Post-Election. Now What?

A LOT OF interesting things have happened to me since Tuesday night. Because I'm American and because most of my students and colleagues know of my past involvement in politics in Washington (and my continued nerdish-love of it today), a lot of people have been asking me about the elections. Of course, my first response is usually, 'What elections?' (ba-da bah!)

The reactions to the election from the people I know have been predictable -- most people here are thrilled that Obama was elected president Bush will no longer be President. I have had some very interesting moments in the past couple of days.

• the owner of the cafe I go to most days refused to let me pay for my coffee on Thursday morning (my first day back at work after the Toussaint break). We've talked politics quite a bit over the past few months and he told me this was 'for America' (consider this is my shout out to Le Petit Cafe on the Place Bermond in Valbonne)
• when I walked into the Salle de Prof Thursday, three teachers from the German section began asking about the US election process. Specifically, they wanted to know about something called the electoral college. I set my things down and began to explain the process -- starting with the ever popular, 'no one has technically been elected yet' (that always gets their attention). By the time my mini-lesson on the American Constitution was finished, no fewer than 12 teachers were huddled around the table peppering me with questions: 'so what's the point in having people vote?'; 'only the states vote?'; 'why was this system set up?'; 'you mean the elected people have to go back to college?' (hey -- I never said all the teachers were bright).
• a 6th grader who I don't know walked past me in the hall and said, in a very think French accent, 'Yeah Obama. I love zee black people.'
• One of the German teachers (see above) asked if I could come to her class to talk about the election. Since I've never turned down an offer to talk politics (Roy Branson will know what I'm talking about) I said yes. It was a lot of fun.
• A complete stranger -- and I'm not making this up -- approached me at a cafe and began talking about the election. He wanted to know what Sarah Palin's chances were in 2012. Now, I mention this little story because I have been shocked at the level in which the French (and, I think, the world) has been following this election. Am I wrong about this? Has Europe been this invested in other elections?
• At least four students brought me newspapers! I love newspapers (see previous post) and they thought I might like to have a copy of French papers to mark the occasion. I now have two copies of Le Monde, one Le Figaro, and one Liberation. Those should go nicely with the copies of the Washington Post that various family members are saving for me.

More may come. We'll see.

CJS