One year ago...

On this day one year ago it was snowing! I remember it like it was yesterday and yet I'm amazed at how fast the time has flown. As they say, Time flies when you are having fun :)

I keep wondering when it's going to start snowing this year. Although it's cold, it's nowhere near cold enough to snow yet. I wonder if we'll have a white Christmas... I surely hope so!!

Lyon Continued

Continued from my previous post

So I went to Lyon today. I had a 16 hour day and am just a little bit tired after getting less than 4 hours' sleep last night. All the muscles in my arms and back are killing me (pain continuing from overuse). I'd like to say I had a good time in Lyon but I had an awful time! Why? Because the weather was horrible. When I think about it, I think I've only ever seen Lyon ONCE when it was sunny and warm and that was the very first time I went when I first arrived in late Sept/early Oct.

I had no idea the usually warm and sunny weather of these past few days/weeks would turn SO COLD. Luckily I thought to bring my trenchcoat and umbrella or else I really would have frozen. The worst was that I was wearing sandals and it was raining so my toes were wet and frozen all day long.

The train ride back was horrible. 2 hours. It was so nice that it was strangely empty and quiet and I could sleep BUT then I could not because I was totally frozen. I tried to curl my legs underneath me and shove my hands in my pockets, etc. It felt like it was air-conditioned inside the train. I hated it. It was horrible. How I longed for those nice warm trains during winter...  I even went into the first class carriage just to check that it wasn't heated (it wasn't but it seemed a bit warmer only because the compartment is smaller on this TER train). When I finally arrived back (late) in Geneva I was actually shivering and my teeth were chattering. It's about 9 degrees now.

Well the good thing is I did achieve what I set out to achieve in Lyon today and the day (weather wise) actually started off OK. It was overcast but not that cold and not raining. And I did some shopping and bought some new clothes, a pair of shoes and stocked up on some random stuff from the pharmacy (the range and brands and prices are better than in Geneva). That's basically why my back was killing me carrying that around all day and trying to juggle my heavy handbag and umbrella as well.

I feel totally 'ripped off' that I was 'given' this horrible weather. Made me so sad. I didn't get a chance to go to Sève to get those macarons as walking around outside was awful with my umbrella being blown inside out, but I did walk around a bit in the city and over a bridge before I hightailed it to the Part Dieu indoor shopping mall!

I had so much time to spare which has never happened before as it's always a mad rush to get everything done before I need to catch my train back. It was good that I could take my time browsing everything slowly. The annoying thing about this shopping centre is that you have to pay to use the toilets! (0.50 euros) and there are so few for such a large shopping mall so it took me a while just to find it and use it and get back to the shops again.

I know, I'm sorry this is such a boring post...  I kind of wish I could just blog all day long but since I now work full time I have no energy or motivation to a big long post (with lots of photos and links) even though I know they are far more interesting to read :(

Time and Tide wait for no man

(This post is sort of a continuation of and a bit of a repeat of this post here)

I'm just flooded with a whole mixture of emotions and thoughts right now...

Only 2 more weeks to go working at the school...

To say that I feel time is passing too quickly is an understatement. I actually felt that up until early January the time passed at a nice pace but after mid January it just went crazy and it was like I was on a runaway train...

Honestly, it only feels like yesterday that it was snowing and/or freezing but today, as I look up at the mountains surrounding my town it's as if I'm in that scene from The Wizard of Oz when the scene changes from black and white to colour. Only a few days ago I looked up at the mountains which were still a grey-brown colour as they have been all winter but now everything is turning green rapidly, starting from the bottom. It's quite interesting for me to see something like this, something I've never really witnessed before since I never lived near any mountains nor in a cold-ish place.

The other day I heard the familiar sound of a lawnmower right outside my window, and the familiar smell of freshly cut grass. The cherry blossoms that I love so much during springtime have not lasted long and now, with the wind, many have blown away already. I love all this colour and sun but there are some things I don't like too! The worst would have to be my springtime allergies which I seem unable to avoid no matter where in the world I am. Running nose, sneezing, itchy/watery eyes... Hopefully it won't last too much longer though.

The other thing which I was afraid of because I'd heard so much about from my sister who lived in Europe and various travel forums (people talking about hotels) is that.. Houses and buildings in Europe are extremely well designed for cold weather but are not at all well designed for hot weather. I already knew this and it was something I was NOT looking forward to. This afternoon it was sweltering in the classrooms being 29°C. And to think it's only early April!

As every day passes I feel sadder and sadder that I am leaving this school and my students, my 'kids'...

This afternoon I bumped into a staff member I hadn't talked to for ages and she seemed genuinely happy to see me. She also told me that my French had improved a lot since the last time we spoke (which made my day). She asked me about my photos (I showed her some on the internet) and as we got talking she suggested I should have an exhibition. To be honest it was something I had thought about before but I was not sure about how to organise it and I really didn't have the courage or confidence to do it so put it far far away at the back of my mind... I have taken thousands and thousands of photos of my school, my town and the area since I arrived. Then sooner than you know it, she was calling up the local art gallery and next thing I was (very nervously) speaking to one of the curators... He said he'd like to see my work and I may have an exhibition there in the near future!

The sad thing was though, that this lady said she wished she knew about my talent earlier and that I could've done a regular photo 'atelier' (workshop) with some of the students. It's times like that I realise how fast the time really went and that you should never put off doing anything in life because once the chance is gone, it's gone...  I guess I'm a little bit regretful I didn't think to organise something like that but I guess it also made me want to be more pro-active in all areas of my life so it was a good wake-up call.

Yesterday I went to the mairie (town hall) to enquire about who I should speak to about selling my photos since I've taken a lot I think could be used for advertising/marketing/publicity purposes. We'll see how that goes...

