This rotten case of whatever I've got (plague, perhaps?) has really got me down.
I haven't even had the computer on for two days, reserving my energy for the strictly necessary things in life. That mainly means laundry and feeding the cats. And also skiing. Taking the twins skiing, I mean. We went up to Les Haberes yesterday afternoon and they had a lesson with an instructor while I huddled in a corner of the café , coughing and drinking tea with lemon. They were in good hands with Jean-Claude. He seemed very sensible and patient, about 60 years old- though it's hard to tell with ski instructors. His skin was hard, brown and wrinkled, giving him the look of a very fit, elderly turtle. A nice turtle. The girls said he was kind and very helpful.
Monday afternoon, I was back at the school giving another English lesson. As I finished up, the new teacher asked if I would come back on Friday.
"Isn't it usually on Thursdays?" I asked.
"I'd like to take them to the library on Thursday" said the teacher.
"Oh. Do you have someone to run it?" was my surprised response. As far as I knew, the other Libarary Lady (Olivier's mom) wasn't available this week and no one had asked me.
The teacher said "????" and then she added, a bit frazzled, "There's no libararian? I need to find someone to run it? How does this all work?"
And of course I said not to worry and I'd be there Thursday all afternoon for the library. And on Friday for English again.
I'm glad to help out- don't get me wrong. But I do think it's rather scandalous that the school board won't pay for an actual English teacher and a real librarian. They say they are committed to keeping the small village school open, but more and more elements of the education offered there are falling by the wayside.
.......
All has become clear now. This is not just plague. It's also stomach flu.
Right after writing about the village school above, I had to abandon my post and have an ugly experience in the bathroom. I won't get too graphic, but this is not good.
I hope it clears up by this afternoon. Otherwise the children of Saint André won't get to go to the library this week. And as there is a two week holiday coming up, that would be a bit sad. No books for the kids over the vacation...
4 comments:
Ay, caramba! The little ones of the so-quaint French village are going to grow up believing that nothing gets done without the help of an American! I hope your plague is finally -- if ungraciously -- exiting your body and that you will be feeling whole again at last. These many thousands of miles away, we still battle many of the same symptoms.
OOOOOmG you poor thing, when is your husband getting back? Seems you should have been able to leave the plagues behind....pretty soon it sounds like you will be the school board as well. Draw the line at janitor though, m'kay? Hang in there. Hope you get better soon.
Ms B- Well, we Americans are pretty handy, come to think of it. First we kick out the Nazis(ok- with help. But still.) and then we show up to teach them English, as well as helping them learn to use the Dewey Decimal System.
Ms. O- JP will be back on the 11th, though I'm not sure that will really change anything. He's cute, but he doesn't know how to turn on the washing machine. In fact, I'm not sure he even knows where it is located...
Beth,
I hope that you will feel much better really soon.
If it's any consolation, we heard from a friend in Marseille that he and his wife, who had both taken flu shots, were secoués par une gripe.
Bonne santé!
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