This is what Rebecca does when she gets bored.

[rebecca_in_blue]

Today was another day I spent walking around the town. Did I mention that an elderly couple who keeps chickens and geese lives just down the street from the school? I can sometimes hear their roosters crowing in the morning. They also have a German Shepherd named Leo (pronounced Lay-O); I know his name because he spends most of his time barking and one of his owners is always yelling at him to stop. Today I found the town's park, a war memorial, and train station. I'm hoping to go there this week and buy a ticket for Amiens, where there's a mandatory training day on October 1. After that, I'm told, I'll spend about a week observing classes before I start teaching myself. I still find the idea very scary. These students are uncomfortably close to my own age – I'm sure it won't take them long to figure out I'm really one of them.

And my adventures with French dining still continue. Today for dinner I microwaved a can of beef ravioli, and it didn't taste much like the Chef Boyardee brand, which is good, because I ate so many cans of that during my four years of college that I may never eat it again. So far the supermarket food has been pretty tasty. And I finally tried some of Marcel Proust's little madelines. They tasted a lot like angel food cake.

Sara gave me a copy of this really wonderful book, The Dogs of Babel, just before I left. The main character, Paul, is a linguistics professor who plays a lot of different word games, his favorite being to make as many words as you can out of a person's name. I got bored last night and gave it a try. My first and last names can form a surprising number of words; tell me in comments if you think of any new ones, although I'm pretty sure I've exhausted all the possibilities.

Ace
Acre
Are
Bar
Bare
Be
Bee
Bear
Beer
Beware
Boar
Bore
Bow
Bra
Brace
Brew
Brow
Cab
Car
Care
Cob
Cobra
Core
Cow
Cower
Crab
Crib
Crew
Crow
Ear
Era
Ice
Ire
Oar
Orb
Ore
Owe
Race
Raw
Rib
Rice
Rob
Robe
Row
War
Wear
Web
Wire
Woe
Wore 

Comments

aunt connie

[(Anonymous)]

visited grandma today, she is well. we were not very good company, olivia and I both wanted to take a nap. eva had a good time going through some clothes and found a knitted poncho that she hasn't taken off yet. uncle john is working tonight (overtime). i don't have any advice for you as far as teaching goes but the observation days will help you alot in determining how far they are along in their english and from what i heard from olivia who took french in high school from a woman (and yes you are a woman)from france, olivia said the teacher was shocked about how disrespectful the students were so it's not like you are going into an inner city school with a bunch of trouble makers. i have only sat with elementary classes for an hour or two, from that experience i have learned that you must keep in control and not be "too nice". you have to be firm. but you'll figure it out and do fine. you were great not letting any one through your food court line with an icee substitute. all for now. mom mentioned that uncle chris called and said he would like to read your journal so i sent the address to them. here's eva.........i found this wonderful shirt that matches with my poncho, it's a tank top. my foot is better i had an infected wart, after i finish taking some medicine for the infection, i will put duck tape on it. the doctor says it takes 3 weeks until the wart leaves. and the doctor said that it will work 80% better then anything they have, i thought that was pretty amazing. byebye for now.^-^.....^_^

Re: aunt connie

[rebecca-in-blue.livejournal.com]

Hi, Eva! I'm glad your foot is feeling better, and I hope it doesn't hurt you any more. I just e-mailed you guys my mailing address here at the school if you want to write me by snail mail. Yes, I have heard that students in France qre very serious about their education, I'm trying to keep that in mind and not get too nervous.

[makebeliever.livejournal.com]

Wow, you really were bored, weren't you? Try making a list of French words next time! Beware is a good one. It's too bad you don't have an S or you could do browse.

I didn't think you'd be teaching a whole class by yourself, I thought you'd just be assisting. What will the regular teacher be doing during this time? Will she be around to help? DON'T WORRY! I know you're going to do a great job, and all your students will love you. You've had enough teachers to know what makes a good one good and a bad one bad. Now you just need to emulate the good teachers and not the bad ones (i.e. don't come to class drunk like Chumbley).

[rebecca-in-blue.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was fun to see how many different words I could make. You should try it with your name! Although you probably won't have as many words as I did because your name's shorter. Cow, screw, soar...

[(Anonymous)]

i think you have exhausted all thel possibilities,the list was quite long. i got your address off my e-mail. got to run i have a patient calling love mom