la pré-rentrée

Today is Labor Day in the U.S., and for the first time in my life, I had to go to school! No fair! But since I had an extra-long summer vacation this year, I think I've more than made up for it.

This morning, Laurence was kind enough to pick me up for work "so I wouldn't have to arrive all alone." I can see why Nathalie asked her to be my mentor - she's quite thoughtful and genuinely nice. We had coffee and pastries while everyone arrived, and eventually made it upstairs to a large classroom for our morning meeting.

Since it's our principal's first year, she introduced herself first. She explained that she really wanted to come to Poix, but was told that she'd never get the job. She was advised to put another school down as her first choice, and then put Poix as her second. She was very pleased then, when she was in fact assigned to her second choice. Je suis la plus heureuse des femmes, she announced to the group. After her introduction, she went down the list of employees so she could put faces with the names. What I liked most about this meeting was that ALL of the school employees were there: administrators, counselor, teachers, secretaries, cleaning staff, the cooks, surveillants and building maintenance. It really gave me a sense that the whole school is working together for the good of the students. Something to consider back at home...

I received my teaching schedule as well. French school schedules are quite different than American. On average, teachers are in the classroom 18 hours a week (as opposed to the 22.5 hours I'm teaching at CSAS). If they've achieved a higher level of certification - l'agrégation - they teach only 15 and are paid more. Imagine that! Another difference is that my days aren't all the same. On Mondays, I teach 6 hours; Tuesdays, I have 5. I don't teach at all on Wednesdays! Thursdays, I teach 4 hours, and on Fridays - and I'm not sure who to thank for this - I go in late, teach 2 hours, and am finished by 11:30. Long weekends, here I come!!

The other thing worth mentioning about the pre-school meeting is our lunch. Remember my lunch at the high school in Hirson in December? We started with l'apéritif - we had chips and a choice of fruit juice, white wine or kir. Imagine their surprise when I said that is illegal in the States! Then we had a buffet froid with a choice of salads, tabouli, fruits and charcuterie. With that, a choice of cidre, rosé or vin rouge. Next, a cheese course. Pierre was impressed that 1) I can appreciate a good French cheese and 2) I knew to drink red wine with my cheese. Finally, we had a plum tart. All of this was prepared in the school cafeteria, where the cooks dress like chefs. In 12 years of teaching, I have probably purchased 12 lunches from school cafeterias (and not once in the past 3 years). I'm certain that average will shift considerably this year...