La rentrée des profs

I attended my first faculty meeting at the Collège Olivier de Serres today.  It started at 9:00 and ended around 11:45.  It was different from my school's opening in quite a few ways.  First of all, it was pretty noisy.  The principal and assistant principal led the meeting, but if people felt like talking to their neighbors, they did.  There was a constant murmur throughout the meeting, but it did not seem to bother the principal so I tried not to let it offend my goody-two-shoes sensibilities.
Secondly, it was a fairly democratic gathering.  The principal had made some final decisions, but the teachers felt free to openly challenge those, and he opened the floor for discussion on more than one occasion.  It was all very informative but relaxed.
Finally, at 11:45, we stopped to have an apértif before going to lunch.  We toasted the new year with wine and ate delicious mini-quiches prepared by the school's chef.
After lunch we briefly met with our departments and then headed home for one last free weekend.  I really like the three teachers in the English department (Caroline, Françoise, and Anne) and think that we are going to work well together.
Jed spent the day with Françoise's 18-year-old daughter and seemed to have a great time.  She watched Avartar videos with him and took him to the park to play soccer.

The entrance to the school.  These gates will be closed and locked during the day.

The entrance to the building.

The courtyard where the children line up to enter the building and go to play during recess.  Note the beautiful mountains in the background.  My drive to work is breathtaking!  I am surrounded on all four sides by mountains.