One year later...
On September 2, 2010 I arrived in France and began the adventure chronicled through these "dispatches". I suppose it's appropriate that definitively close this blog on the anniversary of that exciting day. Here are a few memories, for posterity's sake:
-Joyfully meeting Katherine and Cathya, laden with our baggage (and, in Katherine's case, banjo), and after squeezing on the Roissybus to l'Opéra rushing to Saint Lazare (nearly losing Cathya in a crowd of lycéens).
-Me missing the train to Deauville because the line at the ticket counter was too long and Cathya kindly staying behind to wait with me.
-Walking into the narrow entryway at 28bis for the first time, leaving all my belongings there, and choosing my room for the next 10 months with the girls while Ivan looked on. I think I made a good choice.
-Meeting dear Ivan and Seb for the first time and being to a pizza dinner by them at the Pizza Morny. The beginning of a great (though often bizarre) relationship, despite a) our exhaustion b) me somehow ordering the only pizza on the menu without cheese and with anchovies (yuck) and c) my pizza not wanting to be cut and sliding around on my plate in an unsuccessful attempt at evading its fate.
Now that I get a whole 15 minutes to eat lunch it's strange to consider the 45 minutes we had sitting with the petits or the grands (on alternating weeks), sharing their water pitcher, mediating the fights over bread, cutting their meat, and generally enjoying elementary lunchtime antics. While it was often exhausting and always far too loud in the cantine, it was the first place that we met our students and one of the spots where Cathya, Katherine, and I could put aside the choice we made of which classes to teach and get to know all the young diables of Fracasse. Speaking of which, I have some photos to share that are incredibly overdue...
From the remise des prix
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| Mme Testard's class |
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| Students in Nathalie's GS (Adele, Tom M. Max, Zoltan, Jeanne, Eliot) |
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| Tom and Angele, the twins I gave English lessons to |
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| Rafael, Gabriel, Angele, Tom |
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| Zoe, Caroline, Paloma |
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| Last lunch at Breney. Nathalie Tribhou, Annie-Laure, Sylvie, and Annick |
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| Sylvie, Annick, me, and Annie-Laure |
The last day of school
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| The garderie gang: Lydia, K, A-L, Ivan, me, and C |
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| Playing "Dans ma maison sous terre...". The chorus still gets stuck in my head. |
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| Louna, the girl whose name I never remembered, and Alice with my buddy Basile |
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| Jarno, who won the English award for his CP class |
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| Dear Faiza |
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| Annie-Laure and I are huddling together in an attempt to keep her wind allergy at bay. |
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| Me with Marie P. |
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| We couldn't leave without saying goodbye to our excellent neighbors, Patrick and Murielle. The flag was Patrick's idea. |
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| Bonsoir! Bonsoir! |
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| Les planches, as seen on my 23rd birthday. |
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| Thanks for a great year, les filles! |
So, what do I see, looking back one year later? Des veritable mongagnes russes, but no hauts and no bas that I would ever give up. Mille mercis à tous.
