On Tours

Now that I have settled in completely and got to know the place a lot better, my initial impressions remain true. Tours is an exceedingly beautiful town and I feel lucky to be here. The river and islands in it are beautiful, the squares are lovely, the boulageries incredible, and any town that owns wallabies and a stuffed elephant gets a thumbs up from me.

There are, however, two negative contrasts with Britain that are very striking; I think these are symptomatic of a wider problem in France and not specific to Tours. Indeed, the fact that they affect wealthy Tours as well as Paris and Marseille just goes to demonstrate how deep the problems in French society are.

Number one is the number of homeless people. I am used to seeing quite a few homeless around Oxford, but the number in Tours seems staggering. They are literally everywhere with their dogs in tow.

Number two is the numbers of mentally disturbed people. I have seen three so far, compared with only having seen one or two all the time I’ve been in Luton, and none that I can remember in Oxford. Worse, I think, is the attitude towards them. One such woman got on the bus on my way home, wearing trousers almost to her armpits and loudly singing a song. The children all started shouting “it’s the madwoman!” when they saw her. They clearly knew her and thought it acceptable to laugh at her madness. While it was funny, it was also sad. I don’t really know what should be done with crazy people – I imagine the reason I see so few is that they are kept locked away, which is as bad as letting them loose to be laughed at all day.

One positive difference, though, is the number of disabled people at work. I’ve seen three in my not incredibly large staff room: a lady in a wheelchair, a science teacher with one arm, and a man with a speech impediment probably indicative of some other problems. In England I think we would just give up on them. It’s nice seeing them mixing in the staff room and being treated like everybody else; this is, after all, the way to break down prejudices and spread understanding.

 

On Germans

Before I came to Tours, I did not know I loved Germans. I already knew a girl from Munich (who is actually English), a boy at Oxford who studies Maths and Computer Science, Christian (an internet friend for those who I know in real life) and an exchange student from some years back. The number of Germans I know has now doubled, and I have still to meet a German I dislike. Hooray for Germans!

‘Solitude is my greatest dread’ – Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

We have ten days of holidays for All Saints’. Since we broke up on Friday, the dread of solitude has compelled all of us assistants to seek one another’s company in order to compulsively DO THINGS, leaving very little time for updating LJ despite my theoretically increased free time. So, I’m going to make up for this it now.

We started on Friday night by going to Hannah’s house to eat crepes. Yes, you read that right – Hannah is an assistant, Hannah possesses a house. It has two bedrooms, two toilets, a kitchen, a living room, and only one resident. We are all exceedingly jealous, of course – her school sorted it out for her, whereas all of our schools have been utterly useless.  Anyway, she had bought a crepe machine and lots of crepes were made and eaten. There was almost English-German parity (I know all four German girls in Tours, and they are all lovely), making the English feel incredibly inferior about their language skills. I can now almost pronounce Eichhörnchen though.

Saturday was a day of lounging in Tim’s room (Tim is half-Korean, laid back, from Wales, lives in a room of 14m² in the Foyer de Jeune Travailleurs, basically a dorm) with Judith (German, wonderful). He cooked risotto and then we watched The Hangover and Role Models in succession, both silly but amusing American films aimed at teenage boys. We went to bed somewhat too late considering the next day was to involve cycling to a chateau 18 kilometres away.

On Sunday, we started by going to Velpeau market (awesome market full of deliciousness) before embarking on the epic trip. It took about an hour and a half to get there, including a short break for trying to catch lizards by their tails. Once at Villandry Chateau, we looked around the gardens, which are truly incredible and well worth the visit, as well as the interior of the chateau which was predictably dull. Then we had some ice cream... oh god. French ice cream is indescribably heavenly and puts everything in Britain to shame. We cycled back, got to Judith’s at about 5pm, cooked, ate, watched 8 Femmes in French without subtitles (resulting in confusion) and the first episode of Skins, which I’d never seen before but thought was really good. Then it was hometime.

