private lessons update...

So last week, I have my first private client for English lessons. I was pretty impressed with him, his name is Maxine, because he read the articles that I brought him and he answered the comprehension questions well, with a lot of mistakes, but at least he can understand. So for him its pretty easy, just grammar exercises. He is a senior in high school, here they can have different specialties in high school, so he is a "social economic" specialty. He wants to go into one of the Political Science schools in France, which are incredibly competitive, but he might be able to if he works really hard.
My other student, is a girl from a different high school, who has the same specialty, and wants to go to the same school as my other student. I find it hilarious, so over the phone I said that actually I another student preparing for the same test! BONUS! I was really happy. The only problem is that she can't read the articles on her own, she has very very poor vocabulary and her grammar is even worse. So with two hours a week, I hope that I can improve her skills, but its going to be a lot of work. The thing is I think that she wants to improve, and will work really hard with whatever I give her, so she might actually end up getting in. I was really sad though, I had this article about "healthcare", from the states, specifically the online Los Angeles Times, to show that I am from socal, and she asked what "healthcare" was. I had prepared definitions for every other word that would be difficult, but definitely not for healthcare. So for her, I have tons of vocabulary that we are going to go over. And I have to learn to speak really really slowly for her to understand me.
Much love to all! :)

welcome to my place! take the walk through!

My address at the moment is:
16 Allees de Tourny
Bordeaux, 33000
FRANCE

Agrandir le plan


The view from the living room looks out on the street and the apartment goes back really far, but its pretty narrow overall. We are on the 3rd floor american style, but the "2ieme etage" according to any french person.
It is an odd floor plan, but it feels spacious and since the bedroom is all the way in the back, its very quiet and peaceful. I really like that in the bedroom, the den and the living room that there are unique fireplaces. They haven't been refurbished, so they aren't usable, but as decoration, they add character to each room.
Following I am going to put a few photos of the living room, and the hallway leading back to the bedroom (the windows are on one side looking above the courtyard down below and there is a little space where I assume a water fountain would have been).

Below is the living room facing away from the windows (with little Puja wondering what I am doing..). The little hallway is actually what we call the bar. And off to the left would be the hallway to the front door.


Below is the hallway (the two black things are the two dogs who follow us everywhere in the house...

Chez nous (at our house...)

So for the moment these are the photos that I took the other day. This is our view from the windows in the living room. I am trying to design an outline of the apartment, and then put up photos of some of the rooms. For right now these are the photos and I will try and get the other document I have into some sort of format where it can be posted!
Thursday night Jeremie and I went to have drinks with friends, we actually crossed the Garonne river to the other side. Which was funny because apparently the true Bordelaise think that they would turn to stone if they ever crossed it. It was nice and below are some photos of the view back, of the bridge and then the Place de la Bourse (stock exchange square).

and for other updates!

As of today, I have my French ATM card, which is extremely helpful, as well as check book, especially since Monday I will be giving my first private lesson to a Bordeaux high schooler. I am a little nervous about it, but it should be fine, after all I do speak English (we'll just have to find out if I can explain English)...stay tuned for details.
My classes have started, I ended up placing into the "troisieme niveau" or third level for language classes. My goal is to improve my register of French, especially in written language. What I mean is in French, there are different levels of formal language and I may know different phrasing of the same thing, but I don't necessarily know if its formal or informal. I am also auditing some masters psychology classes, just so that I don't forget anything and to see what they are like.
Hopefully my adds will get some more responses!
Much love to all! :)

oh the birds....

(she looks innocent, but don't let her fool you...)

I never ended up posting the story of the month! I did however tell me parents about my horrific afternoon in the Jardin Publics (the public garden of Bordeaux, where I can never show my face again!)I know that they have told it to a few people. So here it goes, after a particularly rainy morning last week before we went to Paris, the sun came out, so I decided to take the dogs for a walk to the gardens. I accidentally let lose the younger of the two, who is OBSESSED with anything that has wings. She, of course, goes running, no wait not running but SPRINTING off toward the direction of the birds (mind you these are CLIPPED ducks and swans). I go running of after her, and she starts just running wild attacking a killing ducks left and right, succeeding much to the horror of the bystanders. One in particular, who was a lady that I think was feeding the ducks. She gave me a definite piece of her mind, which I will never forget, as I had to wade in the mud to get my soaking wet horrific dog. I caught the culprit and literally booked it out of the park, with the lady running screaming after me. As I ran home, literally in tears, I left Jeremie a message saying that I was horrified and that I was absolutely going to get deported! As I found out, in France, you never yell at someone randomly like this lady did to me. So actually I could complain against her! Oh the irony of it all. Lucky for me, the next day we had to take the dogs back to the countryside to stay with Jeremie's parents while we went to Paris. I have learned my lesson, so I take the wise one out with me around and leave Jeremie the crazy one....and of course I ran out of space, so another blog post will follow shortly....

Paris- for a brief moment! *updated!!!

Jeremie and I got to Paris Thursday, he had a jury meeting for the examinations that he judges each summer on Friday morning. Since his tickets free to attend, we made a weekend out of it. Thursday we reached Paris pretty late, and the next day I had to myself. I ended up spending the morning chatting with Jeremies grandfather, "pépé" as Jeremie says, his name is actually Renée Robert. In the afternoon I went to go meet Jeremie and have lunch with other jury members. Jeremie and I then went around usig the bus system to oogle sites all over. I, of course, wanted to go to place vendome and look at the crazy jewels on display, which has no bus near it! After that we went to have drinks nearby to meet up with some of Jeremies friends before heading back to Asnières sur seine to have dinner with pépé.
Today Jeremie and I return to Bordeaux. I will post pictures later this weekend, since I am now able to update the blog from my iPhone!
Love to all! Sarah

Just adding a few photos to the post I already made. Jeremie took a picture the other day of one of his dogs who was resting her head on my foot while we were eating, so I thought I would add it too!

you mean its in kg?

Yesterday Jeremie and I went to check out a new gym (his old gym had a very funky odor...),the new one is called Amazonia. Amazonia is a gym for France that is actually open at 6am and until 10 or 11 each night (including SUNDAYS!!!!). As we are going through a work out we get to a series of machines with weights, and all of a sudden I realize that I have no idea what each weight represents to me, heavy, light, medium ect. I should know better but I forgot. In french the word "pound" doesn't exist, the word for it is actually "un livre", the same word for a book. I guess maybe certain books would weight a pound.
I find it funny, because Amazonia markets itself not only because of its flexible hours but because of its risk free environment. It's, in short, an idiot proofed work out environment....but its cheap, open all the time and the room is really nice, it's a internal courtyard that has a greenhouse like cover over it, with 17th century columns all around.
Tomorrow we leave for Paris, in the late afternoon and return on Sunday night. The weather in Bordeaux has been the coldest its been since 1987! Now its starting to get warmer, but there is a lot of rain coming down. In Paris its supposed to be incredibly cold, like Bordeaux was, with potential snow. I am still looking forward to it! Look forward to the next update! Love Sarah