La rentrée

Well today was the rentrée for me.

The rentrée is the time in France where everybody comes back from vacations and goes back to life. It is also used to signify the first day of school.

I started working today. Anybody who knows me could have guessed that as soon as I got with the kids, my anger at the situation disappeared. The kids melted me I guess.

My first class was the 8 year olds. They were so excited to begin the English classes (they actually cheered when the teacher told them that I was there to teach them English). And one of the girls was saying things like “She’s pretty”, and even called me elegant. That’s where the little ones are so awesome. I began with doing introductions, and they sang a song for me (their teacher had taught them a simple hello song, just for me, it was so sweet).

The 9 and 10 year olds were great too. They were all well behaved. I started the first class with them as a chance for them to ask me any questions they had about the United States, California and myself. Part of what I have to teach is culture, and I felt that this was a good way to break the ice, and kind of get their questions out of the way. I have learned that being from California has made me somewhat of a goddess here, and I wanted to get past that in the first session. It also made me feel really good that they asked me questions in French, and I was able to understand them, and answer them, and they understood me. It was a nice affirmation.

The teachers were all really nice, and I have a feeling that I am actually going to like it. They have been really welcoming and supportive.

I left the school smiling.

The school reminded me of a French version of Alta Loma. The kids were almost all white, with only a few exceptions. But they were all well behaved, and excited about learning English.

And from teaching I took the train straight to school. My schooling is going to be spread out over two schools. My MICEFA class will be at Paris III, which is the same school where I did my orientation. But I am actually considered a student of Paris X, which is Nanterre, where I will be taking my language classes.

Today was my MICEFA class, the History of Literary Paris. The teacher was really nice, and it seems like that class is going to be fun. We won’t be going into Victor Hugo, which kind of bummed me out. (The professor said if I wanted, I could do my final project on Les Misérables. I think I want to actually read another book, I am not quite sure that I am ready to conquer Les Misérables in French.) But we will be going into the surrealists, which I am excited about.

Next week our class will be in Montparnasse, where we will be going to cafes and areas frequented by Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre, not to mention countless other great authors, painters and artists.

Even though it isn’t the architecture class, I am excited about it.

Things are looking up.