J'adore la famille de Corinne

This morning after I wrote, Laurence called to say she was just around the corner, coming to drop off my laundry. I ran down to meet her and she asked if I'd be going out and about today because it was so beautiful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky! I told her in fact, yes I would after tutoring:)

I actually walked to Corinne's house... and not getting lost this time it only took 15 minutes! Julien and I worked on more irregular verbs, including shake, wear, stick, and throw. For shake, all I could think of as an example was, "shaken, not stirred," and milkshake. When I explained what a milkshake was, he laughed because evidently kids his age say "shake the milkshake" for no apparent reason. When I asked, he said it just sounds funny because it rhymes.... but now it seems ridiculous because he knows what a milkshake is. For wear, he laughed uncontrollably because the word itself sounded so silly to him. I had to finally say, Julien, get a hold of yourself! It's a verb! For stick, he kept saying steak... I'd say, you have to say stiiiick. So he'd repeat and then after a second he'd say oh, steak. Haha. It was very funny... it was like he just heard a different sound. And throw- quelle horreur! We had both the "th" issue combined with the English "r." Let's just say we're working on it.

After our lesson, Corinne, Luc, Emilie, Lucie, and I went for a walk. We drove a few minutes to a path, parked, and walked around looking for rabbits. I actually asked if they eat rabbit, and they said yes, but they aren't the same as the rabbits you have at your house! They're different! (Rabbit fillets are found right next to chicken in the supermarket. Weird.) Besides rabbits, we talked about lots of different things... les soldes, when they lived in Marseille, places in Lyon (we're kind of both new to the area since they moved here just a year and half ago), etc. We went to a duck/swan pond, not far from the Porte des Alpes mall.

On our way back, I thought they'd just drop me off, but they asked if I wanted to come back for some tea and a snack. I said, why not? We talked a little more.... I'm going to babysit for them on the 28th. I met Julien's friend... who happens to be a girl. She isn't technically his girlfriend, but they hang out often. They were working on a project while we had our snack. They'd come and get cookies occasionally, but as soon as they'd leave, the parents would sort of roll their eyes with an "oh goodness what are we going to do with them" kind of expression. And then, they asked if I saw the most recent Grey's Anatomy... and I said, well no, I don't have a tv. They were in shock! But- I was in luck, they had a tv upstairs that they never used!

So Luc and Emilie drove me home, with the tv. He hooked it all up (after jokingly saying that had he known I lived on the top floor he would have thought twice about agreeing to this... haha) and now I have tv!!! I've been watching Desperate Housewives reruns (in French) ever since. I can't believe I've gone this long without one (a tv)! What a great language experience.... and more:) I can actually watch something and be on my computer at the same time!!!!

Welp- back to school tomorrow! I've had a great weekend! Enjoy your Monday off!

Soirée entre "nanas" and Lunch entre British

I know I know! It's been 2 days! You're probably thinking what's she doing over there in France (hehe)? Well- between my long night out with some co-workers on Friday (reference title: "soirée entre nanas), getting up to get my apartment presentable yesterday morning and the actual potluck yesterday afternoon, I haven't gotten a chance to blog! But I'll back up and tell you all about both:)

Friday evening, I went over to the school to meet up with Eve and Nathalie, a CE1 teacher and a CP teacher. Both are fairly young, in their late 20's, maybe early 30's. They're both married and have 2 little boys who are about the same ages (6 and 9 mo. old). After a long day of teaching, they were both a little pooped, so they had cups of tea in their hands when I got there to give them a little pick-me-up. About 5:30pm, we all crammed into Eve's little red Peugeot and headed into Lyon.

Of course we got into some rush hour traffic, which I've never experienced here... I guess that is certainly an advantage to taking the metro! Eve put on one of her favorite French groups, saying, "We're going to broaden Lindsay's taste in music this evening!" I actually did enjoy the band, but with it on, I had a hard time keeping up with their conversation in the front. Nathalie would turn around occasionally and ask me questions directly to make sure I was included, which was nice of her to do... she asked if we have eekeyAah in the United States. I was like... hrmmm, we definitely don't have anything called that. She said, "Oh well we'll have to go there next time! It's a big blue and yellow building... maybe you've seen it?" I said.... ohhh Ikea. Yes, we have that haha.

