Hhhhaunted Hhhhhouse

This morning was my first day back to school since October 21... and although it was a little rough getting up so early and switching my brain back into French, I had a great time at school with my kids and colleagues.

With les CMs (my oldest group, the combined CM1/Cm2 class), we went back over some Halloween vocabulary (ghost, bat, witch, broom, haunted house, mummy, skeleton, etc.), and played the game memory (which they love... and subsequently cheered "ouaaai" upon finding out the activity for the day). It was weird to be doing Halloween again, after Halloween was over, but I guess the teacher didn't want to start right off the bat with something new (since I was their very first lesson back at school). They had to match the picture with the word and pronounce the word when they flipped it over. Listening to them try to say "scarecrow" and "haunted house" was so funny. I tried to tell them at the beginning of the lesson that in English we pronounce the "h" sound at the beginning of words, whereas in French you do not (at first they were all saying "aunted ouse"). So they ended up saying "Hhh, hhhaunted Hhh, house." They couldn't get the "h" out in one full breath lol. And "scarecrow" was just hard because they had nothing to connect it to. At least the other words are sort of similar in French or are familiar from American movies (skelete=skeleton, spider reminds them of spider man, bat reminds them of bat man, broom sounds like the sound a car makes... and a witch rides a broom, etc.). But, I couldn't think of a good way to help them remember scarecrow... even after explaining that "scare" is like scary and a "crow" is a bird, they didn't get it. Oh well, maybe I'll show them the Wizard of Oz sometime:)

In the next class, we did essentially the same activity. These kids actually remembered the vocab and could pronounce the words better than the older kids for some reason. (Except, they were even cuter trying to pronounce "hhhaunted hhhouse.") The kids were so sad when the bell sounded for the mid-morning break.

At the break, Murielle, la directrice, reminded me that the CP class was on a field trip this morning. So... I did not get to teach my lesson on numbers after the break. Instead, Murielle asked if I had brought anything for Thanksgiving. She decided that she'd rather take advantage of me being there than have me just sit and observe a lesson in French, which I thought was really nice of her. Thankfully, I had brought the 2 books my mom sent me for Thanksgiving, just to show her and the other teachers at the lunch time. I showed them to her before we went back inside, and she and the other teachers were so funny... they thought the pictures of the pilgrims and Native Americans were great and enjoyed hearing about what we eat at Thanksgiving.

Although I hadn't really prepared for how I would explain Thanksgiving, I did so in French first because I figured the kids would be completely lost if I had just started with the book in English. My explanation was probably painful to listen to... it's hard thinking of the words for pilgrims and religious freedom and starvation and squash... but we got through it. Then my 9-11 year olds all gathered around my little board book, the kind you read to really little children... and they were so engaged. I thought, hah so funny. This book is so simple, but then again, even the simplest explanation of Thanksgiving in English is really, really difficult for them. They thought the pictures were cool and asked if we still dressed up like Pilgrims and Indians. (Murielle actually asked if I'd be dressed up on Thanksgiving lol).

And then to finish up with this group, we switched gears to explaining the regular American school day because we got into a little discussion about how many days we get off for Thanksgiving... and the kids realized that American children go to school 5 days a week instead of 4 on a regular basis. Murielle was appalled that we only got 30 minutes for lunch. The kids thought it was so cool that American children get to bring their lunch to school (one kid even shouted out, "It's like a picnic!"). And even though the kids in America get much less break time during school hours, my French students thought it would be pretty awesome to end the day so early (they don't finish until 4:30 here, but granted they do get a 2 hour lunch break and 2 recesses).

At lunchtime, Murielle showed me all around the maternelle (pre-k classrooms), which becomes part of the after school childcare. She said that children start here in preschool as early as 2 and a half! She also explained that her own kids (she has 3 ranging in age from 2-6) have to go to the babysitters until 6:30 or 7pm because she gets paid to stay much later than the other teachers... which lead us to talking about if I was ever free to babysit (which obviously I said yes). So we'll see if she ever needs me, but I've already met her kids and it would be so much fun if I got to babysit them. I'd even work for free, if there was some sort of French meal involved of course:)

Besides the tour of the maternelle, I thought lunch was much less awkward than usual. Even though I mumbled through a few comments, I was at least involved in the conversation, as opposed to just pretending to understand what was going on. I also shared some of my pumpkin bread with them... which got them talking about all the things they were going to make for me:) What a great idea it was to share such an American delicacy: Pillsbury Quick Pumpkin Bread Mix. Yumz!

