This week began with my first
proper day as an English Language Assistant and it was absolutely terrifying.
On the whole, the teachers were great; they told me what they wanted me to
prepare, took the lead and did their job (teaching) meaning I could do mine (assisting.
Some of the teachers however, think that I am the new English teacher.
This led to some very awkward and scary classroom situations where I was just
left to it. Luckily, I’d been warned this might happen and came prepared with
some fun Halloween themed games, songs and worksheets for the children to do.
Side note: singing in front of 30 French kids was definitely not in my job
description and was incredibly embarrassing.
After my first week as an
assistante, I’ve figured out which teachers expect me to have prepared two
30-minute English lessons with no input whatsoever from them, so at least I know
who the difficult ones are. It’s a good job I’ve got two weeks off because I
need to do some serious lesson planning. Monday night, Laura, Charis and I
celebrated starting work with a flat meal which was delicious and much needed.
I got in from looking after Clémence and they’d put on a massive spread of
bread, hummus, tzatziki, grilled aubergines and courgettes, salad, toasted
squash nuts, falafel and vegetable rice, finished off with a cheeky bottle of
rosé.
 |
| Epitome of beauty - that's me |
Thursday morning I woke up
looking like Quasimodo. I’d been bitten on my eyebrow by some little s**t of an
insect and my entire eye had swollen up – I could barely open it. This caused a
minor issue in that I couldn’t wear my contact lenses; why not just wear your
glasses I hear you ask. Well, I’d snapped an arm off and hadn’t found the
time/courage to go to an opticians to get them fixed. So at 7.15am I was facing
quite a dilemma I could 1) wear my contact lenses even though it would be
extremely painful 2) wear neither, in other words spend the entire day blind!
3) Wear sellotaped glasses like Harry Potter. Anyone who knows me will know
which choice I went for! Thankfully my eye has since returned to its normal
appearance and I don’t look like a Disney character.
Friday was great because most of
us had the day off – did somebody say lie in? We got my glasses fixed in the
morning and it only cost 12 euros, which was a relief. The man said I’d completely
broken them and he’d need to attach a new arm that was a similar colour. I was
pretty chuffed when I turned up an hour later to find he’d put on a Ray Ban
one. The girls said I should snap the other one off so that my cheap Specsaver
specs look designer and I haven’t ruled that out!
That afternoon we went to the
Musée D’Orsay which is an old train station turned in to an art museum. I don’t
think I’m quite cultured enough to appreciate all the incredible pieces there
but I enjoyed wandering around all the same. Following my face plant at school
last week I’d hoped to limit the embarrassing incidences from then on. Life, it seems, had other ideas. Jess, Anna and I went to the museum
café to get lunch, which included a cup of diet coke. As we were getting up to
leave, my bag got caught on my chair causing me to wobble my tray, this then
knocked off my half full cup of coke. It went everywhere! Including onto a
woman who had the misfortune to be sitting behind me. I blurted out my apologies
in both French and English and hastily tried to mop up the mess with my napkin.
Needless to say this didn’t work very well so I went up to a man working there,
flushing with shame but nervously giggling at the same time. Luckily he saw the
funny side of it and told me not to worry. A very sweet American guy saw it all
happen and said to me ‘you could get away with a lot worse than spilling your
drink with a laugh and a smile like that’ which was so lovely and probably one
of the nicest compliments I’ve received. 
Yesterday Jack and I went to the
aquarium, which was so fun! We were definitely the oldest ones there, and the
most enthusiastic. We saw the entire cast of Finding Nemo and spent
quite a while sat watching the sharks. After having fun with the fish we went
for a few drinks, watched the France game and went to a house party. House
parties are not the same in France as they are in England. For us, a house
party is an excuse to get really drunk, really cheap. For the French it’s more
of a sophisticated soirée: people were just sipping wine, chatting and eating
apple pie. Though the English half of the group did manage to initiate a game
of Ring of Fire which, when you’re really drunk, is very hard to play,
especially when it’s in French. |
| World's biggest wine glasses! |
I’ve spent yet another weekend day recovering from a
hangover, watching films and eating junk food and I’m determined to be much
healthier/studious tomorrow. Me and my friend Hannah have decided to challenge
each other to be productive every day and for every week we fail we have to buy
the other a drink. Hopefully this method of long distance motivation will be
successful because I’ve not stuck to my strict year abroad schedule once yet
and I’ve been here nearly a month!
Thank you for reading!
Bisous à tous
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