Kathryn's Visit

Kathryn came out to visit this week, it was really great to see her again! We went to a fair thing in Aulnoye on Sunday, which was really good, lots of little stalls showcasing local produce and things. We found one selling Champagne, and they let us have a taste, it was quite nice really (coming from someone who doesn't like Alchol!!) and Kathryn brought 2 bottles for her birthday. The weather wasn't brilliant, but it was mostly inside which was good! On Monday I had to work, I was in Stivenart but even though the teacher was doing English, there wasn't actually anything for me to do, in fact I spend the whole afternoon reading 'Guiding' magazine and have planned loads activities for Brownies when I go home!!! We went for Pizza in the little restaurant in Aulnoye, which was nice.

On Tuesday we went to Paris. I've been to Paris twice since I've been here, but not really done any of the 'Touristy' parts, so we went to the Eiffel Tower, saw Notre Dame, climbed the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elyesée. It was kinda cloudy at the beginning of the day, but by the afternoon, it had brightened up and was really nice!

Whilst I was in Paris I brought my Interail Pass for Italy, and tried to book my night Train to Rome...but (horror!!) It was fully booked!! Instead I'm getting a train to Milan and then changing on a train to Rome, fortunately the train gets there 50mins after the night train, so I can still meet up with Lauren, the other assistant coming with me. But unfortunately it gets to Milan at 5:38 am!!!! I am really not looking forward to waking up that early! And I have a hour wait in Milan too!!! Not looking forward to that part of the trip!!

Anyway on Wednesday we went to Reims. I'd brought the tickets earlier cos we had to leave at 10am, so we went on to the platform remembering to 'composter' our tickets, which I'd given to Kathryn, I thought I'd been really clever getting out the tickets beforehand, so we didn't have to rummage through our bags at the station. We had to change trains at Charleville Meziers, and when we got there, we were looking for the train when a guard came up and asked where we were going, I showed him the tickets and he looked a bit confused, it was then that I noticed I'd only gone and 'Composted' the return ticket!! Luckily the guard was very nice and changed it for me, but I did feel a bit silly!!

Reims was really nice, we looked round the Cathedral, which had beautiful stain glass windows, and then we walked to a Champagne Cellar which was really interesting, seeing how they make it and leave it to settle for at least 5 years. We had a taste at the end...I didn't really like it though!! We were really hungry so we went to find somewhere to eat, unfortunately the Champagne Cellar was outside the main town, so we walked for ages before we eventually found a Mc Donalds! We ate in there, and then walked out and round the corner and came to a square with about 5 Cafes!! We had a little wander round the town centre, and then got the train back to Aulnoye.

On Thursday Kathryn went home, but before she went, we went for a walk round Aulnoye, so she could see the Hotel de Ville and one of the schools, then we went into Lille, and wandered round there, before going to Flunch for lunch. Then it was time for Kathryn to go :( but we'd had a really good time!

SNOW!!

It snowed yesterday! It was really preaty!

I'm really excited cos Kathryn is coming on Saturday, for 5 days, and then 5 days later I'm going to Italy!!! More on that later!

Joyeuse Pâques!!

For anyone who is not Catholic, this post probably won't make much sense but anyway, after realising that there was no way I would be home for Easter this year, I thought I'd got to the Easter Vigil service here in Aulnoye. Since the Catholic Church is fundamentally the same throughout the world, I borrowed a Mass book from my church at home, so I would at least have some idea of the readings!

I have discovered that the churches here are grouped into Parishes, now were have Parishes at home, but it normally only includes one church, (maybe 2-3 in very rural areas) but here a Parish is made up of 4-5 churches, spread out over quite a large area, in the case of Aulnoye, over the surrounding towns/villages too. I found the church in Aulnoye not long after I got here, right in the town centre about 15mins walk away. Now if this was England, all the Masses would be held at that church, and there would be no problem. But here, it turns out that only the 18h00 Saturday evening Mass is held at St Martin here in Aulnoye, and the other Masses are held at other churches in the surrounding towns, which unfortunately are not easy to get to without a car.

And that was my problem with the Easter Vigil service, I had thought that since it takes place on Saturday night, that it might have been in Aulnoye, but no, it would be taking place in St Michael's Berlimont, the next town north of here, which was impossible to get to without a car. Undeterred I decided to go to the Palm Sunday Mass at the church in Aulnoye, and see whether maybe I could find someone who was going to the Easter Vigil service who would give me a lift. Luckily for me at the end of the service the Priest noticed that he didn't recognised me and so came over to find out who I was. As I explained that I was from England, he called over a couple who (apparently) the man had lived in England at some point in his life!! As soon as I explained (in french!!) my predicament for the following week, he said not to worry, he and his wife would give me a lift!! So that was great problem solved!!

So tonight I waited for them at 8pm and they came and picked me up and took me to the church in Berlimont. It's a beautiful church, quite old, but has also been refurbished recently so it looks really nice inside. All the people running round trying to get things ready defiantly reminded me of my Church at home! What surprised me thought was that there were lots of children there, not really young ones, but probably around 9-14 years, they were all sitting together at the front and they had sticks which they had decorated and lanterns which they had made out of Tin cans! We couldn't start with the fire outside like normal cos it was snowing (yes really snowing!!) so they just had a small one at the back of the Church and they lit the Easter Candle, then the children processed down the aisle with their sticks and lanterns and they lit everyone's candle as they went. The lights were all turned out so it was just lit with candles and it was really beautiful (this is my favourite part of the service anyway!)

