Getting Stuff Done Day

So, in a way, today was very productive. And in a way, it was useless.

It started with my heading to my 8:15 a.m. class, arriving early and getting my lesson for the day all written up on the board. Comme normal, I head upstairs to take half of the students away from my colleague's English class. When she arrives, she lets me know that the students have homework due that day, and that I wasn't needed. Well, I don't mind that much, because it's one of my favorite colleagues who I like and she usually doesn't forget to tell me when she doesn't need me for class. At least, she's forgotten a lot less than my other colleagues. So I shrug it off and go back to my apartment, call France Telecom (asking them why some stranger's address was on my account and explaining that that's probably the reason I hadn't received my phone yet), and explaining to them that, since we didn't have our modem until mid-December (when Orange sent us a confirmation that it would be delivered around mid-November) we shouldn't have to pay the first bill when we couldn't even access the service. The guy on the phone was understanding, but what added to the complications of my explaining the situation, was that I was calling from my cell phone- super expensive way to call customer service, because I have the pay-as-you-go plan and calls to Customer Service aren't free. So, knowing the call was about to be cut because of my credit expiring, I hastily told the representative that he'd have to call me back (I can talk on their dime as long as they call me. Instead of saying "okay, will do" he replied "C'est un mobile? On n'a pas le droit d'appeler aux mob-" and then of course, it cut off. (He was in the middle of telling me they aren't allowed to call cell phone numbers. What?) Frustrated, I threw my phone on my bed and was about to find my shoes to go back to the school for my next lesson when he called me back. "It's France Telecom", he said. Apparently they do have the "droit" to call one on their cell phone. He asked why, if I have a fixed line number, I didn't just call from that line instead, because it would have been free. Once again I explained that, because of their error, I don't have my phone, they had sent it to some random person's address. So, we finished up by my successfully (but not without some poor grammar mistakes thrown in) getting the first bill waived from our February bill. Phew, what a process.

Let's move now to the next lesson for the day. Repeat steps one and two. Lesson on board, go to get half the next class...but wait! My students are standing outside my door. They ask me where the teacher is. I look down the hall, and sure enough, her door is closed. I tell them I'll go down to Vie Scolaire with them to solve the puzzle. Sure enough, even though I looked on the missing profs sheet (twice) that same morning, the professor's name was freshly written under Thursday, January 7th. So, my students had a free hour. But that already makes two classes out of the day I didn't need to bother with.

Went back to the apartment, paid my internet bill through January, recharged my phone with credit so I can just lazily call to pay my bills in the future instead of writing a check and mailing it out. It was already late anyway, because it had been sitting in the school's mailbox waiting to be delivered to me all throughout break. Hopefully, I won't be smacked with a fee because of that.
The third class of the day (technically the first), I had the noisy 3emes. They couldn't seem to stop talking (even the girls, who are usually much quieter and more well-behaved). I was spending a large chunk of the hour just standing there trying my best to look stern, waiting for them to get the picture and calm down. Didn't work. I tried explaining that I can't yell (unlike the professor who has them normally) and that when they talk, I have to yell over them. Didn't work. I was running out of ideas and patience, so I just gave in and we played Scattergories for the last 20 minutes. The lesson was finished, and they ultimately felt like concentrating even more on the game we were playing. Guess it's games from here on out.