E-mail archive #21: "I have returned."
Dear Friends,
I've been back in France for almost two weeks now, and have just begun work today. For those who may not have heard, I'm working as an English teaching assistant in a high school in Sedan, France, a few miles from the Belgian border in the Ardennes. I'm getting settled and oriented in Sedan more rapidly than I did in Rennes, Sedan being a smaller town with no buses (therefore no accordion zone to ride in), so I've had to walk everywhere, a chore while wearing a boot splint and carrying a cane [which, for those who may not have heard, I needed because I'd broken my foot in a car accident]. The good news is that I've begun walking without the splint, and have been using the cane much less since I wore through the rubber pad on the bottom of it... I've put a lot of mileage on it in the last few weeks.
Getting here was a project in itself, as I had planned out an itinerary of nearly two weeks before my arrival here, which meant two weeks carrying everything I wanted to move into my apartment. This inconvenience was aggravated by my injury, but not enough to make me change my travel plans; I simply added a cane and a walking boot to my baggage. Starting from Erie, I traveled to Chicago, New York, Paris and then Reims for training before I finally arrived in Sedan.
One might say that I have bad luck with a large frame backpack that I like to use when I make a long trip, as when I arrived in Paris, I found that it had missed my connecting flight in London; this was the same bag that had been lost in Barcelona when I entered Spain. This time, however, I still had other luggage (this one only contained dirty laundry), and the baggage error actually worked in my favor: I directed them to send it to my address in Sedan, and I didn't have to carry it around at all in France.
While learning French, I've noticed that when I learn a new word, I tend to see it around quite frequently thereafter, as if it just suddenly appeared. I've noticed a similar phenomenon while walking with a cane: walking around Sedan, I notice a much higher number of people with canes or crutches than I remember having seen before in one place. I'm sure there's a reason for this. If anyone knows anything about any psychological phenomenon that can explain it, I would be most interested.
At the moment, my internet connectivity is about the same as when I was in Rennes: I can use it at the school, but I don't have it at home, so if you write to me, it may take me a while to write back. Should any of you need my address, it is as follows:
Daniel CARTWRIGHT
LGT Pierre BAYLE
Rue Jean ROGISSART
08200 SEDAN
FRANCE
The capitalization may not be necessary, but it's so conventional that it's hard to read a French address without it... at least, I have a harder time identifying the parts of the address at a glance when there isn't at least one thing capitalized in each line.
My telephone number, for good measure: 011-336-10-81-12-79 from within the US.
I've also added a few pictures of my town and the surrounding region; the computer started acting up so I still have a few to go that will have to wait. Note that the address for my pictures has changed (the old address shouldn't work at all anymore).
Keep me updated on the goings-on back in Chautauqua County, Naz, Rochester, and so on. I like to hear news from home.
À bientôt,
Dan
I've been back in France for almost two weeks now, and have just begun work today. For those who may not have heard, I'm working as an English teaching assistant in a high school in Sedan, France, a few miles from the Belgian border in the Ardennes. I'm getting settled and oriented in Sedan more rapidly than I did in Rennes, Sedan being a smaller town with no buses (therefore no accordion zone to ride in), so I've had to walk everywhere, a chore while wearing a boot splint and carrying a cane [which, for those who may not have heard, I needed because I'd broken my foot in a car accident]. The good news is that I've begun walking without the splint, and have been using the cane much less since I wore through the rubber pad on the bottom of it... I've put a lot of mileage on it in the last few weeks.
Getting here was a project in itself, as I had planned out an itinerary of nearly two weeks before my arrival here, which meant two weeks carrying everything I wanted to move into my apartment. This inconvenience was aggravated by my injury, but not enough to make me change my travel plans; I simply added a cane and a walking boot to my baggage. Starting from Erie, I traveled to Chicago, New York, Paris and then Reims for training before I finally arrived in Sedan.
One might say that I have bad luck with a large frame backpack that I like to use when I make a long trip, as when I arrived in Paris, I found that it had missed my connecting flight in London; this was the same bag that had been lost in Barcelona when I entered Spain. This time, however, I still had other luggage (this one only contained dirty laundry), and the baggage error actually worked in my favor: I directed them to send it to my address in Sedan, and I didn't have to carry it around at all in France.
While learning French, I've noticed that when I learn a new word, I tend to see it around quite frequently thereafter, as if it just suddenly appeared. I've noticed a similar phenomenon while walking with a cane: walking around Sedan, I notice a much higher number of people with canes or crutches than I remember having seen before in one place. I'm sure there's a reason for this. If anyone knows anything about any psychological phenomenon that can explain it, I would be most interested.
At the moment, my internet connectivity is about the same as when I was in Rennes: I can use it at the school, but I don't have it at home, so if you write to me, it may take me a while to write back. Should any of you need my address, it is as follows:
Daniel CARTWRIGHT
LGT Pierre BAYLE
Rue Jean ROGISSART
08200 SEDAN
FRANCE
The capitalization may not be necessary, but it's so conventional that it's hard to read a French address without it... at least, I have a harder time identifying the parts of the address at a glance when there isn't at least one thing capitalized in each line.
My telephone number, for good measure: 011-336-10-81-12-79 from within the US.
I've also added a few pictures of my town and the surrounding region; the computer started acting up so I still have a few to go that will have to wait. Note that the address for my pictures has changed (the old address shouldn't work at all anymore).
Keep me updated on the goings-on back in Chautauqua County, Naz, Rochester, and so on. I like to hear news from home.
À bientôt,
Dan