Part Deux

Last left I was in my hotel in Limoges. Friday morning the teacher who is my point-of-contact at the school I'll be teaching at came to get me at 10am, and from then until 6pm it was go-go-go all over the place. She took me to the apartment/dormitory complex I'm staying at and filled out some papers and talked to the lady who runs it, etc. Then we walked around a little and drove around with her showing me the school I'll be at and a couple other building where I have meetings and have to turn in some paperwork, etc. And we went grocery shopping. And went to the bank to try to get my acct set up (but of course there was some paperwork I didn't have, so it had to wait until today). And she helped me look over a thousand different paperwork items that I have to turn. And attempted to get a cell phone, but that's still up in the air. It was a crazy busy day.

Groceries: loaf bread, chips (flavor: cheese), milk, cereal, toilet paper, paper towels, chocolate cookie/biscuits, bite-size cheese, apricot preserves, beef something-or-other in a can, pasta sauce, just-add-water soup, butter, pasta, ham, tuna, more pasta, grated cheese (for pasta), more cheese

But I got back to my apt around 6ish and ate some dinner (sandwich, chips, easy). Let me tell you...I don't think I'm ever going to commit a crime because I have had a glimpse of what prison would be like, and I do not like it. I'm sitting in my barren room, no TV and no Internet, already read the one book I brought, don't know anyone, everything's practically closed by 7...it's madness. And then I can't sleep at night - I guess it's still the jet lag and acclamation. I don't know, hopefully that will get better.

I didn't really do too much on Saturday, slept late after having not slept the night before. Ate some lunch, then went to the library for some hours while they were open to use the internet. Then back to the apt for more...nothingness. There's only so many times you can rearrange the five personal items you have, and then go through your pictures/documents on your computer while listening to music, lol. Oh, also, a fun time with electricity problems that evening [to follow].

Just a small portion of the Jardin de l'Evêché

Then Sunday I once again slept late, ate some food, and decided to walk around the town. I left around 1:30ish, made my way to the school I'm teaching at (because I had to be there Monday morning to take a tour and meet people, so I wanted to make sure I knew how to get there), then I walked around that side of town that I hadn't explored yet. And I made my way to this enormous garden-type area at an old bishopric. It was really pretty, and I'll have pictures eventually, but I didn't take my camera with me that day, so I'll have to go back and take some pictures. In the meantime, if you would like to get an idea of it, just go to GoogleMaps and search "Jardin de l'eveche, Limoges, France" ("the garden of the bishopric") and zoom in on the satellite view and explore. After that I meandered around town some more and ended up back at my apt to do a bunch of nothing again (because everything is closed here on Sundays).

And now it's 4:45pm on Monday and I have gotten up early actually (8am, after more fitful sleep, unfortunately) to meet my teacher at the high school and meet some of her (my) colleagues and tour (part of) the school. It's a really big building, but they evidently only have about 2,000 students? Again, pictures to come - here is the only (tiny) picture I could find online of it. So I was there for about an hour, then went back to the apt to take a nap, then grabbed some lunch around 1pm, then had a bank appointment at 2pm. And then came to the library to once again use internet and make this update.

My teacher says my French is really good and that I comprehend everything great - at least that's what she tells everyone we meet. (Er, she's either saying that I understand French well or that "my yesterday canary drops under surface umbrella"...one of those two.) And I do find I understand a majority of what everyone is saying - at least catching their meaning if not understanding every single last word. Especially technical words. And those who speak with certain dialects that I'm not used to. But I do feel somewhat accomplished when I follow a conversation, and particularly when I hold my own convo with people (even if I struggle through it at parts). Like the convo I had with my neighbor on Saturday...

Bane of my existence.

