On Monday I had a feeling this week was going to fly by. My last week of work, first week of University classes back from the Easter holidays, and worst of all, the last week for the majority of the assistants I know.
I think I had forgotten from the last time how sad it is when the contract comes to an end. And this year I had some absolutely fabulous students. It was hard to say goodbye to them, but even harder to share my last lessons and coffee breaks with my AMAZING colleagues.
There were only two times that I almost cried, first in my class de 1L, when four of my students presented me with this:
It's a beautiful picture frame and inside little notes from my students thanking me for the things that I taught them. In the left corner is a postcard another two students gave me with a Normand Hamburger on it: An apple cut in half stuffed with Camembert, tripes, teurgeule, and crème. Yum!
And the second time I almost let a few teardrops fall was when some terminales (seniors) had a few last questions to ask me about my favorite memories in France, what stereotypes I have come to realize are not true, what the first thing is I want to do when I get home (that one made me super happy because I got to say I will kiss my boyfriend!!) But the thought of not having these students next year, not working with these professors, was overwhelmingly sad. That's what happens when you create a whole nother life somewhere else though. After that, wherever you are, you are going to miss someone.
In other news, I am proud to say I am rocking the face off of my classes at the University. I got all my grades back from before the break and I killed it! Some of the best grades I have ever gotten in France!
National Poetry Month came to a grinding halt before vacation in Rome. I have ideas for all my poems, even some lines worked out, but I simply don't have the time to write them. I think I'll give myself an extension, write them when I can, and still post them here.
So, OK, let's talk about food. Because I have eaten SO. MUCH OF IT. this week! The assistants leaving has sort of inspired everyone to have going away evenings, last meals and all of that.
Wednesday night Bing and I were invited one last time chez Yolande, a professor at Malherbe who went to great lengths to reunite everyone who is lodged here. So she had us over for crepes a la Bretonne and they were even better than the last time. Plus, she showed me her technique for making the perfect egg.
Friday night was oh-my-moussaka Greek wonder (seriously, look at that picture. I am so overwhelmed). The Greek professor from my lycée invited me, the Spanish assistant (who is leaving tomorrow), a Spanish teacher, two French teachers, and the Swedish teacher over to send us away, and we also turned it into a birthday celebration for her. I cannot tell you enough how much I love this cast of characters. Spanish S with his love of dogs and cats, Spanish C with her glittering eyeshadow and a super colorful personality that makes you want to have fun, O, E and S, the French and Swedish teachers, with their soft speech and super interesting insights, and our host Athan, whose personality in all of its stereotypical Greek wonder is as spiced as the dishes she made. She speaks loud and she doesn't take any shit. I love being with all of them - what a diverse group we are!
Athan prepared an amazing full-course Greek meal. We started with a huge bowl of tzatziki and some baguettes to spread it on. You could smell the garlic from a mile away. Then, these amazing little spinach and feta cheese fritters. I don't know what she did with the feta but it almost tasted like paneer somehow. Then, a big Greek salad, and for the main course an enormous moussaka for everyone else and a dish of eggplant, potato, tomatoes and cheese for me. And then to finishe we had a sublime orange cake, and the chocolate cake Sam and I brought from our favorite boulangerie. And someone else brought macarons! I couldn't even eat one, I was so stuffed! Every single dish was super yummy and as I told Athan later that night, I was surprised that she went out of her way to ensure that I could eat everything on the table. My fellow vegetarians in FR know that is something you can say very rarely, and I appreciate the friends who actually get it.
I got dropped off at home in the rain on Friday, slept very little, and woke up for a full Saturday of things to do. Uni work/laundry in the morning followed by Sam and Yann's birthday lunch. I suggested pizza (wtf when I already had pizza planned for dinner?! Ashley, come on really). So we ate pizza in the salle commune, laughed at Youtube clips and joked together. Then ate this incredible gateau aux fraises that Violeta bought as a gift for the two guys.
And then last night, dinner for all the English colleagues from Lycee Victor Hugo. We meet for drinks, walk into a bar and are faced with a dude entirely dressed in a sub leather dress with a ballgag around his neck, a skimask over his face, and a flogger in his hand. Thank god my profs are not uptight! We all had a great laugh and headed over to the pizzeria where I got the best pizza I have tasted yet in Caen, I kid you not. Artichokes, mushrooms, olives, onions and lots of cheese. Que la vie est belle!
After another round of beers we were all on our way home, me laughing out loud down the street about all the things we saw and joked about that night. Oh, how we laugh together. I hope that wherever I end up teaching, the ambiance between the profs is as amazing as it is between them at Victor Hugo.
So now it is Sunday morning. I have lots of work to do, tidying up, letters of recommendation to write, University work to prepare, and CVs to send out as I am starting the job search process in the USA. Plus, a Sunday market to visit and a coffee to be had with one of my best pals.
Oh yeah, and one of the best parts of this week, I bought my plane ticket home. New York, baby, here I come! I think on June 8th when I finally get to New Jersey and am in the arms of my baby, the state will explode from the sheer power of my happiness.
