Times have changed

So my second last day (and thus my last last day) was in Marly.  I always remember it being a really fun and carefree time where I could have friends sign my yearbook or watch movies with the class with popcorn and coke~crazy stuff that would never fly in September at school.  The French students take the last day of school to a whole new level (but I have a suspicion that it's the same in the US).  When I arrived at school, one of my classes was in the library throwing an unbirthday party for their teacher with cake, candy, soda, and presents.  They were excited to see I had arrived early and had even prepared for my unbirthday as well.  Look at the fun gifts I got~

A box of fancy chocolates~they are in the fridge so they don't become one big glob of ganache goo in our summer heat.

A charming orange necklace that went well with my blue top for the last day of school.  So cute and so unexpected.  I've really been spoiled.

After the impromptu birthday fete (where we sang in both English and French), I spent some time chatting with Lucie and Marion (like Maid Marion in Robin Hood) about their summer vacation plans.  As for "class" time, I barely made it through a short explanation of Independence day in the US, showed the cartoon (scroll to the next entry to enjoy) on my laptop, and handed out word searches and paper hearts for their own fun.  A number of students wrote me notes on what they loved about learning English~I've tucked them all away so that I can read them later when I really really miss them.  Little Pauline took a bunch of pictures; hopefully she'll send some my way...

For the rest of the morning it was all fun and games.  We listened to the Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson, and (surprisingly) the Eurythmics.  Who are these kids?  They brought all kinds of board games, but the rooms were dominated by DS and PSP players.  Many a child snapped a photo of me with their little hand held gaming devices~I must be getting old; when I was a kid Gameboys didn't even have color screens... I tried to stick with the kids who wanted to draw or play games that didn't involve batteries.  I spent the better part of my morning playing Qui est-ce? (better known as Guess Who? in English) with Quentin, Anne-Sophie, and Lea.  What a great game for beginner foreign language students.  If I ever become a French teacher in the US, you know what we are doing Friday afternoons...

Friday was a super fun day~it felt like Camp Nowhere because the teachers were having their own fun elsewhere in the school.  I'll never forget how much fun we had~I'm going to miss my little frenchies.  Hopefully they'll all get on facebook, drop me a message, and when they are grown up, they can visit me in America.  That'd be a dream come true.  In the meantime, I'll just make sure to visit them in September at their schools (minus all my soon-to-be middle schoolers) before we depart for good for home.  Le sigh~what a difficult job, but what a good job...

Declaration of Independence

Freedom!  No more school for a while for me... I meant to share the School House Rock video I showed to my students.  It's fantastic especially for the little frenchies because they recognize the Statue of Liberty at the end of it.  They knew it was a gift from France to the U.S. to celebrate liberty as well as the centennial celebration of America's independence from King George (the tyrant, of course!)  Enjoy...

First last day

Since I work at two school on different days of the week, today was my first last day of two.  It seems like the moments one wants to savor most vanish within the blink of an eye.  To say that my last day with some spectacular children went by too quickly would be an understatement.  I thought it fitting that today's theme should be American Independence Day since the little ones will be experiencing liberty from school in fewer than 24 hours.  They saw their first School House Rock video, experienced a live banjo performance (my sweet husband took a long lunch break to entertain the little ones), and learned that their fete nationale is not too different than ours.  I shamelessly provided paper and hearts for them to make notes about what they liked best about English.  These are most treasured items that I'll have to put in book form when we return to the US.  Kyle's mom, Susan, sent me tons of beautiful paper hearts for Valentine's day, but I was unable to use them at the time due to an unexpected and highly debilitating migraine.  Thankfully I found new life for them at the fin d'annee.

I also made brownies from scratch to share with my teachers.  They were all a bit too shy with them~I guess they are trying to stay lean for swimsuit season.  They surprised me with gifts!  It totally shocked me and was so sweet.  Behold my new treasures.

Never mind the juice, Bibles, and Speedo resting on juice~ the little flower candle holders are my new treasures.

Up close~fleur et bougie

As I mentioned recently, they think I'm a big book dork at work.  They gave me "A daily positive thought" so I could have something to read everyday to remember them.  It's a beautiful little book.

I also have SHOW & TELL from Tuesday that I have delayed posting...

Lukas from Marly drew me a profile view of a cute gal with bangs.  I have a weakness for anime kids~my little sister was one, and she ultimately went to a fantastic art school for college.  This is Lukas' first contribution to my collection despite me begging him for something for ages.  I love it.

Goodness, I wish it weren't over.  I'm going to miss the little ones so so much.  I counted it up; there are 157 children to miss.  Le sigh....

T-9 days to Summer

In just a little over a week, I'll be chanting no more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks.  This little ditty has no better application than in France where the teachers scold their scholars more harshly than I've ever seen and where children spend the better part of 10 months in the classroom (minus Wednesdays for the elementary schoolers).  Summer has arrived~the sun is up before 6am and doesn't set to slumber until 10pm. It's time we were free to enjoy the bliss of this season.

What next?  That's the hot topic around these parts~where are you planning to go & what are you planning to do?  Right now... I have no clue.  It's a funny thing.  I was talking to my friend Sarah earlier today about how since I finished college, each year there has been some major transition in jobs and/or housing.  Anybody who looked at my resume would think I was a commitment phobe, but I seriously would love some career building, root planting, gainful employment.  How do I keep finding myself on the job market?

Being on the hunt for a job is very different now that I'm married, too.  Kyle is making the final lap earning his double masters degree in electrical engineering/optics.  He's Mr. Degree times 2!  Naturally, everyone (including me) looks to him to see what move the Hamiltons will be making next.  Don't get me wrong~I'm very proud of him, and I know hands down that his career opportunities are excellent.  I'd say it provokes two very strange reactions in me.  First, lazy Leah says, "Great, he'll find a job and I can stay home and do the dishes and grocery shopping.  I may even learn to whip up a few dishes.  I'll be the perfect femme au foyer, as the French say."  It may not sound lazy, but deep down I know I'll get sucked into Regis & Kelly the moment Kyle departs for his nine to five in the morning and lose many a productive hour for nothing.  On the flip side to this, I get this strange feminazi voice in my head that says, "I, too, can be an upwardly mobile contributor to society.  We are DINK material in the Hamilton household."  I definitely don't want to feel that I'm competing with my sweet husband to land a stellar job to impress other people.  There has got to be something in between.

