Snow

Hey all,

Today it snowed! You all can imagine, I am sure, the reaction of a young Californian to such weather... It was beautiful! I was in the middle of class, having the kids write up a dialogue about ordering food in a restaurant, when I noticed the tiny flakes of white floating down from the skies. My first instinct was to ignore it and continue with class, but the other students began to notice and get a bit distracted. The magical part of the snowfall was its swiftness; it went from a gentle dusting to a soft fall to a flurry in a matter of minutes, practically begging to be appreciated. The kids saw the smile spread across my face and they began to giggle. "You can imagine," I said, "how special this is for a Californian!"

Later, I went to the cafeteria to have lunch and said the same thing to the surveillant/surveillantes (think RAs of a boarding school), other people around my age and smiled at them and the snow for a good five minutes. They thought it was great that I was so amused, but I think the sincere glee was contagious and they seemed to appreciate the snow a bit more.

Tomorrow is the last day of classes before Christmas break (the French will rarely say "Happy Holidays / Joyeuses fetes". Their being Catholic is no secret) and the Scrooge in me is softening ever so slightly.

Last night the boarders (a little less than half of the student body) had a big party in the cafeteria - a lot of the kids dressed up, there was a big meal, performances, and they had a big dance afterward. It was really a lot of fun - the costumes were really creative. The best were three "Totally Spies!" girls, an Edward Scissorhands, and a Tintin. Edward was great - no scissors allowed, so he used knives from the cafeteria, some wrenches and a fork instead. The Jackson 5 were also present, but seeing as they were in blackface, I'm going to hold judgement on that one.

This experience is completely selling me on boarding schools.

My trip up to Paris last week was great - if you have a Facebook account, you can check out all the photos I posted. If not, tough. :)

There will be another update before Christmas... I'm going to see a hip-hop dance troupe on Friday, may go listen to some gospel choir this Saturday, not to mention Where the Wild Things Are and Avatar just opened over here.

As if that isn't enough, playing the guitar has been a lot of fun and I believe I'm progressing. I have also put down some reading that didn't particularly captivate me (les Essais de Michel de Montaigne) and have picked up Walden and Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau, which so far suits me to a tee.

Best,
Ben