We finally got parked and into Lyon, near the Perrache train station, which is where Eve used to live. She pointed out the old prison near the station... I had seen it before but didn't know what it was. Apparently, it used to be the most high security, dangerous prison in all of France. Now it is being turned into a university, among other things (it's a huge complex).

We walked up towards Bellecour, walking through a street with lots of shopping (Rue de Victor Hugo). Beginning January 12th, the nationally mandated sales began. They last for about a month, but according to Eve and Nathalie, by the end things get picked over, so if you want to get something good on sale, you have to buy now! Of course I don't have a lot of money to spend on more clothes...plus I'm not sure how I'm going to pack to come home if I keep buying more stuff! But.... I looked and thought about what I would buy if I had more time to try something on.... so I may go back sometime this week, since they are such good sales:)

We were starting to get hungry, so Nathalie led us towards a street over near Place des Jacobins with tons of restaurants. I guess I had seen this area from afar, but never thought to go there when I was actually looking for a place to eat! But it was great! There were so many restaurants to choose from and we went to one called Lo Lo Quoi (I was just talking with the girls during our potluck yesterday how French people add quoi to the end of everything, much how we use the word "like" frequently and unnecessarily). It was italian-ish food, with good looking deserts (Eve and Nathalie were basing most of their decisions on who had the best desert). Neither of them are much into Lyonnais specialties.... and I've decided I don't think I am either (besides quenelles of course!)... so we all were able to find something we wanted to eat here. In fact, we all ordered almost exactly the same thing (chicken Caesar salad and tiramisu, plus a chocolate dome thing for Nathalie). We also ordered pre-dinner apéritifs... I didn't know what kind of drink the other two were ordering... so I said I'd have what Eve was having. It ended up being something with pastis in it... a similar liquor to absinthe. It sort of tasted like licorice to me... you added water to it, so it wasn't the worst thing I've ever tried, but it wasn't something I would have ordered for myself! Now I know:) Apparently, it's a manly drink from the Marseille area of France (south France).

After dinner (and the best tiramisu I've ever tasted), we made our way to Starbuck's. There are two that I know of in Lyon. It is much more expensive and has less variety than our American version, but otherwise it's exactly the same. Nathalie is obsessed. She kept reminding us that we couldn't order coffee with our deserts because we were stopping there for coffee on our way to the movies. They were both so funny explaining how you had to drink Starbuck's, with your coffee in one hand, your purse and phone in your other... just like Eva Longoria haha. They lovveee Desperate Housewives here, so their view of American women revolves around Susan Myers and Gabby Solis.

As we were rushing to get to our movie on time, carrying our Starbuck's, Eve kept getting it all over her. Nathalie was so proud that she could walk with her coffee and not spill it (through the little hole). Eve kept saying, "I just don't understand why you would walk and drink your coffee at the same time. I'm getting so hot! And I can't figure out how to carry it!" It was sooo funny. Nathalie tried showing her how to do it (walking with coffee). People in France drink their coffee at a table, like civilized people should do:)

We got to our movie just as it was starting and had to give up our coffee (after all that!). The movie, Somewhere, was good.... Eve and Nathalie loved it. I liked it, but am not big on films that have a lot of artsy scenes or abrupt endings (the French are fans of these types of movies...makes you think a little more). I, on the other hand, like to sit and watch a movie that doesn't make me think at all:)

After our movie, we went back to the train station to pick up Eve's sister-in-law. She spoke excellent English to me once she found out I was American. She didn't even have a British accent! She's been to visit friends in Bethesda, Maryland (I swear the world is shrinking haha, what are the odds!) so she's had some more real-world experience than Eve or Nathalie, who are embarrassed to try speaking English with me. It was super duper foggy on our way back (it was about 1am at this point), but we dropped off Nathalie, and then Eve and Sarah dropped me off at my apartment. It was a really fun night and I learned a lot of interesting slang... nanas is a very informal way of saying girls... mec is the slang for guy (which they said all the time, calling their husbands their "mecs"). So I will definitely be glad for another soirée amongst the girls and hopefully Elise, the other teacher will be able to come with us the next time!

