My dad walked to school with me. We passed this one high school girl who was smoking. She was probably only a few years older. Geez. I saw a lot of people smoking actually. But anyway. I said bye to my dad before the crosswalk to the school, meaning he did not actually go inside. Which I suppose was good because I mean, I'm in frickin' (I've been using that word a lot lately) 8th grade and I'm a "big kid" so the fact that my dad came to school could be seen as... sissy.. like. But hey whatever. Like I said, I have lots of excuses.
The school system here is quite different. I thought I'd be done with that whole "line up" rule/idea, but noooo, we have to line up in these sections labeled with the room number and follow the teacher up. Ugh. So as I walked into the L building for my first class, this lady told me I had to go outside and line up. It seem(s/ed) so stupid. But anyway.
Today was better than yesterday, but they both seemed so dang long. I only had about 45 minutes total for lunch break, which meant I only had about 20 minutes to eat. Which sucked. I was so hungry. I chewed on a carrot and banana, but that wasn't really enough. But I didn't have time to eat anything else really. I listened to 2 Tally Hall songs and I was just... so ughed. I really didn't like the school. The French class was for French students, but luckily the teacher knew English. I was supposed to read some random thing about a guy and a dictionary? Then answer questions and conjugate verbs. I could understand some of it, and I did try. Even though I was sort of off, you couldn't say I didn't try. So that class pretty much stank. But then the teacher said I'd be put in a different, easier class to study French. That's good.
At least I had an English class. We started reading Cider With Rosie, which was pretty interesting, at least the part we read. Someone actually willingly sat next to me. Awesome. We didn't talk though- not really any time and I was shy. I raised my hand a few times, and got called one like once. I didn't want to be too confident because then I might like, embarrass myself even more. That's like my favorite class ever at this school.
After that I had yet another French class, except in a different room. Weird. Then I had math, which was basically a French guy talking to us... in French. Like I mentioned, I got 2 sheets to do. I think we're doing like negative numbers now. I'll do pretty well maybe. The guy didn't call my name for attendance and I didn't write my name down either. Sigh. After that I hurried home to eat and came back for music. Joey told me the teacher was really strict about being late, but was really cool. I sure hoped he was cool. We were like the first people in the class. That class was when everyone learned my name. The teacher (Monsieur Pils according to my schedule) asked me where I was from in French and I turned to Joey to translate. The room had chairs against the wall formed in a big half-circle, so everybody could see everybody. So then later in the class, when my name wasn't called on the list, I told him my name and then -sigh- we had to spend a few minutes spelling my name. He wasn't sure about my last name, so I spelled it in English. So then the rest of the class helped spell it in French. So now pretty much everyone in my classes know my name. How wonderful. And then the guy also thought I was a boy. Sigh. I guess I have to re-establish that I am a girl. All of the kids back home in Ann Arbor know I'm a girl now. At first I didn't really mind it, but when the guy has to mistake it in front of a whole class of kids that I don't know? Ugh.
We also had to sing. We had to go around the room, saying "aaah". I wasn't quite doing it right the second time round, so someone told me in English that I had to say it like I was yawning. I sucked at it. And then we had to learn some random song. Man, I stink at singing anyway, but in FRENCH? That's going to be super super hard 'cause I won't even know the words.
The teacher was pretty funny. The class would laugh a lot, and I would stand there completely clueless most of the time. But I did sort of get what he was joking about. He made a big deal about someone's cell phone going off. The guy next to me was probably a popular kid 'cause he didn't really pay attention, talked loudly at random times a lot and bumped into me. It was like I wasn't there. I hate that.
After music was etude, which Joey described as just sitting in a room doing nothing. I was going to study. At first I walked to B9 with Joey and his friend, which was the room it was supposed to be in. But then no one was there so we went outside to line up. I wasn't sure I was in the right line, though, because most of the kids looked like 6th grade-size. So I asked this guy and he said yeah the line was going to etude. So ok. At first I didn't make it in the room, because there was a limited number of desks. But then 3 more kids were allowed in, and I was in those 3. My seat was right at the front, next to the desk of the teacher person. The teacher person was one of the ladies I saw in the Vie Scholar, and she wasn't the nicest. We had to write our name and class on this sheet, which I did. Then I wrote down all the homework I (thought I) had and the due dates. I only had like 5 things. I had about 45 minutes or so. I just stared at the histoire sheet with the kings on it. I had until the 18th to memorize that. Ugh. See, the thing is, it's really really hard (at least for me) to memorize something in a different language. I stared at the sheet for awhile, but didn't really get it. I'll try to look at it everyday.
