a long long long summary entry.. you were warned!
I thought of this title while sitting at the bus station, waiting for the two buses that didn’t come, sans umbrella, soaked socks, missing a class I was supposed to be teaching. Sometimes here it seems that not just one thing can go wrong, but that it must be some sort of string chain like reaction that results in one very bad day. The other meaning is of course that when it rains here, it actually pours, like torrential downpours. Now we’re on to torrential snow downpours, so it would seem that this is just how the weather goes here.
Somehow a couple more weeks have passed where I have not found the time to write in this blog (I guess watching all those chick flicks is taking up all my time.. bust I still find this hard to believe, as I have lots of time. Well here are the highlights of the December, I suppose..
Even when a widespread, publicized strike isn’t occurring, I have found twice now that I have gone to the train station, just to see a notification that there is a “greve prevue”, or a possible strike in the future, meaning that day, that would affect train schedules. I still find it semi-ridiculous that the strikes are planned, and even more that they can stand to put up with these constant interruptions, because I certainly can’t, and I’ve only been here for less than 3 months.
One day I saw a mailman delivering mail on a bike, which I thought was pretty cool. Until I realized that he was also smoking, while riding the bike, and delivering mail (quite the multitasker). Since then I’ve seen someone else doing it also (biking/smoking combo) and I just can’t help but think of how ridiculous it is, and how they are instantly canceling out the positive benefits of the exercise.
One of the funniest things to come out of my thanksgiving lesson was when I taught (and could get them to understand) “I am thankful for”. In one the classes, however, I didn’t have a marker for the board, so I just tried to repeat slowly and have them write it down. One boy could just not get it, and listening to the kids responses, the phrase got less and less decipherable as we went on (like a game of telephone): “I am thankful for”, “I am thank for” “I am uhh for”, “I thanks”, sort of thing. One boy just could not get it, and his friend assured him that he knew what I was saying and wrote it in his friend’s notebook for him. When I went over to check the spelling, I realized that he wrote “I am thing for for”. I was like really? You really think I am standing up here saying “I am thing for for”?!
Another recent lesson I did revolved around American pop music. I chose a recently popular song so that they would get an idea of what kids like in the us, and I tried to choose one where I thought the lyrics were sung slowly and easy to understand. The song – taylor swift’s you belong to me, which, by the way, I never want to hear again (8 classes later with 2 plays each time). Despite my thought behind the lesson, the kids had a lot of trouble understanding the words when sung, and sometimes even when written, and even though I showed the video, sometimes even the concept! Again, maybe it just wasn’t really their thing, but I’m trying to make these fun, so sometimes I just wish they would reciprocate the effort.
I find it kind of funny that aix les bains is considered a lake town. “lake town” should be in quotes. Like yes, there is a lake. Yes it is Lac du Bourget, the biggest natural lake in France. All of those are cool things, and yes it is quite pretty. But the lake is like easily a 40 minute walk from the city. You can’t see it from most places in the city either because there is a big hill with a town on top, called tresserve, that comes between the lake front and the center of aix les bains. So I understand what people hear, and why they would want to visit, but really, unless you like 2 mediocre chain stores and an expensive yet boring club, there is not much going for us here..
I sort of already knew this from studying in Nice (thank you les francais), but there is rarely positive reinforcement in classes here. Instead they are practically made fun of for their mistakes, or at least made to feel stupid. I know maybe Americans take the positive reinforcement to the extreme, never wanting to tell someone they are wrong so as not to hurt their feelings, or tell them that they aren’t doing a good job so as not to discourage them, but it’s what I grew up with, and something I personally like, so I’ve been making it a point to tell everyone they are doing a good job all the time. I know, some are better than others, but the fact is, if you’re doing what I asked and participating, to me, you are doing a good job. Kids at this age in the US can’t necessarily say all the things these kids know in English in another language.
I’ve realized lately, mostly because the only other assistant here is british, that many of the brits (at leas those that I have met) feel like they have to be here. it’s part of their degree program, and they can’t graduate without it, so whether or not they want to teach, or want to be here at this moment in their lives (instead of on campus with the rest of their friends), doesn’t really factor in. it made me kind of sad to think of it from this perspective, even though, ironically, it fits pretty well how I currently feel. I guess the reasons for wanting to participate in this program for Americans and other non brits is just really different, even the application is different, and it’s so much more competitive. Some people left jobs to come here, I had planned on doing this for years, and at least 5 other French majors from umd are in france doing the same thing. So maybe what is more disappointing is not that I relate with the british assistants, but that I went in with the American idea of the program, and ended up with the british version. At least they had fewer/lower expectations I guess..
The immigration appointment was at the “French office of immigration and integration”. Integration is a big part of the immigration process here, which, of course, is totally the opposite of our American melting pot idea. It’s different for sure, but I guess I don’t really have a problem with it, since they are quite upfront with it, telling people what they expect from them if they want to live in france. It was weird to read all the posters about how to integrate yourself though; most revolved around learning and using French.
Despite the long trip to Grenoble, the medical visit was quite easy. Very basic questions/exam, and really I could have lied in my answers to their questions, so I don’t know how they expect to keep their country healthy, or whatever it is that they are trying to do. I guess the x ray thing was a little more than I am used to, though. Whatever I didn’t pay for it!
One day while staring aimlessly out the window of school from the staffroom (this happens a lot), I realized that there were cows that lived behind the school. Where do I live?!
When you come into a classroom here, the kids remains standing until you tell them to sit down. It’s pretty funny the first time because I didn’t know what they were doing, and even now, after I’ve explained to them that we don’t do that, and I don’t care if they just come in and sit down, they still mostly forget and remain standing until I tell them they can sit down. And yes I say “you can sit down” unlike the majority of the teachers who bark out a “sit down!” order.
The other day the IT specialist at the school (who also called me adorable at one point, though only to cut me in the line at the copier.. uhh I’m not ok with that) told me that I “typed like a professional”. Mind you this was on those crazy French key boards, so I personally find that quite hard to believe, as I have to stop and stare at the keyboard sometimes to find the key I want, and the other times I just find that my words are littered with q’s (which is in the a position on a French keyboard). Maybe I do type quickly in comparison with some of the teachers I have seen here, though, who use their two index fingers to write lessons. Ridiculous.
