Communications and relations

One week down and I'm beginning to get used to the cold it seems.... That happened faster than I expected!! Rather lucky really as we're into snowy times now. Makes everywhere look rather pretty. Unfortunately it did cause a bit of chaos on the roads with one of the teachers coming in late after having damaged her car on an icy road (apparently she saw 2 more go in the same place!!!). Gossip travels fast in la France profonde.

At school this are a lot calmer this week. I'm starting to get to know people and I'm doing my actual ob of being a teaching assistant rather than cover teacher as I was last week so the pressure's off slightly. That said, it seems the school is only just big enough to handle the students that attend it which means that some of the classes are ridiculously large. Having an English assistant on hand means that the teachers can split the class in two, often between two classrooms, and rotate between the two but even split, the average class size is in the high teens! So a bit challenging when trying to make everyone speak but I think I'll mostly be doing that. The kids are nice, but it looks like I'm going to have to get imaginative when trying to prompt them to give answers. Hopefully once they get to know me a bit better they'll get over their "shyness"..... Or I'll just develop better techniques.

On Sunday I went to see "Le Hobbit" (no joke, it's called that) which was all very pretty and had lovely music but I don't know the book so I did get a little bit lost at times. I also hadn't appreciated that it was going to be split into 3 films and was kind of waiting for a bit more of a plot/conclusion. But ah well. C'est la vie.

On the social front, I've still not met anyone my age that isn't a student other than Katy (she's fine, but I get the impression we don't have a huge amount in common - probably better as it means I'll go find some Frenchies instead of sticking safely by my English housemate!) but I've made some enquiries and they do exist in Monistrol!! There's even a couple of couchsurfers. So just got to organise some sort of meeting now. This Friday I'm going to Saint Etienne for a CS event and I'm going to stay the night with a couple of couchsurfers to avoid problems trying to get home and to have a bit of a wander on the Saturday so I'm quite excited to meet some like-minded people who I'm free to just chat with!!!
I also went to choir with my housemate Katy yesterday, though it was a little "warbly" (thanks to mum for that description) so I'm not sure if I'll keep going... We'll see. I also went to a Yoga class today for the first time ever so that was interesting. Turns out the old man with the enormous is a hell of a lot more flexible than me. I couldn't even get half way to where he was!! So that was interesting. But more interesting was finding out (from the beardy yoga man) that there's at least some sort of Buddhist group in Monistrol! So I'm on the way to finding out some more about that and I'll hopefully get involved.

I did also manage to finally have a conversation with the other person who lives in the house yesterday. He's a teacher too but keeps mainly to himself. He didn't seem that keen to talk either but I coaxed him down with disarming friendliness and a cup of tea. I think he was glad he came eventually, we had quite an interesting conversation although his excessive surprise seemed disproportionate to the situation... maybe he's just not used to people being agressively friendly... Tant pis. We had a laugh in the end. It was weird not knowing who lived in the room next door...


On the cards for tomorrow:
1. Work out how to wash clothes
2. Business calls for Juan's company
3. Try the african dance workshop
4. Talk to Andres

If all of that happens I'll be one very happy Hannah. With the "H" bien prononcé. Let's get socialising.