uh oh spaghetti ohz

Well, I'm going to try my best to get this typed out and sent. It seems that my windows vista has decided it's going to crash. I keep getting the "blue screen of death" as they say.... which is not a good sign. I have very few computer problem solving skills and no one to take my computer to. I don't even know if I took my computer to Best Buy type store if they would know what to do with my American computer! So merde merde merde if my computer crashes. I kind of need this thingy. Anyway, I will try my best not to panic so I can update you on my day.

I went to school and was shocked at how warm it felt outside (low 50's today). I had high hopes about giving my crazy class a word search as morning work... and guess what??? I'm a genius! (hehe) The kids came in, got started on the word search with minimal disruption and we got through the roll call in all of 3 minutes instead of the 15-20 it usually takes! I was able to get through all of the lesson I had planned for last week and preview a little of what we'll do for next week. So all is not lost on this class:)

In my next few classes, we started singing Christmas carols and working on "What would you like for Christmas?" I hadn't realized until today that silly bands have infiltrated France. For those of you unfamiliar with this elementary/middle school trend... they are little rubber band bracelets; when taken off of your wrist, they take the form of an animal or some sort of object. They're just called bracelets in France... I think I might have even heard a kid say "des crazzees." Anyway, on most wish lists, kids were asking for video games or board games... action figures and barbies.... so not much is different. Kids are kids:)

During lunch, I tried explaining the movie Elf to the teachers because in one of the classes we talked about elves and Santa.... and it turns out elf is also the word for eleven in German. So in any event, while we were re-discussing this, I brought up the movie out of curiosity. No one had heard of it... or Will Ferrel for that matter. I can't believe they don't know who he is because almost all American films are shown in French theaters, either dubbed over or with subtitles. So I did some research and found the French movie titles and sent them to my teachers. We shall see if they figure out who he is. One teacher did like the sound of the movie "Elf" and wanted to see if we could show clips during class to see how much the kids could understand. I like this idea.

After lunch, I went to visit Laurence who asked me over the weekend if I needed any snow attire.... which was a huge YES. I'm having shoe issues with the snow. And wouldn't you know it, she wears almost the same size and had an extra pair of boots. Now I don't have to worry about buying a pair before I go to Switzerland, where it is sure to be very snowy!

Anyway, after talking to her for a while, I stopped by the boulangerie, where the shop lady knows me and greets me like a regular:) I took my baguette and croissants home... to find Mr. Electrician working hard... with dust everywhere. He was very nice, though, in explaining again that he was sick, when he should be completely done (Thursday hopefully because the painters are starting then), and asking where I would like my phone jacks. He left at about 3, explaining he had gotten a call to repair someone's electricity that was out about 45 minutes away. He will be back tomorrow at 7:30.

I did a little sweep sweep of the apartment because even though I know he's coming back, I can't stand to walk around and hear the crunch of dust under my slippers. I warmed up some of the last macaroni and cheese I froze from Thanksgiving and tried watching Elf again (I had it on the brain)... and my computer crashed (4th time today). Every time, I reboot and it works for a while and I think it's ok.... but then it happens again. I just don't know what I'm going to do about that. AH.

Anyway, if you have any advice, I'd love to hear it!

Reste cool:)