Anywhere but Bordeaux! Adventures of an American Teacher in France by Jacqueline King Donnelly (review)

What Francophile has not dreamed of spending a year in France à la Peter Mayle, and what French teacher has not contemplated teaching there? Jacqueline King Donnelly, admitting a certain ennui, applies to the International Teacher Exchange to follow those dreams. She authors a memoir, with name changes, about her year spent teaching English to middle-school students in a rural town near Bordeaux. Donnelly sets the stage for her adventure with an epigraph from Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. […] Sail away from the safe harbor. […] Explore. Dream. Discover." This quote becomes her mantra. The book chronicles events from April 1999, when Donnelly garners the support of her high school to apply for the exchange, until June 2000, when she returns home. When the acceptance packet arrives, Donnelly's husband expresses a wish that their destination be anywhere but Bordeaux. Previously, one memorable trip during the Tour de France had required a detour through unsavory parts of Bordeaux, engendering a negative view of the city. Alas, Bordeaux it is, hence the title of the memoir. The short chapters comprising each month's section encapsulate an anecdote, a sequential narration of an event with dialogue snippets and the author's evolving reflections. One moment, she feels confident, energized, and grateful; the next, inept, anxious, and naïve. Despite the ebb and flow of emotions, Donnelly continually reminds herself that she truly wants to succeed and will never concede defeat. Her reoccurring inspirational theme song intensifies: "I shall survive." Adapting progressively, she understands that the students in her classes do not conform to the "perfect" French student stereotype that she had propagated at home. In addition to confronting students throwing classroom furniture and being disrespectful, she encounters repeatedly administrative incompetence with teachers' class schedules being changed willy-nilly and teacher strikes. Moreover, thorny interactions with the French teacher with whom she has exchanged her school and her home accelerate. However, she develops respect for and friendships with other faculty and exercises a beneficial influence on vulnerable students in her classes. Into her vivid, entertaining accounts, the writer weaves comparisons between the United States and France, especially educational practices, attitudes, and behaviors, and memorable characters whom she meets inside and outside of school. She recounts the taxing vendanges in which she participates, her unique celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas, the devastating hurricane on 26 December, which causes displacement for several weeks, and attendance at one student's profession of faith and at the funeral of another student's father. Interspersed black-and-white photographs of people, events, and places bolster the genuineness of Donnelly's memoir. Her breezy, flowing style, replete with humorous observations and detailed, picturesque descriptions of landscapes, people, food, and history, create a fast-moving pace to sustain the reader's interest and a desire to know if she will succeed in her adventure. In the end, how will Donnelly assess Twain's advice to leave "the safe harbor"?