Ding Dong! Merrily on high!

I don't actually know how that song goes, but it sounded like a good blog title. Anyhoo, Merry Christmas to all! I'm very much in the Christmas spirit right now and I thought I'd share a little bit of my joy with you all. We've been having various Christmas parties this week and that has probably contributed to my joy...that along with the fact that I am on Christmas vacation. Yay!!! So...once again I'm sitting at McDonalds listening to techno music, but not even that can diminish my christmas spirit. In fact, this mcdonalds has a real tree inside and is completely decorated. So, last night, we had our bbmb christmas party. (BBMB= basket du bassin marennes bourcefranc...our basketball club). We started off the evening by meeting up at the gym in marennes and from there we all carpooled over to Yop's house in Brouages. Brouages is a fortified town nearby that I've been dying to see but I could only just make out the walls by the street lights. I rode with Florian, Benoit, and David and we listened to ACDC in the car. They knew all the words and even sang along with the guitar solos, but when I asked them if they understood what they were singing...."Nope". We all trooped into Yop's house where he wined and dined us quite liberally. In true French fashion, the wine was flowing and the foie gras was consumed. I preferred the quiche, but that's just me... I had a bit of white wine just to pacify Yop but really the stuff is vile. I'm really glad I brought some soda for me and Lea (the 7 year old...). Yop's house is quite charming. He's painted all of the door and window frames a vibrant red...which instantly had me scheming on how I could decorate my house some day. Anyways, from there we piled back into car to drive to the bowling alley...the most happening place in our area. Normally, I suck at bowling, but last night I had an unusual streak of luck and had about 5 strikes. Maybe its because David told me I was going to lose. I usually do better if there is a serious element of competition. He won the first game but I won the second...in fact I wiped the floor with his face the second game...but that may have been due to the increased amount of alcohol in his system. I'll take whatever handicap I can get. Anyways, during the night, David kept telling me that I needed to stay in France. I told him it was impossible unless I was able to find another work contract or unless I married someone. So, Benoit volunteered. (It was Benoit's birthday last night). So, with David and Florian presiding, Benoit took my hand and we were married. But first it was necessary to obtain a divorce between Benoit and Roselyn, who he has married the previous night. So...now that I'm married I can stay in France forever! Bwahahaha!!! But as benoit was very drunk (very drunk) I don't think he'll remember this today. As the car drove away that dropped me off last night, he was still leaning out of the window calling "Je t'aime ma femme!" or "I love you, my wife!". Interesting to say the least. But I had a lot of fun. Once again, I didn't get home until 2 in the morning. Welp, its time to hop back on my bike, return to Bourcefrance and start cleaning my apartment in order to ready it for Sarah's arrival. I swept and mopped the floors yesterday as well as cleaned the bathroom, but there is still much to do. So...I will bid you all adieu until we meet again. Probably not until after Christmas and then I will have much to say of my excursion in the beautiful city of Paris with my sister. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may the love of Christ fill all of your hearts and homes this Christmas season!
Love, Lauren

HELP!!! My students are on strike!!

That's right...you heard me...my students are on strike. Is that even possible? And we have had many, many disruptions due to striking students. To start off, yesterday, I awoke to find most of the school assembled outside surrounded by about 15 gendarmes. They then struck out in the direction of the bridge that connects us to the island. Weird. But today was even weirder. I woke up early for my 8:30 class only to have it interrupted every two minutes. One of my students handed me a pamphlet outlining their reasons for striking on my way to class...I should have known then. They were protesting a major change in curriculum set to take place next school year. Apparently, it would cut a lot of cultural classes. And the way the French school system works, these changes were decided by the government and the schools have to scramble to figure out how to implement them. About 10 minutes into class, once we had finally gotten everybody assembled (french students are perpetually late), we started hearing yelling in the courtyard. The first rumblings of "la greve" (a strike...if you ever visit France, learn that word well...it bodes ill.). Welp, to start things off, they pulled the fire alarm. So, we had to go outside. I would have ignored it, but something about it being illegal to remain indoors during a fire alarm made me go outside. When the surveillants told us it was ok to go back inside, I started rounding my students up, prying girls away from boyfriends in other classes, and herding them all back in, amidst a general grumbling. One student yelled at me, "Mais madame! C'est une greve!" (But ma'am! It's a strike!). And I responded, "Je suis americaine. Il n'y a pas de greves aux Etats-Unis." (I'm American. We don't have strikes in America.). So...finally getting the class reassembled, I tried to recommence the lesson. But this time, some girls came in and made all of my students vote if they were for or against the strike. I must say I'm very grateful to my class. They were all against the strike, so they remained in their seats as all hell broke loose. After this, the strikers started marching up and down the halls, throwing open the doors to every classroom. One of my students got mad, slammed it closed, and when it was opened again, promptly chewed out the person who opened the door. So...I'm curious to see what will happen in my other classes today...will I even have class today? After I dismissed the class, I looked out the window to see about 50 students or so marching toward the bridge again, surrounded by police cars. This time they were carrying banners. My last view of them they had started to run. I get this sneaking suspicion that most don't care about the issue...they just like to strike. They are french, what can I say?