It was a bit confusing, I tried to follow it in my English Mass book, but sometimes the words didn't really match, and so it was hard to find what they were doing. There are 7 readings in the Mass book, and most of the services I have been to have done at least 5, but here they only did 2, so that was a bit strange cos I was expecting them to do more!! It was also slightly different after the Renewal of Baptismal Promises, because in my church at home the priest goes through the church sprinkling people with the Holy Water, but here people went up to the font themselves and blessed themselves, it was nice, but it did take quite a long time, and defiantly wouldn't work with the number of people in my church at home!!

On the whole I managed to understand it, though it was strange cos even if I didn't understand every word, I still knew what they were saying and doing! It was really nice to see what other churches do because even though it was mostly the same service, there were little things that were different.

One thing that I found quite symbolic was that the name of the church was St Michael's, which is the same as my church at home! How weird is that!!

The couple that gave me a lift were really nice, and have even offered to take me out one weekend, Unfortunately I don't have that many weekends left here now, but hopefully I'll get a chance to meet up with them again before I go home.

Oh by the way the title 'Joyeuse Pâques' means 'Happy Easter' if you couldn't guess! It was quite funny cos after the service the priest came up to wish me happy Easter, and obviously wanted to say it in English (I must admit I don't quite understand why almost every French person I have met has tried speaking to me in English once they find out I'm English...I can speak french you know..you don't have to speak to me in English!!) but anyway, he didn't know what it was, so started asking all the other people round me, until I said, 'Oh Joyeuse Pâques en Anglais? C'est 'Happy Easter.' He looked a bit surprised that I had understood him (well...yeah..(see above!!)) and then said 'ah bon, 'Appy Easter'!! Ah well it was nice of him to try, though really I would have understood if he said it in French!!!

So Joyeuse Pâques everyone...try not to eat tooo much chocolate!!!

Blackout! Update

****Update*****

The Plumber came yesterday and put in a whole new hot water heater!! So now finally I have both hot water and Electricity!! Yey!!!


Well as I predicted, the electricity went off again last night, I had to rush around trying to wash and dry my hair before 11!! To make matters worse there was hardly any hot water, even with the hot tap on full it was only lukewarm for 10 mins!!

So I went down and told the caretaker about the problems with the electricity, apparently it's happend to a few other people, and is caused by the Hot water tank! I'm not quite sure how that explains why it turned off at a certain time and worked again in the morning, but he's turned of the hot water tank, so I now should have electricity, but no hot water!! He said that he was going to tell the people who own the building, so hopefully they should sort it, but he didn't know how long that would take!!

Meanwhile, the weather seems determined not to make me homesick, as the storms which are currently battering southern England are making their presence known in Northern France too!!! I think I'm going to get wet getting to work today!!!

Blackout!!

So it's Friday night around 11pm and I'm on the phone talking to my Dad, suddenly there is a loud click and the phone cuts out, all the lights went out, the Internet switched off, and my laptop switched on to battery!! Ah, I thought, not good, OK, lets find my torch, (which I do actually keep in my drawer by my bed, always prepared me!!) Found torch, excellent, switch torch on, no batteries, not good, ok look for batteries, don't have any, so take batteries out of my camera instead. That's good I now have some light. It's probably a power cut I think. Look outside, street lights are all still on...ah ok perhaps its just in this building. Open door, expecting to see other heads popping out looking confused...no one, right ok, hit the hall light switch, Light comes on.... ah ok, that's not good means it's something just in my room. OK so lets have a look at the electricity box on the wall, try pressing the reset button...nothing, try flicking the switch... a loud click then nothing... so I phone my Dad back to see if he has any idea's...he doesn't! Try flicking a few more switched and pressing more buttons, still nothing. Decide that as it's nearly 11:30pm I might as well get ready for bed and go to sleep, resolving that if it's still not working in the morning, I can tell the teacher at the school, see if she has any ideas. (Plus being an actual French person she might have some idea of how to get on to EDF to sort it out!!)

So morning comes, I get up, try pressing the button one more time...it works!! All the lights come back on, phones back on, Internet starts loading up...everything is fine. OK I thought it must have just been a glitch, so I go to school, decided not to say anything, since it seems to be working fine. Get back, everything is fine, no problems at all during the day. Sorted I think...

Then I'm watching a DVD in bed, it gets to 11pm, and 'Click' everything goes off again!!! Like before I try pressing the button, and nothing happens, so in the end I watch the rest of the film on my laptop battery and when it ends, I go to sleep.

Then, I wake up this morning, press the button...and everything is fine!!! I really don't understand it! Annoyingly I can't go and tell the caretaker guy cos he is not here until tomorrow. I've tried looking online, and found a load of numbers, but have no idea which one I would need to call!!

The worst part is, that it is highly likely to happen again tonight, which means I need to have had a bath and washed and dried my hair before 11pm! I know I have been staying up fairly late (only going to sleep around 2-3am) and really should be going to bed earlier, but surely that should be my choice, not being forced to because I have no power!!!

Anyway hopefully I should be able to get it sorted tomorrow, I'll tell the caretaker, and if he can't sort it, then I can go to the office, and hopefully I should be able to ask the 'Brigette's' to phone EDF!!! (I've written out in French what has happened, but it's much easier telling someone face to face rather than over the phone...they might say something I don't understand!!!)

Anyone else had any experience of this? Or am I just completely weird!! I'll keep you updated!!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!!!