Yesterday, Hannah, Helen, Lindsey, and Caroline came over for a potluck lunch. We ate and chatted for several hours and they all left a little after 6. It was another fun day with friends and it was fun to catch up with everyone after not seeing them during the holiday break. We also talked a little bit more about me potentially visiting England before I come back to the States at the end of April.... which is incidentally around the same time as the royal wedding:) Sounds like it could be fun hehe!

Well- gotta go get ready to tutor. Corinne invited me to go for a walk with their family afterwards if the weather is warm enough:)

Reste cool and happy Sunday!

sheeepssss

Sorry I never got around to blogging yesterday! I watched a movie when I got home and then kind of forgot about it.... but I did have a pretty ok day!

Murielle is going to be out until at least the March vacation.... which I'm totally bummed about. I don't really mind her replacement, she's a little bit of a yeller... but at least the kids aren't completely out of control like with the other replacement at the other school. But- obviously, it's just not the same... nothing runs as smoothly, the other teachers aren't quite as talkative... but maybe with Murielle gone, they'll make more of an effort to chat me up?

With the older group, the replacement had the kids read an excerpt about the life of an English school student. After they read the excerpt (in French), she had them ask me questions about the English school system.... as in, the British English system. I know she knows that I'm American because she commented on my accent.... so I'm not really sure why she thought I'd be the best person for this particular topic as she has been to England, I have not. I've read books and seen movies (aka Bridget Jones), but I'm by no means an expert on their school system... But I did my best answering questions about uniforms, school lunches, and morning assemblies. Every time I gave an answer, I'd make sure to add in, "But in America..." in hopes that the kids knew there was a difference. I kind of got the feeling that the replacement has been grouping us in the same category when giving English lessons... language-wise, this makes sense, but otherwise, we are completely different countries! For example, they asked me what kinds of sandwiches they eat at school... and I said, I'm not sure, but a lot of American kids eat peanut butter and jelly. The teacher said... "hmm I guess we won't be packing our bags for England anytime soon! That sounds weird! We need our cheese!" (Lol- I'm going to have to ask the British girls tomorrow if they eat pbj...)

Anywho, that didn't take up much time, so it was a good thing I brought along Froggy! I read the book and we went over some vocabulary. I also brought the "English Question Box," a little review activity for the kids (they pull out a question they've already seen before, answer it, and ask the same question to another kid). When I was done with my lesson, one student, who often gets into trouble, asked, while the teacher stepped out, if I knew the Kardashian family or if I knew what playboy was. This is the same student who asked Amy if she knew what playboy was. I'm not really sure why he knows about either topics...as all of the other kids in the class were like, "What's he talking about???" I sort of pretended like I didn't know what he was talking about either until the teacher got back into the room. She thought he seriously didn't know what playboy was, so she gave a vague explanation and commented that it had nothing to do with what we were talking about.... How awkward! Next time I'm just going to say, hrmm, I don't understand, perhaps you should write out your question and we can give it to Murielle... lol. That would straighten him out!

I did pretty much the same thing with the middle age group (answer questions about England, read Froggy, talk about clothes)... but with Anne-Laure's class, I read Brown Bear Brown Bear and we worked on learning the names of animals. It was so cute, we'd ask if they heard the word for the animal and they'd say the color.... or they'd just say the French name instead. It took them a while to grasp a few names, but one that they had no problem remembering was "sheep." This is because sheep sounds like how they saw chips. Chips are chips in French, but they say it like this, "sheeepsss." And therefore, I had a class of 25 kids yelling sheeeepssss... even though there was only one sheep on the page:)

I really like Anne-Laure as a person, and most of the time as a teacher, but it is so odd to me that this age group is told to sit still in old desks with the chairs connected to the tables. The tables are set in rows like you see in high school and all face the board. They look fairly uncomfortable to me.... and if I were 6-7 years old, I would very much like to move about a little more. And so... there are always those kids that get yelled at for wiggling around, turning around, or talking.... whereas in the US, we have so much movement in K/1st grade... circle time on the floor, centers.... and there are very few things that children must do without making a peep.

