Welcome back! And snow craziness

I got back to France on Sunday, bright an early at 8:30 AM. Once I was on the plane I finally resigned myself to the fact that I was coming back, but I could definitely have used another week relaxing in the States. Two weeks really isn't long enough for a transatlantic visit, three would have been perfect. I felt like I spent the first week adjusting to the time change and sleeping off my exhaustion from the end of the first part of the school year, started enjoying myself the second week, and then had to scramble on Friday and Saturday to be ready to leave. It was good to be back, I saw a bunch of friends and family, really enjoyed having a dishwasher and a fully stocked and functioning kitchen (since mine is pitifully unstocked and I have a microwave and an electric burner that doesn't quite boil water). I even got in a trip to Arby's for jalopeno poppers and mozzarella sticks. Gotta love the fried goodness. Has anyone ever seen jalapeno poppers in France? I would be all over that, but I doubt it exists since jalapenos are totally MIA over here.

And apparently I brought the snow back with me! But I now totally regret ever having wished snow on this Georgia-esque corner of France, because they are totally unprepared for it, so instead of the snow being fantastic I find it to be kind of a pain. We function just fine in Michigan with a foot of snow, and here with only one inch everything is haywire. When I woke up yesterday morning it had already begun snowing, but the problem is that all day long the temperatures were in between freezing and melting, so half of the snow stuck and half melted, which meant it was icy. Add to this the fact that no one here has any idea how to drive under these conditions and the fact that they aren't salting the roads, and you get craziness. Everyone is freaking out about the snow. All the buses were late yesterday morning because they were going super slow, but in the afternoon the drivers were going wayyyy too fast on tiny country roads, what the heck is up with that? Then this morning the transport to V School was cancelled. Snow day for me! Unfortunately I didn't know until I was already on my way to the bus stop. Luckily I went back to sleep for another three hours.

I understand logically that because they are so unprepared for snow here everything breaks down when it actually does snow once every three years, but come on!!!! Shouldn't they have emergency planning for situations like this, you know, like they do for heat waves? They should at least have salt on hand! It doesn't go bad, is easily stored, and I would imagine that it's pretty cheap. The inefficiency is mind boggling. It's also pretty funny. I can't believe that one measly inch of snow is this insurmountable problem. All those years that I laughed at the southern states that completely shut down when there's a dusting of snow, and now I get to live through it. Lucky me?

It is nice to have a snow day, especially since I definitely needed the extra sleep to help deal with my jet lag. I even played in the snow with my students yesterday! I definitely came out the loser in our snowball fight, but it was me versus 50 six and seven year olds!