Did the Indians cut down all the trees?

Had a great class today with 7 year olds. Great, not in the sense of them learning English, because they didn't learn any, but great as in entertaining. Last week we made hand turkeys for thanksgiving. But in France, they eat turkey for Christmas, and by the time we had finished our Turkeys, they had forgotten about Thanksgiving and started thinking about Christmas. So today I re-explained Thanksgiving to them, this time in more detail, and asked if they had any questions. I clearly had not mentioned Indians the last time (there is no PC French term, so I'm just going to go with Indians here) I asked if there were any questions. Wow. There were a few good questions like where in the USA the Indians lived. I explained that they were forced west by the colonists over time. Then a student asked why the Indians would teach the colonists how to grow food. That got right to the point. But most of the conversation went like this: S=student M=me T=teacher
S: So there were Indians at the time?
M: Yes and there still are, just not how you think of them.
T: Without the feather.
S: Were there crocodiles at the time?
M: Yes, but not where the first thanksgiving was.
S: Were there crocodiles during the time of the Dinosaurs?
M: Something like that
S: And the Indians lived in tepees?
M: Actually the Thanksgiving Indians lived in long houses made of wood. Other groups lived in tepees.
S: Oh! So was it the Indians who cut down all the trees?
S: Were there scorpions at the time?
M: No, we still have trees, and there were scorpions but not in that part of the USA.
S: Snakes?
M: Yes.
S: Do turkeys live in the desert? How did they grow food in the desert?
M: The eastern US is forest, not desert, like the north of France. There were no scorpions there. Turkeys don't live in the desert they live in the forest. Where thanksgiving was.
S: Did the Indians have horses? And the cowboys!
S: You know those big saws that two people use together? Is that an Indian tool? Is that how they cut down all the trees?
M: The Indians didn't cut down all the trees. That big saw was a colonist's tool.
S: Oh! Did they use their tomahawks to cut down the trees? Were there Bison?
M: There were Bison, but in the West, this happened in the East, in the forest.
S: Did they have hatchets? How did they hunt the bison?
S: So there weren't scorpions? Like in France?

So on and so on for half an hour. I'm going to make a map with nature pictures for each region of the USA. I'm going to have to bring them pictures because I don't think I managed to convince them that we still have trees in the USA, and I'm pretty sure they blame the Indians for the deforestation.

Back Home

Even though one out of two elementary schools were closed, even though I was told not to work last strike, even though this one was supposed to be bigger, I only had one out of 7 teachers striking, so I had a full day of work. It was too bad since Julia was visiting, but there are certainly worse things in the world. No matter what I do, no matter how bad it seems some of my lessons fail, the kids still like me, and there's nothing that cheers you up better on 8:30 on a morning you'd rather not be working than catching in the corner of your eye a little girl doing the fists-clenched elbows-to-the waist "Yes!" motion when she sees you walk into the room, or to have a classful of kids say "awwwwwww" when they find out that because of rescheduling, they are having science class with another guest teacher instead of English class that week.

Last Saturday I went to Villeneuve-les-Avignon, a city established across the river from Avignon by France to monitor that city when it was the seat of the Pope. Much of Provence belonged to the Pope during the middle ages, and when their was unrest in Italy, the Papal seat was moved for a time to Avignon. Villeneuve has a fort inside of which is an abbey with beautiful gardens. Despite unseasonable below-freezing temperatures, Robyn (an assistant in Avignon) and I decided we would go see the Gardens and spend the day outside. The first picture is of snails on the railing of the bridge between Avignon and Villeneuve-les-Avignon. It was about as cold as it gets all year that day and I bet that was the warmest place they could find. The picture of me was taken in Villeneuve, with Avignon in the background. The rest are in the gardens of the abbey within the fort.

Bon Strike Bad Strike?

