Teacher's Strike

Quincy brought a note home from school on Tuesday that several of the 7th grade classes would not be having school today due to a teacher's strike. His English teacher explained the note to him, making no bones about the fact that she completely disagreed with the strike but could do nothing about it. So, this morning, Quincy and I took the other kids to school and then he and I spent the day together. It was quite fun but hopefully not something that occurs on a regular basis! Our kids are in a private school and we were told at the beginning that private school teachers strike very infrequently but that public school teachers strike all the time. Quincy and I made a day of it by going to my favorite tea shop for some breakfast before doing some walking around the city center and then hitting the grocery store. We had a very nice and quiet afternoon with a nap and some reading for me and some XBox 360 for Q. I then had my private French lesson where I think I finally got the hang of the future simple tense! After picking the kids up from school, my French tutor returned to our house and spent 2 hours tutoring the kids in French and their school subjects. Their teachers are now expecting enough of them in class that we feel like we need to make sure that they get extra help so that they can keep up with their classmates. It worked out really well and Edith was able to get a much better handle on their school work than either Josh or I can get. She helped each of them with their homework and will continue to do so twice a week. She also spoke entirely in French to them and for one of the first times, I was able to hear them speak in French! Pretty cool! I received a phone call from an acquaintance yesterday asking if I would be willing to substitute as a high school English teacher for a month. Certainly a daunting prospect but a challenge that I thought I might enjoy. However, after speaking with our immigration consultant today, I discovered that I am unable to work for pay in France on my current VISA and am certainly not motivated enough to work full time on a volunteer basis! After looking at the weather forecast in West Lafayette today and seeing the temperatures with a high of 11 degrees, I am really, really enjoying our 55 degrees! I'm including some pictures of the various flowers that have begun to bloom in our yard already. I also received some cuttings of some pretty little yellow flowers from a friend yesterday that I think are really pretty and smell great. She called them "mimosas" but all I could think of when I heard that was champagne and orange juice!