Arriving in Pont-Audemer

So I am reluctant to write this post because I don't have any images to accompany it but I will write it anyways.

I arrived in Paris early Monday morning and had to figure out how to make my way to Pont-Audemer. I had already planned and researched taking the Roissy bus because I heard that the RER was hard to manage with baggage and that some of my colleagues who already made their way to Rouen found it difficult. I had a hard time finding where to get on the bus, online gave me several pick-up points but due to construction in the airport, they weren't exactly right.  Outside the airport, where I thought I could board the bus I met a Franco-African man who is a driver of hired cars(you know, like a taxi but fancier, I don't really know what that is called). He asked me if I needed a car and of course I didn't want to pay for that. He decided to talk to me anyway and find out what I was doing in Paris and where I was from(his guess was Sweden). Well anyway, to make a long story short, he told me I was pretty and made sure I knew where I was going to find the bus which was in another terminal.

After sitting on the bus for an hour, I had to drag my luggage around Paris for ten minutes to find the train station which was not fun and left me sweaty and tired. I was able to rest for about an hour and a half before boarding my train. Boarding a train with luggage for seven months is rather tricky when you don't have the necessary strength and most of it has been used up the past 20 hours. Fortunately, I met an older American couple who were setting out on a Normand adventure to help me.

I took the train to Bernay where I met up with my contact from the middle school. She took me to her cottage which was lovely with a wildflowers and a cat who thought it was fun to lay on me while I was sleeping. I spent the rest of the day with her walking through town and later eating dinner with her partner who owns a used book store. They were very gracious but I was so tired and wanted to be left alone. I was filling home sick as this point and everything was a little awkward.

The next day I went to both schools and met everyone. I even observed some classes and did some interviews even though I am not suppose to be working until next week. I was handed off to my high school contact who is a lot of fun but intimidates me a little. Her house is awesome, it is very colorfully decorated and she has a huge garden.

I have met a lot of new faces and can't remember half of there names. I also feel slightly like a puppy who is being passed around from one English teacher to another but I am having a lot of fun. I don't want to overwhelm you but I do have a lot of things to write about so I'll probably do another post to tell you about all that fun later.