Thursday 10/13
My Thursday morning class is just so, so good. They're all so polite and well-behaved, and their English is exceptional for their age. I don't even remember what we discussed other than the students summarizing what they learned about me last week, but I know I left the class in a great mood.
The same teacher from my Wednesday morning class also teaches my 11:00 Thursday class, so I was a little nervous that these kids would be just as terrible as her other class. Fortunately, although these kids are just as rowdy and talkative as the other class, they're enthusiastic about English and participate a lot. The only reason they're so loud is because they're so excited to be practicing English, which is adorable. Two of them are fluent English speakers, which I was both surprised and confused about, because why would they put them in such a low-level English class? At Northern Burlington (my alma mater) they had special Spanish classes for native speakers, so I thought they would have something similar here. I guess not. I guess America had to do one thing better than France. Anyway, one of the two native speakers wants to move to the United States with her best friend when she turns 18, so she asked me if that would be difficult and how she would convert her money into US dollars. I told her she can definitely find a way to move to America without much difficulty, and that I would look up where in the US French people tend to move (for example, there's a big population of immigrants from Belarus in Atlantic City). Another girl (not one of the fluent ones, but her English was still excellent) asked if I listen to Måneskin, and what my favorite song of theirs is. I told her I really like their new song "The Loneliest," but if I had more time to think about it I probably would have said something else. She couldn't remember the name of her favorite song, but we narrowed it down to their English songs and eventually figured out it's "Supermodel." I think that's a very good choice. She also asked me if I have any movie recommendations, and said she's seen all the Harry Potter, Marvel, and Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and also that she likes Tim Burton films. In that moment I completely blanked on every movie I've ever seen, so I just gave her the names of a couple Halloween movies to watch. I'll have to make a proper list for her next week. I really like this class; they're a lot of fun.
The third middle school teacher is still out sick, so I had off for her two classes. At 4:00 PM, I met with one of the smaller high school classes and did my introductory PowerPoint. These kids were very quiet and didn't have questions, so I started a presentation I'd made on the pros and cons of living in the United States. I got through all the pros, but we got hung up on my slide that says "Unlikely to lose a war" because the teacher disagreed with that statement. I admitted that I didn't put that under "pros" with confidence, and that I'm personally not proud that our military is so insanely huge. I decided that it would be better to change that slide to "Prepared to go to war." We barely got to any of the cons before the bell rang. I wasn't going to be scheduled for this class next week, but the teacher and students both want to finish the pros and cons PowerPoint, so the teacher said to come back next Thursday. Even though this class is quiet, I wouldn't at all mind working with them every week.
Sarah invited me to a play she was taking her advanced English students to see. It's called Femmes sur le Fils, and it's about survivors of domestic abuse. That sounds interesting, and I love theatre, so I readily agreed. I asked the other Saint-Quentin English assistants if they wanted to come, and one of them, "E," met us there. I forgot my wallet and the theater didn't take card, so Sarah spotted me 3 euros and said I can buy her a coffee instead of paying her back. She also drove me to and from the theater, which I was extremely grateful for, especially because it was raining. Now, as for the play itself... It turned out it wasn't actually a play, it was a screening of a... film? documentary? projected on a screen on stage. There was supposed to be some sort of aerial acrobatics performance to accompany the film, but there wasn't. I understood just about NOTHING that was said in the film, which I'm very ashamed of, because I thought my French comprehension skills were better than that. There was a Q&A with the creators at the end, but I didn't understand any of that, either. Sarah reassured me that the women in the film had extremely heavy northern-French accents and were hard to understand, but I'm still disappointed in myself. I guess I can say it was a valuable experience, at least. There are worse ways I could have wasted 3 euros.
Oh, also: I forgot to mention that at the end of my 5:00-6:00 PM class on Tuesday (at least I think it was this class; they all kind of blend together), a student stayed behind to ask if I listen to the band Deftones. I told her that yes I do, and in fact my tattoo artist was playing one of their albums the whole time when I got my most recent tattoo. I told her nu metal is my absolute favorite genre, and she seemed super pleased with this news. She was so sweet.