Ultimately, the best solution would be for Kyle to find something he loves to do in a place that doesn't feel like Narnia under the rule of Jadis, and I can find a position to keep me occupied and bring home a little more bacon.  It's my pride that pops out and tells me that I have to have an equally impressive endeavor as my husband.  I think it stems a bit from this year where 9 times out of 10, folks love to gab with Kyle about his studies and research.  Then when asked what I do, people are less than impressed with a part-time English teacher at elementary schools.  The follow up question is always, "do you like it?"  To which I try to give as brief a response as possible before my audience has completely zoned out.  It was a tough pill to swallow, but people find teachers boring.  Kyle's current occupation is like rocky road ice cream in the world of conversation, and sadly, my job is vanilla.

But you know what Fred Astaire taught me?  Vanilla, vanella, chocolate, strawberry. Oh, let's call the whole thing off!  With that, I'm looking forward to a real summer.  A summer of reading, writing, exploring, traveling, jogging, and who knows what else.  And until the break begins, I'll happily enjoy my last few hours with my little messins et messines.  With that, shall we SHOW & TELL?  Yes please!  This weeks theme~geometrical images in color!

Pauline made me another doodle image with her colorful collection of pens.  It reminds me of a black light poster my high school boyfriend had.

Margot~a third grader~sketched me this little wonder.  It looks like a daisy, or une paquerette (in French!)

Auriana never disappoints.  She provided me with some slick snail shells and something that looks like a diamond treasure one would find in a Nintendo video game.

This last treasure is a bit different.  I have earned the reputation of being a bookworm among my students and colleagues.  One of the teachers at my school told me she had 2 books in English that she'd like to lend me for the summer so that I have plenty to read.  They say to never judge a book by its cover, but I could hardly resist with at least one of these... 

Can you see the 1980s personages dressed in period piece costumes or were you too distracted by the clouds on the cover of Plainsong?  I can just imagine my minifeed on facebook reading: Leah is currently reading "The Bastard" 

No thank you.

I think one of my rules of life will have to be to never read a book with cleavage on the cover UNLESS it is Gone With The Wind.  If there are other exceptions, please notify me.  Otherwise I'm only picking up things that look like Plainbook... I mean, Plainsong.

Happy Wednesday.  Hope all is well in your world and you are enjoying occupational bliss.  If you are looking for work, I feel for you.  If you are looking to hire a short girl with a BS, 3 years in the professional world, and international experience, I am completely, utterly, and totally at your disposal in October.  A bientot....

June and Yet Not Summer

I have been a busy bee, but I don't have many fun stories to share.  Last week Kyle and I had a picnic in a cute park by the river with Nyanza and some of her Strasbourg friends.  We bid farewell to our friend Emma with a dinner; she's off to Columbia next year to fulfill her dream of being the French Blair Waldorf.  Last night we went to see Lauren sing with her choir along with Michael (her husband) and Sarah (a PhD friend at GTL).  Those are the highlights with no corresponding photographs.

During the week, school is getting harder and harder to focus on.  The children are antsy and would rather be outside playing; what dope decided that French students were better off indoors for the whole month of June?  Or should I say, why would they do this to the teachers?  It's funny~I think summer and work have been synonymous since I was in high school.  Why can I not muster the strength to be on top of lesson plans for the next three weeks.  Because it's unnatural~that's why.  The last day of school is July 2nd, and you can bet those children will all be learning about American Independence day.

My class at GTL has also started to take over my life.  Rather than just being one of those creepy old people who audits a class and doesn't participate, my professor has mistaken me for one of the undergrads who has to lose sleep over assignments.  Each week we read at least 30 pages of text in French~which isn't so bad and usually very interesting.  Then we must write a summary and a little something something about what we liked.  We've already had to prepare presentations, and I just missed a deadline on an outline for our first essay.  I forgot the summer pace of classes was a bit nuts... I really love getting the extra french practice and being challenged~ in a normal day what I say in French is limited to phrases like "take out your English notebooks" or "stop hitting Alexis with a ruler" or "no, we are not playing 'Telephone' or 'Simon Says...' today...sorry kid".  I wouldn't be worried about these university assignments so much especially since I'm not being graded, but the professor has the right to kick me out if I get unruly.  Come on July!  Prof Ippolito~your class will be my top priority in just a few weeks...

...or maybe I spoke too soon.  Week 1 of July~I am jet setting to London with Audrey and her mom Sheri.  Since Audrey is such a Shakespeare & Harry Potter buff, we'll likely spend the majority of our time in search for literary lieux.  I have only one place I'd really like to see is the Benjamin Franklin house.  Hopefully I can convince the Lewis' that it's a worthy destination~word on the street is that he used to open the huge windows facing the streets and recline in the nude to take an air bath.  I'm sure it was less refreshing to his neighbors and likely a nasty habit he picked up while in Paris.  Any other recommendations?

Show & Tell?  Yes indeed!

 The first contribution by Hugo A.~I love it when the boys make me a homemade handy craft.  It's now adorning my pencil case.

Kyle gave me this last photo to share with yall.  Despite feeling unusually busy, I still happily make time for naps.  Since we have no blankets in our household, Kyle graciously bestows upon me his large Carhartt.

It's really quite cozy.

Hope some of yall are able to enjoy a vacation or trip this summer.  I'll have an adventure to report later this week~should be good.  A bientot!

For Well Wishers and Those Who Pray

Greetings friends and family.  I'm writing today from the comfort of Kyle and my apartment, though I should be at work administering tests and teaching lessons on Easter and clothes.  It is yet another sick day.  Since our arrival in France, I've struggled tremendously with headaches and nausea.  Kyle and I joke from time to time that I have a simple French allergy~that is, I'm allergic to the country.  It's incredibly frustrating because I have made the best efforts over the last couple of years to keep myself in good shape.  Sickness and doctors are not what I consider my cup of tea.

