So the last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind...meeting other teachers, getting familiar with my lycée, moving in, shopping for necessities, navigating a new city, administrative crap...phew!!
So far I've spent a lot of time (and money!) shopping for groceries and necessities that the apartment is missing...I've still got a big list to get through! However, thankfully, since I live right in the heart of the city I'm only a 5 minute walk from pretty much everything I need, so at least that's been my saving grace (along with all of you who gave me euros! Thank you!)
Apart from doing much wandering, one of the English teachers at the lycée, Emilie, invited me to dinner at her place on Saturday. She picked me up in the evening and drove me to her very cute little apartment in Laxou, just outside Nancy, where she lives with her husband and adorable little 18 month-old, Lucie. Emilie is closer to my age than the other teachers and is also new there, so looks like we'll both be getting our footing this year! I had a fabulous evening eating, drinking wine and speaking français...(Emilie was a French assistant in England for a year and mentioned how annoying she found it when people would speak French to her in England when she wanted to practice her English, thus she said she'd only speak French to me so I could practice, which is fine by me!) She made a very tasty cauliflower gratin and salad, and her husband made a pineapple parfait for dessert, mmm. They are both super nice and it was so nice to have some company!
Sunday I slept in (finally catching up on all my missed sleep) and met Anne-Marie and her husband at Place Stanislas so they could show me around the city a bit. Sunday also happened to be a Journée du Patrimoine, where all government offices, museums and even public transit was open and free for the day! So we got to go inside l'Hôtel de Ville (town hall) and stand on the outer balcony for a beauuutiful view of the Place, and then wandered around the Musée des Beaux Arts. Then they took me around to the Basilique d'Epvre, the Musee de Lorraine, through the Vielle Ville (old city), through la Parc Pépinière which has beautiful fountains, rose gardens, merry-go-round, waffle shack, a zoo etc. etc. (it's the Central Park of Nancy) and then to the main bookstore where Jean-Pierre bought me a large map of Nancy. We then went back to Place Stanislas where Anne-Marie bought us ice cream from the best place in Nancy (apparently) and wandered around a bit more (than goodness it was a beautiful day!) before having a light dinner at a nice café in Place Stanislas. Une journée très agréable, as they would say! I can't even being to express how grateful I am to Anne-Marie for being my guide to all things Nancienne and being so warm and welcoming...I'm definitely going to bring her back some Canadian ice wine after Christmas!
Sunday night I went back by myself to Place Stanislas for the last night of the image spectacle, "Rendez-vous Place Stanislas". Basically it was just a projection of images and music/sounds onto the face of Town Hall. It lasted about a 1/2 hour and was really neat to watch, the square was packed with people watching! I'll see if I can post some photos soon.
Thus concludes my weekend! Today I finally got my Attestation de Logement so I can do some official things like getting my visa validation in order and open a bank account so I can get internet and, more importantly, get paid when the time comes.
Hm, I think I hear a chocolatine calling my name...
No comments:
Post a Comment