Getting Settled In

So this week has been very full of housekeeping-type activities:

• Purchasing a phone
• Setting up a bank account
• Purchasing a bus pass for October
• Getting a library card (okay, that part was optional, but it was free with the Carte Avantages Jeunes I purchased on Thursday, which also allows you to get discounts at restaurants, movie theatres, etc)
• Touring the city (also optional, but I've been doing my best).
• Going grocery shopping
• Etc...

So now I am pretty settled here in Besancon. Yesterday evening I got back to the apartment around 7:30pm (I had contemplated going to see a movie, but decided not to). I'm glad that I didn't, because Steph and Charly invited me to join them for dinner and to go check out an exposition in the c.v. called "Nuit des Cherchers" (Researchers' Night). Basically it's a grown-up version of a science fair, featuring researchers from the university, and presented in an interactive way. Also -- the Art and Archeology Museum was open to the public, with demonstrations and presentations going on inside. It sounded cool, and getting to know the couple I'm living with a little better seemed like a good idea.

Speaking of whom, I should probably tell you a little more about them. They're both 26, and both from this area (Steph's family is less than 30 minutes away and Charly's is an hour away). Steph works at a nursing home near Planoise (the neighborhood where I'll be teaching), in a management role. Charly is working on his PhD in archeology at the university here. In their spare time... Charly does karate and apparently likes video games (he has an extensive collection, but I've never seen him playing them). I'm not sure exactly what Steph does. So far I've really only seen them coming home from work, making dinner, watching TV or a movie, and going to bed.

So last night we walked down the Rue Battant to a little restaurant called "Indian Restaurant" (original, right?) But the food was delicious!! It's always a good sign when an "ethnic" restaurant is populated by people of that ethnicity, and that was the case here. But unlike a lot of Indian restaurants in the US, this one was very bright and open. I had lamb curry, yum! Afterward we walked to the c.v. and checked out the exhibition. It was a little less interactive than I think they had expected, but we participated in a couple of the activities ("do men and women perceive smells differently?") and wandered around the museum. Besançon sits on the foundations of an ancient Roman town and so they have a lot of cool artifacts, including some magnificent mosaics. The curators have set up the exhibit so you can walk out onto a platform and see all of the mosaics around you (they were originally the floor of Roman dwellings). Really neat! By then it was nearly 11:30pm and we walked back home.

This morning I went for a run/walk along the Doubs (I asked Charly and Steph last night if all of the paths/trails/quays were safe and they told me which ones to avoid at night, but that for the most part the area is very safe). The part where I was running is actually a bike path which extends from Nantes in the south of France to Budapest in Hungary! As I was running, I contemplated how confusing the French language can be. For instance, these words are all pronounced the same way ("do"):

• Doubs : as in the river
• D’où : literally "from where"
• Doux : soft or gentle (this spelling indicates the word is describing a masculine noun)

I know we have homophones in English too (right Amy Jo?), but they seem infinitely more confusing in French.

Now I'm off to meet with two other English Teaching Assistants who just arrived in Besancon. They're living in Planoise, the area where I will be teaching, but we're meeting up in the c.v. I'm about to double the number of people I know in this city -- woohoo! Check out the photos below for more pictures of Besançon; I took them yesterday afternoon. 

 A view from one of the quays (I believe this is under the "Pont Rochereau" (Rochereau Bridge)):

A view looking out at the Doubs. You can see a bridge (le Pont Battant) connecting the c.v. (left) with the rest of the town (right bank):

A really funky fountain in the middle of the Doubs. I haven't been able to establish any kind of pattern for when it shoots out water:

I thought this was cute. We walked by here on our way to dinner and apparently it was painted within the last week!

A more comprehensive picture of the monument I described in an earlier post (and the wording for the one in 2005 was "External Operations"). For the record, the two plaques to the left and the one closest to the statue on the right are all from North Africa in the 1950s. The one on the far right is Korea and Vietnam.

A really pretty park by the Pont de la République -- it's very extensive and includes a huge playset and a carousel for kids (and I've seen a lot of families with young kids so far). I spent an hour or two reading here yesterday and when I went running this morning I passed through here.

A view of the citadel in the distance: