Les Vacances de Toussaint; Fall Vacation

Vacation de Toussaint

God bless the French for their love of holidays. I apologize in advance to my American friends for admitting this, but we are blessed this year with four two-week breaks during our 7 months of employment in the French school system.  The first of these breaks falls right in the middle of October after a grueling three weeks or so of work for us.

On Saturday Oct 18 we left Toulouse and didn’t return until November 1st. This two-week stretch of constant travel is definitely the longest vacation I’ve ever been on.  Moreover, I had been living out of suitcases since leaving the US on September 24th, so this is the longest stretch of impermanent placement that I’ve ever experienced.
For someone like me who could rightly be described as a bit of a homebody, it’s true that traveling and taking the adventurous road is a little outside my comfort zone.  Even though I am most comfortable in my own home space, I value travel and know it’s important for me.

What I love about travel:
1) SIGHT-SEEING. I love to see foreign landscapes, city centers, landmarks and the various markers of human achievement that can be found literally everywhere. Who doesn’t?
2) CULTURE. I love to be an observer of people and as much as it’s possible, to meet and talk with new folks everywhere I go. I like to watch and listen to the way mothers mind their children in other parts of the world, witness how daily commerce takes place, how young people amuse themselves, how customs vary, and how similar we all in fact are at the end of the day.
3) LANGUAGE. I like learning new languages. Before traveling somewhere new I try to learn at least basic traveling phrases that will be necessary for communication while traveling there. Even though I may be dabbling with only a handful of new phrases, I try to employ them whenever I can and be brave enough to go for it and just do the best I can.

I fully subscribe to the belief that travel is one of the best avenues for expanding one’s mind and promoting personal growth.  Although travel means welcoming an environment of mild stressors like making an itinerary that works, managing transportation and lodging schedules, travel regulations, foreign customs and money, plus potential language barriers, it is all worth it.

By the way, I am really proud of myself for packing lightly on this trip! My husband might still suggest otherwise, but I seriously dwindled it down for this 2-week vacation. I think many Americans would understand how big of a challenge it is to travel for two weeks with only a purse and a small suitcase (the smallest that comes with a luggage set). I mean, this is impressive. Granted, I did borrow a little space in Nick’s luggage for overflow books and a second liquids bag (per flight regulations), but still… for two weeks of travel I was pretty impressed with myself. 😉

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For more details on our Fall break, check out my subsequent posts on each destination.

Our travel itinerary:
1) Castelnaudary, France
2) Carcassonne, France
3) Porto, Portugal
4) Barcelona, Spain
5) Canet en Roussillon, France

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I kept feeling a bit torn about the fact that on our fall vacation we were really experiencing an extended summer through our travels in Portugal, Spain, and southern France in late October while back home on the east coast I know my friends and family were going through my favorite rituals of apple picking, pumpkin carving, costume designing, and decoration hanging… and we were missing it all. Although Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year and normally missing out on the quintessential experiences of Fall would make me sad, I have decided it’s a season I am willing to miss this year without regret considering the path I am currently following.

So there have been no haunted houses, no hayrides or fall harvest tours through the farmers market for us this year, and I didn’t have a jack’o lantern or a costume for Halloween, but I as I made my vacation notes, I was looking out at such a beautiful scene that I really couldn’t be sad: the bright white sail of a sailboat cruising in the Mediterranean Sea, standing out against the brilliant blue of the sea, contrasting with the pale blue of the sky, and my bare feet buried in soft, warm sand… So I guess missing my beloved, traditional October for one year is okay with me.

Chapter 2: Post-Fall Break, Back into the Swing of Things

After several weeks’ hiatus, I am back in action with some updates.  The end of October brought the first of many glorious holiday breaks given in the french school system.  During this break I was traveling for a full two weeks, and since my return to Toulouse at the beginning of November, I moved into a new apartment where we don’t yet have internet… so posting updates may be sporadic for now.

