Adorable things French children say...

Hello, a quick update before I head out on two weeks of vacation. My friends and I have managed to collect a list of the most adorable things said by our students, and I thought I might share the list.

When I arrive at school, there are about five 1st graders who surround me saying: Hello. I love you! How are you? I love you!

Often we hear: I’m fine, sex (trying to say: I’m fine, thanks).

They all think the word "beach" is hilarious because with their accents, they think I'm saying "bitch"... why would I teach you "We're going to the bitch tomorrow."

My favorite food is stepdad (simply not paying attention).

From my friend’s middle school student journals:

I too like senile Lady Gaga (who doesn’t?)

On Gossip Girl:

My favorite character boy it’s Chuck because he is evil and sexy. Nate it’s very very beautiful. My favorite character to girl, it’s Serena beautiful, nice, famous and trash. I also love Blair (my favorite part is Serena trash… indeed)

On trying to say “I like... “ --

I am eggs and bacon.
I am the coffee.

I asked my students to write a short postcard about Paris, Rome or Barcelona. Various responses included:

There are very many Eiffel Towers, they are big and fast (the girl simply substituted Eiffel Tower for kangaroo from an earlier example we read).

The Big Pizza very tall and long eat (I have no clue)

Love is to the football stadium because love the football (in general, I get the impression he likes football)

There is a lot of snow and it’s hot (we say the weather everyday, and yet it is both HOT and SNOWING… amazing, sounds like Colorado)


Finally, while grading workbooks the other day, I found a doodling of "Fanny + Sebastian = amour"... love it. I wonder if Sebastian knows?

In other news, I have been applying for jobs like mad. After figuring out the American system of jobs apps, the French are totally opposite. For one thing, they still use the postal system. You write a resume and cover letter, send it in the mail and I have gotten about three negative letter responses in my mail box each day for a few weeks. It's destroying my ego. For someone that doesn’t have a printer, and having to buy stamps at 75 cents a pop, this has been an expensive process. BUT… but but but, it doesn’t matter because I’ve had one interview and another for after break, and in talks for another. I am hoping to stay and teach in a private school so we shall see!

Off to Romania in a few days! Updates to come!

Benny visits, enough said!

Ahhh it’s been too long! But that means really good things have happened and I’ve been too busy to write.

I recently had another two weeks of my seven weeks of vacation (isn’t that a beautiful few words – seven weeks vacation… how will I return to two weeks in the USA). I spent a few days visiting the Côte Sauvage (literally: wild coast), which is the coast of Brittany. It was beautiful and calm and perfect, as you would imagine the western coast of France, with tiny towns and rocky cliffs, harbors and lovely bright blue waters.

After that I went on to Dijon, with my old roommate from Dijon and another friend who also studied with us there in 2008. It was a relaxing, do nothing sort of vacation, just enjoying a few afternoons of sun – finally sun! I did get a haircut though! I know, why is this exciting? I see haircuts as one of those milestones in fluency, if I can explain myself well enough to let you take scissors to my hair, success! I asked for, and got, a perfect dark purple stripe just for fun. Trusting someone with hairdye, extra success!

Then it was a few days in Paris. I love Paris more and more each time I go. The summer months of overcrowded tourists influenced my opinions before but now going in winter and spring, having time to relax and stroll around, I’ve been able to experience the Paris that we all sort of dream of. Now as I’m writing this, I realize that in fact this visit to Paris was about everything non-French, but the beauty of that is you can find it all in Paris. Immediately upon arriving, Starbucks… oh sweet delicious caramel macchiato, how I have missed you! I mean, did it cost me approximately $7.00, yes but was it absolutely worth it to sit on the second floor off rue Saint-Michel watching people stroll and enjoying a taste of home, more than yes! We also went back the next day, shame!

Next my Australian friend researched best Chinese dumpling restaurants because it is DIFFICULT to find good, anything-outside-of-French-cusine here. So we ended up a tiny resto that served all you could eat dumplings for 9.00 euros!! Plus wine for 9.00 euros!! It was actually like a little heaven. 

We also went to the Catacombs (read this National Geographic/NPR super fantastic article for more info: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/30/133308592/parisunderground), which is basically the underground tunnels holding the bones of 6 million Parisians. The bones are artistically arranged; there is a church and inscribed messages listing where all the bones came from (various cemeteries around Paris). So cool and so weird to see skulls and femurs galore. Certainly worth the trip if you go anytime soon!