Friday 10/14
I started this rainy day off right by turning off the lights and watching the 1978 Halloween film. As much of a Halloween fanatic as I am, this was actually my first time seeing any of the movies in this franchise; I haven't seen a lot of slasher films. L the Irish assistant had asked if anyone would be interested in watching Halloween Ends with him, so I figured I could at least try to catch up on the movies in that timeline before vacation.
I worked on a couple Fandom Spotlite articles, and had my first class at 2:00 PM. The students are learning about "PGD," which is a type of genetic testing that can detect problems in an embryo and also be used to create "medicine babies" (babies that are born for the purpose of donating an organ to a sick older sibling, which sounds like a sci-fi horror movie plot if you ask me) and even choose a baby's hair and eye color. Hitler would have loved that. I was taken aback by this and insisted that no, this was genuinely my first time learning about this. Apparently the book/movie My Sister's Keeper is about a PGD-produced "medicine baby," but while that book is on my Goodreads want-to-read shelf, I actually haven't read the book yet or seen the movie. I had never heard of PGD in my life, and when I said that, one girl asked if I was joking/pretending to not know or if I was just saying that to make them explain it to me. The teacher was also very surprised that I had never heard of it because it started in America and actually isn't even legal in most countries outside of the United States, which made me feel like an idiot. But I asked my mom about it later and she hadn't heard of it, either. I feel like I should have learned about such terrifying science fiction-esque technology at some point, especially if it's existed since before I was even born, so really, I'm just as surprised as the teacher and student were. The teacher said it's extremely expensive and very few people can afford it and maybe that's why I'd never heard of it, but there are a whole lot of extremely expensive procedures that are public knowledge, so I don't think that's it. It's perplexing.
In that same class, one student looked at me and then whispered something to the teacher. The teacher conveyed to me that she (the student) was concerned because I had been standing while their teacher was talking, and encouraged me to sit down. I was surprised by her compassion, and even more surprised that I was allowed to sit. The teacher was baffled by this, and I told her that in the United States, it's considered unprofessional to sit down while you're working. She assured me that no such thing exists in France, and while I definitely could have continued standing for the remainder of the period, I admit it was nice to sit down for the next 5 or so minutes.
I always start my About Me presentation by asking what animal I'm holding in the first slide. I did hear one student quietly ask a peer if it was a puppy at some point, but every class I've been in so far has ultimately correctly identified it as a goat. I knew it was only a matter of time, however, before someone said it was a sheep, and lo and behold, a boy in this class said it was a lamb. I made it VERY CLEAR that NO, she is NOT a lamb, she is a GOAT. Goats are WAY better than sheep. I think I startled the boy when I yelled at him about it, but I'm pretty sure he could tell I wasn't actually upset, and he seemed to take it in good humor. In fact, at the end of class he said I made his day. This is why I do what I do: for comments like that.
Immediately after this, at 3:00 PM, I had another new high school class, this time with a teacher I hadn't worked with yet. This class was SO fun. One boy in the front row was especially funny: he had class clown energy, except he was actually very smart and his jokes were on-topic and not disruptive. I think his name is Gio, or GG, or something like that. Another kid, also in the front row, asked me what my type of man is. I had tried to prevent questions about my love life (since so many other students had asked things like if I had a boyfriend, if I was married, etc) by saying during my presentation that my boyfriend is the Norwegian singer TIX, but clearly this did not work. It may have been an inappropriate question, but I still humored him and said men that look like Jason Momoa. Nobody knew who that is, so I said he's tall, muscular, and has long hair and tattoos, which is my type. The boy seemed satisfied with this answer, and I hope this means he hadn't asked that question in a flirtatious manner, because he certainly has none of those traits I listed. Also, this class was probably the most excited about me liking anime out of all of the classes I'd worked with so far. We won't have class again next Friday because they only meet on A-weeks, so I won't get to teach them about Halloween, but the teacher asked me to plan a Thanksgiving-themed speaking activity for them for after the break. I've already started brainstorming a little.
