The Copy Machine

You could describe me as someone who worries a lot. Too much maybe. I expect the worst often, not because I think it will be happen, but just to assure that it won't. I've always had a fear of dogs, and today my second fear has been confirmed. I, Betsy Sanford, have a fear of copy machines. What I fear from them always comes true! I have always been really freaked out by them. I hate using copy machines that are shared by everyone in some public place, like an office... or a school. I'm always afraid I'm going to mess something up and that everyone else is going to be annoyed, or that my copies won't print until later, when someone else is there to find them. And here, I'm even more afraid I'll mess something up because I don't know all the copy-machine jargon that might be necessary to operate one, or fix a problem if one should arise. So then I'd have to go find someone to help me fix it, when really it's an easy fix and I just end up looking like an idiot.

Making copies here has been nothing but trouble. I have a code that allows me to make up to a certain number of copies. In September, I was told I'd have 500 copies until the end of December, and that after that they'd start over. I assumed that meant they'd start over at 500 again in January. I was also told that if I ever run out, it's absolutely no problem, and to just ask for more. So about mid-January, I reached my limit. Uhhh, what??? There's no way I used 500 between January 1st and 20th. I later come to find out it was 500 copies for the entire YEAR. School year. Not calendar year. But Fabienne told me specifically DECEMBER. Whatever. So I went to ask for more. The woman I had to talk to seemed a little inconvenienced by this, but I didn't care because I needed copies for class.

Well, about two months later, I ran out again. What?! No way. Again, I later find out they only gave me 100 more when they refreshed my total in January. Okay. Stupid. So for that last two weeks I've been using the teachers' codes. What annoys me a lot is that I wasted SO much paper/copies throughout the year because teachers would cancel class without notifying me, but I had already made the copies for their class. Had they warned me, I'm sure I wouldn't be in this predicament. Anyway, I had to ask for more copies, especially knowing I was going to be teaching over break, too.

So I was given 100 more copies. Currently I think I've used about 30 of them. It's only Monday. (I know I'll be fine, but that's not the point.)

Last Friday, I went to talk to Martine, the woman "in charge" of organizing the classes this week, with Françoise, one of the English teachers. I insisted that I be able to see the room where I'd be teaching so that I could see how it's set up/how big it is and so that I could try the computer out and make sure certain websites work. I know in the regular English classrooms, YouTube doesn't work on many of the computers, so I wanted to be sure before I planned any lessons with any websites. So I went in there with Françoise, and sure enough, YouTube didn't work. It's not that it was blocked. It just didn't have the right things installed to play videos. So we had to call up the tech lady to come install it. Glad I checked ahead of time. I checked all the other websites I thought I might use, and they all were fine. Seems like I took all the right precautions, right? I explained to Françoise that I don't understand how the rooms here can possibly not have things like that installed! She totally agreed, especially for language classes. She said the problem is that no matter how prepared you are (that is, you can spend hours and hours preparing things), something's bound to go wrong. Her example was that last week when showing a film, she had to sit next to the wall and physically hold the plug into the socket to keep it from falling out. Or maybe it was holding two cords together. But either way, that was unforseen. And stupid. If it's not one thing, it's another. A school like Georges Colomb, one of the best in the region, should be better about this.

So this weekend I spent lots of time preparing my lessons for today. Class starts at 8:30. I had originally planned to get there at 8 just to make sure everything was running smoothly. But the more I thought about it, the more I didn't think it would be necessary. My PowerPoint was working. It was emailed to myself. All my handouts were ready to print and copy. It would take all of ten minutes to get things ready. And so I left at about 8:20. (I'm used to going in there, printing, and copying all in like, 3 minutes.)

I turn the computer on, wait for it to boot up, and try to print my first document. The new printer (because the old one stopped working, go figure) wasn't hooked up to that computer. Okay, so I changed computers. Printed what I needed and then headed to the copy machine. It was off. I looked all over for a power button, but couldn't find one. So I panicked and went to ask Martine if she could show me how to turn it on. Instead, she said she could do it for me on HER copy machine. Okay fine, but I still need to know how to turn it on. I'm not going to bug her every day about making copies. Plus, that's why they gave me 100 more copies. So she quickly asked how many I needed, and in haste, I said 12 of each, because there are 12 students. Afterwards, I come to realize I had put two on a page to save paper. Oops.

At this point the kids are already in the room waiting for me. I run back over to the regular copy machine where there's a paper cutter so that I can cut everything how I want it. If that were it, it would have been great, and I'd have been on time to class. But I realized I only had 5 of one of the handouts. I asked for 12. So I went back and told Martine. (If she had shown me how to turn the machine on in the first place, I wouldn't have had to bug her.) I was probably really rude to her, not because I was trying to be, but because I really suck at speaking French when I'm mad, frustrated, scared, or panicked. But whatever. I got my copies and booked it back to the paper cutter. I finally get to class and realize I left the attendance sheet in the other room. Run to get it. Come back and start logging in to the computer in the classroom. Try to open my email to pull up the PowerPoint. No reason to think anything will change. And guess what? I couldn't get to the gmail login page. Google worked, but not gmail. Seriously?! Okay I could see YouTube not working, maybe. And maybe even PowerPoint or something, but not gmail! It's just another website. So I go to tell Martine because I don't know who else to ask. And tons of stuff was in that PowerPoint! (I did have back-up activities with me that required no computer, just in case.) I was soooo thrown off. Also, while sorting through the handouts, I realized all 12 of that one HAD been copied. They were just mixed in with the others. Don't ask why. Another waste. Oh my gosh. Now that I'm thinking back, I think I said something totally stupid to her, like that I needed two more because I currently had five, and five plus five only equals ten, not twelve. What was I thinking? Shouldn't I have asked for seven more? No wonder she just kept asking, "Okay, so how many do you want?"

Tech lady came again and made gmail work. THANK GOD! So that was that. Then, I get out the first activity, which I had made copies for LAST FRIDAY because I thought I was on top of things. And I made exactly 12 copies because I was trying to stay well under my 100. Only one extra, for me.

I counted the students. There were 13 of them. WHAT? This is not happenning. I was ready for this activity LAST WEEK! Then they go change it on me at the last minute. Pissed me off. So I had to go run and cut the paper again, and I gave my copy to the extra student because there was no way I was aksing Martine for one more copy. Ugh. And just for the record, I counted twelve students on the list last Friday. THREE times, just to be sure. All year I always made extra copies of things, "just in case" there were extra students. Who was I kidding? There would never be extra students. I never used my extras. So this time I decided not to waste paper unnecessarily. I guess you can never be too cautious!

With all this said and done, Class started about 20-25 minutes late. And I don't know that I blame myself, really, because things were changed on me at the last minute. I'm especially mad because for a week prior, I'd been asking about seeing the room, knowing the times, knowing the number of students, etc. And then day 1 comes and everything changes.

That's really the whole story. After class I went and apologized to Martine for all the last-minute-ness. Yeah it's true, I often would print things at the last minute for my regular classes all year, but there were always people around, and the copy machine was always on. Guess I didn't think it would be off. She was really nice to me though, and didn't seem upset about it at all.

So, back to copy machines. I finally, after class, did find the power button. So I made more copies for tomorrow. And you know what? It jammed. Seriously. Ugh, I don't get it. We have so much technology. CDs, ipods, ipones, computers, text messages, televisions, digital photos, Skype... Yet we still use these gigantic machines that break down all the time to put some freaking ink on paper? Come ON!!!

Oh, and Françoise was totally right. Something is always bound to go wrong. Now you see why I worry so much?
Other than all that, I had a great day today! I bought myself some honey and some apple juice which are both regionally-made. Delicious!!!