Oh we finally went to that club, night cocoon, which I think I have failed to mention. It was (maybe not so surprisingly) not that cool. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, though, that after paying 12 euro, I had to wait in a non-line (French people hate/don’t understand the line concept) for an hour and a half to get into this place! Sorry, but my good mood was dampened quite a bit by that. Then we get in there and there is a smoking room, connected to the rest of the club, which basically is no better than a smoking club, so I feel like I can’t breathe properly and my hair, clothes, everything smelled when we left. The music choices were mediocre, lots of eurotrash club mixes that go on for ages and sound exactly the same, followed by a few 30-second snippets of the most popular songs in the US. If they could just play a full American song that is currently popular, that would have made me happy. They served (tiny!!) drinks in glasses, which meant there were sticky alcohol and glass shards all over the floor. Despite the mainly younger than me clientele, there were still old creepers. The bartenders were impossible to get the attention of, it seemed they were more concerned with dancing (sometimes on the bar) than serving patrons. A bottle of Smirnoff (~12 euro at the grocery) is 50 euro at the club, and without a chaser..
After that thrilling night, I walked home at approx 4:30 am, only to get up less than 5 hours later to go to Grenoble to see harry potter. To my surprise, after my completely dry and clear skied walk home in the morning, when I woke up there was enough snow on the ground to have already cancelled bus service in the entire area. Ughh.
So I walked to the train station and the trains were luckily still going. Grenoble was nice, harry potter was awesome, and the Christmas markets were cute. Always nice to remember that there are civilized places with people outside of aix les bains.
I’ve done such little travel this year compared to my year abroad. I think some of it has to do with schedule (no more 3 day weekends!) and not being able to skip class when it is convenient for me (it’s a job) and I need to be prepared/rested/on time. I also just think that now I have a completely different spending mindset. Before I had saved a bunch of money to travel all around, and now I’m just thinking about the future and what will come next (ughh I must be an adult!) and how I will need money. This isn’t the best job to try and save money with, but I guess I’m doing my best.
When I see kids on the bus now they all just have to say hello! Sometimes they don’t though, but they tell the teacher they saw me and then the teacher tells me. Sometimes the kids who do know me tell their friends who don’t about me too, as evidenced by the fact when this one kids came up to me on the bus and was all like (in French), I heard you’re the American, do you know Obama?
One school didn’t schedule me for an entire week (4 hrs) in nov, then started scheduling me for 5 hour weeks after. I figured it was to make up for that fact, but when I got there for my first 5 hour week, the teachers said they put too many hours down and that I would only need to stay 4. Well I’m not going to argue with that..
A week later and an even bigger downpour of snow. Luckily one class was canceled (Get this , because the teacher can’t stand the students! Yes, the same ones I had to send to the office! So she just stopped showing up) and the next one I couldn’t get back to school for since the buses were cancelled when it started snowing.
Since I had a make up class this week, I still ended up teaching 11 hours.. hey we’re getting close to 12!
Hannah and I went to a “mall” in chambery. Basically it’s a massive grocery with a few other stores around it. Better than the geant casino mall here, though, I have to give it that. And something to do. Found cheddar at the massive Carrefour, which unfortunately, was not what I was expecting. Probably was made in france. Either way, it was pretty disappointing.
It was the day after the big snow, which had covered one of the tracks and caused a bunch of delays, which we didn’t really encounter until we wanted to leave chambery. Our train was cancelled last minute and the next one was delayed, so it wasn’t the best. We ended up sitting in the waiting room for like an hour and a half, and there had ourselves quite the little creeper experience. Basically 2 old drunk guys tried to talk to us, even though we claimed to not understand their French. We did, however, unfortunately, understand when he said that we had beautiful legs, that we were charming, and how he accused me of tiring to use a bus ticket to get all the way back to England (guess what! I’m not british). They also tried to survey the room for the words they needed “legs,” and “charming” among them). When we finally got done with that and back to aix, I had another run in while waiting for the bus home, when some guy said something to me, which I didn’t hear (headphones) and followed it up with a wink and small amount of lingering.. ugh.
I’ve started playing games with some of the classes I see more regularly/often. Taboo proved to be quite difficult, but I’m hoping with a little practice they will get the hang of it. They all started talking about how they didn’t know how much time was left (I had a stop watch on my cell which I was timing with) so I allowed one kid to take his phone out and time also. Next thing I know, I turn around and notice a flash. Did he seriously just take a picture of me?!
My Christmas lesson with the sixiemes was interesting as always. I decided to start by making paper snowflakes.. ah what a mess! I had made one during my break, but I guess I forgot how 11 year olds are a little messier. They liked it, though, I was just stuck picking up a bunch of little pieces of paper after they left.
I also thought it would be cute to take a picture of them with their art projects (they also made Christmas cards) but that proved to be an even bigger disaster. For some reason, as soon as my camera was out, they assumed they could take theirs out, and it turned into a full on red carpet paparazzi situation. One girl pulls our her iphone (at 11!) others pull out cameras (why at school!) and then after taking pictures of each other they all stand in a semi circle like 2 feet from my face and take pictures of me! The kids start talking about tagging on facebook which leads one to ask if Americans “had that”. Pshh yeah! Long story short, they are all obsessed with being my facebook friend now, I got a piece of paper with a girls name, a cell phone number of another, and came home to 3 new friend requests from 11 year olds, one of who’s last name is listed as bieber (her default [picture also happened to be one of Justin) ugh!
Well I finally ate in the cantine for the first time. And man is it different than in the US First off, here we have plastic trays, metal cutlery and real plates. The meal every day consists of a main dish, a side, a salad, a yogurt, a fruit and bread. The meal that day was mussels or salmon! So I got the salmon, fries, a salad nicoise (with tuna), a plain yogurt eaten as dessert with sugar in it, an apple, two pieces of bread and water. Biggest lunch of my life! I don’t think I could eat like this all the time. But not I also understand why they have so much time, for that amount of food, you need it! I didn’t even eat the apple, and was still really full. We ate in a little teacher’s section of the lunch room (they have their own room) and one table even had wine on it!
My schedule is still, unfortunately, crazy. The teachers just can’t get on top of it, and even tough they are only planning the between the two of them, they still can’t agree on things. This leads to my first week back being cancelled and me wanting to change my ticket but not being able to since the change fee+fare difference is over 1000 dollars!
I played the who’s who game with one of my younger classes again. I asked them all first though to write down the name of a ac eleb so that they for sure would know who they were (instead of me bringing in people I thought they knew). In a class of 10 students, I got 2 Michael Jacksons and 3 George Clooneys, spelled like “Georges Clounet”! I can’t believe these are the only American celebs they know.