An Ode to Black Beans and Guacamole...among other things

Soo...this week has been looong!!! The kids sense Christmas vacation like a rabid animal senses prey...making their attention spans wander and their level of apathy skyrocket. Apparently, its a tradition for French people to eat Oysters for Christmas...which means that most of the kids get a seasonal job the week before Christmas harvesting oysters, since Marennes is the oyster capital of France. It certainly is a unique environment. Today, we had a veritable tempest. I'm not even kidding. I woke up early this morning to the wind attacking my apartment and peals of thunder that continued most of the day. Several trees blew down on the island. It was the oddest thing to see the trees bending over sideways in the pouring rain...all while the sun was shining. It was the weirdest weather today.

Last night, courtesy of my mother, I gorged myself on black beans and guacamole. If you know me, you know that I eat inordinate amounts of black beans and guacamole...but I can't find them here in France!! So, my mom sent me a package of black beans...but what a lot of work just to enjoy their deliciousness! I had to soak them in a pan of water for 6-8 hours and afterwards cook them for an hour to an hour and a half. The wait was excruciatingly long and I was several times tempted to try to eat them while they were still uncooked. As the storm raged around my apartment, the beautiful marvelous smell of black beans began to fill my kitchen. I also managed to find some ripe avocados and I made some guacamole that was pretty tasty if I say so myself. I also cooked some rice, cut up some chicken, and threw in some corn...making it the closest thing to Mexican food that I have eaten since arriving in France. Couple that with some Orangina and my dinner last night was simply devine. I am still glowing at the thought of it...and you know what makes it better? Leftovers!!

So...here are some anecdotes from this week of teaching. I thought I would pass them all on to you. I was discussing with one class some images and political cartoons related to eating well and exercising. They have a big test at the end of the year where they have to speak out loud for 5 minutes in English about a picture that they see...so we were practicing. One of the cartoons depicted an overweight child in the school cafeteria. I asked them to describe what they saw. One enthusiastic boy responded, "She eez fat!". What can I say? I conceded the point..."yes, she is fat"...he then proceeded to say, "she is like a ball! She will roll away!"...at which point, I gave up all semblance of dignity and gave myself to the laughter that had been seducing me all class period. In most of my other classes, we have been talking about slang. For some reason, today we got on the topic of racism in America and I brought up September 11...and when I asked a boy if he knew what September 11 was, he said, "Oh yes! Boum boum enorme!". I probably shouldn't have laughed...but he was so enthusiastic! In another one of my classes, I had to stop several boys from dropping f-bombs...the french word for seal (foques) sounds an awful lot like the f-word...so when I stopped them, they protested that they were talking about seals swimming in the ocean. Yeah. Right. We then were talking about accents and one very clever boy (mischievous, but oh so clever) told me that there is a french joke about "le soleil sur la plage" which translates to "the sun on the beach"...which if you've ever heard a French person pronounce that last sentence, you know what I mean. All in all, a tiring yet satisfying week. I'm going to go eat some more black beans and guacamole. Somebody please go enjoy a california burrito for me.

This note is for John

As the title says, this note is for John, because he demanded a new note. So here it is. I don't have much to say since last time, as I haven't really done much this week other than read Calvin and Hobbes in French and attempt to teach my french students about American slang. Actually, the class I had yesterday was pretty horrible. They wouldn't stop talking for an instant...all girls. So, I ended up playing hangman. It got them to shut up. My second class decided not to show up. So, I rode my bike to the mairie and got my official titre de sejour. A nifty little card that expires at the end of May...so, i'm legal in France until that date, but I'll most likely be leaving sooner than that...actually, I'll be back before the end of April...just in time for Sarah's birthday! I had bball practice yesterday, but I only had two students there...so we played 21 and I smoked 'em. I couldn't win a game of 21 in the states to save my life...well maybe just once or twice. Maybe its because I was playing against Andrew...oh man, I'm gonna get used to playing soft against French people and I'm gonna return to the states and get my rear handed to me! As it is Wednesday, almost all of the students have gone home. Wednesdays in France are half days for students. Class ends about noon. I wish America operated on a French time table...that is to say, that no one (including professors) shows up to class on time...stores close arbitrarily...and meals last for hours! Sounds good to me. Also, this whole working only 12 hours a week. yeah...I dig that. Life is gonna be so hard when I get back!! Anyhoo, I had better get going...I'm going to go search for my "beau sapin"...my christmas tree! I hope I can find a tiny one to put up in my apartment... Mom, don't forget to mail me my christmas music! Maybe I'll brave the cold tonight and bike through downtown to view all of the lights that have been strung up. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... I love you all and enjoy this holiday season!