So I finally got out of Aulnoye!! One of the American assistants in Valenciennes Michael, sent me a message on Facebook, last week, asking if I wanted to go to Boulogne sur Mer. I was so desperate to get out of Aulnoye that I said yes of course!! Even though it required me to get up at 7am (!!!) to get a 7:30 train to Lille, and it was then another hour on the train to Boulogne, (luckily we managed to get the fast train from Lille, even though we didn't technically have the right tickets (although we didn't know that at the time!!) and when the guard came we played the 'sorry we're English' card!! Worked for us!!!)

Anyway we got to Boulonge and had a walk round the old town, which was really pretty, looked inside the old church, which was on top of a big hill so we had a really nice view from the top!! the we walked back down the hill to the beach. It was really really windy so the beach was empty!! It was lovely and sandy and the tide was going out so it took us ages to walk to the sea!! And no we didn't go in, but we did touch the water, and yes it was cold!!! We walked around on the beach for a bit, and then we went to the National Sea Centre, which was brilliant! My favourite bit was seeing hundreds and hundreds of tropical fish, from under the water, the glass was soooo clean, it hardly looked like it was there at all!!! So the fish were swimming right in front of my face!!

We spent about 3 hours there, and then went to get something to eat at one of the little cafes on the beach. Then it was time to go home, unfortunately we couldn't get the fast train this time, so we had to go on the sloooooow train that took over 2 hours to get back to Lille! Luckily Michael taught me a really cool word game that he knew, so we were playing that the whole way back!!

It was a really great day, even if I did have to get up so early!!!

On the walk back down from the church we saw a big English flag, and these Morris Dancers!!! How weird, I've hardly ever seen them in England, but they were in a small town on the French coast!!!

Back in Aulnoye

Disneyland was Amazing!! I had such a great birthday, possibly the best day I have had since being in France!! We did loads of stuff on Tuesday, Went on loads of rides, even got my dad on 'Big Thunder Mountain' which was quite an achievement for him!!! The weather was beautiful blue skies and sunshine!! We watched the Parade which was magical! Wednesday we went to the Studio's Park, unfortunately the weather wasn't as nice, cloudy, damp, and colder, but we still had fun!

Thursday I had to come back to Aulnoye...I wanted sooo much to be going back home on the Eurostar with the rest of my family and friends. So now I'm back and just counting down the days until I get to go home again!! Nearly there now!!

I'm going to DisneyLand!!!!!

That is all!!

Vivre le Franglais!!!

Just read this on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7221918.stm

Apparently the guy that 'invented' Franglais has died.

I, along with most of the other assistants, and english ex-pats will vow to keep his legacy alive, by inserting as many english words into my french sentances as possible!!

Now if you excusez-moi je vais aller au laundrette pour faire ma washing!!!

Au Revoir!!!

The mysterious English Teacher illness

There appears to be some kinda of bug striking the English teachers in Aulnoye!

First of all it was the teacher at Stievenart last friday, which was really anoying, cos I'd planned a whole lesson on Scotland (as it was Burns night, the celebration of the Scots poet Robbie Burns, for those less culturally aware!!) I'd even found music, but as I couldn't find any CD-R's in Aulnoye, (plus I wasn't sure if the cd's would even work on the old school CD player) I'd decided the best thing to do would be to take my laptop in. So I walked the 25mins to the school, carrying my laptop, which was actually quite heavy, only to get there and find out that the teacher was ill, therefore they didn't need me, so I had to walk back again. It was only when I got back here, that I thought I could have actually done something with the class, so they didn't miss out on their english lesson.

Then this week I was at Joilot Currie, The 1st English teacher was in, so I went in her class, they were doing clothes, and as I had a picture of kids in English school uniforms, I showed it to them. They thought it was really strange, especially the fact that they wear a tie, cos not many people wear ties here! I did have to point out that it was taken in the summer, and no, the boys didn't wear shorts all year round!! So that was a good lesson.

Then I found out that the other teacher was off sick, and so I didn't have anything to do for an hour, so I sat in the staff room and planned my lesson for CE1 on Thursday. Then after break it was time for me to teach the other CE1 class, I only started teaching them 2 weeks ago, when the teacher asked if I could. I love teaching the CE1 classes cos they are the youngest classes (about 7-8 years old) and normally they wouldn't start learning english till next year, so I get to teach them specially!!! I taught them how to say 'My name is...' and then the numbers from 1-10, they picked it up really quickly. Then I taught them colours, (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple!!) (It had to be Rainbow, really!!) And yes I did then teach them 'Rainbow' and then gave them a little worksheet, where they had to colour the rainbow!!! Then to check that they had understood, I held up skittles (the sweets!!) and asked each of them, 'what colour is it?' if they got it right, they got the sweet!! So I really enjoyed that!