After classes, I had lunch with the other teachers and made some copies. I got home and watched the Social Network... which was just bizarre to watch and then go on Facebook afterwards. Very interesting movie though.... After my movie, I felt very much like I wanted to get out of my apartment... I'm getting cabin fever. I guess to go from doing something every minute of every day with my dad and Steph to doing not a whole lot other than work.... I'm ready to be social! Which is a good thing because this evening I'm going out with 2 co-workers from my Tuesday school. We're going to go shopping, eat dinner, see a movie, and then Eve will drive me back home after we pick up her sister-in-law from the train station! Then tomorrow, I'm having Hannah, Helen, Lindsey, and Caroline over for lunch!

Hope you all have a nice Friday and a happy start to your long weekend! The French do not celebrate MLK Jr Day... so I have work on Monday... (I know I know... I don't have much to complain about!)

Reste cool:)

Lyon Resistance Museum

This afternoon I took the tram to 14 avenue Berthelot. This was the site of the Gestapo headquarters from 1942-1944, led by Klaus Barbie. Today, part of the site is dedicated to the French Resistance movement, for which Lyon played a central role, in a museum called the Centre d'histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation.

This is what I learned today.

Lyon was a part of the "free zone" from 1940-1942. Very near Lyon, to the southeast, Italy occupied an area of France. At this time, about three-fifths of France was occupied, leaving the rest as "libre." Something I didn't realize was that the Vichy government (led by Maréchal Pétain) didn't just rule over the "free zone," or what I thought was the "Vichy zone." The Vichy government ruled over all of occupied France, but in occupied areas, like Paris, German laws trumped the French laws. Pétain's rule was, therefore, most powerful in the southern "free zone."

Pétain collaborated with the Germans, and his French police and milice, or militia, carried out raids on Jews, Resistance fighters, and other "undesirables." From the beginning of this collaboration period, summer of 1940, many French citizens joined the resistance movement. Charles de Gaulle, who fled to Great Britain, gave a radio address calling for the French to resist Nazi Germany. However, as the French were still in shock of the invasion and the changes happening around them, many remained apathetic until 1942, when German forces occupied the remaining part of France, renaming the "free zone," the "south zone."

As you can imagine, France experienced food shortages, fuel shortages, disorganization in transportation, labor shortages (due to high numbers of French prisoners sent to Germany to work as free labor), raids and roundups of Jews, and more while paying host to the German army.... all of which played a part in waking up apathetic French citizens. Although not everyone took part in active resistance, most resisted passively by reading the different publications (newspapers, pamphlets, etc.) or by listening to the radio. I read an interesting "rule book" for the occupied citizens of France. One of the suggested rules was to pretend not to know or to forget any German that you knew when addressed by a German officer. Another rule was to keep only one copy of this document with you (allowing friends to make a copy if need be).

Active resistance members (for which 10-15% were woman, maybe more as many wives helped their husbands or sons) sabotaged transportation and electrical plants, burned bridges, or even participated in guerrilla warfare. There were underground paramilitary groups, called the Maquis, who received weapons, explosives, and ammunition from nighttime parachute landings. They also provided intelligence to Allied forces and carried out rescue missions. The resistance was made up of people from all different social classes, communists, anarchists, Jews, and many foreigners. The Jewish population only accounted for about 1% of the French population as a whole, but in the resistance, they accounted for about 25% of the resistance fighters.... and many Jewish or other persecuted people fleeing from other countries aided in the organized French resistance.

