High School Blues

I arrived last Wednesday (only a week ago today, wow!), started classes on Monday and am already looking forward to the first vacation. Good thing is starts this Friday. Ten days for Toussaint, yes you can hate me. I will be going farming with the couple who I stayed with last spring!

The standard complaining of huffed "J'en peux plus!" (I just can't do it anymore! or "Ohh la la c'est dur la vie!" (Ugh, life's so hard!) already commenced. While I only started this week, I have to remind myself that my colleagues have a full six weeks of teaching under their belts. :) It's going to be a long year. 

But really, it was wonderful to see my old colleagues, all of who I kept in touch with over the summer. I spent a very French Sunday before "ma rentrée" with Maryse and her husband: we went cycling in the countryside, had a picnic lunch, then stopped at a café for an ice cream on the way home. There have also been some major changes to the department - two teachers retired, and three changed schools. Among the new additions we have two new young teachers who, par for the course, are uber thin, incredibly well-dressed with chic European haircuts. Last night over a bon voyage dinner for the retirees I found out that one moonlights as a DJ and the other recently married her French beau in Vegas while there for a convention. I think we're going to get along great. 

What else? French teenagers are still French teenagers and the 16 year old girls still make me retroactively cringe when I see them traipsing through the halls in heeled ankle boots, blazers, miniskirts as I imagine what I looked like at that age in Nike sneakers and some Abercrombie tee-shirt. Cultural differences. 

À bientôt! 

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