March 28, 2021

Sunday

Well, we’re officially six hours apart again! Daylight savings time finally came to France Saturday night. I woke up and felt completely exhausted. Alli and I had fried potatoes, eggs, and bread for breakfast. I packed my things and got dressed for the day.

The big event for the afternoon was a picnic with Maggie’s roommates in the town park. One is from Columbia and another is from Italy. I was really excited to meet folks from other countries and to speak in French with them. Alli and I cut up some apples, peppers, and cheese in preparation for our little meal together.

We met up at the bus station downtown around 12:30 and walked from there to the “kiosk” which is a beautiful pavilion that overlooks the park and has a lovely view of the mountains. Someone produced a huge blanket and we took a seat in the middle of the park. All of us introduced ourselves and started chatting.

I got to learn about the types of experiences other people have had in the program. Sometimes I forget that the language assistant program is broader than the TAPIF program that brought me to France. In reality, people who speak many other languages come to France to teach students their mother tongue. One of the assistants spoke Spanish and was stationed in a high school, middle school, and a primary school. He said that he favored the high school students. That seemed to be the consensus, the high schoolers were the best because they were more motivated to be there. The picnic was certainly a highlight of the trip. One of the roommates brought wine and desserts that were really nice. It was so cool to be able to get through an entire 4 hour picnic in a foreign language. I never would have thought I could have done something like that a year ago. I feel really proud that my language skills have come this far.

Around 4pm, Alli and I excused ourselves so that we could grab my things and get to the 5:20 train. Everyone at the picnic exchanged contact information and promised to stay in touch. I thought it was so sweet, Maggie’s roommates were so shocked to hear about my bad experiences in France that they invited me to come back and stay with them the next weekend. Haha if there’s not another confinement, I might just head over.

Alli and I made it to the station on time and she waited with me until the train came. We both realized that we were absolutely scorched by the sun. Whoops! The heat must have made me tired, because I got on the train and the next thing I knew I was waking up as we pulled into Lyon.

The city is heavily “confiné” right now. The French government has put travel restrictions and limited movements within the city because of rising COVID numbers. I had to fill out an “attestation” to get to my tram and get home. Catherine A picked me up from the tram stop in Meyzieu. She told me that there were rumors still circulating saying that schools might be closing soon. Oooof.

I made it home after curfew. I sat down and planned my lessons for the next day. I decided that I would present Boston to the kids. I love Boston and got to go there to validate my visa for France. I threw some of my favorite pictures together so they could get a sense of the city. With the euro kids I decided to do the slang presentation that Maggie sent me a few weeks ago. I ended up going to bed early so I could be well rested for the early bus on Monday.