Journal 10/12: Settling In Nicely

I meant to post this update back on October 8th; clearly, that did not happen. My bad. Here's what I've been up to this past week. 

Thursday, 10/6
I had to leave my first collège class of the day half an hour early so that I could attend the 9:30 virtual Académie d'Amiens orientation. I was hesitant to leave, because the kids in this class were so surprisingly good, but unfortunately the orientation was mandatory. I took my laptop to the teachers' lounge since I didn't have time to walk back to my apartment. The orientation was... a mess. The presenters spoke SO fast, and their presentation slides only had their names on them, so I was completely lost 90% of the time. They also didn't know how to share their sound, so they wasted our time with showing us two silent videos. The second one had subtitles, but the lag was so bad that it skipped over a lot of them. The few slides that did actually have information on them were either maps that I could easily find on Google Images, or incorrect numbers from previous years. To make matters worse, I didn't realize that EVERY teacher in the school floods into the teachers' lounge for their 10:00 break, so it got extremely loud in there and even harder to concentrate, so I had to turn my video off and escape to my apartment anyway. The sole saving grace was the absolutely hilarious commentary we had going on in the Amiens WhatsApp group. I was going to make a mood board of the conversation when the meeting was over, but someone beat me to it:

I think that sums up the utter chaos pretty well. It's a good thing our cameras weren't required to be on, because I was cracking up.

My afternoon collège class was.... not as pleasant as the one I had to leave early from. A girl handed in some sort of homework, and the teacher ripped it to shreds right in front of the whole class without even looking at it. The girl looked horrified and said, "Vous n'etes pas sérieuse?" ("Are you serious?"). If my teacher had done that to me, especially in the tumultuous period of middle school, I don't think I would have survived it. I don't even know why the teacher tore it up; I'm assuming it's because the student turned it in late or something like that, but it still felt like a waste to me. She could have at least put it down as a 0 and returned the paper to the student so she could reference it later and didn't do all that work for nothing. I felt really bad for the girl, but it wasn't my place to comment, and I also don't know the full situation. 

The kids were extremely rowdy and talked during my ENTIRE presentation. At some point I half-jokingly told them "I came here all the way from America to talk to you guys, and you aren't even listening! You're going to make me cry. Do you want me to cry?" And even that did not make them quiet down at all, not even for a second. The "you're going to make me cry" trick always worked on my students back in the US... They did at least eagerly participate in the Q&A portion, but they obviously weren't paying attention because no less than three of them asked me what my favorite activity was. In their defense, though, the classroom was so loud that they probably just genuinely could not hear what questions their classmates asked.

One student asked if I had ever been in love, which I felt was a little personal... Another asked if I believe in God (well, her exact words were "You like God?" and I thought she was saying "goat," to which the answer obviously would have been yes, but the boy next to her pointed at the sky and put his hands together in prayer. I clarified in French that she was asking about Dieu, and she said yes). Due to France's laïcité laws, it's actually illegal for teachers to express their religious views in school, so I politely told her that question was too private and moved on.

At the end of class, the student that asked if I had ever been in love said she has a present for me (but it sounded like she said "I have a boyfriend for you," which made me ask why she was so obsessed with my love life) and handed me a paper flower bouquet. Should she have been paying attention to my presentation instead of making that? Yes, but I still appreciated the gesture. On his way out of the classroom, one of the better-behaved and more engaged students told me I am very beautiful, which I thought was very sweet. I would have been a little more uncomfortable if he were a high schooler, but at 13 comments like that are still cute. 

After class, I went back to my apartment and watched the final three episodes of the anime The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting. The final scene made me cry like a baby, and it took some serious effort to cry quietly so my flatmates wouldn't hear me. They're great, but we're not quite close enough yet for me to explain that I'm fine, I'm just sobbing over a cartoon.

