Tuesday 12/6: Happy Sinterklaas!

Happy Sinterklaas! Today is the Dutch Christmas holiday! :)

In my last class today (with the 7 yr olds), I had them come up to the board and have a conversation using finger puppets. It was just about the cutest thing ever. They were so excited to have a turn being either the monkey or tiger (which they have a lot of trouble saying… “tee-jer”) and the best part was watching them try to say their age (I would write the age of the monkey/tiger on the board…and it would change each time) and use their fingers to count. They would always become perplexed at how to count with a puppet on one of their fingers. Hilarious! Afterwards, the teacher told me how impressed she was that even the really shy kids raised their hands to come up and talk. I think it’s the puppets that make all the difference (thank you, Mama!!).

It’s been raining and stormy (high winds) all day and all I feel like doing is staying curled up inside! Which is kind of nice, really…

Monday 12/5: I've Got A Plan

Just a brief summary of the main events of today:

Alison came over for lunch and afterward I walked with her to the high school and then continued on to the other elementary school, where I had class. It's about a 30 minute walk.

After two months of trying to teach two classes at the other school who misbehave constantly, I now I have a system of discipline. I write the names of any students who disobey or disrupt on the board and their teacher will be told. They then have 3 strikes. If they get three marks by their name, I send them out of the class and to their teacher. The end. And she will make them wish they hadn’t gotten in trouble… Well, classes went a lot better today! I’m feeling much better about the situation!

I walked home, via the store, and wished that my bag wasn't so heavy. I was tired by the time I got home, but glad that it hadn't been raining during my walk. Unfortunately I had to hurry to teach another class at the school next to me and didn't get a rest. That class went okay...I sent the most irritating student out of the class as he was talking during their test (a listening exercise where they had to write what I was reading) and giving away answers. Life is so much easier when he's not there...

Sunday 12/4: Just an Average Sunday

Today was a nice, relaxing day. I slept in late, spent some time lesson planning, then went running with Dunja. I’m really happy that my feet are feeling much better! Dunja is happy as well. ;)

This afternoon I went to see “Puss in Boots” (or “Le Chat Botté”) at the cinema with Margot, her friend LouAnn, and cousins, Pierre and Claire. I felt really cool hanging out with the 8-11 yr old crowd! And, not surprisingly, I saw four other students as well. The movie was okay—it was dubbed in French and I had a lot of fun trying to understand French spoken with a thick Spanish accent! I was a bit sad to miss out on listening to Antonio Banderas…

Margot and I had tea when we got home and then I went back upstairs to work on my lesson plans. I am trying to figure out what to do this week (the last week I will just stick to Christmas) because I don’t really want to start too many new things right before the break. So, mostly I’m trying to think of fun ways to review what they've learned…

I had a lovely call home with my parents before dinner (a delicious gratin filled with perfectly-sliced potato wedges, little sprigs of cauliflower, and creamy, cheesy sauce—all covered with a layer of crispy Emmental cheese.

Of course the classic baguette…freshly bought at the nearest boulangerie. And followed by a bowl brimming with homemade apple compote—not too sweet—with a dash of cinnamon topped with vanilla pudding, thick and smooth. What a meal!) and a skype chat with Mark afterwards.

Only two more weeks until Christmas break! I’m so looking forward to seeing Candice and cooking all sorts of delicious foods! :)

Saturday 12/3: Birthday Pancakes and STOMP!

Today is Ralf’s 51^st birthday! I made a big stack of pancakes for breakfast and we put candles in them so Ralf could blow them out! We ate and ate until we were very full and there were still a few leftovers! I cleaned everything up as well and then spent some time relaxing in my room. The weather here has definitely changed: chilly, gray, rainy, windy… but, it’s good because it makes you want to stay cozied up inside by the fire!

This afternoon I went grocery shopping with Catherine and there were Christmas carols playing—in English! Just the same ones you hear in stores in the US! Hmm. I was kinda looking forward to hearing French Christmas songs…

After tea (with German Christmas cake), I took a shower and got ready to go out tonight. I wanted to dress up a little, but not too much because I was pretty sure everyone else would be in jeans. It worked out fine—I was a little fancier that everyone else, but not obviously. :)

Ralf guessed where we were going (I think he overheard Catherine saying something about a show to someone on the phone today), but only a few hours before it, so it was still mostly a surprise! We headed to Biarritz in two cars (we took Chantal’s kids because she and Philippe were already in Biarritz) and were planning to have a nice pizza dinner.

