Amsterdam

I'm starting the med school application process and it turns out I'm already (slightly) behind. HA. Why does this take 18 months?!

So in between the studying and writing and interviews and who knows what else I have to do, I thought I'd add more pictures to this thing. So here are some photos from my day trip (yes, you read that right) to Amsterdam in late January. We left on a bus at 4-5am, got to Amsterdam at around 10-11 (behind schedule, as per usual in France), spent the day walking around a wonderfully fascinating and beautiful city before getting back on the bus for the return trip at 8pm.

One of the many canals in Amsterdam

 

The tram. I hope it works better than the one here.

More canals

We started by walking to the Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht canal, the place where Anne, her family, and four others lived in hiding for over two years. The house has been turned into a museum, where you can see Anne's diaries, where they lived, and the work Otto Frank, Anne's father, has done since being released from captivity, among other things. Seeing the annex was so incredibly sad - imagine being forced to stay in small, cramped rooms with thick black shades over the windows at all times, and for so long at such a young age. But the hardest part for me was watching the videos of Otto, the only survivor among the eight, speaking about his experiences and his emotions upon finding and reading his daughter's diary. It was so heartbreaking to watch him say that he thinks parents can never fully know their children as he visibly fought back tears.

The entrance to the Anne Frank House, where she and her family lived in hiding until they were betrayed.

The Anne Frank House. Such a sobering experience.

Afterwards, we had lunch then caught the bus that would take us to Zaanse Schans, which, according to wikipedia, is "a neighborhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk in the municipality of Zaanstad in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland." So to paraphrase, it's a place outside of Amsterdam with a lot of windmills, old houses, and cute museums (cheesemaking, bakery museum, etc.).

Reserved seats on the bus.

Someone's a little bit behind.

Zaanse Schans

Because I am (still) a child.

In the wooden clog museum.

Windmills!

This one is called De Kat.

On the roof of De Kat.

Such a cute and charming place. I can only imagine with it looks like in the spring/summer.  

Once we got back to Amsterdam, we walked around the red light district for the rest of the time, looking at highly unconventional window displays and having the lifeblood scared out of me by what turned out to be a prostitute I saw moving out of the corner of my eye.

Amsterdam at night.

Part of the red light district.

Despite the severe time constraints, it was definitely worth the trip. Amsterdam/The Netherlands is a fascinating place.

Printemps du Cinema

It appears that French cinemas welcome spring with cheaper admission. For the past three days, all movies have been 3,50 so I took advantage and went to and saw Les Femmes du 6eme Etage and Made in Dagenham (which is referred to as "We Want Sex Equality" here in la belle France). I thoroughly enjoyed both, though I felt Made in Dagenham got off to a rather slow start. 

Les Femmes du 6eme Etage is about Spanish women who work as maids for wealthy Parisian families and follows the evolution of one male employer's perception of these women, which in turn affects his relationships not only with them but also with his elitist wife and friends/colleagues. Immigration, class, and gender issues all rolled up into one, plus a cute and often hilarious love line made it easy to like, despite the challenge of having to decipher French spoken with a Spanish accent. 

Made in Dagenham/We Want Sex Equality is based on a true story and follows the strikes of women employees at the Ford Dagenham plant, who protest sexual discrimination and demand equal pay as the men. It was pretty lighthearted for the most part, but did also show the consequences of fighting for rights - on marriage/family, friendships, etc. Some of the scenarios are highly unlikely and difficult to believe, but overall I appreciated it. It is a feel good movie, after all. 

Aside from watching happy, feel good movies, I've been preparing lessons in order to teach French schoolchildren about texting slang/shorthand and the civil rights movement (late, I know, but sadly I had to work really hard to convince people to let me do it at all) and soaking up as much sunlight as I can while this gorgeous weather lasts. Have to stimulate vitamin D synthesis!

Today's day 1 of my fifth to last week as an English teaching assistant in France. And unlike far too many of my other days here, it has been/is marvelous. The sun is out and shining, skies are gorgeously blue, flowers are starting to bloom, and everyone is generally much cheerier than usual. Like the one teacher that I was frightened of, for instance, who decided to have a nice heart-to-heart with me in hushed tones as she oversaw her students doing a devoir. Even the man at the post office was unusually nice, joking with me as he did his job efficiently and with a smile(!!!).

The view from my window - tell me those blue skies would not plaster a huge grin onto your face!

Strangely enough, this place is (finally) starting to feel a little bit like home, and I suspect that I will miss it dearly when I leave in 5 weeks.

Am back from a marvelous two weeks traveling around Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, wonderfully refreshed and ready to take on the system once more. Only six more weeks!

It's 11am and all I want to do is drink. I'm so unhappy with my job. And taking initiative and talking to my supervisor about that discontentment and what I'd like to do instead of these *expletive* annoying, useless mock exams I've been doing since I got here just led to...wait for it...plans for me to do basically the exact same thing, only with more work on my end. I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS WORK BECAUSE I COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THESE SUBJECTS AND NO ONE GETS ANYTHING OUT OF IT. What part of that is so difficult for you to understand??

