Eh bien, voilà, c'est vendredi, et j'ai fini jusqu'à lundi. Quel soulagement de savoir que la première semaine s'est bien passée. Ouf!

This morning I awoke, without an alarm clock, at around 8:15. I rose, had breakfast, showered. Larry had dropped the girls off at school and gone to play golf, which is fast becoming his Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday routine. It was strange, a Friday, a school day, and there I was, home, until 10:30 a.m. I even corrected a couple of papers. It really felt like I was "cheating", though, not being in school!

Before I left I got an e-mail from Cathy, who is also feeling some culture shock. She said this is the first time a student has asked her for a piece of candy for answering a question correctly, which made me laugh out loud. Based on what I have observed thus far in France, American students must seem spoiled and whiny. So many differences to observe ... it's fascincating.

On the way to school I actually saw a Frenchman wearing a beret. Granted, he was probably about eighty years old ... it is not a common sight, however.

I arrived at school twenty minutes before my first class and went to the teacher's room for a few minutes. I chatted with a colleague who organizes some movie theater trips and tentatively signed up some of my classes.

My first class was the one that has been a bit chatty. After a few minutes today I stopped and spoke to them in French, telling them that if they translated everything I said into French they would not be listening half of the time and would not improve. They were better after that. One of the students was wearing a shirt that said, "L'alcool tue lentement, on s'en fout, on n'est pas pressés." which translates to, "Alcohol kills slowly, we don't give a f***, we're not in a hurry." I told the students that in the U.S., that would not be allowed in the school. Yet here, students are not allowed to wear religious symbols in school. So very interesting.

At lunch the English teachers had arranged to go out to a café together. Again, I felt like I was sneaking out, and had to fight the urge to keep looking over my shoulder to see if an administrator was around who might reprimand me. Truly not a big deal here; I also saw students out and about, going into shops. What a different world. I wonder if perhaps students in the United States act less mature because we give them less responsibility and not the reverse.

At lunch I mentioned the student with the t-shirt and alluded to the religious symbol issue. Nobody jumped on it; my guess is that is is a very touchy subject and no one wants to talk about it. One thing I learned in talking to my colleagues today was that if a student fails English but does fine in most of the other classes, they are promoted to the next level along with the rest of the class. It's all or nothing; either you repeat all your subjects for the whole year or you go on. You never have sophomores and seniors in the same class, for example.

After lunch I had my literature students, a nice small group of fourteen. I decided to start with a discussion of reading strategies, and was surprised to see that they could only cite a few, and those with difficulty. After a few minutes of having most of them stare at me blankly, I asked them if this was an unusual topic of discussion in France. They told me that yes, it was, that their teachers never went over such things with them. Fascinating. Later in the class I was trying to explain, "the witching hour" and did my imitation of the Wicked Witch of the West, complete with cackle. I don't think ANYONE has ever done anything like that in a class with them before! They were stunned, to say the least, and one girl laughed for at least five minutes. I will either be fired tomorrow or become the stuff of legend, I think.

My last class was a group I had only met yesterday. They were well-behaved and participated some, though many of them were quiet. One interesting thing was that I finished about a minute before the bell and didn't have time to start anything else, and so they all just got up and left, without asking permission. No babysitting here!

After class I headed back to the salle des profs. I heard the phone ringing in the next room, so went in and answered it. Turns out it was a national survey. I explained that I was not a regular teacher, but an American teaching on exchange, but the woman said that didn't matter, so I agreed to participate. There were lots of questions about education in France, about initiatives in education, and about the Minister of Education. I answered as best I could. It was actually a good exercise for me - those survey people talk quickly and have a very specialized sort of vocabulary. I had to ask her to repeat several times (personne n'est parfait!), but eventually understood all the questions.

Next I went to pick up the girls. They have both made friends, independently, with two sisters, so I chatted with the mother some as we walked into town. Their family owns a charcuterie/traiteur (like a deli with lots of meats) across from "our" bakery. It is nice the girls have made some contacts.

Larry has found a Star Trek movie on t.v., so I think I may watch some of it. I have a ton of papers to correct, but I think I deserve a bit of a break. I will need to do a lot of work tomorrow, as Sunday will be a busy, but fun, day - lunch with Bénédicte and her family and la fête du Port de Caen. More later!