earlier retirement, and more chocolate mousse

I went to two of my schools today and they are sssssso niiiiiiice. They looked freaking shady when I walked by last week, just a regular door that says "school" on it, no yard, no colors, no playground.


But inside they have big terraces with trees, and they're huge and so nice and so clean. They both only have a dozen teachers, and the teachers all eat lunch together with the principal and talk about politics. One teacher, Fred, made fun of me for eating rice cakes (I didn't know we were going to eat lunch, I just happened to have them in my bag.) I laughed along, thinking to myself that if we were in the US his lunch of two plums, a piece of nice cheese, and a tiny chocolate mousse would definitely have gotten some strange looks too.

But we are not in the US. Tuesday is my first day of work, and when Fred heard that he turned to a teacher next to him and asked if she was going to be there Tuesday.

"I was planning on it, why?"
"There's a strike Tuesday."
"There is? What for?"
"I don't know, Francoise just emailed about it."
"Ok well, I won't be here then."

Fred told me not to come Tuesday. This is the third time they've been on strike in the last month, so I'll probably have a lot of days off this year.