I wasn't sure if I should go in today, since the English teacher was ill yesterday, and I'm normally only in lessons till 3pm anyway. But since I didn't actually know if the teacher would be in or not, I thought I'd better go in just in case. So I walked in to the playground, and one of the kids comes up to me and says 'Mlle Famchon n'est pas la, elle est malade' (Miss Famchon is not here, she is ill) I almost turned round and walked back out again, but then realised that, that would look bad in front of the kids, so I went into the school, with the idea of waiting to the end of the the lunch break, then leaving. As I was standing waiting, I was thinking how anoying it was that the lessons kept being canceled, and so the children were missing out on their english lessons, when there was a perfectly cappable teacher still in the school, plus I was getting fed up of not having anything to do. Before I really knew what I was doing, I'd gone down to the headmaster's office, and was asking him, if he would like me to teach the lessons that Mlle Famchon should have been teaching, and he said OK then, starting with his class CM2 (11-12 year olds) in 5 mins!! Suddenly the 'OMG what am I doing?!' feeling came over me as I despratly tried to think of somthing to do with them!! When I walked into the classroom, said good afternoon, and none of the resoponded, I thought, Oh dear, this isn't going well!!! I asked them 'What the date was?' and finally some people responded, so that was a start. I decided to play number bingo with them, at first I only did the numbers 1-20, but then I realised that they knew higher numbers too, so I did 20-50, (and yes I did realise after i'd told them, that there were a lot of numbers between 20-50 and just choosing 9 meant it could be a long game!!) But anyway it went quite well, but then I had to think of something else to play, so decided to play Simon Says, That went well, though I did begin to run out of things to say, ended up saying, 'Simon says..........(long pause while I thought of something!!!) So obviously they knew to do it!! I mostly got people out by saying things like, Simon says...Jump up and down/wave your hands/clap your hands etc, then shouting stop!! I think they enjoyed it, and we played 2 rounds, then I had completly run out of things to do, but luckily it was the end of the lesson anyway, so that was ok!!

Not bad I thought, for only having 5 mins to plan something!!!

I went to ask the other teacher if they wanted me to do english with their class, but they had already started another subject, and so didn't need me to...so I came back here!!

Right gonna stop, and do some flashcards for my lesson on Thursday, teaching them part 2 of my colours lesson, Brown, Black, White, and Pink, and reading 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?' to them!

Becca

P.S No one has contacted me regarding plans for the Feb holiday, so it looks like I will be going home for the 1st week. Anoying, cos I would have liked to go travelling or something, but at least if I go home I can work, and so will have something to do, so it's better then being stuck here doing nothing!

Sorry for the loooong break!!!

I did wonder how long I'd be able to keep this blogging thing up!! And just when I actually do something exciting I don't actually write about it!! So I'm gonna write a bit about Prague, and then hopefully I'll try and update a bit more often!!

Well Prague was really good. I met Emily in Brussels and we spent the day looking at the Christmas market, and then went to a shopping centre cos we got cold! Then we got the train to Cologne to get the overnight train to Prague, this was my first experience of being in a country where they didn't speak English or French! It was really strange, I'd gotten used to the fact that if people didn't speak English I could speak to them in french!! I actually asked the guy in the shop in Cologne for 'a bottle d'eau si-vous-plait!!' before remembering that he wouldn't speak french, and would probably understand me better if I spoke English!! It was so strange the whole weekend not understanding what people were saying, In France I can normally at least get a basic idea!!

Anyway we got on the overnight train to Prague, it was really nice, we were in a 6 bunk couchette, but there was only one other guy in our compartment, and he was really nice, he spoke really good English, and he was from Prague, so he told us some things to see. Me and Emily took the two top bunks, and had quite a good sleep considering. Although there was one point when the train stopped and we couldn't hear the engine anymore, we got slightly worried that we had overslept or the train had broken down or something, but then it moved again so that was OK!!

We got to Prague about 10am, and we came in to the central station, which was great it was really close to everything. We walked around to find a Hostel for Emily, as she would be staying an extra night. We must have walked around the same square 3 or 4 times, before we found this little alleyway where the hostel was!! We left our bags there, and then went to Prague castle. It was really pretty, we had a look inside, and went down this little street where there were all these tiny craft shops. It was up a hill, and from the top we had a great view of the whole city. It was getting dark as we walked back down again, so we went to the Christmas market in the main square. It was really pretty with all the Christmas lights up and stuff! We went into a restaurant to have some traditional Czech food...I tried some, it was ok...ish!!! There was some entertainment on in the main square so we had a hot chocolate and sat and watched it. Then it was time for me to get the train back to Cologne, so we walked back to the station...

And that was where the problem started...I said goodbye to Emily outside the station and she went back to watch the rest of the entertainment in the main square. I went into the station and looked up at the departure board...my train wasn't on there!!! I had about 15 mins, so I waited a bit to see if it would come up...it didn't...I was running round the station trying to find someone to ask...eventually with less than 5 mins to go I found someone, I was just frantically pointing at my ticket, hoping they'd tell me where to go. They said I was at the wrong station!!! My train left from another station 10mins away!!! I couldn't get there, I'd missed it!!! I tried calling Emily but her phone was switched off, so I just tried to find my way back to the main square hoping I could find her!! Luckily I saw her...she was very surprised to see me!!! We went to her hostel to see if they had space for me to stay, luckily there was a spare bed in the room Emily was staying in, so I was able to stay there. There was nothing more we could do so, we went back to watch the entertainment again...it was really good!!!

They next day, we got up and went to an internet cafe so I could send an e-mail to my school to tell them that I wouldn't be in, as I was still in Prague!! I managed to find the train times so i could get back in time for school on Tuesday, so we went to the station so I could book the tickets, luckily cos I had an interail pass it wasn't really that expensive, I only had to pay about €20. I made sure I knew which station I had to go to this time!! It was the other station again, so I found out how to get there and brought my metro ticket. Then we decided to go and see the Astronomical Clock, as it was nearly 12pm and we wanted to see what happened. I've no idea how you actually tell the time using this clock, but it was really cool cos at 12, bells rang and all these little figures came out. We went up the clock tower, and got another great view of Prague. Then we went to the shops so I could get some souvenirs, and also so I could buy some more clothes for the next day, since I didn't have any!!! We had another walk round, and found a really nice little cafe to have some Hot Chocolate, It was quite strange thinking that I should have been at work, when I was sitting in Prague drinking hot chocolate!! Then it was time for me to go.

