I am down to a single digit number of sleeps (eight) until I leave for France and although I have sent forms to a few places for other people to sort out for me I have yet to do almost anything productive towards properly preparing to move to a foreign country.
Wait, I lie. Today I bought a few necessary toiletries and cosmetics in the supermarket.
I even thought to myself, "I should buy these in bulk," before remembering that they have des supermarchés in France.
I'm even so nervous about getting it wrong that when I was asked to bring some English children's books, poetry books, games and posters (for which I would be reimbursed) I sent approximately another million emails asking for more clarification. What kind do you want? How much can I spend? How many would you like? What English-language reading age are your students at? Do they prefer games where they write or where they speak? How many copies of a book would you like, enough to stock the library? I only slightly exaggerate. But I do not want to be "that English language assistant who turned up with all those novels" at whom the French people of Bolbec laugh in years to come... Then I remember that she wants me to choose. I am actually the British person in this.
I also ought to think about how much I can realistically take with me. I do not yet know how many bags I can make connections with from Euston to St Pancras (I'm walking that distance which at least prevents the otherwise-inevitable hassle and irritation on the Tube) and from one Paris station to another (oh man, I'm not going to be convincing anyone that I'm French, am I?). In my head I'm taking a massive suitcase, my little travel suitcase, and a rucksack. Bang go any and all hopes of looking good. In reality I'll probably fall over with just that first item of luggage. There I've been, attempting to fill the gaps in my wardrobe of missing essential items without any real consideration of how to go about getting it in a suitcase.
And that includes this newly-purchased winter coat.
In writing this, I've just looked up and across towards my recently beautifully-reorganised bookcase. What books should I take? How much English ought I really to be reading over there, and how much should I be replacing it with French? I still have so many books to finish reading before I buy any more. At least I have solved the DVD and CD problem; many of you will know how I love TV series, and the thought of not being able to fit all the boxes in was just awful until I remembered those things called CD wallets. Crisis averted.
No doubt soon I'll find some more problems. I think I'm going to take the rest of the night off, but tomorrow I will write a list. Lists solve all problems. (Until you need a list to remember all of your lists...)
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