bon weekend

After a lonnnngggg day of work on Friday, I was ready for a weekend. Well, really I only worked from 11-12 on Friday and it was actually one of the highlights of my time so far here in France. The teacher, M. Gojat was really welcoming with his smart Oxford accent... he's never been to England which shows what some hard work can accomplish when it comes to learning a language. The 10 or so students were equally friendly and very interested in asking me questions. They ranged from 17-21 years in age, and have studied English for many years I believe but never with an American accent so I got a mixture of blank stares and incredulous looks after I introduced myself... except for one proud student who understood some of what I said. Everyone was allowed to ask one question of me, that was entertaining. The funniest may have been if I have ever met Barack Obama, which they were sad to hear I haven't.

It was a gray, gusty, cold weekend in Boulogne, definetely a wake up call that it won't stay perfect all year. Despite the change in weather it was a nice one. Mareike, the German language assistant, Richard, and I missed a train to Lille where we had been planning on meeting other assistants from America. It wasn't a total loss since we went to Les Ramparts, where we can be found almost on a daily basis, and splurged from our usual order and got dinner. My first taste of escargot was not a disappointment, unlike the salmon... there is no way that was salmon! But it was fun and its nice to be regulars somewhere. We get to listen to the tourists from England and hear from Richard where they come from. Its a nice opportunity to practice my British. On our return we were surprised to see another assistant, Julia, had arrived. We were sure she didn't really exsist but it turns out she had been sick at home for the week. She went to university here in Boulogne last year so we'll have somewhere to show us the ropes now! Today we saw UP! (La-haut) at the cinema and came across a large market in the street that must occur every Sunday. I had my usual pain au chocolate, but next time we'll go for the barbe a papa (cotton candy, or father's beard as they say in French!) We also sat down by the port and watched all the sea gulls, and people selling their fresh catches for the day... I didn't realize people would sell or buy for that matter, sting ray.