Well, no one could possibly accuse me of being a Grinch this Christmas season. Never in my life have I ever done so much shopping, baking and other holiday activities. As I do every year, I saved up all of my shopping for one day—and I spent EIGHT HOURS shopping on Saturday. Part of the day was enjoyable because I met up with some other assistants for a failed attempt to go to an arts and crafts festival (it didn’t open until 7:00pm –wtf sort of arts/crafts festival starts that late?). But otherwise the size of the crowds walking through the tiny streets of Veiux Lille was unbearable at times. I did find some good presents though, and my shopping is DONE (apart from the things I will pick up right before I leave so they will stay fresh…hint hint ;).
Then on Sunday I stayed in all day and baked for another EIGHT HOURS. I couldn’t believe it when I glanced at the clock and it said it was already 4:00pm. I made over 200 sugar cookies for my students (frosted, with sprinkles, and all individually bagged with ribbon), plus 40 bags of puppy chow haha. And—last week I made over 100 cookies for the students that I only see once every other week. Whew. But I think (I hope!) that the students really liked trying the cookies—most of them had never tried a sugar cookie before. I have already had some students come up to me in between classes to tell me they really liked my “cakes,” and others have asked for the recipe, as long as it wasn’t a “secret” recipe.
Then, in all of my classes last week and this week I have been doing Santa Clause activities with them. Depending on their level of English, we either play a game about Santa’s “Naughty or Nice list,” a vocabulary unscramble worksheet + game, and/or I read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” out loud to them and make them identify the vocabulary words. They really seem to like this—I have to read it with a lot of expressions and actions so they can understand the story. This has been the ONLY activity I have ever done with the kids where the whole class is listening and no one is talking (this is nothing short of a miracle). In one class I actually started laughing when I looked up at the end because they were all so enthralled and some had big grins on their faces—it was really cute. I have seven classes tomorrow though, so we shall see if this holds true (I wouldn’t bet on it).
If all this Christmas stuff hasn’t grossed you out yet, then wait until you read this. Last night (Sunday) was a big night for Santa Clause in Douai. He did his annual descent from the belfry and then handed out presents to all the little kids. It was actually really cool to see. First a bunch of “toys” descended from the belfry, and while they were climbing down they bounced around and danced a bit. Then the crowd had to chant “Papa Noel, Papa Noel..” for Santa Clause to begin his descent. There were so many people there. Laura and I were in the middle of the crowd, and when Santa began distributing the presents we were right in the middle of the chaos. It was actually really hilarious because mothers were using their strollers to fight their way through the madness so their child could get a present. I don’t know how many times my foot was run over by these crazy mothers.
Here are some pictures from last night (taken by Laura since I still don’t have a camera :(.
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| Walking through Douai to see Santa's descent from the belfry |
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| The belfry in Douai |
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| The "toys" descending from the belfry |
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| And finally....PAPA NOEL!! |
Let’s see…what else? Last week was a bit of a blur because on Wednesday night I went out in Lille for another assistant’s birthday party. We went to a bar with some live music—the group was a Brazilian/French band, so it was a lot of fun. Then we had a big slumber party in Lille because we all had our final day of training on Thursday. I shared an air mattress with two other girls…and we literally had to huddle together for warmth because it was so damn cold. Needless to say, eight hours of training after going out/not sleeping well was brutal, but well worth it. That night was a lot of fun!
Also, on Friday night I went to my favorite step class at the gym. It is an advanced class, and the same people always show up so it’s always a lot of fun, plus a really good workout. This time we did a “partner” workout where you use both your step and the step of the person next to you. I have seen this done, and being a total step junkie I have always wanted to try it, so I was soooo excited! It was really fun—it required so much concentration and attention that you totally forgot that you were working out! I loved it and I can’t wait to do it again. Then afterward I went to a friend's place for dinner, and two people from Spain cooked a freaking delicious dinner for us. We had a Spanish omelet and a quiche, as well as a few other things that I forget the name of. Then we all played a board game--it was a really fun night!
Tonight my roommates and I got together for a “tea time” (we usually try to have a tea time and/or a dinner together once a week). Today we also had a gift exchange for Christmas. Again, today made me realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful roommates. They gave such thoughtful gifts accompanied with really sweet cards. I know I have said this before, but I often get the feeling that someday I am going to look back on this particular time of my life with a lot of happiness. I am learning so much being surrounded by people from all over the world. It makes it even better that we are all learning about the French way of life (and education system!) together, and I cannot even begin to describe how much my roommates have helped me out here (as I speak the least amount of French in the group).
My roommate and I went to a boxing class at our gym tonight, and I am proud to say that we have now graduated to the level of exchanging “bisous” (the kisses on the cheek) with the instructor—we have become “regulars” I guess). Haha although I am still referred to as “l’americaine” by the staff members (in a nice way though--at least I think) and on Friday one of the the step instructors flat out asked me if I was French. I replied “non,”and then she just walked away. Now, two months ago I would have been offended and pissed off about this—what the hell does that mean?! I have quickly realized that it seems at first that many French people have sort of abrasive personalities, but they are really nice people once you get to know them. Actually I really like this woman. She is really abrasive in her classes and will yell at you with a really serious look on her face, but then once everyone turns back around she smiles and winks at you and it’s actually really funny. But anyway—back to my story about tonight—on the walk home, my roommate and I were talking about how some French people can be really hard on people who speak with an accent. Because I have a rather thick American accent when I speak, some people don’t bother trying to understand what I am saying. It’s really frustrating. But even worse, some people have flat you said things like, “I will try to understand what you are saying despite your horrible accent” or “you don’t speak French very well, do you?” Well no shit, Sherlock. That’s why I’m here. This is something that really surprised me about France. Whenever I hear someone with a thick accent or am interacting with someone who can't speak English very well, I always do my best to understand them and make them feel comfortable. Saying “well your English really sucks, in fact it sucks so much that I’m not going to bother trying to understand you” would NEVER cross my mind! I think the actual problem is that people who live in Douai and other small towns just don’t interact with many foreigners or with people who speak French as a foreign language. In fact, today my Indian roommate was telling me how sometimes she feels like she is on display at a zoo because many people here have never met anyone from India. It’s frustrating, but I feel like this is going to be an important life lesson for when I return to the States—I am going to freaking bend over backwards to help foreigners feel welcome and not embarrassed about their English skills.
Ok, I am starting to ramble and it is past my bedtime. I have to wake up at 6:45am for my classes, and as my Italian roommate would say, “oh the horror” (she also hates early mornings).
I can’t wait to see many of you soon! I will be back from December 17th through January 7th! See you soon!!! Much love to you all!!! :)
