Flood zone

Saturday, December 12, 2009
Been a while since I wrote, so here goes a large recap… My Thanksgiving dinner with the other teaching assistants was wonderful, could not have asked for anything better! There were 5 American assistants there, and I invited my friend Leah, then some more American/British/French invitees that either knew one of us assistants or knew the other people who lived in the apartment (Stephanie, the assistant who hosted the dinner, has 2 French roommates). For the most part everyone was bilingual, so when we went around the table before eating our meal, a majority of the people gave thanks in French and not English. It was a great atmosphere to celebrate an American holiday with an international crowd, and there was more than one person having their first Thanksgiving feast ever! I was in charge of bringing wine after informing Stephanie I really don’t cook, nor do I have an oven in my apartment. Leah was asked to bring sweet potatoes, so I helped her ‘cook’ the day before by cracking walnuts for the topping of the sweet potato dish. Both my wine and Leah’s sweet potatoes were a hit at the table.
My English classes continue to go well, and I am getting more comfortable with interacting with the other teachers in my schools. I will never get over my amazement of how nice they are in real life compared to how much they yell and scream at the kids in the classroom, and I have started to pick up their style of yelling at the kids in attempt to get them to calm down. I’d rather not pick up that habit because I don’t personally think it’s the best way to teach- Hey kids, you’re horrible and I’m going to yell at you and make you cry, so I really hope you want to listen to what I have to teach… That’s not a joke either, the students are reprimanded in front of all their peers and I have seen more than one child brought to tears after being disciplined. Although, I think I gained more respect from one of my classes when I finally broke down and sent a really disruptive kid out into the hallway. I was beginning my last class on Friday afternoon (so the kids are all anxious to go home) and their regular teacher was outside the door talking with another teacher. While I started to get class going, the students would not stop talking, but one boy in particular was being a huge nuisance. So I finally got so frustrated I told him to just leave, go stand outside the classroom. That really silenced the class, and virtually no one talked out of turn for my next 45 min. Before gaining control I asked the kids why they were so rowdy and one girl replied, “Because our teacher isn’t in the classroom.” To which I responded, “I’m the teacher!” (Haha, yeah right- I’m the American who doesn’t get mad and speaks with a funny accent). But, after sending the student to the hallway, my image must have slightly changed in their eyes, knowing that I do have it in me to discipline students if I really need to. After allowing the boy to come back in to his seat, he didn’t talk the rest of class (meaning he gave me the silent treatment and that wasn’t a great feeling), but I don’t regret sending him to the hallway.
I was finally paid for October and November on November 30th, so I treated myself to a shopping spree to start my Xmas shopping. I met up with a friend Sydney and we went window shopping at the expensive Paris department stores that set up Christmas scenes every year in their store windows (think Marshall Field’s in Chicago). The French word for window shopping is “lèche-vitrines” which translates to “window licking,” I think I like their term better than ours. So, after Sydney and I finished ‘licking the windows’ at the expensive department stores, we headed to a different part of the city with a shopping street for normal, not bourgeoisie Parisians. With the idea in my head that I’d like to start my Christmas shopping, I found plenty of things I wanted to buy for myself. At the end of the day I did finally buy a few things for other people, but I came home with a new coat, a new dress, a new skirt, 2 new shirts, and a pair of tights for myself. So the outfit I wore to work the next day was completely new :) After when I was with my au pair kids, the mom commented to her daughter how I looked so nice and put-together in my skirt, tights, and purple ankle boots, and why doesn’t her daughter dress more like that? Pauline was wearing jeans and a sweater, which is also my usual outfit. I’m pretty sure Pauline and I both wear jeans on a regular basis because they are easy and comfortable. Thanks for never badmouthing how to I dress Mom, I appreciate it!
I noticed the corners in my bathroom were always a little wet, so I told Dorothée that I thought something was leaking somewhere, but she was surprised and thought maybe it was a one-time thing because they just had the plumbing installed last year so the whole bathroom is brand new. But just in case, she told me to put down a sponge so the water wouldn’t seep through to their ceiling. So I did, and realized that the leaks were more than just a little water because I would come home from work and the sponges were soaked through and through, and after wringing them out, they would be soaked again in a few hours. So I told Bertrand (the dad) that something was wrong, and could he come look at the bathroom to see what he thinks. He realized right away something had to be done, and it turns out the leak is coming for a ‘shared’ old piping in the building, so they have to call a specific plumber who works on public piping- i.e. Dorothée and Bertrand don’t pay him because he’s a public employee hired through the apartment building. The plumber decided to show up three days after Dorothée and Bertrand called, took a look at the problem and said, “Sorry, this has to do with private piping, I can’t help.” So it turns out the plumber the Weil’s paid last year to install the bathroom did a horribly sloppy job because the shower leaks, the sink leaks, and the toilet leaks, which means he is three for three for screwing up new utility installation in the bathroom. So, Dorothée and Bertrand have to contact a private plumber, have him come out to look at the problem, the plumber will report back to his boss that yes, there is a problem, then a second plumber will come to say, this is what needs to be done and report back to the boss, and finally a third plumber will come and hopefully fix the job. At least, that’s what I would expect to happen in a French-run system. They’re hoping someone can get to it while I’m home in the US because my bathroom will be out of commission during the work. For now, I just turn off my water if I’m not using it to stop the dripping- meaning I literally turn the handles to stop water flow through the pipes, only turning them on whenever I want to go to the bathroom, do the dishes, or brush my teeth, and the rest of the time I leave the water off. It works for now, the sponges no longer get wet, but I think the damage has already been done because there is a spot forming on the ceiling in the Weil apartment. I guess it’s a good thing I moved in, who knows how long the leaks would have gone unnoticed. They knew the shower leaked when I moved in, but they thought it was just leaking from the handle and going down the drain causing no damage… Unfortunately it’s not that simple. I'm (not) excited to see how long the French workers will take to fix this problem.
I am excited to come back to the US, my flight leaves in 6 days! Hope I’ll get to see some of you! Bises, Justine