Eating Vegetables from a Ziploc

Apparently I am the sort of girl who eats lentils and veggies from a ziploc bag for dinner (cooked yesterday, used a fork). This came as quite a surprise. But it was a long day, and I couldn't be bothered to get out a plate.

"Couldn't be bothered" and "can't be asked" are two of the funniest British phrases Caroline and Megan say whenever something is just too difficult or not worth the effort. For example--typing a text message to more than one person (french phones are dumb and they only send to one person at a time)? Oh, no, I just couldn't be bothered.

Anyway, school today was enlightening (8 hours worth). First of all, it takes about 10 minutes just to say "Hello" to everyone. Teachers and kids. Every single person. You'd think after the first 12 people they'd call it quits, but they continue. It's great.

This also happens in every day interactions. It's rude not to say "Bonjour" to passerbyers (especially if you go into a shop or something). So that opening sequence in Beauty and the Beast isn't really that far off.

Back to school--the first class I sat in on wasn't that exciting because I didn't get to do anything. The next one was actually an English class--they were doing a crossword puzzle with random words in it such as "Cowboy" "Star" "Flash" "Sandwich" "Jogging" and "Building." The next class I actually got to help teach! We played Simon Says and did a matching game. It's really hard for kids to say "Right or Wrong" so it sounds Chinese, like "White ou wong." At recess all the kids wanted to ask questions about Texas. There must be some confusion about geography. In their minds, the Statue of Liberty and Big Ben probably come from Texas. This cuteness went on for the rest of the day.

A few differences:
- They do math in pen.
- Teachers yell in a funny outraged way.
- You get in trouble for doing extra work that's not your homework.
- You raise your index finger instead of your hand.
- Handwriting is really important. They have to copy everything by hand into a notebook. Not many xeroxed pages.

The word for skeleton in french is "le squelette" which makes it sound even more like a Halloween spook.

==
While all this was happening, our furniture arrived. Apparently French delivery men can dead lift a refrigerator onto a 10 foot terrace. No tools. However, our refrigerator can't be bothered to cool anything for 48 hours or it will explode (or something else dire). And our furniture isn't put together. But it's great to have a mattress on the floor even if it's nothing like a marshmallow.

Today I became a card-carrying member of the Valenciennes library (Bibliotheque).
That's legit.