On Horseback: Horses, Photography, Life

Well, I'm still alive. Completely exhausted but alive.

Today is the first day I've logged into LJ after months and months of absence and I haven't been able to catch up with everyone on my F-list yet.

I've been teaching for 7 months now and my life is about to change dramatically this summer. New recruits are required to participate in the great yearly 'migration' of teachers. We're not allowed to stay in the area we're currently teaching in for more than one year. We work for the state and we have to go where the state needs us. This is a very complicated system that's based on points. Basically the more points you have the more likely you'll be able to go where you want. The less points you have.....well, the more likely you'll be sent where no one else wants to go.

Of course, as a new teacher, single and childless, I'm at the bottom of the pool. I've got 71 points and to stay where I am right now I'd need about 230.

So I started to look for more 'affordable' areas and found one where I'd love to live: the Vosges region in the North East of France. It's a region of low mountains and lakes, with very few big cities. Perfect for me and Cody. It's about 600 miles from Bordeaux. I'm crossing fingers that I'll be able to go there. Here's a link to a website with pictures of the Vosges region for those who are interested:

http://www.photo-alsace.com/thematique/environnement_paysage/paysages_vosges.php

In other news, my mother bought herself a horse, a young QH mare. Her name is Savannah and she'll be 4 on the 4th of April. She comes from Arizona and she's not even home yet. She flew into Amsterdam last week and is currently staying in Calais until the haulers can bring her down to Bordeaux. She should be home tomorrow evening or wednesday.

Here's Savannah:

Mom has always dreamed of a buckskin horse.

And here's my usual collection of pictures of Cody and life in the south west of France which you'll find under the cut. I'm also putting my Best of 2007 video which I made a few weeks back--it's a great way to make 'living' memories I find.




( Fall/Winter 2007-2008 )

It's been a month since I officially entered the 'Education Nationale' and began teaching and I'm already wiped out. Seriously, I've never been so tired in my life. We have a very heavy 'training course' to follow in addition to our regular teaching duties and they keep demanding things left and right. This year's a year of change apparently and they're asking things they didn't ask the years before. My fellow new teachers and I are ready to sign a petition and go on strike if needed.

Our work with our pupils is suffering as a consequence and this is unacceptable.

Other than that, I have some deligthful Grade 6 students. I love that class. They sometimes can be a handful but they're always eager to learn English. My Grade 8 students are another matter entirely. But then it's also a question of age. At 13 or 14 they're in full rebellion mode.

It's lucky I have my little Cody to take my mind off things. I need to buy a small bell and a neon yellow jacket this year because the hunting season has started and I don't want to have to dodge bullets for the next 6 months. Hunters are very enthusiastic in the month following the opening of season.

Some photos--I think my camera is about to die on me. The quality of the pictures it takes is greatly diminished. I'll have to buy a new one.



( Summer/Fall 2007 )

So, I have nothing to do until August 25th and I'm taking advantage of this little holiday. I've been able to see Cody everyday (sometimes even twice a day) and I've been exploring the area on horseback.

It's even prettier than I first thought. There's a bit of everything: pines, oaks, sand, plain dirt, vineyards, ferns, grass, wide alleys, hidden forest trails, etc...Today I even came across a very nice little pond ( I'm going back there tomorrow to take more pictures).



( Here be photos--many many photos... so Dial-ups beware! )

I can hardly believe it: it's official, I'm a teacher! I really wasn't expecting it after the way my exam went yesterday but well, here I am.

Wow. It feels strange. I'll be teaching in September and I won't know if I get middle school or high-school until the very last minute so I can't prepare any lesson plans.

So, I have one month to relax and then I'll start getting nervous about what's to come.

I'll treat myself to a nice visit to my little Cody :o)

It's 1:OO in the morning and I've been studying non-stop for my exam tomorrow since 2pm with 2 breaks of 30 minutes to eat and bid on a lot of old books on Ebay.

My hotel room is too noisy because the freeway is just next to it. It was hell trying to concentrate at first because of all the racket--I asked if I could have another room but the hotel has no vacancy.

And darn if I didn't mess up my exam this morning. I think I butchered the grammar part of it (no surprise there) and I also found it difficult to hit my stride during my exposé. My english felt awkward for some reason. Plus let's not forget that I got confused while glancing at my notes and had to stop for a few seconds: that's a big no-no, you're supposed to be confident and all that.

Yeah. The way things went I'm 80% sure I'll be back in Toulouse next year for a repeat performance. It usually takes an average of 3 tries before you get your CAPES and it's only my first year. Some people have been at it for 6 years! If I don't pass by 2009, I'll find something else to do though, life's too short.

Well, time to go to bed. My exam is not until noon tomorrow but I'm getting up at 6:3O all the same so that I can re-read my notes. This one's in French but it's actually the hardest of the bunch.