At the end of etude I thought I'd be late to/miss my next class because I didn't get out of etude until I thought my class was going to start. But I wasn't going to even try to tell the teacher that, because she had a dangerous shush. She would make this high-pitched and very loud sshhh sound to tell us to be quiet, which was like a hiss that almost hurt my brain. Ouch.
I walked down the stairs, dreading my next class because I didn't know where it was and it was going to be in French. It was in the Lycee building; the high school. And I didn't really like art that much anyway. Well I guess its ok. Joey was going to show me where it was, but sometimes he got off-track or whatever. But anyway. I walked down the stairs to get to the other building and was about to walk outside when I heard my name. Someone said my name. Well I guess after all of the classes I'd been through, almost everyone does know my name... but it was Claire. Who helped translate yesterday. I walked over to her and she said we didn't have the art class because the teacher wasn't there and we didn't have a replacement. Oh. Cool. I had heard that teachers would just not be at the class for no reason. So I sat down near Claire and her friends and then followed them to etude because I had nothing else to do really. I didn't want to seem annoying, following her, so I kept my distance. And I chose a seat not really near her 'cause I didn't want to like invite myself over. But guess what happened. Claire asked if I wanted to sit with her. I was surprised. I walked over saying, "Oh uh yeah sure thanks," and sat in front of her. Then she asked if I was ok with all of my classes and stuff. Geez. Again with the niceness. I said, "Uh...." looking at my schedule. But then the teacher didn't want us to talk so Claire yelled back at her (the room was quite large and we were at the back) saying something about how I didn't know French and she was helping me or something. So I asked what exactly we were supposed to do for histoire-geographie, but we didn't have the same class. I did have tons and tons of questions about like what supplies I needed and stuff but didn't feel like asking. So then Claire just said I could talk to her if I had any questions or just wanted to talk. I said ok thanks and turned around. Feeling incredibly awesome. That was AWESOME. Did you guys just see what just happened?! I like... half made a friend! 2nd day of school! And she seems do dang nice! That is like... awesome. Times a billion. For the rest of the hour I studied the kings sheet a little and then wrote a list of people that I think read my blog. I think I counted about 22.
Then.
Life seemed so awesome then. I had been going in and out of the space here all day. That is, my brain had been zoning in and out of the school all day and I hardly noticed it until I did. It was like I saw the optimistic side and the pessimistic side. I was thinking about whether or not life was good. I was suddenly mad, as I stared out the window holding my pen, and I capped the pen with force. It's getting darker, no more optimism. I forgot how I could be happy. This school sucks. I hate it. Ah, but then the tree IS a vibrant green. I am hungry, it is Friday, one more class to go (in English) and it's nice outside. Something was taken, something distorted and moved. But in that sense and process, I have gained the probability and maybe ability to move back, move forward and un-distort that change. Or at least sudden realization will crash, acting as a painful and odd wave, over me, helping me have a year of moving back and at the same time making progress.
There were two Americans (I assumed they were Americans because of the accent) that had nothing to do and just talking. The one guy said the F word about 5 times. They spoke some French and some English. One time the F-word guy asked me what time it was and I showed it to him. He also *grits teeth* thought I was a boy at first. Sigh. And he thought I spoke French, but Claire corrected him. There was a lot of graffiti on the walls here. I noticed "Ibanez" (a guitar company) and the F word written all over. There was also a sign on the door that said SILENCE with dolphins. Well ok.
I left in a hurry to get to my last class. It was in a different building. I found a seat in the middle column and again no one sat next to me at first. But then this French girl asked if she could sit next to me and I nodded yes. But boy. Even though this class was in English, and it was my last class, the first impression I got of the teacher was not that great. Here's a few quotables.
