Torino 2006-Jeux Olympics

A week ago, a group of 14 students and 4 profs arrived in the region from Portugal. The students are involved with company internships and courses at local high schools. Two of these students are station in my high school and so to welcome the group the school planned a snowshoeing outing on Saturday. About 22 of us went to a local ski resort called Seythenex to shoeshow. We took the ski lift up to 1700 meters and then followed the very wet trails down to the chalet. The weather is really getting warm so the snow has been melting fast. Our snowshoeing was almost like skiing because we slipped so much. During much of the descent, we slid down on our butts as if sledding. It was a lovely afternoon and one moment in particular will forever stick out in my mind. I was walking along behind the group and all the sudden i hit a hole. My leg disappeared in the snow! Three Portuguese came to my rescue. One started digging me out, and two others, one on each side started pulling. It took a good 5 minutes to get me out of there! I was exhausted, embarrassed, and soaked but ill never forget it. After our walk, we had a drink in the chalet. I had a grog which is a mix of rum, lemon juice, hot water, and honey. Its quite tasty and especially good for you if you are sick. (not that im sick but...) During our beverges, the Portuguese Profs invited us to Turin or Torino the following day. So thats how i found myself in a mini bus with 4 Portuguese and one frenchwomen on Sunday headed for Italy.
Turin is about a two hour drive from Ugine. But with the Portuguese who are very found of coffee breaks it took us three. At midday, we visited the centre of the town including the Piazza Republicca, San Carlos, the cathedrale which contained a representation of the shroud of Jesus' burial, ruins of a roman city, the site of the 2006 winter olypmics, and also the site of an international chocolate festival! We were surrounded by booths of chocolate from all over the world and it really thought id died and had gone to heaven. After about an hour of searching in vain for stores or pizza place we ate at an italian cafeteria. I had pasta and quiche that was super good.
In the afternoon, we visited the Museo du Cinema or the Cinema Museum which also the tallest building in Italy. You can take an elevator to the top of the spire to see the panoramic views of the city. We unfortunately only had time for the museum. It was pretty fun however to walk through the themed rooms to view different fims, to see photos and costumes of famous characters and actors, and thanks to technology, play a role next to Keanu Reeves in the Matrix! After the museum we had to return to France. My day in Italy proved to me how little of the language i know. I want to go back at the end april so am now hitting the Italian books!

Spring is in the air!

Hey all, its finally warming up here in the Alps. People are still going skiing and such because the snow still sticks around high up on the peaks. The sun has everyone in a good mood and the students are striking (they say for political reasons but i think its to enjoy the sunshine = ) The main concern is a new law called the CPE. According to the CPE, an employer has the right to fire an employee who is younger than 26 during the first 2 years of their employment without a reason. Villepin (the premier ministre) hoped that this law would increase the number of young people being hired. What he didnt bargain for however what the strong reaction he would experience form the youth. Road blocks, protests, boycotts, etc have occured nationwide.
Time is ticking for me as i have about 2 months left in France. Im trying to think of everything i need to do and see before my time is up. For example today i tried a chausson aux pommes or an apple slipper which is like an apple turnover. Tres bon! In addition to getting everything in, Im job searching for summer. Ideally, ill find something interesting in Madison dealing with public health. I received another offer to stay in France another year to teach in a military academy. The director needs someone to teach english at this resortish school complete with swimming pool and tennis courts near a big city. So it would be more interesting that here UGINE POP 7000.... I would like to continue to speak french but i dont think i can handle french people for another year. Im going to sit on this one and think.. Hope everyone is doing well, take care.

Prague (part II)

The rest of my birthday was spent visiting the 'quartier du chateau' in Mala Strana or the castle neighborhood. It was here we saw Saint Vichys Cathedrale and the golden lane (which is suppose to be the oldest street in prague) The third day we toured a bohemian crystal factory in a nearby town. We saw people blowing the glass and then designing on the outside of vases, glasses, etc. It was a hot visit but neat to see in person how its done. As a parting gift, each person received a crystal heart (perhaps for valentines day). We also toured two museums; the Museum of Communism, where i saw a part of the Berlin Wall, and the Technical Museum which was about the history and developmennt of planes, trains, and automobiles. The best part about that museum for me was seeing an old train which looked like it came out of a western. The inside was decorated in wood and resembled a real house. If only we still traveled like that...During the week we also had free time when we could discover parts of Prague on our own (and not in a group of 50). It was during these times the professors and i would go shopping or get a cup of coffee and talk. It is very french to debate issues, and during one of our coffee breaks we sat for over an hour and a half discussing the potential new premiere ministre in France. It really puts Americans to shame how knowlegable French are about politics and news. It was also during this time that Jaques and I (jacques is an english prof) searched for amber jewelry. I found a very lovely green amber necklace and it was my purchase of Prague. It was so fun to window shop with him and find that 'perfect' piece of amber.

