Vacances de Toussaint

I'm on vacation now!  A week of vacation came as a much needed break.  With my new job, I've been working really hard and learning a lot more about teaching.  My time commitment for teaching is definitely a lot more than the past two years, mostly due to the fact that I have more lessons to plan and grading to do.  French grading is based off of a 20 point scale, and besides that, I must follow a consistent grading system for each language level.  In other words, I have to determine the language level of each student (grammar, vocabulary, etc) and give them the corresponding grade.  I'm sure it will get easier, but I collected about 150 papers before the break and am making my way through them quite slowly.

During my break, I've been slowly working my way through those papers, but also taking some time to enjoy myself, eat good food, find some delicious pastries, get outside, watch a couple movies and spend time with people I care about. 

Yesterday I had some visitors come into town, and we made a day of eating and exploring.  We started with a quick walk through the center of town, with its winding pedestrian streets, and then we made our way to lunch at an Indian restaurant.  It was delicious! I had a chicken curry that was really great.  From there, we decided to explore the touristy thing to do in Grenoble: go to the Bastille.  The Bastille is the fort situated on a mountain overlooking Grenoble.  It is in a very strategic location to look over the valley below.  

We took the "bubbles" up to the fort and were welcomed with a beautiful view.  The surrounding trees were changing color and we could see all of Grenoble.  It turned out to be quite cloudy so we couldn't see all of the surrounding mountains except for one white peak jutting above the grey clouds.  We read the informational panels at the top of the Bastille with information on the Olympic Games in the 60's, the rapid expansion of Grenoble (it's a relatively new city and has really grown in the past 60 years), and even about the role of Grenoble in nuclear physics.  

We also explored the surrounding area and found a walkway on the backside of the Bastille that tunneled into the mountain.  In fact, an entire path was dug through the mountain with strategic windows looking onto the Bastille.  Troops at the fort had created this tunnel to help regain the Bastille if it was ever taken by enemy forces.

Eventually we made our way back down the mountain to find some pastries and warm drinks.  I enjoyed a raspberry tart and hot chocolate.  The time changed last Sunday, so night was falling quite quickly.  We called it a day and made it back home.  It's now time to get back to work soon, but for now I'm enjoying my little taste of fall break.

Snow on the Mountains

It's been really cold this week. 

Today the clouds went away, and the sunshine revealed new snow on the mountains!

 

Annecy

My new job has been keeping me really busy.  I've been teaching some interesting topics, and feel like my students have been enjoying them too. I've talked about everything from the street artist Banksy to an event aimed at reinvigorating Colfax Avenue in Denver to internet coming to the Amazon.  Having such a variety of classes this year is really keeping me on my toes.  I also gave out the first graded homework assignment last week, so I'll receive them all back in the next few days.  I'm now on a mission to find the perfect cafe where I can hang out for an afternoon and work on grading!

I feel like I've been working pretty hard lately, so I was excited for the opportunity to join a couple new friends this last weekend to take a day trip to Annecy.  Annecy is a cute little town an hour and 40 minutes north by train from Grenoble.  It's best known for the lake it sits next to and the little canals running through town. 

We arrived around 11:15 on Saturday, and little did we know that a huge festival was happening!  The small street were packed with people enjoying the market stands, food vendors, and music players.  We walked and explored for a while, picking up cheese and sausage samples along the way, before meeting some others for lunch.  It was difficult to find an open table since so many people were in town, but eventually we managed.  Without even ordering, the waiter brought us tartiflette, the menu of the day.  Tartiflette is a regional dish that I've also seen in Grenoble.  It's a heavy, mountain-type food of potatoes, cheese (lots of cheese), pieces of ham, and onions.  It was certainly delicious, but I don't think I could handle it every day.  The tartiflette was followed by a large slice of apple tarte.  Also delicious and a nice dessert.  

With full bellies and happy souls, we continued exploring and went to Lake Annecy.  Along the lake, we could see some golden leaves, showing us that it is indeed changing seasons.  I feel that autumn doesn't have the same feel or smell here compared to Colorado, so it was nice to see a little bit of something familiar.

Eventually we made our way towards the chateau and then to a free exposition of animated films.  We even made our own! By then everyone was starting to drag a little, so we picked up a hot chocolate before hopping on the train for our long ride back home.

It was nice to start exploring this region.  Wherever I go, I think its important to get to know the region that I'm staying in.  Traveling is wonderful, and while I do enjoy going all over the place, when I explore my local area, it makes the place feel just a little bit more like it's where I belong.