I’m afraid as I become more and more used to life in France I can think of fewer things to tell you about in my blog. Perhaps that’s not such a bad thing really! All the same, it’s already a month since I last wrote, so here are a few things that I’ve been up to.
So we got through January with really very minimal amounts of snow to my great surprise, I was all set to be snowed in at some point! The last week has been wonderful weather, perfect blue skies and a fresh breeze. I’m assured that the cold weather normally lasts until April at least, so there’s still plenty of time for the snow to come back.
I’ve started playing my oboe again, which hasn’t happened for a long time. I was asked if I wanted to help with the music at church by one of my friend’s who was going to be leading worship, so thought I’d give it a go. It was lots of fun and I really enjoyed being able to serve the church.
Two weeks ago, I went up to meet up with Emilie who studies in Besançon, an hour from me. We first met when she came on ERASMUS to Southampton, so it was so lovely to see each other again after well over 18 months! She showed me the sights in Besançon and I got to eat some dinner with her flatmates (the majority are also her brothers and sisters).
I think you’ll be glad to hear that I’m embracing one particular French way of life. Last week I took part in a protest about the education reforms with some of the other teachers! This basically meant standing outside the school for the first hour of classes, some of us holding placards and others just joining in with occasional chants. One of my favourites was “j’enseigne, tu enseignes, il enseigne, nous enseignons, vous enseignez…ils suppriment!” which roughly translates as “I teach, you teach, he teaches, we teach…they cut our jobs!” (I think perhaps it works better in French…) We even made it into the local paper, you can see me in the photo, if you’re looking closely…The teachers came dressed in black to symbolise the death of education in France, we even held a minute’s silence. It didn’t technically count as a strike as the teachers are allowed one hour off from teaching each month to attend a union information hour - which is what they used last week. I can understand the teachers concerns. Under the reforms, over 60 hours of classes will be cut from the school I work in, which means that at least 4 teachers will lose their jobs. The reform also proposes that the class size maximum will go up to 35 - the most I had in my classes in sixth form was 20 - among other changes, so I can understand their frustration. It’s so serious that there even considering a sleepover protest - bringing their sleeping bags to school to sleep in the staff room!
So, just a few more teaching days before yet another school holiday! Not that I’m complaining :) Looking forward to popping back to England for a week, going on a snow weekend (although with the recent weather it could just be a “weekend”) with the youth group and taking a trip to Paris to visit a friend. Watch this space for pictures of my adventures.
With love from France x
