One of my favorite expressions in French is, "Il faut profiter!" or "profitez-en bien!" Roughly translated, this means, "take advantage of it." In French this expression is often used to address how one must respond to simple moments, such as a bout of sunshine or an evening with friends.
My experience as an assistant in France did not quite meet any expectations I had. Living in Royan during the winter has often been rather boring. But as we're nearing the end here, I am starting to get a little nostalgic. On Mondays, I go to Ecole Lucien Robin in the local town of Saint Palais sur Mer. I only have one more day of work left there. Today it really started hitting me what that means. There will only be one more car ride into school with one of the teachers during which I pick up the occasional gem of information about the area; this morning we talked about local pirate legends. There will only be one more day in which William, a student about eight years old, runs up to me in the hallway incessantly to hug/attack me. I found him sitting out in the hall later this afternoon for some misdemeanor he had inevitably committed in class. He just happily smiled at me and when I needed to get into the door he was sitting in front of, he moved without any trouble. There will only be one more day for me to walk through Saint Palais amidst the blooming honeysuckle to get the bus back to Royan, ride along for fifteen minutes with a beautiful view of the estuary, and then hop off the bus to get a cookie at La Mie Caline before walking home.
My experience as an assistant has not gone as I expected, but it has been an experience. I will be happy to be back in the US to see family, friends, to not sleep in a different place every two nights...But I am thankful for this experience of working as an assistant. In these last two weeks, il faut profiter.
My experience as an assistant in France did not quite meet any expectations I had. Living in Royan during the winter has often been rather boring. But as we're nearing the end here, I am starting to get a little nostalgic. On Mondays, I go to Ecole Lucien Robin in the local town of Saint Palais sur Mer. I only have one more day of work left there. Today it really started hitting me what that means. There will only be one more car ride into school with one of the teachers during which I pick up the occasional gem of information about the area; this morning we talked about local pirate legends. There will only be one more day in which William, a student about eight years old, runs up to me in the hallway incessantly to hug/attack me. I found him sitting out in the hall later this afternoon for some misdemeanor he had inevitably committed in class. He just happily smiled at me and when I needed to get into the door he was sitting in front of, he moved without any trouble. There will only be one more day for me to walk through Saint Palais amidst the blooming honeysuckle to get the bus back to Royan, ride along for fifteen minutes with a beautiful view of the estuary, and then hop off the bus to get a cookie at La Mie Caline before walking home.
My experience as an assistant has not gone as I expected, but it has been an experience. I will be happy to be back in the US to see family, friends, to not sleep in a different place every two nights...But I am thankful for this experience of working as an assistant. In these last two weeks, il faut profiter.