Random happenings
So, the weather here in Metz has been doing strange things, which is not at all strange for this time of year. This past week, the temperature suddenly dropped and winter arrived. The result? Pretty much everyone is sick! And they are all out to get me sick, or so it seems. As I've mentioned many times before, the French have a different conception of space than we Americans do. When the French greet you, they immediately lean in to kiss you on your cheeks, EVEN if they are sick. Like, yuck, keep your distance! They also move in really closely to talk to you (especially the older folk at the conversation hour) and since I am so short, this usually involves people breathing ON me and me trying to hold my breath so as not to suck in lungfuls of germs. Ugh, well, that's my rant about that.
A strange, random thing happened to me this evening on my way out of the grocery store. I had just popped in to by a bottle of wine because I usually go to my friend C's apartment on Tuesdays to learn how to play a rather complicated French card game called tarot. I was leaving the check out line with my nice bottle of red wine and was just about to stow it away in my bag when a complete stranger walked up to me and said "C'est pas bien, ca!" (That's not good for you, that!) Ummm, excuse me?
I had the same reaction today in class with one of my students. I have a class of first year students whose level of English is pretty low, meaning that you have to pick topics for the class that are accessible for them. Unfortunately, one of my students proficiency in English is much higher than the others and so he is often bored. Luckily for me, he makes this known loudly to everyone.
Me: Today we are going to talk about social networking sites?
Students: Arghhhh...(bangs head on the table)
Me: ....in shock that a student at a university would be this rude
Student: Well, this topic is not interesting.
Me: thanks so much
Student: well, it's not interesting to ME
Me: so, next week, you will be preparing the class for us!
Surprisingly, the student DID actually seem to want to teach the class, but I'm not really comfortable turning control of my class over to a disgruntled student...
A strange, random thing happened to me this evening on my way out of the grocery store. I had just popped in to by a bottle of wine because I usually go to my friend C's apartment on Tuesdays to learn how to play a rather complicated French card game called tarot. I was leaving the check out line with my nice bottle of red wine and was just about to stow it away in my bag when a complete stranger walked up to me and said "C'est pas bien, ca!" (That's not good for you, that!) Ummm, excuse me?
I had the same reaction today in class with one of my students. I have a class of first year students whose level of English is pretty low, meaning that you have to pick topics for the class that are accessible for them. Unfortunately, one of my students proficiency in English is much higher than the others and so he is often bored. Luckily for me, he makes this known loudly to everyone.
Me: Today we are going to talk about social networking sites?
Students: Arghhhh...(bangs head on the table)
Me: ....in shock that a student at a university would be this rude
Student: Well, this topic is not interesting.
Me: thanks so much
Student: well, it's not interesting to ME
Me: so, next week, you will be preparing the class for us!
Surprisingly, the student DID actually seem to want to teach the class, but I'm not really comfortable turning control of my class over to a disgruntled student...