L'absurde: that which escapes all logic, that which doesn't make sense. This was the title of Saturday's Philosophy Club discussion. Yes my friends, my nerdness has reached frightening heights. Let me just say that Marie-Francoise is completely taken with the fact that I study philosophy, and she's been rolling with it ever since. Her latest fun idea: take me to the philosophy club discussion in her out of the way little village. It was held in Eric's (her partner) art studio, which actually made me feel kind of cool. Anyway, the speaker was a philosophy teacher from Caen or Paris or something, and he was there to speak to us about the absurd. In attendance were random French folks from all walks of life, united by their common passion for debate and thoughtful discussion. Also in attendance, a cute little Madagascarian (?) woman--MF, and a bewildered young American. Any who, the discussion was supposed to be primarily about French existentialism (of the Camus and Sartre variety). I'm afraid to say that I've only read Camus' L'Etranger (though at least I can say I read it in french), and I really am quite unfamiliar with this particular subsection of philosophy. Lucky for me, it didn't really matter. The discussion hovered around what the meaning of the word "absurd," and it turned psychological with various people divulging their various problems in life. Let me pause to tell you about the young man behind me who told us many personal stories, my favorite being the time he was high on shrooms, I believe, and throwing plates at a window. He suddenly realized, mid plate toss, that his life up to that time was absurd (and no, not absurd during the drug induced vandalism). He worked at a butcher shop and suddenly discovered that eating animals was wrong. He loves them too much. He really likes horses in particular. I know this because he told us all in quite a bit of detail. Eric later told me that the club meeting turned into an AA meeting instead of a philosophy discussion. I didn't mind, though, because I was there to soak in their stories and their language. It was brilliant.
During the meeting I had things to say, but did I? Of course not. I didn't ever speak in any of my English speaking philo classes, so why would I in front of a bunch of random French people. I did, however, sneak a few comments over to MF, and she tried to get me to contribute. No. Not gonna happen. Later in the car we discussed my views on morality and how I don't think I can make sense of it without God. She was very interested. It was almost evangelizing, to tell you the truth, though I felt uncomfortable talking about it (not that I should have, I just did, cause I'm a wuss). Of course she kept asking me more and more questions, and I couldn't just lie. So I told her about how I don't think you can have an authoritative and objective moral standard without God and how if God's not real then I think morality is kind of shot, and since I refuse to give up on morality, I can't very well give up on God. Some of you know where I'm going with this, some don't, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'll grant that this needs clarification, and you can imagine how muddled it all came out in French, but out it came just the same. I think MF was shocked to hear me say I believed in God, like really believed. Though I did tell her that my belief doesn't mean I think I can prove that He's there, it just means that personally I'm convinced-- and that conviction really only carries weight with me and no one else. She was intrigued, if nothing else. Anyway, we ate at her house afterwards and this is all I'll add: I ate raw meat. Now some of you know that I am a carnivore if there ever was one, but even I have limits. She got impatient with the roast beef because it was late and we were hungry so we just ate it semi-cooked. She asked if I minded my meat a little pink. No, of course not. Then she served it: the middle was purple. Pink, fine. Purple? As Ron White would say, "Things that make you go... bleh." But I ate. I ate it all. I thought I was going to hurl, but I ate every bite of that beef. Etiquette trumps health, after all. I still shudder at the thought. (Note: it didn't taste that bad, but it looked so unappetizing.)
On Sunday, Ireland (the other Rachel) came to Church with me because one of her teachers goes to my little Church and has been trying to get Rach to come for weeks. Well this Sunday the teacher's daughter was in a little Christmas play, so Rach decided to come with me. She's catholic, but only culturally, and she wasn't looking forward to it. But I think she had a good time. We sang carols (loved it, I got teary eyed at Silent Night because it reminds me of Christmas Eve service at Elmbrook with the candles...). The play was interesting. This is what I understood: there was a family of Russians, a guy with a sword, and a fire. Whatever. Merry Christmas!
Monday I had a new class to teach to help Ann-Helen's students get caught up because AH has been sick and since I've missed so much, well I can't really complain about taking on an extra class. Yves promised that if we started this week all the students would be informed and would know when/where to go. Right. NO ONE came. Just like last Friday morning at 8am, no one. Oh and I said to Yves earlier that day, "Hey I have your kids at 5, I'm looking forward to seeing them." "Really? Oh, that's right, good good," he says. Anyway, his kids have missed because I've been gone and before that for 2 weeks they just didn't show. So did they come this Monday? No. No one. I'm feeling unloved. Speaking of missed classes, on Tuesday I arrived for my older kids and half the class was in some meeting that no one told me about. So instead of doing their projects I played Christmas music and we played pictionary. Oh and today I came to my other class of older kids to find a new teacher in there and them all taking a test. Oh, didn't I know they have testing today? No. No one tells me a bloody thing around here! I'm getting frustrated. Whatever. They're French.... I must keep telling myself that.
