First off.... HAPPY EASTER!!!

Thursday... the gendarmerie was... interesting. J. met up with us and explained the situation to the guy at the desk. Unfortunately, we accomplished nothing this day, because there was only one guy there to take care of filing reports and answering the phone. There was apparently a hole in the rode near Auchan that people kept calling about, but I guess the hole has been there for a long time now. J. kept rolling his eyes and mocking the guy on duty and apologizing to us. Finally, we were asked to come back at a later time.

That night at Cuba, we met a bunch of gendarmes. They were crazy! And they knew J.! And of course, they had to tell us that quietly, because there are "bad boys" at the bar, and if they know there are gendarmes there, they will torch their cars. Reassuring, right? I talked to one who was really nice. He just kept making fun of the drunks. We kind of shared the same outlook as to what was going on with the others.

Friday, I went to Paris with the school. I pulled myself out of bed at the crack of dawn after next to no sleep. But I was feeling good. I had a long bus ride ahead of me that I could use as sleep time... except Claude was like a child in a candy store and had a million and one questions for me. It was fine though. He did point out some interesting things like when the highway passed under a road for the airplanes at CDG. That was kind of cool.

On arriving in Paris, we were given our lunch. We had sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit, and drinks. We were told to hold on to some of it, because we weren't having another meal before arriving late into Chauny. I was kind of impressed with all the lycee had given us. We had arrived a bit early, so we had some free time before the scheduled activities started. We were allowed to go do whatever we wanted. Most of us stuck together and wandered around the Eiffel Tower. One of my students was being funny and kept being a tour guide for me and trying to explain things in English. It was sweet.

We took some photos in front of the Eiffel Tower when all of a sudden it got really dark and gloomy and it started to hail! Kind of cool... until it turned into golf ball size pieces! It hurt!! One of my BTSers and I huddled under my poor small broken umbrella, but it didn't offer much protection. Luckily, it only lasted a few minutes before it changed to just rain which eventually stopped (for a bit... we had rain off and on all day). Surveillant M. was funny. He was trying not to get his pants wet and dirty so he was holding them up and tiptoeing. Claude called him a gazelle. I couldn't stop laughing. Eventually, he gave up.

We then wandered around the surrounding area before the groups split up. I went with the lycee group (the other was the Pro group). We walked (in the rain) to the Assemblee Nationale (National Assembly... aka where the Senate meets). I was really happy to be invited along, because it's difficult to visit. There's a few open days a year, but other than that, you have to be invited by a member to visit it. It was really interesting to see the different rooms and such. Of course, I took some pictures to share with you all! The tour guide was also really easy to understand so that was a good thing.

Afterwards, we went back towards the Eiffel Tower. There was a car show going on by the Seine, so we looked around there for a bit. Of course, all of my students found this much more fascinating. Out came the camera phones for pictures. That did not happen at the Assemblee Nationale. Next, we took a boat ride down the Seine. It was freezing! But it was fun and beautiful. One of my students started flirting with some American high schoolers that were near us. I helped him with some translations and gave him ideas of questions to ask. It was cute.

We got back to the bus and were told that we could dig into all the food that was left! There was A LOT left! So much for the things I had saved! We practically had a whole other meal right then!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Paris with my students. It was a blast! Possibly one of my best days yet in Paris. They were sweet to me and made a bit of an effort to talk whether it be in English or French. Of course, these were the more motivated students, because they were the class representatives, but still, I appreciated it. I so want to do more things like this!

Yesterday, Ellie came to Chauny to celebrate her birthday with us. Hart and I made dinner. Viany was in Paris for the night, but she left us explicit instructions. I also made a cake. It was a fun time! Then, we all went to Cuba for their Soiree Tecktonik. Now that was entertainment! I will never get over how odd the dance is. But seriously, it is amazing to watch. We had a good night! Afterwards, T. joined us back at the apartment. We all sat around and talked and then the DJ showed up. That guy is weird.

Today... we have pretty much done nothing. Viany is making an Easter dinner. Got to love her!

Later, I'm going to see if I can get some of the videos I took with my camera of the tecktoniks uploaded.

Pictures
Paris (with the school) and Soiree Tecktoniks