It’s been a month and a half since I came to Lyon, and I hope it’s now safe to say that the hardest part is behind me.  After all, I have a remarkably rosy memory of my six-month Parisian séjour, but must force myself to recall just how difficult that first month was there as well.  Bref, this adjustment blues is nothing new, and it will pass. 

If nothing else, month one was eventful.  I arrived in France sans friends ni housing, and somehow have managed to find some of both since then –  though admittedly, both are still somewhat tenuous.  After my first weekend with our Croix Rousse hosts, a friend-of-a-parent-of-a-friend offered me a room in her house just north of Lyon’s famous Parc de la Tete D’Or, for either a few days or my entire stay.  A suburban homestay was not really what I had in mind when envisaging this Lyon chapter, but with such a welcoming and friendly host (and easy enough bus access) I’m willing to put a damper on my nightlife for now, in exchange for low rent and interesting company!

Then work began, and I finally experienced the infamous banlieue of Venissieux firsthand.  Allow me to say, for now, at least, that it’s not quite as bad as I had been led to believe.  My students – who tend to slip and call me “Madame,” even in English – are good kids, for the most part, many of whom have troubled home lives but bristle at the “défavorisé” label. Some classes have gone better than others – occasionally when using identical lesson plans – but one or two 9/11 “jokes” and anti-American comments aside, I’ve been faring reasonably well, and the curiosity factor (an Americaine in Venissieux? ) has yet to wear off with most of the students.  We’ve talked about Boston, the US in general, Halloween, and even Veterans Day, but the subject that has most captured their interest is the fate of Barack Obama.  As one student volunteered, “he’s a Muslim like us” – and while their grasp on the issues at stake is about as firmly rooted in the truth as that comment, it’s still safe to say that Obama has dramatically altered the way that my country is viewed abroad, even in a setting such as this.