Ongoing French strikes mean that Julia's train - the only train for a reasonable price - was cancelled. I got her booked on a train, but with the metro on strike also, getting to the station will be an adventure. However, the strike also makes it likely I won't be working this Tuesday, which means more time with Julia. The title of this post is in reference to a Canadian film Bon Cop Bad Cop, which I hear s quite good. Apartment searching is moving along. I met a potential roommate, who I would like to live with, I'll be seeing the apartment, which is currently being renovated, soon. Julia arrives tomorrow and the Butcher is stringing me along with the Turkey. Who knows if we'll get one.

St. Rémy is lovely...

...if you're middle-aged to old, rich, living with a significant other, and have a car, or if your visiting for a day or week-end. However, for someone like me, it is expensive and lonely. I decided a bit ago that I wanted to move at some point to Avignon. I thought I would go after the Christmas holiday. Susie doesn't have as much time as me (she's leaving at the beginning of February) and she's also been fed up with the fact that there's no young people in St Remy and with our other roommate not being very welcoming or considerate so she decided to move right away, she doesn't have time to wait. She's the only reason I was staying in St Remy really, so I moved up my apartment search. I found a couple of cute studios in my price range and I'm meeting Saturday with a 20-year-old non-smoker looking for a roommate. She said her apartment has a kitchen "for people who like to cook" and she seemed nice over the phone (we had a little trouble understanding each other.) Living with her, I could speak more French and hopefully meet other young French people. While looking for apartment notices, I saw a notice for a theater looking for amateur actors and circus performers to be in their shows. Sounds like my kind of theater so I'm going to see if they want a designer/technician, I can't get paid (and not just because its theater) but I can meet people and have more to do with my time. My next door neighbor, Lynn, (24, English, awesome) is a student at the university in Avignon and she has some long breaks in between her classes so I can always grab a coffee with her or have her over on the days I don't work, so I can still see her. Finally, while for Susie being in Avignon means a lot of commuting, I already commute 2 out of my 3 work days, and those commutes won't get any longer, so I'm only adding one day of commuting. St. Remy is great in its way but there's more for me in Avignon.

Vacation Photos pt. 2

Yelle in concert in Arles (see a couple posts ago)









A Paris-Dakar rally themed ride in Arles







My travel partners Ed, Susie, and Catherine in a park in Montpellier. Behind the monument (not visible) is an aquaduct.








A fountain in the old french-looking part of Montpellier.











A fountain in the new Vegas-looking part of Montpellier.









The town crest of Nimes. There are no crocodiles in Nimes, but there are a number of palm trees because of the crest. It does not reflect the city but rather commemorates Caesar's conquest of Egypt, a recent even when Nimes had the honor of being named a Roman colony which gave the citizens more rights and the city more prestige.





Me in the interior of the Nimes arena, better preserved than the one in Arles, the outside looks much like the Arles one, but it still has its third level.








Looking out from the Nimes Arena onto (i think) the Palais de Justice.













The Maison Carrée, a Gallo-Roman temple.










Me in the gardens in Nimes.








The Tour Magne, a Roman tower built over an older Gallic one. The remains of the Gallic one were destroyed, and the Roman one was nearly destroyed this guy dug it up looking for gold which he though Nostradamus had predicted was there. The kind allowed it as long as he got half of any findings. I went to the top but the sun was in my eyes, so no good pictures of the view over Nimes.



Despite Pete's request, I didn't buy any jeans in Nimes (Denim comes from "de Nimes" where the cloth was born.) After Nimes, I went to Paris where I took no pictures. Then I met my parents in Bruges, Belgium. The pictures taken by my parents and I can be seen here.

Vacation Pictures pt 1 - Arles

I just got back to St. Rémy after almost 2 weeks of vacation, so as I upload my pictures, I'll recap my travels. My last entry was about going to the concert in Arles. The next day, Susie and I did some sightseeing, and here's the proof.



Sad lions in the town hall square.











The flag of the Sous-Prefecture











Susie











The Théâtre Antique (Roman Theater)











The Arena









The Photographer and Susie's feet.







I learned that when roman power waned and other armies started invading the towns, entire villages were built inside the roman arenas, with houses, shops, and later, churches. The walls of the arena were used as protection. It wasn't until a movement for the preservation of historical buildings and restoration swept through Europe in the 19th century that the houses were removed.