It has been very hot and dry in France for the last month or so. The extreme heats at the end of June didn't stop the everyday life here but surely it affected to how people spent their days. For example at our school that is small and without air condition or openable windows, we tried to spend as little time indoors as possible. Of course it was not that easy to go out with the small children either because we had to make sure that they stayed in the shadows and not getting overly exhausted. On the hottest week our headmaster informed the parents that the children should stay at home if possible so we got way less than half of the students coming to school. That enabled us to go also to a nearby grocery store to buy ice-cream to everyone one day and easier to change the place if it got too hot either in the classrooms or in the parks. But anyway, we survived all the way until the end of the school year last Friday. Unbelievable, I actually worked at that preschool for 1,5 years in total! I wouldn't have thought of that last year when I started there and I came home crying because it felt so intense for me...
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We walked a bit further to a bigger park with the whole school
and the kids enjoyed watching some ducks, too.
"One little duck went out one day, over the hills and far away.." |
However, last Friday I needed to say goodbyes to everyone at our school. As I told before, I am going to change my job. Even though I am happy that I don't need to travel for 2 hours every day nor have the certain struggles I had there, it was sad to give the final thanks, hugs and smiles to my kids and my lovely colleagues. Most of my kids like being close to an adult and give random hugs but normally they are a bit shy to do that in front of everyone. But when I asked my whole class to come and hug me on the last day, they all ran to give a huge group hug. One of the sweetest moments during my career! After taking my ukulele from the school and leaving my key to an assistant, I went to still have a dinner together with the other full-time teacher that I became close with during the school year.
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| Japanese food with my colleague |
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| I got some chocolate from the parents of my kids. |
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| Other gifts I got from the families and my colleagues. |
So... I'm on a vacation now! Yaaay, it is so nice that I don't need to wake up at 6 am anymore! And I don't need to wake up for my flat mates anymore either. I also mentioned before that I am changing my apartment here, as well. Telling about my new place took some time but I am happy to say that I have been living in a small flat a bit outside Paris for a month already. By a coincidence a table tennis friend of H was renting out a flat in Gentilly, just a few hundred meters from the busy Paris, and I got to start moving my stuff from the beginning of June. I took a round or two always on my free days and managed to carry all of my things by trams and buses within June, and I left my keys to the apartment in the Asian district and said bye to my landlady and her two children.
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The highway surrounding Paris and behind my previous place.
Living in a high building offered a nice view though... |
The new home in Gentilly is located in a peaceful area (even though as said, the boarder of Paris is only a few hundred meters away) and the house is very peaceful, too. Being very lucky, the apartment is located on the ground floor, giving the chance to access the small back yard that only the 3 ground-floor apartments' inhabitants can use. There are also more parks and way less people in the surroundings that I had in the previous place, so I couldn't be happier for this change!
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Celebrating signing the renting papers with the new landlord.
On the background the lovely backyard. |
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| In Gentilly |
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This wine selling building in located almost on the opposite
of our building on the new home street. |
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These 1€ lamps that work with small solar panels
actually work pretty well. I am surprised! |
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For some reason there are Angry Birds painted on the road
when I walk to a bigger supermarket from the new home. |
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| The pig is painted on the car road for cars to bump into it... |
What it comes to getting a new job, I have been applying, refusing offers, getting disappointed by the declining decisions after being told to be perfect for the position, applying more, have interviews on Skype and on the spot... And finally I got my answer and made my decision yesterday after one company told that they would hire me if I agreed. I will start as a nanny to a French family with two small children that don't speak or understand any English yet. Haha, that will be an interesting experience to see how long it will take for the children to feel comfortable around me (who speaks "gibberish"), how long it will take for them to understand me and whether they start speaking some English at some point, too.
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| On the way to one of the interviews... |
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| ...and to another interview. |
All in all: I have a new home and a new job going to start after the summer. Next week I will fly to Finland to enjoy my summer close to my family and friends and all other things I miss from Finland. There is still some preparation to do for that too... With the following photos I want to wish happy summer to everyone! :)
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I went to test the dancing next to Seine also this year.
That's a great and free place to go dancing in Paris. |
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| Happened to pass by a street where they were filming a movie. |
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On my first day of vacation I went to Montmartre with H.
I really like the artistic atmosphere there. |
