Yes they are. Today I went to Reims for my medical check-up that immigration makes you do to make sure you don't have tuberculosis or cancer and want to bankrupt the medical system. Luckily Anna and I had appointments in the same place about 15 minutes apart so we went together. As we both said afterwards, if we had not been together than we may have turned right around and gone home as soon as we stepped foot inside this hospital.
The hospital was one of those really super old hospitals with the really huge windows that three people had to open. It also had a courtyard. You could almost picture the infirmed of days of yore being wheeled around in their blankets while their families came to visit them. I thought, "Oh, that's nice. European hospitals are like in the movies!"
Once I actually got inside, however, I thought, "European hospitals are like Stephen King movies!" We had to climb a very old marble curvy staircase that I'm sure tons of people fell down with their wheelchairs; it is an excellent place to get rid of a patient no one likes. The hallways reminded me of mental wards of hospitals in movies placed in the 50s and 60s, and I could swear I heard people moaning. As Anna and I walked down the hallway, at no time were we stopped and asked what we were doing, where we were going, or anything like that. So the patients at CHU Reims were lucky we weren't murderers or anything. Everything was quite old. All the doors were open so we could see inside the rooms and the patients looked absolutely awful. At one point we caught a glimpse of a couple nurses helping an old man. His sheets fell away and they were quite bloody and yukky. At that point, Anna and I grabbed each other's arms and started walking a bit faster. At the end of the hallway, where radiology should be, was a big construction zone and a nurse told us to take the elevator to the basement, which is where the radiology department is during the construction. Again, the elevator was straight out of a Stephen King movie and I was sure I was going to meet my end in that shaft.
Luckily we made it downstairs to the radiology department and checked in. To our amazement, we also met all of the other American assistants who were there for their appointments as well! Apparently someone scheduled all of us for the same time and so we took over the radiology department with our English and People magazines. It was a nice surprise and a nice ending to the awful journey Anna and I had to make.
I was the first called and thus the first with my chest X-rays and then had to go to the airborne diseases department so they can make sure I don't have TB or anything. However, on all the signs I saw, there were none labelled "Pneumologie." There was one for airborne diseases, and so I decided to follow that sign. When it led also to the neurology department, I turned around and went to the information desk to find a map. Found a map, realized I had to walk THROUGH the neurology and nephrology departments to get to the pneumology department and so off I went. At this point, I had about a 20 minute head start on the rest of the group because I was first in. I finally found the pneumology department and waited in line to check in. I waited for about 2 minutes before the rest of the group showed up and I was like, "Phew, I'm in the right place!"
After being called up by a nurse, she gave me a cup to pee in and waited for me outside the bathroom door. Then she pricked my finger and took some blood which I was not pleased about. Apparently my bood sugar today was excellent because she exclaimed, "You eat very well!! Good for you!!" And then she checked my hormones and I think she asked me if I was pregnant. I said no, of course not, and she kinda shrugged and told me to go back to the waiting room and the doctor would call me when he's done. At this point I thought, "All I thought it was was a chest X-ray and a pee in a cup! I have to go see the doctor now!?"
However, the doctor was alright. Weighed me, blood pressure, medication and disease history. And then he gave me my happy sheet of paper that says I passed my medical exam and I can stay in France!! Hurrah!!
Anna and I agreed that although the hospital was quite scary, it was nice to see the other assistants. However, I don't think I ever want to be sick in France so that I have to go to the hospital. I don't think I would come out better.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
What colorful vocabulary the kids have nowadays!
Today in class, a funny thing happened. What makes it funnier is that the same thing has happened now twice. I chalk it up to restlessness from the kids as that it's almost Christmas, vacation, and just about everything else that can be any good about winter in the Ardennes. But in any case, here is what happened:
So today I did an activity with my class of secondes in which I gave them a "Dear Abby" letter and they had to write a letter back giving advice. This way I could teach them vocab for giving advice, being tolerant, things like that. So they talk amongst themselves doing the activity and I hear someone say, "What's French for shit?" Apparently the way the French pronounce "shit" is "sheet," so it's pretty obvious what they're trying to say. I say, "What is going on here?" and they try and pull the wool over my eyes!!
"Oh no, Madame, it's a French word!"
"It's a French word, eh? So what does it mean then? Can I find it in my dictionary?"
"Umm, it's a word for drugs and excrement and stuff like that!! Yeah!"
"Right. It's the same word in English and it's not a nice word at all."
"No, it's not a nice word, but we are trying to insult someone's cooking!"
"Regardless, don't use any of those words in my class!"
"But Madame!!"
The same thing happened last week in another one of my classes with a different activity, only with a different word. I gave them some dialogues to do and in one of them one person is supposed to insult the rest. As before, the kids are nicely talking amongst themselves and then all of a sudden I hear, "Fuck you! You're fat!" My ears perk up, my eyes scan the class until they come to the culprits, who are looking at me to see if I heard and trying not to laugh.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing Madame!! Just practicing for our dialogue!"
"Let me check to make sure there aren't any mistakes, now shall we?" I then stole their script and sure enough, it says 'fuck you, you're fat.' I said, "That's really not a nice thing to say and there are lots of other ways you can say something like that without actually saying the word."
"But it doesn't mean anything!"
"Maybe not to you, but in English it's a really, really, really bad word." Cue the James Earl Jones voice for gravitas.
"But Madame, what else can we say that means the same thing?!" whiny kids
"You could say, 'you're stupid and fat' if you want, just don't use that word!"