All in all I'm quite overcome with emotions at the moment. I've noticed that with this warmer weather, EVERYONE seems a lot happier, not just me. My students are more awake and attentive in class and these 8:30pm sunsets are wonderful.

Still, I constantly feel a very strong sense of longing for that snow. I just can't explain it. It's something I think about every single day. Why couldn't there have been more snow during Jan-Feb-March? The one thing I really regret that I didn't do during my time here was go skiing. The right opportunity just never came up.

When I spoke to a staff member last night he told me he lives near Chamonix and if you go up high there is still snow there but I want it to be snowing EVERYWHERE plus I want to go skiing too. I guess I'll just have to wait at least another 7 months :( I'm not upset about the waiting though. Afterall, I feel that time passes too quickly and I'm sure it'll be cold again before I know it.

To be honest, before I came to France I absolutely DESPISED cold weather. When I used to think of the most ideal place to live, I wanted to live in Hawaii. I went there once for a holiday and absolutely loved it.

1 VIENNA AUSTRIA
2 ZURICH SWITZERLAND
3 GENEVA SWITZERLAND
4 VANCOUVER CANADA
4 AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND
6 DUSSELDORF GERMANY
7 FRANKFURT GERMANY
7 MUNICH GERMANY
9 BERN SWITZERLAND
10 SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

According to the Mercer HR report these are the top 10 most livable cities for 2010.  Out of all of them, Sydney is easily the warmest. I remember seeing those lists and always wondering why cold cities tended to do better than warmer ones. Who knows?

Anyway I used to have a huge FEAR of winter and cold weather and in November when everyone told me it would snow soon I couldn't believe it. I looked at the weather report online every day and on one hand I didn't want it to come (because to me it meant it would be freezing) but on the other hand I was excited to see it.

I remember it so clearly like it was yesterday... It was a Thursday night and I was having dinner in the school cantine with some of the surveillants (as usual).  It was pitch black outside (now it looks like 3pm when we are having dinner at 7pm) and I could not believe my eyes when the snowflakes fell down and they continued to do so right into the next day. Then the next morning I looked outside my window and it was a beautiful white fluffy wonderland, like a bubble bath. It was so surreal. That was one of the most beautiful and precious memories for me and something that I'll remember for the rest of my life. 

I remember the following weekend, the Saturday. It was the first time in ages I decided not to do any travelling because I was still getting over my cold and I spent an hour Skyping my father and an hour Skyping my sister and her boyfriend and I remember pointing my webcam out the window to show them. I was so proud of the fact that I had this beautiful snow right outside the window that I wanted to show the whole world!!

So after all these cold months honestly now I can say that I am NOT scared of winter or cold weather at all (except when it's windy. When it's windy it's hell). And the reason for that is because European buildings are so well heated it's always comfortable and let's face it you're not outside for that long anyway. Plus for me the snow is just a big big bonus and something to look forward to. Which is funny because most people I've spoken to tell me they hate(d) the snow and was so glad when it all melted.

I've been looking forward to warm weather for so long but didn't realise it would happen so quickly. It is wonderful right now where it's usually in the low-mid 20s. I am not really looking forward to the crowds of summer. One good thing about travelling in Europe during winter (except Christmas) is that there aren't that many crowds around.

This experience (of living in France, particularly in a small city, and teaching high school students) has had a profound effect on my outlook on life and on my opinion of myself.

I remember when I first came and how I was filled with wonder and joy of discovering all these new things but also with fear and sadness of the unfamiliarity of it all and leaving my former life and family/friends behind... I think about how far I've come in such a short time and how I've done things I never thought were possible.

I remember thinking my sister was out of her mind when she told me she did this Couchsurfing thing and now I've done it around 10 times and think nothing of it and have had the most wonderful experiences with some lovely, kind and hospitable people.

I've visited so many cities in such a short space of time. I've had so much free time to do what I wanted and having all these paid school holidays has been great.

I guess you never know how strong you can be unless you put yourself 'out there' and jump into the deep end and do something really really 'hard'. Although I think I give people and my friends an image that my life is all fun and games it truly wasn't and hasn't been (at least not all the time). I don't think most people can imagine what it's like to be so far away from home and have very very little contact with your family/friends or anything that is familiar.

I was also thrown into the deep end with the French language. I had only taken 6 months of classes prior to coming to France!! (it's all documented here on this blog if you've been following ;) ) I think that's a bloody huge achievement to go from that to talking and using it every day. Talking on the phone still makes me really nervous  (it does even in English because I hate talking on the phone to strangers) but I'm getting better with practice.

To be honest a large part of my motivation of wanting to come to France and do the Teaching Assistantship was because of my sister. She studied in Germany and I was in Sydney living a pretty ordinary life and I was regaled with stories of all her adventures and travels and even though she was a dirt poor student, she managed to send me sweet letters, postcards, and little gifts that wouldn't cost too much to send or buy.

I never did the study abroad thing when I was a university student and it's something I always regretted but I guess I've made up for it now. In a way I think the Teaching Assistantship is even better than being a student because you actually get paid to be there and you don't have much homework to do and you have just as many holidays and time to travel...

I actually felt like I'd won the lotto when I found out I got in (as I didn't want to get my hopes up and thought I only had a 50% chance) and to say it's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life is an understatement.

I'm truly sad to leave but I have other wonderful things to look forward to on the horizon...

If there is one important thing I've learnt in life it is: "Time and Tide wait for no man." If you REALLY want to do something, just do it. Today. Stop making excuses (of time or money). Just do it. Stop wasting time and complaining about how you can't do it. Find a way to make it happen if you REALLY want it badly enough. Honestly, I don't get paid much at all in this job but I'd rather have my experiences a million times over compared to more money or material things.  In the end when you're old and grey you'll only remember the happy, wonderful experiences and memories that you had in life. You won't remember the other stuff. 