Around 3:00 PM, I got a message from F saying "There's another girl in the apartment." This was obviously quite surprising, since we were told there would only be three of us living there. I thought maybe it was the MIA would-be German assistant, but F said she must be an English assistant because she only speaks English. That in itself was also surprising, because you couldn't even apply for this program without demonstrating a minimal level of French proficiency. As it turns out, the mystery girl was actually B: the Scottish assistant from last week's journal! Her school is somehow associated with mine, and when they found out she still didn't have a permanent residence, they contacted my school and asked if she could live in one of the extra rooms. She does speak French, so she must have just been taken off guard when she ran into F and only spoke English to her (I know I do that when I panic). She still has some time left on her Airbnb, so she isn't moving in just yet. I'm honestly a little bummed about having to share the kitchen and shower with one more person, but at least I know she's nice.

Earlier that week, the Saint-Quentin language assistants had arranged to meet up for dinner and drinks at Le Golden Pub today at 7:00 PM. B (who hasn't moved into the apartment yet, since she still has some time left on her Airbnb) were the first ones there, and we waited for about 5-10 minutes while the others arrived fashionably late. I requested that we eat outside since it was a beautiful evening, and found a table under the awning big enough to accommodate all 10 of us. There were three of us from the United States (me from New Jersey, J from Vermont, and another girl from North Carolina), two from India, two from Scotland, one from Ireland, and two from Kenya. All of us are English assistants here in Saint-Quentin (F would have been the only Spanish assistant, but she decided at the last minute not to come). 

I ordered "Camembert Cheese Chunks," which were way more delicious than they sound, and a burger called "Holy-Buddy," which I just think is hilarious. It came with a special "Golden Sauce," which tasted familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. It almost tasted like curry powder, maybe. The burger was not as good as the Cheese Chunks, and I didn't finish it. Also, inspired by J ordering a cosmo, I asked if they have amaretto sours, since that's the only drink I've ever ordered at a bar before and I don't like going out of my comfort zone when it comes to alcohol. They did in fact have it, and it tasted just like the ones I've had in the US, except it was garnished with actual flowers and probably-fake flecks of gold. 

After such a fantastic night, I was a little bummed when the bathroom flooded after I took a shower upon getting home. I had noticed that the bath mats did get suspiciously wet every time someone used the shower, but this time, there was water EVERYWHERE. I retrieved the crusty old mop out of the supply closet and did my best to mop it all up, but it didn't help much. Y saw the carnage and helped with a couple of towels. We could not figure out where all the water had come from: the shower curtain was inside the tub, and the water was coming from the opposite direction of the showerhead, which made no sense. Y realized that the other shower room (which we haven't used yet) has a drain in the floor while this one does not, so I guess therein lies the problem. We might have to use the other shower from now on, but before committing to that, I'm going to try to rearrange the shower curtain and change the direction of the showerhead. We will see.

Friday, 10/7
Nothing wakes you up quite like an email from your Human Resources Secretary with the subject line "URGENT." My appointment to open a bank account was scheduled for noon, but apparently the bank was experiencing a power outage so they had to reschedule me to 5:30 PM. I didn't have anything going on at that time, so that was no big deal at all; certainly not URGENT. I was relieved that's all it was.

At 10:00, I met with my prof référente for the first time in the teachers' lounge. She's a lot sweeter in person that she seemed over email. She introduced me to the two other lycée teachers I'll be working with, and then showed me where her classroom is. She introduced me to her advanced class, which I won't be working with, but it was still really nice to meet them. The class is currently studying gun violence as well as corruption in the United States judiciary system. I couldn't believe they're dealing with such advanced and heavy topics! I know damn well I wouldn't have been able to intelligently discuss something like that in French my senior year of high school. The students just watched the film Twelve Angry Men, and one of the girls gave me an in-depth summary of it (another feat I definitely could not have accomplished in a foreign language in high school; hell, I don't even know if I could do that in French now!). Next they're going to watch a documentary on the Central Park Five and read The Handmaid's Tale, which I didn't read until I was in college, and English is my first language. These kids are on a totally different level. I know that we aren't supposed to discuss our political views in class, but the teacher asked me to tell the class about guns and the justice system in the US, and it's pretty hard to take a neutral stance on school shootings and police brutality. I explained that if you have enough money, you can basically get away with anything in the US, and that lots of people are wrongly convicted. I told them about bulletproof backpacks, and the heart-breaking story of the Japanese exchange student who was shot and killed on Halloween, and how "justice" in the United States has the distorted definition of "I can do whatever I want regardless of consequences, and I don't care how it affects other people." I also told them that once they start reading The Handmaid's Tale, they'll have a pretty good picture of what the country is starting to look like for women, and the teacher said that's actually why she picked that book for them to read. She also jokingly said that now the kids will never want to go to the US, which I I felt bad about, but, it's not like anything I said wasn't true. The kids looked so horrified while I was talking (at least one of them appeared on the verge of tears), but that's literally just life in America. I wish I could work with that class more, because they were incredible, but they also clearly do not need my help.