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Our new place: Nick and I are happy to be getting situated in our new apartment in a more central location in Toulouse.  We are happily discovering how easily we can get around on foot from our new digs.  We are now living within the bounds of the centre ville; just a 10 minute walk from the most central neighborhood of Capitole, which is great. Now I don’t have to rely exclusively on the metro to get around and I am finally figuring out the layout above ground. 🙂

The apartment itself is surprisingly modern in its furnishings and it’s cute and functional.  To be honest I was looking forward to living in a charming old French building with character where we would accept that strange, quirky, quasi-dysfunctional things would be part of the deal.  We didn’t get any of that with our apartment, but I am happy to have a clean, nice space where we can play the host to family and friends this year.

Our apartment did not have internet when we moved in so when we arrived we set a date to have it installed as soon as possible.  Naturally, the date we were given was November 24, almost a month after our move-in date. So cafes with wifi and phone plans with data for now it is!

Bien sur, the elevator in our new building was out of service just in time for our move-in.  We felt very French moving our 5 suitcases and then several rounds of household and grocery purchases up all the flights of stairs to our 5^th floor apartment (well, at least we aren’t on the 9th floor…).  As much as I’d like to say that I could’ve moved my big, heavy suitcases by myself up all those narrow, twisty stairs, no big deal, I will just be honest and say that I am lucky Nick is strong, willing and able because I really wouldn’t have been able to… thanks, mon cheri.

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Change of seasons

Upon our return from vacation, the weather here suddenly changed from the extended-summer we had gotten used to basking in to a late-fall feel.  I actually used my umbrella for the first time since leaving the US just last week! I have absolutely no right nor interest in complaining, but it did feel quite abrupt to go from holiday travels and summertime temps to rainy, cold, gray days last week… now I appreciate every sunny day we get even more as I must accept that we are moving into a drearier season. I will try to learn to appreciate the cold, gray weather in its own right.

Being from the Pacific Northwest, my husband is perfectly at ease with drizzly weather.  He has been trying to get me to open up to the beauty of rainy days and find their charm. I love the sun a lot though, so it’s a work in progress.

The first week back from vacation was an oddly difficult transition for me. Since we moved into our new apartment the Saturday we got back from vacation and returned to school that Monday morning, the week was one of adjusting and settling into a new home, new neighborhood, going back to work, trying to feel “back in the swing of things” and dealing with the sudden change of seasons.

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Getting Back into the Workout

Thank God for running.  My regular routine is running three times/week, and in the U.S. I never run alone because Josie Dog is my faithful running companion. 🙂 During my first three weeks in France I went out for a handful of runs; sometimes by myself, sometimes with Nick, but I definitely shied away from my regular routine during our two week vacation. I figured it would be complicated to map out routes in each new city and it would take time away from visiting the sites… so it had been a while since my last run.

Thus last week I went for my first run since October before vacation(!), and let me tell you, it is seriously therapeutic. It’s the thing you do and immediately wonder why it took you so long to get back to doing it again. Running clears my mind and lifts my spirit! I felt instantly lighter when I finished my run and refreshed to see my new neighborhood through a fresh lens. All it took was a thirty minute run and a sunshiny Saturday morning to bring me back to life. Bah! Back to the routine for sure.

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Back to Work

Being back in the schools since vacation is totally fine; it’s nothing like returning to teaching after holidays in the US, anyway.  Work feels casual and simple here.  The kids I work with are seriously darlings and I am lucky to be at a school with a wonderful, helpful, welcoming staff.  My schedule was specially made and adjusted for me and my lead teacher is friendly, flexible, and thoughtful. Everyone is available to help and answer questions. My students and I are learning a lot of interesting cultural things from each other and we get to laugh a lot.  I appreciate the laid-back approach to teaching that I get to have here.  I know if I were working as a full-time teacher here the responsibilities, workload and scheduling would be totally different, but I am really happy to be doing what I’m doing for the time-being.

In fact, I am starting to see how quickly this year is going to fly by and I really really want time to slow down! I can already see May right around the corner and I am not eager for my time to be up here. But, instead of focusing on my anxiety about time being fleeting and my French sejour slipping away, I will instead focus my energy and attention on absorbing everything with a grateful heart, an open mind, and an eager spirit so I can continue my journey in learning to make the most of each day and to appreciate each moment. That’s really why I’m here, after all.

