December 14, 2020

Monday

My morning classes were canceled because students were preparing for their brevet exams. These tests are taken by French students at the end of their collège (middle school) career. Passing the exams certifies that they are proficient in important subjects like history, French, and their foreign language.

It wasn’t necessary for me to be at the collège until 2pm, so I decided it would be a perfect day to test out the bus system and go shopping! I hopped on the 10:16 bus and rode all the way to Meyzieu in the west. The bus to Pont-Cheruy didn’t arrive until 11:23, so I explored the area a bit. Sadly, there wasn’t much going on. It seems the area around the bus stop is primarily industrial. There were no cute shops or bakeries to pop into.

When the bus finally arrived, I hopped on and rode until I reached Pont-Cheruy. Unfortunately, I did not realize that the next stop on the route was the mall I planned to visit. Whoops! I walked about 20 minutes and learned my lesson.

My first stop was the Action store that I visited with Catherine. I was interested in grabbing some supplies for my kitchen and maybe some yarn. I instantly found some delightful blue yarn balls and threw a few in my basket. I was also able to find some great new washcloths and discounted home goods!

I had plenty of time leftover, so I moseyed over to E.leclerc! I was eager to explore their “culture” space. Honestly, it was wonderful. It reminded me of a smaller, warmer Barns and Noble. There was a huge section of books that included classics, history, children’s books, and current event books.

I picked up some copies of classics I had read in English so I could practice reading in French. They were only 2 euros each! What a deal!

As I made my way through the store, I also saw a collection of adorable knickknacks. I was really tempted to splurge and get some, but I decided there were still too many essentials that were more important. They had a wonderful kids section! I loved their display of Harry Potter books so much that I did decide to pick up the first copy. Maybe I’ll end up rereading the series while I’m here!

My time was running short, but I did head to the grocery section to pick up some fresh bread, body wash, and purple shampoo for my hair. I think I will try to shop there more often! I really enjoyed the shopping experience.

As I made my way to the school, I stopped off for lunch at the boulangerie I visited with Catherine. I got a croque-monsieur and a raspberry tart.

My classes were pretty easy for the day. We started class with a vocab exercise. I shared 12 pictures of Christmas items like Santa, a reindeer, a gingerbread house, etc and we labeled them together. The kids loved coming up to the board to write in the answers. I’ll definitely be taking note of that for future lessons.

Later in the class, I shared my presentation on Christmas with all the students. They told me to say thank you to everyone who shared their pictures with us! They loved seeing the traditions that everyone has. Most of the kids were very surprised by the number of lights there are on some houses, our holiday parades, and the variety of foods that are eaten on Christmas. They decided that tamales were their favorite Christmas food, even though I’m confident none of them have ever eaten tamales. They LOVED voting on Christmas trees. Most of the students were thrilled by the idea of having a mini tree. One boy said he wanted one for his room. They were floored by pictures of the Rockefeller center tree and skating rink.

After school, I rode the bus home. I thought it was really strange because at one point, a police officer hopped onto the bus to check that we were all wearing seatbelts. She said it would be a 150 euro fine if anyone was caught without one.

I spent my evening working on my new blanket and decided that I would go back on Tuesday to buy more yarn.