November 5, 2020

Thursday

I was nervous. This was my first day at the Collège Martin Luther King in Charvieu. This is a small village near Pont-de-Chèruy. I wasn’t sure if they knew I was coming because no one had responded to the email I had sent to them weeks before announcing the day I was arriving in France. Still, I thought I might as well go and they could send me to the Airbnb if they didn’t want me for the day.

I took the bus to Pont-de-Chèruy and walked about 20 minutes to Charvieu to avoid using the bus (asking about the price of a ticket and using change makes me super nervous). It was cool because I got to see their Hôtel de ville (their town hall) and I got a few miles on my step counter. I listened to the Daily and their analysis of the Bush v. Gore election on the way over, which was fascinating.

I arrived at the school, buzzed to be let in the gate, and asked where I could find Mr. Vittet (my first class of the day). I found him in the staff room and he was shocked to see me. No one had any clue I was coming! Yikes! He was very nervous because his classes for the day were rather rambunctious. The first group was 6ème (just starting English) and they were being sorted into Harry Potter houses. Their theme for the year was the House Cup! I thought it was super cute, took the quiz with them, and introduced myself. They did a grammar exercise on how to use “can” and “have to.” I helped the students around me fill in their sheet and helped them with some pronunciation.

The next class was too rowdy, so Vittet referred me to the office so I could get some paperwork done. I met the secretary (super super sweet, very patient with my French) and filled out an attestation to come to work. She and I chatted about the pandemic and she said how bad she felt for people in the US. She introduced me to the head secretary who gave me a tour of the building and explained the difference in the levels of the students. I finally understand the grading system!!

We met with my contact Madame Catherine as we got back to the office. She speaks with a cute British accent. We got a cubby set up and a mailbox for me. We grabbed her 3ème class from the morning break and the entire class was spent getting to know me and asking questions in English. Wow! They were having so much fun. There were a lot more students in these classes, almost 30 compared to the teens and low twenties at Pont-de-Chèruy.

Our second course was full of 6ème students. They were very cute. I showed them a map of the US, showed them Michigan. We spend the hour seeing pictures of my favorite places in Michigan and having them ask me questions about the state. They speak so quietly it was impossible to hear them.

Because the busses weren’t running again until the end of the school day, Catherine drove me back to Crémieu. She showed me the entrance to all the trails around town. We decided I’d come later in the day next week so I could eat lunch with the staff and have a ride back to Crémieu. I’m very excited to get to know everyone there!

Once again, I spent the night watching election results. I was happy to have some work to do though! I finished all my lessons for next week and sent them out for approval. All the teachers got back to me and loved them! I am feeling a lot better about this!

I have an apartment tour set up for Monday, I am going to get help with the bank account as well.