Plus, getting back into going to work with a 7am commute comes with the perks of catching the sunrise and the incredible smells of French bakeries, wafting the aromas of fresh bread and pastries baking to passersby. C’est une belle chose.

 

What are we eating?

I’m a big-time food lover and I’ve been excited about seeing what kinds of food options would be available and popular in Toulouse.  Toulouse is located in France’s southwest region of the Midi-Pyrenees; a region nestled between Provence and the Mediterranean to the east, the Atlantic coast and Bordeaux to the west, and just north of Spain and the Pyrenees mountains.  This area also constitutes the Haute Garonne and Roussillon-Languedoc territory.

At home (in the US) I love to cook, bake, and create all kinds of things. Here, for now at least, I am taking a more laid back approach as I survey the culinary scene in Toulouse.  Since I don’t have my fully-equipped American kitchen anymore, I’ll have to employ creative strategies for food prep this year (the apartment we are moving into next month has NO OVEN!! 😦  so we’ll see how ambitious we get).

The local produce is great so far and affordable at the markets. Sure, one picks up certain items at the supermarché on the corner, but for produce we wait for our weekly outing to the local farmers markets which is one of my favorite events of the week, for sure.

The typically French, basic food items (ie. bread, cheese, wine) are inexpensive. Other things like eggs for instance cost more here than in the US (and I assume this is also true of meat and animal products in general).

As for fresh produce, here are some of the items we’ve been enjoying from the market:

• Tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Zucchini
• Onions, shallots, garlic
• Cauliflower
• Green beans
• Artichokes **my new favorite!!**
• Potatoes
• Olives, tapenades
• Figs—these we found and gathered ourselves while out walking around!
• Salad
• Endives
• Nuts

And the obvious:

• Cheese
• Bread
• Wine

Oh and I almost forgot,

• Couscous—this appears to be a main staple, and it’s so inexpensive in the stores here!

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We eat mostly at home but have eaten out a few times. Here are some of the foods we’ve been enjoying.

Bon Appetit! 🙂   (…People really do say that a lot here)

We collected a bag full of figs on a hike we took in the country, but fig trees are everywhere

We showed up for lunch after “hiking” out in the country. Lunch was no longer being served but it was the only hope we had of eating for the next 3 hours; happily, the chef was kind enough to serve us chestnut soup!

This is absolutely my new favorite… a little time-consuming for prep, but so worth it.

We’ve instituted a weekly potluck night with local friends

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One more thing: besides your traditional French pastries which are definitely awesome enough, we found some really cool sweets-shops that are not of French origin. The place below is a Tunisian pastry shop we stumbled upon and had to check out.

The goodies in there all looked incredible and it was impossible to know what to try first.  They all appear to be bathed in a fine glaze of honey and pack flavors like almond, pistachio, sesame, honey of course, and rose water (this was a weird one, admittedly).  We picked out a few and plan to go back for further exploration!

Cultural Adjustments: 10 Things to Get Used To

Let me start by saying that one of the reasons I travel and have chosen to live in France this year is to experience life in another land and learn about the culture, other ways of living. To expect things to be exactly as they were in the place I left behind would not only be silly, it would be dull and boring. I love the little quirks that make a place different. Here I am listing the first 10 things that strike me as something to get used to, for better or worse, in my new home.

When you move to a new place there are always things to get used to. When you move to a new country, there is often an entirely new culture, language, and laws of the land to adjust to. I have lived in France before, so some of these things are not brand new to me, but after 8 years of non-exposure, one does have to readjust again.

Not all adjustments are bad of course! Sometimes you feel like you have to give up things you know/like and settle for what’s available, or accept customs that seem strange to you the foreigner, but the things you gain in the exchange may be the very reason for the relocation in the first place.

