blue skies
Tuesday I had a bit of a breakthrough at last. The immersion in French life did not quite happen this year quite as I imagined; instead of leisurely lunches of wine and cheese with my teachers and their families, the teachers have all been friendly but kept themselves to themselves and so Becca and I go about our business, as the two English speaking habitants of Apt, spectating rather than partaking in French society. The French I have become most practised at is asking for a coffee, or a bus ticket which I'm not sure will be all that helpful when it comes to my degree. Every Tuesday the reception class teacher Sabine has taken me up to school, and has always been very warm, welcoming and friendly. This Tuesday, I dithered a bit before asking her if she knew of anyone who might want to help me practise my french, in return perhaps for some English conversation. 'Mais bien sur-!' She said (but of course!), 'you can come to us?' She very kindly offered for me to eat lunch with them once a week on a Wednesday, and said she would pick me up from school at lunchtime to eat with her and her daughters. I was overcome with gratitude, for it may seem like a small thing, but for me it means more integration, more practise, more friends, and something more to do. With only ten hours teaching a week, the weeks can stretch here, and I was really happy to have found another weekly routine.
However as it seems to go here, I came home elated on Tuesday night and swiftly came back down to earth with a bit of a shock. When Becca and I opened our phone contracts we were both aware they included unlimited calls abroad, to fixed lines and mobiles. And this was how it happened for Becca so I had no reason to suspect otherwise. Except, when I got in Becca was puzzling over her breakdown of spending online, which included a 12€ charge for a call to a mobile, beginning with +44. We worked out this was two weeks ago when I'd borrowed her mobile to call Alice. She was sure it was a mistake but the dread was already creeping up, and my mind was flashing through the last week of blissful long phone calls to the UK. I logged into the internet site, and opened my breakdown of spending. I had managed to spend 120€ on phone calls to UK mobiles- 50c a minute and I had been on the phone for a good four hours. To landlines it was free but apparently the 'unlimited calls abroad, except for certain numbers' which was in the small print that I hadn't read, did not include English mobiles. I was furious with myself for not reading the small print, but also resigned to the fact there was no way I would have. There was nothing I could do except blackmark Virgin in my head and try not to think about the other ways to spend 120€.
On Thursday three of my teachers were ill and with the remaining three classes we did Christmas vocabulary and I learnt a little of their traditions. Instead of stockings they have Christmas boots, and apparently the Christmas pudding is just an English thing- Becca said in America they have Christmas cookies, and in France they have 'une buche de Noël', which is a chocolate log. I'm not sure about the cookies but I'm thinking this year, in honour of my 'provençal year' I'm going to make a chocolate log too- chocolate and cream win out over dried fruit anyday. On the way home I stopped by the office to pay my rent- where I gave them 107€90- I didn't have the change for the 107€82 and was rudely sent away and told to come back Monday because they couldn't open the till. C'est la vie français!
So that was another week and Friday is nearly over. I spent the day in Avignon having some retail therapy (Tuesday money trauma long forgotten) and this weekend there are various Christmas markets, carol singing and performances happening around Apt so Becca and I are planning on sticking around and watching the events unfold. On y va!
sunlight on the hills behind the school this evening
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