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Published: September 5th 2009
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Well, it's official. I am packing up my stuff and leaving for France in twelve days. And when I say "am packing" I do not mean I am doing right now...it's more that I am thinking about perhaps maybe starting to pack in the near future. I am still trying to unpack from my apartment in Pittsburgh. There is an awful lot of stuff that needs to be unpacked, put away, then repacked...didn't seem like all that much stuff when it was spread out over my entire apartment as opposed to my little bedroom in Ohio. I now need to turn around and somehow pack up enough stuff to allow me to live in France for ten months. Eek.
Let me take
a minute to pause here and explain what is going on in case you aren't caught up on my life. I am moving to northern France for about ten months to teach English. I know what you are thinking - Kate, you aren't a teacher! Ten months in northern France...whyyy? Why not Paris or along the Mediterranean? Where are you going to live?
You're right. I am most certainly not a teacher. I am doing an assistantship, which means I am basically a teacher's assistant. The exact details of my position are rather vague...which you'll soon discover is the norm when it comes to dealing with France. I will be working (teaching? assisting? hanging out and looking American?) only twelve hours a week. My contract lasts for nine months, and I have roughly eight weeks of paid vacation. Boy, sounds like a rough life!
I will be living in Douai, which is waaay up north, almost in Belgium. The town has about 40,000 people and it's about 40km from Lille, the big city in the region. The main attraction in the town is...wait for it...a belfry. Yup, a bell tower. Be jealous.
I actually requested to live
in this region, even though it rains all the time and there are sixty days of fog a year. Yes, that's right. TWO MONTHS of fog. Oy. I am actually quite fortunate to live in the region, though, because the cost of living is so much lower than in Paris (my rent is about half the cost of rent in Paris, yet we get paid the same as Parisian assistants) and I am in the middle of everything. I can jump on a train and be in Paris in a bit more than an hour, Brussels in thirty minutes, London in about two hours, and Amsterdam is about four hours away.
There will be at seven of us in my town teaching at various schools in and around the city. Most of the assistants are English-speaking (from England, Ireland, Canada, and me, the token American), but there is one German-speaker living among us. Several of us have the same contact, and she has reserved rooms for us at the Ecole des Mines (School of Mines). It is so reassuring to know that I will not be living in a cardboard box!
In order for me to live in
France for an extended period of time, I have to go through endless amounts of paperwork. It really is ridiculous. I had to appear in person in Chicago to get my visa. It literally took five minutes - I told the woman how long I was going to live in France and then slid my papers and passport under the window. Done. A week later, it showed up on my doorstep. Even though going to Chicago was not a convenient little day trip, I was able to spend two days in the city with my mom (see our photos!). We biked all over, saw the Obamas' house, went to an exhibit of Harry Potter props from the movies, and ate deep dish pizza.
And, well, that's about all I've got for right now. Just wanted to keep you guys up-to-date with my terrible addiction to travel. I am just so fortunate to be able to have a job that will put some euros in my bank account each month and allow me to explore more of the world.
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Kate's calendar:
Sept 17: fly to Paris
Sept 18-26: staying in Paris with Aude!
Sept 27: move to Douai with the other assistants
Oct 1: first day of teaching
Oct 24 - Nov 3: holiday in Israel
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Katie
non-member comment
AHH!
FORD ANGLIA! SO JEALOUS! <3 also, HI KATE'S MOM! [and I'm glad to see you will not being living in a cardboard box. I was worried there, for a little bit ;) ]