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Here’s my list of the first 10 things to get used to:

The Strange:

1. French Toilets
2. Water, No Ice?
3. Laundry: No dryers
4. …You Eat Horse?
5. Toulouse Vocabulary

The Frustrating:

6. “Paperland”
7. Lies & The Run-around

The Fabulous:

8. Working in Schools
9. Boulangerie downstairs, Walking to the grocery store
10. Price of Wine, Cheese, and Bread

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Fighting Jet-lag, Fighting Sickness!

I had not anticipated how seriously jet-lagged Nick and I would feel upon arriving; not just for one day, but for the better part of the first week we were here. Our sleep vs. daytime schedules were out of whack for a while.  There is only a 6 hour time difference from the US east coast to France, but that’s kind of the difference between night and day. It took us several days to adjust and my usually robust immune system was left quite vulnerable!

I had been feeling a teeny bit of a cold coming on as we left the States, but I was confident it would come to nothing. I accepted a handful of the cold-eezes my dad swears by and thus sent me off with and forced myself to use some on the plane on the way over. (However, I also accepted the little bottles of wine I was offered on the plane, as well as several others we kept being offered gratuitously once we arrived in France. I mean, how does one turn these down??)

Getting Acquainted with Toulouse

The first thing one must do to get to know a place is to just get out there! We bought our monthly metro passes and started to visit different neighborhoods and walk about downtown to see what Toulouse is all about.

*Note about public transportation in France: I think the public transportation options in France are great, especially after living in Baltimore where public transportation options dictate that you should drive a car if you can. Here, one usually has a metro, a tramway (light rail), and buses, and if you are living here all are accessible with the purchase of a monthly pass. If you are between the ages of 12-25 you can get a monthly pass very, very cheaply in France, as well as other discounts on rail travel, etc. Because Nick and I find ourselves on the outskirts of this bracket, our monthly passes cost 5x as much as our other assistant friends. Although, there is a possibility that we could recuperate up to 50% of our transport costs as part of our work commute expenses here (since we are basically being paid a stipend we can apply to qualify for some reimbursement assistance here and there). Thanks France.

So Nick and I bought our metro passes and went out to explore the town. We visited some of the stunning cathedrals in town, explored neighborhoods on foot, went to the open air markets, discovered that bars are too expensive here and therefore hung out with the crowds by the river on Friday nights, checked out a few museums, and enjoyed some outdoor café time in the afternoon sunshine.

Can you imagine this jungle gym existing in America?

Life-Pause: Why France?

So why France?

It all started back in 2006. Well, rewind a bit more I guess; I started to learn French in elementary school at age 8… so I guess it really started back in the 90s. But anyway, as a French major in college I planned to study abroad. I was going to study in Avignon, France in the fall of 2006 when an adviser convinced me at the last minute to send my application to IES Nantes instead of Avignon, where he said he thought I’d like it better. I followed his fortuitous advice and I am so glad I did.

So I ventured off for my first trip out of the country and my first time traveling (let alone doing anything) independently to study abroad in Nantes, France. I had an amazing semester. I recommend studying abroad to anyone and everyone, hands down, no questions asked. I loved studying in France and I believe it was the most influential academic/personal experience on my life trajectory to-date. Through my many years of studying French, I had always envisioned a beautiful land of wonder in France and the reality didn’t let me down.

I made many great friends in Nantes, but my favorite and the most important person I met there is the guy who is now my husband. Nick and I started dating a week into our semester abroad and we’ve been together ever since, married for a couple of years now. We’ve always talked about “someday returning to France”, and thought about how great it would be to spend some time living there. At least for a year.

It always felt fanciful, like a distant possibility that I was interested in, but doubted if we would ever really do. The better part of a decade has passed and neither of us had been back to France, so to me it was starting to feel like we might never make it happen. I’ve been dreaming of buying a house, having kids, feeling rooted. Those things and moving abroad without a concrete long-term plan don’t exactly go hand-in-hand in my life vision.

But after teaching in a city for 5 years I wanted a break from the way we work in America. I would say a break from the teaching profession as it exists now, but I have a suspicion that others (across professions) would agree with me that our general expectations for work-life balance are way out of whack. I could go on about why I was exhausted or disenchanted with my work situation, but that isn’t the point of this blog. I will simply say that I grew tired, and tired of work-guilt. I grew tired of feeling guilty about wanting to spend less time working, less time stressing about work, less time feeling obligated to others’ demands of me, and wanting to feel less inclined to put them in front of my own demands of myself… and I saw that it was time to cut the cord, make the break.

