The outsider looking in

Being taught in schools in one country definitely gives one an interesting framework through which one views the system in another country. And, having worked here for two weeks now, I've been paying a lot of attention to how the schools here work, some of the aspects of the system here in France stand out more prominently than others.

• Bell rings for a game of musical rooms- at least in the US, with most primary and secondary schools that I've seen, the usual is that the teacher remains in the same room while the students move from one room to another as needed. There are some teachers who were "nomadic", at least at my high school, who changed rooms, but those were infrequent and the rule was that teachers had their own rooms.
  Here, not so. None of the rooms are permanent, so it's a bit more like university in the US and UK: both the students and the teachers switch rooms frequently. Therefore, the "room" for the teachers is the salle des professeurs, analogous to the teacher's lounge in the US. And at both my collège and lycée, it's a rather nice little room: coffee/beverage vending machines, some snacks, computers, and the mailboxes. So, naturally, most of the teachers are in here when they don't otherwise have classes. (Or if they're not smoking a cigarette.)
• University-like scheduling- Unlike the standard in the US, where one meets for fixed periods at fixed times throughout the week, that's not what happens here. Most students will see a teacher for two to three hours per week for a total of about 30 hours of classes per week, and the teachers, accordingly, are assigned to work not the same hours. Not to mention there's a nice two-hour lunch break and several pauses de récréation throughout the day, so the students, unlike in US middle and high schools, aren't running from 8:30 to 3:30 with only a 30 minute break. In a way, it's also nice for the teachers.
• Wine for the teachers- How else would they get through the day? Okay, I know, not all of them drink it, but teachers can have wine with their meals here at the lycée. As I explained to one of the teachers I'm working with, that'd be a huge no-no in the States. Part of it, of course, comes in that most teachers drive to and from work, and the other part is that people in the US are very strict about enforcing the drinking age and prohibiting access to alcohol by people under 21, so it's slightly illegal (at least) to bring alcohol to a high school.
• Stuck together like glue- In the States, the same group of students doesn't take the same classes after elementary school: you pick your schedule and you move around. Here in France, though, it seems like the same groups of students, all chosen based on the classes they take and their degree program, move together throughout the school day for their classes.

As the year progresses, I'll have more observations to add. Probably.

What's great is that the teachers here are very friendly, and it makes me want to spend more time with them. Especially at the collège, since I'm only there for one day each week... and not at all this upcoming week, as it's vacation time! Oh, yeah, and the French are serious about vacations: the normal rhythm here is 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off, it feels, with two months instead for the vacances d'été. Next week are the vacances de Toussaint, and they last until the 3rd of November (well, in any event, I go back to work on the 4th).

So, yeah, have a good week/weekend, and more stuff will probably materialize over break.

Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!

I've been here in the beautiful Auvergne region for about two weeks now, and I must say that I'm impressed. It's been a bit of an adventure, especially with a public transportation strike the first few days I was here, but it's otherwise been great so far.

Part of why I waited a bit to write some more is because I wanted to actually work with my students for the first time and see what I was working with. As I mentioned before, I'm working at a collège in a suburb of Clermont-Ferrand for 3 hours per week and the remaining 9 hours are at a lycée in the southeastern part of the city. I did meet the teachers (or most of them, at least) and many of the students, and it's going to be fun. The teachers are all incredibly nice, always willing to help (it seems) and friendly in general. In all, I'm working with six different teachers and a total of twelve different classes, each class for one hour per week and generally up to about 15 people in a class (so the sometimes large classes are split up).

At the collège, I'm right now working with students in troisième (3e), so they're all from 13 to 16 years old and preparing for the brevet, an examination given at the end of the year that determines what school they're best suited for at the lycée level. As for the lycée, I'm working with both students in seconde (2e) and post-baccalauréat students who are completing a technical program before licensure rather than immediately going to university. The system here in France is, needless to say, a bit different than that in the US, and one of the lessons I do have planned is a discussion about the differences between the educational systems and, really, how the US high-school experience is different from that in France. And, as I'm working a lot with the speaking skills of the students, talking about more "interesting" topics should help with sparking their interests and, really, getting them to speak.

As for the speaking, well... most of the students are very timid, it seems. I hope to get them to speak more, and it'll hopefully get better as time passes.

