A day off
Business
French kids do not have school on Wednesdays so therefore neither do I. I still had to get up early, however, to meet with Dominique. Meredith and I spent the first part of the morning filling out paperwork and applying for social security. We also had to get a proof of residence from the university residence - so now I have an address! We also went to the town administration to apply for the carte de sejour (so I don't get kicked out in three months when my visa says it expires!) and I got a work permit. I didn't even know I needed one. The next Dominique-assisted project will be opening a bank account in the next couple days.
Next week I have a training session in Clermont-Ferrand Monday through Wednesday. Dominique had the official information on the location and times today. I am planning to see Jenny there, who is studing at the university through the K program.
Strikes
On a different topic, strikes are very common in France, and yesterday I experienced my first. When I went back to the cafeteria residence during lunch time it was closed without prior notice, simply a note on the door that announced that the workers were striking. Today it is open again. I need to find out exactly why they decided to strike and what it accomplished. One of the teachers at school asked me if American workers strike as much. I said not but I had to admit that I wasn't sure why, except that it seems like a difficult process, so if anyone can explain why Americans strike less (or why the French strike more and what are the consequences) I'd love to know.
Running
After a week off recuperating from being sick as well as traveling, I started running again on Monday. Meredith went with me, and we managed to find the Hippodrome (which sadly has absolutely nothing to do with hippos, although when I hear the word I still picture them) and a trail. We ran out of time to go very far on the trail, but I think it might lead out of town. I hope so, because breathing diesel exhaust kind of hurts. Yesterday I went running alone and managed to get lost for only a little bit. I'm sort of glad I managed to get lost because it means that the town isn't so tiny that I know my way around perfectly already.
On Montluçon
First of all it's very conventient that this computer has a special key for the ç symbol, although I have been frustrated several times by the apparent lack of a question mark.
Back on topic, I've earned that Montluçon has about 40,000 citizens, though it used to have about 70,000. It was formerly an industrial city but now many of the factories have closed. I had noticed that the town seems physically larger than it's happenings so that fits in with the fact about the shrinking population.
For such a small town, there is a lot of diversity. There are a lot of Muslims, some refugees from the former Yugoslavia, and I've met several students from Francophone Africa. In the classroom I visited on Monday, there was one Lebanese student and one Turkish student out of 16 total.
The old part of the city is centered around the chateau aux ducs borbonnais, or possibly a variation on that spelling. It was built around the beginning of the 15th century and sits up on a hill. The rest of the old part surrounds it. I imagine many of those buildings are about the same age, but I'm not sure.
French kids do not have school on Wednesdays so therefore neither do I. I still had to get up early, however, to meet with Dominique. Meredith and I spent the first part of the morning filling out paperwork and applying for social security. We also had to get a proof of residence from the university residence - so now I have an address! We also went to the town administration to apply for the carte de sejour (so I don't get kicked out in three months when my visa says it expires!) and I got a work permit. I didn't even know I needed one. The next Dominique-assisted project will be opening a bank account in the next couple days.
Next week I have a training session in Clermont-Ferrand Monday through Wednesday. Dominique had the official information on the location and times today. I am planning to see Jenny there, who is studing at the university through the K program.
Strikes
On a different topic, strikes are very common in France, and yesterday I experienced my first. When I went back to the cafeteria residence during lunch time it was closed without prior notice, simply a note on the door that announced that the workers were striking. Today it is open again. I need to find out exactly why they decided to strike and what it accomplished. One of the teachers at school asked me if American workers strike as much. I said not but I had to admit that I wasn't sure why, except that it seems like a difficult process, so if anyone can explain why Americans strike less (or why the French strike more and what are the consequences) I'd love to know.
Running
After a week off recuperating from being sick as well as traveling, I started running again on Monday. Meredith went with me, and we managed to find the Hippodrome (which sadly has absolutely nothing to do with hippos, although when I hear the word I still picture them) and a trail. We ran out of time to go very far on the trail, but I think it might lead out of town. I hope so, because breathing diesel exhaust kind of hurts. Yesterday I went running alone and managed to get lost for only a little bit. I'm sort of glad I managed to get lost because it means that the town isn't so tiny that I know my way around perfectly already.
On Montluçon
First of all it's very conventient that this computer has a special key for the ç symbol, although I have been frustrated several times by the apparent lack of a question mark.
Back on topic, I've earned that Montluçon has about 40,000 citizens, though it used to have about 70,000. It was formerly an industrial city but now many of the factories have closed. I had noticed that the town seems physically larger than it's happenings so that fits in with the fact about the shrinking population.
For such a small town, there is a lot of diversity. There are a lot of Muslims, some refugees from the former Yugoslavia, and I've met several students from Francophone Africa. In the classroom I visited on Monday, there was one Lebanese student and one Turkish student out of 16 total.
The old part of the city is centered around the chateau aux ducs borbonnais, or possibly a variation on that spelling. It was built around the beginning of the 15th century and sits up on a hill. The rest of the old part surrounds it. I imagine many of those buildings are about the same age, but I'm not sure.
posted by Paige @ 7:55 PM
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