Plus a beautiful moment, one of the moments where life is actually too perfect. We took our bottle of wine to Eiffel Tower, forgot our corkscrew, used a pen to push in the cork, classy, and enjoyed our bottle watching the sparkly lights of the Eiffel Tower while tour groups snapped pictures, people nagged us to buy tiny Eiffel tower key chains, and several people as romantically as possible making out in front of us. And to think, I considered not taking this job!

Lastly, a beautiful afternoon enjoying practically hot weather on the tip of the Ile-de-la-Cité, the island in the Seine where Notre Dame is. Everyone just kind of lies out and suns, which I admittedly have always wanted to do and finally got the chance. Back home to Angers, exhausted but lovely France more than ever.

And then the BEST THING EVER! Ben came to visit me!!! Wow I realize how much I miss my family after seeing him. We enjoyed delicious French tartiflette with my friends and a picnic by the Maine River with fresh cheese, sausage, basil tapenade, and baklava from the market. Plus we ate raclette (raclette is a type of cheese in which you traditionally scrape a layer from the actual wheel of cheese, these days its pre-sliced and you melt it in a little thingy you buy at the equivalent of Bed Bath and Beyond). Ben and I enjoyed the real deal at a great resto that actual heats the wheel of cheese and you continue to scrape off layers. You eat it with various meats such as sliced ham, prosciotto, salami, etc… plus potatoes and pickles. TRUST ME, its freaking fabulous. Ben and I ate what we could and tried not to slip into a food coma, while my French friend put us to shame and just kept at it. It's like cheese is in their vains! Ben even came to my classes with me, which was fantastic. They loved him and wanted to practice their self-presentations with him. My oldest kids where asking him questions but I made them do it in English so it came out more like, “you is favorite footballer?” (aka who is your favorite football player) but hey they realize -- subject, verb, noun! Success! We had a nice St. Pat’s party at my apartment, complete with friends and Trivial Pursuit (one of the questions was: Who is famous for saying this phrase “Go west, young man”? – I almost passed out from Greeley excitement!!). It was a quick week but so enjoyable.

Now teaching and teaching and more searching for jobs and hoping I can stay another year!

Recent recipes to try out if you have time: Cured pork and lentils! I found this English version of the recipe. Delicious!

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2007/03/cured_pork_shoulder_with_green_lentils.php

Bisous bisous (kiss kiss) for all!

Birthday fondue is the BEST kind of fondue!

So birthday celelbrations complete! -- Well they were complete about 10 days ago but I’ve been slow to update.

We started Friday evening with apéritifs, of course. My friend was nice enough to make Cointreapolitans (the Cointreau liquor is made locally in Angers – the drink is Cointreau, cranberry juice, and lemon). We were only 20 minutes late to our reservations (that is in the acceptable in France, I guess). Basically, the best meal ever. EVER. Ok maybe it tied with the soufflé I earlier discussed. It was blue cheese and walnut fondue, plus a lovely Apremont wine (recommended by the owner and our server, to compliment the cheeses of our choice… nice!) And of course, chocolate fondue.

Saturday I had a lovely cappuccino and macaroon date with my friends. The woman was so nice and enjoyed (respected) my birthday crown (rainbow with sparkles) and gave me FREE macaroons – macaroons are about $2.00 a piece, it’s a pretty penny and definitely a rare treat. How nice of her! It was just very French and lovely. In the afternoon we baked a fantastic boite de bijoux (jewelry box) cake complete with candy necklaces and pink frosting. That evening we had a very child inspired party including pizza, cake, fairy bread (which is this Australian treat of white bread, plus butter and sprinkles… apparently it’s a must have a birthday parties). Plus, there were red SOLO cups! The French and Australians were extra excited because these are not sold in France – it’s a very “I thought those only existed on TV!” sort of thing. We then had American music and lots of dancing.

The next day included kebabs and preparing for the Superbowl, which started at 12:30am – Monday morning. But finally, I got to be the expert! Explaining football in French, there are easier things in the world. We had hamburgers with cheddar cheese slices (recently new to French grocery stores) and pigs in the blanket (which actually the French eat kind of a lot but fancier), plus ohhh Dr. Pepper (sold in the foreign foods section!). We made it through the halftime show, which was impressive considering there were no commercials! No commercials!!! Can you imagine the Super Bowl without commercials? We streamed them. Obviously.

