I'm starting to realize that I am really leaving my town and my schools at the end of the year. The fete d'ecole this weekend was a real wake up call that my time here is ending. The part that bothers me the most is leaving my students (well, the ones that aren't in the monster class). I really like my students, they're mostly good, nice, enthousiastic kids, and I wish I could stay and see them grow up a little more, teach them some more English and open their little tiny minds to the world around them. I feel like I'm abandoning them. I know I would be 1000 times better as a teacher than I was this year or last year because I keep learning things about teaching and expanding my personal curriculum and I won't be able to put my new ideas into practice next year.
It's weird to think that I'm leaving this town I've lived in for the past two years. This has been home for two years. It sounds like such a long time but it doesn't feel like it! I'll miss hearing the bells of the cathedral every 15 minutes between 8 AM and 10 PM, the old stone buildings, being able to walk to every interesting place in town, twisting my ankles on the cobblestone streets, going to my favorite bakery, walking into my schools to chorus of "Hello!," little bisous from my students ...
Things I won't miss: crappy internet at the lycée, having no internet after 10:30 PM because there's a timed alarm on the room, no wireless and not being able to use my laptop, living with dirty boys who can't lift a finger to clean anything or take out the trash or their empty bottles, living with someone who steals my food (my brother is away at school, so he won't be doing that anymore), the annoying lycéens, the weird reserved transportation I have to take to one of my schools with old creepy guy drivers.
It's so strange to start thinking of things in terms of "one of the last times I'll...." I know I don't want to live here forever, but it's strange that it's ending right now.
And, on another note, I for one am keeping a close eye on the Iranian election fall-out, and found this hilarious cartoon on Twitter. I'm inspired by this totally poeple driven, non-violent protest movement and wish them success! Good luck Iranians!
9 comments:
awww
I know this feeling so very well. I miss my daily coffee or diabolo from La Rotonde. I miss running into people I know on the streets. And most importantly, I miss my students. Maybe my kids weren't cute or giving me a bisous (should probably be glad of that), but I grew really attached to them. And my trip to London really made it harder as I bonded with some of them. I miss them so much! Luckily, a few of the have found me on Facebook, and I will stop by and see the younger ones next year, so I will get to keep in contact with some of them.
And just went and looked at that cartoon. Haha! That is hilarious!
Yeah, do everything you'll miss now right now, because trust me, you'll miss it bad :(
I sometimes still wish I could be over there doing everything still and traveling. I'm trying to look for jobs again that'll get me back traveling. Who knows where life will take us....?
Good luck with the move back!
I totally understand the feeling! I hate leaving... any place, any time. Makes me feel weird, sad and strangely out of place.
This is still a part of you though, you change through your experiences!
PS: I loved the cartoon! So true as well :D
Glad everyone liked the cartoon!
I think transitions are always hard, and especially when you're switching between two different lives, which is kind of how I feel about France. Like I have a life here, and a life in the US, and I don't want to fully give up either one. I don't like change or endings, but they are a part of life!
I'll tell you what Claude told me. Don't look at this as an ending. Look at this as a new beginning. Cheesy, I know. Of course, that really didn't make me feel much better, but I thought I'd share anyway.
Yep, super cheesy, but a nice thought on Claude's part. Thanks for sharing.
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