This morning I got up at 9 a.m., had breakfast, showered, and headed off to school. I had to mail a package so I stopped at la poste (I have plenty of mailing "boxes" now!). On the way I stopped by a health food store I had noticed right near the school. I had a nice chat with the owner, and noted that they sell tofu burgers and some good grains and such. Nice to know they are there.

I must admit that walking to school today I was feeling rather bummed. I miss my friends, my family, and my bed. I also find that I miss teaching French. My feelings were exacerbated by my "inquiétude" about Caroline's school situation. It is a very different undertaking bringing your young children on an adventure like this than it is coming on your own. There are more risks, more issues ... also lots of positives of course. One of the other Fulbrighters said his partner in the U.S. is seriously talking about terminating the exchange because her daughter (14 years old) is not adapting well. Though I certainly do not want to terminate my exchange (t'inquiète pas, Cathy!), I do understand what it's like when those protective maternal instincts kick in.

I only had two classes today. My first class went well, then I had lunch. At lunch I learned that I had missed the staff photo, which was at 10 a.m. I had no idea. I had seen signs for "photos de classe" but I thought it was all just for students. Zut, alors. A few students dressed up today for the photos - one was dressed like a sherrif, one boy had dressed like a girl (complete with balloons for breasts!), one was a clown. It was pretty cool. I wonder if anyone will do anything for Halloween. I am half wishing I had brought my "Conjugation Woman" costume ... I suppose I could make one if I really wanted to. The other teachers said none of the staff dress up for Halloween, though. That's more of a junior high thing, I guess.

Because Bénédicte now has the second hour of my literature class, I had "un trou". I got some work done, including all the correcting I need to do for the weekend and some of my prep work. My last class was okay, but too chatty. They are "bien sage" when I see them in the morning, but on Friday afternoons this group tends to be more off-task. I made an executive decision and tried "Around the World" with them for the last ten minutes; it worked pretty well.

After school I had a massage, my birthday present from Larry and the girls. Pamela, Pamela, I miss you! It was good, but it was not very deep. She hardly touched my shoulders. Some interesting differences: there was absolutely no paperwork to fill out, and she asked me nothing about my medical history, nor even what I wanted done (beyond having massage cream or not and having the lights on or off). She never told me her name, either! No hot rocks, and, strangely, no sheet or blanket to put over me. I was a little cold. Also, the office was right outside the door and so I could hear lots of talking. At one point her husband (who also works there) came in to ask her a question - didn't even say "Excusez-moi, Madame". She was good and kicked him out, though. She had never heard of polarity. It was better than no massage, but I think we'll try someone else next time. We found some more names in the yellow pages.

This evening Monsieur et Madame Lecourt (les parents de Cathy) and Hervé came over for dinner. They were very sweet, brought us champagne, wine, flowers, and even a box of Léonidas chocolates! We ate at the big table for the first time. It was very pleasant to have an almost fully French evening; the girls did a great job speaking French. They are all very nice people. When Madame first came in she got teary for a minute, missing Catherine. It certainly must be very strange for her to see us in her daughter's house. I am sure it is hard for her to be away from Mégane and Eliott as well.

Caroline's issues at school seem to have been dealt with. Monsieur Glover talked with the two little you-know-whats that have been bullying Caroline, and she said their behavior was much improved, that they did not bother her at all. Phew! Let's hope it stays that way!

Time to go to bed; I am tired. Perhaps I will read for a bit. Hugs to all my friends, family, and students who are my faithful readers! I miss you!

Today when Annika got out of school, she hastened to tell us that Caroline had gotten "une colle" - a detention. Needless to say we were quite shocked. It turns out that at lunch, Caroline's table had been misbehaving, so they inflicted a group punishment, even though Caroline had not been one of the perpetrators. The students had to stand along the wall and miss half an hour of their recess. Caroline was quite upset. Also come to find out two of the girls in her class have been bullying her at recess. They wait till she is alone, then follow her around the playground, asking her, "Est-ce que tu es débile?" meaning, "Are you stupid?" When she tells them to leave her alone (en français), they make fun of her, repeating what she says in mocking tones. She also told us today that they follow her into the bathroom and wait for her to come out; she can't get away from them. I wrote a long note to Monsieur Glover today; it better get taken care of or they will know the wrath of an American parent! I am so angry.

Well, it's official. I am now in my late thirties (not very late, though). This morning my first class came in, sat down, and all sang, "Happy Birthday" to me in English. The whole darn song. It was quite moving. A couple of my other classes remembered it was my birthday, too, and said happy birthday. One of my students drew a cake on the board when he came in and wrote "70 years old" on it. It was very cute. I think I may have to take some of these students home with me at the end of the year. I'm starting to get quite attached to them.