Lyon was fun. It’s a nice city. Big, lots of stores and nice things to see. The Christmas markets had lots of cool, different things, the festival of lights was ok. Some things were cool, but some didn’t seem as cool as I thought they would be. It was sooo crowded. All these people came just to see some lights. A nice thing was that the train tickets were cheaper that day, though, I’m not sure people took advantage of it (after I asked everyone about it), and there were additional trains. Our train didn’t even get us home until like 12 am, which is several hours later than normal. We had amazing bagels and nachos that were way overpriced but totally worth it. At the same shop they had Sunkist and Dr pepper for 2.60 euro a can!! And a box of lucky charms or Trix for 11.95!! new plan: I’m opening my own American shop asap! The rest of the day was used to gift-hunt (aka lots of shopping with the rest of the population of france), walk walk and walk, look at some cool lights, and walk some more. All in all, a successful trip.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
thanksgiving a la française/the final immigration tasks!
Even my busiest weeks, something gets cancelled, namely my whole 3 hour shift on Tuesday morning (23/11). This worked to my advantage, as I woke up with a splitting headache, and had to go to Grenoble for an immigration appointment later that day. So after working my one hour Monday, none Tuesday, and none Wednesday (as usual) I only had to work Thursday and Friday of last week. So another long week averted. Although the trip to Grenoble was tiring, but we’ll get to that later.
Some of the highlights of my first thanksgiving lesson..
i would start explaining how it was this big holiday and we eat turkey and some girl is like "oh see we celebrate christmas in december." and i was like yeah.. so do we. this isn't christmas. and they were like oh.. so it's like armistice day? and i was like no, we celebrate that too, remember, this is another holiday.. one you don't celebrate. get it? silence..
they had a really hard time understand the concept "to be thankful for" and after saying it as many ways as i could in english, i just translated it into french and they still didn't really get it! so i was like, say things you're thankful for, like "i'm thankful for my family, i'm thankful for my pets, i'm thankful for my health, i'm thankful to live in france, anything!" and they all just stare at me. finally one girl raises her hand and says "i am thankful for the job i will have in the future." and i was like ok.. but maybe we should try and stick to things in the present.. like things in your life right now that you are happy about. anyone? silence...
nothing and anything.. two other words they don't get. i guess i can understand, in french one word means both things. but lots of times i'll say something like, "can you think of anything?" and i'll get the response "anything!" from one of the students, when they mean to say "nothing".
after reading a brief (simplified) history of thanksgiving (like "the pilgrims were grateful for the indians help, because without them they wouldn't have survived" etc) there were questions about the text, like "what were the pilgrims thankful for?" kind of thing. they understood indians, pilgrims took a little more explaining, but i said they were the people who came from another country (england) to live in america. and this one girl goes "oh so they were invaders!" and the rest of the time she was like, "i don't understand why the indians thanked the invaders.." and i was like "no.. the pilgrims thanked the indians for teaching them how to survive through the harsh winter." and she was like "oh.. so the invaders thanked the indians.. and then they killed them?!" and i was like "uh.. well.. that's not written here in this text.. but yeah, sort of, let's just do the next question."
there was also something about foods they ate on the first thanksgiving in that text and it was funny to try and explain some of them. for example, eels. i was like "ok so they look like snakes, do you know what a snake is?" and one kid is like "ah americans eat snakes! what a weird country!" and i was like "no, no, they look like snakes and they live in the water." and then i get a collective "ahhh les anguilles" or something like that. another funny one was venison, and i was like "do you know what a deer is?" and no one did.. so i was like "umm do you know who bambi is?" and they were all like "americans eat bambi ahhh!". it was pretty funny.
so the immigration appointment: tuesday i went to grenoble.. i was a little late since i didn't realize how far (and in the middle of nowhere!) the immigration office was. after the train i had a 20 min tram ride, then a 10 minute walk, in the rain! so i was like 10 minutes late, but i ran into a whole group of assistants i had met at orientation there also, and then one came in after me too, so i figured it was ok. well the receptionist like didn't match the names up or type them correctly, i don't know, but i sat there for 30 minutes until some woman came down and was like, "where are the other 2 language assistants? why didn't they come?" then she specifically says my name and i'm like uh, i'm right here. and then the lady got all mad being like, "you should have told her that you had an appointment at 3 (even though i did give her the paper that said that) because our appointment (the immigration one) was at 330 and now it's 345 and i have to stay late.." (her exact words were that i should have "protested" - this country and it's protests!) boo hoo. how was i supposed to know that you just didn't want to make me wait forever like you always do in this country? plus there were other people in the waiting room there before me. well apparently this place like closes at 4 and they (of course) all wanted to leave asap, but at least that meant it all went fast, i guess. so you meet with a nurse, doctor, get an x ray, and then back to the doctor to look at the xray. it was all pretty easy and basic, they didn't even really ask much, i thought ("do you smoke, have you ever had a surgery" kind of thing). then in the end, the doctor like looks at that xray for maybe 2 seconds and is like "looks good" and then told me it was a souvenir for me to keep. so now i've got some (cool?) x-ray of my lungs as a souvenir from france.
no work on Wednesday but a full day on Thursday, thanksgiving of all days!
all my classes today were an hour.. sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not. i've decided you can tell pretty quickly (like within the first few minutes of class) whether they are interested or not and whether you're losing them. and from that point it's really hard to change it to go in the other direction.. i hate it when that happens.
the first class was good, but i was almost late because the photocopier was broken (get this, there is one!.. ok actually there is a back up, so there are two, but at all the other schools there is one photocopier... crazy!), so i had to use the back up one which is much smaller/slower and of course there was a line. this was the first class that got my "i'm thankful for" thing which was good.. although after one person said "i'm thankful for my friends" it was like everyone just copied, even though i said to try and be original with their responses.
the second class was not as good, the teacher even pointed out students as they were walking in to watch out for (never a good sign). those kids ended up being ok, they didn't really pay attention but they didn't talk or disrupt the class, which is all i really care about i guess. that's probably not good, but some people were listening and i care more that they get something out of it and are not interrupted by those who don't care. i guess, again, that's probably not the point. but whatever, i'm not a teacher and i am just trying to find the easiest way to get through the hour.
i should mention i think many of these kids still think thanksgiving is christmas (they are all like ah noel! noel!), and that americans just celebrate it oddly early, despite how much i tell them that it is different.
then a (boring) break, then the class with the little kids (10/11 year olds). i've decided this class, while enthusiastic, is really hard, and i never know what to expect! they are always all over the place, switching chairs, getting mad if i don't pick someone first, wanting to write stuff on the board even if i tell hem no, and even though they are nice, that hour is just soo tiring. i had plans of trying my best to explain thanksgiving in english/french, but they have such short attention spans, i just passed out a wordsearch and let them do that instead. i think you've got to be prepared, because otherwise they will just be all over the place, but at the same time i was thinking of playing this one game and they wouldn't stop begging me to play hangman, so i just let them do that for the last 20 minutes or so. so you've got to be prepared but also be prepared to throw the lessons out the window? i'm glad this is just like a fun class for them (because they are too young/know too little to actually do grammar/reading/writing exercises) and i'm not really responsible for teaching them material.