It was an exhausting but fantastic weekend, my second time celebrating a birthday in France. I much enjoy it and shall try my best to keep up the tradition. Luckily my friends made it wonderful so I didn’t miss home nearly as much. Now it’s almost school vacation (SO EXCITED) so more adventures coming soon. Oh and I almost forgot, my friends and I have started an English newsletter to integrate Anglo and Franco culture in Angers. It’s a new venture with only one issue but another coming out in the next week. You can read a copy and our blog at http://pickmeupangers.wordpress.com/.

For now, a bientot!

Cream and ham with cheese and wine... usually

Well hello! It’s been awhile since my last update but today felt like the perfect day to write – its freezing so I cannot possibly go outside AND I have some good stories. Usually I go running on Mondays (everyone should feel super proud of this because I actually hate running more than anything… ever… a lot more) but it’s just too cold. I don’t know how I lived in Indiana or Colorado because now I am a big giant wimp. Angers is some sort weird mecca for no snow but it is still so cold. I don’t get it! Its about 27 degrees but I can’t imagine leaving my apartment (even though my apartment is also quite cold, I woke up this morning and could see my breath, though in all fairness that’s probably my fault as I forget to turn on the heat… but that’s because my awesome family sent me pink flannel snowmen sheets and a zebra snuggie so I am always warm in bed!).  I digress, basically no running and instead tea and a chausson aux pommes (a delicious apple pastry treat that literally means “slipper of apples”). That’s really problem here, you have the option to exercise and then you get distracted by cheese, wine, pastries or my personal… all of the above!

I continue to love/detest how random my students are. I can write something on the board and say write this “Today is Monday Janauary 31^st” and I’ll get “Tueday am January 31 Monday”… its like their brains are not engaged at all. I suspect this is a complaint of teachers everywhere. I asked a student today if he liked coffee and he responded “I am the coffee”… well heck yeah, you are! I feel that way too sometimes, kid, when I’ve had too much coffee.

I’ve been enjoying some delicious food as well. I thought I might share because isn’t that one of the best things about France:

Tartiflette: like casserole with potatoes on the bottom, cream cooked with onions and bacon poured on top. And of course don’t forget to cut half a wheel of cheese and put it on top. And bread for sopping up all that cream when you’re finished.

Pizza’ish stuff: pizza crust with peppers and tomatoes on the bottom, covered with cream baked with ham and tomato sauce poured on top, and again blue or preferred cheese cubes on top. Bread for cream afterward

Galettes: wheat crepes with a sunny-side up egg inside, ham and tomato sauce, swiss cheese, and naturally (??) some salad on top

I forget the name: strips of chicken covered with sliced tomatoes and béarnaise sauce, with herbs wrapped in foil and cooked in the oven – easy and so delish!

I hope you’re seeing the themes of  “cream cooked with ham”… and “cheese”.

My friends and I had a fantastic dinner out the other night at the restaurant, O Quebec. It’s a restaurant on steroids of Canadian stereotypes. All wood inside – the walls, chairs, tables. A little Quebec flag sits on every table with canoes as centerpieces. We enjoyed apérotifs (the drink before the wine) of kir (white wine) and maple syrup. We tried to order rosé wine with our meals but duhhhhhhh (the waitress sort of politely pointed out) you take red with your red meats. I had a bison burger and split some poutine (fries covered in gravy and cheese with Cajun chicken on top) with a friend. Plus then of course, maple syrup crème brulée for dessert. Life is not bad at all.

My birthday is Saturday and luckily I’ve managed to convince all my friends the event should be nearly as big as Christmas. We’re enjoying fondue on Friday night and then we’re making a boîte de bijoux (jewelry box) cake and ordering pizza. My Australian friend is making fairy bread, which is white bread with butter and sprinkles. Apparently it’s a must have for birthdays. And I may or may not have bought a rainbow sparkly crown. As I explain, I might be turning 23 but really that should be 2+3=5… 

A bientôt mes amis!

Morocco! African continent, check!