"How dare you come in here still chatting with your friends and sitting down wherever you like! There's a whole lot of you here and I will guarantee some of you will be leaving!" That was the first thing she said to us. In an English accent, mind you. So I thought, "Crap. I hate this teacher already,"
"Now you have to give your best effort all of the time. Always do your personal best because otherwise you'll be wasting my time and your parent's money. And I don't know what's more important; probably my time," After this I was like, "woah"
She had blondish-brown hair that was short and she had a sort of mean look to her face. She was real strict. Had so many random rules about how to label countries (you had to draw straight lines with a ruler to underline to country name) and all that. But actually towards the end of the class she was ok. The class was so quiet after and during she talked. We had to label a map of Europe and come up to this high-tech board and label them. It was like a computer screen on the wall, and you could draw on it like with the pencil tool using this special tool. It was pretty impressive. I could only label like 10 countries but learned a lot. I didn't want to go up because I was shy. The girl next to me was French and didn't really know the countries that well. It was refreshing. She was pretty nice I guess. So then I left and walked home. It was weird though because after the normal electronic bell, there was a bell that sounded like a fire alarm. So I seriously wondered if like, for some odd, odd reason, there was a fire/fire drill at the end of school, but none of the other kids seemed to be panicking or anything. Maybe they do that on Fridays.
I was so hungry. Like starving. But then I remembered the many kids in Africa and all around who felt like this and worse everyday. So never mind. I'm not starving. I'm just.. hungry. It was the kind of hunger that if you like smelled food, it almost hurt your stomach. I was tired to. A 9-hour school day really takes it out of you. And that was only the 2nd day. Crap.
Oh and also I hate the system here. Or at least one aspect. Apparently, Zach didn't get into his level of math from the math test he took, so they dropped every class of his one level. So now he has to go to 3eme, which is 9th grade, when he's supposed to be in 10th. And my mom said they argued with the people but they just have a messed-up system that puts the students in their placement and their system, not helping each student's special needs. Which sucks. So this is almost a waste for Zach. And apparently I won't actually be in the english geography class because they said it was too full. But what was weird was that my name was actually on the list, and not on the math list. So I dunno. We'll see.
I want to ask one of my friends back home to order me a sweatshirt. That'd be cool. I'd have to do it soon though. And duh I'd pay them back. I'll put something cool on it. Or try to. I might also add a new playlist too. It really helps to know what I can do to change this blog to make it more enjoyable for you guys, so please do comment! But whatever.
I am SO happy it's the weekend, and I only had 2 days of school so far. I want to practice my trumpet, play hockey, maybe ice skate, chat/send letters to friends, get a haircut and do my homework. I really miss Slauson.
At least I had an English class. We started reading Cider With Rosie, which was pretty interesting, at least the part we read. Someone actually willingly sat next to me. Awesome. We didn't talk though- not really any time and I was shy. I raised my hand a few times, and got called one like once. I didn't want to be too confident because then I might like, embarrass myself even more. That's like my favorite class ever at this school.
After that I had yet another French class, except in a different room. Weird. Then I had math, which was basically a French guy talking to us... in French. Like I mentioned, I got 2 sheets to do. I think we're doing like negative numbers now. I'll do pretty well maybe. The guy didn't call my name for attendance and I didn't write my name down either. Sigh. After that I hurried home to eat and came back for music. Joey told me the teacher was really strict about being late, but was really cool. I sure hoped he was cool. We were like the first people in the class. That class was when everyone learned my name. The teacher (Monsieur Pils according to my schedule) asked me where I was from in French and I turned to Joey to translate. The room had chairs against the wall formed in a big half-circle, so everybody could see everybody. So then later in the class, when my name wasn't called on the list, I told him my name and then -sigh- we had to spend a few minutes spelling my name. He wasn't sure about my last name, so I spelled it in English. So then the rest of the class helped spell it in French. So now pretty much everyone in my classes know my name. How wonderful. And then the guy also thought I was a boy. Sigh. I guess I have to re-establish that I am a girl. All of the kids back home in Ann Arbor know I'm a girl now. At first I didn't really mind it, but when the guy has to mistake it in front of a whole class of kids that I don't know? Ugh.
We also had to sing. We had to go around the room, saying "aaah". I wasn't quite doing it right the second time round, so someone told me in English that I had to say it like I was yawning. I sucked at it. And then we had to learn some random song. Man, I stink at singing anyway, but in FRENCH? That's going to be super super hard 'cause I won't even know the words.
