Why am I so bad about updating my own blog?

Spring is in full swing here in Laval and it's absolutely wonderful. Thanks to daylight savings time the sun now sets sometime between 8:30 and 9:00PM! The weather has been steadily improving and I'm happily sending my heavy jackets back to NYC. The past few weekends I've been away from Laval. I went to Nantes to see Vicky one weekend and another weekend we went to Angers to spend the day with a French girl who used to live here at the foyer. Above is a picture of us in Angers.


I haven't updated in a while because I've been "busy." Busy for me these days is having more than 1 thing to do in a day. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it can honestly almost be a full-time job trying to run errands here - no place is really open before 9 or 10 and then you have to assume that everything will be closed for lunch from noon-2PM and all day on Sundays/Mondays and possibly Wednesdays. Plus, I walk everywhere so that takes time too. I'm not really complaining, this is just the explanation I thought up to justify using the phrase "busy" to describe my life.

Anyhow, last weekend was Easter weekend and we took a trip down to Bordeaux for a tour of the vineyards and the city. The temperature was in the low 70s (22-25 Celsius) and it was so nice to be in the sun. The vineyard tour was really cool and interesting. We visited several chateaux and at the last one we saw one of the owners was the one who gaves us the tour. She's really passionate about what she does (the vineyard has been in her family for years) and it shows in the way she describes the whole operation. A good time was had by all despite the fact that at one of the tastings we managed to make wine go flying onto some man's jacket.


This weekend our vacation starts and I'll be gone for about 2 weeks. After much deliberation, Vicky and I have finally decided where to go. I'll be seeing Davin in Prague for the first 4 days (yay), then Vicky and I are heading to Belgium with another assistant from here, Virginia. After Belgium we're headed down to the Basque region. We'll be visiting both the French and Spanish sides. It's not my dream vacation and it promises to fully bankrupt me by the end, but I think it'll be cool.

Despite the fact that I only work 12 hours a week, I'm quite ready for a break from the kiddies. Today in class I nearly cried out of frustration with one class that just will not ever stop talking. I told their teacher that unless we can separate the class into two groups I don't want to work with them after the vacation.

That said, the kids have come up with some real gems lately. Here are the highlights:

-I gave tests in one school and each test had a bonus question.
Question: What language is spoken in the United States?
Answers: For the most part the kids responded correctly with "anglais" or very interesting attempts at spelling "English." One kid fell for the trick, she responded "Americain."

Question: The city of New York is located in which country?
Answers: All sorts of funny spellings of "Etats-Unis" (United States) and two very special answers: the Netherlands and (all-time best answer) Africa.

You heard it here first, folks. New York is in the country of Africa.

-Another student raised her hand to ask me the other day "Is New York in England or Germany?"

- Obligatory 50 Cent question of the week:
Kid:Do you see famous people in New York?
Me- Sometimes
Kid - Have you seen 50 Cent?

-I have been showing kids American and English money lately. When I asked the kids who they thought the person on the one dollar bill was (George Washington, fyi) they all kind of looked at me blankly. Then one kid exclaimed: "It's Charlemagne!"

-This one's not mine, but it's too good not to mention. Jo, an assistant at a college (junior high) asked the kids who the Prime Minister of England was. One kid - rather seriously- said "I know, it's Phil Collins!"

And, I'll leave you with this little exchange that I had with a kid in the back of a classroom the other day while I was observing the class. The class was 5th grade but this kid was in 1st grade and he was sitting there because he hadn't gone swimming with his class (yes, they go swimming for gym class). The teacher was going around to all the kids in the class and having them repeat the days of the week. The little kid turns to me and says :
Kid: Do they do this all the time?
Me: Yes, it's for English, they're practicing so that they can speak better
Kid: What are you doing here?
Me: I'm here to teach English
Kid: How do you know English?
Me: I learned it in school...uhh...I'm from the United States, we speak English there
Kid: How do you know French?
Me: I learned it in school too
Kid: In America...uhhh..the United States, is there the (mumbles something unintelligible)
Me: No...what?
Kid: Yes, they have the FBI in America
Me: (laughing) Oh, yes, they do
Kid: I want to join the FBI when I'm older
Me (still laughing) How old are you?
Kid: 6....6 and a half. I'll be seven in April.
Me: That's soon, Happy Birthday!

At this point I had to cut this really adorable kid off because I was sure that our whispering was disrupting the class. I really would've liked to have stayed and talked with him a little while more. He seemed smarter than most of the kids I work with usually.