5 hours of sleep. Oh joy. I'm living on nerves and adrenaline. Luckily I'll be able to sleep in on Friday.

Peace and tranquility at last.

Cody's safe and sound at his new home. The new barn owner came to pick him up yesterday and he trailered like a pro. I was so proud of him. No sweating or nervous neighing. He's got a nice pasture buddy that's more than twice his size (nothing new there!) and he's enjoying his new surroundings.

I don't know how long we'll be here. This is a good place to be while waiting for an all pasture board though so I'm not worried anymore. But it's a bit strange to see so many people and horses around. I'd gotten used to the quietness of the old barn where I was almost always alone. It'll take me a few days to get used to all the activity again.



( Cody's new home and some miscellenous pictures )


Now it's back to studying for me. It's hard to believe that it'll be over at the end of next week. So many things to do, so little time.

I'll be off-line until everything's over.

Meme for ghostlybohemia

( It's all about me today )

Anyone feels like doing a meme? I know I'm horrible at commenting on my F-list these days but I do read all of your posts and I'd love to see your answers to that meme.

Two posts from me in the same week is pretty unusual these days.

I've just finished my spring video and I thought I'd post it here. I used a song from the POTC: At World's End Soundtrack, Drink Up Me Hearties.



You can also download the video if you want to watch it fullscreen in a better quality:

http://www.divshare.com/download/806324-8e6

So the results for the written part of the CAPES are in and it looks like I made it. That wins me a ticket to go to Toulouse (luckily, it's not too far from Bordeaux. It could have been on the other side of France so I'm not complaining) and go through the wringer for the oral part. The oral part is the worst part. That's when the jury makes people cry by demolishing their arguments. Seriously. It's not uncommon to have people coming out of the examination room in tears.

Oh joy.

I learned I was eligible for the oral apart in a curious way. The results were supposed to come in tomorrow, so I was browsing one of my favorite message boards instead of working on my grammar when I heard my mobile phone. A friend of mine I haven't spoken to in a long while (shame on me, I'm the worst kind of friend to have: I'm always late to respond to emails or phone calls) had just sent me a text message saying 'Congrats for the CAPES'. I thought I was hallucinating at first but then I rushed back to the computer and I saw that, yes, the results were in and I was eligible. I need to call said friend tomorrow. It will be good to talk to her.

I'm not looking forward to going to Toulouse. I'd rather go to the dentist and have a tooth extracted. But well, of course I'll be going. I don't know when exactly for I haven't received my convocation yet. All I know is that it will be between June 19th and July 14th.

I do so hope I'll be asked to go in July. I'm not ready at all. I'm already having nightmares of being stuck on a grammatical point I simply can't explain, with the jury looking on like a pack of hungry sharks ready to tear me apart.

My mother is already planning an appointment at the hairdresser for me and asking me what I'll wear. You have to look kind of stylish. And I'm still undecided as to what to do for my eyes: contacts or glasses? Tough.

And because I know this CAPES stuff isn't very interesting to anyone but me, here are some pics of Cody and Co--and some scenery stuf as well.


( Cody says: I'm happy for you, mom. )

...because Spring if finally here.



( All The Pretty Horses )

Lots of photos under the cut. Better not click if you have a slow connection.

I survived the written part of my CAPES. We did end up getting a commentary on Lewis and Clark. Fortunately, the document we had to comment on was a letter written by Lewis with only two strangely spelled words. The 'dissertation' was : 'Knowledge in The Scarlet Letter'.

I made the stupidest mistake for the translation exam: I put 'échaffaud' for 'scaffolding'. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stress will do that to you. That mistake will cost me at least 4 points.

Trying to forget all about those 15 hours of hell.

Results won't be until June 1st. That sucks.

Yes. H-17.

17 hours until the first exam. It's a text commentary. I'm kind of hoping we'll end up having to comment on one of the three literary books. It would be really really vicious of the Capes people to have us comment on an extract from The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Picture this:

"August 9th Friday 1805--
a fine morning wind from the N.E. we proceeded on verry well rapid places more noumerous than below, Shannon the man whome we lost on Wisdom River Joined us, haveing returned to the forks & prosued us up after prosueing Wisdom River one day"

Yeah. That was written by Clark. Fortunately for me Lewis writes a bit better...just a little bit.


Oh did I mention that I was so terribly nervous that I barely ate all day? Managed to watch the new Mansfield Park during a break I shouldn't have taken. I didn't feel too guily because hey, there's a chance I'll have to comment on Jane Austen tomorrow anyway. Not a total waste of time--except that the movie was kind of crap.