And now I'm home... I don't want to go back out to make more copies of my very important documents, but I need 2 more for tomorrow, just to be safe. Ugh, I can't wait until this darn visa process is over!

Reste cool mes amis:)

Bon Halloween!

This morning, the 4 of us groggily got ourselves ready for our last morning in Paris....which basically consisted of a yucky showering experience at our hostel, with water everywhere... (after sampling 2 hostels in the Montmartre area, I can firmly advise- Stay Away from the Vintage Hostel, and go with the Village Hostel... much better views, location, and no musty, wet carpets!), walking to the parking garage in the mostly empty and quiet streets of Paris (huge difference from the night before!), driving to the airport (no traffic this morning!), and returning the rental car (a little worried we'd never find the right place, but we did it!).

I waited for Maggie, Thomas, and Heather to check their luggage and to check-in... and then it was time to say good-bye:( Although the week was jam-packed with touring, walking, and very little sleeping, I was sad that my week with my friends had to end. I hope they had fun, because I know I definitely did. Being able to drive around France was so cool (albeit the pricey tolls) and seeing Annecy was wonderful, but getting to play tour guide in Lyon and Paris was probably my favorite part (hopefully I wasn't too ambitious!). It's one thing to be able to blog about my experiences, but a wholly other thing to be able to show what I know and the places I call (or called in the case of Paris) my temporary home.

Anyway, after saying bye... and going to the bathroom to pull myself together (mentally and hairwise- I don't know what I was thinking when I did my hair this morning at the hostel), I set out on my own little half-day Parisian adventure. My plan was to go to the Musee d'Orsay (my

favorite art museum of all time), but by the time I got there, my back wasn't enjoying the weight from my tightly packed bag and my over-worked feet... were over it. Plus, the line was winding around out the door, so it just wasn't meant to be this time around. I did go up on a bridge across the street to take a good picture of the building, which is also a work of architectural art (an old train station). While I was up on the bridge, I noticed people reading things connected to the wires on the fence, and realzied they were little locks, like luggage locks, with names of couples carved or written into them (like M+S, or Sharin loves Sherman). I had never even heard of this bridge or that this was some sort of lovers tradition. But how neat! And, also neat, at the end of the bridge, there is a really cool statue of Thomas Jefferson (another American lover of the French).

After this, I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand to drag myself around Paris, so I decided to see if I could catch an earlier train to Lyon. I found the station or gare, which is really cool looking from the outside (you always take Gare de Lyon to get to Lyon too, which I think is just very helpful). And thank goodness- I could get on one as soon as I got there (for a small 18 euro fee... which was worth every penny...or centime). The train trip was very pleasant, I even fell asleep for a bit of the trip. What was not so much fun was waiting for my bus to get from the train station home, and the actual bus ride. The driver almost hit someone crossing the street and a man, on the bus, obviously drunk, was yelling something... I'm not sure if I was any better at French if I'd even have been able to understand him!

Tonight, I have been endulging in the fine American treats brought to me by my friends- Reese Pieces and Oreos! Yumz.

Hope you're having an excellent Halloween:)

Reste cool!

ps, tomorrow I will post and explain more of the sites we saw in Paris at the beginning of the week!

i guess this wouldn't be france without a frustrating strike

Just got some sad trip news- our train to Amboise (in the Loire Valley) has been canceled and there are no trains for the rest of the day there or to Tours, which is a city near it. We could take a train to Paris and then take a train to Tours... but it will cost us a pretty penny to do so. SNCF, the French train provider, has joined the strike full force now (whereas before 2/3 trains were running, they're only running at 50% now... guess our train was in the glass half empty part). They have on their website that they will be striking until the night of the 23rd.... so I'm just praying that they'll stop by the morning of the 24th, making my train trip to Paris on the 25th on-time and on-schedule!