Last night was our Christmas Party! We made mussels and potatoes and chicken a la Normandie and real Champagne and a bouche de Noel (cake shaped like a log). It was fabulous. We needed it. We exchanged our Secret Santa gifts and there were smiles all around. I love these girls. Rach was my santa and she got me a french cook book along with a promise to help me learn (she's mortified at my lack of domestic skills). I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Oh and our upstairs neighbor (which I didn't know we had) came down and told us not to be so loud. That's when you know it's a good party. I suppose it was a Wednesday... Oh well. Joyeux Noel!
I love you all. I won't be reporting back until after the New Year. I'm heading up to London soon to see my family (!!!) and then to Paris and Caen with them. After they head back I get to see Dana (!!!) in Paris and then we're going to Belfast (where we're going to meet up with Irish Rach) and Edinburgh. I can't contain my excitement. I hope to have some good stories when I get back! Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year. Cheers!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
More Philosophy
So tonight I've prepared for tomorrow's "philosophy" class. Truth be told, this is one of the only classes I actually prepare for. And honestly, I don't have to prepare for it, but I want to. Sometimes you just want to work. It's strange. Anyway, the Capital Punishment thing has gone on for too long, so tomorrow they're going to start a discussion on abortion (cue gasps). Yes, this is not a friendly topic, and it wouldn't be allowed in many US high schools (least of all from a fake teacher like myself), but the French don't care. I can talk about whatever I want, because I'm a native English speaker. So, tomorrow I've come up with a plan to make this issue go a little smoother than CP did. The articles in the book on Social Ethics that I have (thanks again) are a bit too hard and technical, so I'm going a different route. Tomorrow they will get a worksheet with basic abortion vocab and some questions about what they already think in terms of the moral status of a fetus and the government's role in the whole thing.
This is certainly controversial, and many of the questions on the sheet are really hard (what makes a human a "person" ). They're not going to know what to say for some of them, but that's the point. I want them to be challenged. I want them to realize that there's more to think about than they thought. That's the whole point of all of this. Tomorrow will start with a partner activity, and I'll go around and discuss with the groups to see what they think. Towards the end we'll go over it as a class. Last time I started right away with an article, and it didn't go so well. This time I'm warming them up by having them think about what their opinion is to start with. At the end of class they'll be getting a seriously truncated version of Judith Thomson's famous "A Defense of Abortion" article. By truncated I mean: they will only read the story about the violinist. I chose that because a story will be easier to talk about than a straight up argument, and it's a good starting point for the "right to life" discussion (I thought about Marquis' personhood article, but I think these folks might struggle too much with that). Anyway, I have a class of Quakers, so we'll see if their life-loving sympathies extend to fetuses. I doubt it, but you never know.
Next week we'll talk about the story and whether or not it's analogous to pregnancy, and what it has to say about our intuitions when it comes to supporting the life of another person. Then we'll follow it up with a practical discussion of why people get abortions, what alternatives could be made available, and what problems might we run into if we actually outlawed it. I hope this gets them a bit more riled up than last week. If they are pro-choice, I'll push the pro-life side. If they're pro-life, I'll push the pro-choice side. I'll do anything to make them think outside their comfort zone.
In other news, the past few days have been rather lovely. It's been sunny (though cold, we had our first frost), and I've generally been enjoying life around these parts. No reason, really. I'm just a happy camper. Maybe it's because I get to see my family next Saturday! Or because I get to see Dana shortly? Or maybe it's just time things started looking up around here... Who knows. I miss you all though!
UPDATE: Taught the class this morning, and it went very well! The questionnaire beforehand helped a lot, so now they've all thought it through and will be ready to discuss next week. I went around and chatted with individual groups (less pressure, not in front of the class), and everyone talked to me at least once. Also, the discussion won't be dominated by the good English speakers because everyone has prepared their thoughts ahead of time, which is helpful. They struggled a lot with the issue of "personhood", but I expected that. I asked them at the end what they thought, and they were much more enthusiastic. One girl (a disengaged student last week) said she liked this better because it hits closer to home. She said, in French, "I like this subject because it could actually happen to me." She's more right than she knows. A girl who used to be in their class last year (and for some reason isn't this year) actually did have an abortion and is currently going through some serious mental issues related to it. MF gave me the heads up even though the girl wouldn't be in the class (because she probably has friends in the class). I started off by saying that we need to be respectful and sensitive because this is a hard subject (and so far, they all were). All opinions are welcome, so long as you can tell me why you hold them! Anyway, I snuck a peak at their questionnaires and most are pro-choice, though after reading through enough of their responses I discovered that most didn't have any good reason to be pro-choice (that's where I come in). I'm going to fight the pro-life battle (for the sake of balance), and get them to support their opinion with reasons. Should be fun! I'll keep you posted. (You can't imagine how much fun it was for me to see them actually engaged in this stuff. It brings a warm fuzzy feeling...)