After class, I ventured to the laundromat, since the washing machine I destroyed still hasn't been replaced. I found one that's about 8 minutes away by foot, which isn't far at all, but still too far to lug around a laundry basket, so I picked out the clothes that I needed most immediately (mostly pajamas and towels) and put them in the large plastic bag I'd been given when I bought a pillow at the store Bouchera. I was the only person there, which was super nice. The machines were extremely easy to use, and I was able to walk back to my apartment to grab a book while I waited for the wash cycle to finish. It was a little expensive—about 9 euros for the biggest washer, which is a little less than $9, and another 3.30 euros for the dryer—but still much, much preferable to washing my clothes in the bathtub and waiting three days for them to dry on the drying racks. 

My bank account appointment went extremely smoothly. The lady that helped me was very very nice, and my school's Human Resources Secretary had already submitted all my documents so I didn't need to bring anything (although I did bring my passport and work contract just in case). I got my RIB, which is a number I need to join French social security and get health benefits, right then and there, without having to ask, which is awesome because I've heard that some banks can take as long as a week to get that to you. I'm a little disappointed that I have to pay 1 euro a month just to have an account when other banks are free, but it was probably worth it to have all the paperwork submitted and the appointment scheduled for me. I'll only be here for a maximum of 8 months, anyway, so 8 euros total really only equates to, say, one lunch.

Speaking of food: I had been wanting to try a "French taco" ever since I got here, so I stopped by the restaurant O'Tacos for dinner. Now, I'm not at all picky when it comes to food, so believe me when I say: French tacos are an affront to food everywhere. They are so atrocious, I can't believe it wasn't invented in America. I'm even more surprised that it was invented in France, the gastronomic capital of the world. A "taco" from O'Tacos is a burrito-like wrap stuffed with a special cheese sauce (which I'm almost positive was not real cheese, despite France being VERY big on cheese), up to three types of meats (I chose marinated chicken), an additional sauce (I opted for no sauce, but some of the godforsaken options include ketchup, barbecue sauce, and curry), and, so help me God, French fries. I was a little concerned because my receipt said "escalope," which I thought might be French for "scallop." I told myself they had just punched it in wrong, and didn't dare consult the French dictionary to find out if it really did mean "scallop"; ignorance is bliss. My fear returned when I took a bite and the first thing I encountered was definitely not chicken. I disgustedly wondered if this mushy substance was scallops, but upon further inspection, I found out that it was just French fries, softened by the cheese sauce. I feel sick just thinking about it now. I did eat the entire thing, because I don't believe in wasting food, but sweet lord was it awful. I give it 2/10. 

So, pro-tip: If you're ever in France, DO NOT try a French taco. It's not worth the experience.

In better news, I encountered and petted two dogs on my way home.

Saturday, 10/8
My morning and afternoon were pretty uneventful. I did a little grocery shopping for some dinner ingredients, and then I spent the rest of the day mostly working on PowerPoints for my classes. I touched up my About Me presentation to make it a little more informative for the high schoolers, and also created a Canada VS USA PowerPoint for the middle school class that's learning about Canada. (Yes, this is because I'm subtly trying to tell the teacher that just because the US borders Canada does not mean they are the same or I am at all qualified to teach the students about living in Canada.) I also made a Pros & Cons of Living in the USA. It would go way over the middle schoolers' heads, so I could only show it to the high schoolers, but I'm not sure I'll have the opportunity to show that to any of the classes at all. It's kind of sad how much I struggled finding substantial things for the "pros" section. 

