Obstacles

Here's what currently stands between me and being home:

-5 English lessons, to 8 different groups of extremely excited and Christmas-ready students

-1 train ride to Paris

-1 night in a hostel

-1 RER ride out to Roissy-CDG

-The confusing, distressing, exasperating mayhem of that horrendously laid out airport

-1 very long plane ride to Chicago

-1 long layover in Chicago

-1 flight to Lexington

I hope not to have to add snow and flight delays to this list!!

Always a spectacle

It's been one Christmas activity after another these last few days, with yesterday being the repas de Noël at Fracasse (an eclectic meal of foie gras salad, carrot sticks, green beans wrapped in bacon, homemade nuggets and oddly shaped French fries, and bûche de Noël), followed by a decadent goûter de Noël (aka Christmas snack) at Breney, where I led my students in singing Jingle Bells and the other Christmas classic, Baa Baa Black Sheep (there's French Christmas song with the same melody, so the teachers wanted me to teach it to the students as the English equivalent) and then watched them eat one pain au chocolat after another. And here's a story to show how ridiculous my students sometimes are: 5 year old Charlotte, after insisting that the Santa who had come to see them sing wasn't the real one (she had a point--this Santa seemed to have been dieting), told me that I should go give him a bisous on his moustache.  I declined.

Today many of our students at Fracasse (and some of their younger siblings from Breney) met at the place du marché to sing to Père Noël.  We all sang Petit Papa Noël, Petit Garçon, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and All I Want for Christmas Is You (by Mariah Carey) more or less successfully, and then we got a police escort to the Salle des Fêtes for the little play a handful of students had been practicing on their Wednesdays off. 

Me, Katherine, Cathya, and Clara (whose rouged cheeks were for the spectacle) after we finished singing

You only see the back of his head here, but there he is, Santa in the flesh!

Katherine, Calysta, Ivan, and the ridiculous but fun Shadé handing out programs before the spectacle

The spectacle itself was pretty cute, barring this one weird song about toys that had been made in Asia (guess China was too specific) that made repeated references to sweatshop labor.  The real fun began afterwards, however, when the band came out and the children did fun circle dances.  The parents were invited to join in, and Katherine, Cathya and I decided we should as well.  The band did an excellent job of facilitating the dances, and it was fun to have different kids run over to invite me to dance with them when we made little circles.  I guess I've found my element at the elementary school--I'm never a wallflower!  Another high point was when we danced the Boogie Woogie, the French version of the Hokey Pokey.  I got some compliments on my dancing from my coworkers who were there, and the parents seemed appreciative that I was playing with their children.  All in all, a good time was had by all.

Let's compare Katherine's charm with my inability to keep my mouth shut as the picture is being taken.  At least Santa and I match!

Before I decided to join in the circle dancing.

Me, Tom, and Louis (two of my best kindergarten English students).  Aren't they cute?

Advent

I never had a chocolate advent calendar growing up (just a really cool Playmobil one!), but when I saw this at LeClerc a few weeks ago I couldn't resist.  Guess which calendar is mine!  (Here's a hint: Qui habite un ananas sous l'océan?)  After I committed a roommate faux pas by opening day one of my calendar all by myself we have since been ceremoniously opening them together (Katherine has a calendar too; it was just MIA).  Moreover, I am required to show what nifty Sponge Bob shape my chocolate piece is in, since it seems that I can be a little to quick about gobbling up poor Patrick.

 Completing the aura of Christmas spirit in our house is our slightly bizarre Chirstmas tree.  Having Santa on the top reminds me of how in Harry Potter Fred and George capture a garden gnome and dress him up as the angel to go on their Christmas tree.

I'll be home in 5 days!

Marché de Noël!

Based on Lydia's suggestion, John, Cathya, Katherine, and I traveled to St. Pierre-sur-Dives yesterday afternoon for its Christmas market.  I really enjoyed visiting the Christmas markets in Rennes and Lyon the last time I was here, so when Lydia mentioned this market images of chocolate dipped fruit and vin chaud vendors popped into my head.  St Pierre is a tiny village, so its market was a little less elaborate than the ones I visited in the past, but I had a good time nonetheless.  Here's the link to the program, in case you're interested: http://www.mairie-saint-pierre-sur-dives.fr/pageLibre0001059d.html
It's worth clicking on just to see the medieval hall that where the marché was held.  