This is certainly controversial, and many of the questions on the sheet are really hard (what makes a human a "person" ). They're not going to know what to say for some of them, but that's the point. I want them to be challenged. I want them to realize that there's more to think about than they thought. That's the whole point of all of this. Tomorrow will start with a partner activity, and I'll go around and discuss with the groups to see what they think. Towards the end we'll go over it as a class. Last time I started right away with an article, and it didn't go so well. This time I'm warming them up by having them think about what their opinion is to start with. At the end of class they'll be getting a seriously truncated version of Judith Thomson's famous "A Defense of Abortion" article. By truncated I mean: they will only read the story about the violinist. I chose that because a story will be easier to talk about than a straight up argument, and it's a good starting point for the "right to life" discussion (I thought about Marquis' personhood article, but I think these folks might struggle too much with that). Anyway, I have a class of Quakers, so we'll see if their life-loving sympathies extend to fetuses. I doubt it, but you never know.
Next week we'll talk about the story and whether or not it's analogous to pregnancy, and what it has to say about our intuitions when it comes to supporting the life of another person. Then we'll follow it up with a practical discussion of why people get abortions, what alternatives could be made available, and what problems might we run into if we actually outlawed it. I hope this gets them a bit more riled up than last week. If they are pro-choice, I'll push the pro-life side. If they're pro-life, I'll push the pro-choice side. I'll do anything to make them think outside their comfort zone.
In other news, the past few days have been rather lovely. It's been sunny (though cold, we had our first frost), and I've generally been enjoying life around these parts. No reason, really. I'm just a happy camper. Maybe it's because I get to see my family next Saturday! Or because I get to see Dana shortly? Or maybe it's just time things started looking up around here... Who knows. I miss you all though!
UPDATE: Taught the class this morning, and it went very well! The questionnaire beforehand helped a lot, so now they've all thought it through and will be ready to discuss next week. I went around and chatted with individual groups (less pressure, not in front of the class), and everyone talked to me at least once. Also, the discussion won't be dominated by the good English speakers because everyone has prepared their thoughts ahead of time, which is helpful. They struggled a lot with the issue of "personhood", but I expected that. I asked them at the end what they thought, and they were much more enthusiastic. One girl (a disengaged student last week) said she liked this better because it hits closer to home. She said, in French, "I like this subject because it could actually happen to me." She's more right than she knows. A girl who used to be in their class last year (and for some reason isn't this year) actually did have an abortion and is currently going through some serious mental issues related to it. MF gave me the heads up even though the girl wouldn't be in the class (because she probably has friends in the class). I started off by saying that we need to be respectful and sensitive because this is a hard subject (and so far, they all were). All opinions are welcome, so long as you can tell me why you hold them! Anyway, I snuck a peak at their questionnaires and most are pro-choice, though after reading through enough of their responses I discovered that most didn't have any good reason to be pro-choice (that's where I come in). I'm going to fight the pro-life battle (for the sake of balance), and get them to support their opinion with reasons. Should be fun! I'll keep you posted. (You can't imagine how much fun it was for me to see them actually engaged in this stuff. It brings a warm fuzzy feeling...)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Capital Punishment and the Quakers
So I've taught about capital punishment, CP, for about 3 weeks now. It's taken over a month (with the strikes), but I think we've made some progress. Let me tell you how it went. First thing: my students are, for all intensive purposes, Quakers (shaking, peace-loving folks). Right off the bat, a few key students were up in arms because CP is too violent. Being the most assertive students, everyone else soon followed their lead. The CP is wrong because it's mean, and because killing is ALWAYS wrong. This is what they told me. My work: harder than I thought. No, my goal is not to teach these kids that CP is a good thing, but rather it's to make them understand why it could be a good or bad thing. I want them to get past the initial emotional shock and try to reason it out. I laugh just writing that. What was I thinking?
The beginning was rough. We read an introductory text (about 1.5 pages) and they were completely lost. Wonderful. I tried to outline some basic arguments on either side, just roughly, so they'd be ready to read the texts (similar length, still introductory) about each side. Confusion all around. I had about one student "get it" the whole class period, and unfortunately she dominated the discussion (despite my attempts to rally the rest of the troops). A lot of them look disgruntled, and I couldn't tell if it's because the English was too hard or they didn't like the subject. I had one kid at the end of class tell me, "Zheeze 'ings are too 'ard to zink about. Is not zhe english, is too philosophie." Hmm. It's not the language, it's the philosophy that's the problem. What to do?
