Hungry? Come Pay 5€ to Eat a Churro in Teepee!

        Skiing was a trial today. A trial to pass the "flocon" test, that is. After three months of Wednesday skiing lessons, the children had their exams today. Each group had to ski a certain course, veering properly around cones and avoiding the "chasse-neige" (snowplow). The evaluators are strict because the gendarme's monitors are essentially "taking their jobs by teaching the children" (as they told me).
        My favorite sassy 5 year old asked me mid-ski, "Why do you always have an accent?" I have been increasingly aware of said accent since last week. I accompanied my students to a musical concert last week. The musical was about Louisiana and the lead singer spoke and sang with an American accent in French. When she started singing, I thought with relief that I didn't sound like her...until the student sitting next to me told me that I sounded exactly like her. And then every single student turned to tell me "C'est toi!" (it's you!). The musical was attended by all of my students from all of my schools. I consoled myself with the fact that they (usually) understand me.
        Back to the accent comment from my sassy skier. I responded by asking if I do in fact have an accent, to which she responded with a huge grin. Then she asked me if I understood French. Seven months later, I officially have a huge accent and children doubt my French abilities!
        Had this not been embarrassing enough, I was reminded by the same skier that I fell the first time I took the platter lift. This happened three months ago, so it clearly made an impression on her. She told this to the ski lift operator, who was probably confused given my age. I grimaced and proceeded to miss my turn on the platter lift.
         When we got back to the bus, we learned that most of the children had passed! The children and monitors all asked me if I passed, which I thought was a joke, and when I responded "Obviously!", they said "Really?". But then I was told I improved majorly since the beginning. This encouraged me to ask for an honorary "Etoile d'Or" (Golden Star) award. Fingers crossed it's presented to me next week!