Orientation

I had orietation for the program on Wednesday at 9am. Hono and I left at 7:30 because traffic is bad in the morning in Lille. We didn't get there until 10!!! It took us 2.5 hours to make a 15min. drive!!! That is how great my roommates are...they will drive me 2.5 hours in the car so I don't get lost on the train!
At our orientaton were about 10 boys and 200 girls! There were sooo many of us and we could speak English!!!! The group is almost half Americans that have just graduated college and don't know what they want to do and half British students studying French at "uni." Brittish foreign language majors are required to spend a year abroad working/studying before they can graduate.
It was really great to meet some other confused Americans and speak English for a little. Also, everyone is in the same boat going through the same things. I met some cool girls that live in Lille as well!
Thursday was training where we had a crash course in education. We learned lots of fun games to play with the kids and how to speak to them. They taught us how to deal with festivities too. In the US, schools respect religion by recognizing 'all' religions...where as here they respect it by celebrating no religions. If you are Muslim, you cannot cover your head at school. If you are a Christian, you cannot wear a cross on your T shirt...they are completely neutral at school. Also, we are not allowed to bring food for the children to eat.
Its going to be a little harder than I thought because we have to use only simple words that they will know. We can't just speak naturally. Also, we have to use the British vocabulary that they are taughts. Some examples:
Lift instead of Elevator
to Ring someone on the phone instead of Call them
Toillet instead of Bathroom
Flat instead of Apartment
Its really interested hanging out with the British students because its so different for them here. One of the girls teaching in Calais can get on a ferry and be home in 30min! All the others are at most 2 hours from home. They are all of course going home for Christmas...where as the Americans aren't (except me). Also, I never noticed just HOW different the language is! Its not just the slang and the accent, there is so much that is different! The cadence of their speach is very different and the speed. Its cool!!!