Blogs from Lille, Nord-Pas de Calais, France, Europe - page 3

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and ate lots of turkey and sweet potatoes for me. There wasn't even a hint of the holiday here, so it was a bit sad. Life here in Douai is far from exciting, but I suppose I can scrape together an update for you guys. School has been going okay, I guess, when I actually have classes to go to. I only have about eleven hours of class a week, and they keep getting cancelled for various reasons (teacher strikes, bike safety classes, storytellers, etc). It's often quite frustrating. The students are only required to have two forty-five minute classes a week (but obviously that's not even happening), and homework is never assigned. Not many people around here speak English, so it's not like their parents can help them, ... read more

Lille, northern France I was off to Lille by mid-day on the 7th. I caught the TGV (Fast) train which took only an hour and a half to arrive in Lille. It was quite the experience to sit on a train cruising at 250km/hr. In fact it took me a good 20 minutes of reading and listening to my IPOD before I looked out and realized how fast we were going. The ground nearest to the train was impossible to follow, and even the trees and hills in the distance moved faster than my eyes could follow. When I arrived in Lille it was around 4pm , and it had just started to rain. Unlucky for me, I wasn’t able to reach my host on her cell phone after a few tries, so I walked around ... read more

I have walked this street countless times. The walk from the city center to my apartment has become mindless and familiar. I know the sights, the smells, and even some of the people that I see working in the various buildings I pass by heart. It’s a straight shot home, really - I only need take one road. I think this adds to the “mindless” factor. I cross the city’s Grand’Place and head down the boulevard toward home, walking on the left of the street so that I don’t have to cross the street. There are three landmarks that more or less divide my walk home. The first is passing Boulevard de la Liberté, which is a main road in Lille lined with sycamores that leads to the city’s Fine Arts Museum (le Palais des Beaux ... read more

Speaking of last year/memories/nostalgia/the like, I thought I should mention something that happened to me last night. I walked a friend to the Lille Flandres train station and waited until her train left before I left the platform. When I entered the main hall, I saw a TGV getting ready to leave. There are only two TGV platforms in the Lille Flandres train station. They are side by side, and one is reserved for the hourly TGV that runs between Lille Flandres and Paris Nord Station. I suddenly stopped, immobilized by nostalgia. As the Paris-bound TGV pulled slowly out of the station, I remained motionless, watching the beady red eyes of the train until I could no longer see them. Without ANY conscious effort, I saw the entirety of last year flash before my eyes, just ... read more

Let’s think back to when I worked at Davey Tree in the Human Resources Department. I knew all my colleagues fairly well. When I entered or left the building at either end of the day, I’d shout out a general “Hi/Bye, everyone,” to which some people responded and some didn’t - either way, nothing personal. Same thing for parties and get-togethers - a general “Hey” to all within hearing range, hugs for closer friends who are not busy doing something else, and that’s it. In France, it’s a little more involved than that. Take today, for example. I arrived at my main school just before the morning break. When the bell rang, teachers started filtering into the sale des maîtres (teachers’ lounge) gradually. For every one, I made eye contact, stood up, said hello, and did ... read more