Le temps passe trop vite !


(Image from here)

Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Green Films

Earth from Above - Yann Arthus-Bertrand

I was reading this interview with Yann Arthus-Bertrand by the Guardian... Now I have to say that he is my hero! I love his work. I love his beautiful aerial landscape photos taken all around the world (turned into a book "Earth from Above" ), his film "Home"  and all the messages he tries to convey about the world, ecology, sustainability, etc. It's timely that I come across this interview with him, given the situation in Japan now and all those recent worldwide disasters... :(

You should have a read of the article.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand isn't just an aerial photographer: he's on a mission to save mankind by teaching us to love our beautiful planet. To many, he is France's answer to Al Gore, but why do some think he's an "enormous idiot"? ...

Anyway, as I was reading it, it occurred to me that did the interview in English and his English isn't quite perfect and they left his mistakes in which I thought was rather 'cute' and authentic. (not so 'cute' about leaving his wife though ;) ) Examples:

"Together we have made a safari park (which lasted?) for 10 years"

"I quit left my first wife, and went to live with my second wife and her two children in Kenya"...

I love this quote. The reporter asks, "How, I wonder, does he now measure his success, beyond sales figures?" and he says:

"I don't think it is necessary to measure it exactly," he says. "You want to spread the message. To have success in your professional life is not so hard. To succeed as a man is more difficult. What I am doing now helps me to succeed as a man."

Watch Home on YouTube

Buy the French version of Earth from Above (La Terre Vue du Ciel)


And on the same topic, recently I wanted to go to the Festival du Film Vert (Green Film Festival) in Geneva (and all over Switzerland), but couldn't make it. It was a Film Festival screening films with an environmental/sustainability message. I wish I could've seen them all as this topic interests me a great deal.


Films with a Green Message
You could also use them for French listening practice ;)


A la découverte de l'énergie (Discovery of energy)



Blue gold - world water war



Chomsky et compagnie (Chomsky and company)



Déchets, le cauchemar du nucléaire (The nightmare of nuclear waste)



Dive! (Dumpster Diving)


Dive! Trailer from Compeller on Vimeo.

Du poison dans nos vêtements (From the Poison in our clothes)


Du poison dans nos vêtements 1/3 by Wakeup-

Etre éco-citoyen (Be an eco-citizen)

(can't find video for this)

Food Inc.



Fresh



Hold up sur l'écologie (Hold up on ecology)



Home

(as above)

I bought a rainforest



Il était une fois... notre Terre (Once upon a time... our land)



Jura, instants volés (Jura, stolen moments)



La fin de la pauvreté ? (The end of poverty?)



La vie sauvage en Suisse (Life in the wild in Switzerland)


Trailer WILDNIS SCHWEIZ I LA VIE SAUVAGE EN SUISSE from Roger Maeder on Vimeo.

Le pouvoir de la communauté (The Power of Community)



Main basse sur le riz (Take over of rice)



Mister Carbone



Notre poison quotidien (Our daily poison)



Pig Business



RAS nucléaire: rien à signaler (RAS Nuclear: Nothing to Signal)



Solutions locales pour un désordre global (Local solutions for a global disaster)



Sous les pavés, la terre (Under the pavers, the earth)



Taking root, the vision of Wangari Maathai



Tchernobyl, une histoire naturelle? (Tchernobyl, a natural story?)



Un avenir? A quel prix... (A future? At what price...)



Water makes money

I also remember this book Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker, from my childhood. The book is composed of 3D collages where all the images are made from objects found in the natural environment. It won numerous awards. Even back then in the 1980s-early 1990s the "saving the environment" message was out there.

It really angers me when people don't think about these issues which affect all of us and just go about their daily lives ignoring the harsh realities of our future, consuming and consuming, making 'progress' and polluting... ugh. It's just too depressing really.

I want a car and random thoughts

If I end up staying in Europe and getting a decent job, and if I don't end up living in a biggish city, the first thing I'm gonna do (after finding accommodation) is to buy a car! I wanted to buy one when I first arrived but then I told myself it would cost too much and be too much hassle, plus I didn't know how long I'd be staying. It was just too much work to find a car that I liked, in my price range as well since, annoyingly, I needed a car to be able to go and look at cars!!

Tonight I got invited to a soirée in another town not far from me. It's only about 15 minutes drive away. I could take the bus but it's still a hassle since I'd have to get myself to the train station, then wait for the bus, catch the bus. Of course if I had a car I could just drive myself home afterwards but since I don't and the last bus is at around 8:30pm  I'd have to stay the night (which these people (Couchsurfers) generously agreed to let me without me even having to ask), BUT then I start work at 8am tomorrow so I'd have to get up before 6am to make sure I got to class on time and I can't stand early mornings (particularly when they are still cold), so I decided not to go. :( And I'm upset because if I had a car I could've easily gone.

Oh well. Hopefully there'll be another time.

One of my friends here at the school invited me out for a girls' night out Friday night. Woohoo, can't wait!

Well, I've been speaking to someone from Shared Talk for only 8 days (which started because I was bored out of my brains here during the school holidays) and it's rare that from the very beginning we got along really well. We had so much in common, I couldn't believe it! He had travelled all over the world (which I find is rare for people I know around here as they just stay in Europe) and we had so much to talk about and this weekend he invited me over to spend some time with him and some friends (bonus: he only lives 30 minutes away by train). At first I was hesitant. I mean... we've only been speaking for 8 days, actually less than that since we obviously don't speak every single night. We've only known each other for 8 days but spoken around 5 times. I said sure, "I'd love to come over and meet you all but my last train is at..." (the usual story).... and he said, "Don't worry, you can stay over here."

