C'est fini!

My mother, the Professor of Education, watched me teach this morning.

I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my entire life.

It was like eighteen hundred piano exams all rolled into one on top of the SAT, a job phone interview, AND approaching a girl and asking her to dance.

My mother's assessment of my teaching? She says, and I quote, "Emily, you're a natural!"

I just about died and went to heaven. Seriously. If I hadn't had to teach right after that, I think I would have burst into tears. Eight months of stress and confusion, frustration and nervousness... gone. My parents both thought I did a great job (thanks, Celine! (yeah, I used part of her lesson plan)) and they were both really impressed.

This means so much to me. I could get hit by a bus (as I almost am every single day) and I would die happy.

More on this later. I'm going to go to the gym to work off the cookies I had post-work and all the stress and nervousness that I've let built up.

not gonna lie

yesterday was a bad day.

but today was SO GOOD!

It comes down to two things

1: I tried giving three fifteen year-old girls English lessons to help them review for their exam tomorrow. Turns out I learned probably as much as they did (you know, what verb tenses we have and all of that) but I think I explained what they needed pretty well so *phew* am not total failure in my own language.

2: I saw my kids perform in their "conte musical" ce soir (after five minutes of not remember what we call that in English, it was pointed out to me that a 'conte musical' is, indeed, a musical). These kids have been working on this shindig for TWO YEARS, writing the story, the lyrics, the instrumental parts. Their music teacher wrote the accompaniment and the kids just sang with such gusto. I, of course, understood not a word because hi, sung French? Really hard to understand. Mumbly sung little-kid French? Even harder. And yeah, my comprehension isn't where it needs to be. But that's ok! Because it was all just so cute! I knew every single kid on the stage - I have interacted with each and every one of them. I know I have gotten at least one smile out of each student. As insane as they are, they're also eager little kids who just want to play and have fun and make their parents proud and joke around with each other.

That was great.

Tomorrow? Road trip!!

Monday Monday

So Fenouil is closed until May 7th.

WHY oh WHY!?

Y'day was ridiculous. Called in sick in the morning so I could round out seventeen and a half hours curled up in the fetal position in my bed. Went in to work for the afternoon and then over to a co-worker's house to help her daughter with English. It was there that I ended up agreeing to help the other daughter with her English every Monday after school. Am I CRAZY!? On Mondays I'm usually dead by three p.m. Way to go, Emily. Oh well, I think this'll be cool - they have a GIANT t.v. ecran and, since I haven't seen real tv in like seven months, methinks they'll let me stick around to watch the news! In French!

Post-English lesson I returned chez moi to reunite and dine with Robyn and my colocatrice, Darija (omg Darija leaves in like two weeks. I tot cannot handle that). Robyn and I bounced to Red Sky to hear some open mike-ing and I ended up singing and getting the crowd all crazy like! I do believe that Celine and Katie and Emily and I will all be sharing a stage in the very near future singing everything from Jason Mraz to Lisa Loeb to Girlyman to Joshua Radin. Should be a VERY good time. Meanwhile, I had me some awkward moments with a French guy who fell in love with me one time but that's a whole other story.

Then we went to Melting Potes and it was like "oh hi, hello WORLD" because everyone plus their mom and their mom's mom was there. So many new anglophones. I forgot that Erasmus continues throughout the year even though last season's batch went home so now every week there are more people to meet. I also forget that on Mondays I should at least attempt a teeny bit to look good because I spent from 9 onwards meeting new people, bise-ing, singing/talking/etc and it is no good if I look like crud.

So yeah, Mondays are my busiest and most exhausting days and now they just got a lil' more hectic. Let's get this party started, y'all.

In other news, I just applied for the World's Most Random Job. Will keep you posted.
In other other news, only eleven more weeks of me being here, I do believe.

Things that make me happy: cinnamon and raisins in my cereal in the morning.
Being greeted by my little kids yesterday and jumpin' some rope with them.
Water

mais tu n'es pas venue ce matin?

This morning I called in sick because I had to spend seventeen and a half hours in bed due to monstrous stomach ache (whoops! cooked with oil! and by "cooked with oil" i mean that I tried to make homemade tortilla chips so was frying them and thena te one before it was fully cooked so it was like I just up and licked the pan. NOT a bonne idee, I tell you what). But I said I'd come in for the afternoon so I'd get to see at least a few of my kiddies.

I get there at the end of lunch and am swarmed by little kids

"AHHHHHHH EMILIE WHERE WERE YOUUUUUUUUUU?" was the general question I was getting asked when I stepped out to watch the kids at recreation.

Oh man... THAT is why I made my teachers let me make up my hours on Thursday.