The teacher was pretty funny. The class would laugh a lot, and I would stand there completely clueless most of the time. But I did sort of get what he was joking about. He made a big deal about someone's cell phone going off. The guy next to me was probably a popular kid 'cause he didn't really pay attention, talked loudly at random times a lot and bumped into me. It was like I wasn't there. I hate that.
After music was etude, which Joey described as just sitting in a room doing nothing. I was going to study. At first I walked to B9 with Joey and his friend, which was the room it was supposed to be in. But then no one was there so we went outside to line up. I wasn't sure I was in the right line, though, because most of the kids looked like 6th grade-size. So I asked this guy and he said yeah the line was going to etude. So ok. At first I didn't make it in the room, because there was a limited number of desks. But then 3 more kids were allowed in, and I was in those 3. My seat was right at the front, next to the desk of the teacher person. The teacher person was one of the ladies I saw in the Vie Scholar, and she wasn't the nicest. We had to write our name and class on this sheet, which I did. Then I wrote down all the homework I (thought I) had and the due dates. I only had like 5 things. I had about 45 minutes or so. I just stared at the histoire sheet with the kings on it. I had until the 18th to memorize that. Ugh. See, the thing is, it's really really hard (at least for me) to memorize something in a different language. I stared at the sheet for awhile, but didn't really get it. I'll try to look at it everyday.
At the end of etude I thought I'd be late to/miss my next class because I didn't get out of etude until I thought my class was going to start. But I wasn't going to even try to tell the teacher that, because she had a dangerous shush. She would make this high-pitched and very loud sshhh sound to tell us to be quiet, which was like a hiss that almost hurt my brain. Ouch.
I walked down the stairs, dreading my next class because I didn't know where it was and it was going to be in French. It was in the Lycee building; the high school. And I didn't really like art that much anyway. Well I guess its ok. Joey was going to show me where it was, but sometimes he got off-track or whatever. But anyway. I walked down the stairs to get to the other building and was about to walk outside when I heard my name. Someone said my name. Well I guess after all of the classes I'd been through, almost everyone does know my name... but it was Claire. Who helped translate yesterday. I walked over to her and she said we didn't have the art class because the teacher wasn't there and we didn't have a replacement. Oh. Cool. I had heard that teachers would just not be at the class for no reason. So I sat down near Claire and her friends and then followed them to etude because I had nothing else to do really. I didn't want to seem annoying, following her, so I kept my distance. And I chose a seat not really near her 'cause I didn't want to like invite myself over. But guess what happened. Claire asked if I wanted to sit with her. I was surprised. I walked over saying, "Oh uh yeah sure thanks," and sat in front of her. Then she asked if I was ok with all of my classes and stuff. Geez. Again with the niceness. I said, "Uh...." looking at my schedule. But then the teacher didn't want us to talk so Claire yelled back at her (the room was quite large and we were at the back) saying something about how I didn't know French and she was helping me or something. So I asked what exactly we were supposed to do for histoire-geographie, but we didn't have the same class. I did have tons and tons of questions about like what supplies I needed and stuff but didn't feel like asking. So then Claire just said I could talk to her if I had any questions or just wanted to talk. I said ok thanks and turned around. Feeling incredibly awesome. That was AWESOME. Did you guys just see what just happened?! I like... half made a friend! 2nd day of school! And she seems do dang nice! That is like... awesome. Times a billion. For the rest of the hour I studied the kings sheet a little and then wrote a list of people that I think read my blog. I think I counted about 22.
Then.
Life seemed so awesome then. I had been going in and out of the space here all day. That is, my brain had been zoning in and out of the school all day and I hardly noticed it until I did. It was like I saw the optimistic side and the pessimistic side. I was thinking about whether or not life was good. I was suddenly mad, as I stared out the window holding my pen, and I capped the pen with force. It's getting darker, no more optimism. I forgot how I could be happy. This school sucks. I hate it. Ah, but then the tree IS a vibrant green. I am hungry, it is Friday, one more class to go (in English) and it's nice outside. Something was taken, something distorted and moved. But in that sense and process, I have gained the probability and maybe ability to move back, move forward and un-distort that change. Or at least sudden realization will crash, acting as a painful and odd wave, over me, helping me have a year of moving back and at the same time making progress.
