I guess I'm only one day behind.... I didn't do a whole lot yesterday.... it was an absolutely gorgeous day, 60 degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny! I walked down to the laundromat happy as could be to just be outside... if I knew how to whistle, I'm sure I would have been a-whistlin'!
While I was at the laundromat, there was an interesting looking family doing tons of laundry. I had my ipod on, so I couldn't hear all of what they were saying, but basically I got that they are a "caravan family." They explained to some curious others at the laundromat (it was packed, guess it was a Saturday) that they had 2 caravans, a truck and were stationed near a road with a wall somewhere in Saint-Priest before moving on. One day at school, a teacher said something about a child that was going to be moving but coming back after a few months because they were a part of the caravan lifestyle.... I guess we would consider them sort of like gypsies.... but I'm not sure if they are considered Roma or Romani or not? I often see, who I think are Romas, asking for money in the metro, and they usually only know a certain few key French phrases.... but these people at the laundromat spoke perfect French, albeit a little accented... and seemed to be doing ok if they owned 2 caravans, etc. So.... I just don't know. I may ask tomorrow at school because I think it's pretty interesting.... I googled Romani people and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information. They do mention, however, that they usually don't mark themselves on any sort of census information, so it's sort of hard to know who's who and where the are since they move around so often. To be continued I guess!
After doing laundry, I got home to find a package slip. So I went straight over to the post office (I was just so happy to be soaking up the sun!) and found myself in a 20 minute line. Everyone was so upset to have to wait in line... but I wasn't about to leave. I had a package to receive! It was from Valerie, Victor's sister. It included yummy brownies, some hot cocoa, and some toiletry items.
Around 1:45 I left to go tutor Julien. Corinne asked if I'd be willing to come Saturday instead of Sunday because they had something else to do. Of course I said yes, it's my weekend of nothing, why not? I didn't know it would be as beautiful as it was... but it wasn't so bad. We did our lesson, I brought them some gingerbread cookies, and then I stayed to chitchat with the parents outside while the girls played with their new spin art (present from Santa). Lucie, the youngest, asked if I got anything from Santa... and then listed off every single thing she got:) She's so cute. I told Corinne and Luc that I'd love to babysit anytime! They said... actually we might need you in the near future, we'll let you know! (They also informed me that Lyon is NEVER like this in the winter. I guess we can thank global warming??? Do we thank global warming... hrmmm).
I walked back because it was so nice and I sort of felt bad about breaking up the happy family for someone to drive me back. I've never walked back before, so I got a little turned around, but thankfully found the tram. It wasn't that big a deal, it was fun to see kids running around blowing bubbles and playing soccer. It made me want to stay outside a little longer!
Today the weather wasn't so nice.... rain rain rain. I stayed in to make stuff for lessons, update my resume (why not right?), and get ready for this week. I got several emails from my teachers... I think I've gotten them all into a habit of exchanging ideas for the week on Sundays... which is nice. I don't have to guess or pray that they like what I've planned:) I even had one teacher ask if I'd be staying for lunch (I skipped out last week because I didn't have any food haha).
This weekend has been nice to get back into a routine and to get caught up on lesson planning.... but I'm excited to get this week rolling. I begin my museum month (hopefully going to make it to the Resistance museum and the Contemporary Art museum), I'm excited about me lessons, and I invited the girls over for a potluck lunch on Saturday! (Apparently the Brits don't use "potluck" in their vocab, so I had to explain. It's so much work being their friend, hehe jk. I'm glad they're all back!)
Reste cool:) Bonne semaine! (Have a good week)
No comments:
Post a Comment