Hello.

That's English for "hello." Because I'm in England, see. Apparently UK English isn't the same as North American English, because people in France tell me so. Oh, right, my bad. I'm not actually speaking to people here in London as much as we're misunderstanding one another's completely foreign language. Got it. It also turns out that I have a fair bit of 'cheek' in me. Who knew?
So, I know it's been a good while since I wrote you all, and I'll try to remember the things I forgot to write about when last I forgot to write. To..... at from.
School the last 2 weeks has been really not easy, at all. My kids, who are high energy, low attention span anyway have been bouncing off the walls 1. because it was sunny and 65ish for the better half of February, and 2. we were so close to Winter/Carnival Break. My lessons on travel vocab required them to read sentence-length questions for the first time, and I gave them those small, cheap, folded Valentine's cards (thanks Mom!) that we good ole U.S. folk share with our classmates in time-consumingly cute shoe boxes. These particular ones had farm animals in cute/funny poses saying things like "I choose ewe" and "Are you too chicken to be my Valentine," which I capitally regretted having to translate 30x in each class. "Yours says 'be my Valentine. So does yours. And that one too." The only term of affection that I know in French is mon petit choux ("my little cabbage"), which I used as a translation for cutie pie and all the other cute animal plays-on-words messages. Some kids were so excited they vowed not to open it, and break the heart sticker, but to preserve it in its folded state forever. My third graders thought I was the best thing ever. Ahhh, to be a child's hero for $.001 worth of paper.
The rest of my time went into planning this trip. I'll give a quick version of how it's gone so far.
Thursday 22 Feb: Taught from 8:45 to 4:15, ran home, showered, packed, took 3 buses, a train and a flight to get to London around 10:30pm. Walked around for an hour to find my hostel in King's Cross, checked in, fought with reception for clean sheets, crashed.
Friday: Got up before everyone else for a hot shower (per the hostelworld.com user recommendations), first crack at breakfast, etc. Walked all of Oxford Street to Kensington Gardens, walked all the way around, saw Kensington Palace (Princess Diana's home) from outside, read and wrote letters from Starbucks, back to hostel to meet an Indian-Spanish guy in town to interview for med schools, a German couple who only spoke German (sweet language practice!), and some other interesting fellow travellers who left in intervals to go to pubs.
Saturday: Same early morning routine, checked out of hostel, walked to Camden Town and Camden Market. Reference: Woodstock, circa right now, but a lot bigger. Lots of shops with self-glorifying goth/punk/leather wear, and/or tie-dye + hemp, all with the smell of incense and pot. I did find a great little Indian place for lunch. Only a half hour into the British Library (home to Shakespeare original copies and the Magna Carta) I got a call from Dave, a friend and co-worker from my Miami Classics Dept. student worker days studying 'in town.' An hour and a half later we got to his place 40 miles west of 'town', hung out with British freshman and had a very college student dinner: noodles, chicken soup, fish and Doritos. Didn't say bad, just very college. Really quite good...
Sunday: Bused from Dave's to the Griesser's. The Griessers are the parents of my friend Lynn from my semester in Lux (already 2 years ago. Man am I old...) who are working as expats here in London for Proctor & Gamble. They actually live just outside of London in a gorgeous house, complete with internet, free calling to the US, cable, P&G products, the works. On top of it all, they're great, interesting people, and definitely my new London parents!
Monday: The only forecasted "nice" day in London. Nice here means a 20% chance or lower of rain. Accordingly, I saw the outsides of just about everything worth seeing from the outside: Parliament, Westminister, St. Paul's, Covent Garden, etc., with the understanding that I'll be back later this week (tomorrow?) to see inside things. I also made it to Evensong at Westminister, which I highly recommend. P.S. London is a bit backwards in terms of visiting: the amazing museums are completely free to everyone, but to get in the churches you're looking at 8-10 pounds ($16-20) just to see the inside. Nah thanks.
Tuesday: Spent the day with Mrs. G. We went for an 'English Breakfast' in a French restaurant which, while delicious, was apparently lacking in several of the vital dishes that make an English breakfast. I guess I missed out on 'blood pudding' and baked beans. I also got a nice walking tour of Weybridge, where the Griessers live, with an economic range of upper class to blue blood. They are personal acquaintances of the Greys, the Shakespeares, and the Beringers, have you not heard.
Today: Finally a day just to relax! Slept until noon, had a nice big brunch, caught up on email, writing a big email/blog post, and I hope to curl up in the sun room (actually it's on 20 minute intervals of INTENSE RAIN AND HAIL and sun and partly cloudy) with a book before dozing off for an afternoon nap. There are many kinds of vacation, and I hope to explore them all before this week is over. Tonight the G.s are treating me out to a local tapas bar! What clever thank you gift for a neat couple who already has lots of neat stuff...
The near future: Tomorrow is another day in the city, but an emphasis on museums (things old and things beautiful) and hopefully at least one concert (St. Martin's in the Field or London Philharmonic). Friday to Leeds to visit a fellow English teacher, Saturday Manchester(?), Monday Scotland(?), and next week misc. small towns, perhaps Dublin if I can get a cheap flight, and back to London for my return trip to France the 11th. Don't cry, this vacation isn't so much over as on pause: I only work March 13th - April 12th, then another 2 weeks of vacation, but this time with Mom and Dad!
So there you have it. Unfortunately for you, no pictures until I get back to France and have time to sort, edit, and spend a few hours getting the various web albLums to take them.