Photo: We were bored waiting for our food...

However, the restaurant was closed. We tried to go to a Mexican restaurant (the only one in this region, as far as I know!), but they said we were too big a group.

Photo: Keeping ourselves entertained...

So, we ended up at a bar that served some food…everyone had these little sandwiches with different meats/cheeses/olives/ veggies/etc. and I had the only vegetarian option: a grilled cheese (“Croque Madame”) and salad. It was delicious!

We headed to the theatre to see “STOMP!” It was quite the show! I enjoyed it—very inventive! They made music with everything from brooms to lighters to garbage cans to kitchen sinks! It was nice that they worked in a little bit of a story and comedy in…if they hadn’t, it might have become a bit boring. But, I thought it was good! Lots of energy and a good crowd.

After the show, I drove back with Ralf in his car (everyone else went with either Catherine or Philippe) and we had a good talk about music, cars and driving, and other random topics. After about 10 minutes, we decided to switch to English because it was only us in the car and neither of us are native French speakers! So, we figured we’d take a break and switch to English. It was actually a little bit hard to make the switch; although once we were talking I got back into it pretty quick!

Bonne nuit!

Friday 12/2: I Walk On Stilts!

I got up at 7:00am so I could skype with my family, but miscalculated the time difference and realized that I had told them to be on an hour later… I called and talked with my mom (and Ivy and Brigid) briefly before getting ready for school. My first class was wonderful (they are by far the calmest and easiest class to teach), followed by a 1 1/4 hr break, then another class.

During lunch, Alison came over to hang out and I made us bean and cheese burritos (with tomato and avacado)!! Amazing! It’s been so long since I’d had a burrito! It was delicious. And, I still have more beans! Yes!!!

Photo: Heaven.

After lunch I went back to teach the younger kids and I had a great class with the first group using the finger puppets. I got them to take turns coming up in front of the class to do a basic conversation between the tiger and the monkey! There were a lot of interesting attempts at saying “tiger” that sounded nothing like the English pronunciation!

I had another break (during which I went to the bank to transfer money into my US account and also to the little grocery store to buy flour) and then a class with the other group of 7-8 year olds. They did very well and nearly all of them can say “how old are you?” and answer it correctly. I’m proud of them—I remember a few weeks ago when only 2 or 3 out of the whole class could pronounce it!

After school, I had tea with Margot and then rested until it was time to go to folk dancing. I was picked up in front of the middle school (like the last two times) by Aurélie and upon arriving, I asked if I could try out the stilts. She said that was totally fine and I just had to talk to her brother. So, I found him and he helped me put them on. It was really hard to stand up (they’re super wobbly at first) as they are attached to your foot (there’s a little shelf where your foot goes) and then just below your knee, where the stilt stops. You don’t use your hands at all!

After walking around holding onto Aurélie’s brother’s hands for about 2 minutes, I moved on to the rope that stretched across the room. I did that for a few more minutes and then I managed to walk all by myself! After practicing for at least 45 minutes, I can walk easily! They were very impressed with how fast I picked it up—especially as I’m “the American.”

Photo: Success!!

Tonight the class went longer because the guys were there as well. That meant we did different dances together (some of the time they danced on the ground, some of the time they danced on stilts). During one dance (I just watched), the guys on stilts jumped over their girl who was standing on the ground! Eek! Tonight one girl who was dancing on stilts had her leg strap break and she fell down, taking another guy with her! I was surprised that no one got hurt and they quickly replaced the strap and continued dancing. No big deal! Video: http://youtu.be/GKiN8TJeVyU

We finished around 10:40pm (I’d been there since 7pm) and although I was invited to stay and have a drink, I decided to leave with Aurélie because I was really tired and very hungry. Perhaps I’ll stay next time!

I had a bowl of soup and some cheese and bread when I got home and now my sleepiness is definitely hitting……

Thursday 12/1: Happy December!

Alison stayed over last night, so I got up early with her. Catherine, Alison, and I all had “porridge” (oatmeal) for breakfast—made by Alison, who eats it nearly every morning. Catherine found it extremely heavy for breakfast, but I thought it was pretty delicious!

I headed back to bed for a little while (my stomach was hurting—not because of the porridge, it had been hurting during the night), but soon after the doorbell rang! I went down and found that a lady had come for a meeting with Catherine, who had forgotten and went to her office. So, I had to call Catherine and then I talked with the lady until Catherine got home.

