We started off the day with heading to my one class. We passed the TGM. One of the students who pretty much stalks me on Facebook and only speaks English with me saw us dressed in green and shouts to another student "You're not wearing green! I'm going to pinch you!". The other student doesn't understand and just looks confused and lost.
We get to class and Claude doesn't seem to notice that we are overly green despite me warning him last week. Finally, I ask him if he remembers what day it is. He jumps up shouting "Hold on! Wait!" and starts rummaging in the cabinet. I think he stashed a green article of clothing there in preparation. Nope. Next thing I know, he is shredding a green plastic bag and trying to stick it on himself. I just roll my eyes and pull out the green stickers and the class put some on.
At lunch, the cooks guessed right away what day it was. Yay! Bonus points for them! I was surprised, because your average French person has no clue about the cliche traditions of this day.
After lunch, Erika came to pick us and Emily up, and we headed to St. Quentin for the day. We met up with two other assistants there for drinks and some shopping (including a stop at the Irish store!). Most amusing part of the outing? Two French guys wearing huge plush St. Patrick's Day top hats.
Emily, me, and Roxy in St. Quentin decked out in green.
Emily took the train from St. Quentin while we headed back to Chauny in Erika's car. Emily started texting me about how she was next to C. on the train. While he didn't recognize her, he told us later that he guessed she was American from the green makeup and such since I had warned him. Roxy and I pretty much cracked up over the texts about what kind of music he was listening to, his wearing of our favorite sweater which led to Emily snapping a photo for us, and his general obliviousness. We ran into him ourselves when back in Chauny as he ran into our cafe before heading up to the school. Sadly, no one at the cafe took note of the abundance of green. What a disappointment. They're usually more perceptive.
Dinner was the most amusing part of the day. Lots of pinching, falling, and showing of underwear... We get to dinner, and A. noticed the green and says that he didn't wear any (we had warned him the night before). Francois is just lost. C. walks in, gives us that look of his, and clutches his green notebook to his chest. LOL. The student from earlier in the day who also has an obsession with C. and I starts going on and on in English about how I have to pinch C. I point out that he isn't wearing green either, but he swore that he was wearing it earlier. C. sits down, and we share an awkward moment where he reaches over, kind of fumbles around, and finally steals the green clip I was wearing (you can note the location of the clip on my shirt from the photo) and clips it to himself. He then pinches A. and Francois. Both of the guys, for whatever reason (Francois had no clue what today was), had put on green underwear today, so they attempted to show us. Umm... that's okay.
Halfway through dinner, the student starts up again. Shouting over in English that I should pinch C. for not wearing green (no word about the other guys), and C. wrongly translates it into French, and I have to clarify. All of a sudden, the student falls on the floor, chair and all. It was a spectacular fall. He tried to grab hold of the guys next to him to no avail. Serves him right from all the teasing! Karma's a bitch. Normally, the boys get into trouble for something like that, but since I had been responding to him, he didn't.
When the student goes to put away his tray, he tells me once again to pinch C., but I point out that C. is in fact wearing some green. Then, C. tells him to come over, shows him the clip, and pinches the student! We were all in fits of laughter by this point. The student points out that the other guys aren't wearing green either which provokes them to attempt to show us the green underwear again. I think they caught a glimpse of Francois'. A. challenged the student to come over and take a look. It was all too hilarious and a bit unreal. At the end of dinner, other students started coming over to ask about the whole green thing and St. Paddy's Day. Needless to say, I didn't actually get to bring up the things I meant to ask C. about tonight.
Oh, I love my life here! I don't think I forgot anything. Sorry for the long entry about one day!
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