There were two Americans (I assumed they were Americans because of the accent) that had nothing to do and just talking. The one guy said the F word about 5 times. They spoke some French and some English. One time the F-word guy asked me what time it was and I showed it to him. He also *grits teeth* thought I was a boy at first. Sigh. And he thought I spoke French, but Claire corrected him. There was a lot of graffiti on the walls here. I noticed "Ibanez" (a guitar company) and the F word written all over. There was also a sign on the door that said SILENCE with dolphins. Well ok.
I left in a hurry to get to my last class. It was in a different building. I found a seat in the middle column and again no one sat next to me at first. But then this French girl asked if she could sit next to me and I nodded yes. But boy. Even though this class was in English, and it was my last class, the first impression I got of the teacher was not that great. Here's a few quotables.
"How dare you come in here still chatting with your friends and sitting down wherever you like! There's a whole lot of you here and I will guarantee some of you will be leaving!" That was the first thing she said to us. In an English accent, mind you. So I thought, "Crap. I hate this teacher already,"
"Now you have to give your best effort all of the time. Always do your personal best because otherwise you'll be wasting my time and your parent's money. And I don't know what's more important; probably my time," After this I was like, "woah"
She had blondish-brown hair that was short and she had a sort of mean look to her face. She was real strict. Had so many random rules about how to label countries (you had to draw straight lines with a ruler to underline to country name) and all that. But actually towards the end of the class she was ok. The class was so quiet after and during she talked. We had to label a map of Europe and come up to this high-tech board and label them. It was like a computer screen on the wall, and you could draw on it like with the pencil tool using this special tool. It was pretty impressive. I could only label like 10 countries but learned a lot. I didn't want to go up because I was shy. The girl next to me was French and didn't really know the countries that well. It was refreshing. She was pretty nice I guess. So then I left and walked home. It was weird though because after the normal electronic bell, there was a bell that sounded like a fire alarm. So I seriously wondered if like, for some odd, odd reason, there was a fire/fire drill at the end of school, but none of the other kids seemed to be panicking or anything. Maybe they do that on Fridays.
I was so hungry. Like starving. But then I remembered the many kids in Africa and all around who felt like this and worse everyday. So never mind. I'm not starving. I'm just.. hungry. It was the kind of hunger that if you like smelled food, it almost hurt your stomach. I was tired to. A 9-hour school day really takes it out of you. And that was only the 2nd day. Crap.
Oh and also I hate the system here. Or at least one aspect. Apparently, Zach didn't get into his level of math from the math test he took, so they dropped every class of his one level. So now he has to go to 3eme, which is 9th grade, when he's supposed to be in 10th. And my mom said they argued with the people but they just have a messed-up system that puts the students in their placement and their system, not helping each student's special needs. Which sucks. So this is almost a waste for Zach. And apparently I won't actually be in the english geography class because they said it was too full. But what was weird was that my name was actually on the list, and not on the math list. So I dunno. We'll see.
I want to ask one of my friends back home to order me a sweatshirt. That'd be cool. I'd have to do it soon though. And duh I'd pay them back. I'll put something cool on it. Or try to. I might also add a new playlist too. It really helps to know what I can do to change this blog to make it more enjoyable for you guys, so please do comment! But whatever.
I am SO happy it's the weekend, and I only had 2 days of school so far. I want to practice my trumpet, play hockey, maybe ice skate, chat/send letters to friends, get a haircut and do my homework. I really miss Slauson.
4 comments:
Hi, Amelia.
Just a quick note to let you know how much I am enjoying your blog. As an "old" person, I look forward to your entries in 3 months or so, when all of this discomfort will certainly be a distant memory. Take care, and know that we're missing you, too!
Maggie
Oh hey thanks. Yeah I guess it will all just pass. Thanks for reading and thanks a lot for commenting!
That makes me mad about Zach.
And that teacher, thought not the most soft-spoken, I'm having trouble disagreeing with her. Except the bit about being sure some kids would be kicked out and how her time is of the utmost importance.
You're keeping busy, all right. Just get some of that beauty sleep - it helps if you can squeeze it in.
Hurm...what else to say? Oh yeah, about people thinking you're a boy, don't take that personally at all.
it's not the gender, but the person, right?
Ha ha. Yes. Thanks.
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