Mary-Est-En-France

Monday

I got a ride into school with Mme Bodet about an hour later than usual. We were able to discuss the weekend and catch up a bit before she dropped me off around 8:30.

As I sat in the staff room, I realized that I could be reading a Nancy Drew book on my phone. Finally! A way to pass the time. I had my coffees and I was all set. It was a great morning. By the time the bell rang at 10, I was more than halfway done with the book.

My first classes were so much smoother than normal. The boy that always gives me trouble was removed and now the other students are so much better. Wow! What a difference it makes. The kids thought that New Orleans looked really cool. They told me that they wouldn’t like it there though because they hate jazz.

At lunch I sat by myself and was later joined by some other teachers. Yahn (the French as a second language teacher) invited me to join his class so I could have a chance to observe how French classrooms normally work. I was happy to have the invite and told him I would come the next week. I did have to get up and run though because I planned to do my grocery shopping during my break. I said goodbye and headed out.

I had the store almost to myself except for the workers. One thing I’ve noticed in France is that workers in stores never apologize or move out of the way when they’re stocking items. If you need something-too bad, come back later. Workers do not care if you’re walking in front of them, they will hit you with the box mover. Going to the store can be a chaotic experience.

I returned and had the 4eme class. Their teacher was unhappy with their behavior and split up the two boys that always insist on doing homework together in my class. It was a smooth class, but I confirmed they have a very low level in English.

The 6eme group spent their hour workin on posters for the environment. I put on some music and relaxed, offering grammar help where I could. The boys were very irritated that the girls were working together. They wanted someone with good art skills to do their poster and apparently none of the other boys were good enough.

Finally, the euro group came in. I presented LA to them. They were interested in Hollywood, but didn’t recognize the sights from GTA like the other groups. They had a lot of questions for me about studying abroad in the States. I really didn’t have any answers because I have no experience with that.

I managed to get on the right bus after school and headed home. I finished my book and felt happy. I was absolutely exhausted, so I ate at home by myself. I had a call with my cousin and shared about my day. I tried to steel myself for the difficult classes that would follow on Tuesday.

Sunday

Once again, I found myself out on a long walk. The goal had been to run, but I wasn’t quite recovered enough to make it worth it. I got to listen to my favorite podcasts and enjoy some lovely blue skies. Every time I go out on the weekend I feel like I’m in Beauty and the Beast. I have to say “bonjour” to everyone I pass. They give me looks if I don’t.

I spent a fair amount of time on Sunday preparing posts for the business page. I got a lot of things squared away for the upcoming show and took care of some administrative tasks.

I got to have a phone call with one of my friends in grad school in the evening. It was so good to hear that she’s doing well in her program and enjoying herself.

After dinner, I prepared my lessons for the next day. This week, I decided to introduce New Orleans to the students. I tried to make the lesson as straight forward as possible. I included a lot of pictures for them to notice and describe. I included video links in case they didn’t want to participate. I really wanted things to run smoothly as I approach the end of my time here.

Saturday

It was a beautiful day. The wind was mostly calm throughout the morning, so I went out for a long walk. My legs were sore from my run the day before- no good deed goes unpunished right?

I got home, made a great coffee, and did my weekly deep clean of the apartment. When I finished, my mom was calling. We got to sit on the phone for a few hours and do some crafting together. I’m really missing home right now because I had so little to do here. I miss the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the farmer’s market. This is a really busy season for me because I know that I have to get as much product prepared as possible so I’m not swamped on opening day. I guess that won’t be an option this year! Mom and I got to chat about how excited we were for the upcoming craft show on the 27th.

In the afternoon, I got to talk to my cousin. It was fun to catch up and hearing about everything that’s going on in her life at the moment.

By then it was getting pretty late. I got cozy and read a mystery book. I relaxed with a bit of YouTube before actually heading to bed.

Friday

The weekend at last. I didn’t have any plans to travel and was ready to lounge around and not do much at all. I was reading quite a bit and wanted to see how many books I could zip through in a weekend.

