The Tuesday of the term

Well not a lot has been going on this week in terms of work (in my boredom I discovered that Nutella spread on mini cheddars with a bit of banana on top is a surprisingly pleasing combination). Most of my weeks pretty much have a similar routine and I've probably squeezed as much writing material as I can out of my job. If I'm honest, I haven't had the best week in terms of feeling settled. You'd think that after living here for 6 months, I would feel a little more at home, but no. I'm confident I'll get over it soon though- the first week after the holidays is always ok because you feel refreshed after having a break, and the last few weeks are ok because you are making the most of it and getting on the next plane is within touching distance. But the second week out of 6? Not so much. It's the Tuesday of the term. The 'ugh last weekend seems like ages away, and next weekend seems like ages away' feeling.

Even if I've settled into a boring but reliable routine, I'm still making an effort to make my weekends awesome. As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to go to Colmar last Saturday, only for the bus to turn up 15 minutes early, making me miss it. To be honest though, the weather wasn't great anyway so I stayed at home. Sunday was brilliant though. The sun was out and the mountains (I'm still reluctant to call them mountains, they're more like hills, but Alsatians insist they are mountains) looked really beautiful so I took my bike out and cycled through some fields over to the next village and up into the vineyards. It sounds extremely idyllic when I actually write it on paper, and it was admittedly very beautiful. It's nice sometimes to get a new perspective on a place. Just turning in a different direction when you leave the house can make you look at a place completely differently after getting stuck in a rut during the winter, and make you feel like you've seen a new place without even getting on a bus.

Actually I do have a work-related story from this week, not the most exciting one mind you. Apparently sarcasm just washes right over people's heads here. When I was explaining an activity, one of my pupils asked "do we have to do it in English?", to which I replied, "no, Japanese". I'm usually very careful to make things as clear as can be when I'm explaining things so as to avoid speaking French to them because once you do it's a slippery slope and almost impossible to get them to say anything in English afterwards, and part of being clear means I make an effort to not be sarcastic. But it just slipped out! Even if they just looked at me like I was mad, it's reassuring to know that 6 months in France hasn't squashed the sarcasm out of me yet!

There was a teachers' strike on Tuesday. Surprisingly (fuelling those stereotypes) it's the first one I've encountered, and no one even seemed to take the day off anyway. My week is the fullest it's been as I think the teachers are trying to squeeze the most out of me that they can before I leave.

Spring has sprung in Alsace and it's now becoming obvious why they call it the 'pays du florival' (flower country). There are blossom trees everywhere and we seemed to go from needing a winter coat to survive, to being able to walk around in a t-shirt, overnight. Obviously I'm incredibly happy it's Spring, but it also signals the beginning of holiday season, meaning no more €30 airplane tickets to be found :(

It kind of occurred to me this week that while I've never been properly settled here, I've got used to living in such a small, rural place. When I first came here, it was the thing that bothered me the most and we all found it really hard being without a car while living such a distance from a train station, a shopping centre, and anywhere that could provide entertainment to keep us occupied for any longer than a couple of weekends. Now though, I've really got used to the slower pace of life and quite enjoy seeing familiar faces everywhere. It no longer bothers me that there's nowhere to shop and even that the buses are unreliable. At risk of sounding 100 years old, I've learnt to appreciate a quieter way of life :)