Now, I have actually stayed with people I met through those language exchange websites before (but that was because I knew them fairly well. I'd talked to them for over a year!) Normally someone inviting me only after 8 days would've freaked me out and I would have had to decline, but luckily, he also does Couchsurfing and has a profile there so I checked out his comments to see that he's trustworthy. Since he doesn't live too far away he actually knows of my town (most French people don't as it's small and not well-known) and from the beginning would constantly make jokes about how it's the ugliest and worst city in France. Now I don't know if that's true or not... but when I tell people where I live and if they happen to know this town, they say that too (yes they are very blunt!! The French are not PC at all!!) It's a running joke and I just play along. Seriously, I'm not offended but I do NOT think it's the ugliest town in France by a longshot. Sure it's small and really boring but it's certainly not that ugly!

So anyway, that's THREE things I've been invited to in one week. This is all without me asking or hinting or anything. These people are just kind enough to invite me. 3 in one week, that's just too much!! ;)

Random but I've reached 100 contacts on LinkedIn (connecting me to almost 1.5 million people) - woohoo!

I can't believe how fast the time passes. I know it's a clichéd thing to say but still, it's true!

I have absolutely no hope of it snowing anymore. It's just getting too warm. There are only tiny patches/remnants of snow high up on the mountains that I see here and melting rapidly day by day. Gosh it seems like a lifetime ago where I saw my city covered in fluffy whiteness and felt like I was dreaming...

Ah yes.. the magical summer. I think a part of the reason why I've been a bit down lately is because everything just looks dead at the moment (I mean landscapes). There's no more beautiful snow, just dead trees and dead grass. In fact, the grass reminds me a lot of Australia. It's extremely dry and a yellowish shade. Often I've wanted to do something (a tourist attraction) whilst visiting a particular city but discovered it was closed due to the season being winter and everywhere I go people tell me to come back during summer because "It's beautiful during summer". So in my mind I imagine that EVERYWHERE in France and Europe just becomes super duper amazing during summer. Of course I know that that's not entirely true. For one thing I've already experienced huge mosquito bites and it wasn't even during summer, it was during autumn (and they don't have flyscreens, nor air con nor fans in houses in Europe!). However, I'm still very much looking forward to spring, and flowers, and colour... and the joy of feeling the sun on my bare skin!

On Saturday I went on a mini shopping spree and bought some spring-y clothes! Bit sick of wearing drab colours all the time and a big, heavy coat.  I bought a cheery nautical-print shirt and navy blue cardigan from Mango, a denim skirt and pair of black work pants (down to 6€!) from Pimkie, a white cardigan from H&M (down to 10€), and a professional-looking short-sleeved striped shirt from Zara (down to 7€!). I didn't actually know there was some special sale on (as I heard that France is only allowed to have sales twice a year) so I got lucky as most shops had some sort of sales rack.

I'm loving the fashions at the moment. I love the red/white/navy blue stripey nautical theme and even 'collected' clothes like that back home... In winter I hated the French fashions (too many drab colours and weird designs) but loved the shoes (boots) and now I love the spring/summer fashion range but hate the shoes! I can't win. The summer shoes are just not nice and not comfortable at all. I tried on lots and couldn't find anything much that I liked. Just as well. I remind myself I am supposed to be saving... oops!

I'm such a nomad at the moment. I wonder if I'll ever settle down. Perhaps I'm just immature. I do not look forward to having a mortgage and spending my weekends cleaning the house at all. I feel like I can't relate to a lot of my friends and co-workers because apart from work all they talk about is home stuff and child(ren) stuff (neither of which I have). I don't want to settle down. Or maybe I just don't want to settle ;)

Reasons why Couchsurfing is better than a hotel

Who was I kidding? Did I honestly think I could last 2.5 weeks without leaving my town? Impossible! (that's said with a French pronunciation, something like uhm-poss-eee-bluh)...

Well, I had a few criteria to fulfill with choosing the city that I would visit:
* It had to be not too far away (so it doesn't cost too much)
* I had to be able find free accommodation there (via Couchsurfing)
* There had to be an event there where I'd get to meet new people
* It had to somewhere I wanted to find out more about, to see if I'd like living there

I was quite happy that I accomplished all of this. I found a wonderful host through CS. So kind, generous, friendly and helpful. We first stopped by a café where he shouted me to a hot chocolate. Then we spent my first day walking around the town and since he's lived there nearly his whole life, pointed out sights of interest and told me little historical facts or stories about various things...

It's only a small town but he took me to a place that he said he hadn't been to in 3-4 years! It's funny how it works like that. Whenever you live in a place you never really see it all and take it for granted. After our long walk we worked up a big appetite and each had a delicious pizza at an Italian restaurant. It's not often that I go to restaurants so I really savour those rare experiences. And the Italian food in France is really really good!

As luck would have it, the weather has been gorgeous lately. Sure it's still cold in the mornings and evenings but during the day it's sunny as anything and in the low teens. We even saw one of those outdoor digital thermometer things which said 23° but somehow I think it was just a tad optimistic...

Due to my crazy sleep patterns I was feeling extremely tired after our walk around the town so I actually had a big long siesta and then that night we went together to a café not far away to a CS meeting and I met up with 4 other lovely people. It's so nice meeting new people and finding out facts about them. Even though all these people are strangers it's not nerve-wracking at all. I guess being and living alone has given me a lot of skills in networking and the art of making small talk. Not saying I'm the most outgoing or interesting person out there, but I do enjoy talking to random, different, new people.

