Today was a long day - five classes separated only by lunch. But, oh, what a lunch it was! Une tarte au fromage, des lentilles, des carottes ... but best of all, they had an assortment of cheeses today that was to die for. They also had various breads to go with them. There was a blue cheese that was to die for ... you don't find cheeses that good in a fancy restaurant in the U.S., let alone in a school cafeteria! They also had a bottle of red wine (pour accompagner) on each table in the teacher's lunch room, which is not standard practice and not entirely kosher. Mais, tant pis, c'est la France! I am finding that I really crave some red wine with my cheese these days - I am getting SOOO French - but as I had a class after lunch during which it would have been inconvenient to fall asleep, I was "bien sage" and had water instead.

Tonight as they were getting ready for their bath I heard the girls chatting away in French. Each day they progress ... it's amazing. Even more fun to listen to is their intonation and the expression in their voices - they sound de plus en plus française.

I helped the girls with homework till almost nine tonight, and still have more work to do, so it will be another late night. Fortunately I can sleep in a little tomorrow. A demain, alors!

We went to the market in Port-en-Bessin today. We saw one of our cheese guys, who greeted us jovially. (On Saturday he gave us a bit of a deal on some cheese - I guess we are becoming "regulars"!) When we were finished our shopping we walked down the quai and the girls wanted to go into a shop in their never-ending search for marbles (Annika wins regularly at marbles at recess now.). I acquiesced and, to my delight, found a bell! Actually I had three to choose from. That makes three new bells that I have found so far for my collection. My goal for this year is eight ... almost halfway there! The shop lady was very friendly and interested in our exchange.

We walked a bit more, with some nice views of the water and of a fortified tower from 1690 on a hill. The girls enjoyed watching the sea gulls dive after the shells the fish sellers were throwing into the water below. On the way back to the car we stopped at a boulangerie to get a baguette and decided to get a couple of croissants aux amandes et au chocolat. Larry got a flan as well. We walked to the nearby park to have our snack and give the girls a little play time, and I have to say that croissant aux amandes et au chocolat was the best I have had here so far ... truly succulent!

This afternoon was mostly a work day - laundry, homework, corrections, bill paying, and some planning for our vacation which is coming up in a couple of weeks (les vacances de Toussaint). To my American colleagues, don't be too jealous - remember I'll have to work on Thanksgiving! The timing will be good for a break, though, I think. The girls and I have been working very hard. Plus it will be nice to have the chance to visit some friends: Alexandra in Toulon, Caroline in Clermont-Ferrand (my old stomping ground), Laure in Le Puy-en-Velay. This Wednesday Tom, Jen, and Bill arrive, so we will be busy through vacation time.

Today while Caroline was doing her homework I noted how spontaneous her French is becoming - putting her notebook down to get started, she said, "Alors ..." It is so cool to watch them evolve, almost like when they were infants only better in some ways, because they can express more complex ideas. I miss my friends, but I am glad we're here.

I forgot to mention that yesterday Annika got a love note from one of her classmates, Arnaud. I checked him out when they got out of school this morning; he was kind of cute, but Annika didn't think so. It would be convenient if one of the girls married a Frenchman so we could come back and visit whenever we want, but I guess they're a BIT young for that! Plus ... well, we all know what they say about French men!

Ce matin, j'ai retrouvé mon cher marché de Bayeux. It surprised me a bit how much I missed it. (We were in Bordeaux last weekend.) Some of the merchants were not there, probably because they were at the fête du cochon, and we had to rush a bit to get home and then get back into town in time for our lunch appointment.

We got to the festival at 1:30, waited in line for a bit, and I saw a colleague from school. The girls watched a display of very large, beautiful ducks which were splashing around in a makeshift pool. Then we went in for our (reserved) traditional norman meal. Larry had some oysters as an apéritif and I treated myself to a little pommeau, which was légèrement différent from the pommeau I have at the house. Very good, a bit stronger, perhaps - not quite so sweet. We also got a bottle of apple cider to share which was delicious. Well, they called it "jus de pomme" and not "cidre", but it tasted like what my Mainer friends will think of when they hear "apple cider."