I had a very good teaching day. A couple of my classes were late because they were taking tests in their other classes, but that allowed me to learn that "un devoir" (singular) is a serious test, like a unit test (as opposed to les devoirs, which is homework). "Un contôle de connaissances" is a quick quiz, and an "examen" is a big end of year exam, like le bac. I had thought that "un devoir" could be used just for an assignment, but not so. Anyway, my first four classes went extremely well. In one group, I had to split them into four teams and had them count off from one to four, something that met with some confusion. Many of them said they had never done that before. Amazing! My last group, not surprisingly, was the one that tried to talk me out of making them do their skits today. Many of them were underprepared. One pair refused even to go up. Overall, though, the skits in all my classes have been pretty decent and the students take them more seriously than some of my American students. Of note, however, is that these are all advanced students (4th or 5th year of English for the most part), so I guess I shouldn't compare them to my sometimes undermotivated level 1 students in the U.S.

At lunch today we met Brannon, who will be our English speaking teaching assistant this year. She is from Alabama but went to Vassar. I plan to exploit her in my two large classes and perhaps in my smaller 1e group as well.

I asked Bénédicte about the paper in the copy room. She said sometimes the office says that the large paper is cheaper and stops buying the copy-size paper. So, we have to take this really long sheet of paper and cut it in two. I thought perhaps that would jam the copier, but so far it hasn't. Imagine! Cutting the paper. (There is a paper cutter in the copy room, at least!) Don't even think about colored paper - not a chance. We are so spoiled in the U.S.!

After school I bought myself a croissant aux amandes for my birthday, then picked up the girls at school and brought them back to my classroom where the twins, Laura and Xena, began tutoring them. It went very well; Laura helped Caroline study for her science test and Annika and Xena did homework then worked on numbers. The girls were both delighted, especially Annika, who is still feeling deficient in her French abilities. During their tutoring session I went and played the piano ... it was sooooo nice, and I actually felt like I played okay. Maybe there's hope that I won't lose it all.

The girls and I took the river walk home. Larry had prepared a delicious dinner and had bought me a gateau au chocolat for dessert. It was wonderful! Tomorrow I will have a massage as a birthday present. I need it!

I just spent five minutes trying to get a piece of floss out of my teeth. It had broken clean in two and gotten stuck. Stupid French floss! : )

(See previous post if you don't understand why this addendum was necessary!)

P.S. Never trust French dentists. They don't believe in floss.

I had a wonderful class today. With my premières I have been doing a unit on "Fighting for a Cause". Today we had a debate about which organization would be most worthy of a 10,000 euro donation. It was wonderful to see so many students engaged, talking about interesting things, making arguments. Granted, a bunch of them didn't say a word, but I was quite proud of those who did. When it works, teaching is a wonderful job.

Yesterday as I was correcting a set of quizzes I found I could picture most of the students as I read their names. I'm getting there. I still don't know half of the premières because I only see them twice a week and those include my biggest classes, but I'm getting better with the secondes, at least. I can even call some students by name when I see them in the halls now. I don't think I'll hurry to learn their last names, however!

On the flip side, I went to make copies today after class and there was no paper left. I didn't know what to do. I told a couple of the teachers who were standing in the hallway, but they seemed unconcerned. I didn't go to the office to check because I had to meet Larry and the girls at the market. Yet another reminder that I don't really know what I'm doing. I hope there is some paper tomorrow!

At the market today we chatted a bit with Daniel, the Pommeau guy, and one of the fruit sellers, who asked if we lived here or if we were just visiting. Annika asked for our nectarines and the woman complimented her on her French. Later, at our bakery, Annika also ordered the bread and the bakery lady complimented her as well, with a surruptitious wink at me. That was nice, especially given the fact that both of the girls melted down while doing homework today. Caroline's math was so difficult Larry & I both had a hard time figuring it out (sorry, Wally), and both of them now have poems to memorize. Annika found she had forgotten how to spell "mercredi" among other things; it was quite a rough afternoon for awhile. That said, they are both improving rapidly. Caroline hurt herself slightly yesterday and reponded with a 100% French "aie-euh", and her R's are amazing. Annika is speaking more in sentences and is reading with much improved pronunciation. Tomorrow they will start having a little tutoring by two of my students, Laura and Xena, who are twins who have been living in France for several years but are actually from South Africa. (Thanks for the suggestion, Ellen!) The two of them are fluent in English and are very good at helping their classmates with their English, and they love kids, so I think it will be a good match. The girls are really looking forward to it and I'm hoping it will take the pressure off me just a little.

I had an interesting thought walking to school today. When you are in your native country and things go wrong, you tend to blame life, fate, or bad luck. When you are in a foreign country and something goes wrong, however, the tendency is to blame the country. When Larry had his wallet stolen in Krakow, for example, his rants and raves included some unrepeatable references to the deficiencies of Poland. And as much as I love France and feel somewhat French, when things go wrong I can find myself doing the same thing. I can't buy a box at the post office and I think of twenty reasons the French postal system stinks. The dryer seems to take forever to dry the clothes, and I find myself frustrated by "French technology". It is easy to see how stereotypes develop, how misunderstandings begin, if one is not careful. Of course, the first step toward understanding is awareness. I guess that's what I'm here for, to pay attention, to learn, and to understand. Vive la différence.