Little Bear Lost

The title will become clear later in the post. First I wanted to update people on what I've been up to since the last post. I got another e-mail today from my 'responsable' in France who said that she would find accommodation for me in Auloyne, so I don't have to worry, which is good, I may not know exactly where abouts I'll be staying, but at least I won't be left on the street! I also asked whether she had the contact details for previous assistants so I could contact them to find out more information, but she said that unfortunately she doesn't as I am the 1st assistant they have had!! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not? What do you think?

At least I have a better idea of what to do with the wonderful children now, after my course last week. It was really good, I got to meet loads of people, (unfortunately don't really remember most of them now, and not very many were going to Lille!) We had to prepare a lesson in groups, Ours was on 'Clothes', so that's one lesson sorted! We also learnt how to give really simple instructions in English....(Listen.....and Repeat!) This will probably be the hardest part of teaching...making sure our language can be understood, really having to think about what we are saying...it was OK in front of a group of 20 year olds who knew perfectly well what we were saying...but a group of 7 year olds with only a very basic knowledge of English might be a bit trickier! Nevertheless it was very useful, and I am sure I will use some of the ideas in my lessons.

Unfortunately the whole week was marked by my train journey home. I got on the train at 15:28 and put my suitcase on the luggage rack, In fact I was really pleased cos the rack was empty, so I could put my suitcase on the bottom rather than have to lift it. I found my seat and sat down...put on my music...and started reading my book. The train journey was fairly uneventful until just outside Crewe when there was trouble with the points or something and we had to stop for nearly 45 mins. I wasn't too bothered it just meant I could read for longer! Then just outside Milton Keynes we got told that there was a problem at Harrow and the line was closed, and so the train was terminating at Milton Keynes. By now we were about 2 hours behind, (I should have been on the train towards Ashford by now) But there was going to be another train to take us to Euston. After waiting another 1/2 hour we could get off the train....so I got up....went to the luggage rack....NO SUITCASE....in fact there were no cases there at all. I looked on the platform...no suitcase, so I reported it to one of the staff, they just took me into an office and told me to go into the customer service office at Euston. It was then I realised what was actually in the case...along with my clothes, make up and notes from the course was Georgie, my Teddy bear (well I say mine, she actually belongs to the whole family) I phoned home and told them...in tears at this point, and you know, not one person on the platform asked if I was alright, or even looked at me at all...I suppose they just thought they'd keep out the way of the hysterical girl walking up and down the platform! Anyway I got on the train to Euston (which was the longest 45mins of my life) and went to the Customer Services office, the lady there was really rude, and unhelpful, I told her what happened and she just told me to wait. So I sat for about 20 mins before she said that she'd phoned Milton Keynes and it wasn't there, and there wasn't anything else she could do. I asked if she could give me the names of the other stations so I could try phoning them, and she acted although I'd asked her to search for the suitcase herself! Eventually she gave them to me, and I got on the tube to Vauxhall. I'd just got to the platform when the fast train home left...It was a mark of how bad I felt, that by that point I didn't even care, I just sat and waited for the next train 20 mins later. I should have been home by 8pm instead I eventually got home at 11:30pm. I felt awful and couldn't sleep at all that night, it was horrible. The next day (Friday) I phoned round all the stations on the route but none of them had it, so I phoned the British Transport Police and reported it stolen. The lady I spoke to was really nice, and took all the details, and said someone would investigate it. Unfortunately I haven't heard anything since, and it is looking less and less likely that I'll see it again.

What really annoys me is that there was nothing really of value in the case, (money wise anyway, Georgie to us, is priceless) I mean there was mostly notes and books from the course, which is no use to anyone ( I contacted the Uni, and they sent me another copy of the notes, so that's OK) Clothes for 4 days, which included my Roehampton sweatshirt, which unless you go to Roehampton, is kinda pointless, even Georgie, although valuable to us, to anyone else is quite old and grubby. The most valuable thing is probably the suitcase itself, as it's brand new, I only got it for my birthday, and this was actually the first time I had really used it (apart from when I went home at Easter) It's just really annoying now more than anything else, thinking of all the things I have to replace, my hairbrush, my makeup, my pencil case, My phone charger (this is the most annoying, I can't use my phone at the moment, as it has no battery) as well as my clothes. Georgie is of course irreplaceable, there is a big Georgie size hole where she should be on my bed. I think (or at least I hope) the stuff should be insured, so hopefully I won't have to spend a fortune replacing it all.

