Weeks 8 & 9: Sun, Sushi, School, and Lemon Tree

The past two weeks were very similar to each other: work at school, online study, nice weather, lots to do, but also a lot of nothing to do.

At the Lycée, the classes were divided so that fewer students are present in the school building at the same time, and these classes alternate weekly. This makes planning for the teachers and me a bit more difficult. The AbiBac classes (i.e., the classes with a German profile) are so small that they can stay together, so we still have the two hours on Wednesday with them. The Euro class, which I also teach on Wednesdays, is only present every two weeks. And since I only see half of the class at a time, the students from this class only have lessons with me every 4 weeks. On Tuesdays, I have the 'normal' classes, and in the morning, we agreed that I would work with smaller groups since the teacher himself only has half a class. So now I work with three teenagers together, which has been fun and pleasant so far. We decided to pause the cooperation on Tuesday afternoons because the teacher found it too stressful to plan the lessons in a way that everyone can benefit from, even though there is very little face-to-face teaching. Therefore, she decided against giving me a part of the class as well, which I fully understand! This makes the whole thing a bit more complicated.

At the Collège, where I work on Fridays, the classes have not been halved, so I still work in small groups in a small room in the CDI, sitting at a table with my laptop and the students. That's the basic school situation.

On Monday, November 9th, besides teaching my beloved recorders, I enjoyed the sun on the balcony and went for a walk with Luca, another language assistant. Officially, he's not allowed to meet anyone, but with masks and distance, we 'accidentally' met at the Canal. It was nice to see someone outside of home or school and just chat! After that, I participated in Sally's yoga class again and had to answer a lot of questions spontaneously in the AStA meeting of the music conservatory. We had asked the AStA to post the petition on their Facebook page regarding our AfD professor. We were not aware that they had such strong concerns about it, but after some discussion, I was able to get a positive result in the vote, although not unanimous. Finally, the petition starts!

We celebrated this with the writing group on Tuesday evening via Zoom, chatting and getting to know each other, as we are students from different disciplines and semesters. Before that, of course, I was at school, but it was very boring. In the morning, I wanted to observe two lessons, but since only group work was planned, the teacher advised me not to, and in the afternoon, I watched one lesson, but it wasn't exciting. However, the day had a clear highlight and a clear lowlight.

Highlight: I used the morning to practice in the school's music room with the permission of the music teacher, Stephane! It felt really good to play the piano, sing out loud without any worries, and make some mistakes. I really missed that!

Lowlight: In the morning, I picked up the keys to the music room (and other rooms) from Fred at the gate. He didn't know that I was authorized to get the keys, but he couldn't reach the music teacher to ask, so he gave me the only key 'because he trusts me'. He also asked me to close the window of room 228, where I will be teaching. Okay, I practiced, but then I didn't teach in room 228 as planned, and I wanted to return the keys at the end of the day (4 pm). Huh, a very annoyed and short-tempered Fred was waiting for me, scolding me for not returning the music key earlier (which I didn't understand) and not closing the windows (I wasn't in the room). But I'm sensitive when someone scolds me, I want to do everything right, and above all, because I only got the keys 'because he trusts me', I felt really sorry! I hope he's not too resentful about it.

Wednesday was a sad day. It's November 11th, a public holiday. And that's no joke! In France, November 11th is a public holiday, not because of the Session's beginning, but because of the 'Armistice de Rehondes', the Armistice of Compiègne in 1918, which ended the fighting in World War I. So I had a day off from school and spent the whole day looking at old photos and Instagram stories from November 11th of last year, which I did, of course.

Thursday was also very exciting as I searched for my 2019 tax documents in addition to attending my university course. I was so bored that I started painting, and it was actually quite fun and the time flew by.

Friday, which was already November 20th, was a really cool day. Although there were some planning problems at school, which resulted in half of the class not being present in the afternoon, all the lessons I had with the students were a lot of fun. I really enjoy being at the Collège! But the best part of the day was after work. I was about to leave the teachers' room when the German teacher, whom I had just seen in a (as always perfect) lesson, asked me if I wanted to have an 'apéro'. Of course, I didn't refuse, and in the end, we sat in the teachers' room with about 10 teachers and had more than just one drink. It was the same group of colleagues I usually spend lunchtime with, so it was really relaxing. The whole faculty had a large and diverse supply of alcohol: white wine, beer, rum, aniseed schnapps, and homemade sangria. It was great! But most importantly, because it was the only moment in the past few weeks where I could simply sit together with different people and have fun, interesting conversations. Within the group, we agreed that it should be like that more often.

In the evening, I also received a package from home, so nice!

On Saturday, I didn't have much to do because of my already productive week, and I wasn't in the mood for what I could have done (university). So, another long walk. I discovered the Parc Buttes-Chaumont, a very beautiful park nearby. In the evening, we sat together in the kitchen and chatted with each other.

And on Sunday, my colleague, Anne-Lou, had her birthday and turned 27! We met for a walk and went to the neighborhood shop by the canal to buy German things. Since she didn't know Dickmanns, Berliner Luft, or Rhabarberschorle, those became her birthday present, and we enjoyed everything relaxed by the canal. It's cool that we speak in French, even though she speaks German perfectly. So, with my hours with her and the Sunday evening tandem sessions with my language partner Philippe, I had a very French day. A nice end to a nice week!

And finally, a shout-out to my biggest fan: Thank you Vio for always asking where the next post is. You deserve a lot of attention! Love!