Chilly weather, chilly people and French markets.

It's getting colder outside and yesterday, we had our first snowfall! Of course, none of it stuck (apparently it rarely does) but it was nice all the same to walk back from Salle 9 (the computer lab in the school) and seeing the snow, enhanced by the glow of the lights. It was enough to make me feel like it was really December, instead of just a cold Autumn day (which would be Michigan's equivalent to Aiguillon's winter). There won't be any snowmen around here, that's for sure- but Aiguillon is decked out in Christmas lights throughout Centre Ville and it certainly does something to make this otherwise plain small town a festive one.

Going to the market on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (which is always right in front of the lycée) always is a trip, because of the things you see (dead pigeons without their feathers plucked, piled on top of one another for sale) and the people you meet. In today's case, it was just a story of pushy old ladies. I was cut in front of *twice* after waiting for my turn and the first lady even told the cashier that she'd been there longer than I had. I just mumbled "ça va, ça va (it's fine)" and she went ahead and paid. She also was the same lady who earlier had pushed me aside from where I was standing in line so she could get her tomatoes. Good lord, what happened to manners?
Normally I would just shrug it off but a third person (a guy this time) did the same thing when I went down to the atelier to have my laundry washed. I dropped off my things with Madame Bertrand and as I was leaving, I came across some man I didn't know walking speedily in my direction. The hallway was small so I tried to scoot off to one side, but he actually just plowed on through, bumped me (enough so that my body weight shifted) and didn't say a thing. Okay, I know you're in a hurry. I understand that you might have things to do. But seriously, is even a small "pardon" out of the question?! Do I just scream "bump into me! I like it!"? I'm pretty sure I don't have that written all over my face, so what's the deal with these people?

I just spoke to my colleague about her Friday class. It's a group of Terminales (last grade of high school, equivalent to seniors) who are all girls and who don't really respond too well to my lessons. I just told her that they don't all respond when I ask them questions, (even in French when they refuse to speak english), they don't participate in the activities I plan and I just get the strong feeling there's no point in coming to that class if they don't care and don't want to participate. I'm going to stay with her before going off with half the class this Friday and talk to the students with her so we can figure out together what the problem is. It's not all the students who react like this, just maybe about half of them. It's hard enough to get them interested in my lessons, but when some of them don't put in any effort at all, I get the feeling like I'm not doing my job right. This is the only class that I've had students like this. I see them every week, and it's been like this since the beginning. The case might be that the lessons I plan for them are just too far above their heads and not their level, but how am I to know if they don't tell me "it's too hard"? That way, I could just adjust my lessons. But I'm not just going to give them lyrics to a song and have them fill out missing words all the time (that was the only lesson I did that seemed to interest them- they even requested a few other songs in english). I have to give a good variety, but why bother if they don't participate?