Bonjour mes amis!
For some reason unbeknown to me, my favorite bakery is closed until the second week of February, which has forced me to patronize another vendor. Even though the other bakery isn't as good, they have something that my favorite place doesn't have: chouquettes with chocolate chips! They are soooo good, but I still prefer the originals.
The Thursday before I left for D.C., Vanessa and I took 6 of the students to Caen where they interviewed a man named Melvin McNair as part of our preparations for the Black History Month exhibitions. Melvin is a baseball teacher in Caen. So here's his story:
Melvin was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1948. He started his higher education at Winston-Salem State University and eventually joined the Black Panthers. In 1972, he boarded a Delta Airlines flight with his wife, child and a few other people. They hijacked the plane. And took it to Algeria. Melvin eventually ended up in France where the government refused to extradite him back to the U.S. He was tried and convicted here and served 3 1/2 years of his 5-year sentence. Melvin and his wife had 3 children, 2 of whom were born in France. His youngest child was murdered by drug dealers in the United States a few years ago. When we took a walk with him, he showed us the cemetery where his son is now buried.
It was a really interesting day with Melvin. He's very talkative and does a lot in his community. The students asked him some very good questions, but because of his circumlocutory responses, they had a little trouble following everything.
Work is overall pretty normal. Karine is back from maternity leave, which means Jocelyne is off to her next temporary assignment. I really like Karine and the students have clearly missed having her as their teacher. My schedule is changing a little bit now that Karine is back because she wants me working with different classes from the ones Jocelyne had selected but that is fine by me. I don't have to work on Mondays anymore and most of my Fridays are now off days.
One day last week I was walking to the front desk to get keys for the computer lab when Mr. Duval asked me to step into his office. When I was in high school, I got called to the principal's office once and it was a little unnerving so I had no idea what Mr. Duval wanted to discuss. As it turns out, he offered me a chance to make some extra money by putting together English-language immersion programs for the students to participate in during the upcoming vacations in February and April. I haven't yet decided if I'll do it.
And now for Strike Watch: Update 5... (I know you've been waiting for this.)
2 weeks ago, the students held assembly meetings to vote on whether or not they would continue striking and blockading the school. The final vote became that those students who want to continue striking are welcome, but that they shouldn't keep their peers from going to class if they so choose. So overall, everyone is back in school.
Last Thursday, January 29, all 6 of the major trade unions in France held a one-day strike demanding more job security from the government. As you can probably guess, the teachers' union was one of the participants. School, however, was still open because not all teachers participate. I was off because the one teacher I work with on Thursdays always supports the strikes. According to the news reports, it was the largest labor demonstration the last 20 years, but it failed to have much of an economic impact.
That's all for now. I'll be back with more soon!
Bises,
Mlle. Alicia
Happy Birthday to Me!!!