What's good (for me) about all these meetings that I go to is that everyone there (I assume) is single. I think because of that we already have something in common and... I don't know how to explain it other than to say almost everyone I know is a part of a couple and when I hang out with couples I just feel 'weird' and different. I don't feel like I am 'less' than them but just TOO different, especially since most people I know have also been with their partner for 10+ years and forgotten what it's like to be single and they have no idea how to relate to me either...

Speaking of which... I can't believe I did it! 3 and a bit weeks later I really don't think of 'him' anymore and when I do, I get a bit angry (a good sign) and think that he was a loser anyway. I couldn't believe it. Something just happened during this trip where I stopped thinking about him and those few seconds that I did, I honestly wasn't upset at all.

I am honestly not thinking about having a relationship at all at this moment and definitely NOT looking to start anything. I feel so much happier having a whole bunch of normal friends than one close boyfriend who screws with my head and my emotions. But recently, I have had girl friends confide in me about their relationships and it just saddens me that they don't realise they are dating a jerk and can't get rid of him. I spend my time thinking and talking about relationships a lot. To my single girl friends, to my single male friends, to my coupled-up girl friends, to 'strangers'... although I'm not looking and actually quite happy to be single right now the topic still stays in my head.

Another good thing about this meeting was that everyone there was bilingual or even trilingual. Yay! Everyone spoke French and I could actually understand everything. Trust me, when I first arrived this was extremely hard to do... with multiple people talking simultaneously, noisy background, music playing etc... I always find it hard to understand people when there is background noise which is why I'm still not great with telephone conversations... But anyhoo, it's just great to spend time with like-minded people.

Well back to CS, I honestly didn't think I could top my amazing experience last time. But this time came pretty close. Since this guy travels a lot for work, his apartment is empty a lot of the time and he said I could come and use it during those times when he's not there, if I wanted to, and invited me back again and we could check out more sights during the warmer weather... maybe with the car next time 'round!


A handful of reasons why Couchsurfing is a million times better than a hotel:

1. It's free!
2. You get to meet a local.
3. You get to see how a local really lives, in a real apartment/house on a real street, not necessarily in a street full of hotels. I've been lucky many times though and gotten an apartment right in the heart of the city (like this time). Often, the apartment you get is even BETTER located than a hotel. Since most places aren't accompanied with photos though, it's always a lucky dip and kind of fun to see what kind of place you end up in.
4. The place you'll stay in will be a million times bigger than your tiny hotel room, no matter how small it is.
5. The place you'll stay in will have a fully equipped kitchen (if you feel like cooking).
6. The person who hosts you is interested in you, your culture, your job, your town, your country, etc,  and actually wants to talk to you. The staff at hotel reception couldn't give two hoots about you.
7. If you're lucky and if they have time, they'll even give you a free guided tour of their town.
8. You get a fuzzy feel-good feeling inside knowing that there are truly some nice, generous and wonderful people in this world.
9. If you're super lucky, you'll have a friend for life.

Well today I walked around the town some more by myself. I was absolutely sweating like crazy wearing my big down coat in the bright sunshine that I had to carry it the whole time. I'm absolutely exhausted and off to bed for an early night!

It's snowing! YAY

OMG it's snowing. I can't believe it. For the first time I couldn't see this coming (from reading weather forecasts). I hope it continues :)

---

edited:

soon after, the snow was mixed with a bit of rain
and then it was just raining (lightly)
and then there was nothing
and then eventually the rain dissolved all the snow
and then it was back to normal again :(

20°C in Chamonix and random stuff

It was yet another beautiful day yesterday so I decided to go for a walk... Then I realised that it had been so long since I'd done any proper exercise that I decided to jog for a bit. It had also been a while since I took photos in my vicinity so I did all 3. It was so unbelievably warm I was sweating like crazy with only 2 layers of clothes (thin long sleeve top and thin sweater) and jeans on. It was t-shirt weather!

Then last night I heard it was 19° in Chamonix and today it's 20° :( which means... no snow...


Overall I'm in quite a good mood because the weather is just gorgeous. Like I said before, it is sunny almost every day in my town and it's pretty consistent and very rarely windy or rainy. For that reason I actually prefer it over the weather in Sydney. The weather in Australia is so inconsistent you'd be lucky to get 2 days in a row with the same weather!

Last night I watched 2 back-to-back episodes of the Simpsons and then normally I go back to my room to veg, surf the net, organise my photos, or prepare for the following day. But last night I decided to stay and watch... Top Chef (France) !! Now I have never seen the US version and we don't get it in Australia but it's very similar to Masterchef. It was hard to stay focused because it went for over 2 hours but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have never watched tv for that long since I came to France (7:30-11pm!) The creative/artistic techniques they used just blew me away.

This is so bizarre.. but all of a sudden, I am popular? When I first came here I was crying in my room because I knew nobody and had nobody to talk to or do stuff with and now people are actively seeking me out in person, or through notes or text messages to talk to me, to show me something, to tell me something or to ask me something or to simply hang out with me! I can't believe it :) I'm specifically talking about my 4 closest friends - M, K, Y and the Italian assistant C but it's just the general vibe I get... It's such a nice feeling because when I was in high school or university I was NEVER popular and it was always ME who had to go in search of others...


What else?

I've been told that some teachers are going to strike on Thursday due to some reform where the  government is cost cutting and people will lose shifts/jobs etc...

We had Chinese food in the school cantine today in honour of Chinese New Year! Unfortunately it wasn't that great but I'm still happy as the whole canteen was decked out in beautiful colourful decorations and the staff made a real effort.

