God Bless the Grêve!

You know how the strikes in Paris- a.k.a. the Greve (just pretend there's an upside-down "v" above the first "e," please, since I can't figure out how to type it)- are supposed to be incredibly inconveniencing? Seeing as they stop metros and buses, the means of travel for almost everyone, from running on time?

Well, it's true. They are incredibly inconveniencing... for some people. For others, they can be the cause of an amazing and relaxing day.

Let me explain. I have the weirdest schedule on the planet when it comes to school. On Tuesdays of Week B (I'm not explaining how that works to you), I start at 8:30 AM, and end at 11:50 AM. Yes, it's marvelous, I know. From 8:30 to 10:15, I have double art; then one period of math; and lastly, one period of history/geography.

Art was normal. Fun. We got to draw while listening to our iPods. No homework.

Afterwards, in math, our teacher didn't show up. It turns out the strike was so bad for her metro and bus lines that she couldn't make it to school at all. So a surveillant- they're like lunch aides; they help make sure everyone behaves in the hallways and such- sat with us in class and gave us one problem to do that consisted of drawing triangles. No homework.

In history/geography, which is normally my least favorite subject (sorry, Dad), basically the same thing happened. Our teacher wasn't able to show up. Instead of a surveillant sitting with us, though, and giving us work, Madame Brown- the head of the Adaptation program that I'm enrolled in with my non-French-speaking classmates- came in and asked us how we felt about school. So we spent that whole period talking and/or sleeping. No homework.

My metro line- line 6- was virtually unaffected by the strike, thankfully. So after history, I was able to take the metro and get home at 12:20. Since I had no homework- for the first time since I started this school- I was able to spend the afternoon as I pleased for the first time in about six weeks.

God bless the Greve.