It was time to put that life on pause. To find a new place to be, a new way to be, to refresh my spirit and re-center my mind, research my options, recharge my life, and clear out all the heavy.

I figured, no better way to do this than to relocate, even if it’s temporary. So at last, it was time to go to France. Teaching in France is the most obvious choice for us since we’re already teachers, and the TAPIF program makes us into teachers’ language assistants- we’d really be considered part-timers in the US. The reduced work responsibilities and hours really allow for the time to be creative, to explore, to read, to write, to refresh and renew. I am so glad we are taking the time to do this, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to put my life on pause and live in Toulouse.

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“Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it. Doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that is what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that’s really special and if you’re not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself.” –Amy Poehler

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Arrival

Upon arrival at the airport in Toulouse we exchanged our dollars for euros and grabbed a taxi—albeit not just any taxi, we had to find a big one because between us we had 5 suitcases and a backpack each… *Note: we are very aware that we over-packed (especially after seeing the space available for putting our clothes away in the room we’ve rented for the first month: just one rack with 20 hangers total, no dressers or drawers). But, we figure with our extra suitcases we’ve bought extra space for bringing things back at the end of the year.

The taxi wasn’t too expensive; 25 € from the airport to our Airbnb apartment. I am not so familiar with odometers on European cars, but I did notice we were driving at a casual pace of 130-140 for a while which I assume of course is km/hr. We weren’t on a highway by the way. I checked it out for the heck of it and this converts to 80-90 mi/hr which isn’t so shocking, but it certainly felt serious! Woke me up just a bit.

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That’s a funny thing about arrivals. You’re very happy to reach your destination, but your weariness from the journey clouds your clarity. Despite this, I find that both of my arrivals in France (studying abroad in 2006, and this one) remain vivid in my memory. Even though you may only be half awake and caught in the throes of jet-lag, they are important days, where the energy and images impress upon you a certain emotional experience that will shape your future recollections of this day. Your mind absorbs the newness of your surroundings and you can later recall the very thoughts you had and how you felt. The arrival is hazy, but significant. There is a feeling of newness, of promise and excitement mingled with strangeness, mystery, and a hint of uncertainty. You feel exhilarated and exhausted at the same time.

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We arrived at our Airbnb place around 11am on a Thursday. Our host, Anne, greeted us warmly, bisous and all! (If you aren’t familiar with “bisous”, it’s the familiar French greeting of one kiss per cheek, used amongst family and friends.) Anne showed us to our room, gave us preliminary information we may need about basic house stuff and transportation in the area. We had forewarned her of the possibility that we may need a big fat nap once we got there, though we were still undecided about whether we’d nap right away or power through- go out in search of coffee and an exploratory inaugural walk.

We arranged our suitcases in our room, took some photos, tested the bed for comfort, and immediately upon getting horizontal realized a nap was imminent and obligatory. We slept soundly for several hours. We awoke to find it was late in the afternoon. Anne made us our first French coffees. We went out and had a walk around our new neighborhood. We stopped for dinner at a joint with a beautiful outdoor terrace on the 2^nd floor where we enjoyed the mild night air and some delicious food. We returned to Anne’s place and found that she and her son Zach were just finishing up their supper. We joined them “à table” and chatted over some glasses of wine, covering all sorts of topics. Suddenly it was 1am so we called it a night, surprised at still being awake at all! So much lays ahead- exploring, meeting people, fresh experiences, working out logistics – that it can be hard to know when to cut it off and go to sleep.

Excitement, newness, strangeness, a true beginning. I like arrivals, with all the promise and possibilities they bring.

The view out of our bedroom window

The sleeping corner of our room

The restaurant below our apartment

The “Bol Rouge”, open downstairs for lunch 5 days a week

Wouldn’t you know there’s an accordion shop on our street. Hello France.