i also had SUCH trouble trying to explain how to make a turkey out of your hand. since they weren't really having the thanksgiving lesson, i decided to let them trace their hands on paper and make a turkey out of it, then writing what they were thankful for inside. they were all excited to draw their hands, and i did it for them first, and explained in french, so i didn't think it would be so hard, but the first time around they just all drew their hands and then asked me if they could draw in the nails or add nail polish and stuff. i was like nooo we're making turkeys. TURKEYS. after several english/french/drawing explanations, they finally got it and they got the i'm thankful for thing too.. thankfully!
then another (boringgg) break and one last class, just the section of non euro (honors) kids. i reallllly don't get it. like i just had a class with the same level honors, and they understood everything i said/asked/all my directions. i get into this class and they can't even introduce themselves properly ("i eleven").. how can there be such hugeee difference?! i will never get it. these are the times that i feel like i have to improvise, because i realize even though i've done the same thing with multiple classes, that they won't get it, even if they should. annoying (also i realize this would be easier if i had the same class more than once.. know what to expect or whatever). plus i hate it when i explain something, ask if everyone understands, everyone says yes, and then when i tell them to do the exercise, everyone says they don't understand. like, i don't care if you ask me to explain it a million times, or if you have a million questions, just don't say you get it when you don'tttt. besides that, one boy asked me if i knew french in the beginning (they always ask this first) and i say yes, but i can't speak it with you, which is what i always say. and he's like "oh do you think we could speak in french after class, i just love american accents.." and i was like umm, what? why? that's kind of weird.. i mean i like french accents (i guess? but now i'm kind of over that i think, i hear them all the time) but i would never ask my teacher to talk to me in english because i liked his/her accent or something..
anyway i've pretty much got all the facts you could ever want to know about thanksgiving memorized (that's what happens when you hear the same thing a million times) and could probably give you a pretty good reenactment (geese always pronounced as cheese, for example) of how they say it with their funny little cute french accents (a common intro from my last class: "my name uhh is uhh bastien and i uhh leeeeve in drummataz clarafond and i uhh behh je ne sais pas je ne parle pas anglais.." no no in english! say something about yourself, like how old are you? "uhh behh uhh ok i uh ‘ave twenty" um no. no. sorry but you're not TWENTY. twenty is two zero "oh uhh oui i mean uhh yes i ‘ave 12".)
Some of the highlights of my first thanksgiving lesson..
i would start explaining how it was this big holiday and we eat turkey and some girl is like "oh see we celebrate christmas in december." and i was like yeah.. so do we. this isn't christmas. and they were like oh.. so it's like armistice day? and i was like no, we celebrate that too, remember, this is another holiday.. one you don't celebrate. get it? silence..
they had a really hard time understand the concept "to be thankful for" and after saying it as many ways as i could in english, i just translated it into french and they still didn't really get it! so i was like, say things you're thankful for, like "i'm thankful for my family, i'm thankful for my pets, i'm thankful for my health, i'm thankful to live in france, anything!" and they all just stare at me. finally one girl raises her hand and says "i am thankful for the job i will have in the future." and i was like ok.. but maybe we should try and stick to things in the present.. like things in your life right now that you are happy about. anyone? silence...
nothing and anything.. two other words they don't get. i guess i can understand, in french one word means both things. but lots of times i'll say something like, "can you think of anything?" and i'll get the response "anything!" from one of the students, when they mean to say "nothing".
after reading a brief (simplified) history of thanksgiving (like "the pilgrims were grateful for the indians help, because without them they wouldn't have survived" etc) there were questions about the text, like "what were the pilgrims thankful for?" kind of thing. they understood indians, pilgrims took a little more explaining, but i said they were the people who came from another country (england) to live in america. and this one girl goes "oh so they were invaders!" and the rest of the time she was like, "i don't understand why the indians thanked the invaders.." and i was like "no.. the pilgrims thanked the indians for teaching them how to survive through the harsh winter." and she was like "oh.. so the invaders thanked the indians.. and then they killed them?!" and i was like "uh.. well.. that's not written here in this text.. but yeah, sort of, let's just do the next question."
there was also something about foods they ate on the first thanksgiving in that text and it was funny to try and explain some of them. for example, eels. i was like "ok so they look like snakes, do you know what a snake is?" and one kid is like "ah americans eat snakes! what a weird country!" and i was like "no, no, they look like snakes and they live in the water." and then i get a collective "ahhh les anguilles" or something like that. another funny one was venison, and i was like "do you know what a deer is?" and no one did.. so i was like "umm do you know who bambi is?" and they were all like "americans eat bambi ahhh!". it was pretty funny.
so the immigration appointment: tuesday i went to grenoble.. i was a little late since i didn't realize how far (and in the middle of nowhere!) the immigration office was. after the train i had a 20 min tram ride, then a 10 minute walk, in the rain! so i was like 10 minutes late, but i ran into a whole group of assistants i had met at orientation there also, and then one came in after me too, so i figured it was ok. well the receptionist like didn't match the names up or type them correctly, i don't know, but i sat there for 30 minutes until some woman came down and was like, "where are the other 2 language assistants? why didn't they come?" then she specifically says my name and i'm like uh, i'm right here. and then the lady got all mad being like, "you should have told her that you had an appointment at 3 (even though i did give her the paper that said that) because our appointment (the immigration one) was at 330 and now it's 345 and i have to stay late.." (her exact words were that i should have "protested" - this country and it's protests!) boo hoo. how was i supposed to know that you just didn't want to make me wait forever like you always do in this country? plus there were other people in the waiting room there before me. well apparently this place like closes at 4 and they (of course) all wanted to leave asap, but at least that meant it all went fast, i guess. so you meet with a nurse, doctor, get an x ray, and then back to the doctor to look at the xray. it was all pretty easy and basic, they didn't even really ask much, i thought ("do you smoke, have you ever had a surgery" kind of thing). then in the end, the doctor like looks at that xray for maybe 2 seconds and is like "looks good" and then told me it was a souvenir for me to keep. so now i've got some (cool?) x-ray of my lungs as a souvenir from france.
no work on Wednesday but a full day on Thursday, thanksgiving of all days!
all my classes today were an hour.. sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not. i've decided you can tell pretty quickly (like within the first few minutes of class) whether they are interested or not and whether you're losing them. and from that point it's really hard to change it to go in the other direction.. i hate it when that happens.
