I can't sing...

When I was in primary/ intermediate and even high school I was in the chior. Looking back on it I wonder why my parents encouraged me in this because the fact is I can't sing. I am doing body parts with my students this week and thus the "head shoulders knees and toes " song comes out. For the first class I did not bring my laptop thinking to sing it accopela . I sing it once to show them and the kids cracked up, admittadly so did I when I heard my voice as I hit some notes. The next lessons I smarted up and brought my laptop
On a high note (no pun intended lol) the kids love the song especially the actions

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:)

unrealistic expectations

I thought it would be different here, I really did. I thought to myself ``ok Marseille is a big city, it has to be different right`` WRONG. Now you all might be wondering what I am talking about. I am talking about the lack of public toilets in France. I mean seriously! seriously! It is like the french have no concept of what a public toilet is. Today I went to a museum, while there I wanted to go to a toilet only to be told `non on a pas de toilet ici`` (no we don`t have toilets here). All this in a suprisecd `where does she think she is tone`. I am baffled...what I thought was just a small town quirck is actually nation wide

A dog came into a coffee shop today...it then started barking its head off. It still amazes me that they let dogs in coffee shops, but in anycase a lot of things in France amaze me...not just the lack of public toilets. Oh and for all the warnings I got about Marseille, I have yet to harrased in any form (except by people wanting to read passages of the bible to me) I find that in cases like these rattling off a string of english will get rid of them.

The museum was great, it had what I love ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome so I was in heaven, it took me a while to get there however. I was told at the tourist office that it would take half an hour max...took me about twice that,mainly due to the fact that once you get to the neighbourhood its very hard to find but I had fun walking around the quaint streets and stumbled across a cool cathedral until I found the museum.

That night I went out to dinner , I promised mum I would have bouilbasse but the weather had other ideas, due to the strong winds none of the boats had gone out. Since the restaurant I was in specialised in seafood they were only able to offer one dish to everyone, it was an entree of salad with pine nunts and then steak and chips with a very yummy pesto sauce and a creme brulee. It was I must say one of the best steaks I have ever had. I had it very rare and it was perfect...my teeth are hurting just thinking about it.

Vertigo hostel is great, I ended up in a room with a very nice girl called Fatima we went to coffee together and dinner and just walked around the port, the christmas market was on with its foire des santons and selling all christmas stuff. It still is not snowing here but I will be having a white christmas in Barcelonnette

The last few weeks

School is over for the term and now it is the Christmas Holidays and all I can say is BRING IT ON!!!!. Seriously I am so burnt out at the moment that the last week of teaching was a real struggle. One thing that I find fascinating about french kids is that their education system has managed to zap them of all independant thought or ideas

Anais- Ok Class I would like you to write this down
Kid One: In pen or pencil
Anais- (stays calm) in pen.


Anais; I would like you to colour this red
Kid: In felt or colouring in pencil
Anais (Head explodes)
Kid -holds up three types of red that have hardly any difference
Which one do I use....?
Anais- Argggggggggggggggggggg

If the french education system is guided to squah individual though then they are on the right track....

Another interesting observation is at recre(break) kids have to ask the teachers permission to go and drink (there are no fountains outside). If there is ever a problem they will go up to a teacher and go "maitresse so and so hit me...."

As an outsider all I can do is laugh and ponder at the fate of these children if they ever move overseaa and realise that, no one cares if you draw in felt tips or pencils as long as you do the right colour.

For christmas I am going to Marseille for the weekend then to Barcelonnette (where it is snowing!) and then to Avignon....

Cooking and other things

Since living on my own (well technically there are two other people in this apartment but we hardly see each other due to our schedules). I have come to realise how much I love cooking, I don't know there is just something about being able to make what I want when I want that appeals to me. That and the fact that food here is so goooooooooood. Some of my favourite foods

Sausisson . How can we not have this in New Zealand
Jambon Cru- I have to be so careful with this because I can get carried away and eat the whole packet in one setting
yoghurt- The selection is amazing, I am trying every sort of flavour there is
Orange juice- I also tend to get carried away in this. I brought a two litre bottle of Orange juice yesterday and one litre has gone,
mushrooms- so quick to cook and you can add them to anything

Speaking of food, Claire, Kaia and I went to a crepe restaurant in Digne the other night, it seems we are infamous in this restaurant because the first thing the owner said when he saw us was "oh the girls who won't stop laughing". He was wearing a cool all blacks jersey, I did not ask him about it though....its not really the done thing, had a great night though and the waiter kept us amused .

In terms of school it is going ok, I have the permission from the teachers to write down the names of students that are misbehaving and they then have to write lines at the recre. I have done this and it seems to be working well, now the kids are a lot better behaved as they know I have the power to punish them, and I have used it.

I have moments of real pleasure in class though when kids really get it and show me that they have understood but I know that teaching is not for me.

Shout out to Emma Hyde who is the one who inspired me to update, I was checking out her Tumblr and saw her entry about me:)

Christmas is just around the corner and in celebration I have put up a tree in my room. Two weeks left and then the holidays:)