Next came the premier plat, rillettes de porc with cornichons and lettuce. We spread the rillettes on some nice hearty brown bread. I actually liked it; it looked and tasted more like tuna than pork. After that came the plat principal, consisting of pork, sausage, a baked potato, and pureed carrots. I tasted both the pork and the sausage. I liked the sausage pretty well but don't need to eat any more sausage for a while. The potato and carrots were very nicely prepared. We finished with some cheese (camembert and comté) and a crumble aux pommes. During the meal there was a short concert - a bunch of people singing various songs about pigs. It was a hoot! The girls especially enjoyed "Qui a peur du méchant loup", "le cochon est rose", and "dadou ronron" with lyrics adapted to the occasion.

After the meal we saw some traditional norman songs and dances. The costumes were fabulous - I wish I could find one to buy to wear during Spirit Week next year! (I did get a Cochon de Bayeux t-shirt, anyway.) They all wore wooden shoes and bonnets (for the women).

The girls especially enjoyed all the live animal displays - baby pigs, adult pigs, sheep, a goat, a couple of mules, and a bunch of rabbits and pigeons. One of the pigs was really enormous - rather disgusting, actually. There was a pig parade and judging (we didn't stay for the verdict). Inside the big tent, there were a ton of vendors selling their products with plenty of "dégustation" - honey, cheese, sausage, paté, rillettes, wine, cider, calvados, pommeau (I didn't have any, having had some at lunch!), etc. Then we went to a "Rurality Show" featuring stories in the traditional norman language. When I concentrated I could follow about 75% of it - it was essentially old French, lots of passé simple and a strong accent. Earl Cutter would have loved it. One of my students showed up, holding the hand of one of Annika's good friends at school, Camille. My student is her babysitter. Camille told my student that Annika was her "meilleure copine" - that was nice.

We headed off before the rain fell and had some of Larry's bean stew for supper. Now it's time to correct a few papers and go to bed. It has been a full, but fun day. The festival was very well organized - I was impressed. I also scored a few posters that were free, and this morning at our boulangerie asked if I could have the poster advertizing the festival when they were done with it. They gave it to me then and there - I was so excited! I'll have to have it laminated and hang it in my classroom, or perhaps I'll have it framed.

Bonne soirée à tous!

I arrived at school this morning in time to see the surveillant who had supervised the test for my orange group. He said that indeed, the students had been sent out, but that it was only for five minutes, and that my friend (who I was going to let retake the test - not any more, DiCenzo) had been given extra time at the end, a detail he had conveniently forgotten to mention when I was being so nice to him yesterday. The CPE (person in charge of discipline) also confirmed that the two girls had cheated. She told me she would give them an hour detention during which they should retake a different version of the test. She said I was not allowed to give them zeroes ... interesting, since several colleagues have said that I could. One colleague even said, "Ce n'est pas à elle de te dire comment faire." Clearly this is a system in which, for the most part, what happens in the classroom is the teacher's domain and no one else's (perhaps not even the parent's - more on that in a bit).

On my way out I asked for some chalk. As they opened the closet I could see stacks and stacks of boxes of chalk ... they gave me (can you guess?) three pieces. Three. And when I accidentally leave chalk in my room, it disappears. Cathy must feel like she's in heaven with all the free supplies at W.H.S.

I went to get an alternate version of the test and brought it back to the CPE. Guess who was in there? The cheater and the cheatee. They tried the same story on her as with me. She remained firm. I am quite sure I know who cheated and who didn't, and feel a little badly for the cheatee, but c'est la vie. I told her in the future to make sure she kept her answers covered when taking a test. As for the cheater, she said that had she cheated, she would have cheated in order to get a passing grade, not the 6.5 (out of 20) she would have earned had I counted this test. She even went so far as to say she had already cheated in the past! I guess she hasn't gotten very good at it, then! Probably she is not the brightest light on the circuit. Anyway, for the moment it is "reglé".

When I met with my orange group today they were again a bit unfocused. I decided in the last ten minutes to have a talk with them about the class and how things were going. In the course of the discussion I alluded to the farting incident. My farting friend (who was supposed to see me at the end of class) did a Superman imitation at the end of class and left faster than a speeding bullet - I think he knew what was coming. Anyway, the students listened attentively to my complaints and we had a good talk. I have hope that it will "porter des fruits." Now I just have to whip my red group into shape. They are great during the week but on Friday afternoons they are awful.