So, that's it really in a nutshell. Now for some quick tidbits/observations:

• Beer is sold in fast food restaurants, like McDonald's. Conversely, it's sold very rarely at those in Germany, from what I remember.
• Prices here in France are hit-or-miss compared to Germany. Sometimes, they're quite a bit cheaper (especially for food), but most of the time it's roughly the same price or a bit more. What's interesting, though, is that more food is taxed at the lower VAT rate here in France than in Germany (so, here, soft drinks are taxed at 5.5% rather than 19.6%, whereas they're subject to the full 19% in Germany).
• Getting around Clermont-Ferrand is a bit different: it's mostly bus-based, but there is a tram line that, conveniently, is right near where I'm currently staying. And tickets are a bit cheaper here compared to in Germany (and the UK, for that matter).
• House hunting is... well, different. The terminology is rather different, rules for renting are stricter for both ends, and the prices may or may not have charges (utilities) included. So it's really a case of looking very carefully at the fine print.

So, yeah, it'll be a good seven months, I don't doubt. And, with that, have a good rest of your week.

Bis Bald, Deutschland

Today, I will be bidding Germany farewell yet again as I leave for the environs of France at just shy of 10 in the morning. A longer update will be posted once I'm situated in my new country.

Farewell, Germany; good-bye, BASF. It's been fun. When will I be back? Who knows. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Copenhagen and Chemistry

Wow, it's been a month or so since my last update. Meaning a lot's happened.

First up, the Denmark trip that I had been planning for long time finally happened about two weeks ago: I left on the 30th by night train to Copenhagen and spent three days there. And Copenhagen's really nice, I must say. It's very easy to get around, there's a lot of pretty sights and things to do, and the weather was extremely cooperative. However, there was a major downside: Copenhagen's really expensive, sometimes moreso than Switzerland (shocking).

Remember how I mentioned a 1½ litre bottle of soda was about CHF 2 (then, about €2/$2.50)? In Denmark, you're lucky if it's less than 20 Danish kroner (€3, $4), not including the deposit of 3 kroner. McDonald's is surprisingly cheaper than in Switzerland, but still pretty high at about 55 kroner (€8/$11) for a meal. Public transport ticket... well, the basic ticket is a one-hour pass for 24 kroner (€3.50/$5), but you can buy a one-day ticket valid for the Greater Copenhagen area (a lot, trust me, and it comes in handy for a trip to Elsinore, home of the castle featured in Hamlet) for 130 kroner (€18/$26). A part of it is due to the 25% VAT on pretty much everything, the highest VAT in all of the EU (and the only VAT that comes in a single rate) and the high wages paid to the average Danish worker. But, fortunately, I was able to minimize the damage, and I had an awesome time.

Also, when one's in Copenhagen, there's another country just 30 minutes away (Sweden). So I went there too, namely to a little city called Malmö. It's a rather cute little city, marked by a lot of charming buildings and streets, plenty of trees, and the highest density of restaurants in Sweden. But it was a good few hours for roaming in the area.

Other excursions, of course, have occurred. Namely a trip to the Wurstfest in Bad Dürkheim. If you've been to a German Fest, though, you know that these are not the run-of-the-mill fairs that you find in the US: these are rather massive events, with beer tents, rather extreme rides, Bratwurst galore, and lots of different types of alcohol (and not just beer). They're pretty impressive, all in all, and this one was sufficiently large. It made me happy.

And the science is getting done as well. It's not too much different from the usual, just running some tests and generating the graphs, but I hope to do some cooler stuff before I leave... no explosions, mind you.

In any event, it's a bit surreal that I leave for France in... two and a half weeks. And this comes at the point when I'm falling madly in love with this region of Germany. People assure me that I'll love Auvergne, and I don't doubt it either, but I just don't want to leave Germany right now.

In any event, have a good remainder of your week. Or something vaguely approaching such.

Two Day Service

About a month ago, I went through the process of acquiring a German residence permit (Aufenthaltstitel). It was, in a way, a bit hair-pulling considering I needed that permit to apply for a French visa but also because I really didn't hear any feedback on my application until I got the notice of approval, and it took about three weeks to accomplish. So, naturally, since the visa I'll have to travel to France serves as a residence permit, I was expecting similar processing times. As stated in the previous post, I specifically went to Switzerland because, normally speaking, the visa process takes several weeks.

I was wrong with what I had assumed. For me, it took two days.

Yesterday, I headed up to Frankfurt am Main rather early in the morning and got to the consulate well in advance of my appointment. I had directions, but I really didn't know where I was going. Surprisingly for me, the U-Bahn put me out on Zeppelinallee, the road that the consulate was situated on. And it was a very quick walk up the road to my destination, a rather unassuming building distinguished by the French flag and the emblem of the French Republic.

