Baby, it's cold outside.

It is officially the most wonderful time of the year and I am enjoying every second of it!  Christmas carols are playing, it has been snowing, and exactly two weeks from today, I AM GOING HOME!!  Needless to say, I am sure you can tell from the capital letters that I am excited about this.  Nothing beats hanging out with your family at Christmas time.  I can't wait, it's going to be awesome.

But as I am trying to live in the moment, here is what is happening in France...

I named this post, creatively I would like to think, "Baby, it's cold outside".  Now when I say that, not only am I talking about one of my favorite carols, I literally mean it's the North Pole out there.  For the last week, the temperature has rarely been above 0 degrees Celsius (freezing point) and frequently been between -5 and -2 with wind chill.  It is cold.  I listen to these Christmas Carols saying "Let is snow" and "It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together" and what I am doing?  Trekking through the snow, and more common, the ice, to teach French kids who don't care about anything BUT the snow when it's completely white outside.  This week, teachers have been late to school, my bus has made me get off and walk the other half, and I try every second of the day to not fall on my face and make an idiot out of myself.  But honestly, although the snow and cold have caused a little speed bump in my normal week, it is just a small price to pay for a lovely Christmas season in France.

School report: I had problems this week (and most weeks) with getting my kids to speak English to me.  I have a couple of classes with very low levels of English and they often do not understand what I talk about during the lessons.  What I have learned is, I have to do activities to get them to speak.  It doesn't matter what we do, but they have to speak with each other.  I found a couple of different methods this week that work great: playing hangman and 20 questions.  Hangman is fun for vocabulary that they do not know.  If they guess letters in French, I often count that as a missed letter.  It was good to see some of my classes stopping and actually thinking what the word could be, only knowing a few letters.  And 20 questions is great to get the students to formulate and ask questions.  I tried this with one class this week and it went really well.  They did great at persons and places but figuring out things was a little harder for them.  They were discussing with each other what the answer could be and it made the class go by really fast.  I plan on using both of these activities in my classes the next two weeks.  And of course, teach them about American family traditions at Christmas.

This week I also started a very important part to the Christmas season: shopping! I went shopping for myself to get more sweaters and warm clothes.  I am very happy with my purchases and I can already say that I am warmer going out and about the town.  I also started Christmas shopping for loved ones.  I have a pretty good idea of what to buy for people, but I'm still in the process of scoping everything out.

As I said last time, here are pictures of the Christmas market and of the streets at Christmas time.  I unfortunately did not get many good ones, because I did not want to look like the classic tourist taking pictures up and down the market.  I have been having too much fun enjoying it (as well as the Nutella waffle stand that I am addicted to).

Welcome to the Christmas Market

Part of the market, it's a lot bigger than this

Street in Caen complete with lights and small Christmas trees

Over the last week or so, I have been feeling a lot of motivation and creativity.  I haven't been doing a lot while I have been here besides teaching, going to Aumonerie events, and hanging out with other assistants.  I think when I get back for the New Year, I am going to have to find some form of outlet.  Whether it is joining a yoga class, writing, or taking up painting again, I know that I need to do something.  I am also thinking about my future after France, because although I have 5 more months until I am back for good, I know that it is going to go really fast and as soon as I know it, I will be back in the states in June.  I do have an idea of what I would like to do when I get back, so I will be actively pursuing my options come spring time.

Until then, I am enjoying the winter immensely.  Things I am looking forward to the most at Christmas time in Sacramento: driving, a grande chai tea latte from Starbucks and a Noah's Bagels breakfast sandwich, and most importantly: spending time with my family and friends.  Two weeks everyone.  Love to you all!  

C'est la bonne vie pour moi! :)