First we chalked the headaches up to some damage I did to my neck and back during the actual travel event.  I have a history of neck/back problems~ a slew of car accidents and a mishap my freshman year of college when a boy twice as big as I am fell on me.  My chiropractor became a good friend and I sincerely miss being able to get realigned while abroad.  Perhaps lugging suitcases and instruments around the world wasn't the best choice.  If I am fortunate I only receive one of these headaches once a week.  Thankfully I've gone almost 2 weeks without one.  Kyle and I are getting the hang of tackling them with Tylenol or Advil when I feel one coming on.

The nausea is completely separate from the headaches.  Rather than exploring or trying a new food, I spent our third day in France last September becoming better acquainted with our salle de bain.  Though less frequent than the headaches, my stomach issues continue to resurface at least once a month.  They're actually on the rise.  Today is my second time this month where I've been home-bound without any obvious reasons why I should feel so bad.

We speculate that I'm suffering from what most teachers encounter in their first year on the job.  Kids are full of germs and typically are not concerned with super clean hands.  Perhaps my immune system is being put to the test so that in a few months' time, I'll have developed an ability to withstand infection and viruses alike with the strength of ten Leahs.  In the meantime, I ought to invest in some hand sanitizer....

I really dislike when it keeps me from work.  I enjoy seeing the children and feeling like I have a purpose here, but I feel terribly thwarted when my body breaks down.  So this is especially a message to my friends who pray.  Please pray for no more health issues.  Life is really great here, and I just hope to enjoy it more fully.  I believe God brought Kyle and me here for plenty of good reasons, but I don't understand how headaches and nausea fit into it all.  Kyle and I pray for it, but it has never hurt to share my wish for more prayers.  Thank you.

I hope you are healthy and happy and hard at work wherever you are.  I hope to be among those ranks before too long.  A votre sante!

When it comes, I wanna wail MAIL!

It's a happy day when Fabrice has placed a treasure in my mail cubby.  First off, it takes me back to elementary school when neat-o things appeared in my cubby as if by magic.  Very similar to high school when perhaps I'd find a note from a friend sneakily slipped into my locker.  The Gmail inbox just doesn't provoke the same thrill as a tangible little envelope in my mail room cubby.  Secondly, when I receive mail, I know that my little students' art work will be put to good use.  I thought I may get a big frame back in the states and fill it with all the drawings and such, but I'd rather share the joy.

The third great part about mail has everything to do with how lame school life has been as of late.  We are in the throws of tests before spring break.  It is serious for the 5th graders~standardized tests handed down from the higher ups in the school district.   I don't mind writing a test, but it's nice to administer something I didn't have to make.  Some of the responses in the writing section have been HI-larious, and I'd love to share them with you.  However, I've made it so far in the school year without getting fired; I probably shouldn't be giving the school board extra reasons to do it now...

Let me take a brief moment to blog about blogs.  I never want to go here because it's just so extreme and hardly cool.  I started my blog just to keep track of a few adventures Kyle and I have and to share with my family back home.  Over the last few months, I've loved reading about different folks' lives on their blogs.  Let's just say it was an unexpected gift for friendships to develop from this small writing venture.  My exciting mail moments were provided by two blog friends.

Lindsey and I went to high school together.  We were percussionists back in the day.  She could do it all, but I was strictly a mallet girl.  We had a lot of fun back then and kept up for a little while after I graduated.  I remember we went shopping at Kohl's once~I still remember a pink turtle neck sweater I picked out that day.  Random... I guess we fell out of contact over the last few years.  We both lived in Atlanta and I knew she was friends with the famous Jason Tatum.  They are so Octane, and I'm a Starbucks junkie.  Thus we rarely crossed paths even though we share the love for a tasty brew and a cozy coffee shop.  Lindsey kindly shared her blog with me on facebook a couple of months ago, and now I love to imagine her Atlanta life as I read what she's up to.  It's like home reading and seeing pictures of midtown.

Pretty little bird to brighten our home

 Put Up Your Dukes is written by Keight.  It is due to her enthusiasm and efforts that "Inspirational Squirrel" has become the internet sensation that he is.  We met sometime in college at CCF.  There has always been a sort of wonder and awe at Tech about ACC athletes.  Students become quite star struck when they encounter a campus celebrity.  For instance, Will Bynum was in my 20th Century Europe class; he slept through all of them.  PJ Daniels once saved my life.  Trey Clark and I were trying to get into Curran parking deck during one of Georgia's nasty ice storms.  It was very slippery, and I nearly fell on my back.  All of the sudden, a kind young man caught me and helped me back to the upright position.  Trey always likes to say that "PJ Daniels was on the carry" that night.  These examples are to convey to you how impressionable nobodies (like me) in college can be when crossing paths with an athlete.  Keight was one of these~she was a super cool volleyball girl.  Boys at the engineering school were drawn to the volleyball team like flies to honey.  In my memory, I just see volleyball girls at CCF surrounded by a great cloud of fellas.  Keight and I never really crossed paths too much, but now I love reading her blog and getting messages from her.  Even though I didn't know her well before blogs, it just sounds like her talking through what she writes. 

"never alone..."

 "...always in my heart"

French squirrels have never before been so charming, and yes, inspirational.

Ladies, you are welcome to make your student art requests known to me (well, really just Lindsey because I know what Keight's heart desires).

Show & Tell~So long as the children are so prolific, this might as well be a permanent feature.

After much guessing, Zackary informed me that he had drawn me the sun.  Then he told Zoe that she was no longer his girlfriend, and Margot had assumed the role of Zack's girl.  It was a whirlwind of a moment.

I believe Auriana is trying to trade me her lame-o English music cd for my hot Hokey Pokey track.  Seriously, the kids never cease to ask when the next time we can sing and dance the Hokey Pokey will be.  Who knows~there may be something good on this disc yet.