I started my day off with a run/walk through the countryside. I’ve been trying to get a bit healthier/take care of myself and I’ve started running again. I’m getting in shape using intervals, running for 7 minutes and walking for 5. It was a beautiful day to be out and about. I ran into Mme Bodet on the last leg of my run and was totally embarrassed that she said me gasping for air haha. I felt really accomplished after I got out there and was active. I was rewarded with a beautiful view of the mountains on my way back into town.

I spent the afternoon doing edits on one of my friend’s projects. It’s been a while since I’ve been in an academic mode so it felt good to be working hard on something like that again.

I got a headache later in the evening so I decided to lean back and watch some shows. I had a chat with my family before I went to bed.

Thursday

Catherine A picked me up around 8am. The morning was really chilly, so I had to dig my winter coat out again. Even though it was early, the wind was already picking up.

I started off the day by talking about LA with the 4eme class. They were really only interested in hearing about Hollywood. We watched some movie trailers and they learned about the Oscars. For some reason, my students are having a really hard time understanding the concept of states. It is so frustrating! France is also divided into regions and departments, so I don’t get why they can’t grasp that the United States is as well. They also don’t understand how much smaller France is compared to the US. Every week I tell them that France is smaller than Texas and sure enough, every week they freak out when I tell them.

With Noury’s 5eme, we also worked on LA. They really liked it because the recognized all of the sights from GTA. All of them are very passionate about video games and recognized it immediately.

At the break, everyone sat and talked about the rising number of COVID cases. I’m still shocked by the apparent lack of concern amongst the French for rising case numbers. Things continue to get worse here and there have been huge problems with the vaccine rollout. There seems to be an epidemic at my school and kids are getting sent home every day. Yet, the teachers are just annoyed they’re not allowed to use the break room table because three people got COVID while eating at it.

With Catherine’s 5eme group I discussed St. Patrick’s day. They told me that they do not celebrate at all in France. It seems to be true, there are no decorations and I haven’t seen any party items in stores. They were amazed that we dye the Chicago river green. Many students were concerned about the fish. Others remarked “oh- isn’t that polluting? you do that on purpose?”

When I went back to their classroom I noticed that they had celebrity biographies hung on the wall. Most of them were stars from Riverdale. They’re obsessed with media about American high schools.

The 6eme group at the end of the day made my life easy. They were doing presentations of their research projects. Each of them had a place in the English speaking world and was supposed to show us around the place through their presentation. We got to learn about Las Vegas, South Dakota, and Hawai’i.

Catherine took me back to my apartment after class. I got to chat with a friend while I ate lunch and then took a nap before my tutoring appointment.

Nawel picked me up at 2:30 and we drove to the store together. We went shopping and talked about products in the store. I picked up a book and some wine for the weekend. The lesson was spent mostly going over things we’d talk about in daily life. I thought it was nice because I didn’t get to learn a lot of that when I was studying French and it’s some essential stuff. Nawel carries her black notebook around and writes new words and phrases in it so she can go over it later. While I don’t think the other shoppers were thrilled with this, I think it’s a good strategy to have.

I was reading Twitter when I got. home and I saw that there would be an announcement soon by the government regarding increased COVID cases. There was a general assumption that the government would reconfine the regions in red.

I made myself a little pizza for dinner. I got to have a phone call with my mom and my friend Anna before bed. It was a pretty good day overall.

Wednesday

Another day off. This was truly a mini-weekend.

I had a slow morning around the house. I cleaned, did the dishes, and listened to some music. I drank my coffee at my desk while listening to the news and wrote some letters. I decided that I wanted to get out there and go for a walk before my tutoring gig later in the afternoon. It was a really windy day outside, so it wasn’t the most enjoyable walk that I’ve had here.

Nawel met me at the Place des Platanes in Anthon and we drove over to her house to do the tutoring lesson. I got to meet her two daughters who are 5 and 3 before their nanny took them up for a nap. Nawel and I sat at the table to chat for about two hours. We discussed COVID conditions in Algeria and our own experiences with COVID. She told me that most of her family in Africa had gotten sick last year and many suffered very severe symptoms. She told me that she was very afraid for them because hospital conditions were not good in her area.

Speaking with Nawel makes me think a lot about my own use of English. I have to choose my words very carefully and speak deliberately. I never really thought that I had a “Michigan accent” until I started working with her on her conversational English. I’ve learned that I pronounce my “A”s very strongly and often under-pronounce the ends of words like “at” or “that” by neglecting to use a hard “T” sound.

