And in the end...

As of last Friday I am officially unemployed.  It's hard to believe my time teaching is over, and it's a very bittersweet feeling.  

My last week of classes was shortened by a day thanks to a SEMTAO strike.  No public transportation for a whole day? Yeah, not going to walk 1.5 hours round trip for a 50 minute class. 

Tuesday I had 4 parties thrown for me, which were absolutely adorable.  I brought some Big Red gum to share (that had been sitting in a cupboard for 7 months... it was still good) which was the cutest thing ever.  French people, in general, don't like spicy food.  Big Red gum?  Turned their faces red and encouraged a lot of coughing.  Too cute.  I had a bag of candy to calm their delicate palates, which was much appreciated.  My second group of students brought a ton of sweets, gave me a handmade card and a bar of chocolate and gave me 1 million complements.  Here's a picture of me with the class:

Such amazing people

After saying some very sad goodbyes, I met with my next class (who I wasn't supposed to see, but took on an extra hour just to say goodbye).  When they all came in, I noticed right away that 3 girls were missing.  I asked another student where they were and she told me that she couldn't tell me, but please don't mark them late.  At this point I had to laugh, first of all, I don't know how to mark students late (in 7 months no one was late to my class...) second of all, it wasn't a very good cover.  About 5 minutes later the girls returned, cake in hand!  So sweet!

As I was going to leave for lunch, several students came back in and took a lot of pictures and gave me a lot of compliments.  As I was walking out, two girls stayed and chatted with me and told me that I was a great teacher (which made me feel very good).  I will miss that class - they are all just awesome.

After lunch I had two groups of secondes (my youngest age group) and the teacher had arranged for them to bring food and drinks and she brought a ton of candy as well.  One girl brought a homemade pear and strawberry tart!  Another brought what I can only describe as French brownies - both were incredible!  We talked and enjoyed the sweets and I was talked into trying a dozen different types of candy - if I politely declined the response was always, "But Madame, it is my favorite you must try!"  I had a 3 hour sugar high following those two groups!

The next day I taught a regular class (they were being punished, apparently, for bad behavior) and then had another party in my honor by another group of secondes.  They also brought a ton of candy and brownies and gave me a very nice card.  It was really very sweet.  They were such a good group of kids!  

Thursday ended up being very anti-climatic.  I turned in my keys and copy card and that was it.  No big goodbyes, nothing dramatic.  My teachers will be taking me out for a drink or dinner sometime after I get back from my upcoming vacation.

Being done with teaching is bit surprising.  I'm surprised how fast it went - although memory is fuzzy - there were days that went on forever and weeks where I dragged myself to work.  I do feel that my stint as a teacher was successful - once I realized that I couldn't really teach much in terms of english (seeing students one hour every other week isn't good for learning) and decided to focus on just making them feel loved and respected and trying to improve their confidence things went much easier for me.  And based on the conversations I had this past week, I seemed to have succeed in that respect.  More than one student told me that I was like no other teacher in France and that they really felt loved.  So, I'm glad that I could do that successfully.

There are so many things and emotions going on this week - amazing people are leaving and I don't know when/ if I'll ever get to see them again.  Re-entry has become a surprising thing to think about.  My emotions are so very mixed - I can't wait to go home, but I also feel like I'm leaving one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  It's so funny, I want to go home and I don't, I want to stay with all these people but I can't.  It's a funny thing. 

Thursday I'm off to Ireland to visit Seamus' family and see some Irish countryside and then I'm off to Nice and Provence for 5 days of sun and fun before returning to Orléans with 10 days remaining to sort out bills and accounts and packing before I come home May 27th.  I can't believe the end is here, it seems like yesterday that I got here and at the same time a million years since I left home.