Since I had way more spinach than I needed due to my mishap at the morning market, I looked up recipes using chicken (because I like chicken) and spinach, and chose this one. I bought everything I needed at the grocery store this morning (except for the sun-dried tomatoes, which I have never been able to find in any grocery store in my life), and made it for dinner. It was SO. GOOD. 10/10, would make again. I'm definitely saving that recipe.

My evening was MUCH more exciting. The Saint-Quentin Fair started tonight, and there was going to be a fireworks show at 10:00 PM, so I met up with some of the other English assistants around 7:30 to check out the fair before the fireworks. I made sure to leave enough room after dinner so that I'd be hungry enough for dessert, but a new problem immediately presented itself: there were SO MANY options. Donuts, fried dough, ice cream (though it was too cold for that), candy apples... I ended up going with the latter, which was an excellent choice. I normally associate candy apples with summer because I've only ever eaten them on the boardwalk, but now that I think about it, apples are a very autumn food, so having a candy apple in October made sense. I guess candy apples are a thing at Halloween, too, right? You can't use them for bobbing for apples, though, because that would just be a mess.

J and I were blown away by how much the place resembled an American county fair. The only thing missing was a 4H tent. (Actually, there weren't any tents. So I guess it was more like the rides and games section of a county fair.) There were just about a million claw machines, with prizes including Naruto plushies, Lilo & Stitch plushies, and Pikachu plushies, to name just a few. Lilo & Stitch prizes—stuffed Stitch, Angel, and Leroy, to be exact—were VERY common. I don't think I saw a single game, claw machine or otherwise, that didn't have at least one of them as a prize. I'll definitely have to go back and win a Stitch somewhere. Some games had live goldfish for prizes, and I strongly considered trying to get one; after all, there are no clear rules on whether or not we can have pets in the apartment, and surely a goldfish wouldn't count anyway. I'm still considering it. There were also tons of casino arcades (very American boardwalk), test-your-strength punching machines, and balloons airsoft guns. I found it incredibly ironic that in America, where guns are so common all of my high school students here in France have asked me about guns in the US, we have balloon darts, but France has balloon guns. I've never shot a gun, but my mom knows how, so maybe the ability is hereditary. That's another game I'll have to try next time. 

I was also very impressed by just how independent French dogs are. I remember thinking this when I came to France for the first time back in 2017, but I was still amazed by how many dogs were off leash at this gigantic fair. Maisie is a good, loyal dog, but I know for a fact that if I let her off leash in public, I'd probably never see her again! One dog sat by his owner while he played an archery game (yet another game I need to try my hand at, having worked at the Renaissance Faire's archery booth two years in a row now), and another patiently waited outside one of the casinos. I admittedly tried to lure the second dog away, but he stayed put. Such a good boy. His name was Guizmo and he licked my face. 

J convinced our group (there were 6 of us in total) to go through one of the three massive funhouses together. It was 7 euros per person, but J offered to pay for all of us since it was her idea in the first place. I thought we were going in the first funhouse, but we couldn't find the entrance, so we went into the last one. Little did I know that all three funhouses were actually connected. You couldn't choose one: you had to do all three, and once you started, you couldn't leave. The whole adventure took at least 30 minutes. I'm very shocked by how much fun I actually had, because man, it sucked. I'm clumsy and uncoordinated in the best of situations, so all those moving platforms were a nightmare. The two hamster wheels were the absolute WORST; I fell both times, and J had to pull me up. I mostly cheated, straddling the sides and going around the traps and moving platforms. I treated it less like an American Ninja Warrior and more like a thief trying to navigate a boobytrapped house. At one point there was a fireman's pole, to which I said "absoLUTELY not" and took the stairs instead, despite the sign that said something along the lines of "Stairs are off-limits unless you're a loser." I have never professed myself a winner, and I was more than willing to suffer that loss, even when all five of my other friends braved the pole. I told myself that if there was another pole in any of the other two houses then I would use it, but fortunately there was not. Would I do a funhouse of that size, or even a smaller one, again? Hell no. And yet, did I regret doing this one? Somehow also no. 

