I'm writing this entry the day after for one simple reason: looking after children all day is damn tiring! Not to mention that I was kept awake later than I'd hoped by a ginormous spider which perched itself in the corner of my room and refused to die. Even in France, I'm still a wuss when it comes to creepy-crawlies...

The day started early - I arrived at the school at 8:30 and was met by Madame Duclos, who gave me a quick tour. Immediately after entering the playground, a small crowd of children ran up to me and proceeded to follow me everywhere I went, until I reached the sactuary of the room in the photo - my own classroom, which is devoted to English lessons.

The school is made up of three relatively old buildings, but all of them have been renovated and inside it seems pretty new. There are classrooms for each year group, and the procedure is that they visit my room in turn throughout the day and I teach them English. There are about a hundred pupils in total, and the worst thing about them seems to be their boundless enthusiasm about absolutely everything. The whole place is really lovely, and so are the staff.

Today, my job was simply to introduce myself to each class and answer their questions. Everyone listened intently (at least until they got bored and started o pull eachother's hair) and I was treated with roughly the same curious reverence as the obelisk from "2001: A Space Odyssey." Judging by the questions I was asked, it seems that French 7-year old boys are mainly interested in football and video games, which interestingly are the same interests as a British 25-year old. Also, Mr. Bean is literally the most popular person on the planet.

A sample of some of the questions I was excitedly asked:
- "Have you met the Queen?"
- "Have you met Mr. Bean?"
- "Have you seen Mr. Bean?"
- "Do you live near Mr. Bean?"
- "What is Mr. Bean like?"
- "Is Britain in France?"
- "Is Britain in Morocco?" (WTF?)

(Upon hearing many of these, the teachers present would emit an exasperated sigh and say something which had the general air of, "Arnaut, you daft little shit!")

At 4:30, my first day came to an end, and I came home exhausted but enthused. I hadn't spoken English all day, and I'd been included as a member of staff, not just the part-time foreign assistant that I am. I discovered during the course of the day that I am the English teacher - there is no full-time employee - so even though I feel rather more responsible for their education than I did before, I'm confident that I can keep the kids engaged and improve their English at the same time (mainly through constance reference to Mr. Bean).