...with the two boxes full of American goodies that I just got! You have never seen someone so happy to get a can of black beans and green chilies! Yesterday, I received a little note in my boite de lettres that I had received two boxes - except to retrieve them I would have to go to some obscure post office branch nowhere near me (which is very unusual, because the last time I wasn’t home to sign for something they left it at the nearest post office - there are some mysteries about this country that I will never understand). OR I could just wait until tomorrow between 8 am and 1 pm for the postman to show up - which, obviously, was the better option. So after I finished my only class of the day at 9:15 am (the scheduling gods thought it was a great idea to give me only 1 class on Fridays at the lovely time of 8:15am) I went running out of the building, caught the next bus and sat patiently in my apartment for the next two hours. There was no way that I was going to miss these boxes! Well, at 11:30 the interphone (aka intercom) rings and I go running down the stairs, passport in hand, to meet the mailman. I was so excited that I actually almost knocked him over and forgot every word I’ve ever known in French, including bonjour. Packages signed for, I went running back up the stairs and started sawing them open.
Up first - a box from Troy containing hot sauce, adobo peppers in chipotle sauce, jalapenos, chili powder and several cans of green chilies. I was literally so happy to see green chilies that I hugged the can. You can take the girl out of the southwest, but you can NEVER take the southwest out of the girl. Best birthday gift ever!
Up next - a box from my parents. I’ve yet to feel homesick, but I did try to smell the inside of the box to see if it smelled like home -- it smelled like cardboard (damn). Contents - nearly all the food items I miss from home (you just can’t ship one of my dad’s roast chickens or my mom’s spaghetti sauce or a batch of homemade enchiladas). I now have real spices and bouillon cubes and more chilies AND Trader Joes mac and cheese (gluten free style!), not to mention a can of TJs organic black beans! The minute I saw that purple label I literally jumped for joy - this can also got a great big hug. I also got one of my favorite treats - a tin of kippered herring (but no dad to split the can with). I also got a handful of halloween goodies including a really cool new shirt and some stickers! New pajama pants (which are so cute!), some new family portraits some great books to show my kids and a taco making kit! I cannot wait to have a little dinner party with my taco kit. Razu also got 4 new toys - which he has been chasing around the house since!
During the whole experience of opening these boxes I was actually crying tears of joy while laughing, jumping up and down and hugging objects - it must have been quite the scene.
Its so funny, because I really haven’t felt homesick - I really miss my favorite people, but I’ve yet to miss the ‘place’ of home. I think it helps that I have a set schedule and a place to call home that’s not a hotel. I have moments where I really start to miss things like palm trees and orange sunsets and walking outside to see sunshine and feel warm air -- but for the most part these moments are few and far between. But getting these boxes with things from MY home - it brought tears to my eyes. I think that, more than the items themselves, its knowing that I have people who are thinking of me and remembering all the little things that bring me joy at home. Its that feeling of love that is so overwhelming - and being able to hold these same items that were carefully chosen and held by the people I love, well, its just like getting to see them in person and giving them a great big hug.
In other very exciting news - I have a French social security number which means that I’m now officially enrolled in French health insurance! Yay!
Also, in even more good news I’m officially on vacation until November 4 (or 3 or 5 - I’ll definitely find out before the day creeps up on me). I’m actually really looking forward to this little break. I know that I’ve only been working for a month, but my brain already feels pretty mushy. This whole experience is quite the learning curve - on top of adapting to a new culture and filling in endless forms, I’m learning a new job IN a new culture. I’ve never received training to be a teacher, and am therefore only imitating the great teachers I’ve had the past. Thus, there are lots of moments of confusion, not only because I’m a new teacher, but also because the French school system is SO different than the US’s. For example: if you want to discipline a kid in class who’s chatting too much do you say (a) please stop talking or (b) shut up. In the US you would pick option a - in France you would pick option b. I have yet to tell a student to shut up, nor do I ever want to, but when you say the polite American things they don’t take you seriously! I’ve had to resort to the idea of calling students out almost to the point of embarrassment to get their attention - and even then it doesn’t always work! Amazing! Also, I don’t think French students get to play a lot of games in class - I can’t tell you the level of confusion I’ve caused when I’ve asked them to pair up or get in teams. Apparently students don’t move around in the classroom. If you ask them to get in teams, they just stay where they are! I never thought that I would have to explain the concept of working in teams - but I’ve done so twice now. I play a game with my students where I put them into 2 teams and let each team choose a picture. I then draw two boxes on the white board and ask them to describe the picture to me while I try to draw it - I give each team 3 minutes. I award points based on which drawing turns out better, plus points for strong details and good vocab words or phrases. However, I subtract points for each student on the team who doesn’t speak. I thought that this was pretty straight forward, however yesterday when I was totaling up the points I asked if every student had said at least one sentence. It turns out that one student didn’t speak, so the team lost 1 point. Then (and this blew my mind) a student on that teams says, “but madame, it isn’t fair to lose a point. He has really bad english and this is not our fault.” I probably looked stunned. I simply couldn’t imagine calling out a fellow student like that, just in the name of winning! The most amazing part was that the student with the supposedly bad english didn’t seem to care - and lest you think he didn’t understand, think again - someone translated the phrase for him into French -- and he still didn’t care! Wow! Then we had a little chat on team work and why it’s important to help others... hopefully they understood me (literally, they understand me for the most part, but I can’t imagine that I was speaking as slowly as I should have due to my surprise at the situation) ...
And... I think that’s all. Quite the rambling post, but quite the exciting day!
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