Anyway I hope this acts as a warning to people to always keep an eye on your suitcases on trains, if you don't want the same to happen to you.

I've just realised that the part about my suitcase is longer than the parts actually about France, but I guess it's kinda related, If I hadn't been going to France, I wouldn't have been on the course, and I wouldn't have lost my case. (that's actually made me feel quite sad, mustn't think about it like that, not a good start to my year in abroad!)

I will update if I hear anything about my case, (or anything else about France)

Oh, by the way, I still haven't received my 'Arrete' so have no actual official conformation of where I'm going yet, which is slightly worrying!

Anyway more later

Becca

Maps of where I'm going

Ok so you can't really see but that red circle is where the village is , I think that the grey area in the middle of the map is the whole village, the train station is at the bottom in the centre. I think one of the schools might be on the orange road just to the right of the station.










Well I had to zoom out quite alot to get this picture, but the red circle is the general area, see what I meen about big white space!! It's about 1 hour from Lille, 2 hours from the coast and about 1/2 hour from the belgium boarder.

Introduction to the middle of nowhere

Hello

Well this is my 1st post in my new blog, I had the idea of doing a blog while I'm in France, it means I can keep in touch with everyone easily, and you can all find out what I'm doing!

Well I'm obviously not in France yet, but I thought I'd start at the beginning, with the build up to going to France, (How often I write here when I'm actually in France will be another matter, but I hope I can update it regularly!)

Just in case anyone doesn't know why on earth I'm going to spend 7 months of my life in France, I'd better explain: As part of my French degree at Uni, I have to spend a year in France, I had the option of either going to a French university or being a Language Assistant in a french school. As soon as I was told the options, I knew that being an assistant was exactly what I wanted to do. I sent my application off in December, and then began the long long wait to find out where I was going. In April I found out that I would definitely be going to 1-2 primary schools in the 'Acadamie' of Lille, but that wasn't very helpful as the area is quite big and I still had to wait to find out exactly where I would be going.

Then yesterday I got an e-mail from someone in France saying that I had been posted to 2 primary schools in the town of 'Aulnoye' (pronounced All-nwah)

I was really excited and immediately looked on multimap to find out where it was, it was then I found that it appeared to be in the middle of a big white space! After searching online I could only find a few sites about the town, (which has a population of 9,000) and appears to have practically nothing there apart from a train station!
(actually tell a lie, It does seem to have a swimming pool somewhere near by!) I think in a few hours I had exhausted all the sites possible and I still wasn't any the wiser about what I could actually do there!!

The only bright spot is that after posting on a forum for assistants I was told that it is only about 1 hour away by train from Lille and Paris, and 1/2 hour away from Valenciennes which is the nearest big town, and quite a few assistants are posted there, (in fact I know of 3 from the facebook group) which is good and hopefully means I shouldn't be too lonely!

I sent an e-mail back to the women saying that I accept the post, and asking about accommodation, haven't heard anything back yet, hopefully will soon, I must say they were leaving it a bit late, The schools break up for the summer today!! And apparently it's really hard to get in contact with the teachers during the summer, and they don't go back until 4th Sept!! All I want to know is whether I have somewhere to live or whether I need to find somewhere myself!!

Anyway, I might try posting some maps so you can see where abouts I'm gonna be! Right now I guess I'm feeling a little disappointed, I was so looking forward to finding out where I'd be and I guess kinda hopping for a bigger town or at least a bit closer to Lille, but at least I know now, and I'll just have to make the best of the situation.

Will post more soon, I'm going up to Lancaster next week to learn how to actually teach the 'wonderful' little children, so hopefully I'll get some idea of what I'm actually meant to do, and maybe find some more people who will be living near me!

Becca