After surviving the Funhouse From Hell (its actual name is "C'est Fou!" which means "It's crazy!" and is definitely an accurate title), we went on what we thought would be the much-more-docile swings. I love the ones at Six Flags and the Burlington County Farm Fair, so I assumed these would be pretty similar. I thought it was odd that there was a prize counter at a ride, but I didn't think much of it until we strapped ourselves in and noticed a big sign with a whole bunch of instructions on it. Apparently, this wasn't just a ride: it was also a game. Suspended from a chain high in the air was some sort of stuffed animal's tail (the instructions called it the "pousspouss," though my spelling may be wrong), and whoever was able to yank the tail off the chain won. You had to hold onto the seat of the person in front of you, and launch them at the tail to increase (or perhaps hinder) their ability to reach it. It was absolutely wild and totally would not fly back in the States, where you would definitely get kicked out of the park or fair if you attempted to grab and launch the person in front of you. None of us were able to capture the tail (not even our tall friend L), but it was still tons of fun.

Lastly, the other four assistants went on a ride while YV and I held their things. I'm not sure what is was called here, but J kept calling it The Claw. It swung around kind of like a pendulum and went almost entirely upside down. I no longer have the stamina I did when I was in middle school and could spend eight hours riding rollercoasters at Six Flags nonstop, so the funhouse and extreme swings left me too winded to do this ride as well. The candy apple and spinach chicken I'd recently eaten also didn't relish the idea of swinging upside down. I think I would go on if it's the first thing I did when I got there and I had an empty stomach, but all four of my friends said they felt horrible for at least half an hour afterwards and that it was absolutely terrifying, so, maybe I won't be going on it ever.

Supposedly the best spot to watch the fireworks from was at the McDonald's down the street, but we ended up stopping at a bench across from the movie theater and settled in there. It was super cold, and we were starting to wonder if the fireworks would even be worth it, but I won't be here for the closing day fireworks since I'll be in Paris for vacation, so I personally was fine with sticking it out and nobody made any move to leave early. The cold was bothersome, though, so J and I went in the movie theater to see if they sold warm beverages. They did! I ordered a hot chocolate, which was pathetically small but it did its job of helping me warm up. The fireworks were, well, fireworks, and while I can't say whether or not they were truly worth the cold and exhaustion from being out so late, I definitely don't regret staying to see them. 

I was mere seconds from making it home after a super fun evening when I did something incredibly stupid and ridiculous. The school doesn't turn the courtyard lights on at night, so it was completely dark as I walked back to my apartment. I was halfway there by the time I decided I should trying to navigate by moonlight (it was a full moon, at least), but just as I reached to take out my phone and use its flashlight, I somehow collided heavily with one of the benches on the perimeter, fell forward, and rolled on the ground. Miraculously, I didn't hit my head, but the impact with the bench left me with some serious pain in my leg. I definitely didn't sprain or break anything, luckily, but there would definitely be a nasty bruise in the morning. I managed to limp up all four flights of stairs, already dreading how much pain I would be in when I woke up. Overall, though, it was honestly hilarious that I had avoided getting injured in the funhouse that was literally designed to trip you up, and yet I crashed and burned in an open courtyard at my own school. The funniest part is that there's SO much open space there, and I had to go out of my way to find one of the few benches. I'm just an accident magnet, I guess.

I showered away my shame (we still haven't found a solution for or the source of the flooding), and as I was getting ready for bed, I saw a very important message from my mom: she was bringing home two four-month-old puppies. She had told me that she'd be going to look at a blue heeler puppy that afternoon, but when she and Dwayne got there they saw just how attached the puppy they'd picked was to his brother, so they felt bad and ended up bringing them both home. 

I was totally exhausted by the time I saw the message, but I still FaceTimed my mom so I could see the new babies. We came up with the names Smokey and Bandit, which may or may not stick. It was only $300 for both of them, which is a pretty sweet deal; but also, this means there are now four dogs in my house back in New Jersey. That's a lot of dogs! The puppies are adorable, though, and heelers are supposed to be good herding dogs, so hopefully they can help my mom manage the goats. Honestly, if she was going to fill the void I left with anything, puppies are a pretty good choice. 

