Day-trip to Sarlat and its surroundings

This Saturday, I went on a day-trip to Sarlat with a couple of other assistants from Perigueux. Sarlat is -- according to my boss at the Inspection Academique -- the most touristic town in the Dordogne region. Compared to Perigueux, it is a lot cuter and more manicured but it has a similar medieval architecture and farmer's market. 

We spend the day exploring the town and the Château de Castelnaud (pictured below), a medieval fortress in the nearby commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle. In the evening, we went to a very nice restaurant to celebrate the birthday of one of the Sarlat assistants. I highly recommend it, it was called L'instant Delice. Their specialty is regional Dordogne/Perigord food, which is basically duck or goose, duck or goose by-products, and anything cooked in duck or goose fat. YUM. I remember having foi gras as an entree, and the popular confit de canard with pommes de terre sarladaises* as a main dish. 

In my short time there, I was able to verify that Sarlat is indeed a very beautiful town with lovely plazas, restaurants, markets, and landmarks, so I can see why it has become the home to a lot of British expats and a favourite destination in the Dordogne. However, I did notice a number of odd and negative things while I was there that kind of made me happy I live in Perigueux. 

The most inexplicable one was the omnipresence of (quite expensive) porny fairy figurines in every gift shop -- each one more provocative than the next. Grim. They had also chosen "the big white North" a.k.a. Canada a.k.a my country as the theme for their Christmas market. It was very strange for me to be welcomed to a tiny french town with Canadian flags and weird, stereotypical, and borderline offensive scenes of Canada's Indigenous Peoples. The food also seemed more expensive than in Perigueux -- not only in restaurants but also in the market. Blame tourism for that I guess. Finally, after we left the restaurant, the town was incredibly dead, especially for a friday night! The assistants and teachers who were at the dinner were able to confirm that Sarlat is virtually devoid of any nightlife. I wonder if it's the same during the summertime. C'est tragique. On the other hand, Perigueux is not Berlin. At least there are a lot more assistants and we make our own fun. 

Either way, it was a very good trip and I will forever remember Sarlat as the Dordogne capital of porny fairy figurines. 

(*duck cooked in its own fat and potatoes cooked in duck fat. See? I told you)

Sarlat farmer's market + chick old lady

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Christan exploring Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Château de Castelnaud 

Château de Castelnaud 

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Sarlat

Sarlat

Sarlat

Sarlat - weird depiction of Indigenous Peoples of Canada

Sarlat

Sarlat

Sarlat's Christmas Market - Canadian theme

More weird depictions of Canada's Indigenous Peoples

Sarlat market

Sarlat market

Sarlat market

Teaching fail

Again, another sleepless night. As a result, I half-prepared my lessons, half-showered, and proceeded to have a full terrible day at school. I am aware that English might not be the most important subject at the school but at times, I feel a mild yet hurtful amount of disrespect towards my class time and the amount of work I put into it (except this week cuz' insomnia #yaaawn). The teachers act as though English is a joke class and if that's how language learning is viewed throughout France's primary and secondary schools, it is no wonder why French people suck at them. Hello people, this is not the 19th century... French might be a beautiful language but let's be honest, English is now the universal language for most sectors and industries. Oh yeah, speak you never, Esperanto #Sorry.

My day started off by the CE2 (3rd grade) teacher telling me that he wouldn't be needing me in his class because, allegedly, he needed to finish a lesson. I mean, it was actually great because all I am allowed to do in his class is to teach the kids some vocab... #boring and I really needed a rest. However, it remains a quite unfair decision for the kids since they only have the pleasure of seeing me once a week but also for me because it really fucks up with the schedule of the lessons. Apparently the real reason was that he was angry because two parents told him he was scaring the children and made their kids not want to come to school. For the record, the man is creepy and the kids in his class are indeed terrified of him.

If that wasn't enough, I fucking cried in the staff room today. Mostly because I was very sleep-deprived and weird but mostly because one of the teachers was telling me a bunch of nonsense about how chocolate was good for my vagina. He also told me how I had a big head, which he then changed to "you have a dick head". I mean I barely know this dude and he's already talking about dicks and vaginas? What is this... the third grade? Super inappropriate but everyone was laughing so of course, I cried. He felt bad, you could see it in his face. He tried to explain to me that this was french humour and told me to lighten up. He should light himself on fire, maybe.

That was my day and I wore:

- A Quechua fleece sweater from Decathlon (basically the best store ever)
- The same shirt I wore yesterday but you can't see that
- A pashmina someone left in my house once
- My omnipresent DKNY jeans
- A generic copper bracelet I got in a flea market in Buenos Aires

Yes, I basically wear the same thing everyday.

GLAMOUR SHOT WHATUP

FASHION SHOT #SELFIE

Sweet life in Perigood

Bonjour les amis,

Today I am writing (as I will be for the next six months) from the wonderful town of Perigueux, located in one France's top gastronomic regions: the Dordogne. I have been chilling here in since October, working as an English Assistant in three primary schools. In practice, my role has become more that of a teacher than an assistant and the work - although rewarding - is harder than I expected. But more on that later...

Before coming to Perigueux, I was in Toronto for a month after living in New York for the whole summer. I was very sad to leave NYC and Toronto. To say that I was not excited to come to france would have been an understatement at that time. But I packed my bags, said goodbye to my friends and family and embarked in my France adventure. In retrospect, I think I was not necessarily as sad as I was really scared to be so far away from everyone and everything I knew.

Everything has turned out pretty great until now. When I first arrived in Perigueux, I couchsurfed with a lovely French family for a little under a week. My boss helped me find small but cozy and bright studio in the centre of town. Location, location, location. I am close to the Cathedral, which is beautiful, and a lot of shops and restaurants. I share the floor with another assistant and this French girl who is really nice except that she is really racist. Definitely more on that on another post...

A view of the cathedral from across the bridge

In terms of my job, the three primary schools I work out have been welcoming and for the most part, I think the kids are enjoying my lessons and learning. It's hard work, but I least I only work 3 days a week so I really should not complain!

I have met all of the other primary and secondary school English, Spanish, and German assistants and so far they constitute the entirety of my social/friend group BUT obviously I am in a quest to find a lot of french friends (I think all of us are). I feel very lucky because there are a lot of us here and everyone is nice, interesting, and mostly excited about France and travelling.

I feel so silly - foolish, even - for having had such low expectations of Perigueux and of what this experience would be. It's kind of liberating though, to not have to live up to any standards.