March 4, 2021

Thursday

A whirlwind of a day. I met Catherine at Place des Platanes around 8. I had already made up my mind to tell her what was going on in my other school, so I did. She agreed that something needed to be done, so when we got to school she set up an appointment for me with the principal for later that morning.

I was presenting on the national parks with all of my classes and was pretty excited to show them the cool pictures I selected. Surprisingly, they really struggled with the concept of national parks. They kept comparing them to the “parc tête d’or” in Lyon, which is one of the largest municipal parks in France. They simply could not conceptualize how much larger the United States were compared to France. I continuously had to remind them that Texas is the size of France and that there are 49 other states outside of Texas. Either way, they absolutely loved the pictures. I showed them videos of bison and Old Faithful in Yellowstone, we looked at pictures of the Death Valley Pupfish, and we looked at pictures of grizzly bears eating salmon in Alaska. It made me miss adventuring with my friends at home! I can’t wait to get out there and camp this summer!

At the morning break, I escaped to talk to Mme Mille (the principal in Charvieu). She loves speaking English because she spent five years in the states so it was easy to communicate with her what was going on. After I let her know everything, she called up Mme Kiel (the Pont-Chéruy principal) and let her know what was happening. We set up and appointment with her for Monday at 8am. It made me feel better to be listened to about the predicament that I am in. I hope that things can be resolved on Monday.

After my classes, Catherine took me back to Anthon. I was making my lunch when I got a text from my neighbor, Catherine J. She invited me out on a walk in about an hour. I wanted to go because I needed the exercise anyway, but I asked for a bit more time so I could eat and be relaxed.

We met up around 3pm for our walk. She showed me an awesome path beside the river that I plan to take in the future. Her little doggo Frimousse came along with us. She darted ahead of us for most of the trip. When we came across an adorable little beach, my neighbor let me know that it was the perfect spot to come with a boyfriend for some privacy. (So awkward!) She proceeded to question me as to whether or not I thought French boys were cute and why I wasn’t dating in France. I tried to explain that dating in a foreign language really didn’t appeal to me, especially with the GLOBAL PANDEMIC! She thought I was just being funny and laughed me off. We continued on our way at an incredibly brisk pace. We went for four miles and I was completely out of breath by the time we got home.

My French social battery sufficiently exhausted, I settled in for some crochet and phone calls with friends back home. I got to hear from folks in my hometown and my friend from up north. It was a great way to lean back and start the weekend.