Anyway, I'm still getting up early to at least refund my tickets, if not try to find a cheap alternate route.... but at this point I'm getting a little worried I'll get stuck in Tours/Amboise if I do get there and then I'd be a nervous wreck about getting to Paris on the 25th. So- we shall see.

My day at school was good- lots of Funnybones reading and Halloween vocabulary going on. I have an adorable little boy, straight from Jerry Maguire, in my CP class. His name is Owen and he's always getting into trouble. But I want to tell the teacher, he's so little and so cute with his disheveled hair and glasses! Don't be mean at him!

When I got home I made number people to use when I teach numbers via the song: 1 little, 2 little, 3 little monkeys... etc. Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Brown would be proud of my number people.

Anyway... I need to go attempt to lay out clothes for my bag, just in case something opens up and we do end up going. Send happy thoughts my way please!

Reste cool...

funnybones

This morning I woke up extra early to catch the bus at 7:36am (as opposed to the next bus leaving at 7:50am) in order to be at school by 8:15. I was running late, so I didn't have time to double check which stop I had to get off at... and ran to catch my bus (like actually ran, they stopped just for me!). I sat down and nervously checked the list of stops... not recognizing any....and started obsessively checking my watch and thinking.... if I get off at the wrong stop, will I have time to get another bus?

Well- silly me, I figured it out, got off at the right stop, and got to school at oh, 7:50am. I sure wasn't late! I took my time walking to the school from the stop, although it was pretty chilly this morning... and came in to find most of the teachers already there (2/3, hehe). The directrice very kindly got up and gave me the double-cheek-fake-kiss greeting (which I've gotten used to...before I used to awkwardly bang my head into people's cheeks). She said she had a few things to do before school started...and I just sorta sat there and thought, guess I'll be taking the 7:50 bus next time...

In the directrice's first English class (the combo CM1/CM2 class), they were making me postcards. They colored a picture of somewhere meaningful to them and then put their face in the stamp. On the back, they wrote in English a little introduction of themselves (My name is... I am ... years old... etc). Then, a few students got up and recited these sentences... they're so cute. I want to giggle, but I restrain myself...because their accents are so French when they speak English... but then again, I guess my accent is probably so American when I speak French.

In the second class, they were still working on vocabulary from the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and they were still saying "pear" and "apple" wrong (pier and ay-pple, oh well). I kept thinking to myself, "No, A is for apple..." but then thought...haha that actually would make it "ay-pple."

In the third class with the CP/CE1 combined class, the teacher had me read Funnybones aloud (a Halloween related story, all in English). But first, we talked about Halloween and the American traditions of trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving. I learned a few new vocab words (citrouille is pumpkin for example) and learned that although Halloween is certainly not a traditional French holiday, it is becoming more and more popular for children to dress up and ask for candy door-to-door. Some of the kids told me they went last year and the houses didn't have any candy... guess it doesn't work quite as well if people aren't participating in the same way:) We also talked about how children dress up in costumes to scare the ghosts away (at least I think that's why we dress up?)... which segued nicely to our story about skeletons who try to find people to scare...and end up just scaring each other (it's cute- the kids liked it, and I got to sing "The head bone's connected to the neck bone, etc.").

Reading the book aloud in English was interesting, especially because these are the students who have the least English knowledge. But, page by page, I'd read aloud, point to pictures, make hand gestures, and their teacher would summarize or ask the students for summaries in French. It was cool because you could see their little brains trying to figure out what was going on in the story. And at the end, the teacher asked if they like the book... and several said it was very funny... and a few said that it was too scary. One little boy said it was moyenne, or average, because he thought parts were funny, and the dark staircase the skeletons walked down was too scary...lol. The teacher told the directrice about it and now I'm reading it to her 2 classes next week! Yay Halloween!

I came home, exhausted from my early morning, and have pretty much done nothing but eat, watch TV on Hulu, and research places that I'm traveling to. I think I needed a day to just chill out. Tomorrow, I'm going to meet Lindsey for lunch and a movie downtown!

Reste cool!