--

Edited 7 March

Check out this comedy sketch about Top Chef:

Please let it snow

All my lovely new skigear (jacket, pants, socks, gloves, goggles) has been sitting in the wardrobe unworn for months! ARGH. It's just not snowing even though it's been the perfect temperature for it (around -3 to 3°C). It's been too dry. So dry my nails keep breaking, I'm constantly thirsty and I get static electricity with everything I touch! It's the worst when it's this cold yet not snowing.

I'd like to send a message to Mother Nature and the Snow Gods above.... PLEASE let it snow soon. I am DYING to go skiing!!! You have no idea how much. C'mon, snow, please !! :)


(picture from here)

PS thanks to the lovely people who have subscribed to my Facebook fanpage and my Google Friend connect thingo. I will try to get some more photos up when I get a chance (between sorting out my private life and my career!!)

Insomnia... This week and random thoughts

Started writing this at 1:30am this morning but then my laptop cut out because I ran out of battery...

Some things of note that happened to me this past week...

After a nice weekend in Geneva with the other assistant in my school, I had a shit Monday which is technically my day off. However, I can never relax if I stay in my room due to the location near the road (and also where the school buses pick up and drop off the kids).

The kids mock me when I tell them off (because, I have an accent, which is oh-so-hilarious you know (roll eyes)) and don't respect me. I'm sick of it.

On Tuesday, The cleaning lady (who is always super nice to me) told me to take away their 'carnet de correspondance' if they didn't listen to me.

I'm still not even entirely sure what it's about as it's something that only exists in France (I think) but basically it's a small book that keeps a record of each time they are late to class, or have to leave early, when they have a day off sick, or when they need to go to the nurses, etc. They also write in it from time to time and then the parents look at it to see if they've done anything 'naughty' which also goes in there.

Soooooooo windy

I can't believe I was thinking to myself yesterday how the weather in my region is pretty good. Sure it's cold but it's almost always sunny with blue skies, does not rain often and is hardly ever windy (which to me is the worst). I cannot remember a time where it rained for more than 3 days in a row, and can only remember about 3 days where it was really windy.

Sooo.... last night (and right now) it became extremely windy. So windy I could not sleep at all because I could hear all these rattling and banging sounds. And I just realised the wind blew all the beautiful snow away too :( The weather report calls this an 'anticyclone'. The wind is going at 35km/hr and the gust is going at 65km/hr. Crap!!!

It's -5° now, I'm totally wrecked, can barely open my eyes, am sitting in darkness and don't want to teach in an hour's time. I can only recall one night (Wednesday) this week where I've had a decent night's sleep. This has definitely been a week of extreme highs and lows for me and this psycho wind/no sleep is definitely one of the lows. The rest, I can't write about now.

---

This is how shockingly tired I am. I went to put my underwear and clothes OVER my pyjamas. And then I went to say, "Bonjour" to one of my colleagues but then I must've changed my mind and wanted to say "Salut" instead so it came out as "Baloo" (as in the bear in the Disney Jungle book movie).

What happens to Christmas trees once Christmas is over?

Ever wonder what happens to all the Christmas trees (that decorate the streets of France in every city) after Christmas is over? Watch this video and find out! (it's in French though ;) )

Qu'est-ce qui arrive aux sapins de Noël après Noël ? Regardez ce vidéo et vous vous renseignerez !



Speaking of Christmas, I noticed that the lights and decorations are starting to come down now :( Some lights are still illuminated but some are not. Makes me sad to see it all come down but I guess we all have to wait another year for it to happen again!

And onto other news. I cannot believe how accurate the weather forecast is. Every time it told me it would snow in my town, it did. Over the past 2 weeks or so it has been unseasonally warm averaging about 10-13° in the day time but there was a sudden change this morning when it became cold again and as exactly as I had read in the weather forecast (météo) it started snowing this afternoon! This is the first time it has snowed since around Christmas/late December. I also feel like it's colder in my town than surrounding towns as there are always (c)lumps of snow in various places around my school, the town and the station. It has never completed melted. There has been snow in my town since 25 November. Just when it had 99.9% melted here, it started to snow again.

Thinking about the snow and the weather makes me think about the cyclical nature of the seasons, the year and life. It makes one contemplate how fast time really goes!

There's a flood in Australia 2

Contrary to my previous post where I wrote some maybe stupid things... instead of going back and changing my post I thought would just leave it there and write a bit more about my feelings about the floods in Australia. It's hard for me to see the latest news since I'm not in the country and I very very very rarely watch tv (and when I do it's not the time for news) so I'm a bit 'out of it' however I have watched a few videos on various news websites and it is just utterly devastating and catastrophic.

A few of my colleagues have asked if my family live in the region and luckily they don't but I do have at least one friend who does and many friends of friends who do...

I was living in Shanghai when the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake struck (in fact, I even FELT it all those kilometres away) and I was bombarded by the media with the devastation. I was just heartbroken for those poor people who died and for their families. I guess it's easier to help when you are in the same country as you are more affected...

The closest I've come to a natural disaster was during the January 1994 Sydney bushfires. The closest one of the fires came was about 1km to our house/street (which is pretty close when you think about it). It scared the absolute crap out of me, the thought we were going to lose our house and everything in it. and being an asthmatic it's doubly scary as I could have easily died just breathing in the smoke... but enough about that.

Of course more recently there were the January 2010 Haiti earthquakes...

I thank my lucky stars and the Gods above that I have never been personally affected by these horrific natural disasters. During big disasters like this, I usually go to my local bank (where they've set up an appeal) or donate online. It's the least one can do when one can not be there to physically help. Every little bit helps.

If you'd like to help you can donate to the floods appeal here to help those who have lost everything in the Queensland Australia floods.