On Monday, I was tired and lazy and did nothing all morning. In the evening, Tim and Judith came over for curry and wine, along with one of Judith’s university friends from Cologne who is currently in Rennes, not far from Tours. Then we went to the Café des langues as is usual for Monday evenings, where we met the rest of the group.

Tuesday was another day of meeting up in a large group (3 of the Germans + 1 from Rennes, 3 English) to go to the Botanical Gardens. They had wallabies and flamingos. I touched a wallaby in the face! It seemed reasonably pleased about this. Later we went to eat in a lovely little creperie about one minute from my apartment and then went to a bar.

I seem to have nothing planned for the next few days, although the only French guy I vaguely know has asked me to go to a film with him. However, come Monday, I’ll be very busy – I’m spending Monday in Poitiers with a friend from Oxford, and Tuesday in Nantes, further down the Loire, in Brittany. I haven’t seen much of France really, so it will be nice to see a few more cities.

So, I know that was entirely too much information to be interesting, but generally I am keeping busy and happy with lovely people. Here is a concise list of friends to avoid confusion in future:

Rachel – one of the first people I met. She is 22, Sheffield University (although she applied to Cambridge), from Nottingham, and one of those unfailingly friendly English protestants. She lives in North Tours with a young couple and often has to look after their son.

Judith – the German assistant at Rachel’s school. She’s from Cologne and lives quite far to the South in an apartment with 3 Frenchies. Also unerringly friendly and a good cook.

Tim – Half-Korean, from Wales, goes to King’s College (although he also applied to Cambridge). Likes saying “that’s what she said” and downloading films, eats too many kebabs, generally very amusing. Lives in the Foyer.

Diana – American from Chicago, lives in the Foyer with Tim, likes speaking Portuguese and French bread.

Hannah – German with a house! I believe she is from Stuttgart. She wants to be a French and Theology teacher in Germany afterwards. Likes English food, inexplicably!

Johanna – German from Swabia, near Mercedes. Does not like football, does like linguistics! I don’t actually know where she lives.

Maria Christina (usually just Marie) – The German assistant at my school, I haven’t seen her much of lately because her family has been over visiting. She is from Rostock on the Baltic coast in East Germany, has a strong Baltic identity and a Swedish-speaking boyfriend. Lives far in the North with a hippy family.

Well, life has been quite busy, which is why I haven't posted in about an age. From Monday 6th to Tuesday 14th, I was busy with my cousin's wedding. I was utterly exhausted by the end of it - it was way too long and far too much effort - but at least it's over now.

On Wednesday, to destress, I met up with Josh and we went on a giant walk from Luton town centre all the way to the countryside. It was about 3 miles each way, but it was nice because we ended up on a road by some farms, looking down at Luton in the distance. Then we went into a little forest. It's weird how close the countryside is, really (I remember Eva telling me how she loves the British countryside because more or less all of the Netherlands is one big conurbation), and lovely to just escape to it and get away from traffic and people.

Today I met up with Annie and we wandered around some charity shops in Harpenden and St Albans. Pickings were good: I picked up The Children of Húrin, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (which has continued to grow on me since I read it) and a George Orwell Compendium including Down and Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia, The Road to Wigan Pier and several essays (including a review of Mein Kampf). I haven't read any of this stuff before but Orwell is a man after my own heart, so I'm going to enjoy going through it.

In other news, Vauxhall called up and are actually offering me a job. This is both unbelievable and fantastic in equal measure, because I'd kind of given up on finding a job. It's only for 6 weeks, starting this Thursday, but that works out kind of well because it means there's time for a holiday in September. Unfortunately, it means I can't go to Finland to spend time with Ukri, Hanni, Maria and Volo, but there are still many years ahead...