On a final note, forgive my title.  If you get the reference, you should know that I worked in child care on and off since I graduated high school.  If you don't get it yet, wait until you have pre-schoolers.  A plus amis!

Hooray!

The wee-ones have returned from their vacation and thankfully so has their art.  I should note that I haven't seen many of my students at my big school since February 8th.  Talk about a month of Sundays before returning to their English studies.  Well, without further ado, I give you the highest complement I've received from a French student...

I feel just like Barry White.

This image crafted and provided by the lovely Yeliz indicates two things to me.  First, I have failed each and every child in the grammar department...although, the spelling is quite good.  Second, I have at least succeeded in the area of showing the little ones that I care about them.  This was especially evident today each time a class period ended; I was pursued by at least two children per class so that they could inform me of something special from vacation, an English word they had picked up, or even get in one of my notorious secret handshakes.  Much to the other teachers' chagrin, I break professionalism by instructing my students in the fine art of "pounding it".  It's my responsibility as their liaison to all things American, right?

In all seriousness, it was a true delight to return to work.  Though I despise lesson planning and I dread administering a huge test for my 5th graders in a few short weeks, I love having a routine and seeing my treasured students.  I've backslid in my quickness at remembering their names, and for that I feel ashamed.  I kept returning to prayer today to recall Sabrine's name or Marine's (there are two~a 5th grader & 4th grader.  I often forget both their names on the same day...).  I should remember that the names I often forget are the ones' which rhyme (Sabrine, Marine, Laurine, Louane, Melanie, Danae...okay, so perhaps not all of them rhyme).  For the boys it's simple; when in doubt just say Hugo or Edgar and at least someone will respond.  

Since the weather has not been so cruel, I enjoyed a stellar walk to GTL after I was done at the elementary school for the day.  I'm reading Through the Looking-Glass and had plenty of quality time to enjoy it while Kyle was in class.  What I'll call the Student Lounge at GTL is where this all went down.  I'm not sure whether I ought to be astounded or completely underwhelmed that the student population here is very similar to what you'll find in GT Atlanta's Student Center.  The Tech fellas (to over generalize) aren't always smooth operators when it comes to social skills.  One of our acquaintances here just today fell in this category.  While I was reading on a nearby sofa, he was listening to some tunes while being active on his laptop.  His listening pleasure was enhanced by his loud humming.  I spent a good ten minutes on one page in my book (likely with glazed over eyes) trying to figure out what he was listening to.  My efforts were futile as his humming, though varied in pitch, didn't communicate any melody I had ever heard.  Thankfully I had my iPod with some Fleet Foxes waiting in the wing to remedy my reading time.  I should note that all Tech boys don't fall into this category.  For example, my sweet husband Kyle is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to computers, and thus necessarily very dorky.  However, he is quite sociable and not an ounce inept when it comes to other people.  He's really quite kind.  

Kyle has me engrossed with something on a computer during summer vacation (notice my bathing suit and sunglasses are on and there is sunshine outside).  He's probably blowing my mind with some kind of brilliance.

I'm happy with the balance of French children's education as my occupation with a few things from home to keep it real (am I too white or female to say that?).  Thank you GTL for being like the real thing.  Happy March to the readers!  Hasta luego!

I must be out or I'd answer the phone...

Where could I be?  Believe it or not, I'm not home.  I wish I could have George Costanza sing for an outgoing message on voice mail for my blog.  When I think about being MIA, this little ditty always comes to mind.  It makes me think that perhaps my family or friends won't wonder what's become of me because they enjoy a charming little tune sung by a strange man...

You too can enjoy George's answering machine!

Sadly I haven't been doing anything more interesting than George does on any given episode of Seinfeld.  Last week I taught class on Monday and had a training day with fellow English teaching assistants on Tuesday.  Somewhere along the way, I developed a nasty headache with terrible sinus pressure.  To make the matter more amusing, it lasted for days and brought it's good friend nausea along with it.  So I missed school on Thursday and Friday...when I had all sorts of cool Valentine's day activities planned.  Plus I had promised my classes a few exciting rounds of the Hokey Pokey and The Music Man; singing and dancing and making cards.  On top of all that, I figured I'd have some cute anecdotes to share with you about how "Roses are red, violets are blue..." confuses French students since "rose" means pink and "violet" means purple in their language.  Alas, ski vacation has begun, and I won't have any student art or school stories until March.

Just a few of the unused Valentine's hearts meant for my school children

The silly thing about missing school on Friday for being sick is that the buses weren't even running to my Marly school (it's a smaller neighborhood in the the Metz area).  The roads were too icy, and I wouldn't have been able to get there anyhow.  Bad luck to be sick on a day I wouldn't have had to work.  One more complaint~I missed my two Bible study groups last week.  I realized how much I depend on these groups to keep me going throughout the week or month.  It's just good to be around other believers and talk about God.

Alright...done with mopey talk and on to bigger brighter topics.  Last Tuesday before being stuck at home for a few days, I had lunch with some of the girls who teach here, too.  Every time there is a training day, I always plan on eating out because it's much simpler than trying to find somewhere I can eat a packed lunch where I won't freeze to death.  One time we had a half day training session. I ended up at the train station eating a sandwich in the cold because it was the only place I could sit and avoid being harassed by our abundant pigeon population.  Anyways, this is all just to say that talking to Michelle and Jamie at lunch was nice.  They are both in planning stages for weddings down the road, and it's exciting to here about.  Kyle and I have been married 8 1/2 months~it's strange because the wedding feels like forever ago, but I feel like I'm learning brand new things about my husband everyday.  I like being a newlywed.