Some kind of sweet Monday

I guess it doesn't really have anything to do with Monday so much as a string of happy times.

1. I have a little more of my UK trip planned, and got a decent deal on a decent hostel last minute.
2. Dad emailed to tell me I'm getting a nice hunk of cash back from the Federal and State Gubment!
3. Mom and Dad finally reserved a car for our trip, and I'm pumped to drive around France.
4. I'm always on vacation! My February - May: work 2 days, 17 days off. Work 10 days, 17 days off. Work one day, 6 days off. Work one day, 6 days off.

I'm going to go have leftover pasta, salad, and cheap wine to celebrate. Hope you're Monday went good to.

A day wasted?

I spent today inside reading, writing letters and emails and angsting about the Sciences Po application. It was about 60 F out, and sunny, and I kind of wish I would've planned to walk up to the Croix de la Libération today (a good 2 hours one-way, and the only Autun sight I haven't seen), but it was also nice just to veg. I'm also catching up on ER, Meet the Press and the Council on Foreign Relations podcast which is sadly among the highlights of my week. I thought about going with Melissa to Avignon, but I leave for London the 22nd, and that'll probably push me over my budget and into my very first savings, at least until I get paid for Feb (hopefully very soon!).
I'm more than very excited for London. I've only left France twice since September: once to Lux for Allsaints', and home for Christmas. I got round-trip airfare for only € 107 after taxes and fees (including the UK's brand new London airport tax/fee). Rough plan: week in London, week elsewhere in the Isles (Manchester, Leeds, Scotland, maybe Dublin). Leave suggestions after the tone.

man, do i miss the internet.

Hello again, blogverse. I don't know if I even have anything to write, but I'm just happy to have access to the internet. Skype me. I dare you.
Last week was just plain great. Teaching went well even though I didn't prepare anything for any of the classes, and only once got angry enough to want to throw a kid or two out the window (of the first floor...). Friday was another internet day (these have to be planned in advance and are welcomed with giddy elation), and Melissa and I almost broke down and went to McDonald's (they apparently all have free Wifi in France). Saturday I went to Geneva with Melissa and 2 other assistants from the other side of Burgundy. I finally got to see only my 2nd snowfall of this winter in the Jura, but it made our drive a lot longer. We ended up stopping at McD's near the Swiss border, paying about 6 € for value meals, and loving it. It's the first time I've had McD in more than 2 years, and I have never enjoyed a fast food meal so much, ever. Maybe it's because I hadn't had anything to eat and was nauseous from driving up and down mountains, or maybe the fact that the EU actually forces McD to use decent quality meat and ingredients, but it was real good.
Geneva I've already seen (back in Summer '05), but it was really nice to go back. I must've had a really great time, because I remembered exactly where I went and when, people that were there, when the sun was out for a bit, which picture I wish I would've retaken, und so weiter. Keeping with the trend of splurging on Americanness, we spend a good deal of the late afternoon at Starbucks, basking in the possibilites of 20something oz hot drinks. Fortunately we didn't have to take out Francs -- everyone took credit cards, and you had the choice of paying in EUR or FCH. The exchange even made my huge latte affordable -- only 4,50 € (less than in Germany)! The drive home was even longer, and we almost got demolished by a plow trying to clear both lanes at once. Just a plain bad, very French, idea.
Today is laundry and internet at Véro's. Her machine only holds the equivalent of 4 pairs of pants, takes 2.5 hours to run a load, and can only use cold water. Everything has to fit on one little drying rack in the spare room, and has that great, starchy, 'I've been hung to dry indoors' feel afterwards. Nothing like a bath towel that can stand on its own. Tonight I'm going to dine at a teacher's house. She's been trying to invite me for months, but she's divorced and only gets her son every other weekend, and he's in theatre and skis so is rarely around. He's thinking about studying in the U.S., so she wanted to have me over to talk about school, financial aid, student life, and so further. It should be nice, and I'm glad we're doing it on a work night (for her), because I don't know if I feel like being there until 2 tomorrow morning.
With that, I'm off. I'll hopefully be online for another couple of hours, if anyone feels like chatting by text or Skype (which, I learned Friday works really well, and is even better when free). Sinon, enjoy your Sunday!


