I can think of witches good and bad

I decided to go out like a champion and make all of my students peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches on the last day. And I since I found peanut butter at a French grocery store, I thought most of them would have tried it before, and it wasn't going to be that impressive.

Wrong. I have never been so impressive in my life. "Where did you find peanuts, and what did you use to crush them?" was the most-asked question, especially by children holding a paper and pen.



And out of 400 kids, only one was allergic to peanuts. When I asked his teacher if anyone in that class had allergies and she said his name, he got defensive.

Michael:  "WHAT? NO. NO. No I'm not. I am not allergic to them."
Teacher:  "Your mom wrote on a form at the beginning of the year that you were?"
Michael:  "NO NOT TRUE. I am not allergic, absolutely positively am not allergic to them."
Teacher: "Alright, I guess if you want to eat it you can."

Me: "What?"
Teacher: "He's an adult, he makes his own decisions."
Me: "Isn't he seven?"
Teacher: "Yes."

Another teacher explained to me why, aside from that boy (may he rest in peace), no one is allergic to peanuts - peanut allergies are a European thing. It takes a minute to make sense, but most of the students are from Africa, where peanut allergies aren't as common. And every kid double-checked with me that there was no meat in the sandwiches, because not only would that not be halal, that would be disgusting.

I thought peanut butter would be an acquired taste - but the kids either so respectful or so excited to try something new, that in every class they waited until everyone had been served, then ate the tiny little things in about thirty bites, chewing very slowly and whispering "C'est trop bon..." (It's so good) like it was the finest delicacy in the world.



Anyway, my job is over now. I still have a couple more posts about teaching that I guess I'll put up later. Some might be more relevant to my year as an ex-pat (don't love that word) than one about sandwiches.
If that's possible.