Stuck in the middle of nowhere!!!

For those of you who haven't seen or heard on the news, the French railway personal have decided to go on strike. And when French people go on strike, they don't mess around, everything stops. Like most towns across France, there have been no trains to or from Aulnoye station at all today. Therefore I am now stuck here, not only are there no trains, there are also no buses either (the bus drivers go on strike too, in support of the train workers.)

Luckily, (or unluckily depending on how you look at it!!) I can walk to the schools, so unlike most of the assistants living in Valenciennes I can still get to work. Unfortunately today is Wednesday, and I don't work Wednesdays. My plan had been to go into Valenciennes to meet up with some of the assistants, but obviously that didn't happen, so I'm stuck here staring at these four walls for another day!! I really hope the stupid drivers have decided to go back to work by the weekend so I can hopefully meet up with them all. I think that the strike is only for today, but apparently some trains might still not be running tomorrow, and it might even go on till next week!! Oh joy!! Also, so I read earlier, some teachers are meant to be going on strike as well on Tuesday, so I'll have to check whether that's the case at Joilot Currie, If so, I'll have an extra day off, but if the trains are still on strike, I won't be able to go anywhere!!! Grrrr!!!

I must admit it is quite funny that the day the french transport system goes on strike, is the same day that Eurostar open it's new high speed railway line from St Pancras, so now u can get to France even quicker then ever before...but then you can't go anywhere after that!!

Anyway because of the strikes I have spent the last 2 days here doing absolutely nothing, (well I did my washing yesterday...very exciting!!) I've changed the days that I work at Ecole Stievenart, so I now work Mondays instead of Tuesdays. Which means that I have 2 days off, then work one day, then have another 2 days off. I never thought I'd complain about having so much free time...but I'm so bored!!! It's almost a relief to go into the schools, it gives me something to do for 3 hours!!

Saying that, I get the idea that the teachers at Joilot Currie, still don't know what to do with me. I was meant to start work at 10 on Thursday, but I went to the school, and it was locked, I couldn't get in. I waited about 20 mins, and I still couldn't get in, so I gave up and came back to the flat. I was good though and spent the next hour finding out some facts about Bonfire night to go with the pictures that Dad took at Aunt Trish's bonfire night party last weekend. I went back to the school to get the coach to go to lunch. As I was getting on the coach, one of the children asked what my Poppy was, (I was wearing it on my jacket) That gave me an idea, so while I was eating lunch I wrote some notes about Remembrance day to tell the children. It was quite funny, I'd forgotten how protective the French are of the lunch, and I got some strange looks from the children and teachers, for writing while eating!! I didn't mind it gave me something to do!!

When I got back to the school I saw one of the teachers. I showed her what I'd done, and she said that she'd already done something on bonfire night before the holiday, but she said I could show the photos and tell the children about Remembrance Day, However she thought that they might not understand if I just explained it in English, so she explained it in French as well. I then sat at the back for the rest of the lesson. In the 2nd lesson with the other teacher it was a bit better, I got to explain about Bonfire night and Remembrance Day, the teacher summarised what I said in French, and even wrote a few sentences on the board, so they copied them down. By the time they'd done that it was the end of the lesson! Unfortunately they still really don't know what to do with me after the English lessons. I was meant to stay for another hour, and the class I was with were going swimming. I'm still not sure whether the teacher actually goes swimming as well, but even so I am a rubbish swimmer and don't really like it, and so the teacher, just said, oh go over to that classroom you can sit in there. So over I went. The teacher had no idea who I was, or what I was doing there, so I just had to sit in the class. I'm still not sure what class it was, I think it might have been a SEN class, cos it was kinda mixed ages, and the work was quite simple. It was fairly interesting, but I just don't know why I was there!

On Friday, I had to go into Lille to meet up with my tutor, (well I say my tutor, she's actually a new tutor at the uni, I have never met her before) To start with I was a hour late, cos I missed the train (don't worry I did text her and tell her, and she was fine with it) Jade was there to, and as I hadn't seen her since we have been here, It was nice to see her. The tutor had brought a friend with her, and so they were speaking french (obviously) We walked around Lille, trying to find a restaurant. I wasn't actually very hungry, and we walked for ages in the freezing cold.We eventually found a restaurant, (and like all restaurants in France, a no-smoking table, basically just means one without an ashtray!! So I ended up having smoke all around me almost the whole time) I ordered chicken, mainly cos it was the only thing on the menu, that I was actually sure what it was! We had to speak in French the whole time, which was really hard, especially for me having only just come back from England, but I tried my best. The really annoying thing though was when the tutor told me and Jade that we had to speak french to each other. It was so stupid, cos we were talking about student loans and the fact that we weren't meant to be paying fees, so we were using English words and things, apparently when we spoke French to each other we both lost the French accent entirely, and were just speaking French, but with a completely English accent!! The tutor's friend couldn't understand us, cos we sounded so English!!! I'm not sure how well it went, but at least I got a day out and a free lunch, so that was good!

Well this has been a really long post, (as usual!!) but at least it has given me something to do! I'm working in Ecole Stievenart tomorrow, and I'm hoping to go in early to discuss a few ideas with the teacher. I have a few children's books to read to them, and I had the idea the other day of seeing if I could do a little play with the children. The play I was thinking of is a Nativity play based on the story of Jesus' Christmas Party. It should be OK, because it's quite simple, and is mostly acting, rather than lots of words. I am slightly worried though because I know the French have this thing about teaching Religion in schools (i.e they don't have anything religious!) and so it might be seen as being too religious, but I'm hoping that if I explain that it's traditional for Primary schools in England to put on a Nativity Play each year, then I might be able to do it as a cultural point about England!!!

Will keep you updated!!

Rebecca