After tutoring, I had a few hours before dinner. When it was time, I walked over and at the Bodet house. Daniel was gone on a trip, so it was just Mme Bodet, her son, and me. We ate lamb chops and rice with a brown sauce. Janja spent most of the meal begging for a new phone. He complained that he had saved up enough money and that he should get one that week. Mme Bodet said that it was Daniel’s decision when he would get a new phone and should be satisfied with his until his dad got back. It made me laugh- I remember begging my parents to take me to the store so I could buy video games or new technology when I was younger. Time always feels like it stretches so long when you want something you can’t have at that age.

Catherine A let me know that she wanted me to prepare a lesson on St. Patrick’s Day. I spent some time getting it together before I settled in for a night of reading.

Tuesday

What a glorious day! I called in sick the night before and had the morning to enjoy myself.

I really embraced the spirit of a sick day and did absolutely nothing. I read a Nancy Drew book, started a new show, and wrote some letters. My mental health was totally restored after spending the day away from all those naughty kids.

I enjoyed a call with my family for a bit before I turned in for bed.

Monday

It was a cold and rainy morning. All the beautiful weather from previous weeks completely disappeared. I grabbed the 7:20 bus with the kids and headed to school. Knowing I had no food in the house, I brought along my shopping bag and my big backpack. Upon arrival at the collège, I started off on my trek to the Carrefour downtown Pont-Chéruy.

It was still a bit early when I arrived, so I picked up some éclairs at the bakery before I returned to do my shopping. I got to wait in line outside with all the old people! Woo! After I finished, I headed back to school to start my day. I had a coffee with Iilaria (the Italian teacher) in the staff room before I went to set up.

My first two groups were the 3éme students. These two groups are unpredictable. Strangely, a group of all boys showed up (it’s generally mixed because the girls carry the class). I asked them if they had their speeches prepared because their teacher told me all of them should be done. Even though I asked in both English and French, none of them acted like they knew what I was talking about. When the half an hour was up, I told them it was time to switch groups. They claimed that the teacher wanted them to stay the entire hour (she didn’t tell me anything about that). We returned to the classroom together and I discovered that half the class was giving their graded speech today. Because the boys refused to practice with me, we sat and watched all the girls give great speeches on gender equality. The teacher was enraged when I told her none of the boys had anything prepared.

The second group was much smoother. We corrected grammar, went over pronunciation, and still had time for everyone in the class to give their speech that day.

At lunch, I ended up eating with the teacher that works with students who speak French as their second language. Yahn and I talked about my struggles in France and about his travels to different countries. It was great to be able to talk to someone around my age. He offered to give me some pointers and to let me observe a class so I could tell what a French classroom was like.

After lunch I had the 4ème students. I’ve been struggling with them because there’s a set of boys that insists on doing worksheets for other classes during my lessons. I asked them to put them away and told them if I had to ask twice I would take away the paper. When I took away the paper they were angry and argued with me, so I had them write down their names for me so I could talk to the teacher.

The 6ème was easy. I showed them the rest of the national parks slideshow. They loved the Everglades National Park. I showed them a video of all the animals there and they enjoyed naming each of the animals and choosing a favorite. I thought it was cute that all French kids call fawns “bambis.”

At last, my final class. The euro kids! The teacher wanted me to show them a video about how they can change the world. The video was 17 minutes long and the man spoke wayyyy too fast for the kids to understand. I couldn’t understand why she would want them to watch a TED talk video. I did my best to translate and break up the main points for them, but I don’t know if it did any good.

Finally, I was able to get home. I made myself a good meal and enjoyed some TV. I had a long phone call with Syd and one with another friend. I decided that I would call out on Tuesday and take a sick day. The thought of going in and working with those classes again is distressing. I sent the emails and let Mme Bodet know that she would not need to wait for me in the morning.

Sunday

It was a slow morning. We cleaned up the Airbnb, grabbed all the trash, and headed out. Our first mission was to return the keys. Sadly, it was about a 30 minute walk away. What a way to get the blood flowing in the morning!