the first class was good, but i was almost late because the photocopier was broken (get this, there is one!.. ok actually there is a back up, so there are two, but at all the other schools there is one photocopier... crazy!), so i had to use the back up one which is much smaller/slower and of course there was a line. this was the first class that got my "i'm thankful for" thing which was good.. although after one person said "i'm thankful for my friends" it was like everyone just copied, even though i said to try and be original with their responses.
the second class was not as good, the teacher even pointed out students as they were walking in to watch out for (never a good sign). those kids ended up being ok, they didn't really pay attention but they didn't talk or disrupt the class, which is all i really care about i guess. that's probably not good, but some people were listening and i care more that they get something out of it and are not interrupted by those who don't care. i guess, again, that's probably not the point. but whatever, i'm not a teacher and i am just trying to find the easiest way to get through the hour.
i should mention i think many of these kids still think thanksgiving is christmas (they are all like ah noel! noel!), and that americans just celebrate it oddly early, despite how much i tell them that it is different.
then a (boring) break, then the class with the little kids (10/11 year olds). i've decided this class, while enthusiastic, is really hard, and i never know what to expect! they are always all over the place, switching chairs, getting mad if i don't pick someone first, wanting to write stuff on the board even if i tell hem no, and even though they are nice, that hour is just soo tiring. i had plans of trying my best to explain thanksgiving in english/french, but they have such short attention spans, i just passed out a wordsearch and let them do that instead. i think you've got to be prepared, because otherwise they will just be all over the place, but at the same time i was thinking of playing this one game and they wouldn't stop begging me to play hangman, so i just let them do that for the last 20 minutes or so. so you've got to be prepared but also be prepared to throw the lessons out the window? i'm glad this is just like a fun class for them (because they are too young/know too little to actually do grammar/reading/writing exercises) and i'm not really responsible for teaching them material.
i also had SUCH trouble trying to explain how to make a turkey out of your hand. since they weren't really having the thanksgiving lesson, i decided to let them trace their hands on paper and make a turkey out of it, then writing what they were thankful for inside. they were all excited to draw their hands, and i did it for them first, and explained in french, so i didn't think it would be so hard, but the first time around they just all drew their hands and then asked me if they could draw in the nails or add nail polish and stuff. i was like nooo we're making turkeys. TURKEYS. after several english/french/drawing explanations, they finally got it and they got the i'm thankful for thing too.. thankfully!
then another (boringgg) break and one last class, just the section of non euro (honors) kids. i reallllly don't get it. like i just had a class with the same level honors, and they understood everything i said/asked/all my directions. i get into this class and they can't even introduce themselves properly ("i eleven").. how can there be such hugeee difference?! i will never get it. these are the times that i feel like i have to improvise, because i realize even though i've done the same thing with multiple classes, that they won't get it, even if they should. annoying (also i realize this would be easier if i had the same class more than once.. know what to expect or whatever). plus i hate it when i explain something, ask if everyone understands, everyone says yes, and then when i tell them to do the exercise, everyone says they don't understand. like, i don't care if you ask me to explain it a million times, or if you have a million questions, just don't say you get it when you don'tttt. besides that, one boy asked me if i knew french in the beginning (they always ask this first) and i say yes, but i can't speak it with you, which is what i always say. and he's like "oh do you think we could speak in french after class, i just love american accents.." and i was like umm, what? why? that's kind of weird.. i mean i like french accents (i guess? but now i'm kind of over that i think, i hear them all the time) but i would never ask my teacher to talk to me in english because i liked his/her accent or something..
anyway i've pretty much got all the facts you could ever want to know about thanksgiving memorized (that's what happens when you hear the same thing a million times) and could probably give you a pretty good reenactment (geese always pronounced as cheese, for example) of how they say it with their funny little cute french accents (a common intro from my last class: "my name uhh is uhh bastien and i uhh leeeeve in drummataz clarafond and i uhh behh je ne sais pas je ne parle pas anglais.." no no in english! say something about yourself, like how old are you? "uhh behh uhh ok i uh ‘ave twenty" um no. no. sorry but you're not TWENTY. twenty is two zero "oh uhh oui i mean uhh yes i ‘ave 12".)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Eh ben voilà
Well another day where I risked my life while walking out the door. You heard right, I’m talking about ice-covered sidewalks making even my shortest walk treacherous. Despite everyone telling me that it doesn’t snow much here, and that even if it did, the roads/sidewalks in city would be quickly cleared, it has been snowing off and on for the past week (yes that’s right, as in starting in November!), with easily over a foot of snow at the ground at one point. Apparently this amount of snow is exceptional for this time of year, or ever even, so I hope we’re done, because it has only made my life more difficult. Not to mention Geneva airport was closed last week, as well as several airports around London. Ok snow, you had your fun, but when my flight takes off in 11 days (!!) I do not want to be stuck at an airport because of delay or worse have it be canceled entirely. Let’s not go there, positive thoughts..
Anyway, despite the snow, there seems to be no real school cancellation policy. No website/TV/radio/phone call updates.. There are on a more of “show up and see who’s around” system, which is completely inconvenient and annoying, to say the least. Since there are no school buses (kids take public transit to school), if the city buses are cancelled, that to me that means a huge portion of the student population will not be there, so neither should I. That’s how I got out of my last class last Friday afternoon. Before you think that I’m just looking for an excuse to get out of classes (because really that’s only part of it), let me just explain to you the disaster that are the current roadways and walkways in this city. I mean, if the buses can’t even drive on the roads, how can I be expected to walk on them even?!
Basically, no one here has ever heard of a shovel. I don’t know if everyone just assumes it is someone else’s responsibility, but the bottom on the line is, that it is not happening. I saw ONE plow as it was coming down fiercely, so I guess they aren’t really on top of that either. Weird to me since I was thinking the other day, the people I have seen consistently working the most are the landscaping people that work for the city. Not anyone in an office or store, mind you, they’ve got Sundays, Mondays, two hour lunch breaks and whenever else they feel like it off. Somehow the city employees who are supposed to be plowing just aren’t around, though. Back to the sidewalks, so no shoveling leads to packed-down snow that overnight turns into ice. No salt, no kitty litter, no gravel, no nothing. Sidewalks have thus been made into little ice skating rinks; too bad I didn’t bring my skates.
I suppose I figured once the snow stopped, once the buses started running and it was sure that people were in school again, some sort of effort, at least on school grounds, would be made to clear the walkways, but my 5 minute walk (turned into 10 this morning) on a path that leads directly towards my middle school, was as if no one had ever touched it. Even with warmer temps (40s) and pouring down rain to melt the snow around, there were several inches of icy, snowy, slush mix on that path that I slipped on (but did not fall!) many a time. It seems that they rely on people wearing through the snow by walking on it repeatedly. Well I wore my non-waterproof boots with one pair of socks today assuming things would be different, and boy was I disappointed.