Sunday, 10/9
I didn't have any plans for today (other than possibly taking another trip to the laundromat), but my flatmates invited me to go with them to the free DreamWorks 25th Anniversary Exhibit at a local museum. I'm not really big on museums, but the exhibit was pretty neat! I was especially excited to see a drawing from She-Ra, which my best friends and I watched together over Zoom last year. 

I couldn't get the donuts from the fair out of my mind, so I walked all the way back there (about a 20 minute walk) just to get some. I couldn't decide which one I wanted, but apparently I had to get a minimum of 6 anyway, so I was able to select a big variety to try. I also bought a cherry slushie, although I don't like slushies all that much so I'm not really sure what compelled me to do that. I immediately regretted the decision to walk to the fair when the donut-fueled adrenaline wore off and my leg started hurting again. I would definitely would not be going to laundromat today.

Mom messaged me that Bandit, the puppy she hadn't intended to take home in the first place, is actually a girl, not a boy. I asked if that meant she was going to take her back (our veterinarian said Maisie would do better if our next dog was a boy), but she's going to keep her anyway. After all, her favorite dog that she's ever had was a girl, and Bandit keeps Smokey company. 

Out of nowhere, I suddenly remembered that while I've been adjusting to life in Europe, I had completely forgotten to pay my car payment for my car back home. I don't remember the exact due date, but it was definitely in the single digits, so today would be the latest possible day (I think it was due on the 7th, though). I scrambled online to pay it, only to find out that the car payment website is blocked in France. What is the point of that??? I had to text my mom my login information and ask her to do it for me, but I don't know when she'll get the chance to do it or if the username and password I sent her are even correct. I'm not sure how long the grace period is, if there even is one. I really hope this doesn't completely ruin my credit score.

Monday 10/10
I finally started in the lycée today (even though my contract started over a week ago, but I digress). The high school students are much better behaved than the middle schoolers, and their English is certainly better, but they had surprisingly few questions. There was so much time leftover, in fact, that I was able to show them the whole 10-minute tour I filmed of my house and farm in New Jersey, and the beginning of a PowerPoint I'd made about the NJ education system. I was at least happy to see that these students were much more excited to learn that I watch anime than the middle schoolers were; in fact, one of the only questions I got was, "Who is your favorite JoJo Stand?" Embarrassingly, I don't have a favorite Stand, so I just had to tell them my favorite character (it's the alien guy from Diamond is Unbreakable, by the way). 

Immediately after class, I stopped by the Human Resources Secretary's office to fill out the paperwork for social security, which I couldn't do until I had an open bank account. One of the only things I gleamed from the disastrous Amiens Zoom meeting was that we needed to submit this paperwork to the rectorat ASAP, so I was very relieved and thankful to find out that Mme Bidard would do that for us. Not every language assistant is lucky enough to have such helpful staff at their schools, and I've seen a lot of them on WhatsApp scrambling to figure out what to do and who to send their paperwork to.

My leg still hurts, but it's supposed to rain the rest of this week, so I managed to drag myself to the laundromat. My sheets and blankets needed to be washed, but they wouldn't fit in my plastic Bouchera bag, so I ended up stuffing all the dirty laundry in my suitcase and wheeling it to the laundromat. Worst case scenario, people would just think I'm a tourist, but it was also a Monday, so I could be a student returning to school after the weekend. There's also the possibility that people just wouldn't care. Unlike last time, I wasn't alone in the laundromat today, but it was still an easy process. I brought a book with me from the start so I didn't have to walk back to my apartment to grab it. I've been reading a book about French culture called What The French. The author is a piece of work and a lot of his commentary pisses me off, but it has been admittedly informative and funny at times. The chapter I read while waiting on my laundry said that even high school students take long cigarette breaks; I'll have to peek out during break times and see if I notice any smoking circles outside. This was a common sight in college back home, but any students caught smoking near campus in high school would have been suspended for sure.

