I finally started to work ...at the least easy period of the year!! Wait a minute!! Am I writing in English??!! It means I'm thinking more in English than before! Coooooll!
Lucile is usually the one mixing French and English!!
(I started this page a few days ago. Today I'm adding new comments thinking "some " American people could read it!! Hi Crystal!! isn't it exciting??)
We had some really cold weather this week and the shortest school week ever!! Schools were closed because of the cold on wednesday and thursday. Closed again because of snow on friday.
Kids are lucky because our neighboor is giving them pocket money to do her front garage and alley. The first time we went to their favorite place: Trempoline extreme and the second time to the cinema to watch Spiderman (boys' choice) or Mary Poppins' return (girls'choice)!
Here some pictures of snow angels and plowing!
With this cold, one needs to find some occupation! Cy started making some really really tasty pastries: la galette des rois avec de la pâte feuilletée maison and croissants!! By the way, we learnt here that it's better to say "made from scratch" than "home made" . I'll give you a quick explanation. To make some "homemade croissants", you buy some flaky pastry in your store and bake it at home; to make croissants "from scratch", you buy flour, yeast and butter!!
We would still need some advice from a baker but we are really happy to have a taste from home ... at home!
And now, let's talk about work. ( Not Cyril's!! Still struggling in class and to get the paperwork done and is really upset about it...)
I started to work as a "sub cook" that is to say a substitute cook: une cuisinière remplaçante, in Reynoldsburg city schools. But don't worry, I just place frozen food on trays, serve kids and do dishes. I don't really cook! It's just 3 hours per day. It's socializing and keeping me busy and I love it ! The negative point is: schools are closed this week!!!! I will do a couple of weeks and we will see. The good thing about work here is that nobody expects you to stay forever. They prefer you to leave than to complain. So no hard feelings about quitting! (In France, the working process is more protecting of the people but you are expected to stay at the job you're chosen for and it can lead to some complicated situation and frustration. It's much harder to find a job anyway!)
On those pictures are my colleagues, some part of the kitchen and the whole serving facilities with the food in cold or hot storage depending on what is served. They usually have the choice between the main dish ( chicken tenders, breakfast for lunch , pizza, beef tacos, mozarella sticks..) or a sandwich ( spicy chicken in a bun, meatball sub, rib sandwhich....) and a vegetable (hashbrowns, brocoli, au gratin potatoes, sweet potato fries...) and canned fruit (pineapple, mandarines, pears...) Or they can have a main dish in a bag: a yogurt, a cheese stick, fish chips, craisins, granola or a bagel or chips and salsa or a salad dish...
Quelques explications:
- "craisins" des cranberries que l'on mange comme des raisins secs; Ce fruit est très amer donc il faut rajouter du sucre pour que ce soit mangeable.
- les chips dans les sacs sont des "Fish" : petits biscuits apéro
- meatball sub: sub pour subway c'est à dire 3 boulettes de viande dans un pain long
- le breakfast for lunch est composé de "french toast": pain perdu brioché et de 2 saucisses "sans peau",
- la pizza est faite et livrée par une pizzeria locale.
- au gratin potatoes: gratin dauphinois lyophilisé comme la purée mousseline
-mozarella sticks: fromage frit
Pour résumé: beaucoup plus de friture et de repas qui . Alors que les distributeurs sont interdits en France, ici, c'est à la cantine et dans les couloirs que l'on peut acheter des boissons, des chips ou articles sucrés. Mais des légumes et des fruits sont proposés tous les jours. Les enfants peuvent choisir......Maintenant que je vois cela, mes enfants ont doublement la pression!! et je fournis au moins 2 fois par semaine un "packed lunch". Cela reste un pique-nique avec une salade, un petit sandwich et un fruit voire parfois quelques chips mais je réduis un peu la quantité de friture.
I'm working in a Middle school which goes from 5th to 7th grade ( du CM2 à la 5ème). In France, kids are served at the table until 5th grade. They have a 3 course meal with a starter ( salad or charcuterie), a main course (vegetabe with meat ), a piece of cheese or yogurt and dessert ( fruit or pastry) and bread. French people don't usually eat any sandwich for lunch or chips. It would considered as a picnic menu. French students are not allowed to bring their own food into the eating area for healthy/safety reasons. So no packed lunch!
In French middle and high school, they would be able to choose between at least 2 different items for category ( starter, main course, dessert, fruit).
In French school, vending machines are forbidden so chips, candies or granola bars are not on the line for lunch. Kids are not encouraged to bring cash at school and there's nothing to buy anyway!
We do eat some pizza, burgers, pastries and fries and .... other kind of food that make kids happy but much less, especially fried food.
Teachers are not supervising the kids. Custodians, cooks, educational assistants are there to have them try new type of food. It's a lot of work for these people and it makes their days longer.
AND trays, cutlery, glasses...need to be washed! for ecological reasons, nothing is thrown away except the dishes the meals are brought in if the school has no facilities to cook the whole meal there. What I mean by that is : in some schools, some meals are made from scratch. Other schools are buying their food to professionnals.
Les enfants se servent et passent à la caisse. Ils donnent leur code d'élève et le paiement est débité sur un compte en ligne. Les parents peuvent savoir exactement ce qu'ils achètent via une app sur le portable. Ou ils paient en liquide. A côté de la caisse se trouve une mini épicerie avec chips, glaces, biscuits....
Enfin ils peuvent prendre du lait gratuitement comme boisson: nature, fraise , vanille ou chocolat.
Je passe beaucoup de temps à mettre des petits sachets ou des pommes dans des sacs plastiques. Pas de couverts ni de plateaux à laver ici, tout est jetable!
J'espère n'avoir mis personne en difficulté avec ce blog bilingue. Vous pouvez m'envoyer vos questions ou signaler les erreurs! no worries! N'hésitez pas à laisser des messages!!
Bises à tous