I went to the right station this time, to get the train to Berlin, where I would get the Sleeper train to Brussels from. It was about a 4 hour journey, but luckily there were some American girls going to Berlin to so I chatted to them!! When I got to Berlin I only had about 20mins to find the correct platform for the overnight train, I was terrified that I would miss it again, but it was fine I found it really easily. It was really nice on the train, I was sharing with a family from Brazil, but they let me sleep on the Top bunk, so i just read my book and stayed out the way!

The train got to Brussels really early, it was about 6:30 in the morning, I was sooo tired!! Unfortunately the next TGV train to Lille, (which I can use my Pass on,) wasn't until 11am, but there was a Eurostar train at 7am, I couldn't use my pass on that, but by that point I didn't really care!! It was only €25 to Lille, so it wasn't too bad. The train was actually the through train to London...I was sooo tempted just to stay on it and go home... !but I got off in Lille, and came back to Aulnoye. I got back here just after 9, so I just had a nice relaxing bath, and a nap before going to school in the afternoon!!!

The whole weekend was really good, although I am glad that I had to stay the extra day, cos I got to see so much more of the city, like the clock tower and things, which was really nice, and I would have missed out on if I'd got the train back on Sunday. It was exhausting though, especially as on the Wednesday I went to Brugge in Belgium, which again was lovely, but did involve taking another 6 trains!! (For those of you who don't know Brugge is where they make lots of the Belgium chocolates! Me and Emily went to a Chocolate Museum and then on a Chocolate walk around the town, visiting all the chocolate shops!!!)

I worked out that by the time I got back to my house on the Friday, when I went home for Christmas, I'd been on 18 trains in 1 week!!! By the time I stepped off the Tube at Hatton Cross, I never wanted to get on a train again!!!

I've sorta changed my mind about that now....am looking for something to do for the February holiday...Any Ideas welcome!!!

Right I'll try to update soon, with how stuff is going at the school etc...but right now I have to go do some washing....fun fun!!!

On Charles Bridge. Sorry it's Sideways. Forgot to turn it before I uploaded it!!
My Traditional Czech meal. Honey chicken (quite nice) Dumplings (bit heavy) and Red Cabbage casserole (not a big fan of red cabbage anyway!!!)
Astronomical Clock, again sorry it's sideways. But you can sorta see the statues!!
View from the Clock Tower, The Christmas Market in the Main square, Our Hostel was just off to the right of the photo
Prague Castle taken from the Clock Tower.

I'm going to Prague!!!

Hello

Yep I'm off to prague! It's kinda random, and now the intial excitement had worn off a bit, I'm ever so slightly thinking...ahhhh...what the hell am I doing!!!

Basically my friend from England, Emily sent me a message on facebook saying that she had brought an Interail pass and was going to be coming to Lille on Sat if I wanted to meet up. So I said that I wasn't doing anything and would love to meet up, did she have anywhere in mind that she wanted to go? (thinking that she might say either stay in Lille or go to Brussels or Bruges or somewhere!) She replied back saying that she was thinking of getting the overnight train to Prague and spending Sunday there, and I could come with her if I wanted to!! I didn't even know it was possible to get an overnight train to Prague!! And the important thing for me is that I have to be able to get back in time to work on Monday afternoon.

So I then spent the next few hours (bear in mind that I got her last message at just before midnight!!) trying to find out how to get ot Prague and if it was at all possible to do it and get back here by 13:30 on monday. And amazingly it is!! Unfortuantley it was also very expensive (over £180) so I wasn't to sure if I wanted to spend that much for 1 day. Then I had a look on the Interail pass site, since that is what Emily had got, and found that a pass valid for 10 days with 5 days travelling is £130! That covers most of the trains we wanted to take, we just have to pay a small supplement (about £30 each way) on the overnight train. Plus since it's valid for 5 days travel and the weekend is only 3, I can also use it to go to Bruges next wednesday, which is cool, it's kinda like an extra free trip!! And cos I still have another day, I can also use it to pay for my ticket from here to Lille when I come home next Friday, so I'd get my money's worth!

So this is our plan: I'm meeting Emily in Lille on Saturday at 12:30, We are then getting a train to Brussels and spending the afternoon in Brussels before getting a train at 19:25 to Colonge. We then get the Overnight train from Colonge, leaving at 22:38 and arriving in Prague at 9:33 Sunday morning. We then spend the day in Prague, before I (Emily is going to stay in Prague for a few more days and then go to Switzerland, before going back home) have to get the train at 18:50 back to Colonge arriving at 6:14 Monday morning, I then have to wait an hour and get the train back to Brussels, I then have 1.5 hours wait to get the train back to Lille. I get to Lille at 11h46 and I have an 1/2 hour wait to get the train back to Aulnoye. I get back here at 13:24. I'm meant to start work at 13h30...So I'm going to be a little bit late, but hopfully I can just dump my bag and pick up my stuff for school, and be there by about 13:50.

I am slightly worried about having to travel back on my own, and there is a small voice saying that it's a lot of money for what is esenstionally one day, I'm hopeing it will all be ok, and I'll have a great time. I'm trying to think of what clothes to bring, since i will kinda be in the same outfit from Saturday-Monday!! And also apparently it's snowing in Prague, so I'll need lots of layers!

I'm hoping to visit the castle, but other than that I really have no idea, I think we might just wander round and see what takes our fancy!!

Anyway will try and post more when I get back with pictures and stuff!!!

