Jeudi 05.10.06 The Itchy & Scratchy Show
It’s another early start for both of us. But unfortunately it starts off as one of those days where everything goes wrong... Firstly there’s no electricity so we rattle and clatter about the house in semi-darkness. Madame Arlette later tells us that this is a regular occurrence. She grumbles about the cost of electricity. Solar panels are not uncommon here and ours is used to heat water. At least we can still shower without depending on electricity, but we then run the risk of confusing soap for shampoo and stepping out with our trousers on arse-ways! Nicola and I decide to check each other out in case something went amiss in the semi-darkness.
Nicola has to be in for 7,30 so she sets off for the 5,50 bus. I’m sipping my tea when I get a text from her to say she saw her bus speed by at 5,40. It’s a heads-up for me to make a move. I’m just 50 metres from the bus-stop when spy the No.22 behind the embankment. Thankfully Nicola was onboard to alert the driver of my arrival. I gave my breakfast an unnecessary jostling as I dashed up the hill; so much so that I felt quite unwell as I scrambled into my seat. A stitch clung to my side for the bus journey. And the lurching, bucking movement of the bus helped neither my mood nor my stomach.
We go our separate ways in Fort-de-France; Nicola goes West to Schoelcher and I go East to Chateauboeuf. I’m at the school by 7,45 which, with the Martinique traffic, is pretty good going. The rest of my time is spent in the kissy-kissy, je-t’embrace manner. Goodness knows how many clammy cheeks and perspiring palms I’ve held close in the past week!
At 8,00 I’m in with Claude Duval and his CM2 C pupils. As it’s English class I find myself at the top of the room getting the students to brainstorm about all things Irish. They are very inquisitive and contribute well to the class; even Claude seems to be getting involved and informed! Towards the end I play a memory game with the class divided into four teams. It works well as they are interested and competitive. All too soon the bell rings but they want to have another round to choose a winner. As it happens the one team who were lagging win the round and so everyone’s a winner!
Next up is English with CM2 D and Madame Regine Caruge. At first this class are more timid than and not as enquiring as the other group. They gurn at the thought of an Irish Breakfast and they get a good giggle from my drawings especially when I draw a figure on top of a cliff and send him plummeting over the edge. A sweet little girl says, “ Tu dessine bien” as I unveil my woolly sheep and sly fox characters. Irish festivities and celebrations seem to strike a chord with them and we stay on this subject until I run through my memory game. In the last few minutes there’s a tie and they’re adamant to keep going until somebody wins. However, the small fries make a comeback and it ends with everyone level.
The bell for break sounds and two pupils help me to carry my assortment of maps and flags to (what I presume is) my next class with Mlle Odile Bardot and the CM1 B. During break Jossylene my responsable appears and tells me that my timetable is being reshuffled – well, I didn’t think it would really be set in stone at this stage anyway. Everything’s up in the air for a while so I leave Jossylene to flit about and sort it out while I get roped into helping plan some upcoming International Day of Cultures. Dominique and Nicole, a CP teacher, are enthusiastic about getting pupils to do Irish dancing on the day so I guess who’s in charge of that :-)
Jossylene spends the next class rearranging my timetable and negotiating class times with other teachers. For a day that started so frenzied it suddenly began to take on a better shape… perhaps that of a shamrock, because the luck of the Irish must have filtered through as I’ve now got a neat timetable consisting of five sessions each morning. Although that translates into a lot of early starts it leaves me with my evenings completely free.
Of course Jossylene had to bring up the topic of alternative accommodation again but I assured her I had settled in well at Tivoli and didn’t want to move, despite the constant voyaging. I’m convinced the headmistress had offered me her Granny flat because, as an enterprising woman, she saw a business opportunity when her mother vacated it to go into a nursing home… not unlike the shenanigans that went on during the Ryder Cup in Ireland when people saw a chance to earn a quick buck by renting out their relations houses while they were on holiday or in hospital!
Eager to get in another observation I trotted off to Madame Pamphile’s classroom where the CE2 A were engrossed (or just grossed out) by mathématique. Madame Pamphile is one of those towering, terrifying-looking, stern ladies who look out-of-place among a group of tiny tots. Even so, she let them chat away during their tasks and cautioned them mildly and rarely.
Lunchtime came around so slowly and as the hunger was on me I decided to go to the nearby Chinese that had been recommended by Guy and Jossylene. €8 at You Shing got me a huge plate of spicy beef and vegetable pap with egg-fried rice and a bottle of coke. By the time I’d had my fill of monosodiumglutenate and a few swills of sugar-high sweetness I still had plenty of time to get the bus into town. I had to return to Chateauboeuf at 14,00 to complete my observations but within half an hour I was sitting in a café on Boulevard Général de Gaulle with a Punch Vieux in my hand and Nicola beside me with her soupe de poisson and coq au vin. The propriétaire was very friendly towards us and our continental cash.
Nicola was done for the day but I got back to Chateauboeuf for Madame Thaly’s CE2 B group. It was a double with Madame Catherine Edragas. I introduced myself and Catherine then took them for Sciences de la Matière et Technologie while Madame Thaly went to the CE2 D to teach l’histoire. The kids were learning about levers and they used rulers and glue-sticks to lift their heavy tomes. There was a very disruptive boy, Jean-François, who was constantly yapping and annoying his classmates. Catherine gave out to him but it only subdued Jean-François for a minute before he was back to his unruly self.
My last class was with Mlle Acina and the CE2 C. She has a very strong Martiniquais accent and I found myself listening closely; so much so that I joined in with the class activities. Each kid had a little blackboard and sponge on which they wrote their answers and at her command: “Ecrits. Cachez. Montez”, they would raise their boards above their heads and show her their work. At 16,00 I was free to go and I went to la directrice get some more papers signed and stamped. I also inquired about using the internet but alas it has not being working since June and it doesn’t seem to be on the mend anytime soon :-P Before I left I went to leave my Irish aides in the library and I found it packed with some new faces. There were about six assistantes administratives milling around folding forms and labelling envelopes. There is an upcoming election for the board of governors and parents council so they had their work cut out for them for the evening…
Back at home Nicola and I decided to skip dinner and start on Desperados and Panache. Neither of us had much of an appetite but we eventually raided our chocolate supply and feasted on Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut and M&M’s. Nicola had seen pictures of Madame Arlette’s Carnival costume and I decided to do my own doodles. Arlette is no one-trick horse. She also makes her own clothes as well as outfits for Miss Martinique! With all the talk about fashion and fabric I soon had pins and needles in my legs and by bedtime my legs were really itchy. Of course a good scratch sorted them out for a while but I could still feel them tingling and prickling all night long.
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