The next class they came, some what prepared, to discuss the retentionist arguments (pro side). Not everyone had read it, and of those that did, not many understood it. So I tried to ask them questions to evoke some level of understanding. I asked them about desert: do you deserve to die if you made someone else die? And, what are the problems with desert. For instance, can we rape rapists? Can we torture those who torture? I had the star student object that the executioner would be guilty of murder, and we'd have to kill 'im too. Okay we're thinking now. So I asked: does all killing equal murder?? I got a resounding yes from the classroom (hence the quaker-ness). So I asked: what if I accidentally cause your death? Okay, not the same, but still we're talking about intentional. I could not get them to see that killing could ever be justified. Finally I asked : if I was about to kill you and the only way you could survive was by killing me first, would you be justified in killing me? (Actually, I was more personal and asked would you actually kill me). Ohhh, now I see some minds change. I got quite a few people, a majority I believe, who would kill me first. There were several undecided's and two no's. My star player said no, killing is always wrong. Okay hun, I won't push it and ask: what if there was a classroom full of preschoolers and a terrorist was going to blow up the building and the only way to stop him was to kill him first, would it be okay? You may be willing to be a martyr, but should your view make a bunch of innocent children martyrs too? I could make the situation worse and worse until maybe she'd think it was okay, but I didn't try, not ready for that. My point here, and don't think I'm trying to be mean to the students, is to get them to think in unvisited territories, to challenge their preexisting beliefs. For some, it's starting to work. But others are still resisting.
The next week was abolitionist time, and things went better (namely because MF told the kids she was now going to grade them on participation). We discussed things like "sanctity of life" (and can it be forfeited), discrimination in the justice system, the innocence problem, etc. I think I got a little over eager when I tried to explain the difference between thinking about this issue in our world versus thinking about it in the ideal world. By ideal I mean: the principles of justice are perfectly applied (not that everyone is a saint). I wanted them to understand that many objections to CP, though not all, rely on "procedural" problems, or the problems we have when we put CP into practice today. They didn't get it. They were lost. I just wanted them to think about whether CP would be okay in a system where only the guilty got sentenced with CP and no discrimination was at play. If we could perfectly put it into practice, would it still be okay? Cue quizzical looks. Even MF was lost at that point. Oh well, I tried. I just wanted them to realize that the best arguments against CP must show that even in the ideal world CP is wrong. If it's wrong in the ideal, then it's wrong here. If you only show that it's wrong here, then you don't show it's wrong in other circumstances when justice might be better. That was the point. They didn't get it.
Anyway, even though not everyone got into it, there were a handful that really did (even if they didn't speak during class), and I loved watching them go from clueless to understanding when we walked through the arguments. I loved it. When you see someone who's been grappling with idea finally "get it," it's wonderful. I remember those moments for me, and they're awesome. The little mind epiphanies. Some refused to try, but those students will always be there. My job is to challenge the ones who are willing to open their minds for an hour a week and try out new ideas. I outlined the retribution, best bet, sanctity of life, discrimination, innocence and other arguments, and each one pushed them a little further towards understanding what's at stake. More importantly though, I asked them questions to get them to find the holes in the arguments, to show me where the arguments fail. What are the assumptions? What are the missteps? You don't agree with it? Good, now tell me why. I think I got through to some of them, and I think those students who have been trying are starting to marvel at their own capacity to think. They told me after class that it's hard, but they like it. I promised it would get easier as we went on. The more practice, the easier it becomes to understand these things. I'm not sure if they believed me, but they'll see it soon enough for themselves.
The hardest part of it all: getting them to find the answers themselves. I could stand up there and outline the arguments on my own and make them take notes, but I don't want to. I'm trying to get them to tell me the answer, and I have to ask questions to get them to realize it. That's hard. Really hard. The past few weeks have still be too much of me talking and explaining, but as we go, I hope it shifts to them. We'll see.
The beginning was rough. We read an introductory text (about 1.5 pages) and they were completely lost. Wonderful. I tried to outline some basic arguments on either side, just roughly, so they'd be ready to read the texts (similar length, still introductory) about each side. Confusion all around. I had about one student "get it" the whole class period, and unfortunately she dominated the discussion (despite my attempts to rally the rest of the troops). A lot of them look disgruntled, and I couldn't tell if it's because the English was too hard or they didn't like the subject. I had one kid at the end of class tell me, "Zheeze 'ings are too 'ard to zink about. Is not zhe english, is too philosophie." Hmm. It's not the language, it's the philosophy that's the problem. What to do?
