A long Easter post

Sorry ahead of time for the long post, but here it goes. The end of the week went okay at school, surprisingly enough. For the most part, my kids discussed stuff and what not, though I think perhaps my standards are just lower now than they were at the beginning (in fact, I'll wager that this is the real reason). I also started tutoring 3 kids who need help getting ready for the BAC, and no, this is not paid. I was sucked into it somehow, and I feel bad turning down kids who, for once, voluntarily want to work on English. We had a really good session, truthfully, and I wish my other students cared as much as those 3 kids (and they weren't great at English by any stretch of the imagination, but they were trying). And actually, on Friday Marie Francoise told me that the boy in the group told her he has started to fall in love with me...haha. It amazes me how I can inspire such opposite reactions in my students (love, indifference, hatred). Oh well. I'll chalk it up to the subject matter. I was also told this week by the teacher who teaches my BTS students (the 19-20 somethings) that I need to speak slower because the kids are too scared to ask me to repeat or slow down. Let me add here that I am well aware that they don't/can't understand me. I ask them repeatedly to ask me questions, to show any signs of life. They don't, so my patience has dried up. Now I just go talk at them for an hour and hope they absorb something. Sometimes I have an actual conversation with one or two students, but the others, well maybe if they SHUT UP they would be able to understand me. Scared, whatever. These kids are as old as I am. But again, my standards have fallen quite low, so I'm not all that bothered. My yearbook kids and my philosophy stars are keeping me from utter insanity, so I'll take what I can get.

This weekend the weather has taken an interesting turn. What was once a bit sunny and even, dare I say it, warm, is now cold and blustery and rainy. Boo. Yes, I know that Wisconsin is buried under 2 feet of snow, but the weather here does suck. It's always wet, and windy, and the wind is strong enough to blow me across the Channel. In fact, on Saturday night it even snowed for a good 5 min (giant wet clumps). That was at least a little exciting. Rachel and I flipped out and I even took a picture. It doesn't take much around here.

Easter. Easter was interesting. It started off on the wrong foot because Irene and I had a bit of a confusion in the morning. We were supposed to go to Church together, and 15 min before our ETD she skyped me to say she was running late but that she'd come over when she was ready. Close to 30 min later she still didn't come over. So I went to her apartment and saw a sticky note on the door that said in French, "Lindsey, excuse me but I can't go with you to Church." Ohh... hmm, glad I came out and didn't wait in my apartment... Why didn't she just skype me and tell me that too?? Well, as it turns out, she did come over and knocked really quietly so as to not wake up Rachel, only I couldn't hear it over the roar that is my computer. So she tried calling me and my phone was on silent. She had been feeling ill all weekend so after not finding me she just went to bed. The note she had written in the middle of the night when she woke up feeling sick, in case she couldn't wake up to go. Oops. Well, not knowing any of that, I headed out to Church solo, much to my dismay.

You may wonder why yesterday, of all Sundays, I didn't want to go alone. Well, for various reasons, I've stopped going to the tiny evangelical church. It was so small that it's really hard going and not feeling like a part of their little community. Part of that is my own fault, but it really is just a bit uneasy to go there, and the last thing you want to worry about when you're supposed to be praising /learning about God is how awkward you feel. So I've been doing some distance church time thanks to Blackhawk's website. But for Easter I wanted some corporate worship, and I thought I'd go to St. Gervais, the prettier (and warmer feeling) cathedral of the two in our city. The only thing is, St. Gervais is a catholic church and I'm, well, not catholic. I have nothing against catholicism, I just don't really understand it and the last time I went to a Catholic mass (in Montpellier) I was super confused. So Irene was supposed to go with me so that I would know what was going on (she is Catholic), and so we could finally go to Church together (after all of our God-conversations, the only reason we haven't is that she didn't want to go to the protestant church with me).

Anyway, it was quite the experience. I came late so I didn't get a bulletin with all the songs and liturgy readings, so I looked like I wasn't participating when really I just didn't have any way to follow along. I was also sitting up at the short arm part of the cross, in what appeared to be the veteran section, because I was surrounded by 70-somethings who knew exactly when to stand, make the cross sign, bow, sit, stand, pray, etc. I took comfort in the younger families across the way that clearly only stepped foot inside the church for Easter and Christmas (Cheasters... I felt like one of them), and who, like me, looked like they had no idea what to do next. The service was complete with the dude swinging the smoking can thing all over the place (hey, it smelled nice) and one of the priests went around shaking these branches at us and getting us wet (to which everyone around me bowed a few times and did some cross signs for good measure, while I looked baffled and quite confused). Oh my. My favorite part was the nun leading everyone in the hymns. She was a cutie, and quite energetic for someone her age. She had my respect. And here's the best part. I had no intention of taking communion, because although I could in pretty much any protestant church, I am well aware that the Catholic church prefers you to actually be a confirmed Catholic before you take communion with them. Out of respect, I was going to abstain. However, when the time came I had to let the old folks out of my row, and the only way to do this was to actually get up and get out of the row myself. When I did this, I found myself next in line for communion with the lady in our corner (don't ask how this actually happened, I'm not too sure). I couldn't very well tell the lady that although I was in line, I had changed my mind and didn't want the wafer. I had to be quick, so I just stuck my hands out like I saw someone do once (it was that or open my mouth, I think) and took the wafer. She said something that I didn't understand, and the only thing I could think to say was "Merci!" To my horror, Irene later told me that I was supposed to say Amen because she was giving me a blessing (Irene found my experience incredibly funny, and she was sorry to miss it). The lady probably thought I'd never been to church in my life. Oh well. This is all, of course, just the funny bit. It was actually a really nice service and it was nice to have some time away from everything to actually think about what Christ did/does for us, for all of us. I'm glad I went, because I needed the reminder. I think we all do.

Later on we had the pagan portion of our Easter celebration. The two Rachels hid a few bags full of chocolate eggs around the elementary school where Rachel and Kate live. In a girls vs guys competition (Rachel's boyfriend and his friend are here this week), we had a night time, flashlight only, egg hunt. Madness ensued. Needless to say, I feel sick from all the eggs we ate. Yummy. This week some lucky kids are going to find eggs randomly in the corridor and library.

That's about it. In about a week (April 2nd) I will be on my way to the States to visit schools. I can't wait! I'll have to make my decision in about 4 days after I get back. We'll see!