Dec 20-21: London with teachers from the school.
Dec 22-27: Glasgow, Scotland with Emily (another American assistant) including a daytrip to Edinburgh
Dec 27-Jan 3: Gloucester, England with Natasha and her family.
Jan 3: Back in France and spending the day in Paris before returning to Chauny
I've had a really good last couple of days. Yesterday, we had coffee with Kylie (the Australian) and her two-year-old son. It was so nice to catch up! And there was this other little girl there that her son was trying to talk to. He kept going "Hey girl! Come back!" But of course, she didn't understand. They both just kept freaking the other one out. And his level of speech is excellent for a kid his age. I have potential afternoon plans with Kylie for tomorrow, and almost certain dinner plans. Hopefully, they do actually happen.
Today, I took in Reese Cups for my favorite classes. Needless to say, I am very popular. I also gave them to the surveillants last night at dinner. Claude was all excited and was telling the students that they would never taste anything like this in France. They all seemed to enjoy them. My BTSers were hilarious today. The write-ups on our discussions for Claude are just hilarious. And the English is horrendous! Must work on that. They promised to work harder in the new year... yeah, doubt that. Today, they refused to speak very much in English. They wanted to get me to talk in French for the whole hour. That's not too hard to do considering I have to translate everything I say into French anyway. And maybe one day soon, I will understand everything my student F. says. He has a horrible Picardian accent. Today, I only had to ask "Comment?" (what) after only half the things he said instead of all. But we did have an interesting conversation.
I think the one server at the cafe thinks the only French I know is "Bonsoir" and "un grand cafe". Well, you see, I'm always "a l'ouest" (in la la land). Half the time, I'm in the middle of a conversation or texting someone or whatever, when he says something to me. So I always have to go "Comment?" (hey! at least I don't go "hein?"). Even in English, I would probably need to hear the question again. Today, since I was alone (Natasha already left for England), he spoke to me in English! Well, of course, I wasn't paying attention, and he had to repeat himself. I was doubly confused, because I thought it had been English but wasn't sure. He asked me if I was alone tonight. And he said it correctly! That was probably the most English I've heard from a non English teacher (or decent student) ever in Chauny. Color me surprised. Though now that I think of it, I think someone had told me he had spent some time in Scotland. But yeah, I think he thinks I'm very slow. But like right after that, I moved to the table next to me to chat with M. and his friend, so maybe the server will think I'm not such an idiot?? Who knows?
Dinner was... interesting tonight. Dessert was amazing!! Profiterals with ice cream inside smothered in hot fudge! Plus another chocolate Santa! But other than that... I'm just left feeling confused. Okay, the head surveillant's wife (she also works in that office) was in the cantine almost the whole dinner. S. and C. were talking to her, and they said that the students suspected something was up because she was there. They didn't elaborate, because they clearly know what's going on. She finally left. Then, S. disappeared, but none of the students (except the BTS) were allowed to leave (which they can once one surveillant leaves with them). But whatever, I figured he went for a smoke. Then, C. disappeared and all the students were like "What is going on?" Two of my students came to chat with me since I was all alone, and they are such sweethearts (I gave them more candy since I had a few left). When C. returned, I couldn't ask what was going on because my students were with me. We were now in the cantine for way longer than normal. C. picked up his tray, so I decided to leave. I go over to clear off my tray, and S. is standing guard at the doors! That has never happened! And even though everyone had long since finished eating, they were still in the cantine at least 5 minutes after I left! It was so weird! And I probably won't get an explanation, because those two are both off tomorrow, and then it's the vacation! When I was wishing S. a merry Christmas as I left, he was all distracted and such. So bizarre!
I guess that's all for now. I'll leave you with some pictures of the local Christmas decorations.
Santa's house in St. Quentin
There were random elves hanging up all over the market. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of creepy.
Big blowup snowman. Just like aux States.
Christmas lights in Chauny.
Huge giant (it was bigger than anything else around!) creepy Santa at the Chauny Christmas market. Maybe he's the one who hung up the elves in St. Q.??
There were random elves hanging up all over the market. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of creepy.
Big blowup snowman. Just like aux States.
Christmas lights in Chauny.
Huge giant (it was bigger than anything else around!) creepy Santa at the Chauny Christmas market. Maybe he's the one who hung up the elves in St. Q.??
One more think! When I saw Hart, she said that she missed being in my blog after Ksam said she knew her from my blog. So because she really does deserve to be in my blog more, I want to wish her a very happy birthday here!! Miss you!!
Okay, and I am off. This post is already too long! In the words of Hart... Ciao! Bisous! Bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment