You've Found My Blog!

Welcome
Congratulations! You've found my blog! I know I'm excited! Welcome to all friends, family, and otherwise tina-stalkers.

As you may know, I am going to Europe (hence the catchy title and url), where I will be teaching English to cute* little French children at a public elementary school. This blog is to serve as a super-techy way to keep you all updated on my experiences in and out of the classroom. So if you're missing me terribly, or you're so curious about what my life is like in France, or if you're just bored at work, please feel free to come here and read up on what's up with me.

About the Program
Hired by: the French government
Position: Assistante de Langue, école primaire (public elementary school English "assistant")
Length: 9 months, Oct 1, 2009-June 30, 2010
Hours: 12 hrs/week teaching
Location: Hyères, in the south near the Mediterranean coast
Payment: monthly stipend, enough to pay rent/food/some travel, hopefully

The Countdown is ON
I'm leaving in ONE WEEK! I flew to San Francisco (and back) on Wednesday to get my VISA...let's just hope it gets back to Seattle before I go.** Planned time of departure: 9:05am Friday, September 18th. My "to do" list includes: cleaning, packing, and remaining in denial of the fact that I'm leaving Seattle.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for updates from France!

*This subjective adjective has yet to be officially confirmed, but based on past personal experiences interacting with young people from France, I am confident in my presumption that at least some of the kiddos will be so darn cute, I'll wish I had one of my own. Don't worry, Mom, only kidding...

**As it turns out, dealing with French bureaucracy involves long delays. Go figure. My contract, which was due to arrive in mid-July arrived on September 8. Let's keep our fingers crossed, hoping the woman at the consulate wasn't lying when she said there'd be enough time.