I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last wrote. Sorry! I've been busy with everyday life. This past week I started teaching. The kids are lovely, but the teachers, not so much. Most of them were very resistant to having an English Assistant in their class because they don't speak any English. Understandable, I guess. Except now they're all criticizing me, telling me what to change (which changes from class to class) but none of them are willing to help me or provide resources. However, the kids seem to be happy. I saw about 6 of them out and about this weekend and all of them stopped to say 'bonjour' and wave and tell their parents who I am. So, I must be doing something right!
Also this past week, I moved into my little, cold studio. I've been busy going here and there trying to get everything together that I need to live, and nothing more! Oh, also the weather changed. It's freezing!! Sunny, but freezing.
Last weekend we went on our first big adventure since we've been here. We went out to Chateaux Bonaguil. A group of Lycee teachers invited all the language assistants out for the day. They drove us out to Bonaguil, which was about an hour and a half away. In the morning we took a tour of Bonaguil, which is a castle that they started to restore, but then decided that since they didn't have any of the original documents saying what went where, they stopped. So, it's half in ruins, half not. Now they're working more on the preservation side than the restoration side of it. Bonaguil was the last castle of it's type built in France and the 4th or 5th last built in Europe. The dude who built it was expelled from Toulouse and I think was worried about being expatriated from France, so he asked the people of Bonaguil if he could build a castle there. They didn't seem to mind, so he did. He built it on top of a natural cave system which added to the defense system, 
and was a great place to be in the hot summer months. It took quite a while for the castle to be built (at one time I understood 15 years, but that have just been one certain wall), but when it was done, it was quite something. He had an army of 30 to defend himself. Just him. He was either thinking of himself as too important or super paranoid. As it turned out, the castle was never attacked.
After a picnic lunch, which was, in the traditional French tradition, 2 hours long, ending with a little coffee in a restaurant below the castle, we went on a 11.7km hike. It took us about 5 hours to complete. We were walking pretty slow, but it was still quite a long way. At first I took tons of pictures, but then after about half way, it all started to look the same. It reminded me a lot of the vegetation around Vancouver and the Island. We walked up and down the rolling hills of the French country side. Past old observation towers (for a different castle), past a fortified house, past little country houses, through fields and orchards and finally back to Bonaguil. It was a long, but very nice day.
Also this past week, I moved into my little, cold studio. I've been busy going here and there trying to get everything together that I need to live, and nothing more! Oh, also the weather changed. It's freezing!! Sunny, but freezing.
Last weekend we went on our first big adventure since we've been here. We went out to Chateaux Bonaguil. A group of Lycee teachers invited all the language assistants out for the day. They drove us out to Bonaguil, which was about an hour and a half away. In the morning we took a tour of Bonaguil, which is a castle that they started to restore, but then decided that since they didn't have any of the original documents saying what went where, they stopped. So, it's half in ruins, half not. Now they're working more on the preservation side than the restoration side of it. Bonaguil was the last castle of it's type built in France and the 4th or 5th last built in Europe. The dude who built it was expelled from Toulouse and I think was worried about being expatriated from France, so he asked the people of Bonaguil if he could build a castle there. They didn't seem to mind, so he did. He built it on top of a natural cave system which added to the defense system, 
and was a great place to be in the hot summer months. It took quite a while for the castle to be built (at one time I understood 15 years, but that have just been one certain wall), but when it was done, it was quite something. He had an army of 30 to defend himself. Just him. He was either thinking of himself as too important or super paranoid. As it turned out, the castle was never attacked.After a picnic lunch, which was, in the traditional French tradition, 2 hours long, ending with a little coffee in a restaurant below the castle, we went on a 11.7km hike. It took us about 5 hours to complete. We were walking pretty slow, but it was still quite a long way. At first I took tons of pictures, but then after about half way, it all started to look the same. It reminded me a lot of the vegetation around Vancouver and the Island. We walked up and down the rolling hills of the French country side. Past old observation towers (for a different castle), past a fortified house, past little country houses, through fields and orchards and finally back to Bonaguil. It was a long, but very nice day.
Me on a bridge by one of the villages we walked through
Chateaux Bonaguil
I forget what this is, but it's a little building in the middle of the forest. It was very mignon. 
i love it. all of it. great blog. :) great pics. very cool. love you!
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