I had a message from one of the teachers who is in my conversation class. She said that she wouldn’t be able to make it to class tonight and she mentioned that she wasn’t sure if we would be having class due to the snow….wait...WHAT!? SNOW?!!?I immediately jumped out of bed to open my shutters—yep, it had snowed! Of course it was the first night in about 4 days that I hadn’t woken up several times to check outside and see if it had snowed. 
So, I went down to look outside, take a few pictures and eat my breakfast. It was pretty, but was only about a 1/2 inch of snow… By lunchtime it had all melted. Still, it’s exciting!
Photo: Margot's snowman is still alive, even though the rest of the snow has melted...
All my classes went fairly smoothly today and I brought my lunch to school so I could hang out with the teachers. After my last class of the day, I had a really good talk with the teacher, Duyen. Her class is my favorite class (a group of absolutely adorable 7 year olds who are respectful, interested, and really well-behaved) and she’s an excellent teacher. She is big on discipline, but she’s really sweet as well—every day there are scores of her past students who come to say hi and faire les bises (the kiss on either cheek). Anyways, Duyen was really encouraging and said she has had many people come in and work with her students, but only one time before has she had someone who taught as well as I do. It was really awesome to have positive feedback, especially as I normally feel like there’s very little point to me even being there. Not in her class, of course, because we actually have fun and they learn lots of things, but in the older classes. She said that she hoped I was going to continue teaching…I informed her that I wasn’t so sure, but perhaps I would do daycare or preschool (where you’re not in front of a class, but teach things informally). Duyen told me that she would never teach the older kids (3-5 graders) because they are generally too snarky and insolent. And, often, it’s true. I guess I would consider being a first grade teacher…or kindergarden. It’s so much better when they’re affectionate and curious!
I didn’t get home until 5:10pm (having stayed for a while talking with Duyen), so I had just enough time to have tea and a snack with Margot before departing for my conversation class. Two people were absent today, so it was a small group. We discussed food and the differences between the US and France.
Obviously they don’t eat big breakfasts like we do, but also a major difference was that they consider fruit and yogurts to be for dessert, while we generally go for sweeter things. Of course they sometimes have cake or ice cream or something fancier, but on a day-to-day basis, they mostly just have a fruit or yogurt after their meal. Much healthier!
And there’s a national campaign that everyone should eat at least 5 fruits and veggies each day. In any commercial that advertises food, they must put a message at the bottom that reminds people to eat “at least 5 servings of fruits or veggies each day!”
We’ve decided that since next Tuesday is Mardi Gras, we’re going to make crêpes during our conversation class! Mmm! I’m looking forward to that!
This evening I watched “Famille d’Accueil” (the foster family show) with Margot and Catherine. I think might be the first time I have watched a current TV show with regularity! (Dr. Quinn doesn’t count because it’s dubbed re-runs from the 90s…)
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