This weekend Kyle and I finally had our friends Michael and Lauren over for dinner.  Sadly I have no pictures to show for it.  I realized I've gotten to the point that I'm motivated a lot of the time to take pictures only because I want to post them on facebook or my blog...kind of sad and definitely a way to scare off friends.  I just imagine me saying, "Can I take a picture?  Can't wait to blog about what a good time we are having!"  Too dorky for sure.  Anywho, Kyle prepared sausage pepper grits with biscuits and stewed apples for dessert.  It was the first time we had had it since we left the states.  Time seemed to fly; we hung out and talked until late, and it was just really nice.  We just kept the quality time rolling on Sunday afternoon with our friend Cole.  He had us over for coffee after church and talked about music and travels.  Turns out we attended the same Sufjan Stevens concert at the Fox back in the Fall of 2006.  He hooked us up with some Ryan Adams (never heard the Suicide Handbook before...so good!) and Josh Ritter on a thumb drive before we left.  You can guess what Kyle and I have been listening to for the past couple of days...

A cute coffee picture for Valentine's day

The Valentine's day part of Sunday snuck up on Kyle and me.  Since I was down and out for the better part of the week, we both just didn't get our plans thought out.  Kyle proposed an all-American dinner for the evening.  Thus we had cheeseburgers and fries and then some chocolate ice cream.  Kyle gave in to my request for some romantic Fred & Ginger time (that's Astaire & Rogers, if you don't know the last names).  We watched Swing Time which is perhaps their funniest movie (and now Kyle's favorite). 

 Back in the day with my Valentine~my Swing Time poster can be seen in the background...no faces for Fred & Ginger...

 Big burgers, big bowl of fries, and tiny French beers~It can't all be perfect...

As I have two weeks vacation, I have made some resolutions with my free time.  My first is to complete Anna Karenina; which I have been reading for months.  I've read a good many books which are classics and very very long texts (Gone With The Wind and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Atlas Shrugged to name a few).  It's sad to say that I'm not a die hard Tolstoy fan, and his writing doesn't leave me coming back for more.  I am committed to finish, and I do have a stack of books I'm dying to read so I will complete this book while on vacation.  Just for accountability sake, I'm on page 584 out of 754.  Check on me if you like.

 My constant (and heavy) companion... I don't think the translation of my book is very good (some books may be better in their original version)

My second vacation resolution is to write at least one (if not more) meaningful entries on my other blog.  Topic to be determined by what reading I do this week.  Again for accountability, I have intentions to write entries on the institution of marriage & theocracies (though not in the same entry...).

My other blog...that's right, kids, working part-time in France affords me plenty of time to write 2 blogs!

The last resolution is a good one.  I have found relief for my desire to work out though I despise runs in the frigid surroundings.  I've discovered aerobic videos on youtube, but really I have some friends in Spain to thank for the inspiration.  I spotted a picture on facebook in which my friends at En Vivo were working it to an aerobics video.  Then I recalled that KHud used to get fit with Billy Blanks videos back when she was an undergrad.  Thus I enrolled in Billy Blanks Boot Camp on youtube.  Holy moly...I'm used to a good cardiovascular work out, but I'm not big on strength training.  This work out had both.  I can hardly move today, but it's a good kind of self-inflicted immobility.  Tomorrow I may even have the strength to do it again.  This will definitely tide me over until the ground thaws and I can take my Adidas for a jog in some reasonable above-freezing weather.

Cooler than Anna Karenina

Since I have no student art to share, I'll end with some sweet somethings I received from Miss Foo.  I hope she doesn't mind too much that I posted these for all the world to see...

Lovely roses which I believe Miss Foo drew with her Wacom tablet...

From left to right: Miss Foo, me, and KHud in Sailor Scout form...moon scepter elimination, anybody?

Hopefully I won't go so long without writing again...these entries get long and weird when I neglect recording what we've been up to.  Hope you are well wherever you are.  Later!

Humors & Body Parts

Well, the more I teach the students, the more I marvel at how they stumble over some of the most humorous language mix-ups.  Typically they happen to say something along the lines of, "I am 10 toes" or "I don't like my beard" (none of them have beards...although there is one with a mustache...) While that makes me chuckle, their most hilarious English errors appeared on their last test covering feelings and anatomy vocabulary as well as the verb "to be".  Please enjoy these nameless children's responses:

Check out the answer to #6.  There must have been a glare on the chalkboard when he incorrectly recorded and memorized the word "sick".

This one forgot that subjects are followed by verbs.  I like to read them as questions; my personal favorite is again #6.  Is she in love?  It brings new meaning to being love sickness.

I saved the best for last~ #17.  I believe this is a combination of the words "toe" and "foot" or "feet" as the case may be.  Little did this student know that they stumbled upon anatomy vocab which I didn't teach. 

Giggling as I grade

In other news, today is Kyle's birthday!  I fully expect to write a little more about this day once it's complete; we haven't opened presents yet or had the fancy dinner out or eaten cake.  Yesterday, a package arrived from Kyle's parents with some pretty cool surprises!

Lots of candies!  Kyle loves Heath & Reese's

All the staples~plus some very funky PB&J + chocolate M&M's

Holy moly!  Candied bacon popcorn.  Be still my beating heart!  Yum!!!!

As if the plethora of overseas sweeties weren't enough, Kyle and I perfected a special edition of Chocolate Eclair cake.  It is his all-time favorite, and thankfully it is a no bake cake which is super easy to prepare.  We had instant vanilla pudding thanks to Kyle's parents.  Kyle whipped up some homemade imitation Cool Whip (emphasis on the "h" in whip for Anna) with his favorite Christmas gift~the immersion blender from my folks.  Is it imitation when it's homemade?  Anyways, I folded the pudding & whipped cream together and spread it over our butter cookies we found at the store.  The recipe typically calls for graham crackers, but I think our substitute will be quite good.  After layering the goods, we poured a delicious cocoa, butter, sugar, and some other good things topping all over the layers of cookies and pudding.  It's insane delicious...but we are saving it for after dinner.  Here's some pictures of the process....

Insta-pudding waiting for the milk!

Cookies, pudding, more cookies...bring on more pudding!

This photo came out funky...Kyle's working the chocolate topping.

Pre-butter chocolate...still so good!

Pouring very carefully!

Wowsers~talk about to the brim!

The perfect chocolate reflects our kitchen utensils.  A happy birthday treat indeed!

