Discotheques and Baby Squids

Week 9: 11/10-11/17

Welcome to /miel/, a written version of what my life is like and what my days hold here in Noyon, France. Thank you for coming to read today.

It’s been a good week! Last Friday, there was no school, so I slept in. I bopped around the house a bit, cleaned up, and then Friday night, Nicole and I went out with the teachers. We tried a new place in Noyon that is a “discotheque”, which is similar to a club or dancing bar. It was an interesting vibe… There were 75 year olds and also 18 year olds present, and I don’t know who was DJ’ing, but they needed to go back to DJ school because they were killing the dancing vibe (not in a good way). I was happy to see that Noyon even had a discotheque, but I’m not sure how often I’ll be back there.

Saturday, I went to the market of course and bought all my fruits and veggies for 7 euros. This was a great steal, and I even got to talking with some ladies while in line to buy some cheese, and they recommended some good coffee shops around Noyon, and even recommended some delicious cheese!

Saturday afternoon, Nicole and I went to Compiegne to meet up with two teachers that I work with at Paul Eluard. We went to a “creperie” (a place that serves crepes), and ate and chatted for four hours! It was a wonderful afternoon, and I am really happy that I have gotten to know some of the teachers better, and spend time with them outside of school.

I’ve been cleaning around the house a fair amount and working to keep my space clean (because clean space equals clean mind). Living with four girls, there is so. much. hair. everywhere. all the time. I don’t think it ever ends, I think it actually replicates and when each hair strand hits the floor, it instantly becomes doubled. We have hardwood floors, so it’s equally a blessing and a curse that it’s easy to clean, but also easy to see how much hair is always laying on the floor…

Wednesday morning, I went to Paul Eluard to teach sixth graders! It was so nice. We worked on spelling our names in the English alphabet (different pronunciation compared to French alphabet), the differences in vowel pronunciation (the hardest part for students), and we talked about Thanksgiving. It never fails that when I talk about how insanely big our turkeys are for Thanksgiving, the kids’ eyes get so large and they say, “no way!”

Today, I worked with 8th grade and 6th grade, just working on introductions and answering all the questions about the USA. The most common ones are “Do you know Lebron James?”, “What is your favorite basketball team?” (the only acceptable answers are Lakers or Warriors), and “Have you been to New York?” The students are so sweet, and I am really glad to be in classrooms where the majority of students are curious and want to learn about my culture.

Tonight, Nicole and I went out with some more colleagues, because today is the third Thursday in November, which marks the day of "Beaujolais Nouveau". Every year on this day, a new wine is released. However, this wine is only fermented for a few WEEKS! Some people love this type of wine, and some people hate it. While we went on the search for some Beaujolais Nouveau, unfortunately all the bars that would typically serve it were closed! Can you believe it?! So, we ended up going for a drink and ending up at an "all-you-can-eat Asian buffet". And this buffet, while mostly similar to the American versions, had a section for charcuterie (meats, cheeses, bread), and what appeared to be very fresh seafood (entire crabs, oysters, mussels, shrimp, and BABY SQUIDS). So, maybe the French version is more or less up your alley for the buffet.

This weekend, I might go to either Compiegne, Amiens or Paris for a day trip (all about one hour or less away by train). I have to start making the most of my long weekends, as the time is passing so fast and I have so many places I want to see!

It’s been a fairly uneventful week in Noyon. I have learned more and more about Noyon, and France in general, a lot of which I am continually processing before I write it here.

I have learned that while the unemployment rate in France is about 7.4%, in Noyon (as of 2019), the unemployment rate is 26.4%. Noyon is a very poor town, and there are certain aspects that represent this. There are many stores that are evidently closed, no longer open for business, and the signs are still up being weathered away. I passed by a billboard today that was ¾ of the way removed, leaving ¼ of the advertisement still stuck up there. There are relatively many people that are always hanging around the bars/cafes even at 8 in the morning, until late at night. And there are other things as well that come with a poorer town, as I have heard from the locals and seen myself, including drugs, alcohol addiction, and various others.

I am safe, I have asked many questions of how I can continue to stay safe, and I AM SAFE. I only want to be candid with you all about the town I am in. And there are some very pretty things about Noyon, like the cathedral, the amount of trees, and the people in general are very nice and welcoming.

I hope to share more about other things I am learning about Noyon and France in general in upcoming posts.

TL:DR

High: Spending time with colleagues outside of school.

High #2: Experiencing my first French discotheque.

Low: Still ironing things out with my two schools… yes, still.

Low #2: rien -> "nothing"

New French Word:

Redhibitoire (adj) – deal-breaker

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. Discotheques are an… experience…

2. Girls shed so much hair, how do we keep any on our head?

3. I need to learn more about basketball (and soccer still).

4. The only places that exist and matter in the US are Los Angeles and New York.

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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, some snail mail, whatever suits you best.

All the love,

Abigail

Below: the cathedral in Beauvais, France. It's difficult to capture the immensity of the structure, and the beauty inside and out. This picture shows only a fraction of how large this cathedral is.