Guess where I am posting from? That's right, my shiny little MacBook! Katie and I now have the Internet! It's exciting! I can type on my lovely American keyboard and actually have something to do at night! I can also watch the handful of American shows I miss. This is great! I can also easily research lesson ideas, train times, etc. Oh, I love it!

Today was a pretty good day (with one exception). Classes were small because of the strikes, so for the first two sessions, I just stayed with the teacher. I liked that we did it that way, because it's nice for the first lesson with a new group of students. Both classes were really nice, curious (sometimes a little too curious), and seemed to have some motivated students.

My other class of the day... pure hell. There's a group at my school called DP6. There a class from the college (French middle school) that is too "energetic" to have their classes at the college so they have special classes at the lycee. Last week, I worked with one group with Florence, another English teacher. This week, I was on my own with the other group. Luckily, the group was only about six students because of all of the absences, but they were still out of control. I never actually had to send any of them back to the teacher, but it got pretty bad at times. They were nice to me... never said anything bad to or about me, but they fought (physically) with each other, laughed whenever anyone spoke, and teased each other. We never actually got around to the game I played with last week's group because of the way they were acting. Instead, I made them repeat questions after me until they got them right, and then, they each had to answer the questions. Carole, the English teacher, said that I made the right decision. The two worst students will be receiving a written punishment on Monday from her and will have to give it to me the day after the vacation. I'm also allowed to make them write lines in class if they get out of control. Good to know.

Although the really weird thing? The DP6 students called me "Madame" the whole time. It was so bizarre. I always introduce myself as "Shannon" and pretty much all the other students call me by my first name, which is normal for them to do since I am an assistant. When I see them outside of class (or even in class), it's always "Hello Shannon" or "Salut Shannon", so the "Madame" thing just totally threw me off.

I also talked some with my contact person. He was asking who all I speak French with since it's pretty obvious that us assistants stick together.... although there is the Spanish assistant who doesn't really speak English other than a handful of words. He said that we could get together for like an hour every week, and I could talk in French about a topic of my choice, and he'd correct my mistakes. Sounds like a very good idea. He also invited me to come with him to the primary school he teaches at every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I might take him up on it... probably will in fact. The class is at 8am (not fun), and the Thursday one I could only go to every other week, because of the two classes I have here Thursday mornings every other week. I'm supposed to tell him Monday if I want to go to one or both this coming week. He's also going to ask around to see if anyone has a spare TV I could borrow to watch French shows to improve my language skills.

Tomorrow, I have a couple of classes including one where it'll be my first non introductory lesson. I'm going to do something for Halloween, because it's the last time I'll see this group before then. It's a small group of six students, so it should go pretty well. German is their first foreign language, and English is their second. They're a nice group. And then, in the evening, it's Guy's birthday, so we're going to go out to the Chinese restaurant and then have a little party. Some assistants from nearby towns are also joining in so that shall be fun.

I'm going to Paris for the day on Saturday. Not sure if I'm going to stay just for the day or stay the night at Mariel's (a student from BW who is studying in Paris). We'll see.

Hopefully, on Sunday or soon after, I'll get some pictures loaded onto my computer so you can all see some of Chauny.

And now that I'm back on my computer, maybe I'll actually start writing some in French on my blog.