The next class they came, some what prepared, to discuss the retentionist arguments (pro side). Not everyone had read it, and of those that did, not many understood it. So I tried to ask them questions to evoke some level of understanding. I asked them about desert: do you deserve to die if you made someone else die? And, what are the problems with desert. For instance, can we rape rapists? Can we torture those who torture? I had the star student object that the executioner would be guilty of murder, and we'd have to kill 'im too. Okay we're thinking now. So I asked: does all killing equal murder?? I got a resounding yes from the classroom (hence the quaker-ness). So I asked: what if I accidentally cause your death? Okay, not the same, but still we're talking about intentional. I could not get them to see that killing could ever be justified. Finally I asked : if I was about to kill you and the only way you could survive was by killing me first, would you be justified in killing me? (Actually, I was more personal and asked would you actually kill me). Ohhh, now I see some minds change. I got quite a few people, a majority I believe, who would kill me first. There were several undecided's and two no's. My star player said no, killing is always wrong. Okay hun, I won't push it and ask: what if there was a classroom full of preschoolers and a terrorist was going to blow up the building and the only way to stop him was to kill him first, would it be okay? You may be willing to be a martyr, but should your view make a bunch of innocent children martyrs too? I could make the situation worse and worse until maybe she'd think it was okay, but I didn't try, not ready for that. My point here, and don't think I'm trying to be mean to the students, is to get them to think in unvisited territories, to challenge their preexisting beliefs. For some, it's starting to work. But others are still resisting.
The next week was abolitionist time, and things went better (namely because MF told the kids she was now going to grade them on participation). We discussed things like "sanctity of life" (and can it be forfeited), discrimination in the justice system, the innocence problem, etc. I think I got a little over eager when I tried to explain the difference between thinking about this issue in our world versus thinking about it in the ideal world. By ideal I mean: the principles of justice are perfectly applied (not that everyone is a saint). I wanted them to understand that many objections to CP, though not all, rely on "procedural" problems, or the problems we have when we put CP into practice today. They didn't get it. They were lost. I just wanted them to think about whether CP would be okay in a system where only the guilty got sentenced with CP and no discrimination was at play. If we could perfectly put it into practice, would it still be okay? Cue quizzical looks. Even MF was lost at that point. Oh well, I tried. I just wanted them to realize that the best arguments against CP must show that even in the ideal world CP is wrong. If it's wrong in the ideal, then it's wrong here. If you only show that it's wrong here, then you don't show it's wrong in other circumstances when justice might be better. That was the point. They didn't get it.
Anyway, even though not everyone got into it, there were a handful that really did (even if they didn't speak during class), and I loved watching them go from clueless to understanding when we walked through the arguments. I loved it. When you see someone who's been grappling with idea finally "get it," it's wonderful. I remember those moments for me, and they're awesome. The little mind epiphanies. Some refused to try, but those students will always be there. My job is to challenge the ones who are willing to open their minds for an hour a week and try out new ideas. I outlined the retribution, best bet, sanctity of life, discrimination, innocence and other arguments, and each one pushed them a little further towards understanding what's at stake. More importantly though, I asked them questions to get them to find the holes in the arguments, to show me where the arguments fail. What are the assumptions? What are the missteps? You don't agree with it? Good, now tell me why. I think I got through to some of them, and I think those students who have been trying are starting to marvel at their own capacity to think. They told me after class that it's hard, but they like it. I promised it would get easier as we went on. The more practice, the easier it becomes to understand these things. I'm not sure if they believed me, but they'll see it soon enough for themselves.
The hardest part of it all: getting them to find the answers themselves. I could stand up there and outline the arguments on my own and make them take notes, but I don't want to. I'm trying to get them to tell me the answer, and I have to ask questions to get them to realize it. That's hard. Really hard. The past few weeks have still be too much of me talking and explaining, but as we go, I hope it shifts to them. We'll see.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
December creeps on in
This post is a bit of randomness, but then again, my week has been a bit of randomness, so it's not entirely my fault. Things are going, for better or worse. Work is back in gear (thankfully), and I'm starting to get back into the groove around here. So here's what's been happening:
Saturday night- This was concert night at the Liberties, our English pub, so naturally we went. Well, actually, I didn't really want to go (truth be told). It was raining, which isn't itself unusual or off-putting, but the music was advertised as hardcore rock/metal. Yeah. Not my style. But one of the girls really wanted to go, and another promised to go with, and I couldn't let them go it alone, so off we went. We even managed to rope in the girls from down the street, so we made a party of it. I saw my student Camille there and that was fun because I never see her anymore (after the England trip I realized she's not actually in any of my classes). I saw a few more students, which would normally be weird but in such a small town I didn't think much of it, and they were all very friendly and didn't treat me like an uncool teacher. Anyway, the music sucked. Well, the first band was okay because they used words. The other band, well they screamed, loudly. When no one sang the music was fine, but when the singer got going it was indiscernible screeches.... ehhh. Luckily we were upstairs and didn't have to really listen, and instead we focused on honing our pool-sharkness. Yes, we are awesome. I dare you to come and challenge us to a game.