Becca

STRIKE HAS ENDED!!!!

Look no Trains aimlessly sitting around doing nothing!!! Well it seems the workers have voted to end the strike for now and go back to work!! Yippee!! It meens that I can finally go and see some of the nice assistants in Valenciennes. Well untill the next strike anyway........

The Sunshine after the Rain!!

It got slightly better at the school today. I was in Joliot Currie, and I'd arranged to meet one of the English teachers to discuss what I could do. I'd already decided that I would read 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' to the children, and when I showed her she thought it would be a good idea. Unfortunately we didn't really get a chance to discuss what else I could do in detail, although I said that I could do something on Scotland for St Andrews Day, and then tell them about Christmas in England, so that takes us up to Christmas...not too sure what I'll be doing after that!

I'd done some Flashcards for the story to help them understand, (it's very hard to draw a snowstorm BTW!! and I couldn't draw a bear so I ended up sticking the word Bear on my teddy!!!) And the teacher held them up as I was reading. They managed to understand almost all of it, I was really impressed, (of course My Wonderful Acting probably helped!!) After the teacher was teaching them about Numbers, and getting them to say their phone numbers in English, she wanted me to give them an English number, the first one I thought of was my home!!! Oh well if Mum and Dad start getting weird phone calls that'll be why!!! Then she started teaching them how to tell the time, she tried to teach them 'Hickory Dickory Dock' but she had forgotten the CD, so guess who stepped in!! I even managed to do actions for it!!! I didn't even know I knew actions, it was just as they were saying it , I thought of them!! I asked Kathryn, and apparently they are the same as the ones she does in the nursery!!! Slightly weird!!

Anyway I did the story again with the next class, It was with a different teacher, and I hadn't actually managed to speak to her about it beforehand, I just walked in the class and said I have a story, I meant to ask 'Can I do it?' but I think I might have said 'I am doing it!!' She didn't mind though, and so I did it with her class too!

Then it was breaktime, I went outside, and immediately had about 10 kids running over, asking if i was going to play...I didn't actually realise that was what they said, but they looked so happy when I said yes..that I was kinda stuck! It was really sweet though, they played a really nice game where half of us stood in a circle, and chose a number, then we counted while the others ran in and out, when we said our chosen number we sat down, and anyone in the circle was trapped!! It was really fun, and I even managed to get some of them to count in English!!!

After breaktime, the class that I had been with earlier was going swimming, so I went into the CE1 class (6-7 years olds) they don't really start learning English until next year, but they really like me, and they know a little bit (hello, goodbye) I asked the teacher if I could read the story, even though it was in English. She said I could. I don't think they really understood all of it, but they liked listening to it, and looking at the pictures. Then the teacher asked if I knew any English Christmas songs, so I taught them Jingle Bells! It was really sweet to hear them try singing it! After, I was thinking about how the kids were really interested in me teaching them English, (but I knew that they weren't meant to start learning properly till next year) but I asked the teacher if I would be able to maybe teach them a little bit of English on Thursday afternoon, She thought it was a great idea, but we had to check with the Headmaster...He said it was a good idea too, (especially as the alternative is me sitting doing nothing!!!!) SO now every other Thursday afternoon from 3:30-4:15 I get to teach the little Kids...it's great because I have Tuesday from 3:30-4:30 free as well, so I can plan my lessons then, and on Wednesday If i need too! Yeah finally have something to do!!!

And Mum is coming tomorrow, and we're going to the Christmas Market in Lille....YEAY I can finally get out of here!!!!

See everything always works out in the end!!!

Love

A Much Happier Becca!!!

The Strikes continue....

This is the view out of my window, there are currently at least 6 trains in the station...they are not going anywhere...just sitting there...teasing me. The assistants in Valenciennes were having a Thanksgiving Dinner today...I couldn't go because I couldn't get there. I really hope this strike ends soon. I really can't deal with another day sitting here doing nothing!!

SOOOOO Bored!!!!

Well it's now Sunday, The trains are still on strike, so I haven't be able to go anywhere. I was invited to go out to dinner with the other assistants in Valenciennes last night, unfortunately I couldn't get there, and so was stuck here instead.

OK, I'll warn you now, this is going to be a bit of a moany post. I'm just sooo bored, I actually don't know what I doing here. This isn't exactly the great 'Adventure' I imagined it would be, it just almost like I'm stuck here, waiting until May when I can go home again. I read the other assistants blogs, and they've all be having a great time, travelling, seeing new places etc. I have been to three new places in France since I've been here, Lille, Valenciennes and Aulnoye. That's it, I haven't done any travelling, and visited lots of new and exciting places or anything.

Even in the schools I really have no idea what I am doing there. Take this week for example, Normally I prefer working in Ecole Stievenart, but when I arrived on Monday afternoon, the teacher explained, that as the children were making something for the Christmas market in a few weeks, They wouldn't be doing as much English. Great!!! This meant that I spent the whole of Monday afternoon sitting at the back of the class doing nothing. I'm not even too sure what they were making, so I couldn't help or anything. The only thing that stopped me going completely bored, was that I could listen to the French, and watch the children. I the had Tuesday and Wednesday off, and I was stuck here.

