Let's see... what have I been up to?
Tuesday, before she left, Natasha and I had lunch at the local cafe. We decided we preferred to do that instead of having whatever the cantine was serving. And it was a good decision! So yummy! I'm seriously going to miss this place when I leave. My classes in the afternoon went well for the most part. I wanted to smack some of my secondes, but that's just because they were annoying me, not being mean or anything. The BTS were nice though. The one was cracking me up. He was trying to get the only girl in the class's phone number, and she kept shooting him down. And then though Sn. was in a bad mood and said barely a word to me or C. that night, C. and I were in fits of giggles. Seriously love this guy. It's impossible not to laugh with him.
Wednesday, I was way late to lunch (which is the one day where lunch is served at a specific time), because Claude was particularly chatty. There were no more chairs left with the people I normally eat with, and I wasn't about to eat alone, so I sat down with the surveillants. That's normal for me at night but "ca se fait pas" (that's not done) at lunch. My bold mood paid off, they welcomed me to their table. Soon, I was left alone with Sn. Since I was testing the waters after his mood the night before, I made conversation about what the food was even though I knew what it was - blood sausage. He told me it was a "boudin", but I continued to play dumb. He refused to explain further until after I ate the thing. Damn. My plan backfired. I had no plans on putting the thing anywhere near my mouth, but here he was staring at me expectedly. So I tried it. It's actually not as horrible as I thought, but since I knew what it was, I couldn't really stomach it for more than a bite. Sn. then told me what it was and started to explain how it was made. I stopped him right there, because I did actually want to eat my mashed potatoes and cheese. But at least he opened up, and we had some good conversation. I told him about grad school, and he was really happy for me (everyone is that I've told).
In the afternoon, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to have a drink outside the cafe. I soaked up the nice warm sun while enjoying my diabolo. It was actually quite peaceful. For once, I was left alone. And also after much confusion over the last few weeks, I am officially on tutoie (informal "you") terms with the cafe workers. I kept having "Did they just use "tu" with me?" moments, because I would never be fully paying attention, and then I wouldn't know whether to say "s'il te plait" or "s'il vous plait".
Today, there was a national strike. What did that mean for me? Absolutely nothing. I still had all of my classes. Well, except one (but I picked up another one instead). I had the students, but then Claude wandered off because he thought there were no students, so I let the few I had go. Today's BTS got on my nerves, but I think I'm prepared for the situation for the next time. And then a kid in the 1re GM loaned me a book. So I will be reading "L'importance d'etre constant" (or The Importance of Being Earnest) by Oscar Wilde. He's a sweet kid.
This afternoon, I met up with Kylie. She's leaving for the States tomorrow! I'm going to miss her. And Will. He was beyond thrilled to see me. We ran a few last minute errands. I found a pair of black sneaker slip-ons to replace my ones with holes in the bottom (I think my mom would have killed me if I returned home with those). We also got ice cream and then drinks at our cafe. At our stop in town, we ran into the protest in Chauny in support of today's strike.
After saying goodbye to Kylie and Will (miss them already!), I met up with Maria for a drink. That was also nice.
Dinner tonight was also good. It was a little hilarious. Because of the very few students, it was the maintenance guys who were in charge of serving dinner. The surveillants and myself just kept cracking up. Of course, since C. was one of the surveillants, that was inevitable. Also S. was very chatty with me tonight. He's usually pretty quiet, but he spoke quite a lot with me. I swear, I'm so much more approachable on my own. Though C. did share with us that a student (not one of mine) hit him yesterday. Yikes! I spend so much time defending my school, and of course, something like this happens that goes along with its horrible reputation.
Anyway, it's been a very good week.
This weekend, I am off to visit Vero in Aix-en-Provence. I almost decided not to go (I am lazy and broke), but one of her students called and begged me to come, because they want to actually meet the person Vero talks about all the time. I'm skipping my Monday classes (or class actually as the one isn't happening because of a conseils de classe) and heading down there Saturday morning. Probably the best choice. I'd be the only assistant in Chauny. Natasha and Paul both went home, and Maria leaves tomorrow night for Spain. Maria's trip is the only legit one as it's with her school.
Wow. That was a long post. I wonder if anyone actually read it all the way through...
I did! I was sad to miss out on the strike craziness in Soissons this time, but you know, some of us work and can't just take off to go march around with big flags and fireworks. Have fun this weekend!
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