Unfortunately, on the way home we ran into problems. As we walked by the elementary school where Irish Rach and Kate live, a man on the far side of the building was staring at us and started banging on the window to get our attention. Well, they thought they lived alone, and so the man was a surprise in and of himself, let alone the fact that he was banging on the window like a psycho. It was late, and they were freaked out, so we let them stay over at our house. From our flat they called the police to have the school checked out. The police were kind of mad, but they begrudgingly sent someone to check it out. They didn't find anything, but the girls weren't going back to the creepy school after they saw that guy. The police made them talk to the elementary headmaster about it, and all he could tell them was that another person may or may not live there. Helpful, those French. As of now, there have been no further sitings, but no updates on whether someone else actually lives there.
Sunday- Rhi and I trekked out to Church, this time with minimal rain. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Christmas season had begun. We even lit the advent candle! Though, it was a bit out of place because advent celebrations are typically German and English, not French, but these evangelicals decided to steal the tradition for themselves (having obviously abandoned the French-Catholic traditions, whatever those may be). So we lit the advent candle and sang Christmas carols. We sang one song that was awesome called "Comme une souffle fragile" (like a fragile breathe) and another that we actually sang in high school French called "Il est ne le divine enfant" (he is born the divine baby). I learned things. It was good. I'm feeling much more comfortable there. I haven't found fellowship, per se, but I am feeling more at home. I can go and know that everyone will be warm and welcoming. And most importantly, I can praise and honor the Lord. That reminds me of something I've been trying to learn. I used to look at Church and fellowship as things that I were made for me, not for God. Church should feed me, it should teach me things, it should suit my music/worship style tastes, etc. Notice the reoccurence of 'me' in there. It's that whole consumer-model religion. Religion is only worthwhile if it can serve me. That's wrong, obviously. But it's a hard attitude to get rid of. I'm trying now to get into the mindset that I'm here to serve, not be served. So yeah. Any-who, back to the church service.... After it was over they had lunch and we were invited. I didn't want to go, to be honest, but this 16yr old girl was taken with the 'foreigners' and wanted us to stay.... so we did. It was nice, but a little awkward. It was a 2 hour deal, and it was hard to stay interested for that long. But I'm glad we stayed, and I made a friend (who I think is named Sarah), so that was nice.
Sunday was the day of the big wind storm. I thought it was a hurricane or something. That night the power went out, several times, to the detriment of our now no longer working Christmas lights. Sadness.
Monday was less eventful (isn't this detailed play by play getting boring...sorry). I got McGyver (the French fix it man) to fix Rachel's light which neither of us could manage to change. How many anglophones does it take to unscrew a light bulb? More than 2, apparently. He came and unscrewed it with no problems, and then looked at me like I was some helpless american. But he didn't make fun of me. Then he fixed my heat so I no longer live in frigidness. My room feels like FL now, and I love it! On a bad note, Yves was mad at me. Apparently he didn't get my email or my note in his box or the message from the other teachers that I had to miss Monday's class 2 weeks ago to go to Paris early. Oops. He said the students showed up (the ones I still haven't seen yet for a variety of hit and miss incidents) and I wasn't there. Sorry. I left you 2 messages! What do you want? Whatever. I didn't really have a choice, and it's too late to fix it now. On a better note, I started debates with my other class, finally, and it went lovely. I'm finally excited to teach again. It's about time.
Tuesday- I used fill-in the lyrics with my BTS class (the 20 somethings). The rowdy class of footballers was really fun, actually, cause they sang along to Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girl. I had to listen to it about 20 times though. My 2nd group wasn't much fun because it was all the well behaved, but boring, girls. It's hard because I thought I'd like the well behaved students better, and I don't. They're just too dull. I'd rather they goof off and talk out of turn just so long as they look alive and interested. We'll see how next week goes. Maybe they just didn't care for music.
Wednesday- I went with Rachel to Rennes to pick up her boytoy Collin. It rained and rained and my feet were soaked. I gave in and bought some boots, but not French ones. I bought Wellies, yes, Wellies, the English rubber boots. It was either Cheetah or fake Burburry, and I went with the latter. I had to buy insoles too because they are literally just rubber. We'll see how they work out. At least my feet will stay dry. Oh and I randomly hurt my foot, and it hurts, sucky.
