January

Putain la vache, it's freezing! I was so cold this morning cycling to college that for the first time in my life I understood the phrase 'a biting wind'...my hands were so cold I could hardly move them, and every breath I took was so icy my lungs hurt. I suppose we had it coming- for a couple of weeks it was mild- too mild. And suddenly Mother Nature blasts us with an Arctic chill to cruelly remind us that no, winter isn't over, you silly little humans.

Coldness aside, January has been alright. It's galette season, which is nice. The 'galette des rois' is a tradition involving a flaky pastry cake inside which two 'fevres' are hidden (tiny little cartoon figurines of the nativity, or suchlike) The two lucky diners who nearly break a tooth on the fevre snuggled in their slice of galette get to wear a paper crown. I like it- in England there's this post-Christmas lull in January where there seems to be nothing in particular to look forward to. In France, there's cake. I also sampled my first 'raclette' last weekend. It's pretty much cheese fondue (though the French vehemently deny this) but instead of having a big melting pot you have little shovel type things you heat cheese up in on a big hob, then you pour it over your potatoes/ham/everything else tasty on your plate. Yummy!

School is kind of wearing me out at the moment. I know 12 hours a week isn't a lot but most of my lessons a) begin early in the morning b) are in the second half of the week, so I get tired all at once. I work until 4 on friday and start at 8 on monday, so it's not like I can take a long weekend either. The kids at college today were awful. Luckily I only had a class of 6 pupils on my own, which was fine, but the other two, in which I was with the teacher, were so rowdy. Every time I tell someone I work at College Begon (in the 'zup'- a deprived area) they do this thing where they kind of take in their breath sharply and make this sympathetic face. I have to admit, the kids are a lot rowdier than at my lycee (they're also younger) but until now I haven't found it a big problem. I really felt for the teachers today though, because the pupils were unmanageable. I don't know why all of a sudden they are being so disruptive- I saw a fight in the hallway before my second class, and in my third the teacher spent the greater part of the lesson shouting. Maybe it's mid-winter blues affecting them, but I would have thought that would make them depressed rather than aggressive.

Lycee is better, and they do at least get the work I give them done. I do feel so young though, and not really in a position to be a teacher. Conversation classes of 2 or 3 students is fine, but when I have 12 terminale students sat there expecting me to be teaching them something of value, I feel like I'm failing them a bit. I tend to get them to do dialogues, role plays, games and quizzes, but it's a challenge to think of new things each week. I do think I have a lot more confidence now as a result- I've never been a great public speaker but when you're in that situation you just stand up there at the front and do your job. So I guess that's at least one good thing.