Learning the Ropes

On Monday, I left the house 45 minutes before school started, thanks to that ridiculous Army habit of "being 15 minutes early is being on time." Although this time, I got there in like five minutes due to nerves and fast walking, so I was much more than 15 minutes early. The school gates are closed until ten minutes before school starts, so I had to wait outside with all the moms and their screaming kids. It was a little creepy because they kept staring at me, probably wondering why an adult would be awkwardly hanging around an elementary school at 7:30am without kids. 

There are two Jules Reydellet schools, right next to each other. A and B. They didn't know which one to tell me to go to, so I just guessed B. It was closer. Later I found out I guessed right...but when I walked in to Reydellet B, you might not be surprised to hear that no one was expecting me anyway! Haha. I walked in, found the first adult, told her what I was doing there and she lead me to the principal, who is another very strict-seeming woman in charge. She took me to a teacher who teaches English, and they sorted out who I would be sitting with for the day. I started to ask him a question in English, and he laughed and said he had been studying English for 8 years but he can't speak it. I quickly learned none of the English teachers could speak too much English...enough to get by for teaching 9-10 year olds...just words like "hat" "scarf" and phrases like "what's your name?" 

Luckily, it turned out that all the teachers there had this great relationship and are amazing. For breaks and lunch, they all hide out in the teacher's lounge, drinking lots of coffee and eating chocolate, teasing each other about stuff and complaining about the kids. They were all SO nice to me. My favorite is this woman named Sabrina, who made sure I was taken care of. When I sat in her class, she let me participate and teach them a lesson about clothes. She has a 15 year old daughter who can speak English very well, but she only knows a little.

The kids were cute. A little talkative, and a little bad at concentrating at the task on hand, but they are only 9-10 so that's expected. In every class, they gasped when they learned I was from the United States, like I was famous. Then someone would say "Hollywood" in this thick French accent and I would say "No, I come from Texas." And they would all have this blank stare, but then the teacher would get excited and say
"Really? Like Dallas?!" And start singing the Dallas theme song. I learned later that there only used to be one channel on Reunion Island, and growing up, everyone from that generation watched Dallas on TV every day, because it was the only thing to watch.

Although I am only paid for 3 hours a day, I somehow was forgotten about and continually passed from class to class from the beginning of school until the end...8 hours later. I probably should've said something but I was scared! And it just kept going where I thought it would be just one more class, until it was too late. I tried to find the principal before I left, to check out with her...and when I finally found her, she looked at me and said "Oh, you stayed all day?" Hmmm... I would have to take a different approach with this tomorrow at the next school, I think....

The next day, at Centrale, which is in the middle of downtown, I realized there was a huge class difference here. The kids who go to Centrale come from families with more money. They are more behaved, much more quiet, better dressed, and the school is a lot bigger and newer-feeling. The teachers at Centrale are very stiff and (it seems) don't care much for each other. It's just a job. The principal is another strict-seeming woman who didn't smile once at me or try to speak slower when I asked her. Some english teachers told her they don't want to participate in the assistant program and can teach English by themselves. (Also none of them speak too much English). 

But Centrale is where I met Sylvie. For whatever reason, Centrale was also not prepared to have me come to their school. Almost all of the English teachers said they did not teach English on Tuesdays. But Sylvie found me, and was very nice, and took me to her class to watch how they operate. She was really great with her students, strict at the right times so she had control, but not scary and unaproachable like some other teachers were. While they worked on some math work, we talked a little, she gave me some of their French stories to read (I told her how I was here to practice!) She helped me find the library in Saint-Denis online, and, right before I left, she asked me to have coffee with her and her brother after school was over in the gardens down the street!

Excited, and kind of a little bit dreading it...I went home and had to mentally prepare for coffee. I wrote down some things I could say to her and had to look up a few things in the dictionary. I wrote my boyfriend an email, laughing at how even just a cup of coffee with someone required me to do an hour of homework and preparation! That's when a giant pigeon came through my open window and perched on a chair next to me. I screamed, clapped at it a few times till it left, and realized that coffee was not one bit as scary as some other things that happen here.

So it was lovely, and it was all in French. Sylvie prefers tea! (Finally, someone NOT trying to shove 6 cups of coffee down my throat in one sitting...I jumped on board with the tiny expresso in the morning, but I can't do so much coffee all the time!!) The tea was amazing!! Easily the best tea I've ever had. And I once had a $28 cup of tea in a really fancy Zen tea place in San Francisco. This tea cost 3euro, which Sylvie generously paid for me, and was the best tea in the world.

I found out Sylvie is 31 with no kids, sings in a choir, takes salsa lessons, and has a long distance relationship with her boyfriend who lives an hour away in the south of the island. I loved her instantly! We had much in common to talk about. I told her about my sweet boyfriend, my dream to be an actress, and the places I hope to visit on the island. She was very nice and patient with my terrible verb conjugations and my struggling to get words out. She asked me to come try to find English books with her for the school the next day at the bookstore. Which I happily accepted. I had a friend!