Okay I'm done. I felt like being long and boring today; don't ask me why. If you made it this far, well, props to you; you must be bored too. It's time for me to catch up on Laguna. Cheers.
Saturday night- This was concert night at the Liberties, our English pub, so naturally we went. Well, actually, I didn't really want to go (truth be told). It was raining, which isn't itself unusual or off-putting, but the music was advertised as hardcore rock/metal. Yeah. Not my style. But one of the girls really wanted to go, and another promised to go with, and I couldn't let them go it alone, so off we went. We even managed to rope in the girls from down the street, so we made a party of it. I saw my student Camille there and that was fun because I never see her anymore (after the England trip I realized she's not actually in any of my classes). I saw a few more students, which would normally be weird but in such a small town I didn't think much of it, and they were all very friendly and didn't treat me like an uncool teacher. Anyway, the music sucked. Well, the first band was okay because they used words. The other band, well they screamed, loudly. When no one sang the music was fine, but when the singer got going it was indiscernible screeches.... ehhh. Luckily we were upstairs and didn't have to really listen, and instead we focused on honing our pool-sharkness. Yes, we are awesome. I dare you to come and challenge us to a game.
Unfortunately, on the way home we ran into problems. As we walked by the elementary school where Irish Rach and Kate live, a man on the far side of the building was staring at us and started banging on the window to get our attention. Well, they thought they lived alone, and so the man was a surprise in and of himself, let alone the fact that he was banging on the window like a psycho. It was late, and they were freaked out, so we let them stay over at our house. From our flat they called the police to have the school checked out. The police were kind of mad, but they begrudgingly sent someone to check it out. They didn't find anything, but the girls weren't going back to the creepy school after they saw that guy. The police made them talk to the elementary headmaster about it, and all he could tell them was that another person may or may not live there. Helpful, those French. As of now, there have been no further sitings, but no updates on whether someone else actually lives there.
Sunday- Rhi and I trekked out to Church, this time with minimal rain. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Christmas season had begun. We even lit the advent candle! Though, it was a bit out of place because advent celebrations are typically German and English, not French, but these evangelicals decided to steal the tradition for themselves (having obviously abandoned the French-Catholic traditions, whatever those may be). So we lit the advent candle and sang Christmas carols. We sang one song that was awesome called "Comme une souffle fragile" (like a fragile breathe) and another that we actually sang in high school French called "Il est ne le divine enfant" (he is born the divine baby). I learned things. It was good. I'm feeling much more comfortable there. I haven't found fellowship, per se, but I am feeling more at home. I can go and know that everyone will be warm and welcoming. And most importantly, I can praise and honor the Lord. That reminds me of something I've been trying to learn. I used to look at Church and fellowship as things that I were made for me, not for God. Church should feed me, it should teach me things, it should suit my music/worship style tastes, etc. Notice the reoccurence of 'me' in there. It's that whole consumer-model religion. Religion is only worthwhile if it can serve me. That's wrong, obviously. But it's a hard attitude to get rid of. I'm trying now to get into the mindset that I'm here to serve, not be served. So yeah. Any-who, back to the church service.... After it was over they had lunch and we were invited. I didn't want to go, to be honest, but this 16yr old girl was taken with the 'foreigners' and wanted us to stay.... so we did. It was nice, but a little awkward. It was a 2 hour deal, and it was hard to stay interested for that long. But I'm glad we stayed, and I made a friend (who I think is named Sarah), so that was nice.
Sunday was the day of the big wind storm. I thought it was a hurricane or something. That night the power went out, several times, to the detriment of our now no longer working Christmas lights. Sadness.
Monday was less eventful (isn't this detailed play by play getting boring...sorry). I got McGyver (the French fix it man) to fix Rachel's light which neither of us could manage to change. How many anglophones does it take to unscrew a light bulb? More than 2, apparently. He came and unscrewed it with no problems, and then looked at me like I was some helpless american. But he didn't make fun of me. Then he fixed my heat so I no longer live in frigidness. My room feels like FL now, and I love it! On a bad note, Yves was mad at me. Apparently he didn't get my email or my note in his box or the message from the other teachers that I had to miss Monday's class 2 weeks ago to go to Paris early. Oops. He said the students showed up (the ones I still haven't seen yet for a variety of hit and miss incidents) and I wasn't there. Sorry. I left you 2 messages! What do you want? Whatever. I didn't really have a choice, and it's too late to fix it now. On a better note, I started debates with my other class, finally, and it went lovely. I'm finally excited to teach again. It's about time.