Today I found out why they don’t put anything down, though. Apparently salt is bad for the environment, because it runs off into water and kills fish. Due to this, the French government apparently stated a couple of years ago that they were no longer going to purchase or put down salt (which conveniently means they don’t have to spend the money on it). I found this out from Claire, the woman whose house I live in. I started telling her how I just thought that the condition of the sidewalks was horrible (sorry to keep harping on it, but I am so sick of cold wet feet), and that if it was like that in the US, we would not being going to school, mainly because if a student were to get hurt, it could be considered the schools fault. Claire said something about how that just isn’t they way they think here, and I know, this whole “let’s sue everyone” mentality is apparently quite American. Still, I thought, it’s dangerous. Should we really want to put people in danger, regardless of whose fault it is?
Anyway, on my slippery walk home, I started thinking more about this, and it seems that I have found une petite faute in the manière de penser française, mes amis. A mistake, but no! French people don’t make those! Well that is namely the point. French people do not like to take the blame for anything, and in fact will instead actively look for ways to place it onto other people. And while the school doesn’t want to take blame is a student is “clumsy” or whatever while traversing their ice rink of a parking lot, then fine, but why, my French friends, are you not the first to protest (manifestez!!) that someone didn’t do their job who should of? How ironic, n’est-ce pas? For a country that seeks to push blame to anything other that themselves, the Americans who seek to take action in those situations are deemed crazy. A student can slip and break his or her neck on the way to school because no one bothered to shovel and even if they did, the run off and resulting black ice made for a dangerous journey, but said student nor his or her family seek to blame someone about it? This just seems a little off to me, my French friends.
In conclusion, someone DO SOMETHING about the state of roads/sidewalks here.. or I may just stop showing up to work entirely (not that you would notice..).
Anyway, despite the snow, there seems to be no real school cancellation policy. No website/TV/radio/phone call updates.. There are on a more of “show up and see who’s around” system, which is completely inconvenient and annoying, to say the least. Since there are no school buses (kids take public transit to school), if the city buses are cancelled, that to me that means a huge portion of the student population will not be there, so neither should I. That’s how I got out of my last class last Friday afternoon. Before you think that I’m just looking for an excuse to get out of classes (because really that’s only part of it), let me just explain to you the disaster that are the current roadways and walkways in this city. I mean, if the buses can’t even drive on the roads, how can I be expected to walk on them even?!
Basically, no one here has ever heard of a shovel. I don’t know if everyone just assumes it is someone else’s responsibility, but the bottom on the line is, that it is not happening. I saw ONE plow as it was coming down fiercely, so I guess they aren’t really on top of that either. Weird to me since I was thinking the other day, the people I have seen consistently working the most are the landscaping people that work for the city. Not anyone in an office or store, mind you, they’ve got Sundays, Mondays, two hour lunch breaks and whenever else they feel like it off. Somehow the city employees who are supposed to be plowing just aren’t around, though. Back to the sidewalks, so no shoveling leads to packed-down snow that overnight turns into ice. No salt, no kitty litter, no gravel, no nothing. Sidewalks have thus been made into little ice skating rinks; too bad I didn’t bring my skates.
I suppose I figured once the snow stopped, once the buses started running and it was sure that people were in school again, some sort of effort, at least on school grounds, would be made to clear the walkways, but my 5 minute walk (turned into 10 this morning) on a path that leads directly towards my middle school, was as if no one had ever touched it. Even with warmer temps (40s) and pouring down rain to melt the snow around, there were several inches of icy, snowy, slush mix on that path that I slipped on (but did not fall!) many a time. It seems that they rely on people wearing through the snow by walking on it repeatedly. Well I wore my non-waterproof boots with one pair of socks today assuming things would be different, and boy was I disappointed.
Today I found out why they don’t put anything down, though. Apparently salt is bad for the environment, because it runs off into water and kills fish. Due to this, the French government apparently stated a couple of years ago that they were no longer going to purchase or put down salt (which conveniently means they don’t have to spend the money on it). I found this out from Claire, the woman whose house I live in. I started telling her how I just thought that the condition of the sidewalks was horrible (sorry to keep harping on it, but I am so sick of cold wet feet), and that if it was like that in the US, we would not being going to school, mainly because if a student were to get hurt, it could be considered the schools fault. Claire said something about how that just isn’t they way they think here, and I know, this whole “let’s sue everyone” mentality is apparently quite American. Still, I thought, it’s dangerous. Should we really want to put people in danger, regardless of whose fault it is?
Anyway, on my slippery walk home, I started thinking more about this, and it seems that I have found une petite faute in the manière de penser française, mes amis. A mistake, but no! French people don’t make those! Well that is namely the point. French people do not like to take the blame for anything, and in fact will instead actively look for ways to place it onto other people. And while the school doesn’t want to take blame is a student is “clumsy” or whatever while traversing their ice rink of a parking lot, then fine, but why, my French friends, are you not the first to protest (manifestez!!) that someone didn’t do their job who should of? How ironic, n’est-ce pas? For a country that seeks to push blame to anything other that themselves, the Americans who seek to take action in those situations are deemed crazy. A student can slip and break his or her neck on the way to school because no one bothered to shovel and even if they did, the run off and resulting black ice made for a dangerous journey, but said student nor his or her family seek to blame someone about it? This just seems a little off to me, my French friends.
In conclusion, someone DO SOMETHING about the state of roads/sidewalks here.. or I may just stop showing up to work entirely (not that you would notice..).
Saturday, November 6, 2010
some (delayed) observations...
So a couple more weeks have passed where I’ve been “teaching”. Again, I have yet to have a full 12-hour week, even if they are always scheduled as such. At least once a week (AT LEAST) I show up to school and a teacher “forgets” I’m coming, or has scheduled a test, or thought the schedule was different (see the schedule is that confusing that even the teachers don’t get it!). Sometimes they manage to stick me in another class to do some spontaneous question answer session with yet another new group of students, most of the time it just means that I either have to sit at school for an extra hour until my next class, or worse, turn right around and go back home. This week even one school didn’t schedule me for any hours, and I couldn’t get an explanation from anyone as to why (“I didn’t make the schedule and I don’t know who did” was the typical response)! So I had Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off this week and did a whole lot of nothing. From this point on, though, it looks like I’ll be working 13-hour weeks, which I guess is fine (not that they gave me a choice). So much for ever having a set schedule.. I’ve learned I just have to show up and basically be prepared for anything..
