Previously on Leah en France Part Trois...

Not to waste any time explaining why I was gone, here's what you missed:

February

I moved in here.

March

I have no idea what happened in March. There aren't any holidays, this month blows, nuff said. Haha!

April

My parents came here. We also went there and there.

May

I had my Cremaillere and dressed up as her. Also, I worked maybe 2 days because of all of the jours feries.

June

I got very anxious to be done teaching these guys.

July

When in France, I went here, here and there. Then, once back in the US in early July, I went here to visit with family and friends after a 13 year lapse!

August

I got one of these. His name is Owen. Stay tuned to see what happens with these two.

In other news, I missed my freakin blogiversary! It's been 3 years, can you believe it? Apparently I've posted just 165 times, so that's an average of 55 times per year. However, we all know I've sucked at posting these past 7.5 months and then the first year I wasn't thaaaat post-y, so I highly doubt the average is so perfectly spread out. Anyhoo, no excuses, I'm the only one to blame for not keeping a written record of my vie. That being said, I really don't know how posting is going to go this year. I really would like to get back into it, but I might be just as busy as last year socially and workwise. I've been given 2 more hours at New School so that they can sponsor my CDS(long story, but it needed to be done because of regulations), but as of yet, I'm not sure what I will be doing for those 2 extra hours since all the teaching time has been filled up. I might have to surveille the kids or some shiz like that which is all fine and dandy, but I had worked it out so that I could have one afternoon off, so I'm hoping whatever the directrice has me doing will be either before or after school or during lunch hours. On verra. I also have yet to hear from the directeur of Old School which is sort of my fault because I kind of partir-ed like a voleur this summer, but to my credit, I did call his portable last week and have yet to hear from him. I'll have to call again this week at the school itself and see what the dilly is. If they don't need me, it could mean 2 afternoons off and also, one less job to have to lesson plan for and worry about, but it's also less money(well, the same amount as last year, but I was going to make more with those 2 extra hrs.) So, I'm sort of torn. Basically, if they still need me, I'll do it and if they don't, I don't plan on getting something to take its place.

The rentree is tomorrow...ahhhh! It's kind of scary to think about working with all those little ankle biters again. It'll be easier than last year just due to having last year's experience, but there are always things that will change and new kids and teachers. We actually have a lot of new people coming in! There's a new lady in maternelle to replace the collegue who retired last year. There's also a new stagiaire working with one of the CE2 teachers, but I probably won't see her very much unless I have that class the day she teaches. Then, there are 2 new people taking over another CE2 class and a new CM1 prof. This is all because we had a split level CE2/CM1 class last year because there weren't enough kids to have a full class of each level. Well, the person who taught that was just a sub essentially. Then, this year since we had enough kids to separate that split level CE2/CM1 into 2 different classes, we had to get 2 new teachers or in our case, 3 new teachers. So, that's already 5 new people. Plus, we need a new aid to work with one of the kids in maternelle who needs to have their own personal helper. And, we also have 2 new teachers in the International Program for the bilingual and high level English students. So, 8 newbies all together once everything takes shape! It'll be interesting. Tomorrow, almost all of those peepz should be there minus the International profs who will prob be at the College/Lycee meetings. I have to be completely honest and say that I am kind of dreading all those meetings because a)I really don't like small talk and I still kind of feel like the new girl b)so much of the info at the meetings is not for me since I don't really collab with any of the profs, more like work alongside them if that makes sense and 3)I could be sleeping. Tear.

In reality, all I need to do is set up my classroom with new material, decorate the door, update some of the posters and set up my schedule. Last year, I spent the first 2 days of school setting up my schedule and it was a lot of waiting and then running around like a crazy monkey from classroom to classroom and during recess trying to track down teachers and get them to choose a time slot. Some were easy, but most were a pain in the A. There were some that were difficult just to juggle all the things their class had going on (recess, gym, choir, catechese, International English class, wine tasting, cheese sniffing, etc) and then there were those that really weren't willing to compromise for no good reason. Although, while I'd love to get the scheduling done before the kids come back (ie Thursday), in a way it does make sense to have one full week with the kids so I can have all of the classes in one go rather than miss out on Mon and Tues classes this week. I guess I'll find out tomorrow or Tues or Thurs or Fri for that matter! I just want to get the beginning over with and ease right back on in to teaching, this before stuff is no fun. I also am looking forward to the next vaca, not gonna lie.

In terms of the future, the plan is set for a couple more years in France. The school is sponsoring my CDS and all that is left to do is have my visite medicale and then pop on over to the Prefecture(I say that dripping with sarcasm, has anyone in history ever popped on over to the Prefecture?) The whole process has gone relatively smoothly(so far) except for the little blip with the hours which cost us some time, however it was probably for the better because had we known this earlier and had the Labor Dept given the OK, I would've probably been gone when my medical visit was scheduled which I'm sure would be fun to reschedule....NOT. So as it stands, I'm waiting to get a med visit scheduled sometime soon(as my CDS expires at the end of Sept), then go to the Pref for my CDS(well, my recepisse, but whatev) and I will have a CDD for 2 years(summer pay, woohoo!) and a CDI at the University where I teach 3 hrs per week. But, I am waiting for something to go wrong, so I will be holding my breath until I get that laminated carte in my mains! I think that is it from me, I'd better be off, I've got some kitties to wrangle!

Bisous,

Crazy Cat Lady aka Leah en France