I will try to make this blog entry covering my 13 day adventure complete, short (enough) and yet entirely entertaining at the same time.

We arrived Dec 21^st in Marrakech flying Royal Air Maroc. I mention this because we received a lovely Moroccan meal –including curry chicken and noodles and almond cookies. The flight is three hours, lets hear it for the “royal” treatment (a whole meal! Compared to our flights where the ½ can of pop is all you get). More importantly we arrived, got totally scammed and paid too much for a taxi, got driven to the wrong hotel (4 stars! What a disappointment when we discovered it wasn’t the right one), got scammed some more and told we couldn’t be dropped off at the hostel. So we arrive, two North American girls around 11:30pm in the center city. Totally fine but a major culture shock as there are very few women out around this time, so we stick out just a little bit. I’m sure we looked adorable all the same with our little travel packs and smiles.

Marrakech was beautiful and we strolled the medina (old center city), mostly just shopping around the first day. Tons of shops and people trying to pull you in to buy this or that – silver, leather, shoes, weird make-up, spices, pillows, scarves, porcelain… you name it. And the price is all based on bartering. I wasn’t totally into it, but some of my friends were really good at it. These men know their business and I can’t even imagine how elevated they start the price knowing how much we will probably pay. Plus lots of delicious little treats – I think my stomach was overloaded as I chose to have almond juice, fig and avocado ice cream, couscous, a grilled bread (similar to the gordita bread at taco bell, strangely enough) with cheese, an almond-y cake, a second almond-y cake that my friend didn’t want before dinner. I could have thought that through better. 

We woke up early the next day and drove … eight hours into the desert with a tour group. It was through some of the most beautiful mountains, oasis, and desert. Some parts reminded me of Colorado or Utah but then some parts were so foreign. Tiny little towns built out of the earth with no paved roads. Families doing the exact same things we do, women sitting around chatting and children playing soccer (excuse me, football).  We arrived at Zagora, almost the furthest south you can go without being in the Sahara to meet our berbere guides (the native, nomadic’esque, desert dwelling people of Morocco). And then we rode CAMELS! For two hours… though after about 45 minutes, I was good. That hump is not so comfortable. We rode while the sun was setting in a beautiful travel moment I’ll never forget, but then we were in the dark for about an hour. These men led us through the pitch black (I imagined myself as some version of Jasmine finding the cave of wonders!) until we reached camp where we had dinner, sung and danced around the fire, and went to sleep in our little tents. Waking up was beyond anything I could have imagined, so beautiful in this desert of nothing, just our tents, camels, and the sun rising to spread light on the sand. Inspiring. Then back eights hours, with a stop in Aït-Ben-Haddou. This town has had more famous people in it than I can name. Films made there include: Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazreth, Babel, The Mummy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Indiana Jones, and Prince of Persia… to name a few. Back in Marrakcech for Christmas Eve dinner at a pizza restaurant on a terrace overlooking the old city. Not bad.

Christmas Day we took the train to Casablanca – which is overwhelmingly economic and industrial. But my friend Marina desperately wanted to go there for the movie. Unfortunately we learned the move was filmed in Tanger, Morocco. Still, one famous scene (Rick’s Café - "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.") was from Casablanca so we enjoyed an all right dinner there (with wine for the first time!). We haphazardly met a taxi driver who we thought was maybe trying to scam us but turns out after we haggled a bit he drove us around the whole town – to the world’s second largest mosque and the only one non-Muslims can enter (ten euros though, I wasn’t quite alright with it, normally even Muslim women cannot enter the mosque so I felt a little strange about it), the old beach side cafes that you could imagine were swank during the 60’s but now its restaurants and spas where ocean water has washed over the walls and filled the ancient pools with sea water, the Mafia district, Royal Palace etc. The best part about this cab driver, he was about 67 yrs old, was his older gentlemen perspective on life – he explained how this king (the last king, his father, was the previous dictator) is EXCELLENT and has done so much for women’s right, he’s modest and modern. He told us about when he married his wife (they were 15 and 17) and his children. Perfect little afternoon.