In addition to the ingredients for the delicious spinach chicken, I had also purchased everything I needed to make tacos over the weekend, so I planned on making them tonight. However, the electricity was out in the apartment's kitchen. (I don't really understand how just the kitchen didn't have power, but what do I know?) Fortunately, our apartment has two kitchens, and the smaller one still had power. My flatmates and I moved most of our stuff from the main fridge to the second fridge, but I did forget about a couple things and ended up needing to throw them out. There was a lot of back-and-forth involved, since all the pans and utensils are in the other kitchen, but I did successfully manage to cook my tacos. I ate my first one in a cold tortilla because the microwave is WAY too heavy to move from the powerless kitchen to the backup one, and I usually burn things I put in a frying pan; however, the cold tortilla was so unsatisfying that I took the chance and briefly heated up the second and third ones on the stove. Fortunately, nothing was burned. I assumed that since the kit and the salsa were both Old El Paso brand just like I use at home, it would taste pretty similar to what I'm used to, but... It did not. It was much... sweeter? I'm sure this is less because French Old El Paso is different than American Old El Paso, and more due to the couple of ingredients I had to substitute because I couldn't find them: plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and emmental cheese instead of Mexican cheese. Taste-wise, I don't find Greek yogurt and sour cream to be that different, so I'm thinking it's the emmental cheese that threw off the flavor. 

Tuesday 10/11
I really like my Tuesday morning class. They're a fairly small group, and they were super attentive to my introduction PowerPoint. They even laughed at all my jokes! Like yesterday's high school classes, their faces lit up when I said I watch anime. Unlike the previous classes, however, they had a ton of questions for me; I unfortunately don't remember what any of them were, though. Their teacher said the students had expressed an interest in me doing a lesson on Halloween, which I was STOKED to hear, because I'd actually asked the other teachers on my own if I could do something about Halloween and they never got back to me. So the fact that these kids were actively asking me to talk about Halloween? Say less! The teacher was worried that a week won't be enough time for me to prepare, but I'll have a PowerPoint done by tonight, just watch.

They also told me they're interested in learning about Thanksgiving, as well as American singers (specifically Lady Gaga, which, sure, why not?). The latter led us to decide on an activity where the students have to pick an American singer and give a 2-minute presentation on them and see if I understand them. I wish I could work with this class every day, but I'm at least looking forward to the weekly days I do have with them!

I met up with B and Zlata the Ukrainian girl for lunch at Columbus Café so Zlata could practice her English. I ordered a club sandwich and a raspberry iced tea, both of which were pretty good. I saw a lady walk by with a super cute tailless puppy, and although the woman looked kind of scary the puppy was so cute that I built up the nerve to ask if I could pet him. The lady was actually very nice about it and told me he was 2 months old. I wasn't able to take my phone out to get a picture, but he was SO cute, and he chewed on my sleeve with his sharp little puppy teeth. On my way back from lunch, I also saw a man walking some sort of dachshund mix, and I got to pet that dog, too (I did get a picture of this one, but it didn't turn out well). I had a brief conversation with his owner about how my favorite kind of dogs are ones with long bodies and short legs, and he said he especially loves basset hounds and their long ears. I was over the moon that I was able to have this exchange fully in French! I guess my French is only bad when I'm dealing with food and/or numbers. I was hoping this dog-petting streak would continue, but I didn't see any other dogs today. 

P.S. Zlata is an aspiring musician, and she has a Spotify and YouTube! I've basically adopted her as my little sister, so please check out her music. I really hope she makes it to Eurovision one day.

Apparently they messed up my schedule, so when I showed up at a classroom at 4:00 PM the teacher was surprised to see me there. She said I can still stay and introduce myself to those students, but that I probably won't be with them going forward. I'm still not entirely clear on what my schedule is now, so I guess we'll just have to feel it out. This group was also not very talkative, so instead of having me show them my house tour or another presentation, the teacher let me leave for the last 15 minutes of class. There wasn't much point in that, though, because I had to come back to the same room anyway at 5:00. Now this class was great. I wasn't supposed to be with them, but they liked me so much that the teacher said she'll keep that part of the schedule the way it is and I'll come see them every other week. 

