Bienvenue Chez Nous!

Tina's Address in France:

Tina PULLIAM

18 Rue Brest

83400 Hyeres FRANCE

Look at all these keys! One for the front/main door to our building, one for back door behind the building, one for our apartment door, one for our mailbox, and (my fav) the giant old fashioned one for the storage space out back for bikes.

 Here's my bedroom. Itty bitty bed, window, little desk (chair on the way, hopefully). The yellow door is to my own sink & shower.

 The giant living room! (side 1)

The other half of the living room / kitchen area. See our pretty fridge and oven? :)

More photos to come! xoxo (computer's about to die...I'm using wifi at McDonalds cuz we don't have internet at our place yet!)

A Smoking Elephant, An Apartment, and...Pastries

"NO SMOKING ALLOWED"

This sign was posted on the outside of the building where I went to buy my bus pass.

It's an elephant putting out it's own cigarette.

Nice.

...............................................................................................................

Updates about getting settled:

GOOD NEWS!

I think I've found an apartment! Another american assistant (actually who will be working at the 2 elementary schools I worked at last time) and I found an amazing 2-bedroom apartment! Hooray! A roommate! Super not to be all alone in a studio (or in a room at somebody's house)

Why is it amazing?

 (Many of the following may seem "standard" in American apartments, but are NOT standard necessarily in France)

• it's furnished! and there are dishes, etc in the kitchen!  even a hot pot for tea
• there's an extra matress for visitors from afar (hint hint?)
• we will be able to entertain and have guests! (autonomy)
• there's a big table! dinner parties!
• there's a living room! (last time we just had 4 bedrooms & a tiny shared kitchen)
• there's a couch in the livingroom! and a flat-screen tv! haha
• it's in the center of town, near all the shops, not far from the bus station/cinema/grocery store/old part of town/library/etc
• there's a petit balcony, with a view of the street below
• there's a place to keep bikes in the back, ground floor (still need to find one of my own, I'm borrowing for now)
• it's on the 3rd floor! (a view of the street) NOT the "RDC" meaning bottom floor
• it's well lit (with natural sunlight) verrrrry important, in my opinion
• there's a DISHWASHER! (very rare)
• there's a WASHING MACHINE (practically unheard of)
• there's AN OVEN!!!!! wahoooo! this is a big deal. just trust me.

YAY! so should all go according to plan, somebody somewhere is whipping up a contract for us, and hopefully we'll be moving in early next week.

It is such a relief to find something great!

And more good news: everything's going great so far with introductions at my schools. I've got my work schedule pretty solidified, which is also a relief.

I'll be working all day Tues/one morning class Wed/most of the day Thurs & Fri

3 day weekend = yipee

I bought my bus pass, and I'll need to bus to both schools, so it'll be nice to have monthly unlimited. aaaaaand i swung by my gym. The teacher recognized me :) I am exicted to start up again! (my body isn't loving my mini non-exercising vacation very much)

...............................................................................................................

8 pastries to sample with friends!

5 of the assistants in Hyeres had dinner at one of the apartments and we sampled lots of yummy treats for dessert (one of the mixed drawbacks/benefits of living in France...luckily I know where the gym is) ;)

In case you're curious...(clockwise from top left)

Mille Feuille (pastry layers with cream, aka Napoleon)

Tarte au Citron (lemon custard)

Tarte au Pomme (apple tarte)

Lemon Meringue

Chocolate Eclair

(in the middle) Tarte Tropezienne (sort of creamy orangy cakey)

Raspberry w/ Pinenut filling

Cafe/Caramel layered bar

and of course...coffee close by

And my fav? I always like the ones with fresh raspberry or strawberry the best :)

Poquerolles 10.1.2011

Swimming on October 1st in the sea! It's a tradition! (both years i've been here, it's still been hot enough to "aller se baigner")

Here are some photos from when Raymond & Christine took me out on their sailboat for a night the weekend I arrived in town...

 La voila, a sunset cruise my second night in France.

Christine & Raymond ashore & ready for our morning walk on the island

 

Fishies having a snack. Cote d'azur means the coast of blue...this water is why.

That's their boat!

And this is why the locals say this is the most beautiful part of the world. Of course, they're biased, but I can't completely disagree...

La petite americaine est rentree a hyeres

Thaaaaat's right, I'm back in Hyeres. And I made it in one piece.

And you found my new blog. Nicely done! So now it's my job to put up some posts every now and then to keep you informed about my life in France (well, that's the idea, anyway). I'll try not to be too wordy (haha, a challenge for me), but just fill you in on what I'm up to/thoughts/events/cultural observations/travel/etc. Whatever strikes my fancy. :) Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions/thoughts/hellos...(you know, life abroad can get lonely at times)


I've been here almost a week. Here are some highlights/thoughts I'd like to share, some good, some complaints, sorry:

- getting picked up by  (Christine & Raymond) at the train station = awesome. staying with them has been really great (internet, meals together, a house to stay in free of charge while I find an apartment)

- we went out on C & R's sailboat on Saturday to Poquerolles and stayed the night on the boat. Walked around the island (small, with a port = cafes, etc), plus swimming in the salty mediterranean + snorkling with the fishies + reading & relaxing. yeah, i got the hookup.

- France. It smells like poo. You may have heard about dogs + poo + France + not cleaning up = smelly times. It's true. Not ALL the time...but I'm just saying, I've noticed.

-skype is awesome. To talk to me via webcam free of charge, download skype and request me : tinaboothpulliam

- it is rather hot, and definitely sunny. so why is everybody wearing black, and long, tight pants?? ya'll frenchies are crazy. i'm in shorts and i'm all sweaty and gross. pshhhh.

- also, do French people not have bladders? clearly, they must all be dehydrated, seeing as no one carries nalgenes or camelbacks (like us "normal" americans)... but beside that, what about public restrooms? apparently these RARELY exist. and by the way, it's lame to have to pay to pee.

- the cars here are small and ugly. yes, I already know this, but maybe you dear reader, do not yet know. Sure, american cars are ridiculously big sometimes which is often pointless, and we often treat them like they're another child of ours (well they cost nearly as much)...French people don't seem to feel the same way. The cars are all beat up with dents, plus they are models that are quite basic; strictly driven to get from point A to point B. That's fine. I don't have a problem with it. I'm just saying, ours are pretty. And we're muuuuch more careful not to bang them up when we're driving them. (French people here do, however, have a very good sense of exactly how big their car is, which helps when navigating impossibly small roads)
- speaking French is pretttttty great, the second time around. I must be honest and say, it feels pretty good to have a secure-enough grasp of the language and be able to communicate with ease. Sure, I still sound and look like a foreigner, but I don't feel completely lost and oblivious. Not all the time, anyway ;)

-getting started with teaching next week. This week was introductions at the schools and 2 days of orientation with about 80 other assistants in the area. 177 total in the academie of Nice.

That's all for now. I'm looking forward to finding an apartment (hopefully with a roommate) and feeling a little more settled. I'm glad to be back, but sad to be away from home, too. It's transition, yet agaaaaain, so it's not always fun & smiles & rainbow times, but overall I'm a-okay.