News Report in French
News report in English
Amazing interactive Before/After photos


Vocabulary: 
a flood: une inondation
an appeal: un appel
a donation: un don
a disaster: un désastre / une catastrophe
an evacuation: une évacuation 
a warning: une avertissement 
to warn: avertir 


(image from here).

Snowed under

I think I saw a lifetime's worth of snow in one day today. Last night it snowed a lot and then today it continued to snow heavily all day long (stopping around 4pm). In my parts I was walking (wading?) in knee-deep snow! It has caused chaos for transport and many buses and trains stopped running. People with cars complain about the roads, and have to get new tyres. Walking through thick snow is pretty hard work too!

So, it's been 6 days straight of seeing the snow for me and it still amazes me and I still take lots of photos every day all throughout the day. I guess if you're used to seeing it year after year it's nothing special but for me it's still pretty special!


I HAVE seen snow before but after many people have asked me if it's my first time, I've kind of started lying and saying it is because it's just easier than explaining plus it feels like my first time anyway. The real first time I saw snow was when I was 14 and my parents took my sister and I, and went with their friends to the snow in Australia.

For those that don't know: YES, IT DOES SNOW IN AUSTRALIA. I am kind of tired of getting asked that question! For some reason people think Australia (despite it being so huge) has the same weather and temperature throughout the entire country and that it's always hot and sunny??? Yes we have seasons and it can get cold too! And yes, we have snow and skiing too! However it's only in a tiny part of Australia, the highest part where all the mountains are.

Back to my thoughts about the snow...

Thursday 25 November 2010
Lunchtime (around 1pm) - I looked out the window and saw snow for the first time in my town.
Dinnertime (around 6:30pm) - I looked out the window and saw the snow making the ground white
Around 8pm - The ground and all the cars etc were all covered in white and I was soooo excited!

Friday 26 November 2010
Morning - there was a lot of snow overnight and it looked gorgeous.

Saturday 27 November 2010
It was still snowing a lot and was overcast. It stopped around 3-4pm and then it started up again around 6pm. I built my snowman (snow family).

Sunday 28 November 2010
It wasn't snowing but there was still a lot of snow on the ground everywhere. Around noon I walked around the block and took some photos. Saw lots of kids building snowmen and playing with their toboggans. Ahhhh to be a kid again!
Late afternoon the snow started melting a bit but then in the evening it started falling again. I felt really really cold that night.

Monday 29 November 2010
It was beautiful! The snow had melted a bit overnight and then new snow had covered the melted snow, making a 'bubblebath' effect which I loved. That, combined with the sun which shone brightly made the everything look so beautiful and dreamy. Luckily I didn't have to work that day and pulled myself out of bed early to walk around the town and take pictures of the snow in the beautiful, perfect sunny morning light with blue skies.


Tuesday 30 November 2010
It was very overcast and continued to snow a bit and then stopped. In the early afternoon it had been swept and was that ugly murky brown-grey colour from cars, and from people walking in it and I actually started wondering whether I'd see that brilliant bright white colour and full coverage again. I needn't have worried because around 3pm it started snowing heavily and did not stop...


Wednesday 1 December 2010
It snowed a lot overnight and all the grass outside my window was covered. Completely covered. It was the thickest I had ever seen and it continued to snow throughout the day. A lot. The roads were not swept as I guess it was too hard to do and it was very hard to walk through it in many places. I noticed the cars were driving very slowly, at around 40km/hour or less. A few people have told me they needed to get new/special tyres for their cars.

Observations
• I love looking out the window when it's snowing heavily and marvelling at the wonders of Mother Nature. This morning I started thinking to myself there must be some mathematical formula that calculates how much snow an object can withstand, ie how wide must the object be to the ratio of how high the snow can be on top of it. And at what angle it can hold snow, ie vertically it can't really hold any snow, but diagonally it can.  Although it was snowing so much today that even vertical things (like wire fences, walls and poles) had snow stuck all over it!

• You know it's been snowing a lot when even the electrical wires and the thinnest, tiniest branches are all completely covered in snow!

• I need to wear sunglasses because the whiteness of everything is so blindingly white. Today all I could see was WHITE WHITE WHITE everywhere!

• Surprisingly, it's not actually that cold when it's snowing. It seems colder when it's not actively snowing.

• I like and hate walking through the snow at the same time. I like it for that 'crunchy' effect and marvelling at how it turns to ice when it's melted and then refrozen. I hate it because I want everything to stay pristine and perfect and beautiful without footprints and dirty spots!

• I suck at making snowmen. I tried and the snow was too dry and I couldn't make even a decent sized snowball in my hand. However, I do know it's possible as I've seen them around the town. I lack proper training, obviously! I even watched some YouTube tutorial videos (yes, that's how seriously I take it ;) ) and found out you make the snowball in your hand first and then start rolling it on the ground which will pick up more snow in turn.. (hence the term 'snowball effect). I watched a father and son do it so I know it's possible but I think I need  personal tutor to show me (just kidding!) :) I did manage to make a mini snowman though, complete with snow wife and snow child.

• I don't know when I will get sick of the snow. I know it is causing a lot of hassles for people but it makes me feel sooooo happy looking at it and being in it. They say that no two snowflakes are alike. Isn't that amazing? And all the snowflakes are different sizes and diameters.  I tried to take a photo of one/some but they melt too quickly.

• Walking through thick snow is a bit dangerous. Actually you can't tell how deep it is and you don't even know what's underneath: is it concrete, grass, sand, dirt, mud, (frozen) water? It could be anything and I have nearly put my foot into some frozen water (ice)! Also you can't see where the kerb is or where the steps are when it's that deep. It's hard to estimate depth or distance. It also becomes very slippery when it's re-frozen and turned into ice. I keep thinking I'm on a giant ice-skating rink! Even with really good rubber-soled snowboots I have slipped a little and felt like I was nearly going to fall.

