Welcome 2011

Since my arrival in Nantes, France, I have been surrounded by a very special group of people.  Secrets can rarely be kept, we teach each other our language (all different forms of English), and everyone keeps a blog.  The only people I knew before coming here who kept a blog were either English majors or angst-ridden teenagers.  Mary, Mary, quite contrary… blogs are hot items.  Turns out you can start fights over blogs  AND have your grammar and spelling analyzed by the world*, as well as update friends and family about life without ceaseless repetition.  So, for the New Year, I resolve to become a blogger.

 

So, hello world.  My name is Keri Ann Moore and I am currently living in Nantes, France.  I am from a city near Seattle and I miss Seattle almost as much as I miss my family and friends.  A couple of weeks ago I was in Antwerp and I almost cried when I walked into the Starbucks.

I just upgraded apartments here.  My old place had a small problem.  Pun intended.  Actually I really moved so I could look at all the cool posters on the wall of my new place.

Cool Poster #1

Cool Poster #2

There’s a lot more where this came from.

The new place is quite a bit smaller, but the atmosphere is priceless.

So, about school.  My school – Lycee Clemenceau – is a very prestigious school in the area.  Jules Verne went to the school.  My students are rockin.  They’re high-schoolers and prep students.  The prep students have already finished high school but they take the two years after high school to study for a big test that lets them in to the Ivy Leagues of France.  It reminds me a lot of the high school I went to except it’s beautiful and everyone speaks French and it’s well-known and a lot of famous people went there. 

 The staff at the school are something else.  I can’t figure them out.  There are the workers, the same three guys who basically live in the teacher’s workroom.  There are the drinkers, who drink coffee between classes together and sit together at lunch while discussing world issues over wine.  There are the sitters who sit in the teacher’s lounge and work while the drinkers drink.  I mostly socialize with new English teachers.  There’s one new teacher doing her practicum work at school who is fabulous and energetic.  There’s another who just switched to Clemenceau.  It’s refreshing to see teachers who have not yet lost the passion to teach.

I want to have passion for everything I do.  If I’m going to commit to something, I want to do it all the way or not at all.

Resolutions for 2011:   Blog. Save money. Take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Go big or go home - when going home’s not an option.    

*This shout-out goes to Carly