Knowing now how much hassle striking can cause, I will never do it!  We’ve had a whole week of strikes now and it’s getting old fast and there’s no sign of it ending any time soon.  I’m told the nation is striking due to Monsieur Sarkozy’s plans to reform the retirement system.  I’m not even interested in our own retirement system so I’m struggling to show any interest in it here.  Especially when it’s causing so many problems for me!

Buses are cancelled right, left and centre and that’s my means of transport that takes me away from my dingy room in to the town centre.  No buses mean no internet access, no supermarket, no life!  Apparently today they’re going to blockade the school entrances again.  Shame I’m already within the school grounds otherwise I might not have made it in to work!

In spite of the striking we actually made it to Paris at the weekend.  Our train was cancelled but they kindly let us on the earlier train.  It meant getting up at the crack of dawn to make it on time, but it was well worth it.  I had a great weekend! 

The lovely Alex met us at the train station (fashionably late as per) and then we met a couple of other assistants and one of Emily’s friends who’s studying in Paris.  We spent a relaxing afternoon eating food, drinking cocktails and wandering the streets. 

Paris prices never fail to shock me but we found some reasonably priced cocktails in a couple of different bars.  Five euros a cocktail is très bon marché!  And I could tell a few of them were particularly good value for money when I felt drunk from the fumes coming off them alone.

One of the other assistants we met is Mexican so I spoke more Spanish than French which probably isn’t the idea of living in France.  But I really struggle with French!  I find it uncomfortable, whereas I feel much more at ease with Spanish.  Hopefully that’ll change once I’ve been here a bit longer.  I pick up a language best by reading or watching tv to tune in to it before attempting any real conversation.  I’ve not had the opportunity to do either yet though.  I’ve been dreaming in Spanch lately.  I’m trying really hard in my dreams to speak French but my mind fills in any of the words I don’t know with Spanish....it makes for interesting viewing.  The drawback is I’ve started doing it when I’m awake now too and talking to people for real!  I must must must put a stop to that!  Anyway, back to Paris.  So we went to Alex’ gig on Saturday and had a great time there too.  Good music (thanks to The Clammy Hands) and extra good cocktails. 

Alex generously allowed Emily and I to stay with him so I had my first decent nights’ sleep since I got here.   The bed in the school is ridiculously uncomfortable and the place is always so cold so it was bliss to be comfortable and warm again!  Then I got to watch Hannah Montana in French on Sunday morning – that was possibly the highlight of the trip.  I’m not too sure Alex or Emily were too keen on my suggestion to go to the zoo that afternoon but it turned out to be really good.  I’ve wanted to visit the Jardin des Plantes since my first trip to Paris so it was nice to get to go finally.  Saw lots of lovely animals and some not so nice reptiles.  Well worth the visit. 

Some pizza and then the 1^st class TGV home completed our trip.  And by the time we got back on Sunday night our washing that we did at the laundrette on Thursday was almost all dry!

The plan was to sign our contract last night for the flat but the strikes have caused havoc with that too.  Jen couldn’t get in to Reims because all the trains are cancelled again.  So we’ve rescheduled to Wednesday night and with some luck she’ll make it in and we’ll finally get our keys!  I was really looking forward to a glass of champagne last night to celebrate getting the keys but it will have to wait.  And I’ve got a shiny new key ring to use too but it’s staying wrapped up in its bag until then as well.  I just really hope we don’t have any more delays because I can’t stand to be here much longer!

I’ve had a couple more classes now where I’ve taken part a little rather than just observing.  I was a bit disappointed last week with the level of English of the classes but yesterdays classes were encouraging.  Most teachers seem to conduct their classes in French which I hate.  The point of the class is to learn English!  There won’t be any French getting spoken in my classes!  And not just because I can’t speak it, but because they will benefit much more from an entirely English class.  I can’t wait to start taking my own classes again, it’s such a power trip!

Suppose I should leave McDonalds now before I become any more addicted to M&M and caramel MCFlurrys!