The brats can endear to the tired Tea-chair.

So, I continue to be a tired tea-chair, and I have decided I do not have a long term career in child education.

For example, my CPs just entirely wear me out.  In that class, there are 3 or 4 horribly disruptive children, then there are 6 or 7 incredibly chatty kids, then there are between 3 and 5 who cannot stay in their seat, in a class of 20 kids, that is a problem.  The teacher himself has no real control.  It is a circus.  I leave that class each Tuesday and Thursday with some form of a headache.

But, every once and a while, one of those kids does something that kind of surprises you and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.  (Not to be totally lame or anything)

One of my favorite kids, Walid (who was describing his salty sweet chichi snack to me) moved suddenly.  The teacher didn't know he was going to be changing schools.  So one day he was at Marcel Pagnol, and the next he was not.  But, he was at Jacques Prévert, the same day that I teach there.  I said hi, and he looked a little wild-eyed and confused (being only 7 and being left at a new place without anyone familiar).  But he looked really happy to see me and asked me to say "bonjour" to Madame Goupille's class.  

When I saw Mme. Goupille's class, I said "Bonjour from Walid."  She said to the class "Walid is at Allie's other school, so we can send him messages through her!"

One little boy, Farouk, said "Dit à Walid que je suis toujours son ami."  (Tell Walid that I am still/always his friend.)

Then the whole class made illustrations for him, which I delivered.  When Walid heard Farouk's message, he gave me one of his marbles to give to Farouk.  

How absolutely adorable!  He asked me today if I had given him the marble yet.  I hadn't because I hadn't been to the school yet, and he wanted me to show it to him to make sure I still had it!

Another great story:

One of the boys in CE2 at Marcel Pagnol gave me a folded up piece of paper, which I promptly unfolded:

I had to laugh.  M. Beauvais took it and looked at it, and he laughed.  He gave an approximate translation, and the poor kid turned red and covered his face!  But, I told him I'd keep it, and I have!  I tacked to the wall above my desk.  

I just want to know why all the CE2s want to draw American flags for me!

In other news, the sun came out Sunday.  Meredith and I went for a walk, which was really nice.  I took some pictures of Angers, and we stopped at a café and had a coffee. The café was small and had nice burnt-orange colored walls.  It was a clean, well-lighted place.  There is a Hemingway story called "A Clean Well-Lighted Place."  It is one of my favorites.  I recommend it.

When we left the café, we stopped in one of the very very few little shops open on Sundays, and as we headed back toward, someone called after us.  Another assistant, Ben, who we've seen very little of was on his way to see Le Cercle Rouge a Jean-Pierre Melville movie (this meant nothing to me, but apparently he is one of THE French film directors to know.)  The movie was made in 1970, and it is awesome.  It is French and thus has some very French moments and a rather French ending.  But, it begins with some amazing cinematography, wide shots of fields, close shots of this convict being escorted on a train, an intense chase in the woods; it includes a cabaret with excellent dancers, a jewelry heist, and a drunk's hallucinations; it ends with intensity.  There is surprisingly little dialogue, which was helpful in that I didn't have to focus all my energies on comprehending the French.  Anyway, check it out.
There's always more... for now, here's winter in Anger: