The Small Things in Life

I am all about the small things in life.  I am easily entertained and I am kept happy by all the small things that occur during the day. Yesterday was no exception.  I started out my day in an 8 am economics class that I don't really teach....I am in the background, observing and helping out with the English.  I happen to have 3 students in there that are in the class that I do teach onTuesdays.  One of the girls, Laura, had asked me to bring her back some peanut butter from the States; you can find tiny jars of Skippy here, but I thought it would be better to bring her peanut butter with American packaging on it so that she knew it came from the US.  I had forgotten to give her the peanut butter when I saw her last week, but I remembered it yesterday morning and gave it to her.  She was very excited that I had brought it for her.  I guess she thought that I had forgotten or that I hadn't been able to bring it back here for her. Either way, I had made her day, which in turn put a smile on my face as well.  Later on that afternoon/early evening, I was on the bus on the way home after teaching my class at the middle school (I'm on the stupid bus for at least an hour on the way back from JJ Soulier-I miss being able to drive the most when I'm on the bus) when I saw Laura get on with her friend.  I waved and smiled at her, and then saw her walk towards my seat. I assumed that she was coming over to chat, but instead she presented me with a small bag and said "this is for you".  It was a box of macarons, which are a delicious dessert over here.  I was so delighted not by just the dessert, but the thought that she had wanted to give me something very French in exchange for the very American thing I had given her.  I normally don't bat an eyelash if a student asks me to do something.  If it's within reason, I have no trouble telling them I'll buy/do/help them with anything without ever expecting anything in return.  But I have to say it was nice that Laura had wanted to give me something in return.  It brought an even bigger smile to my face for the rest of the day!

In case you don't know what macarons are, take a look at the ones I got yesterday;

Strawberry, Chocolate, Chocolate Banana, and a Caramel 

This is the store that sells them in town