As previously mentioned, Bénédicte and I are sharing the 1e littéraires. She gave them a test today that I had written, so I hung out in the hallway at the end of their class to see how they reacted. Several of them seem to really like me - we chatted and joked. Soooo nice after the events of yesterday.

Yesterday at lunch Bénédicte, a male colleague and I were discussing dress code. First of all, notice that we are halfway through October and this is the first time I have noticed ANYONE bring up the issue. That in itself is a far cry from life at WHS! They pointed out that the school rules only say students must wear "une tenue correcte" - appropriate clothing - but that there is nothing that states what "correcte" means. What was interesting about the whole thing was that the male colleague actually said he didn't mind too much if these 16 and 17 year old girls wore suggestive clothing. He even admitted freely that he "looked". And no, I do not think he is a child molester ... he is just ... I was going to say French, but perhaps the better term is ... honest? It does not seem that teachers here have the same threat of harrassment charges as teachers at home do. I also suspect that teachers here would be supported and presumed innocent unless something really bad (and provable) happened. None of the "he makes me feel uncomfortable" and then bang, you're fired that we sometimes see at home.

It's official, I've been elected. One of the teachers asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was interested in the "Conseil d'administration", which seems to be a sort of combination PTA, teacher/administrator discussion group. I think it probably serves some of the same functions as the School Board. I said I would be willing to be "une suppléante", meaning I would be a replacement at one or two meetings throughout the year if one of the regular members could not attend. So yesterday, I went in to vote, but there was no choice at all - the list was made, and all you had to do was sign a paper saying you had voted, then put the ballot in an envelope and drop it in the box. So much for democracy. (I did my civic duty and completed my absentee ballot for the U.S. yesterday, too.) I will attend a meeting in November - should be interesting.

Today I finished filling out my progress reports for the secondes. As I sat there, writing comments for each one, the man sitting next to me said, "Il ne faut pas mettre des appréciations." He was concerned that if too many people started putting comments, they would make it mandatory for everyone. Sound familiar?

After lunch today there was a meeting for all the teachers for one of the classes of premières. One of the parents apparently had complained that "a lot of parents" were worried about the grades for that class, so the prof principal called a meeting. It was interesting - some of the issues that American teachers face every day seem to be just taking root here. One of the teachers complained about parents who are trying to "mettre les pieds dans la pédagogie", though from what I see, the parents are much less vocal here than in the U.S. The prof principal did talk about trying to have a partnership between parents and the school, but it sounded like it was a very new concept. Perhaps till now it was not necessary, because most parents were systematically involved in their children's education anyway. At the orientation in Bordeaux, one of the teachers showed us a letter from a parent who was complaining about something the teacher had done, something that happens fairly often in the U.S. but caused some surprise among the French teachers. Again, are we exporting the worst of American education - parents who instead of pushing their children to work harder end up bashing the teachers?

As we waited for the girls outside the Ecole Alain Chartier, one of the parents came over and started talking to me as if we had been friends for ages. Never introduced herself (a cultural difference - you often find out someone's name at the end of a conversation here), but was very nice. Maybe there's a chance I'll make some more friends here at some point!

Tonight we went out for crêpes. I had one with cheese, mushroom, and egg. It was wonderful! It was nice to come out of the restaurant and see the cathedral all lit up, right in front of us. I do love Bayeux. On the way home the girls wrote poems in French, which we typed up when we got home and they agreed that I could share. (See below.) I am so impressed with how well they are doing. Caroline got a science test back the other day and was very upset with her grade, but most of her errors were spelling mistakes. The other errors were clearly due to comprehension problems, not because she did not know the material. She got a lot of questions right; Larry and I were both impressed. I hope this year will teach her to judge herself not by what others do, but by how she has improved in relation to her previous performance. I told Annika tonight I was jealous of her "r's" - I think they are better than mine. I can carry on a conversation in French with both of them now without them having too much difficulty other than vocabulary. Je suis très fière de mes deux filles!

Time for a little reading, or perhaps a cribbage game and then bed. Tomorrow is la fête du cochon de Bayeux - I'm psyched!