I went into school on Thursday, early, armed with my books, and my play, with the intention of sitting down and talking to the teacher about what I could do. Well firstly the teacher wasn't there, she came in about 10 minutes later, with her daughter, who goes to the nursery school, so she was sorting her out, I managed to quickly show her the books, but she said she thought 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' might be too difficult for the children to understand. Then she went to take her daughter to the Nursery. I hadn't had a chance to show her the play, and at that moment I didn't really see the point. When she came back, I spoke to her again about the Bear Hunt story explaining that I didn't really think it would be too difficult, cos it's mostly repeating. She had another look, and agreed that maybe it would be OK. I then showed her the 'Jesus' Christmas Party' Story, I wasn't sure if she'd agree with it, but she had a look, and took a copy of it. I'm not sure if we can do it as a play, but maybe I can get some of the children to act it out whilst I read it. Mum has sent me the actual book, so I can use that too. I didn't really get much of a chance to talk to her though, because then it was the end of lunch break and the children were coming back. So I resumed my position at the back of the class just watching.

I did however go into one English lesson, but I didn't do anything. At one point the teacher was explaining about Bonfire Night, and I had the chance to jump up and show the children my pictures quickly. But that was it. After I sat down and went back to doing nothing. At the end of the day the teacher explained, that they wouldn't be doing any English on Friday, because the class were going to the library. On Friday morning, I wasn't feeling very well, in fact I was sick a few times. I really didn't feel up to going into the school, and after I remembered that they weren't actually going to be doing any English anyway, I really didn't see the point. I sent an e-mail to the school, saying I was sorry, but I was sick and wouldn't be coming in, and went back to bed!!

On Saturday, I was feeling slightly better, but I was also feeling a bit guilty for not going in the day before, so I made sure I got up and was in school by 8:30am! In all honesty there was actually no point to me being there at all. I spent the 1st 2 hours sitting at the back of the class, doing absolutely nothing, and then at 10:40 the teacher said we were going to go into another class to do an English lesson. I walked into the class, said 'Good Morning' to the children, and sat down. Half an hour later, I stood up, said 'Goodbye' and walked out again.

The worst thing is, I really don't know how to change this, I don't know what else I can say or do, I don't see how I can be of any use, when I don't know what is going on. I don't have anytime to actually talk to the teachers about it, I might possibly see the teachers for about 10-15 mins before the afternoon lessons start, but that it, and most of the time, they are using that time to planned lessons themselves. They don't really need me to come hassling them.

I'm in Ecole Joilot Currie this week. I have a few ideas about Christmas, which I want to talk the teachers about, but I still have no idea what else they are doing. So I guess I'm going to spend more time sitting at the back of the classroom, doing nothing....oh joy!!!

The only bright spark on the horizon is that Mum and her friend, are coming out to visit next weekend. They are coming in the car, so they can bring over some Christmas things for me to show the children. On Saturday we are going to go to the Christmas Market in Lille. I can't wait, not least because it means I will finally be getting out of the town!! On Sunday, we can go anywhere I want, before they drive home again...I haven't actually got any ideas....but anywhere outside of this town will be great!!!

OK I just re-read this post, and it sounds as if I am really unhappy here. That's not totally true, I am not unhappy....I'm just not that happy!!!

OK positive thinking, I'm sure it will get better soon!!!

More later!!

Rebecca

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

Remembrance Day Photos

Top: The Service at the War Memorial.

Middle: British War Graves in Aulnoye Cemetery.

Bottom: The Unknown Soldier (Can you spot my poppy?)

Remembrance Sunday in Aulnoye

I really wanted to post this dated the 11 November, but I didn't realise the time, so unfortunately it's come under the 12th November. (therefore as it's just after midnight, when I say today, I mean the 11th, not the 12th!)

I went to the Remembrance service in Aulnoye today. I wasn't even sure if they would even have one, I'd tried to find out, but hadn't managed to find anything, so my plan was just to walk to the war memorial around 10:45 to see if anything was going on. In the end I got woken at 10:20 by the band matching past my window!!! I moved sooo fast, jumped up, got dressed, and was out the door in about 5 mins!! Luckily the parade had stopped outside the Station so I was able to catch up with it there. It was a bit different to the parade in Ashford, Much much smaller, there weren't any guides or scouts! Instead there was the band, followed by the firefighters, and the junior firefighting corps, the some representatives from the nearby steel factory, the station and old soldiers carrying flags (only about 6 though) and then some of the children from Joilot Currie, then the rest of the town followed behind. We walked to the War Memorial for the service there. I couldn't really understand what was being said, the guy speaking was speaking quite fast, but I got the general idea. The only had 1 minutes silence at 11am though, either that or it was a very very quick two minutes!! There was no Last Post or Reveille, although they did lower the flags, in fact the only way I realise it was over, when they raised them again!! Then the children sang the French National anthem, unfortunately it was raining, and they were quite quiet so I couldn't really hear them, which was a shame.

Then everyone started leaving the memorial, I thought it was the end, but then the band started playing again, I wasn't to sure if it was like in Ashford where the band plays again afterwards, and we just parade back to the start, but everyone was following them, so I followed.

We walked a little bit further up the road to the town cemetery, I walk this way to Ecole Joilot Currie, but what I hadn't noticed before was that at the back of the cemetery there were some British war graves. As we approached I saw the Union Flag flying from the flagpole (I'm almost positive it wasn't there when I walked past on Thurs, or else I was really stupid not to notice it!!) The cemetery is quite small so we had to stand outside in the road, whilst the children went in and put flowers on each of the graves. The band then played 'God Save the Queen' I must admit because I wasn't expecting it, it took me a couple of seconds to work out why I recognised it!! Afterwards they played the French Anthem again and then we continued walking round to the 'Hotel de Ville' (Town Hall) where they ended the service. In total, (bearing in mind I missed the beginning) It was about an hour long, so it was longer than in Ashford, but it didn't really seem that long cos we moved around. After people were going into the Town Hall, so I went in, they had a kinda reception thing, with drinks and nibbles, but as I hadn't had breakfast I turned down the glass of wine! The mayor, (or someone from the town council anyway!) then made a speech to say thank you to everyone which seemed to go on for ages! I left about 11:45 initially I intended to go back to the flat to see if I could watch/listen to the service in London online, but as I walked past the cemetery I decided to have a look.

