kids don't lie.

on my first day at school, the first question i got from my Q&A time while being introduced to the class was, "how old are you?"

oh well...

then i was socialising with the kids during lunch break today.

my cute ce1 kid asked me, "how old are you?"

well, i'm __.

"t'es jeune!(you're young)" she said.

the most flattering thing i've heard since, hmm, forever and from a 7-y-o!

then i was sitting on the bench, a kid walked up to me, smiling, "t'es tres belle. (you look so pretty)"

"awww, merci, toi aussi."

i didn't know how to say how flattered i was, but could only compliment her back.

kids don't lie.

so there you heard it here first.

i'm young and pretty.

ha!

totally made my day.

thanks my little monsters!

"W"

it's funny how the letter W is so different in english and french.

it's double U in english, and double V in french.

then there's the subtle difference of pronunciation.

(dub-li-u, or dub-u)

then it's only natural that the kids would get confused.

you try pointing at W on the blackboard and then ask randomly what this is.

they'll tell you, double V immediately!

cute!

hey! stop stereotyping!

some french people speak english with the plummiest accent.

for those who do not, that's exactly what we're here for.

hello! if they all speak with a perfect RP accent, we'll be out of jobs?

though it's still cute hearing them muting the "H" in inappropriate places.

they try hard though.

i liked how my maîtresse came to tell me it's time to "heat"...which isn't entirely wrong come to think about it.

we do bring our own lunch to work and then microwave it before eating.

i liked how amy becomes "hammy".

i liked how kids raised their "ands" up in classes.

and my favourite part has to be the "allo" song.

it went on and on and on and sounded like "allo, allo, allo, owl are you?"

which reminds me of this.

pic credit: tvshowsondvd.net

anyways, we received 3 groups of non-french speaking visitors at our school today.

they were here on an exchange programme for some serious pedagogical business.

being the only one (out of 6) who doesn't have anything better to do, i was appointed to help out.

the first group arrived when i was busy working with raising "ands" and ben is between scott "hand" "the" marion...

so i was only able to help out the other two.

the bell rang, and the english lady asked questions.

and then after a couple of questions answered, she walked up to me, "you speak very good english."

"but i work here as an english teacher."

it was such a hilarious moment, but also very flattering.

she thinks i can pass as a french after hearing me explain what is what to the inspector (who clearly is french, hence speaks franglais).

i don't want to be stereotyping, but i do like their accent.

at least they sound so cute when they sing the allo song.

okay, maybe a tiny bit discouraging after a whole week of repetition and correction of "hello, how are you".

life's short

drink more.

but not those cheap alcohols plz.

let's drink properly.

do some decent wine next time.

x.

les grèves nationales

well, this is yet to get better here.

before my inbound trip to france, workers at la sncf went on strike for a few days.

luckily, when i got here, everything returned to normal.

(touch wood)

now, it's been barely a month, everybody's striking again as the bill is going to be put forward (and highly like to be put through) at the legislature at the beginning of november.

usually i'm often with the strikers, whatever they're asking for, they should get it.

but this time, it's getting on my nerves as i'm planning for a trip to paris the following week.

not knowing how to get there by car (or in fact, it's just me not wanting to rent a car and drive in/on the famous 'parisian traffic' and/or french highways), i had to use public transportation - the friendly and effecient tgv and regional train services.

unfortunately, they are the boldest strikers amongst all.

at one of my schools, a teacher was filling in a form to inform the authority that she's going on strike this past tuesday last friday (that's a 48 hour notice?).

and i thought it was just a one-day thing.

hell NO.

it's been on for a week now and is still going strong...

fingers crossed that it'll come to an end before my departure.

from what i've learned, read and heard, the french simply do NOT do reforms.

i dunno anything about management skills or politics, but why can the french just be left alone and just do what they're good at (okay, maybe not strikes this time)?

i don't know how people who don't own a car or a bike or friends who want to do car-pooling and live far away from work get to work on days like this.

from the experience i had, it was just a pain in the A.

i had to take a cab to work and obviously it wasn't covered in the end.

i couldn't call in sick either cos i was up to my neck in work, too.

so i just had to drag myself to work on time by all means.

it's amazing how the government is still standing strong by its stance leaving its citizens in chaos like this.

but i guess they all grew up with this kind of sh*t.

so to them, it's just one of those days.

maybe you just go out, have a ciggie break, and take it easy.

i'm yet to master this just-calm-down-on-days-without-any-kind-of-transport-to-work skill.

though i am sure that this is a very fine example of the french culture and am proud that i'm having some authentic experience living like a french person.

random shots

taken while i was waiting for my bus.

the black dot isn't just the dirty spot on my lens (which you would've seen in many other pictures).

it's a fighter jet.

they flew by too quickly to be captured.

and you already know how sh*tty my photos are anyway.

just to clarify this time though.

here's another picture of another plane... you can see a dirty spot clearly in this picture.

another picture.

earworm

you have to listen to how a real french person sings it.
it's super cool.
hello sounds something like, HELL-LOW.

after a brief 1 minute of singing, this is the tune that stuck in my head for the rest of my day.

thanks mme _____.

pinwheel

made of fallen leaves & a twig.

perfect craftsmanship, hand made by one of my kids.