While it was definitely lacking in the the chocolate dipped fruit department, we still gave some business to the booth selling vin chaud (hot spiced wine) and crepes.  80 centimes for a crepe nutella!  What a steal!

Enjoying our vin chaud.

Even though I didn't see many things I wanted to buy, there were still some neat booths.  For example, the hand-knitted angora clothing vendors brought one of their fluffy bunnies with them.  Her name is Gwendoline, and she was very nice and happy to be petted.  We also spoke to her owner, who gave us a brochure for their bunny farm and told us that we could meet the whole crew if we visited (sur rendez-vous, of course)...and, if we wanted, we could watch a 10 minute video about the the shaving of the bunnies.  For some reason, I think I'll pass.

GWEN!!

 

Doesn't she just look like a cloud?  She was a soft as she looks.

Also of interest were the living nativity scene (complete with preening chickens, a cow, a donkey, and some baby sheep you were allowed to pet) and the community band's Christmas concert.  Santa Claus came from the North Pole to conduct (you could tell better in real life), though apparently he's an Olivia Newton John fan since Physical got played.

I didn't think I would see anyone I knew in St. Pierre-sur-Dives, but I guess I was wrong.  Looks like Frosty has a French twin!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

For a supposedly secular country, France really loves its Christmas lights and decorations.  Deauville has nothing on Rennes in terms of window decorations, but its lights still add a little something special to the evening as I walk home from school in the pitch dark at 5.30.  

In front of the Casino, which, admittedly, is generally nicely lit up.   This was the same night Katherine and I decided to go stargazing on the boardwalk.

The Mairie.

Looking at the flower shop near our house.

Place Morny.  Walking under all these lights is kind of a neat sensation; it almost feels like a very intensely starry night.

Snow(y) Day!

I think it's hard to beat snow days as I remember them in my childhood: waking up in the middle of the night because the moon is radiating so brightly off the snow, getting a special breakfast in the middle of the week, spending 30 minutes getting dressed in more layers than you can find in most sedimentary rocks, sledding for hours and then ringing the doorbell for Mom to bring out hot cocoa in those little Gulf gas station mugs...  

We woke up this morning to the first real accumulation of snow of the year (at most an inch), and based on what we experienced today I'd say it's safe to say that snow days are celebrated differently here in Deauville.  I've been asking every French person I know for a couple of weeks now if schools are ever canceled for snow here in the hopes that someone would be able to recall an instance.  Sadly, the response is always the same: School is never canceled and if the roads are too dangerous people just stay home.  Such was the case today.  This is what rue Gambetta looked like as I walked to work this morning at 8.35 am:

Even though that may not be the most daunting image in the world, many parents kept their kids at home today.  There were about 6 students missing from my first class of the morning, the grande section, but the moyenne section class that I teach next had only 13 out of 28 students in attendance.  Since that's the size of the normal half-class that I take at a time, Brigitte (their teacher) suggested that we do something fun pour en profiter (to take advantage of the snow situation), so after recess she, Annick (the aide), and I took the kids into the salle de motricité and did circle dances in English and French with them.  I don't have any strong memories of doing circle dances in preschool, but they are all about them at Breney, and for good reason: it gets the kids wiggles out while working on their direction-following skills and singing, plus they can't really get out of control because they're all holding hands.  Anyway, we ended up doing the English and French versions of the Farmer in the Dell, a song that goes "Savez-vous planter des choux a la mode de chez nous?" (Do you know how to plant cabbages like we do where we're from?) for which we used English body vocab since in the song they plant their cabbages with their toes, their back etc, and Here we go round the mulberry bush.  All in all, a fun way to teach.  Ludique, even.

The playground at Breney (before the kids scooped up every flake of snow to make a few sad looking snowmen).  The round structure you see is the famous salle de motricité)

At Fracasse my lesson plans didn't end up changing due to the snow, but I did have a few (including Marin, who is 6 years old and in love with me) throw snowballs at me.  I managed to restrain myself from throwing any back while I was at school, but as I was walking home from garderie I ran into Enguerran, a CM2 (5th grade) and a nice kid, and we spent several minutes in front of the Mairie pelting each other with snowballs.  A good end to a good day.

Place de la Mairie, taken right after I fled Enguerran's viciousness.  More snow is falling, so we'll see what tomorrow's classes bring!!