I headed in, greeted the guard in French and, after a quick bag search, I went back to the visa section, a small office. I was served rather quickly by a lady who spoke some English (which helped out a bit) and, after being fingerprinted and photographed and all the papers I had were sorted through and sorted, I was given a receipt and told to return the next day with my passport. This isn't what I thought would happen...

I otherwise accomplished quite a bit of sightseeing and exploring in Frankfurt, despite the rain, and headed back to Ludwigshafen, still confused. What just happened... did she really say I could return tomorrow? Adding to the fun was that I had only taken a day off work for the visa appointment, expecting a much longer turnaround. So, I formulated a plan.

Today, I headed into work and explained to one of my coworkers that I needed to run to Frankfurt. He, fortunately, understood, so I headed almost immediately to the train station. About an hour later, I was in Frankfurt. I made my way back to the consulate and the person who had served me the day before, upon recognizing me, indicated that she would help me after she was done with the person ahead of me. Once she was finished, I walked up, gave her my passport, and, after printing off the visa sticker and getting it signed by the Consul, I walked out of the visa office with a shiny visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour. Score.

So, yeah. A process that takes a lot of people several weeks took me two days here at Frankfurt. And I have no idea why it got approved so quickly. But, ultimately, you just take it with a smile and walk on.

Swiss Vacation... and French Paperwork Hell

Last week, I decided that I really wanted to go to Switzerland. And here I am, writing this from Zürich.

To elaborate further, the main reason for this trip, other than wanting to go to Switzerland and take lots of pretty pictures, actually arises from the fact that I go to apply for my French visa on Tuesday. While my application is being processed, however, the consulate probably will have my passport. The processing could take a few days or a few weeks. And, while they have my passport, I won't legally be able to leave Germany to go elsewhere in the Schengen zone, even though there aren't any immigration checks. Accordingly, I figured that getting a quick trip in before I lose my passport is probably not a bad idea, in the long run.

Like the last time I visited, Switzerland is very pretty. And the number of Swiss flags in the streets and wherever you go is pretty impressive, particularly since German flags are not very common where I've lived in Germany. Only drawback to the trip, though, is that everything is expensive... and even moreso now with the much stronger Swiss Franc. As a comparison, when I went to Basel in 2009, it was CHF 1.50 per euro (CHF 1.06 per dollar) and, now, it's CHF 1.07 per euro ($1.30 per Franc). For example, McDonald's meals run about CHF 15 (EUR 13, USD 20), a 1.5 litre bottle of soda is about CHF 2 (EUR 1.90, USD 2.50) at its cheapest... regardless, though, while I'll take my usual travel "precautions" (avoiding restaurants and taxis as much as possible), I'll do my best to avoid letting the rather high prices get to me.

Today was mostly reserved for getting here and lots of wandering around (yes, lots of pictures). Tomorrow will probably feature more wandering, a trip to the Zoo (Zürich Zoo is very renowned) and possibly a few museums, and acquiring souvenirs that people I know might want. Like chocolate. And I'll be out of here on Sunday morning.

So, yeah, that's it from here. Another post might be coming soon-ish. And have a good weekend.

Falling into Place

Everything's all falling into place with the paperwork and such. Which makes me happy.

For one, I'll hopefully have my Aufenthaltstitel (residence permit) on Thursday. All I have to do is go to the Foreigner's Office, pay them € 50 (~$70), and I'll have a pretty sticker in my passport.

The other thing is that some of the paperwork I'll need for my stay in France is coming! In order to work as a language assistant in France, I need a visa, and this visa requires a work contract. The work contract is on its way to me right now, and I'm aiming to apply for my visa in the middle of August. The visa's free of charge, but I have to personally go to Frankfurt to apply for it (they don't accept applications by mail). Accordingly, I'll just turn my consular visit into a day of sightseeing in Frankfurt, a city that I'm not too familiar with save the airport. But, regardless, I'll be working at both a lycée (high school) in the city of Clermont-Ferrand and at a collège (middle school) in a suburb called Gerzat. I presume I'll find out more later, probably after I contact the people in charge of the schools. Also, this means I should probably start looking for housing and accommodation (but not too hard yet, as one of the schools might have arrangements... and I don't yet have my visa).

Also, I figure a few pictures are in order. Clockwise from the bottom, we have scenes of the Speyer Dom, a very large cathedral in Speyer (30 minutes from Ludwigshafen) and the resting place of several German kings of old; a random church along the Rhein; and the Wasserturm in Mannheim, a rather prominent landmark with pretty gardens. (Yes, I like flowers.)

And... that's pretty much it for now. Have a good remainder of your week.