Wow wow wow. I cannot believe that it is nearly May and I am in my last week of teaching and living in Nice. Friday the weather was grey and my mood matched it; I was just feeling so depressed to leave. I have 3 days left of teaching, then I will have a fun 10 days with Melissa in Dublin (and 2 in Edinburgh), then I'm back in Nice for a short week to wrap things up and hopefully catch some of the Cannes festival. May 18th I repatriate and begin a whole new chapter.
I did receive a nice little gift in the form of a large cloud of volcanic ash. While the rest of Europe was up in smoke, I was granted an extra week without my roommate (best present of all! The apartment was much more relaxed without her). Then, due to cancelled plans I welcomed a fellow Crozetian and 2 more UVA students who are studying in Lyon. It was like a mini mid-week vacation. Two days later, several hours in the sun, good food, and a nice sunburn later, my guests leave and I am reminded of all the tasks to do before leaving.
There is a possibility that this is my last post before returning to the States. I make no promises, but I do tend to get more nostalgic and thoughtful during transitions. I know I have learned and grown so much here. And I am dreading the return, but I know I will be happy once I get there. I just need to start planning my next return to France. I do not know if I will have another opportunity to live here for an extended period, and that makes me sad. I think I'll have some things to blog about this summer... the transition period. I also have a lot of goals (besides GET A JOB) that include more cooking experiments, learning to drive stick, etc. and I can blog about that!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Striking Cultural Difference
So, I guess I've been rather absent. Again, I will use the excuse that I've been out and about, living my life here. I'm at the end of my fourth and last vacation, and Daphne just came to visit. Although we did not leave the Nice area (we did go to Italy one afternoon) I still had a wonderful time. Either way, I've just not felt the blogging inspiration recently.
A topic of conversation as of recent is how difficult it is to travel. Currently I know a few people stranded in different destinations because of the Icelandic volcano, but before that there was the train strike. So, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the French and their love of the "grève."
Since October when I started, every couple of months the teachers' unions will plan a day to strike. If it is only teachers, then they will meet in front of the Rectorat (= education hq for the city) and have picket signs, whatever. Also, there are days where nationally unions will call for strikes and there are protesters in the street for a couple of hours.
In the fall/winter the strikes did not affect much. I know of about 3-5 teachers who actually strike when the day comes, and they are older, more seasoned teachers. So, usually I still have to work, I just know that their classes will be canceled. I have also heard that students will get word of a strike and decide to be "solidaire" and not come to school.
However, the national strike in March was much bigger. I mentioned that I still had one class, but I actually got up that morning so I could go see the manifestations /protests. Since this was a national strike of all the unions, there were firefighters, rescue workers, teachers, newspapers, and all the transportations were represented. The parade started at Place Massena, continued through Garibaldi and I was shocked that an hour later (after I had returned to eat lunch) I saw them coming down Jean Medecin. (I know that means nothing to those of you who have not been to Nice, but they did at least a mile or two of parading!)
Honestly, I did not pay too much attention to what they were protesting about. I do know that usually the teachers are protesting against Education policies that might require bigger class sizes or more work hours. Also, the national strike in March came just a few days after their regional elections. I heard some people remarks about how the French just told the government how they wanted things via voting, and now they felt the need to strike. I guess I kind of equate the French's love to strike with the American mentality about the second amendment-- it's a right.
I do have to give the transportation people a little credit for getting their point across. For almost 2 weeks the trains in France have been on strike. It came right during Easter break which is a major holiday for a lot of Europe, and the strike has inconvenienced a LOT of tourists. I have some friends stranded in Barcelona currently waiting for a way back to Nice, and that's just the beginning. Only a few trains run per day and the only way to know which ones is to go to the station. Once you tick off a bunch of vacationing Europeans, you can consider your strike a success, I guess.
I'll end by asking what you think of the French and their love for strikes? Do you think they're effective? and I'll include a few pictures that I took from March.
"Following a social movement, the tramway network will be cancelled today. Thank you for understanding."
A topic of conversation as of recent is how difficult it is to travel. Currently I know a few people stranded in different destinations because of the Icelandic volcano, but before that there was the train strike. So, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the French and their love of the "grève."
Since October when I started, every couple of months the teachers' unions will plan a day to strike. If it is only teachers, then they will meet in front of the Rectorat (= education hq for the city) and have picket signs, whatever. Also, there are days where nationally unions will call for strikes and there are protesters in the street for a couple of hours.
In the fall/winter the strikes did not affect much. I know of about 3-5 teachers who actually strike when the day comes, and they are older, more seasoned teachers. So, usually I still have to work, I just know that their classes will be canceled. I have also heard that students will get word of a strike and decide to be "solidaire" and not come to school.
However, the national strike in March was much bigger. I mentioned that I still had one class, but I actually got up that morning so I could go see the manifestations /protests. Since this was a national strike of all the unions, there were firefighters, rescue workers, teachers, newspapers, and all the transportations were represented. The parade started at Place Massena, continued through Garibaldi and I was shocked that an hour later (after I had returned to eat lunch) I saw them coming down Jean Medecin. (I know that means nothing to those of you who have not been to Nice, but they did at least a mile or two of parading!)
Honestly, I did not pay too much attention to what they were protesting about. I do know that usually the teachers are protesting against Education policies that might require bigger class sizes or more work hours. Also, the national strike in March came just a few days after their regional elections. I heard some people remarks about how the French just told the government how they wanted things via voting, and now they felt the need to strike. I guess I kind of equate the French's love to strike with the American mentality about the second amendment-- it's a right.
I do have to give the transportation people a little credit for getting their point across. For almost 2 weeks the trains in France have been on strike. It came right during Easter break which is a major holiday for a lot of Europe, and the strike has inconvenienced a LOT of tourists. I have some friends stranded in Barcelona currently waiting for a way back to Nice, and that's just the beginning. Only a few trains run per day and the only way to know which ones is to go to the station. Once you tick off a bunch of vacationing Europeans, you can consider your strike a success, I guess.
I'll end by asking what you think of the French and their love for strikes? Do you think they're effective? and I'll include a few pictures that I took from March.
"Following a social movement, the tramway network will be cancelled today. Thank you for understanding."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)