Le printemps arrive!

Ahh, spring has arrived! I finally understand why so many of my students responded with "spring" at the beginning of the year when I asked them what their favorite season was. Just as quickly as it came, the cold has gone and the sun is here! The past few weeks have been scattered with highs of 70 degrees and it has been such a nice relief.
Life has been good the past few weeks, but it has been a challenge to stay motivated with lesson planning and speaking french too if I'm honest. It's a funny thing learning and using another language. The best thing I can compare it to is the ocean. One minute you're riding the best waves and just cruising really, and then you turn your back for a second and it knocks you flat on your face while you're awkwardly clamoring to find the shore again. Maybe that's a bit poetic for the pragmatism of real conversation, but none the less, it is certainly how I have felt on many an occasion while I have been here. It is starting to hit me though that as quickly as this "adventure" came, it will end and I will be back home longing for the alluringly frustrating "je ne sais quoi" attitude that is France. I had an interesting conversation with one of the teachers at my main school about my experience living here, and she was honest enough to provide me the consolidation that this region of France (and this town in particular) is rather closed off. You see, from my experience both studying French and living in this very peculiar country (though I say this not in an entirely pejorative sense), the French have an enormous amount of pride for their history, culture, language, and just general way of life. Much of this, in my humble opinion as an outsider, is justified. How many times have you longed for French food, wine, and picnics in the park while effortless French flows from your mouth? Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure it's a fantasy many people dream about. Unfortunately for those of us who are not products of this lovely way of life, it is quite honestly impossible to copy, and what's more, we look silly trying to mimic those who really now how it's done. So, I have found that to succeed as a foreigner in this country, you really must just humbly accept your lot and graciously receive the crumbs that fall from the table. Now I say this not to portray the French as malicious or rotten people, but simply to say that there is truly a tremendous amount of inherent "Frenchness" that seems to be almost embedded in people's DNA here, making me feel like a fish out of water. Mais bref, on this subject, I have already and continue to learn a lot.
As for school, I am beginning to tie up ends which is very bittersweet. Because I only teach each class once a week, I only have four more times with each, some even less because of various time conflicts and field trips. I will certainly miss many of my classes, and today as I was leaving a school, it just struck me that I have gotten to be a part of, or maybe more accurately put, have gotten to peer into, a very integral part of another culture: it's education system. I can't really think of a much more formative part of modern civilization and enculturation than how and what a society teaches it's children, and for that, I am grateful and even a bit indebted.
With regards to what I want to do before going home, I am quite looking forward to my spring break coming up. My friend teaching in Spain will be coming to visit for a few days so we will get to explore Switzerland, and I think I will be going to Nice for about a week with some of the English girls in Chambery so that should be wonderful. I've always wanted to explore la côte d'azur, so what a nice time to do it!
Well, I'm out of things to say at the moment, so until next time mes amies!
Gros bisous,
Amy