Snow

After what can only be suprised as spring weather. ( blossoms appearing on trees) winter has finally arrived. Yesterday was freezing cold, I spent the day working which went well and then went to an assistants house for dinner. I woke up to snow...it has continued to snow all day and it seems that Digne has ground to a halt because of it. Here is a picture from my bedroom window


Two weekends ago I went to le chemain de fer de l'ubaye basically its a railroad that was never finished. All that was left to put down were the tracks but then WWII happened so it was never finished it was really interesting and fun to walk through the tunnels. I was going to post pictures here but blogger is being annying so here is the link to my facebook album

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150523595384340.382948.686699339&type=3

I am going to the movies tonight with my cousin Donifan. As much as I love the novelty of snow from my window I am sure going outside will be a totally different experience

My bucket list

I have a bucket list of places I want to go and things I want to do with my life and by the end of my trip most of my bucket list will have been filled

So here is my bucket list
1) Finish uni (done)

2) Get a great job (I have had many great jobs ,sadly none of them permanenet (grr fixed term contracts)

3)Travel ( currently doing this now)

4)Improve my French (living in France I think it's a given that this one has been met, according to mum I am now fluent!

5) Go to Rome (I just booked tickets to go in Febuary the other day!!!)

6) Go to Egypt (if all goes to plan I will be in Egypt for my birthday)

7) Live on my own/ gain independance(I think moving to a different country and flatting counts) It could be hard going back to living with the parentals.

Basically by the time I get back to NZ I will have completed my bucket list (Here is hoping that something major does not happen in Egypt ).


So as you can see by the time I get back to New Zealand I will have bascally completed my bucketlist

Today I went shopping, its the sales today. I brought this cute little dress (that was not on sale!) and a shirt that was. I also brought toilet paper. Have I mentioned that most of the toilet paper in France is pink!!!. Kaia and I went out for drinks last night and we both ordered a glass of red wine, its the same price as a hot chocolate which made us laugh. I am having a great time sampling the wines here in France. I have discouvered that I like red wine more than white but I also love Rose.

School

Hello there,

I realise that I have actually not written much about my job, the reason I came to France. I came expecting the worst, having heard horror stories but for the most part it has been great. I teach kids from 3 years old to 11. Iv found that it's the 11 years old ones that are the most challenging, especially as the teacher has them doing other stuff during the lesson which shows the kids that english does not matter.

Things i have learnt

Kids love to colour- give them an activity involving colouring and they will generally behave well
Games work well- bingo, simon says, describe the object

With French kids you have to be viscious, you take no prisoners, they are use to their teachers being super strict with them so in order not to get walked over you have to become a dictator, examples of this include
-Making a class write out lines
-sending kids back to the teacher
I try generally not to yell at the kids, the teachers do it enough. I find pointing out their maturity level works well in calming them

"I can't believe I am seeing this kind of behaviour from a group of CE2/CM1. Are you sure you are not meant to be in CP"

At first I tried to be the nice guy but after one lesson I realised, I would rather be a dictator in the classroom than have the kids be out of control

Cute moment of the day- when a kid commented that I should have eaten more fruits and vegetables because then I would be taller, this from a 4 year old:)