 Christmas Dinner

After two days in Casa, we headed to Fes. A beautiful city where the old city medina has approximately 8,000 – 10,000 streets. Needless to say, you get lost. We enjoyed our first dinner with a Couchsurfer friend. He and his friend chatted with us about Fes, the Muslim faith, schooling, their work, etc. An interesting insight into the world of 20-somethings in another country. The next day was spent shopping (lots of shopping). My friends picked up some interesting souvenirs including: 2 knives, a tanjine pot, a rug, and a teapot. I was mildly more practical but not by much. The next day we unfortunately had an incident with our hotel saying they had overbooked and requesting we move to a new hotel. I channeled my inner-Niemann and requested (demanded??) the difference in the amount we had paid for our room and amount our old hotel had paid for the new place. It wasn’t a pleasant experience but it gave me a little travel confidence all the same. The next day we went to Ifrance, a little mini-France built after WWII. You would never know you weren’t in France. At first, we had such luck and happened to hop off the bus about 10 minutes before the King drove through the town! We saw him drive through with all his soldiers, very exciting! Unfortunately the day was a total disaster as we got massively scammed by a guide to go hiking – and by guide, I mean a potentially crazy man who 30 minutes into trip told me he has no papers and lives in the mountains… and by hiking, I mean walking around a park with him picking berry branches.  And it was the Office of Tourism that called him for us! After the paper comment and branch picking, I told him I was too sick to keep hiking. He was nice enough to find me “medicine” (thyme, it did not smell like thyme) and then conveniently charge me three euros for it. Overall not the best. But that night back in Fes we almost made up for it by eating at a delicious place where I had a camel burger! It was claimed as best in the world, and it was pretty freaking good.

New Years Eve Day we headed up to Volubilis, an ancient Roman site founded around 200 AD. It was epic and beautiful. That evening we went a party hosted by the hotel. We were a bit nervous but it was fantastic! A six course meal – little Moroccan treat, pastilla (thin pastry filled with chicken and covered with cinnamon and sugar… trust me its delicious), tanjine with weird unidentifiable small bird and noodles, fruit cream dessert, Moroccan cookies, and of course mint tea. In between these courses, there was dancing and musicians singing in Arabic. We sat with a lovely Chilean and French couple who all luckily enough all spoke English. Midnight was kind of a letdown… all the sudden a few people started kissing and then they turned out the lights and we all sort of guessed that was it. But no countdown! And then about 15 minutes later, it was time to go home. New Years day we headed home to Paris and back to Angers.

 Eating coconut, you can buy it on the street!

New Year's Eve Dinner!

It was fantastic! There were certain overwhelming moments - bartering for taxi prices, finding hotels in those tiny streets, getting used to the fact that men are pretty consistently catcalling you, and seeing little children trying to sell you anything for just a little money. I was so thankful for my French, and it was great to see something so different from Western Europe. It fueled my “save your money so you can travel more!” fire. And now back to teaching, no Africa but it’ll do!

Some Christmas cheer!

Well Christmas Break has begun! Finally… this is how every teacher everywhere must feel. It is actually impossible to do anything with children before break (did anyone else know this??). I am soooo getting what I deserve for talking all the time (I’m sure) in school. That said, I can’t complain too much since there have been many joyous moments in all this chaos as well. I made “reindeer antlers” with my 6/7 year olds and taught them about Rudolph. This led to one boy, ironically his name is Angel, going around shooting all the reindeers because he was hunting them and of course all the other kids are joining in, falling on the floor, crawling in the last gasping moments of life. Quite dramatic and unruly. Also, I received a Santa Claus clothesline pin from one class (um… cute!), taught “We wish you a Merry Christmas” and made paper snowflakes, plus explained, or at least tried explaining, eggnog (its eggs, milk, cinnamon and some alcohol… delicious right?? They asked if I was going to make it by hand… right). Plus I had the occasional student asking if I’m going back to England for the holidays. For the last time, I am not from England. We have covered the main Anglo-countries but I still get entertaining responses about the US and Canada, and what the heck is Alaska?? Still they are just so adorable – my Chloés, Manons, and Enzos… Coralies, Théos, and Hugos. I am obsessed with (most) all of them. It’s a little hard to describe. But really, what’s better than students running up saying “eelloo Sarra, fait calin” (aka give me a hug).

I’ve also started volunteering at the Anglo library, channeling a little Gma and Aunt Nancy while in France. They love us naturally because we are native English speakers. There is Game Night (playing Scattegories AND free pizza for volunteers… fantastic) and a coffee hour, where we just meet and greet. It’s a great way to meet a range of people and “network” a little (ohhhhhh the job search starts again!).

