à Montluçon, etc...: November 2008

27 novembre 2008, ping-pong

THURSDAY
The students at École Jean Moulin are pretty fortunate in comparison to the other two school where I work, because during recess they have the option of playing undercover AND there is a ping-pong table. Most of the time a group of students circle the table, not all having a paddle so will use just their hand, and they rotate around the table taking turns hitting the ball.

26 novembre 2008, Domérat

WEDNESDAY
Today, I took the bus to Domérat, which is the largest of Montluçon's suburbs with a population of 9,018.

map showing Montluçon and its nine surrounding suburbs

Église Notre-Dame de Domérat

The side of the Domérat library

Amused by the presence of American cartoons. I took this on the playground of a Domérat elementary school. The translation is probably evident, but it reads, "Stop racism."

25 novembre 2008, un peu de neige

TUESDAY
... a little snow.
I woke up this morning to a very thin layer of snow on the ground. The prediction of snowfall was 1 mm and I found it to be quite accurate to what actually fell.

The white on the hillside (which is a little hard to make out, sorry) is indeed snow.

24 novembre 2008, Christmas decorations

MONDAY

City workers putting up Christmas decorations.

22 novembre 2008

SATURDAY
I walked through the Saturday market in Montluçon, which is situated in the medival area.
I apologize that this picture does not quite illustrate the layout of this particular market, but it is rather large. Aside from this area of the market, the booths are spread out and line the narrow streets of medival Montluçon.

21 novembre 2008, lunch at Collège Jules Ferry

FRIDAY

After teaching in the morning at École Jules Ferry, I went across the street to Collège Jules Ferry. An English teacher from the collège contacted me and organized a little rendez-vous with her and the two other English teachers at the school. I brought a lunch and we sat in the staff room and talked for over two hours... predominately in French, though there was a mixture with English.

The building that now houses Collège Jules Ferry has had two prior uses. Originally, it was a monastery; then later was turned into a high school before becoming a middle school. These previous existences are still evident today. Plaques outside the building read LYCÉE and the inner courtyard and architecture of the building reflects the characteristics of a monastery.

collège = middle school

lycée = high school

20 novembre 2008, musée

THURSDAY
The castle in Montluçon, le Château des Ducs de Bourbon, has been turned into a museum which rotates exhibits and the current exhibit follows a hundred years of popular music on a local and global level.
Today, after teaching I visited le Musée des Musiques Populaires at the castle and was impressed.

le Château des Ducs de Bourbon

Uniforms from the early twentieth century worn by members of the Montluçon band.

Artifacts from the Montluçon Accordion Society

One room was dedicated to the festival scene of the 1960s-1970s. Sound boards, barricades, and a video projections of music festivals from the time were used to simulate the musical atmosphere of the time.

19 novembre 2008, laundry

WEDNESDAY

I don't teach on Wednesdays, so it is a good day for laundry.

There is not a dryer in the house, which seems to be fairly common, based on the fact that I see a lot of laundry hanging outside to dry, thus my clothes get dried the old fashion way.

17 novembre 2008, McDonald's advertisements

MONDAY

McDonald's new advertisement slogan is venez comme vous êtes (come how/as you are)

I believe the slogan is suppose to suggest that McDonald's is accepting of all customers, though I find, based off the portaits on the advertisement, the French have a different image of diversity than what one might find in the US.

16 novembre 2008

SUNDAY

Took an evening walk into downtown Montluçon.

Château des Ducs de Bourbons lit up at night

went to mass at Église Notre-Dame de Montluçon

15 novembre 2008, Gannat

SATURDAY

I took a quick day trip to a town about an hour by train from Montluçon.

Walking into town from the train station, this is the first roundabout that I came upon.

Saturday market in Gannat

Château de Gannat behind the roundabout

Église Sainte-Croix

just walking down the road

cemetery of Église Saint-Etienne

Randomly walked into the public library in Gannat. There was an interesting exhibit about World War I. Though when browsing through books I came upon this comic book of sorts... Carmen Mc Callum, which caught my eye.

14 novembre 2008

FRIDAY

This is in Jardin Wilson; I was just amused that a French would graffiti American slang.

Tonight after English Club, three other English assistants and I decided to check out a Mexican restaurant that we had walked passed a number of times on the way into town. I ordered des flûtes de poulet et salade, which was basically chicken wrapped up in small tortillas and placed onto of lettuce. It was good, though the French made it their own by putting goat cheese instead of sour cream on top.

Le Lézard Mexicain

13 novembre 2008

THURSDAY

These black and white birds (pardon, I don't know the species) are everywhere. Also, one characteristic of French houses is the red ceramic roofs.

The view from Avenue des Roches is not clear today due to the fog, but one can see the row of tree lining the Cler River.

11 novembre 2008, Jour de l'Armistice - Veterans Day

TUESDAY
Today, the schools were closed in celebration of the 1918 Armistice. Below is a statue situated along a main avenue in Montluçon, Avenue Marx Dormoy, which runs between the train station and the castle. The statue was erected on November 11, 1922 and is dedicated to the victims of WWI and also now WWII.

The statue reads: (pretty much every French town, no matter the size, has a war monument and they all refer to the victims as enfants, childen)

À SES ENFANTS

VICTIMES DE LA CHANTE GUERRE

LA VILLE DE MONTLUÇON

RECONNAISSANTE ET DOULOUREUSE

1914-1918

1939-1944

TO THE CHILDREN

VICTIMS TO THE CRY OF WAR

THE CITY OF MONTLUÇON

GRATEFUL AND SORROWFUL

9 novembre 2008, Vivez aux Etats-Unis

SUNDAY
Below is an advertisement that I have seen more than once come up on my computer and I remember seeing similar advertisements when I was studying in Nantes.
...It is good to know that I have that option, haha.

Vivez aux Etats-Unis (live in the United States)
Vous pouvez gagner une Green Card pour Vivre et Travailler aux Etats-Unis
(You can win a Green Card to live and work in the United States)
Votre pays est éligible (your country is eligible)
Cliquez ici (click here)

8 novembre 2008, the library

SATURDAY

Today, I went to Bibliothèque de Fontbouillant; I brought along my renting contract and teaching contract and was able to get a library card. The librarian was very nice and entered me into the system as a student that way I didn't have to pay ten euros for the card.

The hours at the library are not what I am used to expecting from a public library, but one can not complain when something is "free":

Monday: closed

Tuesday: 4-6pm

Wednesday: 10am-noon, 2-6pm

Thursday: closed

Friday: 4-6pm

Saturday: 10am-noon, 2-6pm

Sunday: closed

My library card

Bibliothèque de Fontbouillant (Fontbouillant Library... Fontbouillant is a neighborhood in Montluçon)

7 novembre 2008

FRIDAY
In Montluçon, there is an English Club which meets three times a month at the London Bar... the first Friday, the second Wednesday, and the third Tuesday of the month. The first and third meetings of the month English is predominately spoken and the second meeting French is spoken. I say predominately, because sometimes there is a natural mélange of the languages.Two other English assistants and I are the only ones from the younger demographics, but it is a lot of fun to practice French and the people there are very nice.

London Bar

6 november 2008

THURSDAY
A view of le Château des ducs de Bourbon (Castle of the Dukes of Bourbon) from the Jardin Wilson (Wilson Garden... named after Woodrow Wilson). The weather has been pretty decent for autumn, so it is wonderful being able to sit in the Wilson Garden amongst the beautiful fall colors during my lunch break.