But, all in all, the worst thing is that I'll be cooped up for 5 frickin' hours with who knows how many other victims. 5 hours is a long time. Especially when you know you'll have to come back for 5 other hours the next day...and the day after that. 15 hours of working on something that'll have nothing to do with your future job as a teacher. From my point of view, it just plain sucks.

Well, here we go...'la dernière ligne droite' as we say in French. Am I ready for the Capes? Hm, nope. Nope, nope, nope.

Will I be ready? Maybe. The good thing is that we're all in the same boat. You don't pass when you get 10 out of 20 or more. You pass when your fellow students's work was worse than yours. As simple as that.

From what I've seen, almost no one's ready anyway.

The other good thing is that I actually like what we had to study for this year's Capes--well maybe except for Coriolanus, could have done without that one. I never thought that reading Jane Austen obsessively for the past 8 years would come in so useful. My mother was always telling me: "You're reading Pride and Prejudice? Again?". Well, yeah, I was. And I'll be so very grateful if P&P is the book we have to get to work on in less than 3 weeks. Wouldn't mind the Scarlet Letter either.

Man, that's a good excuse to go watch the 4 different adaptations I have of Pride and Prejudice. Maybe my stress level will go down after that.



( A few pics of Cody under the cut )

I feel like re-reading Checkmate now.

What's happening with the Yahoo!France Homepage eh? since I don't watch TV much I'm counting on the internet to tell me about what's happening in the world. I've always liked stopping on the Yahoo homepage before checking my mails because they give you the important news of the day.

But recently the news featured have been kind of weird. The 'hot news' of the moment is that a woman put her lover's cat in the washing machine because she wanted... revenge. Duh. The poor cat is dead by the way from what I understand. Yeah, we do have some crazy people in France too.

Anyway.

The Capes is in less than 2 months and I'm starting to have panic attacks. So much to do...so little time...I did learn one piece of news that cheered me up today though: Shakespeare's Coriolanus was chosen for the Agregation this year--Agregation is like the Capes, it allows you to teach, only it's one step up and you get a better salary--so it's unlikely we'll have it for our Capes too, especially since Shakespeare's Richard II came up last year too. That means we'll probably get either The Scarlet Letter or Pride and Prejudice for the Literature exam. Good news.

I personally never saw the use of thinking then writing about 'Morality in Coriolanus' for 5 hours when next year you'll be asked to teach your 6th grade students how to write the date in english. But well, what do I know eh?

Other than that everything is peachy.

After much research I've finally decided to have Cody's shoes pulled off. Pete Ramey, an ex-farrier turned natural trimmer, has written an excellent article about the navicular syndrom that finally decided me to 'go barefoot'. The shoes were pulled last friday and we're in for a year of transition until the hoof can be nice and tough.

And some photos to conclude. An amazing thing happened a couple of weeks ago: a snow storm swept through the Bordeaux area and we got 10 to 15 cms of snow in a matter of hours. It caused horrible traffic jams but I just had to take the car anyway to get some pictures of the horses.




( Cody wishes you a belated happy new year )




*

Xmas. Here we go again. I've got a Carrot/Blue Cheese Flan baking in the oven. Hopefully it's almost done by now. Didn't feel like waking up at 6am tomorrow and start cooking for the big Xmas meal.

Anyway. It's damned cold in France at the moment. 0°C max. I went for a ride this afternoon and it was -3°C. Yesterday was the same. I had 2 pairs of socks, 2 T-shirts, 2 jumpers, 1 sleeveless light coat, 1 warm coat, 1 extra long scarf and a pair of gloves. And I still felt like one big overdressed icecube.

There was a huge road accident near Bordeaux yesterday--100 cars involved--so I drove at a snail pace to get to the barn. There was a lot of fog when I drove back home but I made it safe and sound.

The joys of winter...Still, riding through the countryside with Cody more than made up for it.



( The following pictures are best seen while wearing two pairs of socks and drinking a cup of hot cocoa )

Anyone interested in seeing my little corner of France? I went for a stroll in Bordeaux last week and took some pictures. I made a page where I posted my favorite shots and I also included the pictures of the countryside I've taken over the past few months.

I have another batch of Bordeaux pictures--complete wit gray sky, wet stone and dead leaves-- that I took yesterday but I haven't had the time to sort through them yet.

The 'Pommekitty' siggie on some of the pictures refers to the screen name I use on french communities. Of course it would have been simpler to have just one screen name for all my internet dealings but well...can't even remember why I have 2 of them--3 if you count my Yahoo!Groups one.


Cléobulle's Home




*

I'm one of these people who have cycles when it comes to food. For example this past summer I'd stock my shopping cart with Gourmet Salt & Black Pepper Chips every week. I just had to have my weekly bag of chips.