So sick of being in a school where teachers want nothing more than for their students to pass their exams. There is more to life than exams, people. And I say that as someone who did really well on basically all the standardized tests she took. I miss being around people who think outside the box and use unconventional methods if traditional ones aren't working.

Aaaand all this frustration/negativity is clearly a sign that I am in need of a break. Good thing I'll be leaving this place in 10 days!

Cultural Differences, Prelude

I'll expand more on the differences between the American and French cultures on another day, when it's not 2am and I haven't just gotten back from a terrible theme party. But the theme party and how different it was from, say, theme parties at American colleges across the country shed some light on one of the major reasons for the frustration that I experience somewhat regularly here. 

Before I start, let me clarify and state that I'm talking mostly about college aged students and middle-aged people in this post. I have met far too few people over the age of 50 for me to draw conclusions about the whole of the French populace. 

So I went to a traffic light party (such a good people watching opportunity!), and in order to get into the spirit I wore the one article of clothing I possess that is red, orange, yellow, or green. And as luck would have it, that piece of clothing was of course a green cardigan. Let me just add that while I am not presently in a relationship, I have no problems whatsoever with that fact. Unlike many of the women I've encountered here, I enjoy singledom and all the things that come with it. I like that I'm introduced as Jenny rather than x's copine or girlfriend. But that's a post for another day. Point is, I only had something green to wear. But I figured, it's a theme party and people will probably be dressed up enough that I'll blend in. Right? Wrong. 

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the cleverly named Love Boat was the all too conspicuous lack of color. Any color, not just red, yellow, and green. Everyone, and I mean literally everyone minus maybe two of the bartenders, was dressed in black or gray or some other very dark shade. Which put me in a very awkward situation, because let's be real, there was no way in hell I was taking off my jacket. But I sat down and talked to a friend and waited, because there weren't too many people there at that point and I expected the room to slowly start filling up with painfully bright colors as more and more people started arriving. As per my expectations, the bar did after some time become fairly crowded. Sadly the color palette did not change. 

Compare this to what happens at theme parties in the US. I'm pretty confident that this would never have happened back at home. The few theme parties I've gone to have been eye-opening experiences; people will literally go all out. Americans love theme parties. Or perhaps they just like being able to use whatever excuse to have a party. In any case, people will get into it and plan costumes and actually dress up. They're enthusiastic and react to suggestions. Whereas the French just s'en foutent and ignore everything. 

In all honesty, I admit that this is a terrible example and probably does nothing to support my case. It's just a party after all. You don't have to get dressed up, and doing so says nothing about you one way or another. But I've noticed this same apathetic attitude in so many of my (admittedly limited) interactions with the French. People here don't like to do things. They complain, they moan, they dislike how things are handled, but they don't do anything to change it. Even in taking action, they minimize, as much as humanly possible, the amount of work that they themselves have to do. The French are notorious for their strikes, and rightfully so. And strikes, when carried out properly, can be a useful and effective way of showing displeasure and effecting change. But even these here are really more of an excuse to complain than anything else. People block gas pumps and schools, walk through towns and disrupt traffic, all the while not doing their jobs and singing and eating cotton candy or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, setting cars on fire. Moreover, they do this so often that the strikes have lost their impact. 

So why not start grassroots movements? Why not organize other ways of protesting government policies? Why not suggest alternatives? It's so much better to say "I don't agree with what you're doing, and here's what you can do to better represent me and the other people who have elected you" than just "I don't agree with what you're doing." But the French just can't be bothered to do that. They show their displeasure by holding up signs then sit back and prepare to complain some more when things don't go the way they want them to. They recognize problems that exist but do nothing to address them, or better yet, pretend those problems don't exist at all. Like racism for example. Most of the people I've talked to either 1) acknowledge that racism is a problem but don't do anything to change people's attitudes or 2) think that racism does not exist in France since race as a concept doesn't really exist here. One of the most interesting and mind-blowing conversations I had was with an immigrant from Africa, who told me that while he recognizes that racism is a real problem in France, he thinks it's best to just rise above it all and simply work toward his personal goals. Which is certainly a very noble attitude. 

But the problem is that, if everyone thinks that way, if every single person who has ever experienced discrimination on the basis of race (or gender or class or sexuality or religion, for that matter) simply "turns the other cheek" then just walks away, nothing will ever change. There won't be any real progress. Generation after generation will experience the same problems, face the same challenges, and nothing will improve. It blows my mind that someone can think this is the best response to such a deep-seated issue. Granted, I can be idealistic sometimes and firmly believe that one person can change the world. But individuals have, in the past, set entire movements and revolutions in motion. A single grain of rice can tip the scale. (Brownie points to anyone who can figure out what movie that's from) And isn't trying to create change, even if you don't reach your goals, better than adopting the laissez-faire attitude displayed by so many of the French? At the very least, you (and others) will learn from your mistakes, and it could potentially set the groundwork for future activists.

Maybe it's just my fatigue-addled mind speaking, I don't know. I don't even know whether I've conveyed what I was thinking. But I'm convinced, at least for the moment, that Americans more actively seek change and progress. And I miss being around people who do.

"According to me"

is a phrase I would really like to never hear again.