Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

As promised in my last post, lots of news to share: 

Future Dr. Tigerlily!
My subject that continues my work on the future of Francophones in Louisiana has been accepted at the University Rennes 2. I can check that box. Now for the hard part: working with either University of Louisiana-Lafayette or Tulane University in some kind of partnership and getting financing.... In any case, I feel like I am moving onto the next step and that the hope is still there that ESL teaching will eventually become a thing of the past...

New (temporary) job!
Thanks to a colleague from one of the schools I've worked at, I was offered a job at a small company that does voice synthesizing for software, video games, etc... They are now adding English American style to their repertoire and I've been hired to work on that project. I get to use my skills from sociolinguistics as well as the film world in this position and it's also a nice break from teaching.

However, as I'm already bound to a permanent contract with the applied arts school and as the job announcement came up after the school year started, I'm still teaching part-time and doing the new job part-time. It's also a temporary position, so I can't afford to drop the applied arts school as of yet.....

FINALLY SUCCESS!!
My very special announcement accompanies the photos below taken this afternoon in the area called Canal St Martin where the countryside meets the city and also where we walk the puppy princesses (there's a large field off the road called Prairie St Martin - a great area to run the puppies off-leash). I chose this area because I like its industrial/country-like ambiance as well as hitting 2 birds with one stone by getting a good doggie-walk. Fall is now in full force in Rennes which means rain, rain and more rain, so also took advantage of the break between deluges....

Drum roll please and without further ado, after four long years of trying to conceive, 2 of those years involved fertility treatments (all charges covered by the health care system - the French like to help people make babies), filled with blood, sweat and tears (literally), we finally had success on June 29th when I had a second IUI. I have been moving very cautiously and still am in a state of disbelief - so much so, that I think I'm having a hard time making a connection to the future person that is developing in my belly - I guess once you've lived through infertility, it's hard to believe that there's a little bean on the way; it feels like walking on glass because you know that so many things could still go wrong.... November 19th is the next ultrasound - hopefully, we will be able to see if it's a girl or a boy and hopefully, all is well. I feel excited and apprehensive.

And voila! A few photos to share with everyone the good news:

Taken in front of a very cool spot where artsy stuff takes place - it has so much more potential, but unfortunately, is rarely open. You can see my pups in the reflection as well as a good shot of my belly now at 5 months. And, I have a "new" car! Thanks to my parents' help, I finally got rid of the little French car and am driving the same model as my mom, a PT Cruiser! It's like having a little bit of home with me at all times :)

Below : New baby on four wheels and new baby on the way - whoa baby!

A few shots according to my Tigereye of Canal St Martin:

Above & Below : One of the many paths that lead to Prairie St Martin, using a couple different effects.

Puppy Plage

And we're back!

Many profuse apologies for my absence. I've been pretty distracted during these past few moons since my last blog.

So many things have been happening all at once, lots of good things. After hitting rock bottom, things can only go up! But I'm saving the announcements for the next post as I've got a couple new photo ideas I'm working on for that...

I was inspired by my recent trip to the island of Jersey to post photos of the one thing I enjoy the most here in Brittany : being with my Frenchie & my puppy princesses (both are rescues & have their own interesting stories) & the beaches of St Malo....

It's a Catch-22 World Out There....

It has been so hectic since my last post with the end of the school year before me. The end is nigh, finally. Classes and exams are done. All I have to do is calculate the grades. Yeah, that only takes hours and hours and hours for which I am not paid....

This is how I feel by the end of the school year...

If I knew that my destiny were to teach English as the only means of a low-income salary to stay in France, I don't think I would have chosen this path. Would I? If I were to do it all over again, what would I choose? I fell head over heels for my Frenchie and part of my reasoning was made by my heart. Not logical at all, as Spock would advise. Part of it was also because I was so desperate to have health care. I grew up with a sick mother and the ridiculousness of the health care system in the US. But more and more, I don't care anymore. I just want to earn a decent living. I'm not trying to be rich here. I would simply like to earn my own money so that I can be independent like I was when I was in the States and the first four years I lived in France....

