Present, Tardy, Absent

France is wack.  This is obviously not news to me, I'm quite used to many French things (put bread on the table, not your plate; shops are closed from 12 to 2 while restaurants are open, etc.)  Yet every so often, I am reminded that I am not quite a French citizen.

At the beginning of my year here, I never imagined myself refusing to let students enter my classroom - if they wanted to learn, of course I would teach them!  But as the year has passed and I have experienced some of the same powerlessness that I imagine many of the teachers at my school also feel, I began to understand this practice.And last week, I locked some students out of my classroom.

Now, some background.  There are no clocks in any of my classrooms, and the bells in the school only work some days - and when they do work, you can't hear them in every classroom.   I thus rely on my watch and try to avoid relying on the students (who just want to leave early).  Additionally, teachers don't have their own classrooms, they move around just as students do.  Sometimes teachers must move from building to building.  Students thus get used to their teachers being late, and behave accordingly.  Furthermore, I live in the South of France, where two minutes late is not really considered late. 

On Tuesdays, I have a class that starts at 10:05.  The entire school has a break from 950 to 1005, and my students are always late upon their return.  They have English class with their teacher in the same room from 9 to 950, so they leave their belongings in the room and take their sweet time - I often pass them in the hallway as I am walking to the room.  Since they have English immediately before, I do not get to take attendance and thus cannot mark them late.  I much prefer a school system where being late can impede your graduation, rather than simply disqualify you from being able to receive "congratulations" on your report card, as it does in France.  The most I can generally do with these students is tell them off , but last week I had had enough.  Five to ten minutes late, three weeks in a row sounded like a habit that would be disadvantageous to encourage.

A moment after the ball rang, I got my key and locked the door.  At this point, I had four students (out of 13) - including two who literally ran in as the bell rang.  Starting about five minutes later, the remaining students began to knock.  After a few minutes of knocking, I told them that because they were late, they could not come in.  Yet they continued!  Finally, they found their teacher, who let them in via another door.

I immediately told the teacher (who is a strong proponent of locking students out) that I would not accept these students as they were late.  Thusly, he told them to pick up their bags and leave.  The students were shocked!  They attempted to protest in French, and he informed them : "Perhaps other teachers are always late, but she is always here at 10:05."

Who knew that denying my students the opportunity to learn - and they are a class that I particularly look forward to- would leave me feeling so empowered?

Oy vey!!

Sarah has been here this week - fun times !!!  Pictures to follow.

Bisous,
Samantha

Photos from Paris Vacay

A few photos from my recent vacation (two weeks ago), with Nora and Nicole!  I'm back in Paris now for the weekend, Sarah is here!  We'll return to Toulon tomorrow.  

Tea at the paris Mosque

Paris Mosque

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial, Pere Lachaise - very powerful memorials

Buna, Monowitz, Auschwitz III Memorial, Pere Lachaise

Buchenwald and Dora Dora

Dachau

KL Natzweiler-Struthof Memorial

Auschwitz Berkinow

Auschwitz Berkinow

Click on the photos for larger versions, and click here for more photos!
Bisous,
xoxo
Samantha

Bummed Out

Hi all,

You know, I get the question: "Would you like to live in France?" a few times a month.  I'm never sure how to answer it.  I love France.  I love the language, I love the style of life: long lunches, good bread, good cheese, good wine.... So much is just ... better here.

But some things are not.  Obviously, the US is far from perfect.  But in the US, I rarely find myself worrying about anti-Semitism, especially in big cities.  At Tufts, I found a nurturing Jewish community and a student community who was receptive to learning about my culture and values.  Yet in Paris, a fully modern metropolis, I was careful to hide my Judaism.  I left my favorite necklace, which has a Jewish star, at home for the duration of my semester abroad.  When I went to synagogue, I was questioned just as I was when taking the airplane to Israel - a necessary security measure since the synagogue (Rue Copernic) had been bombed in 1980.

Here in Toulon, the Jewish community is not large.  I learned this as I investigated temples to attend Yom Kippur services (there is one! - much, much more traditional than I am used to).  The Jewish community center in Toulon is fenced in and pushed back from the street.  The Arab community here is large, - and I have been warned about hiding my identity (more stereotyping?!) but I personally have not witnessed tension or felt unsafe.  And aside from the stupidities sometimes repeated by my students, Anti-Semitism has not been a major part of my life here.

Yet a few weeks ago, I went with some friends to a park that is a five minute walk from my house.  Where we discovered swastikas "decorating" the play equipment:

And today I opened up my email and Facebook to learn that a Rabbi and three children were shot outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, a city a mere 280 miles from me.  

I don't have the words to express my sadness at this tragic event.  My condolences to the families who are now suffering as a result of this vicious attack.  

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me to stay safe, mucho amore, I'm doing my best :)

Love always,

xoxo

Samantha

March Madness!

