always an adventure ...
05.01.2010 
16h09filed under [ French Life problems relationships teaching traveling ]Now that Damien's left to head back to Paris, I finally have time to tell you my story.
As most of you already know, I took the CAPES interne back in February. It's an exam for people who have been working in education who want to pass the teaching qualification exam, which guarantees a job for life (known in france as the magical "CDI"). I took the written part of the exam last year and passed, but my naturalisation hadn't come through in time for me to be allowed to take the oral exam. I was crossed off the list.
This year, however, I was allowed to take the oral exam. I had chosen the "middle school" option, as Damien is a middle school teacher and could help me prepare for the oral exam. During his first week of vacation, we spend quite a lot of time analyzing documents and preparing pretend classes in order to practice.
Saturday, we headed to Damien's parents' house, where we spent the night, and left from there to head to Paris on Sunday. I had an informational meeting on Monday at 4pm, but we wanted to take our time and not have to rush. Good thing we did!
When we arrived at Damien's apartment in Saint-Denis, his key didn't work in the elevator. We figured someone had stuck something in there and found another way upstairs.
And that's when the panic started. Damien looked at me, with a stricken look on his face, and said, "ca marche pas." (it doesn't work) I took the key out of his hand and tried it myself, and he was right, the key wouldn't turn. Then we both started to panic. The only other keys for the apartment were Marie-Laure's (who was on vacation in her hometown in Cantal, quite a ways away) and the copies in the drawer INSIDE the apartment.
Damien called Marie-Laure's boyfriend, Charles, on the off chance that he had a key. No key, but an invitation to spend the night at his apartment near Montparnasse. We tried to call a couple of locksmiths, but it was 7pm on a sunday, so no one was around. Charles' apartment it would have to be!
We repacked in the hallway - I put my exam outfit and shoes, my toiletry kit, and some pajamas in the small suitcase, and everything else went into the big suitcase that we were going to leave in the trunk of the car. Damien threw some socks and underwear into the small suitcase, and off we went.
Luckily D's mom had given us a bunch of food, so we cooked that up for Charles, and we went to bed around midnight. We were sleeping on the futon in the living room of his 2 bedroom apartment. The only problem was that Charles' roommate had to come through the living room to get to his bedroom. At 1am, he left the apartment to go get a (girl?)friend, who came back with him, and then they proceeded to talk to each other for quite a while. Damien was fast asleep beside me, but I couldn't sleep. It felt like I was in one of those movies, where nothing can go right. I finally fell asleep, but was awakened in the morning when everyone was moving around to go to work.
As grateful as we were to Charles for letting us stay at his place, we decided that it would be better for me if we stayed in a hotel Monday night. We booked a hotel right next to where the exam was taking place and headed over there in the early afternoon.
At the informational meeting, we were assigned a random number which told us which jury we were assigned and what preparation time. Chance was finally shining upon me, because I was given the last preparation time - 2pm. I would've preferred 10am or even 12h45, but I didn't want 7h30 or 8h45 ... I'm definitely not a morning person!!
When i headed off to my exam, Damien went back to Charles'. The exam itself went pretty well. I had to create a lesson plan based on a document that I was given and then present it - in French - to the jury. They then asked me a bunch of questions about what I'd said and how I'd react, etc etc.
Then they left the room and i had 12 minutes to listen to an audio document in English in order to present its contents in English. Once again, I got super lucky - it was an NPR audio document about President Obama being accused of being soft on terrorism! Once the jury returned to the room, I gave my presentation, and then they asked me some questions. I think I answered them relatively well, showing off my knowledge of American politics and history. It couldn't have been a better subject!
After I finished, I headed to Montparnasse to get Damien, and then we headed back to Saint-Denis, loaded up the car, and drove 4 hours back to Auvergne. We had planned to stay in Paris for the rest of the week, but we realized it'd be cheaper to drive back to Auvergne than to spend the week in a hotel.
I get my results on Monday. If I'm in the top 108, I'll be a (paid) student teacher in September and then I'll be an English teacher for life (or as long as I want the job)!! Keep your fingers crossed :-)
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