Whole lotta not so much stufff

Sunday afternoon was very enjoyable. J-F AND Alexia came by to pick me up in separate cars - Alexia with her son A* who is a student in my third grade class at School One, and J-F with his daughter E* who is also a student in third grade at School One. Add another twist: J-F and Alexia are a couple. Nifty. We first went to this ancient farmhouse in the country (as opposed to the booming metropolis of Ussel?) that J-F is renovating. It's a cute little house that needs a ton of work, but. But. BUT. It has a view of the mountains. The center of France has a chain of very extinct volcanoes, and you can see them PERFECTLY from his front door. Un-friggin-believable. I've never seen mountains like that before. They were beautiful. Go look at the pictures. So after walking around his property and looking at the various stuff in his sort-of-house, we went to Alexia's apartment for tea and cakes :) Delicious cakes, all homemade by J-F (he's apparently quite skilled), and delightful conversation. I finally felt comfortable enough to use the familiar "you" form with at least Alexia. I don't know about J-F; he seemed really ill at ease the entire time, which makes me feel like I was making him uncomfortable. I dunno. In any case, I really enjoyed their company, and Alexia started to feel more like an old friend. Really. She's so super sweet. Ah I love them.

So today I usually have three classes: third and fourth graders at School One and Marie-Pierre's fourth graders at School Two. J-F totally forgot to tell me but no biggy that my fourth graders at School One were going to the movies on a field trip and because their usual English teacher was at the field trip, could I do English with them. Well sure! No problem :) No really, it wasn't a big deal. Except they took FOREVER to color flags. It's not hard guys...really. My third graders at School One are starting to worry me - we accomplish less and less every day. I told their teacher Fabienne who said she'd talk to them and that next Monday she'd sit in on the class. Ah she's a nice lady. So after School One I usually have to book it to School Two...except I totally forgot that Marie-Pierre's fourth graders were also going on the field trip to the movies. No biggie, but wow do I have an awful memory.

Today I worked a little more on my application for Minnesota. Ahhh I'm nervous and that's impeding my progress on my personal statements...but I'm plugging through.

Tomorrow, the teachers are going on strike so I don't have any classes. I told Monsieur Modeste, the principal at School One, that it's too bad the kids don't have class, to which he responded, "Well, how great is it that the kids have teachers who are keeping their best interests in mind?" Touché! A perspective I haven't thought of. However, I still think the strike is symptomatic of many systematic and social problems in France, and my online buddy Skylar (who is also an assistant but much farther north) ranted well on it. I'd give you the link but her blog is protected.

So instead of teaching my fourth and fifth graders, I'll be doing laundry, going shopping, asking the internet people why the magic internet box keeps blinking, asking the bank people why I can't access my account online, and perhaps finding a different liberry book because the one I have is way too hard.

And I'm hormonal and that's intensifying my homesickness, which usually stays quiet.