the bells

so, of all the odd things to be taking place today...

i’m walking home from work, where i’ve just been astounded again (more at the end...), when the bells of the church start to ring. this, i take as a normal occurrence because it happens every hour -- at least. and, seeing as how it’s very near noon, i assume it is for the hour.

so, as i said, i’m walking. it seems to me that the bell has been having at it for a very long time... something quite more than 12 rings. and, sure enough, as i sit and count 12 more rings i’m assured that my suspicion is correct.

for at least 5 more minutes the bell continues to ring. this is the first time i’ve known any bell to do that on a friday at noon, so i hop in to the nearest tabac and ask the nice man at the counter if there’s something going on. he’s newer to the region, and says he’s not sure... but proceeds to ask the next customer that comes in... who also has no idea.

nor does the man i stop on the street.

odd.

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as for the astonishment at school, there are two reasons i was in such a state:

1.
1. for the past 3, if not 4, lessons with the younger of my classes at that school we have been learning the alphabet. (whether or not 7 year old french kids need to know the english alphabet is an entirely different matter... i just was out of ideas one day, and thought they might like to sing...) the first lesson or two was singing the song. then, because i had absolutely no idea what to do one day... i went down the roll, picking kids’ names at random and writing them on the board. they had to read the letters out to me. (they really, really liked this activity... i need more ingenious ideas like that to keep them all occupied...) today, again with no idea really what i was doing, i reviewed one more time the alphabet song, correcting their mispronunciations; i reviewed colors and food; and then i went through the food vocabulary, spelling the words out loud while they searched their lists for the words. they had to raise their hand when they found it. then we spelled a few more food items of their choosing together on the board. this, too, went over entirely way too well with the little people.


2.
2. as i’m getting done with class, i head over the computer room to check for a couple of emails that i’ve been waiting for (with no luck...). in the hallway, the kids are lining up and getting their coats and what have you on so they can go home to lunch. there are a couple of classes at the school i don’t teach, either because the kids are too young to start english or because their teacher is adept with the language and teaches them herself. the particular horde of children i ran into in the hall fit in the latter category. they know i’m the english assistant, and that my name is mark (i often speak to their teacher between classes or before lunch... always in english), but they don’t really know me. the last few times, i’ve said hello to them and asked them how they are doing. the largely shy away and seem all sorts of timid-like. this time, i said hello to a couple of them... asked how they were... and then asked their names. i worked with them a bit to help them understand my accent and get what i was saying. the bright little buggers figured it out... and next thing i know i’m surrounded by 20 little frenchies saying, “my name is...,” making sure that i hear each one of their respective names. they were fascinated by me, it seems (also, a bit surprised to learn that i know french). the teacher was later telling me that they want to have me come in with them some time for a lesson (which i would not be opposed to). never would i have thought that simply speaking my native tongue would cause such a reaction among a group of people... even midgitiles.