This is frustrating not just because I show up expecting one thing and then nothing happens. I’ve realized that after I do take the time to plan the lessons, I do in fact want to teach them, and if a month goes by after Halloween I can’t exactly show up on December 1 and expect to teach them about it just because I never got to see them, right? So I think I actually care a bit too much about the lessons, because I put the work into the lessons and I want to see how they will go, and because I am interested in what I am sharing with them. It’s kind of exciting to share my culture and stuff. And I want to see how my lessons that I plan, and usually write myself, will go. Oh well, if I get to use them for at least a couple of classes, I guess that is fine.
Another thing thrown my way this past week was the interruption of bus service at the stop nearest my house (and 2 other surrounding stops) due to a violent incident last Sunday. Oh course I didn’t find out until I had actually left on Monday morning to go to work and had to run to the next stop, but missed the bus and then was late for my class. Removing 3 stops from the line made the bus schedules all messed up; sometimes they came early, sometimes way late, sometimes not at all! Trying to get to my second school later that day I waited for 40 minutes and 2 buses ,which didn’t come, so I missed that class entirely. So frustrating. The non-service at those stops continued through the entire week, and then this weekend the ENTIRE bus network for all of Aix-les-Bains was not in service, out of solidarity for the bus driver (apparently someone was aggressive towards the driver). It’s just such a different way of dealing with things than I am used to, and made me realize how hard it is to get around when you rely on one method of transportation. But really, can you imagine metro like shutting down like that?! I just can’t. Regular service starting Monday, hopefully. Hopefully.
You must think that with all these days off I’d be pretty bored, and the short answer is that you are right. There are times, like last year during school, when I would have killed for free time like this, but now I would give anything for a schedule, structure, even homework! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. At least twice a week I meet up with the other English assistant here, which is nice, but still leaves a lot of free time (and we also just go into the same couple of stores all the time in tiny Aix.. pretty lame)! Somehow I’ve learned to deal with the boredom. I think the hardest time for me was over the vacation a couple of weeks ago, when no one was around (not even the people I live with) and I didn’t have much to do. I went a little crazy then and was hating life, but since nothing really seems as bad as that now I guess I’m ok. I have lots I could be doing – reading (especially in another language), lesson plans, job applications, travel plans, learn a new language, go on walks or something, all sorts of stuff. But mostly I just end up watching several series of tv shows or movies online. I mean, it’s kind of nice, I guess, to come home after work and not really feel like I need to do anything. Downside to it all: even though I have all this time, I’m finding it difficult to get anything done, it’s horrible! I’m so unmotivated to write these job essays or do my lesson plans and since it seems like I have forever I just don’t feel the pressure to get it done. Look at me, even writing in this blog is an attempt to get out of doing the real work I have, which, for the record needs to be done for tomorrow’s class! Well I’ll just write a little more (this has actually been on my to do list forever also) and then back to the real work. Well maybe after a walk to change it up a bit.
More in regards to my schedule – I’ve finally realized why it was so hard for me to get them to give me all my hours in the morning or in the afternoon (to avoid these 3+ hour gaps of time with nothing to do) – it’s because for them, having these big breaks, like having a 2 hour lunch where you go home and come back, is totally normal. So leaving for a time then coming back to work later is not unheard of, where as for me, used to the American way of working, I just want to get it all over with and then have as much time as possible at home. I really don’t like leaving and then having to go back, it’s so hard to motivate myself to leave, and do the usual 30 minute commute one way, to the school. I’d rather eat my lunch standing up, on the go, walking somewhere (gasp! This is a huge no-no here) and get to leave 2 hours earlier, than have to teach some class until 5:30 at night!
When I do end up having a full day at school complete with 1hr45min lunch break I find that no matter how slow I eat, I cannot stretch it out to fit that amount of time. I am also one of the few that stays at school and eats in the teachers’ lounge (they all have cars and go home.. sigh) and I eat a pretty simple lunch compared to everyone else’s. French people bring multiple Tupperware containers, one of which always needs to be microwaved. Sometimes they even bring a placemat! And there are always multiple courses (main, fruit, cheese, yogurt). Me, I bring a sandwich. Sometimes chips, or an apple, sometimes a dessert. But I don’t even want anything else! I don’t know how they can prepare and eat such elaborate things all the time. I certainly don’t have the patience or appetite for it.
Another weird lunch-time thing, or just all the time thing really, is how often everyone says hello. You go in anywhere (store, classroom, teacher’s lounge, anywhere with a doorway of any kind) and you say hi. Doesn’t matter if you know them, want to talk to them, have ever seen them before in your life, bonjour is required. Same goes for good bye, oh and not to mention that one bonjour does not work for a whole room, usually. So if there are 3 people sitting in the computer room in the teacher’s lounge, all minding their own business, doing work (this is usually me), one still needs to stop and say 3 separate bonjours, and wait for response bonjours, to everyone in the room. Crazy! At lunch time this changes a little. Anyone who walks into the staff room is then required to say “bon appétit” before saying bonjour, or in lieu of it. Do you really care about me eating well or my appetite? Because I was reading my book and didn’t even notice you walk in, but ok, whatever. I find that I tend to use smiling as a response here as a force of habit, but that is not at all common here. They may seem all nice and say hi to everyone and their mom, but they do not smile! And then I am pegged as the weird one.. sigh.
More about the teachers’ lounge (my favorite place), there are usually 3 computers, 1 printer and ONE photocopier.. for the ENTIRE school! Ok this isn’t like Chantilly size, but there are still several hundred students.. how can you work like this? Not to mention the photocopier at one of my schools has been broken twice in the past month! Then everyone has to use this smaller version machine that takes an eternity. Efficient as always, France…
Another weird thing, when the bell rings here, nobody moves! Not like at Chantilly where people where people were edging out the door 5 minutes before the bell even rang (or at least packing up their stuff). Could this be because there is not a clock to be found in the entire school?!
There is no time between classes to get to the next, so students are just expected to walk straight from one class to the next and start class right away. In theory, this sounds like it will work, but in reality, the students don’t all arrive at once. Then you have to wait for the teacher to arrive (because when that bell rings and they are in the teachers’ lounge sipping on their mini-coffees, they are not about to rush to leave either!), open the door, let the students in, take roll, tell them to sit down, and then finally start the lesson, at which point 5 minutes, if not more, have easily passed. This cuts into my teaching time, though, so I’m not complaining. At the end of the lesson the students are expected to stay until the teacher dismisses them, even if the bell has already rung, and they listen (again, unlike at Chantilly)!
