Orientation and bureaucracy

So the last week or so my life has been full of what the French call "les démarches administratives" - French bureaucracy at it's finest! Kerstin and I have been in and out of the secretary and intendance offices more times than I can count...I think they're getting sick of us! We're supposed to have filled out our Securité Sociale forms by now but there's a lag on someone's end and it's taking longer than it should. Forms, forms and more forms...oh, la France!

I also had my first contemporary dance class on Friday, which went fantastically well. A very nice dance teacher by the name of Stéphanie just opened a brand new dance studio just minutes walking distance from the apartment. There were just 2 of us in the class, but it was nice - more attention! Plus the studio isn't huge so we had a lot of space. Anyways she's an excellent teacher, is an amazing dancer (turns out she's 50 years old, we both thought she was at least 10 years younger) and can move her body in ways I don't think I'll ever be able to. But I was sooo happy to be dancing again, it was just like what I remember from Toulouse!

I observed a few classes on Monday to get an idea of what I'll be helping the students with. So far the students seem great - smart, well behaved, a little shy at speaking English but the teacher's are really hoping I'll be able to pull a few more words out of them. I've been introducing myself to the classes and they have to ask me questions in English to get to know me. There's always little whispers when I say I'm from Canada, apparently the school has never had a Canadian assistant before. They ask all sorts of funny questions...is it cold in Canada, what's my favourite food, do I miss my family, do I like French boys...I'm really looking forward to working with them!

Yesterday was the assistant orientation day. It was a long day full of confusing info about social security, various administrative procedures, immigration, our roles as assistants, what to do/not to do, a gross 8 euro lunch (which was reimbursed for everyone except us that live IN Nancy...we were not happy) and the like. Everyone from the Nancy-Metz area came that were teaching College/Lycee. We were altogether in the morning then split up into our various language groups for the afternoon. I left with my head swimming, I thought I knew everything about the forms and policies but I came out more confused! Turns out I'm not allowed to leave the country until the OFII stamps my visa to validate it, after my mandatory medical exam. Let's hope they get on that before I go home for Christmas, or I won't be coming back...

Well I'm hoping I get my schedule sorted out soon, it's been changed about 10 times since there are 7 English teachers, about 30 English classes, and 1 of me. Each teacher can only have me for 1.5 hours a week to make it fair, it's all very confusing! So I'm anxiously waiting until it's all sorted out and trying not to stress too much about lessons in the meantime!