The good news is, I killed the mosquito!
The bad news is, she wasn't alone.
Therefore, I've started to sleep coated in bug spray. My room smells like camp. I'm not sure why my little blue thing that I plugged in stopped working but it's really getting me down. I just thank God every day that I don't wake up with a bug bite on my eyelid (as my dedicated readers know, this as happened to me twice in my life) or on the tip of my nose (this has happened once). Alors, things could always be worse. I did figure out how to turn down the heat in my room. It's now less of a tropical swamp habitat and more of a temperate deciduous forest.
Today at my high school (about 2 days behnd the rest of the country) the students decided to go on strike. Now those less familiar with the French mindset might ask themselves, "What are they on strike from? They don't get paid nor do they produce any goods/provide any services" This would be a valid point if it weren't for the fact that French people aren't tied down to logic. There are host of reasons why various students across the country are on strike (the privitization of the univsersities, the riots in the South etc.) but it seems, from talking with my students, that lycéeans in St. Brieuc are mad because Sarkozy has proposed to shorten the length of time it takes to earn a bac pro. A bac pro is basically a vo-tech high school diploma. Now, a student first must complete a BEP (don't ask me what that is, its some kind of pre-bac pro), which takes 2 years and then moves on to 2 more years studying for the bac pro exam. Apparently, Sarkosy wants to get rid of the BEP all together and replace it with a 3 year bac pro. Don't ask me why a shorter vocational diploma made so many students so mad. As some of my students who didn't protest said "I think they love school." Maybe; I think its more like they don't like Sarkosy and so they are willing to protest any changes he tries to make. Also, they are probably in agreement with the more legitimate concerns of the university students and the fonctionaires. Who knows? The students here did brake some windows in their enthusiasm. That's dedication.
I also feel the need to tell the world about a special lady named Maman. Not my maman, who is also very special but whose actual name is Debbie, but a cabaret style singer at a local bar who calls herself Maman. Maman and her husband, Titi, who plays the piano, perform every Tuesday night at Le Piano Bleu. They sing French favorites in a truly cheesy fashion and they
sometimes play a name that tune style quiz! I have an advantage when they play American songs but since I know approx. 4 French songs I never get those right. Luckily our team is made up of French and American people so we have all of our bases covered. My friend Leah has convinced me a total of 3 times to sing with her when Maman needed a pause. Our perfomances have ranged from borderline catastrohic to mediocre but its been fun all the same. I've included one picture of Maman and one of me singing with Leah and this other girl who sings sometimes there. I don't remember her name but she is very nice. In that one you can also see Titi playing the keyboard.
P.S. My roommate Maud called our landlord the other day about the Internet. He had a new story of course. This time he said that we need to call the company and deal with getting it installed. We'll pay for it but he'll reimburse us for some of it. This new plan is fine with me since I know Maud will actually get the job done instead of lying about it for almost 2 months like the landlord.
8 comments:
I adore your blog, and of course I linked to it in mine
Eek - my lycée pro is on strike too. But apparently the gov caved today and sent out an email to all of the proviseurs saying that they decided not to cut the BEP, so the strike should be winding down now.
As for why they were striking - there are several reasons, the first being that they want to get out of school (I'm 100% serious about this). Plus, striking is sort of a high school rite, like going to prom is for us.
The second reason is that if they get rid of the BEP, that means that they will only have three years to learn what they used to learn in four. Which means that a lot of the speciality subjects will be dropped, and the diploma will become more generalized (and thus worth less). For example, there are currently around 70 bac pros and with sarko's new plan, there would only be around 30 (meaning the number of students per class would be higher).
The third reason is that some kids are just not up to passing the BAC, and the BEP was a way for them to leave school with at least some sort of professional diploma. So if they got rid of that, there would be a fair amount of kids who would end up dropping out of high school with no diploma of any kind.
The fourth reason is that getting rid of the BEP would also mean getting rid of the teachers that used to teach the BEP classes, so there would be a lot of jobs lost. And this would mean that some schools that were very BEP-centric might end up closing, which would be a big loss for the community and would force students to have to go farther away for schooling.
So voilà, that was probably way more info than you wanted, but there are the reasons in a nutshell.
Debbie! Had no idea. Bet your real Maman is proud to share her name.
Well, I am very proud to share the title "maman" with an actual French cabaret singer.
sincerely,
la vrai maman,
Debbie
p.s. can you find another cabaret singer called "papa" for Dad?
I remember my expereince with a strike during my Jr. Year Abroad in France. After lugging our clothes on 2 buses to the laundromat in town, the electricity shut off as we finished our wash load. That's when we discovered the notice posted on the wall announcing a 2:00pm strike! We had to put all the wet clothes in our duffle bags and carry them back on 2 buses to our apartment. Do you know how heavy wet clothes are? C'est la vie!
I remember my expereince with a strike during my Jr. Year Abroad in France. After lugging our clothes on 2 buses to the laundromat in town, the electricity shut off as we finished our wash load. That's when we discovered the notice posted on the wall announcing a 2:00pm strike! We had to put all the wet clothes in our duffle bags and carry them back on 2 buses to our apartment. Do you know how heavy wet clothes are? C'est la vie!
Bonjour/hello Sarah ~ Excuse me for my question, but, I serve as manager to a Canadian musician who sings and plays piano. The first thing I do when touring new lands is to Google a region and "piano". It is usually simple, then, to find the right venues to contact for concerts and cabaret type performances. We're considering including Brittany on the next tour route - and Le Piano Bleu in Saint-Brieuc and your blog post came up in my search. I have looked at images, here and on one other page - and it appears the venue has a keyboard and not an acoustic piano. Is that right? And/or do you know of any 50 - 150 music venues with acoustic pianos in the region! Thanks/merci! Ad
(Should you see this message, and wish to respond, please send word here, or c/o management@allisoncrowe.com ~ eventually, I contact the venues that seem most prospective, until then I research online.)
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