There were 44 graves, 43 identified and 1 unknown soldier. What was quite surprising was that they were all from 1918, and in fact 21 were killed on the 6-8th November 1918. Almost spookily 8 of the 21 were from the Middlesex Regiment, which considering I live in Ashford, Middlesex, makes it one of the Regiments that would have been based closest to my home. It was so bizarre to be standing in a cemetery, in a small town, in the middle of France, and see Middlesex written on a gravestone. I mean I know WWI was fought in this area, but I was just thinking of all the main battlefields like the Somme, Ypres, Flanders, you know the ones we learnt about in school. I never imagined finding graves in a tiny town such as Aulnoye.

As I was standing there I heard the clock tower strike 12, (i.e 11am in England) so I had my own little 2 minutes silence, thinking about these men that had come through the town 89 years ago and those who would never return home. I was still wearing my poppy and so just before I left I took it off and placed it at the foot of the grave of the Unknown Soldier. (I got it when I was at home, they don't have poppies in France) It just felt like the right thing to do, my little way of saying Thank you, and Remembering the men who died here.

I was thinking about the men who died, particularly those who had died in the final days of the war, and I really wanted to know why they had died, what they were doing in Aulnoye. So when I got back to the flat I looked it up online. I managed to find a really detailed website about the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment (which was the one the 8 soldiers belonged to) which said that the 6-8th Nov 1918 was the Battle of the Sambre. (The Sambre is the river just to the north of Aulnoye separating it from the town of Berlimont) The Germans had held Aulnoye since 1914, making particular use of the railway line to bring supplies in to the front line, and so on the 6th Nov 1918 there were still a number of German troops stationed here. The British troops had to get across the river from Berlimont, and although they tried at night, they were met with Machine-gun fire, and several soldiers were killed. They eventually made it into Aulnoye, and assembled in front of the station. It's so weird to think that 89 years ago there were British troops fighting right here where I am now! The next day the Battalion advanced on the road towards Avesnes but were met with shell fire and another 4 soldiers were killed, one of whom Lieut. W.L Hudspith had fought since 1914. The rest of the Battalion reached their objective, and then were relieved at 4am on the 8th Nov, when they came back to Aulnoye before marching on to Sassegnies, a tiny village just south of here, where they stayed until receiving news of the Armistice.

Sorry I know that was a bit of a history lesson, but I found it really interesting, I thought it was especially sad that the soldiers died right at the very end of the war, in fact during the very last advance that the Battalion made toward the Germans. 24 hours later and it was all over for them. The fact that some had fought throughout the whole war, only to die right at the end, is really sad.

It's strange, every year I take part in Remembrance day parade, and I can see the list of names inscribed on the War Memorial, but that's all it is...a list of names. To actually take a name from a grave and find out how old they were, where they lived, where they fought, and where they died, makes it more real. It's not just a name anymore, but an actual person who walked the same streets I do, and died in this town fighting for Britain.

Anyway, sorry for wittering on, this is rather a long post, and it is now 2:45am so I'd better get to sleep or else I'll be late for work tomorrow (even if I start at 1:30!) I'll update again soon with how it's going in the schools and stuff.

I do also have some photos from today, but for some reason blogger won't let me post them, so I'll add them later.

Rebecca

Back in good old England!!

Hello

I know I haven't updated for a while, I've been quite busy. Well as you may be able to guess from the title, I didn't go travelling round France, because the Americans I was going to go with decided not to go. So faced with 10 days with nothing to do I decided to come home for a week. It wasn't an easy decision, considering that Dad and Natasha had come out especially to see me, and so I wouldn't have to come home, plus I was worried that it will be hard to get back in to the 'French mode de vie' I was just about beginning to feel settled, and now It's all messed up again. I've had fun at home, and I'm glad I came, but it's weird.

I've settled back into being at home so quickly, It feels as though the last 6 weeks have been a bit of a dream, and they didn't really exist. I've completely lost the tiny bit of french I had managed to retain (I was just starting to sometimes think in French) But now I'm completely back to English again. To be honest, I don't really want to go back. I've loved having my family round, and having dinner with them, and being able to watch TV in the evenings. It's exactly what I was worried about, I guess I just have to wait and see what happens when I do go back.

To make matters worse my tutor from uni is coming to see me on Friday. I knew that we would have to meet with the tutor at some point in the year, but I thought it would be at least Jan/Feb time. When we meet the tutor we have to have a discussion in French. Not only does she want to know how I am doing, but also we have to talk about 'current affairs'....I have absolutely no idea what is going on in France at all. Not only because I have been at home all week, but also because even when I was in France, I didn't actually read any french newspapers or anything. I listened to English radio, and went on English websites. In fact I have hardly spoke french at all! It's really bad, I need to speak more french but I don't know how. I know I should probably be listening to French radio or something, but I love my Radio 1, It's like a little security blanket, a reminder of home.

OK, New resolution...Will try to speak more French (possibly,maybe...If i have time!!!)

Right g2g, but will try to update at the weekend,

Rebecca