About 76,000 Jews were sent to the concentration camps from France, 13,000 of which were rounded up and arrested in 2 days in Paris (Vel d'Hiv). Of these 76,000, only 2,500 survived. At the time, there was an estimated 350,000 Jews residing in France, many of them were not French, but German refugees. And although France saw a lot of hate, apathy, and collaboration among its clergy, including, for example, a high ranking priest in Lyon, its officials, and its citizens, France is ranked third in the Righteous Among the Nations for the most non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The museum had row after row of documents, pictures, and articles written by, for, or about the French resistance and resistance fighters. Countless personal stories were told; a French school teacher hiding Jewish children and teaching them in her house so that they could continue schooling when the war was over, neighbors taking in families or children, resistance leaders imprisoned but rescued by their wives, and on and on. There were also many Lyon related stories... resistance fighters using the famous Traboule passageways in Vieux Lyon to dupe the Gestapo... pictures of floods of people celebrating in Place des Terreaux and Rue de la République after the war was over.... the destruction of the building at 14 avenue Berthelot, after the bombardment of Allied forces in 1944 (targeting train stations and the Gestapo headquarters)... bridges on both sides of Presqu'ile destroyed by bombings or resistance fighters...

The museum is a lot of reading- timelines and quotes every few feet, with the occasional side area to view videos that I couldn't stomach. I left feeling a little sickened, as one usually does after reading or seeing pictures describing genocide. But, one of the last quotes written on the wall went something along the lines of, "What we don't remember about the past, will surely happen again." And so.... I'm very proud that the city of Lyon has this museum to document an important part of its history, in the building that was once the cause of such despicable acts, in hopes that that kind of history will stop repeating itself.

I'm glad that I went. I walk around Lyon and see the Renaissance buildings of old Lyon or the Roman Ruins of Fourvière... but rarely do I picture the Lyon of the 1940's. It's amazing that it all took place here less than 80 years ago...

double rainbow will do the trick...

This morning I had a few frustrating lessons... a lot of kids were absent or are sick at school... several teachers were sick at school or seemed absent because they were thinking about their own sick children at home. I had one really excellent lesson with Martine's class (CP)... she's the older woman who doesn't know any English, but I just love her class. They're always so excited and motivated when I'm there... and without doing much outside preparation together, she's awesome to team-teach with. I also have the other CP class before hers, so I think, unfortunately for the other class, I kind of work out all the kinks with them and then give a great lesson with Martine.

Anywho, at lunch, I was a little taken aback because a teacher from one of the older grades asked me when I'd be coming to work with them. We had sort of talked about me voluntarily coming a few times to their classes sometime in the afternoon, but I figured they wouldn't bring it up until I asked them about it, which I was going to do today anyway. But besides her asking if I'd be able to come Thursday afternoon, I wasn't completely put off by it... she got the ball rolling for me. I gave her and another teacher my email address so we could work something out. Then, I used a pen that I saw laying on the table to write it out for others interested. While I'm using the pen, this other teacher was watching over me, waiting for something. I assumed he was waiting to write down my address and to talk to me about helping in his class... but nope. I was using his pen.... which he told me in French first, and then rudely in English. Woah- I thought, it's just a pen and I didn't know. Of course I didn't say this, just a quick, oh je suis désolée, but it put me in funk.

Nathalie, another teacher asked if I would go out with her and a few other teachers on Friday night, which of course I said yes... so that put me in higher spirits. But before I left she asked me how I was doing , if I had friends to hang out with and if I missed home. I said I had some friends and that I didn't miss home all the time.... but then of course it got me feeling homesick as I walked home. Ugh.

I came home and talked to my mom, which was helpful... then Victor, which also cheered me up.... but I just kept thinking about how frustrating it can be to live in a place so different than what I'm used to and how I missed certain things/people/activities I can't do here... As I was just about to eat a spoonful of peanut butter and wash my face (both easy pick-me-ups), I saw a rainbow right beside the castle of Saint-Priest from my window. I ran to get my camera and after taking a picture realized that it was a double rainbow!!! How lucky- and obviously made me feel like someone was watching out for me... double rainbow=double hope. It's natural to get down being so far away from home, but I just gotta have hope:)

Miss you all! Reste cool:)

Pants! What's the word for pond?

