Back to School

So, it is officially Back to School week. Unfortunately, Back to School week coincides with the last week of Ramadan, so that makes for a very interesting combination.
Interesting. -- That's the word of the week.
Yesterday, I arrived at Asnieres about an hour early to make sure that the tables and chairs were set up and that everything was in order for classes. As I was unlocking the door, I smelled some really strong cologne. When I walked in, I could hear lot of footsteps and several different voices upstairs in my classroom. I was kind of on the fence about being brave, so I just sat downstairs in the corner--not brave enough to go upstairs and see who was there, but not quite sure I wanted to leave either. So, I waited. After about a half hour, a little girl, about six, came downstairs. She wore bright purple leg warmers, a blue mini-skirt, and one of those thin sweatbands around her pigtails. She looked like a mini 80's work-out star. She was immediately followed by a younger boy in overalls. Not sure what to do, I just said, "Bonjour." They both giggled, and ran back upstairs. A few minutes later, a man came downstairs. I started to introduce myself in French, and he said, "English?" So, I continued in English.
He explained that he, his wife, and their five children had fled Romania and had been living on the streets. The pastor of the church (where we hold our classes) gave them permission to live in the church until they could go to the prefecture and see about getting papers. He called his whole family down, and one by one, they all greeted me.
After explaining that about 40 women were on the way for French classes, they agreed to disappear for a few hours.
So, then, I sat down to wait for the women. And one came. Just one. She told me that everyone else was sleeping or preparing for nightfall. Apparently, during Ramandan, the idea is not to swallow anything while the sun is up--this means, obviously, no food or drink, but also no teeth brushing or gum. And then, at nighttime, the party arrives. They eat and drink and make up for the daytime fasting. Because of this, the women are absolutely exhausted during the daytime, and not likely to trek over to French class.
And today, we had classes at St. Denis and ran into more or less the same problem. Two or three women trickled over, but said they couldn't stay as they had to hurry home and prepare the nighttime meal. But thankfully, we have a pretty big group of Sri Lankan women who come to class at St. Denis, so of the 20 women who ended up coming, about half were Sri Lankan. The rest came from Bangladesh, India, and a variety of other (non-Muslim, mostly Hindu) backgrounds. So, even with the few faithful, we started. I'm subbing for another teacher who's at home in South Africa for two more weeks, so I had the chance to lead her converation class where we learned all sorts of helpful phrases like, "I'm so busy!" and "I'm not busy. I'm on vacation." It was so nice to be back in class. I've missed going somewhere.
All summer, I've been writing articles for the newsletters or helping out in the office. However, since the "office" is also my house, walking upstairs doesn't exactly consistitute as "going somewhere."
But anyway, we've now completed Day 1 and Day 2 of the Back to School Extravaganza.
As for tomorrow: Telegraphe, here we come. It'll be the first day ever over there. I'm really excited to see if any of the women we invited in the market place come.
So, anyway, hasta luego for now.

And as a teaser, I can't wait to post a picture and talk about the newest sensation in the Muslim world (or rather, just a restaurant I happened across in St. Denis): Mak D'Hal which is the Hallal version of Mc Do (McDonald's).