First day of Social Time

The teachers are all pretty hilarious. Augustus took me into the break room first thing, where a bunch of them were gathered round trying to fix the coffee maker. They all made jokes about their poor English, but I laughed and told them I could speak French. Augustus led me elsewhere, but I overheard one of them say as I was leaving “Well, she’s nice!” Whew!

During the first school break, Augustus deposited me into the teacher’s lounge, introducing me to the one teacher working in there, and departing himself to finish some administrative work. This teacher I’ll call Don Julio, mostly because it’s funny, but also because at the right angle he almost looks like Johnny Depp in Don Juan de Marco. (If you haven’t seen that film, you should watch it right now. It’s great) apparently he might be a little bit like Don Juan de Marco, but we’ll get to that later.

Don Julio was working on the lone computer in the room, and when he looked up, that swooping, bird-in-flight-isn’t-this-fellow-lovely sensation bolted through my chest. It was worse once he’d uncurled himself from the computer chair; he stands a good few inches taller than me, which of course completely flabbergasted me. I had to shove my hands into my pockets to keep myself from waving at him dreamily. Christ.

He was polite enough, but his eyes kept wandering to the computer screen when responding to my questions. Luckily some other teachers moseyed on in and started offering me coffee again, so I could safely ignore him. (Ladies, this is the issue I’m trying to get over. I see an attractive man and I pretend he doesn’t exist until the awkwardness forces him to vacate the premises) I ended up talking to a woman with very pale eyes and curly hair, who reminds me of Josephine. S was excited to practice her English, and she ended up inviting me to teach a song to her class later that day.

Lunchtime rolled around, and Augustus told me Don Julio was going to drive me to the store to get some food. Surprise! Keep it together HT, I thought. So, I steeled myself, and tried hard not to act a damn fool in front of the lanky stranger. Probably I didn’t totally succeed, but no matter. He was kind, and when I laughed at the music that came shooting out of his speakers as he started the engine, he joked right back, punctuating his syllables with friendly, horizontal taps of his hand against the outside of my knee. I liked him immediately.

We saw S at the store, and the three of us ended up by ourselves in the breakroom. I felt awkward about making conversation, but I tried to joke my way through it, even though I felt I was talking too much. I was talking to S about her kids, when she attempted to open her microwaved spaghetti. Her fork bounced cartoonishly against the super-heated plastic, and after a few more futile tries and a lot of laughing, I asked her to hand it over. I wrestled with it a few seconds before managing to pull the plastic back.
“See?” she said, “Now you have to stay!”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s right, I’ll just hang out in the breakroom and open things for people.”
“Yes, you must sign a contract,” Don Julio laughed, tracing a signature on the table, “I will stay at Ecole F___”
If they wanted to make me feel like I belonged, it worked. I was pretty much totally relaxed until S got up as though to get some coffee, stretched out her skinny frame, and slammed her hands down on the table with all her strength. I just goggled at her until she raised her arms victoriously to exhibit the nut she had successfully smashed open against the hard plastic. Don Julio laughed and started cracking them open one-handed, eventually crushing them for S when she got tired of playing at Sheera. I asked him to show me how to do it one handed; I tried once, copying his formation, but after a laughably poor attempt he reached over and tried to arrange them correctly in my palm, folding my fingers over when finished. “Now!” he smiled. I called silently upon the power of David Audelo, but apparently that only works if you’re yelling at the top of your lungs. I ended up squeaking and letting go, and everyone had a good laugh.

At one recess I met Lia, a woman who moves from school to school teaching needed subjects, one of which is English. She’s lived in Martinique for years, but homesickness inevitably drove her back home to the north of France. She married a man from Martinique – a natty, dapper fellow I met in passing on the stairs up to her apartment – and he’s found a great position as a Principal nearby. We drank loose leaf tea at her house, chatting in a mixture of French and English, while her gorgeous kids played Barbie and batman in the background. She’s been sending me great e-mails with teaching websites, and she’s invited me to help with a European club at one of her schools. A really sweet woman.

I think that’s a pretty thorough recap of the social element of my first day. I ate with Augustus and his family, and fell dead asleep.