After class, I worked on my Halloween presentations for next week, and then went to the laundromat. I had originally picked out the things that needed to be washed the soonest (mostly pajamas), but I realized that even full, the hamper isn't as heavy as I had thought, and I figured I could carry it all the way to the laundromat, since it's only a 7-minute walk. I drastically overestimated my strength and stamina. That 7-minute walk was the longest walk of my LIFE. There was no comfortable position to consistently carry the hamper in, and it seemed to get heavier at every street corner. Not to mention my hands were hurting and sweating. It was absolutely MISERABLE. So miserable, in fact, that after I loaded all my dirty laundry into the washing machines, I tried to schedule an Uber to take me and my laundry back when it was done. Unfortunately, there are no Ubers in Saint-Quentin. So, reluctant to abuse her kindness but also desperate to avoid doing that godforsaken walk AGAIN, I texted Sarah to see if she was around and able to pick me up. She was not. In a last-ditch effort, I asked if any of the Saint-Quentin assistants happened to somehow have access to a car. None of them did, but E offered to help me carry my laundry home. I very gratefully accepted this offer and promised to either pay her or take her out to lunch in exchange. Even with two people sharing the weight of the hamper, the walk back was almost as terrible as the walk there, especially because it was now dark outside. I learned my lesson: I will either put my laundry in a suitcase and risk looking like a confused tourist, or do my laundry in small batches, but I WILL NOT bring the whole hamper with me to the laundromat ever again.
Saturday 10/15
My flatmates and I took a day trip to the city of Amiens. Since there are so many pictures to share from this day, I'm going to make a separate post about it. I'll post the link to it here once I've written it.
Sunday 10/16
After clocking in 30,000 steps yesterday, I had NO intention of leaving the apartment. Unfortunately, this was my weekend to clean (my flatmates and I agreed to clean the whole apartment on a rotating schedule), so I couldn't stay in bed all day. I stretched it out as long as possible, taking a break after every small task (wipe the counters, take a break; put away the clean dishes, take a break; wash the dirty dishes, take a break; wipe down the bathtub, take a break; etc.). I procrastinated mopping for the longest time, since I'm not entirely sure how to use a non-Swiffer mop. I ended up waiting until, like, 10:00 PM to mop the floors, and I'm not at all confident that I did an even remotely good job. The water in the bucket was FILTHY when I was done, though, so I must have gotten some dirt off the floors, at least.
I spent the time between tasks working on a couple Fandom Spotlite articles, finalizing some plans for the upcoming vacations, and reviewing my budget for the month. I have some... not-so-good news about the last part. So, here's the thing: the budget I set for myself in order to not go completely bankrupt while in Europe is a maximum of $1200 a month. Well, it's only halfway through this month, and I have already spent $45 over that monthly maximum. Now, I did not account for the paycheck from my last week subbing in the US, which was deposited on the 7th; still, even if I subtract that income from my October expenses so far, while that takes me out of the negatives, it only leaves me with about $430 to spend for the rest of the month. Normally, I could probably swing that, especially since all my big payments (car payment, dog food autoship for home, Spotify, US health insurance) already went through, but keep in mind I'm going on vacation next week. Fortunately all my hotel/hostel rooms are already booked, so I'll only need to pay for food, transportation, and souvenirs... But I have a feeling that's going to add up reeeeally quickly. If I end up going over budget this month, I guess I'll just have to cut down my budget for November. Money is hard.
