Time for Halloween, time for Halloween!

Halloween chez la classe CM1 de M. Cuevlier

I’m beginning to think that my posts are losing their cohesiveness….

Oh well, welcome to my jumbled brain :)

Today I got to experience the first rain here in France. Technically it’s already rained, but I was safely tucked away in the warmth of my large bed. It actually wasn’t much to write home about. This morning the sky was gray and ugly like it’s been the past few days, but the wind chill effect was missing -- which is a good thing in my opinion. Then when I went back to school for lunch, there was a slight drizzle. But I was already wearing a baseball hat and hoodie (I’ll explain later) so nary a drop landed on me. When we had that midnight thunderstorm two weeks ago, there was lightning and fat, heavy drops of water pelting the roof. I want to experience something like that during the day here!

Someone in my building recently got a new pet, because this little gray and white kitten is at the stoop from time to time. Today I saw him again and he’s really playful and loving. I suspect this was the first time he’s ever experienced a “rain storm,” though I’d hardly call it that, because he was crying on the stoop until I came to his rescue. I cuddled and played with him for about five minutes before making my way towards La Tournière for my lunch. But the poor little thing scurried after me, trying to either fit under the protection from my umbrella, or running after me under the shelter of nearby parked cars.

When I finally arrived at the cantine, we had a really delicious and slightly eclectic lunch. It consisted of a fusili pasta salad for the first course -- cold pasta, olive oil, cheese and tomatoes, followed by ratatouille and an omelet for the main course -- not sure why, but EVERYONE here always serves eggs with their ratatouille -- and then fruit-flavored fromage blanc for dessert. I had two ;) framboise and then abricot, raspberry and apricot. As always, I’m immensely enjoying the 2,70 € lunches with which the schools provide me! (And no, it’s not an error, they write 2,70 € instead of our $2.70)

Now here I sit in the salle des maîtres waiting for the bell to ring so I can go to my last classes of the day. In the first two, I’ve already had the kids act out trick-or-treating with much success. Then we played songs like Ghostbusters, Monster Mash, Phantom of the Opera, and the Adam’s Family while creating a haunted house-like ambiance in the rooms. This was achieved by turning off all the lights and closing the curtains as well as chanting “OOOOOHHHHH,” from time to time. I can’t believe how simple the activities have been and how amused the children are by them! The boys absolutely adore acting out trick or treating, because their objective is to scream it so loud that it makes the kid opening the door tremble with fear, or jump out in surprise.

After all, that IS the goal of Halloween, right? Bien joué, les gamins. (Well-played, kids).

This afternoon and tomorrow I have my older classes, so I’ve actually assigned them homework which was to make Halloween masks. I’m very interested to see what they come up with. And if there’s time, we’re going to read selections from a book of Monster Poems I found at the médiathèque. :) So that is why I am wearing a baseball hat today. I’m decked out in my David Wright Met’s jersey and my San Francisco All-Star Game baseball cap with braided pigtails underneath. My costume for the kids is a baseball player! Yeah, I figure the bat girl concept would have been lost on them anyhow…

Figures, when I left the apartment this morning, my roommate was shocked with my choice of costume.

“But you’re not a witch or something else scary,” she declared, perplexed.

I see that I still have a lot of explaining to do here regarding American traditions and institutions! I only wish it was appropriate to show pictures of Halloween in Isla Vista to clear things up. Then again, no. I don’t. Tomorrow you’ll get another update on how the older classes and my second school take to the Halloween festivities…