Just another Manic Monday

Well, I just slept through my alarm, missing my second day of work at my new job. Way to make a good impression. But I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of glad to be back in my bed and now I have a little time to catch up on things before I have to start my day.

First of all, clearly I have started a new job. I'm teaching English at an elementary school, which is pretty cool. The only unfortunate part is that the two schools I am working at are not even in Lyon and it takes me an hour each way to get to one and an hour and a half to get to the other. It is definitely going to be an interesting experience, though. Especially because the majority of the kids I will be working with are learning English for the first time. That makes my job easier and harder at the same time. On the one hand, I don't have to do all that much because on any given day I am probably only going to be able to teach them a couple words. On the other, if I talk in English, which I am supposed to do, they have no idea what I'm saying. I really do enjoy working with kids, though, so I think I will end up liking this job a lot. You know, once I atually get up in time to go to it...hehe

On top of starting the job last week, I also had three tests, one of which I wasn't entirely sure I would be having. The first was in my Constitutional Law discussion class. Basically we had thrity minutes to write about three different topics...kind of a short answer kind of thing. Not too bad. I also found out that, for the lecture class in constitutional law, I have to write an essay and turn it in by the 15th of January instead of taking the exam. A 10-15 page essay on something we've learned. I really need to start working on that...

Tuesday night was my exam for my socialism class. I really didn't know what to expect or how to study for this test. It is the only test, and therefore our only grade, and the professor told us that he would give us the choice of two essay questions, with a special pair of qustions for foreign students. He told us that one of the questions last year was "what is social-democracy?" That's not vague or anything. So a couple girls from my class came over before the exam and we looked over notes and ate lebanese food from the restaurant across the street (delish!). It turns out we had a choice of three questions and they were much more specific than last years. I think it went really well. The question I wrote on was "Social-democracy in Germany and travaillisme (basically, the workers movement) in Great Brittain. Try a comparison." We had two hours to write, and I actually had a lot to say and I think it turned out pretty good, so I'm feeling good about that one.

So then on Friday I had my first portuguese class in three weeks, and we had the test we were supposed to have three weeks ago, the first week of the strikes. That went pretty well, although I had spent a lot of time doing theexercises on new material that he had given us to do to make up for the missed class, and not a whole lot of time reviewing the old stuff. But all in all, not too bad. Written portuguese is going pretty well for me, even though I still have a hard time understanding it when I hear it, and I have some trouble getting the accent right. It's somewhere between a french and a spanish accent, but I'm having trouble finding the right balance. Luckily, the test was all written, so that ended up working out.

With all of this stuff going on, plus the fête des lumières this weekend, I am exhausted and have been sick since last weekend, and haven't had much time for anything else. Which I'm not sure is such a good thing. In terms of "how I'm doing," which my friend Caroline (one of two people here that I've talked to about my grandpa) asked me about last night while we were "studying" for test #4 that's on Wednesday, I don't even know. I haven't really even had time to breathe, much less stop and deal with myself. I would like to think that the fact that I've barely cried in a week is a good thing, but I'm not sure that's true. On Tuesday night, after the socialism test, I went out with a couple of girls who are here from California to have a drink in celebration of being done, and we sat ant talked for a good two hours and we got to the subject in a sort of round-about way and I sat there telling these two girls that I barely knew about it and Caroline almost started crying and I couldn't cry, which was a strange change from the month that I had spent crying a lot. And since then I've just been so busy that I don't have time to sit down and do my own thing. I did have something of an at peace, but mourning moment on Saturday night on my way home from the fête des lumières, which was good, but I kind of think I need to take more time to do that.

I do have to say, though, I have some of the most amazing people in my life and I am so thankful for them. I'm not sure what I would do without the great support and love I've been getting. My mom, of course, even though we haven't been able to talk as much as I would like because we've both been pretty busy and dealing with things. And my grandma, who is being amazingly strong through all of this. My dad, who I talked to for a while, and who apparantly sent me a letter, which i should be receiving soon, and which I'm sure will make me cry a lot but also be incredibly healing for me. My best friend, who made my mom muffins last Sunday and who has thought about coming out here in January just because she wants to see me (even if she doesn't make it because the logistics are kind of crazy and because I will be home for a while in February, it is amazing to know that I have a best friend who would pick up and come here more or less at the last minute just because she knows I am going through difficult times). GG, who has provided me with great music and tons of love through this whole thing, and who has just been an overall great friend. I love you guys all SO much and thank you for being there for me, even if it has to be from far away.

Well, now that I've finally cried a little bit and caught everyone up on my life, I suppose I should deal with starting my day since I have a bunch of extra time that I wasn't supposed to have today. I'm sure I can come up with plenty of stuff that needs to get done to fill the hours.

Bisous.