Tuesday- I used fill-in the lyrics with my BTS class (the 20 somethings). The rowdy class of footballers was really fun, actually, cause they sang along to Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girl. I had to listen to it about 20 times though. My 2nd group wasn't much fun because it was all the well behaved, but boring, girls. It's hard because I thought I'd like the well behaved students better, and I don't. They're just too dull. I'd rather they goof off and talk out of turn just so long as they look alive and interested. We'll see how next week goes. Maybe they just didn't care for music.
Wednesday- I went with Rachel to Rennes to pick up her boytoy Collin. It rained and rained and my feet were soaked. I gave in and bought some boots, but not French ones. I bought Wellies, yes, Wellies, the English rubber boots. It was either Cheetah or fake Burburry, and I went with the latter. I had to buy insoles too because they are literally just rubber. We'll see how they work out. At least my feet will stay dry. Oh and I randomly hurt my foot, and it hurts, sucky.
Okay I'm done. I felt like being long and boring today; don't ask me why. If you made it this far, well, props to you; you must be bored too. It's time for me to catch up on Laguna. Cheers.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Thursday night was interesting. After our assistant squabble, all four of us hung out, and everyone was on their best (most friendly) behavior. We went to our new favorite pub, Liberties (the english one), and had an interesting time as always. We were the only ones there for a good hour. I guess the French don't go to pubs on Thursday night before 11. Whatever, our apartment gets boring real fast, so we had no choice. We went and chilled for a bit, and then (as usual) got accosted by another french bloke. The pattern bears repeating for this reason: this was an older, less pushy, but still quite strange guy. I'd say he was in his late 30's / early 40's, and he came into the bar expecting to find someone with whom he could play pool (or, better, snooker which is not pool at all, and I don't think I spelled it right either). Since we were the only folks there, we were officially chosen. Rach and I figured, why not, it's his euro. So we played, and it was fine, but he was as strange as could be. It's hard to describe, but he was a little spazy. I think he has this obession with playing (though he's not very good, we were better, in fact) and he kept telling us how to make our shots by pointing at the place on the ball to hit or whatever. By spazy, I mean he was one of those nervous types that kind of jumps around and makes little sense when they speak. Anyway, Rhi and I won (ha!), so it didn't matter much. Before I hit the 8 in (which happened to be a direct shot), he said some bullocks about me having to hit the cue off three sides first. It's a rule. Yeah, whatever. Shush up while I school your team. You can try to extend the game all you want, but you and Rach have lost, so give it a rest. I hit the shot, game over. He wanted another, but our curtisy and politeness can only extend so far. We graciously declined and went back downstairs. It wasn't to be mean, but really, had we stayed, we wouldn't have been able to contain our laughter --and that would have been more mean. So there you have it. More french madness. Also, Danielle (another English barmaid) is our new friend. We talked to her a lot, and she is letting us name a new Christmas drink she made (which is delicious and has a glow stick!), so we have to brainstorm and come back with a good name. I'm thinking "Berry Christmas." Also, I had the girls watch Blue Collar Comedy, and they loved it. Irish Rachel really loved it because she couldn't get enough of their accents. She gets a kick out of mine, so you can imagine... Good times.
Now for the point of the post! I have declared it Christmas season in our flat, and daggumit we will celebrate. Now some of you know that I am usually the least spirited at school. I am toast, everyone else is whitebread (um check the madison comics section).
But here, no one wants to get into it and so I feel almost obligated to spread the holiday cheer. We found a Christmas tree in the closet (if you can call it that), and it came pre-decorated with red star lights and red bulbs. Awesome. Then I went to the store and picked up some lights and more bobbles (as Rach calls them). We strung up the lights and hung the bobbles from the ceiling in our artistic fashion. It's awesome. The flat of boringness is now the Noel haven. I have some pictures if you don't believe me. Oh and of course, all of this was done with my Christmas music in the background (much to Rachel's dismay). Check out our tree and lights: (ps notice how the tree, when lit, looks like a burning bush....a sign??)
Now for the point of the post! I have declared it Christmas season in our flat, and daggumit we will celebrate. Now some of you know that I am usually the least spirited at school. I am toast, everyone else is whitebread (um check the madison comics section).
But here, no one wants to get into it and so I feel almost obligated to spread the holiday cheer. We found a Christmas tree in the closet (if you can call it that), and it came pre-decorated with red star lights and red bulbs. Awesome. Then I went to the store and picked up some lights and more bobbles (as Rach calls them). We strung up the lights and hung the bobbles from the ceiling in our artistic fashion. It's awesome. The flat of boringness is now the Noel haven. I have some pictures if you don't believe me. Oh and of course, all of this was done with my Christmas music in the background (much to Rachel's dismay). Check out our tree and lights: (ps notice how the tree, when lit, looks like a burning bush....a sign??)
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