• It's taken me a while but I think I have actually acclimatised. From the 23-24°C when I came to minus degrees. I think it's been anywhere from -1 to -10°C lately.

It's snowing! Il neige

It started snowing about 24 hours ago and it looks beautiful. I had a look last night and this morning. However, the sun is also shining brightly now and being midday it's starting to melt. It's been such an amazing thing for me to witness. I feel like a little kid!

Pictures coming soon...

Weather affects personality? Warm and Cold

I was talking to a French friend a few weeks back about how I was finding it hard to make friends here... He told me it's because I live in the "north" and colder weather = colder people. And the opposite is true for the south. Warmer weather = warmer people. Which I guess could be said about any country really!

Apart from not having the time (or motivation) to write on my blog I actually haven't had time to read blogs either since I moved here and am very behind. I only just managed to read this post from the Ask a Frenchman blog about people in the north of France, and people in the south.

First of all, I have to clarify that some sources say I live in the north, and some say I live in the south. According to his map with the horizontal line, I live very close to it, so I think I'm in neither the north or the south! hahaha

I guess the theory is probably true as those countries I've visited with warmer weather generally have more warm and welcoming people... I don't have much more to say on the matter as I don't have enough evidence or knowledge but I just wanted to quote what the Frenchman wrote in this one paragraph which I found hilarious:

People from the South are said to be more open, more welcoming, more fun, more laidback than people from the North. People from the North are said to be more reserved, colder, more distant, but also have stronger and better friendships once they start those. And it’s true to a certain extent (of course individual personalities play a huge part in that "certain extent").
It’s a known fact (and a worldwide one) that when you live in a warm place, you simply spend more time outside, consequently you meet more people, interact with them more for better or worse, but you also don’t spend as much time with every single individual as you know so many of them.
When you live in a place with colder and crappier weather, you spend more time indoors, so you obviously meet less people and you may be less open to meeting new people, but you also may have relationships that are more meaningful with those fewer people…
That is unless you’re British, as the British have found a way to meet and interact with tons of random people while staying indoors, they call those amazing inventions "the Pub".

Le Bac 2010 le philo...

The end-of-high school exams, the Baccalauréat (or le bac for short) started this week, firstly with the philosophy exam.

Since I've never taken a course in philosophy and therefore never had a philosophy exam it's interesting to find out how it all works and what they need to know for this exam..











(totally unrelated, but I can't believe how cold it looks in the videos and it's June, it's summer! I see people here wearing the same sort of clothes and it's winter here now. Crazy).

Weather

What is going on with the weather in France? Isn't it supposed to be summer?
This global warming and all that has really wreaked havoc on the earth's climate :(

As far as I know, over the past few months Europe had a really really cold winter and here in Australia we had a really really long and hot summer (even breaking some record temps). We had one of the hottest Aprils ever and then it suddenly became cold and rained non-stop for like 3 weeks in Sydney during May/June.

Now, it's supposed to be summer in Europe and the northern hemisphere and winter over here but the temps seem similar? How weird. Although I have to say that although our daytime temps are generally comfortable the nights and early mornings are very cold and always in single digits.

I feel sorry for all the French people who don't get to have a proper summer! Hopefully it'll start getting warmer and sunnier soon. Meanwhile, I'm only 2 weeks into winter and I'm already over it :P

Various cities in France and their temps
Understanding the logic of climate variability

Volcanic ash in Iceland inconveniences millions of travellers

Photo: Hélène Bekmezian



Les nuages de cendre volcanique en Islande importunent des milliards de voyageurs


Je lis les nouvelles tous les jours et je me sens mal pour les voyageurs qui sont bloqués à l'aéroport à cause des nuages de cendre d'Islande. Les photos sont magnifiques et belles mais oh là là, les pauvres personnes ! :(


J'ai un ami qui vient de rentrer chez lui (en Europe). Il est parti vendredi dernier et je ne sais pas où il est maintenant. :( Quelques Australiens qui volaient en Europe sont d'abord allés en Asie, mais ils nous disent maintenant de rester en Australie et attendre plus de nouvelles.


Volcanic ash in Iceland inconveniences millions of travellers

I read the news every day and I feel bad for the travellers who are stuck in at the airport because of the volcanic ash from Iceland. The photos are beautiful but oh dear, those poor people! :(

I have a friend who just flew back to Europe. He left last Friday and I don't know where he is at the moment. :( Some Australians who were flying to Europe made it to Asia but now they are telling everyone to stay put and wait for more news.

Interesting (slightly sarcastic) blog post here.

The volcano in southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier sends ash into the air just prior to sunset on April 16, 2010. /AP

La météo / The weather

10 February, 2010

31 March, 2010

The weather is a funny thing. It affects people's moods. It certainly affects my mood because it affects my health. It's been interesting reading people's blogs over the past few months, talking complaining ;) about the snow and the ice and the all round coldness, and here I was sweating even while wearing nothing (in the privacy of my own room of course ;) ) and the fan blasting cold air into my face...

Now the tides have turned and my glorious 4 months (!!) of summer are over and it has now officially turned cold. In fact the temperature is HALF of what it was just last week! It's gone from low 30s to the teens. Incredible. Meanwhile, people in the northern hemisphere are rejoicing that the sun is out and the flowers are blooming...

I know that when I move to France I'm going to end up having a whole year of winter, which is just horrible. But I've done it before (in another country) and lived through it. The good thing is, if I come back around the same time I end up with a whole year of summer too!

I've attached some screenshots of the wunderground weather widget thingy in the bottom right hand corner of my blog. The difference between France's temps and Sydney's has gone from huge to almost nothing in just a few weeks.