Monday 10/17
Mondays always suck, but at least with this school's A-week/B-week schedule, I only have a class at 8:00 AM every other week. This week is a B-week, so I start at 10:00 today. I woke up before my alarm, which gave me about an hour to try to fall back asleep, unfortunately without success. I wasn't hungry, so I only had a cup of tea for breakfast, and actually managed to finish the whole thing before I left. When I got to the classroom, I waited outside the door for 10 minutes (either teachers here are always late, or the schedule they gave me tells me to get to class very early; I don't actually know exactly what times the classes begin) before the teacher arrived. She told me, "You don't have class today," even though I hadn't received an email or any other sort of notification saying this. I showed her the schedule I was given, and she checked her own copy of the same schedule, and said, "Oh, I made a mistake. Can you come back at 11:00?" It's a good thing I live on campus, because I would have been SO upset if I had made a full commute to school only to be told to leave and come back. At least I know I wouldn't have been able to sleep in any later, since I wasn't able to fall back asleep anyway, but I'm definitely not happy about climbing up and down the stairs more times than necessary today.
When I returned at 11:00, the teacher explained that the students just finished learning about gun violence and the second amendment in the US, and asked me to discuss that subject with the students. Fun stuff. One of the students asked if I'm for or against guns, and I told her I'm for gun control: I don't believe ALL guns should be taken away, but it should be much, MUCH harder to access one, and assault rifles should absolutely be banned. Someone else asked if I owned a gun, and the whole class's jaws dropped when I said my mom does. I explained that sometimes farmers need a gun in case a predator threatens their livestock, but that you don't need an assault rifle to chase off a coyote. One student brought up the argument of people having guns for self-defense (they personally didn't agree with this stance, it was just one of the pro-gun arguments they had learned), so I listed a bunch of non-lethal weapons people could, and SHOULD, use instead. Once we ran out of things to say about guns, I asked the students if they had any other questions about the United States. Here are some of my favorite questions that I got, along with shortened versions of how I answered:
Q: Is it a cliché that when Americans graduate, they wear little hats and throw them in the air?
A: Nope, that is very real, and actually part of the official ceremony! Some schools even let you decorate your hat.
Q: Is it true that there is a rivalry between New York and New Jersey?
A: Not really, although people from New York drive differently, so we hate driving behind New Yorkers.
Q: Are there any laws in the US that you think are completely dumb and unnecessary?
A: It's illegal to collect and rainwater. I guess all my pets are criminals because they drink out of puddles and buckets.
I was absolutely delighted when two boys asked if they could compete for the honor of having one of my goats named after them. I told them that we're not planning on having more goats anytime soon, but we also hadn't planned on having 87 of them, so sure. They proposed several different games and competitions, but I said they really need to prove themselves worthy of the herd, and suggested that I provide a list of all my goats' names, and whoever can name the most from memory at the end of the year wins. They absolutely loved that idea, and now I have to send their teacher a list of my goats' names. I'm glad the students appreciate them as much as I do!
Lastly, the topic of the school choir somehow came up, and the students said I should definitely join (it's open to both students and teachers). I actually was planning on doing so, but their encouragement made me even more excited. They have rehearsal tonight at 6:00 PM, and two of the students even said they would wait for me outside the building. How sweet! I've already missed several weeks of rehearsals, but it seems to be a very laid-back, stop-by-whenever-you-can sort of thing.
My next class was at 1:00 PM. This time, I was greeted with "I forgot you're supposed to be here." Really made me feel appreciated. Still, she said I was free to present whatever I wanted to the class, and I gave the students the options of 1) the pros and cons of living in the United States, or 2) Halloween. They unanimously chose Halloween, which I was VERY happy to see. I had the students read from my slideshow so it wasn't just me lecturing at them, and then I showed them some clips from the iconic Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular. Some students seemed to get a kick out of it, and laughed a lot; others literally fell asleep. That's just the way it goes, I guess. They weren't as excited to learn about the holiday as I had hoped, especially after they chose that option, but at least a few of them seemed to enjoy the presentation a little bit. My favorite part of the whole class was when I paused the movie and asked the students to predict what the characters would do next, and one girl, dead serious, said, "Kill Jimmy." Ma'am, this is a children's movie.
Tuesday 10/18
I stayed up way later than I should have last night, and strongly regretted it when I woke up for my 8:00 AM class. I love Halloween so much that I would think I'd be able to give a presentation about it even in my sleep, but I tiredly stumbled through the whole thing. At least these kids didn't fall asleep on me like yesterday's did.
