Day 17: Canadian Schoollife

Hello!

Today I'm going to inform you about last Tuesday. Circé told me I could join her to go to school. I definitely liked this idea. I'm quite interested in education and the differences in education in the world. And my conclusion after this day was that the Canadian school is right between the American and Dutch primary school. It isn't that extreme as the American school, they as an example don't do something like the pledge of allegiance. I also experienced that my French reading skills weren't that bad, I didn't have difficulties reading a book together with Circé.

When Circé and I went to school, we first picked up Circé's best friend named Elizabeth. She tried to talk English with me, but she told me she understood me talking English but had difficulties talking back herself. I told her that for me it just is the same with the French language. When we arrived at school all students were curious who this big girl was. I heard people saying: ''Qui elle est là?'' ''C'est la cousine de Circé. Elle vient de Hollande.'' This was quite funny. The students were really nice to me and in first recess, after observing the class for 1,5 hours, I was playing tag together with the 5th graders. I think almost 50 students join this game every early recess.

After recess the class had an English lesson. The English teacher was really nice and I could talk to her. This wasn't possible earlier as Circé's 'normal' teacher didn't speak a word of English and I had difficulties understanding the Quebecoise French which is way different of the French we learn in class. The students had to work for their own in this lesson, so I talked with some students for a bit and helped Circé with forming the imperative. After English class it was time for lunch recess. At this school they didn't have like a big lunch room in the USA. They just mixed up the classes and ate for 20 minutes. This is exactly the same as I did in primary school in the Netherlands. After eating the children could play on the field for an hour. I talked a lot with Circé's friends and they played some games. I didn't join the leapfrog-game but I played most of the other games with them. We also laid down in the grass for a bit and they wanted to know some Dutch words and sentences.

After Recess they had a kind of 'Sports afternoon' in which they had to set some records with different activities throughout the whole building. My aunt came to help with these activities so I joined her with organizing an activity. 

When school was over we went back home and picked up Laureline at the daycare. She was really happy to see us and had a nice day. Eventually, my aunt missed an exit on the highway. For that reason we were back a little bit later then planned. When we came back Laureline taught me how to play the Violin. This was really fun. 

After dinner (a very tasty pizza look-a-like thingie) we picked up Circé at the karate class and my aunt thought it would be a nice idea to go to the inner city. The kids weren't allowed to join so I went to Montreal together with Aunt Marleen. We took the car and were there approximately around 8:30 PM. We went to a bookstore where I bought some French recipe books. After that we went to a place called Cacao70 and ate some delicious cheesecake. MJAMMIE. We talked for quite some time and arrived back home around 11 o'clock. It was a beautiful evening but also time to sleep because I had to pack my stuff the next day.