Since Kyle & I couldn't eat this all in a million bajillion years by ourselves, we are looking forward to sharing it with our Thursday night Bible study crowd.  Hopefully they'll like it, but how could they not?  On a greedy wife note~ if you get the chance please wish my sweet husband a happy birthday either on facebook or by email (kylebhamilton@gmail.com).  He would love it, and I would truly appreciate it.  A bientot!

Mixed Media

Last fall Kyle bought and hung a bulletin board for me.  I love having an area where we can post cards we receive from home, art made by my students, and passages from scripture.  It's a nice reminder in our "office" of the good people and things in our lives.  I learned very quickly that our bulletin board can only sustain so much weight without crashing down and squashing half our goodies (it is held up by powerful putty, but it could be a tad more powerful...).  When the new year rolled around, I emptied the board in anticipation of new treasures.  Well, it took a little longer than I had expected from my students.  Perhaps the word spread that I make the big boys cry or it simply could have been that their English grades at the end of the trimester didn't earn them much good will from their parents.  Either way, I thought I had lost the favor of my dear little students.  I'm glad to say that this week there has been a big turn around.  Here's what I have to display to you this week.

Pretty peacock

Amira graciously glued a picture of a peacock to a sheet of notebook paper for me.  It is quite lovely.  She wanted to make sure I didn't see the image on the back side; it was very thoughtful of her to have hidden it.

Animal beads

Marine crafted a cute bracelet for me out of animal shaped beads of all different colors.  I need to wear it more so that she knows I like it.  Right now, it has a place of honor on the board of honored things.  It fits quite well, and I can put it on and take it off easily.

Classic hand drawn portrait

Deborah drew a great picture of me.  I love these modern looks the children give me; I promise you I haven't worn anything like this to school.  Sadly I'm sinking into the French style of blacks, grays, and the occasional color.  It's all denim and boots and lots of layers.  I love my students' imaginations~ a world wear young women can where colorful belted tube tops with matching leggings!  Let me draw attention to my features which she has mightily improved.  I love that I have retained my fair skin on my face as to prevent any melanoma or other unsightly skin conditions.  However, I am miraculously golden brown and sun-kissed on my bare shoulders down to my fingers.  I now have very flashy streaks in my hair to match my ensemble (a la Lady GaGa).  The happiest sight is that my legs have doubled in length; if only this were true.  You see, my fifth graders are hitting growth spurts and are reaching heights I have never known.  Oh Deborah, if only you could will me to be this cool and tall in real life...  My favorite part is that my name, so mundane in English, gets the French treatment and is elevated to a very sophisticated level with it's accent over the "e".  It has a touch of class which I may keep when I eventually legally change my last name (it'd be easy enough to throw a little dash over the "e" in my first name on the application...)

There you have it.  This late and great turn around in my popularity I think relies a lot on having introduced multimedia in my lessons.  I'm interesting again~no more pushing vocab and written exercises like the bad old days!  This week they got to watch Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a dream speech with french subtitles.  Plus, they learned the dance (if you can call it dancing...) to the Hokey Pokey.  It's better than when we learned the days of the week song.  If only I could video tape the students...I would love to show you how they dance and enjoy themselves.  I even instituted my personal favorite dance move into the Hokey Pokey and made my students believe it was part of the moves.  Alas, these are memories I'll just have to store up and treasure when I'm no longer their teacher.  I just wish I could have fun with the kids instead of teach and discipline and grade... All in all it was a great week at school.

Big Girls Don't Cry

....or so says Frankie Valli and Four Seasons.  However, they never said anything about the boys.  Just as soon as I remedied the situation with the woeful Gauthier, I encountered an even more pitiful young fellow.  We played bingo for the first time with my second and third graders this week.  It was over ordinal numbers; they are a terribly boring topic to teach, but quite essential in composition of the date.  I gave my little one some incentive to try their hardest to win.  French children love competition more than American children; I believe it comes from an innate quality in the French to feel superior to those around them (not really, but it's a plausible theory...I love the French).  Anywho, the contest was further fueled by the introduction of prizes.  Out of my golden gift bag, I removed candy for the students who had the magic 5 answers aligned perfectly and declared "BINGO" exuberantly.  Naturally, we had some Kinder candy; it's all the rage for the kiddies here.  I also had a delightful treat up my sleeve (metaphorically speaking).  Kyle and I saved our Bonhomme de neige (i.e. snowman) Peeps from Christmas to give as prizes.  This may be gross to my readers, but it is an exotic American sweetie for all the little French children.  Plus, they come 3 in a pack; French candy makers are stingy with their goodies and make single servings very expensive.  But I digress....

The highly coveted prize...

Antoine is a second grader.  In truth I have no obligation to grade my second graders; they are merely along for the ride because their class is half third graders for whom I am responsible for all English education.  I didn't even instruct the second graders for the first month of school.  They had worksheets and other assignments while I focused all my attention on the third graders.  Not surprisingly, some of the second graders are less than eager to master numbers and such in English.  Antoine is especially disinterested in pretty much anything that occurs in school (not limited to foreign language).  He can even be fairly aggressive if you ask him something as simple as his favorite color.  You never know what you'll get with him, and yesterday was no exception.  Apparently when I revealed the rewards for the Bingo winners, Antoine became quite determined to succeed.... until he realized he wasn't equipped to play.  For the past few lessons, we have gone over ordinal numbers over and over.  We say them in funny voices, we write them, we mix them up and put them in order.  Antoine, however, spent these hours in his own world.  He colored, talked to himself, even got sent out of the classroom by his teacher for punishment.  In Bingo, I began calling out the numbers for the children to mark.  At each drawing, Antoine's dismay started to close in on him.  At first he looked helpless, than it sunk into wishful thinking ( circling things and showing me to see if it was right).  All of the sudden, Lucas shouted, "Bingo!" from the back side of the class.  That's when the big tears came rolling down Antoine's now rosy cheeks.  Insult was added to injury as Hugo was the second to shout that fateful word.  The boys collected the candy prizes, and Antoine's grief grew into loud sobs.  It was unrestrained sadness.  We continued to play even though there were no more prizes because for the other children it was just fun.  Thankfully with the help of Joelle, a teacher's assistant, Antoine was taken out of the class to calm down.