Hello mes amis:)

I finally got up on time and almost made the bus.... I think after having to get up extra early for the painters/electrician those last few weeks before break, my normal routine is thrown off and I take longer because I think I can, but I can't.... but all is not lost, I took the tram and walked. It was in the upper 40's today, so not quite as nice as this weekend, but I'll take anything above 38:)

I saw Sabine on my way in and she was fairly cheery, asking how my weekend went. I had a great weekend, up until the last few hours on Sunday when I was in the process of making dinner... and my electricity went out. I was using the stove, the oven, my computer, and had a few lights on.... which I guess over did it. I called Laurence, because walking around in the dark I realized I didn't know how to fix my little problem. I assumed I needed to just flip a switch somewhere, but where and how was my main issue. I also don't have a flashlight, just a few candles... so that didn't help me much either. She tried explaining over the phone, but with my expansive knowledge (not) of electrical vocabulary, I probably sounded more lost than ever to her. So, she said, "J'arrive, j'arrive," and was here in no time to walk around with her flashlight and turn my electricity back on:) It's a good thing she doesn't live too far away!

Anywho, I made my way up to my first lesson, Vincent's class (the one who had the sub). My goodness is this an entirely different class! All he has to do is snap his fingers very quietly when someone is acting out and they stop whatever they're doing. We had a discussion at the break about whether or not they were scared of him. The other teachers were laughing and saying, yep, that's why they're so good, they're scared! He said, no, they fear me, which is very close to respect. Lol. This lead us to comparing the US and France again... how American school teachers are much less severe than their French counterparts... they said they've always had the "if you're bad, you're punished and told to straighten up" system and that's what they were taught to do in their education classes. According to them, students should have a level of fear of their teachers.... whereas in the US, most teachers are a little bit more nurturing. I don't think these generalizations apply to everyone on both sides, as they are generalizations.... I work with 2 teachers at this school who I feel are very nurturing and much less severe, more fair, etc. But even with these 2 teachers, I have not seen one positive behavior system in a French primary school.... going over board to reward students for their effort, behavior, etc. It's interesting to see the differences between the 2 systems...

Sorry- I keep getting off track! My lessons all went very well... I had several teachers ask me, however, why I kept calling pants, pants, instead of trousers as they all learned in school. Apparently, in British English, pants are your underwear and trousers are your pants. Which now explains why, when giving Julien this example sentence , "Ah, I can't find my pants!" he burst out laughing.... I thought maybe he just thought the word pants sounded funny.

After my lessons, I ate lunch at school. They had couscous, with an odd combo of meatballs, sausage, and veggies poured over top. There was also a mystery breaded patty of sorts. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just make my own lunches. Usually I enjoy at least 3/4 of the meal, but today... was too out of my comfort zone. We also had salad with carrots in odd dressing, plain yogurt (not my favorite), and chocolate wafer cookies. Not even one slice of cheese today!

During lunch, Vincent suggested that we speak in English. This lasted about 30 seconds after he said something wrong and everyone laughed. I didn't think it was that bad, but they're so hard on themselves! So instead, anytime they brought up a new subject, they'd ask me for the English word. They were talking about a pond behind the school (une mare) and I couldn't think of the word... I said puddle, but Sabine said she thought that was more like a flaque. I said I thought you could probably use the word puddle for both, only because I wasn't really clear on how big this pool of water was. And then... another teacher who's second language is German, jokingly said, "It seems to me that English is a very vague language..." Lol. Yes, let's go with that. (When I got home, I looked up all of these words and emailed them to the teachers with the title, les mots précises en anglais.... precise English words...hehe)

My not-up-to-usual-par French cafeteria food motivated me to go grocery shopping. I was almost out of TP, so it's a good thing I went:) I made myself an excellent dinner, if I do say so myself, and have yummy leftovers for tomorrow (tuna steak with avocado, mozzarella and tomato salad, and pear+cheese for desert). AND- my electricity stayed on throughout the entire making of the meal:)

Hope you had a nice Monday!

Reste cool:)

long time no write!

Hello! Bonne soirée à tous:)

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)