I had an embarrassing interaction in the cafeteria at dinnertime. I was waiting in line for my food with the students, because as far as I knew there's a separate room for teachers to eat in but not a separate line to wait in, and the line was really long so I took out my phone to pass the time. A teacher (at least I think he's a teacher, but he almost looked younger than me and was wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts) yelled at me to put it away, and the kids around me all snickered in that humiliating way that only teenagers can manage. I wanted to tell him that I'm not a student, but I was so startled that I just apologized and did as I was told. Plus, there very well might be a rule that teachers can't have their phones out in line either, I don't know. I stopped another teacher I'd never met before, introduced myself, and asked if there was a separate food line for teachers. She told me we can just cut in front of the students, and proceeded to do so and tell me to follow her. I should have felt powerful I guess, but really I just felt bad. Mr. Cargo Shorts looked really confused when he saw me walk into the teachers' dining room. I really hope he talks to me about it next time he sees me, because it would be nice to hear him admit that he was wrong in thinking I was a student, and maybe even apologize. Unlikely, though.

Wednesday 10/12
I.... do not like my Wednesday morning class. The kids are so, SO bad, and the teacher has 0 control over them. I had to yell at them and tell them that if they have something that's SO important they have to talk about it while I'm presenting, then they can come to the front of the class and share with everyone. That kept them quiet for all of 5 minutes. I gave my USA VS Canada presentation, and at the end asked them to take out a sheet of paper for a quick 8-question quiz. Less than half the class even TRIED to participate in the quiz. Either they knew I don't have the authority to give them grades, or they just don't care. It's probably the latter. After the quiz, the teacher told me they'd already learned everything I told them, which I find INCREDIBLY hard to believe, considering 1) they've only been learning about Canada, not the United States, and 2) the handful of kids that did do the quiz got most of them wrong. There is absolutely no way she already told these kids that milk comes in a bag in Canada but a carton or plastic gallon in America. 

Anyway, she asked me to use the rest of the class time individually asking the students questions to help them practice introducing themselves, since they'd be having an oral test soon. I embarrassingly asked a question to a woman that is apparently a student's 1:1 aid. It's not my fault she looks so young and that I didn't realize they even had 1:1 aids in European schools. The misbehaving students had already soured my mood, but then the teacher did something that totally boiled my blood. When I got to one of the students, I noticed he was struggling to answer the question, but I didn't think anything of it, because literally all but three students had struggled just as much. Before he could attempt an answer, though, the teacher said "Oh, you can skip him. He's from Africa, he doesn't speak English." I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do other than say "Okay" and move on, but Jesus Christ, there's so much to unpack there. First of all, NONE of the students in the class speak English. That's why they are IN AN ENGLISH CLASS. Secondly, English is a first or second language in TONS of countries in Africa. There are probably, if not definitely, more English speakers in Africa than there are in France. Thirdly, if he doesn't speak English, isn't that even more reason to work with him? Is that not what this class is for??? She basically just admitted that she wasn't doing her job with this student. Even if he belonged in a lower level English class, what kind of educator responds by completely ignoring the student? I know it's not my place to criticize a tenured teacher, so I'm not going to say anything to the school or the other teachers, but from now on I'm not going to give up on that boy. If she tells me not to work with him again, I'll just tell her that if he doesn't speak English, then it's my job as an English assistant to help him learn. 

After that miserable class was over, I went to the Wednesday morning market to buy some apples. I also stopped by the U Express grocery store to buy some Laughing Cow cheese (I've formed an addiction to the stuff, but if you don't get to the cafeteria early enough they run out, so I need a more reliable source), as well as a baguette to spread it on. I felt incredibly French sitting down and having a baguette with cheese for a snack.

I spent the rest of today updating this blog, since I had gotten so ridiculously behind. I'm going to try not to ever take more than a full week to update. My plans for tonight are running to Carrefour City to get more Netflix & Chill'd Ben & Jerry's ice cream, then watching the first episode of Chainsaw Man and writing a review of it for my Fandom Spotlite job.