If I knew that I would have to go through one failed fertility treatment after another, being here is an advantage as treatments are of no cost to me. Thank goodness because I certainly am horribly exploited in my teaching job. I don't want to focus only on being reproductively challenged (as Charlotte from "Sex and the City" would say) but I have been feeling down recently because of this in addition to everything else, and the exhaustion that goes with the end-of-the-school-year madness does not help at all. But as my lack of fertility has become a big part of my life (especially since it is such a big deal to have children in this country), I've decided that it isn't something I can filter and hold in. I must "viva voce" it from time to time...

I know that teachers are poorly paid and under-appreciated in general. They are even more so here. There are no "Teacher-of-the-year" awards. No fun conferences to go to in another city. I refuse to do the teacher certification here, the CAPES, because it requires one to two years of arduous, ridiculous and unnecessary work and you may not find a teaching post after all of the blood, sweat and tears. My American brain just cannot accept the constraints of maybe or maybe not passing the CAPES and then having them send me to Paris to one of the most dangerous areas of the city to teach to difficult students that I could never understand and thus, cannot teach. 

When you don't have the CAPES, there are other options like teaching at a language center for professionals. You're badly paid, but you can do a lot of hours because you don't have a lot of outside work. The teaching job that I do have should pay me a teacher's salary that includes the fact that I give exams, give homework and correct all of it which exists in this country as a non-CAPES teacher. But the school where I teach expects me to give exams, etc and pays me the salary of a language center teacher. In my opinion, that's crossing the line of job exploitation that I'm not willing to accept and I am currently trying to decide what to do....

I live in a Catch-22 world. If I quit this job then I wouldn't be able to do what is called "vacataire" positions. This is a type of teaching contract that the university system takes advantage of so that they can hire English teachers without having to be socially responsible for them, thus the reason why you need what is called a "primary employer". Now, I want to keep this article as short and sweet as possible, so I won't go into anymore details. Just believe me when I say that due to the situation I find myself in this country, no wonder I have difficulties getting up in the morning.

I do not like my job. I might find a little more joy with my job if I were paid. I am constantly stressed out. I do not wake up in the morning excited to go to work. If this is what life in France had in store for me, I'd like to give it back. Thank you.

"The End is Nigh" image from http://www.e4africa.co.za/?p=1999
"Catch 22" image from http://lucybaik.blogspot.in/2010/11/catch-22.html
 

And now, photos of Paris (don't forget, folks, I don't live in Paris ;) ). These were taken with my first digital camera, Panasonic Lumix with Leica lens, and my Frenchie's obscure old film camera for a friend who ordered a series of Parisian photos for a cousin who loves Paris. My goal was to simply try to transport the observer to the city. I spent about a week in Paris just wandering around and was paid for it. I wish everyday could be like this - doing something I enjoy doing and making a living at it.

Paris is identified by the Eiffel Tower, la Tour Eiffel, of course! Named after its creator, Gustave Eiffel, it was constructed as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. It was supposed to be dismantled in 1909, but had become so popular and financially successful for the city that it was allowed to remain and continues to be the most popular and most-visited paid monument in the world. The inspiration for this Tour Eiffel series comes from the original 1889 artwork and photos.

 

Île de la Cité & la Seine

Sacré Coeur and street scenes of Montmartre.

Musée d'Orsay located in a 19th Century train station that houses all of the great Impressionists and more...

Another iconic figure of France: Napoléon! Pictured below is his final resting place, Les Invalides and views of his Parisian bridge, Pont Napoléon.

 

And finally, I can't not include my street photography-ness. I have always been fascinated by the Metro in Paris. It's easy to use and it's like a city within a city. Each station is different with a different energy and a unique look.

 

Amélie's stop in Montmartre ;)

 Above: The view across the street from Père Lachaise cemetary.

Below: A view of the neighborhood where I stayed one night when returning from an exciting day out and about.