First "Mini-Weekend"

I'm continuing to get settled in and to attempt to develop a regular schedule. So, my schedule in France is pretty sparse so far, meaning that I only teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving me with a weekend in the middle of the week. As a result, I'm going to try and use that time to finish my grad school applications (already turned on in to Vanderbilt), read up on the subject I'm proposing to study, and to get a good amount of running and training in for the race.

Monday was my first day at school and I can honestly say I think the kids really liked me (see photo). I taught my first lesson on the USA and its states. We listened to the song "50 Nifty United States" and then played US State bingo. With my older kids, it was a hit, but, since I didn't know I was going to have the K-3 level kids at my second school, I wasn't really prepared for them. I'll be better next week.
During rainy recess, my CM1 (i.e. 5th grade) kids drew this on the board for me. I have a few photos of them all posing with their art, but I don't really feel right about putting their photos on the blog.
Yesterday was my day off, and I'm not going to lie, I did lounge around quite a bit. After the strikers woke me up from my daze, I did convince myself to get in the 5 mile run I'd set out to do yesterday.

Yesterday was a national strike in France. One thing to know about French people is that they are very active when it comes to striking and protesting. Here's a quick shot from my bedroom window as the "grêve" (strike) passed by, singing, chanting, and yelling. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I don't actually know what they were striking about.
Here's the run. This is the same area I ran on Saturday, only today's run was shorter (and by myself). It was a beautiful afternoon and I had to keep reminding myself to really enjoy and take in the scenery rather than to just focus on the run. It's just so pretty here.




Did you see these splits? I just want to make sure you see that they're all sub-12-minute/mile splits. For a 5 mile run. This is definitely a new personal best there. I shaved around 2.5 minutes off my average 5 mile time (I believe). I'm pretty excited. Also, on a sidenote, I'm REALLY happy I bought the water belt. I know it probably makes me look like inspector Gadget when running, what with my garmin, my ipod, and now a belt, but it's so nice to have out here, especially since there's absolutely no where to get water on the island.

Remember how I said how pretty it was here? Here are a few photos I snapped on my phone during the run. I need to go back and get some of these with my real camera... once I find a converter so I can charge it.

Here's the path next to the Rhône river I was running on on the ile. Up ahead is the bridge I use to cross over from Avignon to the Barthelasse.
Avignon's two most famous monuments: the Pont d'Avignon (I'm sure some of you have heard the song, right?) and the Papal Palace. I really wish I'd had my real camera for this photo.

Me. Post run in the elevator back up to the apartment. Yes. After running 5 miles, I did stoop to taking the elevator home. Oh well. PS, see what I mean about inspector gadget?
Oh, and to add, two photos from Claire's phone from our outing (my run/her bike ride) on Saturday:

Taking the ferry over to the island for our exploring fun run over there.
Claire decided to bike ahead and get my photo while running. I think this actually might be the first anyone's ever taken of me (aside from the ones you have to buy from race photographers)

Well, there you go. I'm so glad Mr. Garmin didn't give me any trouble uploading this particular run. I was SO freaked out when I thought he was broken... I don't know what I'd do without him!

Oh, and last night, I went with some of the girls to the CUTEST restaurant I've been to in Avignon: Ginette & Marcel's. While the one lady was really bitchy to us, we had a great time at this tartine restaurant. Definitely click on the link and check out the photos. It's the most adorable and quaint place. I got a smoked salmon/cream tartine and a small slice of chocolate/pear tart. Very reasonably priced and delicious. Can't wait to take any of my visitors there when they come to see me in Avi!






Anyway, I'm off to run some errands. Tonight, Claire is taking me to go meet the landlords of the apartment. Woo. Have a great dayyyyyy! Happy Hump Day, all!