Some pictures of France's only Buddhist temple which, coincidentally, is not far from me. We also have the only Orthodox Monastery and Quran School, but apparently those aren't very attractive, and don't have tourist visiting hours.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Lots of exciting things happening this early February!
First, and most importantly, yesterday was my half-birthday, bringing me up to the ripe old age of 22,5. Not normally a problem, but I was in high school when my students were born, and that just don't feel real good. Suppose it only gets better...
Second, yesterday was Kanako's birthday! We go way back, to Hon. English 10 2nd period. She got me a Mercedes for my half-birthday, we played tennis dismally in the summer, she fled Katrina, and is a masters student at Tulane in social work. Happy Birthday Kanako!
Third, today Americans celebrate Groundhog's Day, which might just be one of the most absurd holidays of anywhere, ever. I completely forgot to talk about this monumental event, and horrify the kids with the spelling of Punxsutawney, but on reflection I now know I'd never have managed to translate 'groundhog' and would've tried to describe it as "a really fat mouse that lives underground, chews on my Grandma's porch, and Dad tries to shoot them." In the interest of cultural sharing, maybe I'd better just let this one go...

I love Burgundy, and I love living here. Among the things of which the Bourguignons are the most proud of is their wine. Last weekend I had the great fortune of attending the annual Saint-Vincent Tournante festival in Nuits-Saint-Georges. The short: a village in the central wine tract is chosen to host, they choose the wines to offer for tasting, 30k people come, 10 Euros gets you a commemorative glass and 6 tastings, and you can buy soupe à l'oignon ("French onion soup") and escargots. It's great because you get to taste several hundreds of Euros' worth of wine, and you get a nice wine glass, but it was about 1C (35ish F) out, and the Cote de nuits only produces red (which is meant to be served, and especially tasted, around room temperature). It was still great. Ana Laura (the assistante from Mexico) and I went with Hervé, a middle school Latin and French teacher who invites us to everything wine related within in a 2 hour radius of Autun. In a few hours he's taking AL and I to Beaune, right in the middle of Burgundy's wine region, to a great, affordable wine boutique, and for a little sight-seeing (Beaune is home to the really famous bourguinon tiled roofs). Should be awesome!
One last thing to share before ending this exciting round-up of a post: protests in a way that only the French could.
France 'dims' for climate protest
I love it here...

My mass email.

Reason #1147 why French is a more gorgeouser language than English: les retrouvailles. It's "the refinding", and describes that special feeling when you see someone you've been missing. Only French could have a word just for that…

Some kind of interesting week. I really don't know where to start… Since I'm between classes, might as well start with the teaching, or? At the end of last week I decided to completely redo my schedule. With only 45 minutes of class on Monday afternoon and an hour and a half Friday morning, why not just put everything on Tuesday and Thursday and make a permanent 4-day weekend? If I'm only teaching 9.5 hours, let's do this in 2 days instead of 4. Brilliant. This meant getting teacher and my supervisor's approval, no problem. Not so much. At my Monday school, where the teacher with whom I did 2 classes "fired" me, the one teacher I had left tried to do the same thing. Problems: he doesn't speak English, at all. In addition, I knew Veronique (supervisor at the District office) wouldn't be so thrilled. Friday was more than happy to have me Thursday. Told Veronique about Monday school problems, for which she scolded me. When I showed her my new schedule, she remarked, again, that I only have 9.5 hours instead of 12, which I told her in October when I did her job by making my schedule the first time. So, here's where I stand: I teach 8:45 to 4:15 on Tuesday and Thursday (with a 2 hour break for lunch, of course) in all 5 schools. If she wants to 'find' me more classes, I invite her to, but she won't get around to it until April. Until then, 2 day weeks for me. Here's to making the system's inherent lethargy work for me!

In other, far more exciting news, it SNOWED! A lot! Around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday it changed from rain to snow, and didn't stop until about that time Wednesday morning. I was beside myself with glee! It went from big, healthy snowflakes to that great shiny crystal kind after it went below 0 again. It was honestly the first time I've used an umbrella for snowfall. The biggest hitch in all this: the French. They knew this was coming, and no one did anything. When cars starting sliding off the roads, no one did anything. Even now, that the snow has stopped for a day, I've seen one road that's actually been plowed and salted, and that's it. Streets, sidewalks, parking lots, steps, anywhere that people might need to cross, is just waiting to get packed down and turned into ice by use. The unofficial estimate that I keep hearing is 30 cm (about a foot), not bad for one day, let alone the first snow. Trees were another problem, taking out the power in one of my schools (we still had class, but without lights or photocopies). Must be like school in the Stone Age, when my parents were little (jabjab). It also froze the mail, which never causes problems. My favorite part of the disaster was the marquee in front of Town Hall, which always has useful information, informed me "Due to unusual treefall, all major in/outroads are closed until further notice." Only the French would have a word like treefall.

