Juxtaposition, as per request.

I had rather thought that a summer vacation from the blog would be necessary, until a certain someone at the high school suggested that the juxtaposition of life in Manlius and life in Paris was essential.

Hmph.

At any rate, I can attempt a sort of dishonorable summary of the summer, which is something like:

The Producers,

The Renaissance Fest,

Binghamton,

Manlius,

Binghamton,

Manlius,

Rochester,

Bristol Hills Music Camp,

Virginia Beach,

Manlius,

Plattsburgh,

Albany,

Manlius,

The NYS Fair,

Elmira,

Manlius,

Rochester,

Manlius,

Binghamton,

NYC,

Binghamton,

Elmira,

Manlius.

Call it a tour de force of New York State. The only major city I seem to have missed is probably Buffalo, and not for lack of reasons to go (sorry Carrie :(, I love you! ). You can probably hazard a guess as to why I went where, so I'll skip the explanations ...

While I could elaborate at length about the level of utter relaxation, stress, and general confusion these three months at home have brought me, I suppose the more relevant matter is the resolution.

I'm going back. As an au pair for the family I babysat all last year :) I am not teaching (which, as Burns pointed out, leaves me with more time for reading and writing). I have officially done battle against the forces of evil ... I mean, the French Consulate ... and have obtained a visa. It makes my face look fat. Eric, my personal hero, Fed-Ex'ed my passport/visa/paperwork to me after picking it up. Because some of us can't wait around for a week while they print off a sticker, because NEW YORK IS A BIG STATE.

So now the cycle restarts itself, much like laundry that I leave in the washing machine for too long because I forgot about it because I was busy finishing a trilogy called The Hunger Games because CSweens told me I had to. It was good, incidentally.

Orchestra schedule came a few days ago; concerts at the end of October and November (eek), and then leaving for the tour in China Christmas day. Did some researching about visas for China the other day ... Not really sure what to expect.

Oh well, sticking to the "Things happen for a reason" philosophy. It seems to be working out so far ...

Triumphant Return

Sitting in the Helsinki airport ... Finland seems nice, from the windows. And besides, any airport with free WiFi is cool with me.

On the other hand, I went in so the wrong direction to get here. And I left at 4am. Ughhhh.

More reports upon return to the civilized world ... You know, the one with internets.

School's out!

My last day at school was Tuesday, although I had a dinner with teacher friends last night and I'm going to the teacher BBQ tonight, so the last time I go to school is actually this evening.

Anyway, it was so sad to say goodbye to my 400 (ok so maybe not, but still) different classes ... they were (mostly) so cute, and so sad when they found out that I might not be there with them next year. I gave them my address in Manlius and told them that I'd miss them, and if they wanted to send me letters or pictures I'd be very happy to hear all about their new adventures (and of course I'd respond)! I think I got a bajillion bisous and hugs and they were ready to take me hostage, which a little bit broke my heart.

At any rate, it's miserable here in Paris, it's been 32°C and sunny most days ... aka just about 90°F. There is no worse place to be than a city in such conditions, except maybe an un-air-conditioned city (cough Paris cough) or a swamp.

Monday I leave for La Baule with the family I babysit for a relaxing week of beachy goodness. I'm looking forward to it.

Then after that, hold on to your hats --- I'm back on the correct continent July 13th. I'm so excited to come home that I can barely get out coherent sentences in French these days.

For whom the bell tolls ...

I started freaking out a little because I don't have a contract for next year, and I'd like to at least feel roughly secure in my planning for next year.

So yesterday Nicole (one of my principals) and I call up the bigwigs at one of the twelve thousand levels of French hierarchy to ratchet up the pressure a bit. Instead of reassuring me that of course I'll have my job next year, don't you worry, I hear :

"Not only are old assistants not priority because we want to give new people a chance, this year has an unusually high number of applications, so we won't know whether or not we're taking any old assistants until after we have responses from the new people ... it will probably late in the summer, possibly even in September."

So much for reassuring words.

Now I'm looking at jobs in private schools and internships, and really anything else I can find. It kills me though, because I work in impoverished schools with kids that have very little going for them, and I want to stay ... but the Education Nationale can't get their act together.

Thank you, bureaucracy.

Now I just have to keep breathing, since the sudden stress of this announcement has sent me into stress overdrive.

The dark ages.

Not having internet is upsetting.

Stuff and Bother

Since the other day, the internet at my house has totally crapped out. Not sure what the deal is, but it's not even broadcasting a Wifi signal, although the modem box is lit up like Christmas and everything seems to be fine.

Gah. On the other hand, I have just under a month left, and I have a lot of books to finish ... Maybe it's for the best? We'll see. Thank GOODNESS I bought my Blackberry, it's already saving the day.

Anyway, this one's for you Gennie. Saw it and it made me laugh. It's a fashiony clothes and shoes store. Go figure.

Rainbow ones in the Marais!

Use the force?

This statue is of Henri IV, and it's on the Pont Neuf. I might add that originally he wasn't holding a light saber.

Not sure why we gave him one, but it's AWESOME. It's blue, in case you wondered.