First day on the job

On Monday, I went to my school for the very first time. I was told to wait at the main entrance for my mentor professor, who would then show me around and make introductions. I arrived a bit early and sat down near the entrance. Several minutes later, an extremely loud bell started going off. I watched as everyone slowly exited the building and wondered if I should follow along. However, the woman at the front desk just smiled at me and said: “don’t worry,” so I continued sitting dumbly, trying to finish my sudoku. When front desk woman also eventually walked outside, I became increasingly concerned. I really wanted to avoid any awkward interactions/situations on my first day, but I had a feeling that dream wasn’t going to play out. I remained sitting, pretending like I was totally cool and couldn’t even hear the deafeningly loud alarm.

At some point, a very tall, well-dressed woman happened to walk by who seemed overall confused by my presence. She gestured for me to come with her and led me through the building and outside, where we stood in a circle with other teachers who continued to ignore my existence and not offer any explanation at all.

(Side note: through talking to other assistants, I learned that uncomfortably standing in a circle and being ignored while the other teachers gossip about students is pretty standard daily fare).

Finally, we walked back into the school. I deduced, with my profound intelligence, that it was just a fire drill and planned to go back to my spot and wait for my professor. Out of nowhere, the tall woman turned to me and told me to go into an office to fill out some paperwork. I knew that I was supposed to do something like that on my first day, so I followed her in. I learned that she was the secretary, which I probably should have realized due to her ridiculous cat-eye shaped glasses. I had to fill out a bunch of documents to ensure that I receive insurance and my first paycheck—both kind of important things. Of course, the secretary had conflicting information from what we were told at the orientation and I’m pretty sure my health insurance form is only half-complete. I guess we will know soon enough. Regardless, the secretary turned out to be very nice and eventually my mentor professor found me and toured me around the school. She quickly introduced me to everyone and I immediately retained no names.

Damn it, me. Remembering one name, just one, might have made uncomfortable talk in a circle time slightly less uncomfortable.

Anyway, I sat in on one of my professor’s English classes. I also went to a Spanish class because there are some ridiculous, arbitrary rules about an observation period that aren’t worth getting in to. I tried to seem as engaged as possible in a foreign language class taught in yet another foreign language.

That afternoon, I took the train back. The ride is an easy 45 minutes, which gives me just enough time to catch up on important French news. For instance, while reading the paper on Monday, I came across a particularly newsworthy article about an American man who was fired due to uncontrollable flatulence. Why this was in Le Monde... I do not know.

After work, I figured that I would go ahead and turn in my OFII paperwork (basically a work permit/visa thing). The office is without exaggeration 4 feet away from my house, so it was an easy way to make me feel like I accomplished something that day. When I told my friend of my big plans, she informed me that there was a horrible woman at the front desk who would make me feel like an idiot and make me send my paperwork through the mail.

...So, I’m going to walk a block down the street to the post office just to essentially mail my paperwork back across the street? Not this time, France. Not this time.

When I walked into the office, it was pretty obvious that it was the same woman my friend described. She instantly denied me, stating loudly that it was impossible to take my paperwork and that I had to go to the post office. I tried my hardest to charm her and said something like: well, I live about two feet from here, so maybe we could work something out or... make an exception...

I essentially did everything but wink and covertly slide her a twenty. This did not go as planned; she was neither charmed nor fazed. I begrudgingly took my paperwork to the post office. This caused my soul to die just a little but at least that paperwork is now forever out of my life.

That night we had over some friends for make your own pasta night and it was awesome, as pasta always is. Also in food related news: Carson and I bought a 12 pack of pelforth blonde and a bottle of peach syrup so that we can make our own bière pêche. If our math is correct (which is rarely is) we paid the same price for 6 pints that we would have for one at a bar and it tastes just as good. We now feel like budgeting experts.. though I guess it could be argued that the beer was not a necessity in the first place.

All in all, our first week of observing classes (there are two) has been great so far and I’m pretty sure Carson and I were both put in pretty high quality schools. The teachers and students are super nice/welcoming and I’ve been able to sit in on some interesting classes. Yesterday, I observed a baroque music course (whose curriculum I’m pretty sure only covers Lully and Rameau and ignores all other relevant composers who are not French) and today I’m going to biology, American economics (should be interesting), French economics, and math of some sort.

Well.. I guess that’s about it. Sorry this post is kind of choppy; it was initially written in bullet points on a very, very early train ride. Hope everyone’s having a great week!