Hello beloved blog-readers,

Thanks again for checking out my little corner of the internet.  My first week back to the school has been pretty eventful, mostly because it's the second-most exciting time of the year. (The most exciting time of the year is December 14, my birthday, which none of you readers sent me gifts for.  No, I'm not still bitter).  ANYWHOOO, if you live in a sports-void, you don't know that this week is March Madness: the college basketball tournament where anything can (and often does!) happen.

Thusly, I have been doing March Madness with my students: we study a short text explaining what March Madness is and the nature of the tournament, then we look at some statistics, then I set them free to fill out their own brackets.  This process involves explaining, re-explaining and then lots more re-explaining, but they get the general gist of it by the end.  I make sure to tell them that it is their choice if they want to use statistics or just "follow their whims" (new vocab!)... resulting in many GREAT picks.

Some highlights:

• Confusion over Colorado and Colorado State, Michigan and Michigan State, etc...
• A student taking Detroit (a 15 seed) to the final four, because "Detroit is tough"
• Lots of students taking Kentucky all the way - KENTUCKY FRIEND CHICKEN!!
• Xavier and Notre Dame, two schools with French names, going far in many brackets
• One girl who took Montana to the championship game because she "looooves Hannah Montana"
• Students named Xavier getting really excited, other students dissing them ("Xavier, I'm picking you to LOSE!")
• Excitement about Harvard, yet upon further reflection the decision that Harvard is too bookish to be good at basketball

Basically, it's been hella fun.  I told them that the winners in each class got cupcakes/brownies, so we'll see how it plays out...

Pictures/stories from vacation coming soon!

Bisous,

xoxo

Samantha

P.S. I picked Kentucky.

Back in Toulon

So.  I don't like travelling.  I know this seems crazy, considering I've been to at least 8 countries in the past 5 years alone, but it's true, I really don't.  I really like the part where I arrive at my destination, but the part that actually involves transit....not so much.  Travelling always involves all kinds of stress: Will I make my connections? Will there be delays? Will someone steal my wallet/passport? Will I arrive in one piece? Will I be able to stay hydrated even though clean bathrooms aren't guaranteed? Of course, I've had plenty of uneventful trips, but just by sheer number of trips I've taken recently, you can bet I've had my fair share of mishaps.

And my trip back from England turned out to be one of those .... more eventful trips.  The night before I left, I realized I couldn't find my wallet anywhere (it was in our rental car).  On my train out of Bristol, I promptly "lost" my ticket, got off the train, spoke with (got grumped at by) a ticket agent and missed the train. Obviously, I found my ticket hidden between two receipts in my (not-lost) wallet a few moments after.  I was able to take the next train (just a half hour later) and so I attempted to be om and zen and think good thoughts for a less-strenuous rest of my trip.

Alas, it was not to be.  I got to the airport in London and was not surprised that my carry-on bag got marked aside for failing the x-ray test.  I was carrying my mom's 30-year-old film camera, which has set off security in the past (the large lens is usually what does it).  Now, the screening process in London is different from the US: your luggage goes through a machine and either passes through so you can recover it, or gets diverted to a separate table, where you wait for a security agent to pick it up and examine it.  In addition to looking to see if you have oversize liquids, they have a piece of fabric attached to a special wand with which they probe your items.  Then they place the piece of fabric into a machine to determine the threat.

Of course, there were about six people ahead of me whose luggage had to be searched, and unpacking and repacking is not an express process.  When it was finally my turn, a good-humored security agent picked up my bag and hummed as she went through it.  We had a nice chat about the copy of Glamour that I had in my bag, she had the same one - it came with a free bottle of conditioner, with which she was very pleased.  At my advisory, she checked the camera first and it did not set off the machine.  However, when she probed my iPod, it did set off the machine.  She told me that she'd need to recheck it - standard protocol.  No problem, I told her.

The second time, the machine went off again.  The next step in the protocol was to call her supervisor to look at it.  He arrived, they discussed the problem, and they informed me that the next step in protocol was to do a private search, as well as call The Authorities to check that my passport was in order.  "No problem," I told them again - but this time I asked - "What exactly is going on?  I understand that the machine has gone off twice and this is all just protocol, but - why did the machine go off?"  "Your iPod has tested positive for a substance used in explosives", they explained.  Ummmmm..............okay ?!

I went with another security agent for my private body search (nothing too invasive, I got to keep all my clothes on) and then made "casual conversation" (aka to see if I would get nervous) with the supervisor while he went through my bags again.  He was satisfied (the third probe of my iPod did not yield any more alarms, neither did anything else I was carrying), so we were left to wait for The Authorities.  The Authorities turned out to be two tall police officers carrying AK-47s.


The supervisor informed them he had followed all protocols, of course, and was satisfied that I did not pose an imminent threat. After a few minutes they too decided that I did not pose an imminent threat and could continue on my voyage.  Luckily, that concluded the "excitement" of my journey and I made it on the plane, train, and bus back to my apartment with no further incidents.

Thanks for reading!  Also, quick shout out to Kels, Ally, and Grandbobby - thanks for the snail mail!!  I love you extra :)
xoxo
Samantha