I just have to comment that in my other third grade class, it was a hit.  No children were bereaved by losing the game.  This story of Antoine makes me consider whether or not I did something wrong.  Though I've told this story in much detail, the emphasis is all mine.  Even though there is a competitive spirit to the games we play in school, we never play to mock the losing teams or students.  In truth, I think the lesson is for me.  I don't know about the home lives of my students, but sometimes I wish I did.  Antoine is little; probably only 7 or 8 years old.  Perhaps he isn't treated very kindly because of his behavioral problems.  I certainly see that his teacher has fits over him.  Little ones need to be treated lovingly.  Seeing how much a small treat means to him makes me want to do something sweet for him.  I think on Thursday when I return to his school, maybe I'll give him a candy at recess.  We still have some Sapin de Noel Peeps (i.e. Christmas trees)...One of these days, I'll go a whole month without bringing a child to tears.

In other news, we are only a week and a day away from Kyle birthday.  We are pretty pumped about that!  All presents have been purchased and wrapped by yours truly.  All that is left is the preparation of the famous Chocolate Eclair Cake.... please let there be graham crackers in the grocery stores!  Also, tonight we have a new small group led by Jack the British preacher at our church.  We are really grateful to have two small groups; we definitely didn't expect to find so many English speaking folks who are interested in studying the Bible.  Lastly, the new batch of Tech students arrived.  We hope to meet some of them and get to know them (which will be much easier because Kyle has 2 classes at GT this semester!).  Hope you are well!

School and snow and winter woe

I spent the better part of today preparing for the much dreaded return to school tomorrow.  It occurred to me today as I was working on my calendar and curriculum that with the exception of the 2008-2009 school year, I have been on a school time table (including jobs) for nearly my entire existence.  Through the process of becoming an English language teaching assistant, I realized that I prefer being the enthusiastic pupil much more than instructing.  Thankfully I can look to Kyle every time I tend to romanticize the past and see just how stressful exam season is This year is particularly painful; he had 2 weeks of exams before Christmas and has 3 weeks of exams starting tomorrow...Just another reason why it stinks to be French~I'm grateful I only had to endure dead week and finals week at Tech.  I guess what I am trying to convey is that I thought I would like the school year structure no matter what, but it turns out it's not enough to keep this girl satisfied.

Teaching in elementary school is like snow.  When it snows, no matter how often, I love to watch it, and I really enjoy it.  I wish it won't stop because it's just so beautiful.  But as soon as it stops snowing, and I have to traverse soggy, cold, and perhaps icy terrain, I disdain the remnants of the snowfall.  It's hard to walk in; my shoes get wet thus my feet get colder.  I slip around and look awkward to all other pedestrians.  Plus all the fun of snow vanishes as soon as it takes on the color of sidewalk sludge.  Now you may be wondering, how does any of this have anything to do with teaching?  It may be a stretch, but I feel like the snowfall is like the time I spend with the children.  I marvel at them; they are clever, funny, enthusiastic, and a joy to be around.  I love watching them as they explain funny french sayings or talk about what they like or whatever.  They are simply precious to me like the moments I enjoy watching countless flakes float by my window.  The sludgy part of my job is all the lesson planning and being a part time employee at both my schools.  Since there is no curriculum, I feel like I'm carefully working my way around a slippery surface: do I spend more time on this?  are they mastering that? how much vocabulary can I push before I blow one their fuses? The part time employee business stinks because I don't spend a lot of time with the faculty and when I do, it's always very apparent that French is my second language.  It's like being on the outside because we never get to warm up to each other very well (this is especially true at the school that is an hour away where I only teach 2 classes).  It's like the never quite comfortable feeling of cold wet shoes.

Georgia Tech and frozen Lac Symphonie on a snowy day

With the half glass full approach in mind, I still have 6 months left in my contract.  Two-thirds of the school year is left to make it better.  Plus, in completely separate news~Kyle and I should be receiving a housing subsidy pretty soon.  Though I don't believe in redistribution of wealth, it'd be stupid not to take advantage of this social program while Kyle and I are living on my part-time teaching assistant salary (seriously, I think my income is below Mexico's poverty level for one person).  With the subsidy, it'll be like the government isn't taking any taxes out of my check each month.  The odd thing about this program is that the government officials text you to let you know that they received and are processing your paperwork.  It's like they are trying to be your pal, and I find it creepy.  Remind me to change my phone number when we get home so that France won't wake me up in the middle of night with messages of social justice programs.

I guess I've rambled a little ways off of the original subject...I'll leave you with one more snowy picture (I wish I could include pictures of students, but I don't want to venture down the sketchy path of publishing minors' photos online and such).   Happy New Year and happy snow days!

You got me~this pic is from Colmar.  It just happens to be much cuter than our neighborhood, Technopole...

Le sigh

Nothing to take you right out of the holiday mood like breaking a child's spirit in front of his peers.  Boy, I am down on myself.  A little fellow named Gauthier is a fifth grader at one of my schools.  He did miserably on his tests and his classwork was in disarray.  Going into the grading period, I knew it would be bad for him.  Now that we both are aware how challenging English is for him, I think he dreads seeing me more than ever.  Well, today I tried not to make them work too much since it's the last day before vacation.  I gave them two Christmas pictures to color.  In each one I asked them "What do you see?".  Since we've been studying parts of the body, the answers were "I see 5 eyes" or "I see 2 legs".  It ought to have been a piece of cake, but naturally the children forgot the "s" at the end of plural words.  I coached them along trying not to give the answer.  I also discouraged their peers from revealing the desired response because I wanted to see what they remembered and to hear complete sentences spoken.  After all, what good is an English anatomy lesson if you can't talk about it?