They ended up changing the word, but I had conflicting emotions. On the one hand I wasn't pleased with them trying to sneak a swear word by me. On the other I was happy they cared enough to think of saying a swear word. In any course, I'm glad that vacation is almost here so I can not go to class anymore!!
In other news, word on the street is that the douchebag that lives above me is a douchebag to everyone else too, not just me. Have to say that I feel not only vindicated but unmarginalized. Hurrah!!
So today I did an activity with my class of secondes in which I gave them a "Dear Abby" letter and they had to write a letter back giving advice. This way I could teach them vocab for giving advice, being tolerant, things like that. So they talk amongst themselves doing the activity and I hear someone say, "What's French for shit?" Apparently the way the French pronounce "shit" is "sheet," so it's pretty obvious what they're trying to say. I say, "What is going on here?" and they try and pull the wool over my eyes!!
"Oh no, Madame, it's a French word!"
"It's a French word, eh? So what does it mean then? Can I find it in my dictionary?"
"Umm, it's a word for drugs and excrement and stuff like that!! Yeah!"
"Right. It's the same word in English and it's not a nice word at all."
"No, it's not a nice word, but we are trying to insult someone's cooking!"
"Regardless, don't use any of those words in my class!"
"But Madame!!"
The same thing happened last week in another one of my classes with a different activity, only with a different word. I gave them some dialogues to do and in one of them one person is supposed to insult the rest. As before, the kids are nicely talking amongst themselves and then all of a sudden I hear, "Fuck you! You're fat!" My ears perk up, my eyes scan the class until they come to the culprits, who are looking at me to see if I heard and trying not to laugh.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing Madame!! Just practicing for our dialogue!"
"Let me check to make sure there aren't any mistakes, now shall we?" I then stole their script and sure enough, it says 'fuck you, you're fat.' I said, "That's really not a nice thing to say and there are lots of other ways you can say something like that without actually saying the word."
"But it doesn't mean anything!"
"Maybe not to you, but in English it's a really, really, really bad word." Cue the James Earl Jones voice for gravitas.
"But Madame, what else can we say that means the same thing?!" whiny kids
"You could say, 'you're stupid and fat' if you want, just don't use that word!"
They ended up changing the word, but I had conflicting emotions. On the one hand I wasn't pleased with them trying to sneak a swear word by me. On the other I was happy they cared enough to think of saying a swear word. In any course, I'm glad that vacation is almost here so I can not go to class anymore!!
In other news, word on the street is that the douchebag that lives above me is a douchebag to everyone else too, not just me. Have to say that I feel not only vindicated but unmarginalized. Hurrah!!
27 November 2006-
This past Thanksgiving was my first Thanksgiving where I was not celebrating a holiday the entire day. That's to say, I had to work. In fact, I had to work the ENTIRE WEEK!! So for the entire week basically all we did was play games in class; in fact I played the same game with all my class levels all week. So really, I did absolutely no work and it was maaahvy.
We decided to have Thanksgiving over at Lycee Sevinge because there was enough room, enough chairs, and enough food for all of us to go over there. There were 10 of us all together, along with a Turkey and enough food to feed us all for the rest of the night. In fact, only three of us were really celebrating Thanksgiving: Anna, Jennifer, and I. The rest are German, Austrian, Venezuelan, and English, and so no Thanksgiving normally. However I think we did a marvelous Thanksgiving!
We had turkey, of course. I ordered it from the bucher's earlier that week to make sure we had enough. Anna also made stuffing and sweet potatos, Manuela made potato dumplings, we had tons of salad and tons of other stuff as well. It would fantabulous!!
I really missed the regular Thanksgiving though. Eventhough it was nice to have it with a bunch of people who were celebrating it for the first time, I still kinda wanted to be home. Because my parents and little sister are coming to visit me for Christmas, they decided to not go anywhere for Thanksgiving. So, Thanksgiving was then relagated to my house! Unfortunately that means I missed everyone. :-(
All in all, Thanksgiving was quite nice. Eh.
This past Thanksgiving was my first Thanksgiving where I was not celebrating a holiday the entire day. That's to say, I had to work. In fact, I had to work the ENTIRE WEEK!! So for the entire week basically all we did was play games in class; in fact I played the same game with all my class levels all week. So really, I did absolutely no work and it was maaahvy.
We decided to have Thanksgiving over at Lycee Sevinge because there was enough room, enough chairs, and enough food for all of us to go over there. There were 10 of us all together, along with a Turkey and enough food to feed us all for the rest of the night. In fact, only three of us were really celebrating Thanksgiving: Anna, Jennifer, and I. The rest are German, Austrian, Venezuelan, and English, and so no Thanksgiving normally. However I think we did a marvelous Thanksgiving!
We had turkey, of course. I ordered it from the bucher's earlier that week to make sure we had enough. Anna also made stuffing and sweet potatos, Manuela made potato dumplings, we had tons of salad and tons of other stuff as well. It would fantabulous!!
I really missed the regular Thanksgiving though. Eventhough it was nice to have it with a bunch of people who were celebrating it for the first time, I still kinda wanted to be home. Because my parents and little sister are coming to visit me for Christmas, they decided to not go anywhere for Thanksgiving. So, Thanksgiving was then relagated to my house! Unfortunately that means I missed everyone. :-(
All in all, Thanksgiving was quite nice. Eh.
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