Memorable Moments
In the evenings, we occasionally had things planned for the students. Our last night in Prague, we all went out to the bars together. Alcohol is super cheap in the Czech Republic and there is no drinking age. I was dancing and drinking in the bar with kids who are 16! Since it was my birthday week, some of the kids bought me drinks and gave me the bises. It was a pretty fun evening, and the french comes so much easier after a cocktail or two = ) At the hotel, we met another group of french students who had come to visit the city. We got to talking and they thought i was Belgian. They were really confused when i started speaking in English to the staff! One day we ate at a restaurant in old town. It was a really rustic place owned by two Czech men. Since i had had it up to here with french, I started talking to them in English about the country and regular chit chat. At the end of our meal, they told me it was on the house. How sweet is that!? It really pays to be young and female especially when you travel = ) So for all of you young women out there, move your tucus and travel! FYI Its so much nicer to travel alone than with 45 students and 3 adults-so exhausting and you dont get to do what YOU want to. In retropspect, Prague was a wonderful experience and i am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go.

Prague (part I)

The week of my 23rd birthday, i headed to Prague in the Czech Republic for a four day trip. This voyage was organized by one of the geography teachers at the high school, Catherine, and consisted of 45 students and 4 adults. We left on Feb 12, a Sunday afternoon, by bus that would cross Switzerland, then Germany, before entering the Czech Republic. A total of 16 hours would be spent in that bus just to get there! Fortunately for me I can sleep through anything and thats what i did. Switzerland countryside reminded me a lot of Colorado. Winding through hilly/mountainous terrain, surrounded by houses and snow high up in altitude, we passed Geneva and Lausanne which is on Lake Leman and continued to Basel where we crossed into Germany. German frontiere patrol are not the nicest bunch ive met. One of the students had gotten car sick and so entered the shelter at the border with one of the teachers. During that time, a german security man approached the bus and demanded to know in german why we were still there. None of us spoke german, but then he tried broken english and i was called to explain the hold up. Thankfully, i was able to get the message across and we were on our way across Germany. This was my first time in Switzerland and Germany and i must say i hope not to go back to Germany anytime soon. Somewhere around 11pm, the chauffeur stopped the bus on the highway saying, minor technical problem give me 10 to fix it. Well it was rather serious problem, one of the belts for the motor was shredded and despite the fact he had a new belt he didnt have the correct tool for removing the old one! There was a SOS box nearby that we tried to call for assistance but once again, none of us spoke german; her english was terrible; all she said was 'credit card number please'. A real nightmare, late at night, freezing on the side of the highway somewhere in the middle of Germany. A truck stopped, but they didnt have the right tool either and didnt know a word of english or french. It was kinda comical now that i think about it, trying to communicate with gestures and any words we thought might be international. In any event, the profs decided to walk to a service station and find help. We were back on the road two hours later.
We arrived in Prague about 11am monday morning and didnt waste anytime to explore. We took a tour of the Jewish neighborhood included a few synagogues and the Jewish cemetary and museum dedicated to those lost during Hitlers rule. The museum consists of a section of childrens artwork from those who stayed in concentration camps as well as a list of peoples names painted on the walls who had perished. It was a difficult sight to take in and extremely interesting to think about how the children were effected. Also we toured the oldest part of the Prague that day known for a large cuckoo clock and the bridge of Saint Charles. Prague has remained virtually unchanged since World War II in comparison to other cities in eastern europe. So after probably Paris, Prague still has that ancient feel to it and you can find interesing facades and buildings at every corner. I fell in love with the city, its super romantic and a photographers dream.
The following morning, so the morning of my birthday, we went outside of Prague to the former concentration camp of Terezin. If any of you have seen 'Life is Beautiful' it reminded me a lot of the movie. The living conditions of the camp were of course atrocious and unsanitary but even as awful as it was it made me think about people in rural senegal. In the beginning, camps such as these held traitors to the government, criminals and prisoners of war. Later, it started filling up with Jews and those discriminated against by Hitlers regime. These people did not deserve such cruel treatment, but people today still live like that and for them sometimes its all they have ever experienced. What are we doing for those dying from unclean water in sub saharan africa today?