Maladroit!

I continue to be the awkward, random American in this school and in the town. Last night I finally decided to have dinner in the cafeteria with the kids. After getting the courage to go down to the cantine, I luckily saw two young people that work at the school who have been extremely nice to me. They introduced me to all the boarding students and we went in for dinner. One little boy wanted to sit with me so he could practice his English because his girlfriend is from Moldova and that's the language they have in common. Mind you, this boy is maybe 14. So dinner was succesful, but again, awkward, as my French is still a bit rusty!

Today was my first day as an actual teaching assistant. I had four classes with two professors. All the students had to prepare questions for me. I had the usual question "how old are you," "where are you from," "why are you here." But I had some other, more interesting questions:
-Do you have a boyfriend?
-Do you like muscle-y men?
-Do you like diamonds?
-Do you have a dragon or gorilla?
-How old is your mother?
-Do you live with your husband?
These kids were clearly reading off of a vocabulary list, too funny. In each class there was also a Don Juan who would ask repeatedly if I have a boyfriend and why not. One asked, or rather stated, "you are beautiful, you need a boyfriend." Thank you, 11 year old boy. A+.

After my classes, I trekked off to the train station to buy my ticket for Montpellier this weekend. During my walk, I discover the Hotel de Ville (town hall) and the library, both in beautiful, old buildings, pictures to come soon. After walking up a hill for what seemed like an eternity, I reached the tiny train station to find one person working the entire station. I purchased my ticket and timed my walk back to the school for future reference. Mind you this is from absolutely one end of the town to the other: 20 minute walk. I stopped in a cafe, because, well, I have hours of free time... and finally someone talked to me! This nice couple said something to me about mushrooms and the only thing I could respond was "pardon??" and eventually, "je suis americaine..." After that, they spoke slowly to me in French so I would understand. It was nice to have contact outside of the school and with people at least in their 20s... oh, and the same drunk man on his third beer was there again. Nice little afternoon.

My first week in Marvejols has been good, pretty uneventful, but good and relaxing. I leave for Montpellier tomorrow to meet up with some assistants and to enjoy the (still) beautiful 80 degree weather. I return Monday morning to meet 4 more classes of kids... how I will ever keep them straight, I'm not sure.