Because I got home on Saturday night/afternoon after my wanderings and realized that I did not have electricity. The following took place over the course of a good 1.5/2 hours: I tried to fool with the fuse box (since it's located inside my apt) and get things back working. I flipped all the breakers up and pushed the two buttons marked "test" and flipped things on and off...basically pressing my luck and hoping I didn't set the building on fire. After that proved unfruitful, I figured I had to get some help...but no one was working the front desk since it's the weekend. But I went down there anyways to see if there was an emergency number posted, which there was, so I jotted that down. Went back to my room and hoped it had magically fixed itself while I was gone - sadly, it had not.  (This did not deter me from constantly flipping the light switches - just in case. I was like someone with short-term memory problems...maybe they'll work NOW...nope...oh, maybe they'll work NOW...nope...I was like someone with short-term memory problems...er, I just said that. Sheesh, I'm just like someone with short-term memory problems. Oh, and the lights...nope, nevermind, not yet.)

Anyways, I thought maybe I should ask a neighbor if they are familiar with how the fuse box worked, and maybe it was a common problem that they'd know how to fix. So first I had to look up the french word for fuse box - la boite à fusibles - because who knows that? And then prepare my opening speech in my head - "Hi, this is odd, but I'm your neighbor, I just moved here, I'm American, my electricity is not working, you can to help me fix now with please yes ok also?..." Or something like that. Then I decided against it and trekked back downstairs, like that was going to do something. Oh, I forgot to mention I don't have a french cell phone yet, so that's why I hadn't yet called the emergency number. But upon re-entering the lobby, I see they have a payphone, huzzah! So I make my way over to it...and it only takes check cards, no change. Fantastic. So I go back upstairs again (no, the lights still weren't working, despite my flipping the switches again. And again.)

I made up my mind that I needed to ask a neighbor. So I knocked on the door beside mine - no answer. Next door down - hooray, a nice girl answered. I explained my situation and she said she's not sure why it would do that, and that it's obviously just my room since the lights in her room were working, and she suggests I look at my info packet for apt to search for someone to call. Basically, not too much help, but at least she was nice. So I went back to my room - lights still not working - and searched for my info packet. But then realized I already had the number (from downstairs), so I decided to say to heck with the exorbitant rates, I'm going to turn on my US cell phone and call for help. But of course it can't even get reception for me to call. Fantastic.

I was going to resign myself to waiting until Monday and just do without electricity (because it was light until 8ish, and I had nothing to do after then anyways except sleep or use computer). But then I realized my fridge wasn't keeping things cool and I needed to preserve them if possible. So I decided to ask my neighbor if she would keep them until Monday. So I went back to her room, knocked, "Hi, me again, sorry...", and she said she could hold on to them if it wasn't too much (it wasn't). And she said she'd found the emergency number, but I said I didn't have a phone yet, so she said I could use hers. (She was a lifesaver). So I called the number (evidently another apt complex nearby or something), and tried to speak with them. They kept using this one word I didn't know - le disjoncteur - saying I had to find it before they could help me. I thought they were talking about our handyman, and I'm like, I don't know where he is. After a good back-and-forth, I asked my new friend what this word meant and she points to the fuse box...not fair, they were using a *different* word for it than I had looked up. Lame. So I went to my room and assured them that all the levers were in "up" position, and eventually they said they'd dispatch someone. I thanked my friend for the use of her phone and made my way back to my room.

So 30/45 min later, a guy shows up, looks at my fuse box, pushes this one button (that I *swear* I pushed before) and it comes on. I feel like an idiot. But then I'm like, "Ok, but why did it go off in first place?" So we start fooling with light switches and stuff, and eventually get to my kitchen burners and discover that one of them is faulty and causes the breakers to trip. His solution: don't use that burner until Monday when the regular maintenance guy can fix it. Fine. I didn't bother my new friend (Claire) to get my food back: one - because it was getting on in the evening and I didn't want to bother her for a *third* time, and two - because my fridge hadn't regained it's coolness yet.  So that was a fun evening. (I got my food back yesterday - Sunday - afternoon).

And thus we arrive at the end of this entry. Stay tuned for an extensive and amusing at look the differences between France and the US that I've come across.