Well, it's been a week seen I last posted. We're in ninth week now, which is technically after the end of term, but lots of people have exams or papers to write so most people stayed on. I haven't really done much except watch lots of Peep Show and say goodbye to lots of people. I actually did some work on Tuesday, which was a slightly amazing occurance that hasn't been repeated since. We had a barbeque on Wednesday which was brilliant. Then the mathematicians all finished their exams on Thursday, so we drank lots of alcohols in Hertford's quad. After that, I went to meet the Amnesty members for a picnic and goodbye, then it was back with the mathematicians to have dinner in the Brasserie Blanc, a fairly posh French restaurant. I decided to try snails, which were delicious but so covered in garlic and herbs that I have no idea what they actually taste like. Then people came to my room for some good old Age of Empires.

Friday was the last day for most people. We went punting in South Oxford in the morning, which I'd never done before. I got the idea when I walked back home with Sabrina from East Oxford on Friday and realised that the river was a lot more beautiful in the South by virtue of going through some beautiful meadows. It's amazing that I'd been in Oxford for two years without ever walking along that path before. Anyway, punting in the meadows was beautiful and a lot easier than punting in the north. I saw a heron (I don't think I've ever seen one before, and definitely not so close up) and then we moored the punt by this tree I'm obsessed with and climbed it.

After punting, we went up North to Leckford for some sushi, by which I mean a hell of a lot of sushi. Followed by lots of goodbyes and then some age of empires again.

Saturday involved ice cream with Mike and Kristian, then more age of empires with Kristian in the evening.

So, overall, I've been having a lot of fun interspersed with a lot of saying goodbye to people. I think I'm the only person left on my floor (and possibly my building) now, so it's quite lonely. I have a few friends in a building not too far away, though, so I may visit them soon. In any case, I'm quite looking forward to Eva's visit.

I'm feeling slightly less bad about the impact of France on friendships. A lot of people have said they'll definitely be visiting me, and I think I will come back for a while when everybody has their finals. Also, facebook and Skype (which I am yet to get) mean it will be easy to stay in contact. And after all, I manage to stay in touch with Josh, Annie and all the Downers largely through the internet, so I'm sure I'll manage to do the same with others.

What am I slightly concerned about with regard to France is:
1) The location of the school. The outskirts of Tours in an industrial zone. Not the best, but I don't necessarily have to live there I guess...
2) The school itself. It's in the bottom half of all schools in France, though not in the bottom quarter. I suppose I should be grateful it's not a banlieue but I would have liked something a little more academic.
3) How iz friendship formmed?? I have no idea how to make friends in a non-academic context. All the friends I'm made so far have a consequence of going to the same school or university and being reasonably geeky. I still remember Freshers' Week, during which almost everybody went clubbing except for most of the people who were to become my friends - we stayed in and played Risk. But what happens without an establishment full of people my age? I suppose there will be teachers, and I do tend to get on very well with people older than me, but I do wonder what kind of social contact I will have outside of teaching circles. Actually, Alex, if you're reading this, any words of wisdom about your year abroad would be extremely appreciated.

I had a brilliant day today. It started off with my Protect the Human T-shirt finally coming through from Amnesty! I was beginning to worry it had been waylaid. Amazingly, it actually fits me quite well, so I look forward to wearing it next term for Amnesty things (I've applied to join the committee).

It was my friend Will's birthday, so five of us Oxonians descended on London. It was good seeing them again, even though it's only been a day since I got back. We went to Camden, where I had quince juice for the first time - it is amazing and honeylike.

We went to loads of vintage clothes shops. I bought some brown suede shoes with leather soles for £15, which was amazing because I've been looking for shoes for ages. It's hard to find my size anyway as it's halfway between child and adult (5.5). Additionally I hate branded trainers and wanted something to wear casually that looked reasonably good and hadn't been assembled in a sweatshop, so it was a dream buy overall.

My friends bought bizarre things, including stripey dungarees and a one-piece purple pop-art suit. Will, who doesn't believe in gender differentiation, kept trying on women's boots although he wasn't happy with any. I love my friends. :D

So, my quest for nice footwear can finally be laid to rest, my allegiance to Amnesty can now be worn, and the insanity of my friends remains unabated. All in all, life is great. Oh, and in addition I'm receiving a free book on the history of French from some retired bloke in Oxford, yay. :D