These days I stock my cart with sushis--the americanized version devoid of raw fish--, bunches of cherry tomatoes and that wonderful french invention called Pom'Potes--Apple/Apricot flavor. Pom'Potes are just mashed fruits pakaged so that you can take them with you anywhere. No spoons needed. You just unscrew the thing and suck like a derranged monkey. It was made for kids originally. Just imagine: no more messy spoon accidents or baby shirts covered in sticky 'compote'. A mom's dream. Of course they charge you extra money because of the fancy packaging. But well, a girl's got to have her little 'extravagances' sometimes.

I tried to feed some to my horse--it's only mashed fruit after all--but he doesn't like apples and I couldn't fool him with my apple/apricot flavored treat. Picky little thing.

Speaking of Cody, he's doing great. He's transfomed into a furry little ball. His magic nose is gold and white again. I never quite saw the transformation happen. It seemed that one day he had his summer coat with his grey nose and pink snip and next thing I knew the white whorl had come back and the nose was the same color as his coat.

The CAPES course at uni takes a lot of my time. The written exams will take place at the end of March so it's been pretty intense, we need to get everything done. It's strange to think I might be teaching kids this time next year.

( Pictures of Cody & Co )

I don't know how it is that I didn't manage to post at least once in my LJ in September. It's my favorite month of the year after all. But then I'm also terribly late when it comes to the emails I should have written. There just never seems to be enough time.

The leaves are starting to turn yellow and August and September flew by without me noticing.

I'm back to university to follow the course available to future teachers to help them pass the national examination. The written exams are to be held in March so it'll be a busy winter. If all goes well I'll be teaching my first official class next September. And then money'll start to come in regularly every month. My bank account will be happy.

Meanwhile I'll divide my time between studying, fun with friends, vidding--I can't wait to vid the new Jane Eyre--and Cody.

Cody's doing well. I think his winter coat his slowly growing back. He'll look like a furry little ball in a couple of months. Probably a dirty furry little ball too--elbow-grease will be in constant demand throughout the winter I think. He's not fond of mud so that's something at least.

Pictures of Cody and French scenery under the cut.

( Autumn in France )

Why is Yahoo!Mail always down when I'm waiting for important emails? It's been this way all day and I'm ready to tear my hair out.

My temper isn't improved by the heat either. 40°C everyday for almost 2 weeks...Gah, I miss the Sierra Nevada so much. It's never too hot there. Granted it can be freezing but I'd rather be cold than melting away.

I used to love summer when I was little. Heck, I even loved summer last year in the Sierra.

I never thought I'd ever be depressed at this time of year, especially since my birthday is coming up.

And so this post is not Rant Only, here's the good news of the day: I received a pic of Cody as a baby this morning before Yahoo!mail went kaput.

( Cody cuteness )

June.

At this time last year my suitcases were packed and I was ready to hop into the plane that would take me to the US for my fourth packing season in the Sierra Nevada.

Summer 2006...I'll be staying home.

I remember so many things about working at the packstation.

The sound of my boots on the stairs leading to the bathroom in the morning. I'd always forget to leave a hair-tie in my tent and needed to stop by the bathroom every morning. Also the sound of the tent zippers every morning and every evenings. You could hear it so clearly in the silence. The sounds of the bells attached to the mares' necks. You kept hearing them in your sleep and at odd moments. Although, of course, there was nothing to hear.

The particular light at 5:30pm after we'd finished feeding the horses and mules. It had a pinkish tint to it and hay dust would be floating in the air. We'd be walking back to trailer trash to grab some fresh clothes before rushing to the showers. The breathtaking views, wherever I went. Freedom. The sight of Cody coming toward me every morning. I can still see him crossing the big corral with his sweet little face.

The feel of leather. We'd be in contact with leather constantly throuhought the day. Latigo, reins, halters, packsaddles, chaps, saddles...How I hated tacking up early in the morning when the leather was wet and cold after a damp night in the back country. My fingers would be so stiff it was almost painful to move them at all. But the horses and mules were always warm. And also the feel of the pillow under your cheek at night. So soft after a hard day. The feel of the lead rope in my right hand, the tension when the lead mule would pull back, the stretch of muscles.

The smell of smoke in my hair after an evening spent around the campfire. How I hated that too. But, compared to the wonderful hours spent trading stories and getting to know so many different people, only a very insignificant thing. And the smell of the pine trees, the wild flowers. And the horses, always.

The taste of the wacky cake, cooked in the dutch oven with coals on top. Slightly gooey in the center and with marshmallows on top and whipped cream on the side. How good it tasted the next morning...and for dessert at lunch. I also remember the taste and texture of Famous Amos chocolate chips cookies eaten at 6 o'clock in the morning and still cold from a night spent outside, in a bear box.


Memories.

I know I will be back. I can't stay away for long.

Next year. Maybe. Probably.

In the meantime, I have my little Cody. I can share my memories with him. He knows, he was there.