This is frustrating not just because I show up expecting one thing and then nothing happens. I’ve realized that after I do take the time to plan the lessons, I do in fact want to teach them, and if a month goes by after Halloween I can’t exactly show up on December 1 and expect to teach them about it just because I never got to see them, right? So I think I actually care a bit too much about the lessons, because I put the work into the lessons and I want to see how they will go, and because I am interested in what I am sharing with them. It’s kind of exciting to share my culture and stuff. And I want to see how my lessons that I plan, and usually write myself, will go. Oh well, if I get to use them for at least a couple of classes, I guess that is fine.
Another thing thrown my way this past week was the interruption of bus service at the stop nearest my house (and 2 other surrounding stops) due to a violent incident last Sunday. Oh course I didn’t find out until I had actually left on Monday morning to go to work and had to run to the next stop, but missed the bus and then was late for my class. Removing 3 stops from the line made the bus schedules all messed up; sometimes they came early, sometimes way late, sometimes not at all! Trying to get to my second school later that day I waited for 40 minutes and 2 buses ,which didn’t come, so I missed that class entirely. So frustrating. The non-service at those stops continued through the entire week, and then this weekend the ENTIRE bus network for all of Aix-les-Bains was not in service, out of solidarity for the bus driver (apparently someone was aggressive towards the driver). It’s just such a different way of dealing with things than I am used to, and made me realize how hard it is to get around when you rely on one method of transportation. But really, can you imagine metro like shutting down like that?! I just can’t. Regular service starting Monday, hopefully. Hopefully.
You must think that with all these days off I’d be pretty bored, and the short answer is that you are right. There are times, like last year during school, when I would have killed for free time like this, but now I would give anything for a schedule, structure, even homework! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. At least twice a week I meet up with the other English assistant here, which is nice, but still leaves a lot of free time (and we also just go into the same couple of stores all the time in tiny Aix.. pretty lame)! Somehow I’ve learned to deal with the boredom. I think the hardest time for me was over the vacation a couple of weeks ago, when no one was around (not even the people I live with) and I didn’t have much to do. I went a little crazy then and was hating life, but since nothing really seems as bad as that now I guess I’m ok. I have lots I could be doing – reading (especially in another language), lesson plans, job applications, travel plans, learn a new language, go on walks or something, all sorts of stuff. But mostly I just end up watching several series of tv shows or movies online. I mean, it’s kind of nice, I guess, to come home after work and not really feel like I need to do anything. Downside to it all: even though I have all this time, I’m finding it difficult to get anything done, it’s horrible! I’m so unmotivated to write these job essays or do my lesson plans and since it seems like I have forever I just don’t feel the pressure to get it done. Look at me, even writing in this blog is an attempt to get out of doing the real work I have, which, for the record needs to be done for tomorrow’s class! Well I’ll just write a little more (this has actually been on my to do list forever also) and then back to the real work. Well maybe after a walk to change it up a bit.
More in regards to my schedule – I’ve finally realized why it was so hard for me to get them to give me all my hours in the morning or in the afternoon (to avoid these 3+ hour gaps of time with nothing to do) – it’s because for them, having these big breaks, like having a 2 hour lunch where you go home and come back, is totally normal. So leaving for a time then coming back to work later is not unheard of, where as for me, used to the American way of working, I just want to get it all over with and then have as much time as possible at home. I really don’t like leaving and then having to go back, it’s so hard to motivate myself to leave, and do the usual 30 minute commute one way, to the school. I’d rather eat my lunch standing up, on the go, walking somewhere (gasp! This is a huge no-no here) and get to leave 2 hours earlier, than have to teach some class until 5:30 at night!
When I do end up having a full day at school complete with 1hr45min lunch break I find that no matter how slow I eat, I cannot stretch it out to fit that amount of time. I am also one of the few that stays at school and eats in the teachers’ lounge (they all have cars and go home.. sigh) and I eat a pretty simple lunch compared to everyone else’s. French people bring multiple Tupperware containers, one of which always needs to be microwaved. Sometimes they even bring a placemat! And there are always multiple courses (main, fruit, cheese, yogurt). Me, I bring a sandwich. Sometimes chips, or an apple, sometimes a dessert. But I don’t even want anything else! I don’t know how they can prepare and eat such elaborate things all the time. I certainly don’t have the patience or appetite for it.
Another weird lunch-time thing, or just all the time thing really, is how often everyone says hello. You go in anywhere (store, classroom, teacher’s lounge, anywhere with a doorway of any kind) and you say hi. Doesn’t matter if you know them, want to talk to them, have ever seen them before in your life, bonjour is required. Same goes for good bye, oh and not to mention that one bonjour does not work for a whole room, usually. So if there are 3 people sitting in the computer room in the teacher’s lounge, all minding their own business, doing work (this is usually me), one still needs to stop and say 3 separate bonjours, and wait for response bonjours, to everyone in the room. Crazy! At lunch time this changes a little. Anyone who walks into the staff room is then required to say “bon appétit” before saying bonjour, or in lieu of it. Do you really care about me eating well or my appetite? Because I was reading my book and didn’t even notice you walk in, but ok, whatever. I find that I tend to use smiling as a response here as a force of habit, but that is not at all common here. They may seem all nice and say hi to everyone and their mom, but they do not smile! And then I am pegged as the weird one.. sigh.
More about the teachers’ lounge (my favorite place), there are usually 3 computers, 1 printer and ONE photocopier.. for the ENTIRE school! Ok this isn’t like Chantilly size, but there are still several hundred students.. how can you work like this? Not to mention the photocopier at one of my schools has been broken twice in the past month! Then everyone has to use this smaller version machine that takes an eternity. Efficient as always, France…
Another weird thing, when the bell rings here, nobody moves! Not like at Chantilly where people where people were edging out the door 5 minutes before the bell even rang (or at least packing up their stuff). Could this be because there is not a clock to be found in the entire school?!
There is no time between classes to get to the next, so students are just expected to walk straight from one class to the next and start class right away. In theory, this sounds like it will work, but in reality, the students don’t all arrive at once. Then you have to wait for the teacher to arrive (because when that bell rings and they are in the teachers’ lounge sipping on their mini-coffees, they are not about to rush to leave either!), open the door, let the students in, take roll, tell them to sit down, and then finally start the lesson, at which point 5 minutes, if not more, have easily passed. This cuts into my teaching time, though, so I’m not complaining. At the end of the lesson the students are expected to stay until the teacher dismisses them, even if the bell has already rung, and they listen (again, unlike at Chantilly)!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Next week
The schools managed to shove 8 of my 12 hours into only two days! Ugh.
(Blue = Collège Marlioz
Green = Collège Garibaldi
Red = Collège Jean-Jacques Perret)
Plotted are my 3 different schools (color-coded) and where I live (the house)... just so you can see, they are not all exactly close to one another..
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