Short one this time. This weekend: world-famous wine festival in Nuits-Saint-Georges, big basketball game (we're #2 and playing #1), and planning for my February break. Thanks to all who reply by email/letter!

Love from Autun,

-Ryan

Better day today?
Teaching, however, went like crap. Only one class, one hour long. Got there 2 minutes late, and the kids were already acting like chimps. They bombed prepositions on the post-Christmas quiz, so I wanted to review that for the first 20 minutes before learning how to tell time. No no, they went from chimps to sheep within that first 20 minutes, and it was all downhill from there. I've tried yelling, singling out the biggest problem makers, being funny, the scary quiet look, everything. The teachers usually do a continuous "shh!" or "be quiet!", but it's about as effective as horses keeping flies off their back.
Dead air, um, dead air.
I resolved that if they never learn prepositions, so help me, I will teach them to sit quietly and listen for 45 minutes. If I had to do this for 35 hours instead of 9, so help me...
This weekend: laundry and internet (sad that I have to program access to internet?), hanging out with Romain (the world-travelling firefighter), and Grace Bretheren mission church on Sunday! Sweeeet.
Best news of the day: Ana Laura, the Spanish assistant from Mexico City, promised to make TACOS FOR DINNER!!!1!!ONE!

For the sake of haym.

Day like suck. Teaching went fine, but everything else fell through.

1. I yelled at Dr. Mason (yes, at THE Warren Mason, nicest old man ever) for not having a recommendation to me that he promised to write months ago. Turns out I never gave him all the info he'd asked for, so now I get 300 words of generic recommendation crap. And I look like a huge jerk.
2. Before leaving campus I asked Miami for 10 copies of my final transcript so I could have them on hand. I come to France, am filling out grad school apps, open one (so I could finally tell Mason the poli sci classes I'd taken) to find out that they send it May 3rd, 3 days before graduation, so it doesn't have my degrees, and my last semester courses are "IN PROGRESS". Now I get to sweat new, final ones getting to me in time. In addition, they're overly watermark-y, and almost impossible to read.
3. European schools ask for passport photos with your application, I assume to make it a more personal affair, and to more easily affirmative action me off the list. The only way to do that quickly and affordably is those instamat photo booth things. If they wanted GHOST WHITE KID WITH GRIMACE then they'll know exactly what they're getting. I want my 4 euros back.
4. I still don't know what to write in my 'personal statement' or which language to do it in.
5. This is all due in Geneva by 31 January.

The only other saving grace is that the Auchan down in St. Panthaelon (the ghetto suburb where I taught this afternoon) found more of the Riesling that I like. EUR 2.73/bottle for white wine goodness.

I'm glad I have a blog back so I can rant at it.

Shizzle.

I'm honestly elated to get to be in Europe this year. More than I get excited for most things. It's eerily upsetting that it was 2 years ago this week (or around) that I came to Europe for the first time (that crazy semester in Luxembourg).
This is the first I've blogged in long. You can see my longest streak to date ended before I left in September on Xanga (xanga.com/grinnchy), and that this one is, so far, just random pictures. I've been inspired by Stephen (http://www.hungaryfor.blogspot.com/)
and Meghan (strangefits.blogspot.com) to take the whole thing back up. I'm still trying to use Picasa to do it for its all-Google-integrated-ness, but there are already things in the non-html saavy interface that are making me twitch, so we'll see how long this lasts.
To put you up to the speed, I teach English in France (see older posts here), live in a project in a small 'city' in southern Burgundy, and hope to go to grad school in Francophone Europe this fall. Now that everything's clear, I can re-take my seemingly patternless posts of pictures and complaining about the French. Aaaaannnnnnnnddddd go.

The Fete des Lumieres in Lyon

The days are running short.

Some stolen pictures of Autun from webshots. It looks really nice. And quaint. And by quaint I mean small...
















Before I go, I want to share very exciting US-based exciting tidbits.
First, 800-Free-411 or 800-373-3411 for the less number-letter association- apt. It's a free directory assistance service that works anywhere in the US and is still free from cell phones. You have to listen to a commercial up front, and another before you get your number, but it's a really number for the cell phone book.
Second, gasprices.com. This is only secondary to columbusgasprices. com, which you should really see. I'll tell you what it says today: In my area (W Columbus), gas costs only $1.99-2.05, the Columbus-area average for today is $2.134, and one year ago today the average was $2.748. The average price for the US today is 2.527, and a year ago was 2.85. I'm still mystified why the central OH gas price has come down so far, but not so much whining.
For those not counting down until I leave, there's only 3 days, 22 hours and 3 minutes between my flight out of Columbus and I. Excited? I am. Just a bit. 

New home?

Behold Autun, capital of nowhere, and my new place of employment for the next year.