December 18th

I had a voluntary early morning today. That's correct, the universe has now imploded upon itself. I've complained before about the time differences between France and the United States before, I'm sure that you remember audience. Well the issue of being nine hours ahead of the west coast bit me in the ass, no surprise. My brother Pete is a resident of sunny California and therefore nine hours behind French time. This became an issue when he and my friend KC, she who happened to be visiting Pete, wanted to skype chat with me at 10 pm Le Havre time. No internet in St. Nicolas, the Docks are closed, and the closest internet cafe is downtown and also closed. Crap. Thus I made the deal that I Mary would do the unthinkable, I would wake up early in order to chat with them over the internet. I was at the library 8:30 am sharp, but they didn't open the doors until 8:37 am, thank you France. I set everything up and was prepared to skype call my brother when the university wifi cut out, thank you Le Havre. Finally everything was functioning and I was able to speak with KC and Pete. It was great to see their faces after such a long time of absence. Fortunately I had a dry cough, last stage of being sick, to hide the fact that I was talking in the library. The librarian was very suspicious, but every time she looked over I went into a hull of painful coughing and was left alone. Excellent. After the morning chat with KC and Pete I dragged my tired, and hungry, self to class. Yup I had class today. Thanks to the numerous amounts of canceled class in Medieval History our professors decided to use the last week of class to host "catch up" lectures. Roar, that's all just a roar. Paula and I were there accompanied by the faithful fifth of the class to learn about abbeys. Oh it was riveting. I could not wait to escape back to St. Nicolas for a few hours of relax before tutoring. Brendon Urie you are a master at making the hours melt away with your mellow melodious music. Hours later my head was full of Panic! lyrics and Brendon's voice. I was ready to teach my kids. This last lesson of 2012 was adorable in so many lights. Alexis, the youngest, brought out some cookies for Louis and me to eat. While holding the plate Alexis said in English, "I made desh." I almost melted from how cute it was. Louis did wonderfully today with his speaking. We practiced some simple conversation questions which he answered properly. His accent is improving which from a teaching prospective is rewarding. Anne's lesson was more complex, as always, and covered a favorite grammar section of mine, relative pronouns. Oh how they are a pain in the ass in both languages. It ended with Alexis giving me a lovely wrapped Christmas present. Just going to say sweetest moment ever! It was a box of chocolate truffles no less. I could have never predicted that I would be tutoring English in France to children but I'm so glad that I am. Over break I will find something spectacular to give them, a piece of home in a way. Don't worry it won't be Hershey chocolate audience. After I received my present it was time to go. I gave everyone lots of kisses and wished them merry holidays. It was a strange walk home but a happy one. Truly it was.