Trains, Banks and School

All still goes well. My students still seem to be nice and interested. It helps, perhaps, that they had two weeks of me and then get a two week break then will only have 6 more weeks of school before the holiday break. Then there's the fact that many students I only see every other week. At least for the calendar year I think things will go okay with them.

I have decided to go to Nantes for some of the break next week. The plan is to do rideshare to Nantes Sunday afternoon/evening and then stay with Roselyne and Jean Noel until Wednesday morning. Then Wednesday I would head towards St. Nazaire with Aurelien for a couple days. Not sure on plans for heading back to Concarneau, but I've got the time to be indecisive.

Right now Miguel's cousin, Jesus, is in town. He is taking a few weeks to travel around. This is his first trip in France and he started in Strasbourg, then took a train straight to Quimper and is here with us. Tomorrow we three plus some other assistants will be in Quimper for a music festival tomorrow night. We will probably stay the night with some assistants there as it will be too late to get home. Sunday I'll come back to Concarneau to shower and get my bag(s) and then go back into Quimper to catch a ride through covoiturage.fr. If I can't find a rideshare then I will just take the train, although the rideshare will be way less expensive and more interesting.

Rideshare, or covoiturage, is relatively common in France. It goes along with the French hatred of "gaspillage," or waste. This same idea of gaspillage is why many people rent out extra rooms in their houses or take in foreign students. People post their future trips on http://www.covoiturage.fr/ and list how many seats they would have available, where they're going, when, if they're open to having baggage and pets, etc. Then if you are headed someplace, instead of paying for a train ticket that might be 30€ you can arrange a ride with someone for around 10€. The prices depend on the distance, gas efficiency of the car (the price is to split gas), and how many other people will be riding along. Also, the rideshare usually starts and stops at the train stations of the towns, so you end up exactly where you would have been anyways. The system is similar to couchsurfing in that you create a profile and accrue references so a future traveller can base his/her choice on the information provided on the site and still feel relatively safe.

I don't know if I will be able to take this route, however, as I only started looking for rideshares recently. The one woman I got in touch with was out of places. I have hence sent three other requests and we'll see if they don't have space. However, as I may or may not have luck, I am heading into town tomorrow to pick up my French debit card and drop by the SNCF boutique (the office for the national rail line) to buy a carte 12-25.

The carte 12-25 is the youth card for travellers and guarantees 25% off the ticket fare, but can get you up to 60% off depending on certain things. It costs 49€ and lasts for a full year, meaning even if I just used it on a roundtrip ticket for Paris it would pay for itself. It's a much better option than the eurorail pass, which you pay a ton for and then still have to reserve your tickets in advance, which often entails paying a fee. With the youth card, you buy your ticket online or in a boutique just like normal, but at a discounted price and then when you are on the train you present your ticket with your youth card. It's a good deal.

To buy it you need one passport sized photo which you can get easily in France. Photo booths are in all supermarkets and have the option to take pictures for official documents (this usually costs 4€ for four pics). Then you'd need a passport (if you're foreign) and the money.

As for the debit card, they said it would take 8-10 days as the information had to go through Paris and then Paris would send them the card. Well, that was October 6. My account was successfully set up and money deposited, but it doesn't really do me any good until I get the card. Miguel got his letter with his pin number last Friday. This means his card was received. So Wednesday we went in, hoping they would have mine, too. They sent us downtown as apparently all cards are sent from Paris to Quimper and then Quimper to the main bank downtown and in order to get it at *our* bank we have to ask them to ask the downtown bank to send it which takes two days.

I got my letter finally yesterday and went in. The card was still in Quimper. They said come back today. I went in today. They said the card was in the downtown bank. She asked me if I wanted it sent in to my bank and I asked when it'd get in; she said Tuesday. Thus the reason for me going downtown tomorrow, aside from the youth card. sigh.

On a lighter note, they finally started our heat! Apparently they normally start the heat Nov 1 (after Halloween), but the boarders at the school requested it be turned on early because it's been so cold recently. Well, thank you, boarding students! It's much easier in the evenings and mornings to do things without being wrapped in blankets.

Things are good. Not too many events to report on, but maybe that will change when I am back from holiday.

Best wishes to all...