuinely actually a little bit scared) of the inevitable battering my liver is going to recieve again on Saturday night! Suppose I'd better get it over and done with haha!
Love to all and will see many of you this weekend! xxxx
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire