Besançon

At Basançon

On the Train with the other assistants

hello all !
the day before yesterday was my first class... just observation though. but it was great. the teachers and the students are very sweet. the best part was the black board... the point being it was neither black nor a board !!! you know the notepads...like the laptop notebooks which are touch screen ! well the board is basically one giant laptop screen ! not a projecter mind u !! a laptop screen. and the teacher opens up paint and writes notes on that! underlinig using
the diff colours and all.. its bloody incredible. its as big as the boards in our classes.
it was for 2 hours and then i was free for the day. i wanted to open,y bank account and social security and everything when i got the bad news. i was introduced to the the school head who i thought was very nice until he said i could not stay at the hostel for 7 months. i could stay for 2 or 3 weeks until i find my own place.i felt so lost..

if i had known earlier i could have been prepared mentally. so the school would not give ,e a paper stating i live there and without it no bank account, no social security, no salary .. basically screwed. plus i had already started unpacking a bit and now i have to repack and shift and unpack all over again. a pain. so i indulged in a lot of self pity...felt very sorry for myself. decided to stop panicking and not think about it for a while. think when im calmer . so i took the
day off thinkin about it. after all i have 3 weeks.

yestreday we had an orientation program at Besançon. so we caught train at 7.20 in the morning and it was a & hour ride. the coutryside i can not explain it....spectacular...so beautiful u can not imagine. just like in postcard...hills..cows on it..and a lil house in between a bunch of trees and a river flowing beside it. i could not take my eyes off it. throught my nose was pressed against the window like some kid. i kept wishing my family was with me to see all that..you would have loved it. :) from the station we took a bus to the school where the orientation was
to be. we were 12..all equipped with maps ..typical tourist types :)

they had organized breakfast for us...can u guess..yes...thats right..the usual..bread..and butter and chocolate croissant and juice and black coffeed if i wanted and fruits. i know it sounds lovely but im dying here...i need some spice in my life..i sick of chocolate and bread and other sweet stuff. im completely constipated. all the assistants from the east of france were there. more than 60 of us chattering away in different languages..polish swedish russian german italian spanish and english of course. it was very very interesting to get to meet them and talk to so many different people....each person fascinated by the other. then we had luch which was the worst...there was nothing vegitarian on the menu just like iin my school canteen so the cook said he can give me just the rice and boiled carrots...the rice was tasteless..and there is nothing worse than sweet boiled carrots..but i ate it anyway..then there was banana flavoured yogurt...ugh...horrible...and people were eating god knows wot beside me but im getting used to thet. the only good part was i got to try a variety of cheeses...but unfortunately im not a cheese person ive come to realize..:)

then they informed us on how to go about doing various paperwork like
social security and insurance.... after that just the 12 of us went on a tour around Besançon. its a
much igger city than belfort and populated but very pretty too. at 6.30 we caught the train back and reached at 8. by now i could not hold off my worry any longer so went directly yo victorine s house and explained. so we got on the net immediately and looked up places to rent nearby. its all very organized and they many sites just for such things. she was a big help because i could decide if the place had everything i wanted but i din know if it was nearby or far away. like
in bangalore only a resident will know that 4th block is nearby but 4th t block is a lil further. she called many who had put up the announces more than 15 places we decided against. but then we found one with everything and not too expensive too. called and spoke to the man and set up an appointment for today to see the place.

today she accompanied me there and it has all i need bed,stove,fridge,shower, a shared toilet; a table chair and all and even a coffee pot.a heater and free wifi :) its very tiny very very
but it ll do. the building is ancient and does not look good but in a very good area so that is great. its very secure. the best part is i have a eighbour..an indian guy who s an engineer. his family lives in paris but they are from tamil nadu ! so i got to speak in tamil a bit.
im on the 3rd floor and the neighbours below are chinese.

oh by the way i signed the papers and gave money and got the keys :) its and old man...very rich man from what he says..he s retired and now travels the world with his friends. wot a life :) his name is bertrand. and it cost me 250 euros a month and i have to give a deposit of 250 which will be returned when im leaving. i gave him 250 and said i would give the deposit when my first salary arrives. he s nice. even the indian said there are no problems at all so yay :) the place is a lil dusty though and the courtains need to be changed. my godfairy victorine has got me to choose bedcovers and pillow and thick blankets and she has spare curtains and she s giving
cutlery...to be returned when im leaving..

i can not imagine all this going on so smoothly and so quick without her help. she drove me all around the city in her car only. and she s very excited to help me clean up new place and make it look pretty. she says it needs a young girl like u to live in it. lol :) i can not imagine anyone of us being this nice to a newcomer a stranger from another country. ive learnt so much from her.
so tomoro im going to get done with the paperwork and start cleaning
up the place and packing up agian. but this time moving wont be hard
because she ll take me in her car.ill prob move in this weekend
ill give u guys my address soon.

tomoro i have classes too. so bye for now !!

love
aishu