This brings us to dear little Gauthier.  On his turn, I asked him how many heads he saw.  I wanted to give him an easily remembered word since I knew he was struggling.  Last Tuesday we sang "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" a million times so I was sure he knew this word.  To say that the cat got his tongue would have been an understatement.  I asked him if he understood the exercise, and he said he did.  I wasn't instantly reassured because he started to look frantic.  The poor little guy got really worked up; his peers Lou, Herve, and Jules started whispering the answer to him to try and throw him a lifesaver.  All our voices must have overwhelmed him.  His round little cheeks turned bright red and his eyes filled with tears.  I couldn't believe I had done this.  I felt so bad that I wanted to run to the nearest bathroom and cry too.  Leah Hamilton: English Assistant and Bully to 5th graders or Miss Leah: You'll Learn Vocab....Or Else!!!  Just when I thought I was getting better at my job, something brings me down to remind me that I'm not a real teacher.

I don't mean to be so blue.  This unfortunate event happened in my last class of this trimester.  I thought I'd be blogging about me in my kerchief settling down for a long winters nap.  When what to my wondering eyes should appear?  The sweetest little boy with eyes full of tears.... (did I mention I read "The Night Before Christmas" 7 times this week in my classes?)  It's not the end of the world, and I still have 6 more months to try to help Gauthier.  Oh bother...

In happy news, Kyle and I embark on our second excursion from Metz since we arrived in France.  We roll out to Strasbourg tomorrow; it has the best Christmas markets in France.  I'll save the details of the trip for when we return; I'll have plenty of pictures and more surprises from the trip....it's better this way.

I also wished to include some pictures from our lake.  It has almost entirely frozen over.  Alas, my camera was dead.  I used Kyle's camera which allowed me to take just a few snaps before promptly dying too.  I'm not quite sure I got the settings right...lighting is funky at sunset and I am no photographer.  Next time I'll have to just throw in a video of the ducks slippin' and slidin' every which way.  You can't be sad when you see that....For now, joyeux noel et bon vacance!

Sideways stories...

...from ecole de Jean de la Fontaine.  The original has a better ring to it.  So my big sister Katie requested a few more of the quirky stories and mishaps from my day to day life at school.  Here are a few gems I've been saving up:

1.  I teach a class that is part 2nd grade & part 3rd grade.  I'm only responsible for the 3rd graders, but the teacher is such a bum that she insists on me entertaining the little ones so she can take a break.  The attention spans of 2nd and 3rd graders are vastly different, and sadly the 3rd grader in the mixed class don't perform as well as my class composed entirely of 3rd graders.  It's a problem in the schools in small towns where there just are too many children in one grade for one class and yet not enough to form two classes.
  Occasionally I have issues maintaining order in this class, but one day I experienced a whole new type of distraction.  I expect the chit chat, throwing erasers, poking with rulers and such.  However, I was completely caught off guard when one of the second graders started...let's see...trouser coughing?  Some might call it "behind burping".  These were no childlike noises coming from this little fella; every child in the class was aware of his situation.  And it continued....to the point where I asked him if he was feeling ill.  He said no.  I couldn't discern whether he was proud or embarrassed.  It was a peculiar occurrence that I didn't want to dwell on.  So naturally the best way to cover it up was start singing the ever popular Nuvaring days of the week song.  Crisis averted!

2.  This next story involves the very same little 2nd grader.  While doing a matching activity, 7 students were asked to come to the front of the room to label each day of the week with a picture of school or a picture of home (to represent where they spend the days~lucky french kids are home Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday).  When he was called to place his card next to the appropriate day, he turned toward a female classmate and laid a big fat smooch on her. Everyone giggled.  I was shocked.  I think there is something wrong with this kid, but all his shenanigans have been mostly harmless (even the little girl didn't seemed to bothered by his public display of affection).  He's an absolute nutter.

3.  I have two types of teacher's pets (or in my case, English teaching assistant's pets...kind of awkward to say...).  The first are the ones who like to stand next to me when I'm teaching.  Each time I enter their classrooms, they jump from their seats to ask me if they can be the privileged child who writes the date in English on the board.  The situation was only exacerbated by the introduction of writing today's weather on the board in addition to the date.  They also like to be able to select classmates to participate in certain activities.  I like these students for the most part, but I wish they would be kinder to their less avid English learning buddies.
  The second group of pets are creative and artistic.  Among the girls, it results in frequent drawings and gifts of candy or special paper (think Lisa Frank or Hello Kitty collectibles).  With boys it is a strange story.  They typically admit a crush (I am much younger than most institutrices/french teachers and very rarely discipline anyone).  Sometimes they try to hug me; I've instituted the high five rule when encountering the huggers.  One boy tells me lots of stories during recess.  One gives me origami surprises.  One braided me a plastic friendship bracelet.  Today I got something entirely new....

My french name is Léa~ fancy, huh?

This little number illustrates a large version of me and small version of my would-be 5th grade boyfriend who has a hairy pancake for a hand.  In his imagination, he is part pauper and part king (displayed in his tattered clothes and royal crown) or he is a homeless Bart Simpson.  From what I gather, he also updated my look to a flashy one strap top, a skirt, and some high-heel boots.  On top of that my new hairdo includes bangs and a side pigtail.  How did he know I was a child of the 80s?   All in all, this was the biggest surprise gift I have received to date.  I wonder if he'll still think so highly of me after I administer a super huge English test on Friday...

Alright...that's the latest and greatest from this side of the sea.  Brief good news updates~Kyle has become friends with a fellow named Peter who is a super smart Mechanical Engineering PhD student here.  He plays guitar and sings, so naturally Kyle had a new friend with whom he could play banjo.  Peter invited us to a Bible study too, so we are pretty pumped about that.  Did I mention that they won 50 euros in the GT Thanksgiving talent show?  (scroll down to the next entry for video)  Peter is already favorite.  On a final note, it's my mom's birthday eve.  It's a sad time not to be home because there is usually a Carrabba's dinner involved and lots of fun with the family.  Happy Birthday Mom!!!  Hope all is well in your world.  Hasta luego tios!