What I’ve been doing, my studio and what it means to be (kind of) vegetarian in France

It’s been a little while now that I’ve written, far too long in fact. That’s not to say that I’ve not been writing at all but it has simply been a little bit difficult. I’m working on a piece on the Olympic torch right now for TSJ and wrote an article about the Charlie Hebdo affair (I’ll link to the articles on my main site once they’ve been published). If you’re an assistant in France, you may be particularly interested in the second because Charlie Hebdo is, obviously, based in France – even if it not that well known – and its story is worth following.

I should probably pick up now where I finished off. Finding a place to stay. In fact, I found a place relatively quickly (the first place I looked) but I could not move in until the beginning of November. It is relatively costly though it is fully furnished (which is generally quite difficult to find around France), very close to the main train and tram stations, a 10-minute walk from some other teaching assistants (who are also good friend) and a 20-minute walk to the city centre.

All places are though not perfect and there are some problems wrong with it though; it is not too close to a large supermarket (but it seems that big supermarkets are not based towards the centre of the city in French cities but rather the peripheries), it’s not too close to a small supermarket (if you just want to get a quick snack on the way home for example or have a craving) and it is lacking an oven of any sort so I need to buy one.

What I have already learnt though is that I love having my own place to stay as opposed to a foyer, somewhere that I can call my own, somewhere that I can cook (and save money by cooking my own meals), somewhere that I can relax and feel entirely comfortable.

Yes, in a foyer I was forced to speak French a little more often, be it with the receptionist or over dinner with some French students. But I was also forced to go to the canteen to eat meals as a means to save money and with the French tendency to expose all meals to some form of meat; I was often only eating chips as there was no vegetarian (or halal) option. There was one occasion in which I was unsure about a vegetarian rice dish and so I asked the chef.

“Is this vegetarian?”

“Yes.”

I am then given the dish at which point I probe at it with a fork and find little pink pieces floating around. “What’s this?”

“Oh, that’s pork.”

“You just said that it’s vegetarian.”

“Yes, because they’re only small pieces.”

I am then met with a disgruntled look as I say, “I can’t eat this. Vegetarian means no meat.”

Indeed, this has happened on a couple of occasions, albeit slightly differently, in various areas around the city. For example, in my first few days I was looking for somewhere to eat lunch and came across a large sandwich shop/restaurant. After initially being told they had no vegetarian paninis, I asked whether they had a single item on the menu that was vegetarian and was flatly denied. In another restaurant where they had no vegetarian options, I asked them to make me a cheese sandwich, so they literally cut two slices of cheese and put it inside a baguette for me. Since the French pride themselves on their food, this was not the least bit impressive.

There are a number of other things that have happened since I last wrote and some require full blog posts such as some of the experiences in my lessons, my trip to Downing Street (last week) and my time in Paris (this past weekend).  Something I can tell you easily is that I now have a lift to and from my school and so I save an awful lot of time travelling. It also means that I can speak French for a number of hours a week while in the car, hopefully improving my French all the time. After all, I’m told that’s why I’m here.