I took a nap before my 11:00 AM class. I recognized a couple of students in this class, but apparently this was my first day working with this specific group (again, they all blend together), so I had to do my About Me presentation instead of the Halloween one. The students wouldn't ask many questions, so I was going to show them my home tour video, but one of the only questions they did ask was if it's difficult integrating to a French school, and I said no not really because it's surprisingly similar to US schools except the rules are different. The teacher asked for an example, and I said that students aren't allowed to have their phones at all in this school whereas in the US we can use our phones for assignments in class, and she said they actually do too and nobody follows the no-phones rule. This reminded me that I had made a Kahoot game to accompany my introduction PowerPoint, so, now that I knew the kids were allowed to take out their phones, I pulled up the Kahoot. They asked what they would win, I asked what they wanted, they said a million dollars, I said yeah me too. Someone else asked if the winner could have one of my goats, so I said sure. I hope they realized I was kidding. A tag team of two girls won (the first one's name started with an M but I forget it, the second one's name was Elo), so I promised to show them a custom goat video after vacation. I may or may not actually put something together for them.
The students that I'd seen in a different class asked if I could come in on Friday morning because they wanted to make me a French breakfast. I thought that was so incredibly sweet! I have off this Friday, so I said absolutely. I'm really looking forward to it.
I got an email from the rectorat that she just submitted my dossier to CPAM. Apparently you needed to submit everything by October 15th in order to get paid before November, and although I submitted everything to the rectorat on October 10th, I don't know if I'll be penalized because SHE didn't send it in until today. I really hope not, because I'm going to be pissed if I don't get paid until November because someone else was slow processing paperwork that I turned in 5 days early. I'll either get paid on October 24th or November 4th, so I guess we'll just have to see.
Speaking of money, I remembered to apply for student debt relief today, since the application opened a couple days ago. I got an "Access Denied" message when I tried to open it, so I changed my VPN to the United States... but it still didn't work. I asked on WhatsApp if anyone else had that problem, and they all said yes. I didn't think it could be a geolocation issue since changing my VPN didn't work, but when I turned off my French sim card and turned on my American one, then used AT&T mobile data instead of Free, it worked. I don't understand why that is, but at least I got it straightened out. My total loans are less than $20,000, so if and when this goes through, I'll be totally debt-free!! Well, except for my car payment. And I might end up going back to graduate school and taking out new loans for that. But at least I won't have any debt left from my undergraduate education.
After doing my usual About Me presentation with my 5:00 PM class, the teacher told me "It's okay to talk, but the students should talk more than you." This was something they emphasized in my TEFL certification class, and I was embarrassed to hear her say that because it made it seem like I didn't know about this rule of thumb. I don't remember what my response to this was, but now I know to make extra sure to limit my talking time. That's going to be extra hard with this class, though, because they are SO quiet and have zero confidence in their English. I could hardly even get them to ask me questions about myself. I'm hoping that as they get to know me better, they'll open up a little more. She also said that after the break, the students are going to be learning about punk art culture and then American TV shows including This is Us, Outlander, Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, and Game of Thrones. At first I was excited when she said "American TV shows," but the only ones that I've seen out of those are Stranger Things and Game of Thrones, and I never actually finished the latter. So I'm not too sure what I'll do about that lesson... "Punk art" also isn't really a thing in the US, and she admitted that it's really more of a British thing, but she said I can do a lesson on street art instead, since that has a bigger presence in the US. She also said I can do something about Thanksgiving with this class as well as her other class, although she was only planning on discussing Thanksgiving with her other class.
I completely forgot that there was an online training tonight. I had it written on my schedule and everything, but it just totally slipped my mind, and I didn't realize it until I happened to check the WhatsApp chats an hour after it ended. Fortunately, I'm not the only person who missed it (a few other people also forgot and E couldn't get Microsoft Teams to work), and N said that none of the information they gave was new. I just hope attendance wasn't mandatory.
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