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 _____.