wo0t!

So they last two days have been super good. Yesterday I took the bus in to school and worked a bit on my lessons for after the vacation, then it was off to class. Class with Christophe is always fun, and he told me he is going to try to keep me for the rest of the year (we make new schedules in mid January). I very much like that because I learn a lot from him, and I really like my NRC class. He lets me grade the students, lol, and I think I'm getting much better at it (the french grading system is much different--it is out of 20, where 10 is average and 15 is really good).

So I tried to catch the bus home at 11:37 but obviously I missed it seeing as I don't get out of class until 11:35 and the bus waits for no one. So I went back and finished up some of my lessons, then went out to wait for the bus. One of my students warned me about how if you don't make it on the bus before it gets full, they leave you behind...and there is no other bus for 2 hours. I made it on and stood with two of my other students (I dont know their names, lol, but one of them was the girl who likes dirty dancing) and talked to them about the differences between school in france and school in the US. I was asking a question about the bus route when someone behind me asked "Liz, you are going near the SuperU? Follow me" so Some Girl (I have no idea who she is!!) showed me how to switch buses and showed me the bus stop a 3 minute walk from my flat (instead of 20 minutes)!!! She was super nice, apparently lives right around the corner from me.

Yesterday was a nap, obviously, because it was freaking freezing out (not even that cold, just super freezing). Ysmay and I watched "Bride and Prejudice" and then went to bed. I had weird dreams about not getting my laundry done and other general pre-vacation jitters.

Today I got up at the asscrack of dawn (aka 6:30) and headed off to school. It was still pitch black when I got on the bus at 8:00. Thats how depressing mornings are in France. Apparently I made a social nono at the bus stop, because I sat on the bench where all the *gasp* BLACK students sit. All the white kids gave me funny looks, but everyone at the bench was very nice to me. Dumb racist fucks.

My lesson today went very well. Probably because I gave them all candy, lol, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I let them choose what we are going to do for the next lesson, since vacation ends on a wednesday so we just have thursday and friday, then the weekend, and I like to have a theme for each weeks lessons. We are going to play a getting to know you game, talk about our favorite vacation, then they are going to bring some french music for me, and I'm bringing some american music for them. In the second class (where I have a different group every other week) I'll just substitute talking about vacation into a writing exercise and give them pictures and make them imagine a little story around it. Then I have almost everything done for the lessons after that, I just have to make a word search (which I have no idea how to do on the computer, so I shall do it by hand)

So really I'm on a roll. From now on I'll be doing some of my lessons in class with Claire, but thats fine with me because they were giving me such problems.

I don't have class until 1:30 so I am off to work on my lessons a bit more.