My class (8-9 yr olds) this morning was just so-so. I taught them the colors and how to say “What color do you like?” “I like purple!” Not too hard, but some of them still get confused.

During my lunchtime, the doorbell rang again! This time it was the mail lady… with a package from my mom!!! Yay! It was filled with the presents I am planning to give to my host family, refried beans, tofu, amazing fruit bars, American candy, a Christmas CD, and candy canes!! :) I am so excited to make a burrito and a stir fry!!! My mouth is watering! It’s been waaaay too long!

Photo: HAPPY!HAPPY!HAPPY!

I had to teach at the other school this afternoon and it was not so great, as usual. I am actually getting used to it being frustrating and us not getting much done. The younger kids are so hard—I told them we were going to sing a song and that if they worked hard, they could do some coloring at the end. When I saw some of them starting to color immediately, I told them (very firmly) to put their colored pencils away and repeated that it wasn’t the moment to be coloring. About 2 minutes later, I turned around and saw one of the most disobedient boys coloring again! So, I confiscated his colored pencils and put them on my table at the front and I told him he needed to sing with the rest of us. You’d think that would have been the end of it, but no. I turn around a few minutes later and he’s coloring again! Yep, apparently when I wasn’t looking, he ran up to the front and grabbed his pencils back! Aargh! It’s so hard to keep them all under control while trying to teach a little bit. And it doesn’t help only having about 25 minutes for the class! Sigh…

I stopped at the supermarket on the way home to pick up frozen green beans (for dinner). Since I didn’t have any more classes this afternoon, I had a nice bike ride home, trying to relax my mind and let go of the frustrations of teaching. I have noticed that I am biting my lips now…not sure if it has to do with getting frustrated a lot? Perhaps not, but it’s not a good habit…

I was considering going running after having tea with Margot, but she requested we play ping-pong. It was so fun! She’s really good at it (better than me) and we had a lot of great volleys. When the sun started to go down, we hurried up to my bedroom to enjoy the view. Tonight’s sunset was particularly vibrant and colorful. Unfortunately the camera doesn’t really capture it’s amazingness, but I figured I’d take a picture anyway!

Catherine turned on lamp that changes colors and has an orange sent, but for some reason the house now smells more like warm eggnog…I love it! It makes me think of home! Margot and I sat by the fire and watched Dr. Quinn until it was time for dinner and we had to turn on the news. We had green beans with tomato sauce, bread, cheese, and a mandarin orange for dessert! I like that dinner!!

After dinner, I went upstairs to grade papers and listen to Christmas music. My oldest classes did a listening exercise in class (the one where I read a text and they filled in a table) that I had to correct.

Tomorrow will be a long day, so I’m hoping to get to sleep early tonight…

Wednesday 11/30: Happy 61st Birthday, Papa!

Today my father turned 61! I wished I could have been there to celebrate with him, but instead I sent many happy thoughts his way!

I woke up to sun this morning and spent a little while lying in my bed, just enjoying the blue sky and sun out my window. After breakfast, I did some laundry and then wrote letters while sitting in the sunshine.

Alison came over around 12:45pm, after her classes (the high school and middle school have class on Wednesdays) and we hung out until Catherine got home from work. Once we’d had lunch (I finished off the leftover cranberry sauce…mmm!), it was time to decorate the house for Christmas!!

In addition to their traditional family decorations (certain ornaments, stockings, cards, etc.), we put up festive window stickers and stencils. I have never spray painted windows before, but it was pretty fun!

Photo: Alison spray painting a stencil

We just taped Christmas stencils to the windows, then used a certain kind of window spray paint to put the shapes on the window! Beautiful (and fun)!! I turned on some Christmas Carols and we had a good couple of hours!

Photo: Margot hangs an ornament on our Christmas tree... "summer version"!

Once we’d finished, Margot, Alison, and I took a walk into town to pick up some glue for Margot and drop off letters at the post office. It was cold and clear, sunny, and the leaves were just perfect for crunching!

In the early evening, Alison and I watched “Death at a Funeral” while I made bracelets. Such a brilliant movie! We then helped Catherine make dinner (soup). Tonight Ralf made a fire again—it makes the room feel so cozy!!

Photo: The sunset through my Christmas window stencil!

Video: Stenciling!

Video: More decorating!