Dinner on day 1 at “Caffe Cotti”

In France, an appetizer is called the “entree”

Our first dinner in France. Perhaps American of me to choose the vegetarian pizza, but it was quite good and I’m glad I did.

La Terrasse at the apartment

apartment kitchen & living room

Housing Plan, Month 1

Our plan for getting established with housing in Toulouse is as follows: when you’re doing TAPIF, finding housing is one of the most difficult tasks because nothing is arranged for you (unless your school happens to have a room/apartment on site set aside for you) and it’s hard (if not impossible) to find something when you aren’t here in person (not to mention the other complications- which I’ll mention later- that arrive when you actually want to sign a contract), so we gave ourselves a month to find something permanent while we stay at an Airbnb apartment.

[If you aren’t familiar with Airbnb, it’s a great site to use for lodging when you’re traveling but don’t want to stay at a hotel. You can rent a room in someone’s home or an entire place to yourself, and your stay can range from one night to a week, or in our case a month. It’s more affordable than hotels, but generally less affordable than renting rates when you sign a long-term lease somewhere.]

So for now we are renting a room in an apartment in Toulouse, with a French host, Anne. In choosing this route, we were hopeful that we’d be able to pick her brain for information on neighborhoods, transportation, our housing search, etc. as we become acquainted with a new place. Not to mention we are eager to practice our French and living with real French folk is a perfect opportunity for that!

This way we can get our feet on the ground, explore and get to know the city, and search for an apartment without the pressure of needing to get out of a hotel immediately. Some other language assistants we’ve met used hotels or hostels for the first few weeks, but for us this was the cheapest option since you pay per person in a hostel and way too much at a hotel. Plus, through Airbnb, often times you can get a reduced rate for a longer term booking like a month, which is what we did.

Once in France, housing searches often take place online with sites like leboncoin.fr (similar to craigslist) and seloger.com.  You can visit real estate agents’ offices but they aren’t always helpful and it’s best to avoid their services when possible to save an extra month’s worth of rent, which is what they charge.

Departure Time

After a couple months of basic prep (namely the paperwork items I mentioned in “preparing for tapif”), we packed our bags and said our goodbyes. My brother kindly took the afternoon off from work on a Wednesday to drive Nick and me to the airport and see us off. Before leaving home, we triple-checked that we had our extremely essential “document folder”, plus all of our numerous suitcases, and we said our last goodbye to our sweet Josie Dog. Unsurprisingly, I was trying (but failing) to hold back tears as I walked away from my parents’ house where she will be staying for the next 7.5 months.

Josie Dog is uber precious to me, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m one of those people who treats their pet like their child, alas, I have no actual children. I will be missing her more than anything else during this séjour. When at first we decided we were really going to spend the year in France, we expected we would bring Josie with us. As a member of our family, where we go, Josie Dog goes. But when I researched what it would really mean to fly her overseas in cargo, seeing the risks and the expenses, and forcing myself to be realistic about how it would limit our housing search upon arrival, not to mention our opportunities to travel, we accepted that we had to start a search for someone to take care of her while we’re away.

After quizzing our friends about who they know and whether they could do it, brother Sam stepped up in the end and said he was the man for the job. Phewf! I couldn’t honestly get excited or serious about moving to France until I could be sure Josie Girl would be in good hands. Thanks Sam, Mom, and Dad for welcoming the pup into your home!

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So anyway, departure time. We flew on British Airways and were really happy with the experience. We took a red-eye flight from Newark to London, London to Toulouse without any issues. Personally, I prefer overseas flights. Sure it costs an arm and a leg, but you get to have a real warm meal, there’s a fun selection of new movies (though I feel like I really should be reading), and geography geek that I am, I enjoy the feature on my personal screen of being able to see the real-time map of where the plane currently is flying, so to me it’s way more fun than flying domestically. Plus, I would note that Nick and I had the rare experience of feeling prioritized by our vegetarian status as we were served our meals before everyone else, hehe. 😉 Our transfer in London went smoothly and before we knew it, we were en route to Toulouse!