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I lost many pictures in a 2018 computer crash so I am starting a project to preserve some memories, outside of the usual social media places.

From September 2010 until April 2011, I lived in the medium-size city Lille in Northern France. My house was in the Northeastern working-class neighborhood Fives and I worked as an English teacher at two middle schools in a western suburb called Lomme, as part of the program Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).

Here are some photos of Lille from Fall 2010. At the time, the nationwide “Mouvement social contre la réforme des retraites en France de 2010 (2010 French pension reform strikes)” had come out in full force, so all the street protest images are related to that. Other photos are from the traditional European downtown Lille, the northern Flemish-style neighborhoods, the Canal de la Deûle that runs through the city, gardening adventures with French friends in a Lille suburb, and sadly just one shot of the lively Marché de Wazemmes (Wazemmes Market), a weekend city staple.