My friends and I had a mini-cheap-extra-limited gift exchange, while enjoying Breakfast for Dinner (my Canadian friend Alex has REAL maple syrup to share). I’m lucky to have three such wonderful friends here (who are all as equally obsessed with Christmas). Then it’s packing for Morocco! Christmas Day I shall be on the train between Marrakech and Casablanca. Its not home, but at least I’ll be on the train ☺ Thinking of Dad, Mom and maybe even Ben. Then New Year’s in Fez, it will certainly be my most adventurous Christmas holiday so far.

Christmas markets. The best.

I just thought this picture was funny...

And of course, a Madmen themed holiday party. My friend and I decided our outfits didn't really fit the whole "Madmen" attire so instead we were Andy Warhol's factory girls... much more our style :)

Joyeux Noël, bonnes fêtes et bonne année!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

What I've learned about French Christmas...

Oh so many good holiday treats to write about. And I don’t just mean the vin chaud (hot wine) and churros (not sure why we’re having churros??) at the Christmas market.

Quick intro into some differences between the French and American Christmas:

-       Santa does not say “Ho Ho Ho” … I think this probably because the French “h” is silent. As my friend put it, “So what creepy silent Santa just sneaks down your chimney??”

-       Rudolph is not really a big deal, no red nose or anything. Basically the song “Must Be Santa” which my Grandma plays every year at Christmas is becoming totally irrelevant

-       They do not do stockings, and are mildly confused by why we leave our socks for Santa (though they do sometimes leave wooden shoes)

-       Ummmm sandess, they do not leave milk and cookies for Santa!

My American friends and I have been totally confused because, since there is no Thanksgiving, Christmas celebrations don’t start until December 1^st. I’ve been listening to Christmas music like crack and waiting for them to turn on all the lights. That being said yesterday was December 1st and … goodness, it was magical. The city was invited to the main square to see Santa turn on the Christmas lights with the Mayor (fancy!). Oh right, I forgot to mention the whole reason I knew that Santa was coming to Angers was because Remi, this adorable 10 year old in one of my classes, invited me to go see Santa with him. Heck yeah, you know you’re liked when the kids invite you to see Santa! And so yes, we arrived to see Santa (pulled by sleigh dogs!) giving the “key” to the Mayor to turn on all the Christmas lights. It was awesome, with snow falling (which is a rarity in Angers), skinny French Santa working alongside the mayor and a few lucky kids. All the lights illuminated including a 35-foot Christmas tree, then Santa and the Mayor naturally threw out candy. It was really everything I could have hoped for from my French town at Christmas, and now it all stays around until the end of the year.

Last week I was lucky enough to celebrate not just one, but TWO, American Thanksgivings. My friend Sean came up from Grenoble and we enjoyed a potluck Thanksgiving with other assistants which was rockin’. Its amazing how the food alone can make you feel so at home (and so homesick). I mean I had to work all day but I brought the joyous event of making hand turkeys to French schools, so all is well. Then over the weekend, my friends and I made a delicious gourmet Thanksgiving to show our French friends how America does cooking (gravy with two sticks of butter, duh!). All in all, it was impressive considering French supermarkets don’t really sell turkeys, or cranberries (my cranberry sauce was shockingly delicious and consisted of dried cranberries, Ocean Spray cranberry cocktail [found in the foreign section of course], raisins, and oranges all boiled together… thank you Mommy Niemann for teaching me how to improvise!). We had four small chickens, mashed potatoes, veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mushroom gravy, pecan and pumpkin pie. ALL FROM SCRATCH, from four girls who mostly didn’t cook for themselves before this year. And we got to introduce our Australian friend to sweet pumpkin pie. Culture all around! Our friends were surprised that we served everything at once and naturally the Americans thought … well duh that way you can mix it all together, eat way too quickly, and feel ridiculsouly full all afternoon… isn’t that Thanksgiving? And we also made them hold hands and say the things they were thankful for. Really, I couldn’t have pictured it any better.

That’s it for me now! Time to get some real work done – aka drawing pictures for our classroom advent calendar, sometimes being a teacher is FUN!