(in fact, i might just need to teach EVERYONE, at both schools, so 300+ in total.)

poker face

i was told not to smile at the kids during the first 3 classes to make the impression of being a strict teacher.

well, i didn't smile.

i was constantly bursting into laughters while i was observing.

gosh, these kids do the most random thing on the planet in classes!

so, there's a box of tissue paper sitting on the cabinet right in the front of the classroom.

there were always kids walking around, getting tissues for god knows what reasons.

maybe they just felt the urge of getting up and stretching, very OSH-conscious, bravo!

in one of the french classes, the teacher made them to organise their worksheets.

they were supposed to put their sheets in those transparent plastic pockets and just clip them together in a ring binder.

you think it's easy?

well, not for these 6 year olds!

it took them 45 minutes to get organised and the results weren't pretty.

they simply did NOT get it.

while the teacher was busy helping out, this one girl got really bored and started eating her glue stick.

a guy was ignored 3 times by the teacher and then after a couple of minutes, he just started crying.

in the other class that i sat in, while the teacher was teaching science and explaining about the experiment that they just did.

one little guy was totally spacing out picking his nose.

and the best part was - he was really enjoying it.

i haven't been with little kids since forever, so i don't know what else could happen.

all these seemed so hilarious and entertaining in a weird way.

but it gets better.

so i was observing in one of their music classes this afternoon.

they were all sitting on the floor with no shoes on.

while other kids were busy listening to the teacher.

this girl was doing something really really really random.

she was LICKING HER FOOT!

it wasn't amusing to see, but she was so serious about cleaning her foot up.

it's like someone who's washing his fancy new car, those type of attitude.

she actually licked and then examined the results and licked again.

and then rubbed her foot again with saliva.

i think she might have a cat as a pet at home, but rubbing your foot doesn't seem like what a cat will do...

so it's now quite mysterious.

i've been left with kids alone for 3 classes today already.

if i had to teach at elementary school for the rest of my life.

i'm going back to be a researcher immediately.

yes, they're so cute.

but no, sorry i can't handle little people who never shut up.

postcard

time for some serious studying guys.

here's a card to help you memorise the alphabets.

postcard

i was shocked @ the relay shop @ CDG, by the choices of postcards.

they were of pure class.

this one, i got from a local librairie papeterie.

quintessential frenchness, n'est-ce pas?

being well-organised

i'm not the most well-organised person on the planet, obviously.

i haven't met all the people on this planet, so i can't claim the above.

but the french are famous for being so "well-organised", as you've already heard so far through different channels.

lemme just elaborate on this in the following.

first of all, the whole application thing.

it was so well-organised that i was only contacted twice (okay, maybe 3 times) during the entire process.

the original cultural attache finished his appointment in sheepland half way through our application process.

the new one came in and got in touch with us just 2 weeks before i got my actual visa.

well, that wasn't particularly helpful of her, was it?

on the other hand, the french french side of things are just "pretty-looking".

on my assignment contract, there's no final destination.

meaning, i was only given a visa to come to work in france, but god knows where.

might as well be high up in the mountains doing random sh*t like counting sheep.

well, according to someone who's done this programme before, this is VERY normal.

all i wanted was a visa anyway, so i guess i can accept that.

then it just got prettier.

i was meant to start my assignment on 1 oct, so i figured that i shall arrive here a week earlier to get myself organised before my assignment starts.

but i had to know where i was going to begin with, hadn't i?

so at the end of august, i sent an email to the contact person.

no reply after 2 weeks.

well, it was the first 2 weeks into the new school year, i guess it is normal?

then the third week, still no response, even my dad was kinda worried for me.

i re-email the contact person by copy-pasting the exact same thing.

couple of days later, she told me where to go, but still no more specific information.

it was like they're sending me to do some highly confidential assignment or something.

cos why else you wanna be so mysterious?

isn't that just a fine example of how well-organised the french are?

anyways, i told her that i was gonna arrive in france and would text her to know what time i shall be arriving so that i would get collected from the train station.

guess what?

to keep the consistency of being well-organised, after i texted her on my day of arrival on the tgv, i got a reply saying, "sorry i don't have anyone to get you from the airport, take a cab."

if you think this sucks, then keep reading.

we were meant to be having an induction today in a different city.

so we took a bus early in the morning to go there, and we were told beforehand that we would be collected by a bus which would get us to the induction place.

guess what?

well, you're right.

the bus never came.

turned out the bus wasn't gonna come.

we had to catch another bus then walk all the way to that school from the train station.

so well-organised you guys!

i'm feeling like i'm experiencing the authentic french life.

and after all this, i'd like to say that even sheepland has a very efficient bureaucratic system.

well, at least they won't stand us up by not sending a friggin bus.

fyi

feiyue is so popular in france.

all the cool kids are wearing them.

now i regret not bringing mine.

@.@