Alli suggested we grab some bagels for breakfast because we were in the city. Unfortunately, it was Sunday morning. Even though we were in the second biggest city in France, our choices were severely limited. The nearest suggested place was a metro ride and a 20 minute walk away. So, we got started on our journey.

Our search for a fresh bagel brought us close to the train station.

We soon discovered that the bagel place was within a huge shopping complex that was seemingly under construction. The entire place was eerie. It felt like we were part of some apocalypse movie. There was music playing, but the lights were out. Wires were hanging from the ceiling. Some stores were completely full of products and some sat with scary little mannequins huddled in the corner. After confirming that the bagel place was not open we high-tailed it out of there.

I suggested we head over to the train station. There’s a Starbucks there where we could get American style coffee and perhaps some food. It ended up being the perfect thing. I got a breakfast bagel and a drink. It was sooooooo good to have an iced drink. The French don’t ever do iced. It was sooo worth the walk. It made me miss home so much! I’m ready to get back to the convenience that is around every corner in the US!

We ate together and then sat for a bit at the station before it was time to go. They said goodbye and went to catch the train and I hopped on the tram towards Meyzieu. I sat for a bit at the bus stop before the 1980 came around. I finally was on my way home.

In the evening, I spent some time on the phone with friends. I watched my new show, did some lesson plans, and crocheted.

Saturday

I got up early, cleaned the apartment, packed my bag, and was on my way to Lyon for a weekend with my friends. They came to the city Friday and explored while I had my meetings, but I still wanted to have some fun with the gang before going back to work on Monday.

I arrived in the city around 12:30 and navigated my way to the correct bus stop to get me downtown. I caught the bus and managed to get two stops down the line before the bus driver kicked everyone off. I had no idea why. Luckily, I was pretty close to Place Bellecour where we were all meeting up.

I quickly realized why the bus driver cut the route short. All the streets surrounding the Place Bellecour were blocked off by police. In the photo below, you can see that the police have a metal barricade. This can be used to push back protesters (there’s an apparatus on the other side that allows it to move) and to kettle protesters (trapping them in a specific area so they can be more easily controlled). There were huge lines of fire hoses hooked up on either side of this metal wall. Each street that led into the main square was closed off by police with vans, huge automatic weapons, and body armor.

We met up under the statue and realized that the protest was going to be starting there. Not wanting to get caught up with the French police, we skirted out of the square as fast as possible. All of us were ready for lunch so we went in search of food. We located some bubble tea, which was delicious. It made me miss Wednesday bubble tea nights with my friend Mike. After going down a little side street, we happened upon an Italian restaurant doing takeout pizzas. It sounded perfect! The guys inside were definitely right out of Italy, their accents were so strong it was difficult for me to tell which language they were speaking!

The next big ticket item on the to-do list was seeing the Parc Tête d’Or, one of the biggest parks in France. We hopped on the metro and came out nearby.

We entered the park as it started to rain. We decided that the zoo inside would be our destination.

Sadly, the main zoo doors were closed. It was still possible to see some of the animals that were housed on the outside rim. There were flamingos, zebras, and giraffes. While we watched the giraffes we were witness to what felt like an Animal Planet special. Both pairs of giraffes were starting their mating rituals. None of us realized until the male licked up the females pee. It was such a strange situation.

Leaving the park we headed out towards the Airbnb. We stopped and grabbed ingredients for margs on our way. There was this adorable little wine shop that sold hard liquors as well. The proprietor was 100% judging us for being Americans who wanted tequila instead of wine.

When we got home everyone slowed down for a bit to take a nap and just rest a bit. We did a lot of walking! I had a call with my friends from work to commemorate the anniversary of our office shutting down. It was so cool to catch up with everyone and to hear a bit about what they’re doing now. It made me a bit sad that everyone is out going our separate ways, but also just grateful that we could get together and have fun despite that.

After my call, I went back out into the living room. Dinner was delivered and drinks were ready! We got these customizable bowls that were great. I got salmon, rice, carrots, avocado, and cucumber in mine. It was like a giant sushi roll.

The night ended up being really fun. We enjoyed good music, got to talk about our schools and students, and chatted about all the dramatic news that happened throughout the week. It is so so refreshing to be able to speak real English with people!!!