My First Few Weeks in Ajaccio

The last few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind! From meeting new teachers, students, assistants, landlords, and the family I’ll be babysitting for, I’ve barely had a spare moment! But here’s how it’s been going…

Friends, Colleagues, and Kids

If you know me well, you are probably aware that when I go someplace new, I worry most about making friends. The people you meet will make or break your time in a new school, job, city or country. I get anxious about being brave enough to be outgoing. It can be really scary. But when it comes down to it, I’m pretty sure meeting people you get along with is just about luck.  And if my luck continues like this, I should buy a lottery ticket. 

I can’t stress enough how wonderful everyone has been. Most of all, the teachers I’ve been assisting have astounded me with their kindness. Valérie, Marie-Christine, Aude, Sylvie, Anne and Dominique have gone out of their way to make me feel more comfortable living and working in a new country. 

My fellow assistants are also a dream. There are about eleven of us working in southern Corsica and we all get along quite well. We all have different backgrounds and cultures, but none of that matters, as one of my fellow assistants, a particularly wise young lady, pointed out.

After my first two weeks, I moved out of my temporary apartment into my new home. I live in a studio owned my the family who lives next door in exchange for babysitting their two boys ten hours a week. It goes without saying that the family is great too. They’ve had me over for dinner a few times and I’ve babysat the boys a little bit. I can’t get over how cute they are! 

School

I am in Ajaccio, first and foremost, as an ESL teacher. Over the last few weeks I have started working at two middle schools in the area. Technically, I teach 12 hours per week, but I also spend a few more hours making lesson plans. I work six hours at each, College Padule and College Giovanni. And all I have to say is to do this job, you have to be a special kind of person. The other teachers I work with have so much patience, kindness and compassion. They know when to make a joke and when to disciple. I’m working on it, but I have miles to go. Most of the kids are wonderful, but some of them are helping to build my character :) 

My days aren’t very long and I have Wednesdays off, but it’s still a little exhausting. I think some of that is the language, but most of it is trying to keep the kids under control. They are very energetic about English, which is fantastic. But it’s morphing their energy into something productive that is the biggest challenge for me. 

French

I’m pretty sure my French is improving! Maybe not a whole lot, and definitely not as quickly as I’d hoped, but it’s getting better and that’s good enough for me. I’m lucky that the other assistants who speak English want to speak French most of the time, even to the other English speakers. 

And...

The greatest thing about working in the French education system? I’ve only worked for two weeks and we’re already on Fall Break. When all is said and done, I’m only working about 20-25 hours a week. Ah, France. I have two weeks off starting Monday, so my new friend Ella and I are Scotland/ Northern Ireland bound! I’ll be visiting my cousin in Edinburgh and I friend I have studying in Belfast. I’ll try and keep you posted!