Thursday 11/3: Back to school…

It was killer getting up this morning. I was really tired from traveling all day yesterday and I was somewhat dreading having to go speak French in front of a bunch of students… But, I hauled myself out of bed, took a nice shower, had some breakfast, and headed over to make some copies before my class.

I chatted a bit with Pablo (the Spanish assistant), who said he was also having trouble because he stayed with an Argentinean friend in Bordeaux and they (of course) spoke Spanish the whole break! Yep, it does weird things to your brain when you switch between languages…

Photo: They put up the poster of all the teachers at the school! Here are my coworkers!

My class of 8-9yr olds went pretty well overall. It helps that the teacher stays in the room—they always seem to be better behaved. We talked a little about what they did on their vacation, practiced answering the questions “Where do you come from”/”Where do you live?”, and did some coloring. Not too bad.

I had a short break (enough time to eat some lunch) and then I biked over to the other school. I was really lucky to have a break in the rain because, although I now have a raincoat, I still don’t have any rain pants. Hmm.

My classes at the other school were quite a bit more hectic. The students there don’t seem to be as disciplined and the younger ones really don’t understand English at all. AT ALL. And, it’s almost impossible to get anything done in 30 minutes! But, I just keep telling myself that none of those things are my fault and I can only do the best with what I’m given. But it’s really exhausting to teach those classes.

I had the afternoon off, which was excellent, and I ended up skyping with both Maria and Mark. It was good to catch up after having been fairly out of touch with people while on vacation. Also I didn’t really feel like doing anything (I was super tired and not particularly interested in thinking in French), so lying on my bed was just about all I was good for.

After dinner, I brought out the chocolate orange that I’d brought back from England. They were all duly impressed and now I wish that I’d brought more of those instead of trying to bring beans/curd/cream. Oh well! Perhaps I can figure out a way to get a few more to give them as Christmas presents!

I’m going to sleep early tonight—tomorrow will be a long day as I have to teach four classes, but spread out from 8:30am-4:30pm. (Yes, I know that shouldn’t seem long, but it does at this point…)