Hello! I haven't written anything on here for a long time and I don't really have an excuse, but to make up for it here's a photo-heavy post about my holiday to Paris and Granada and a brief encounter with François Hollande . I've also started filming a 'week in the life' video so you've all got that to look forward to... lucky you!
So my two week school holiday actually started with three days of extra work at school. It was really well paid so I thought it would be a good way to earn my trip to Paris and Spain and I worked with the same group of 10 students for three hours each morning which was good fun and hopefully really useful for their English too.
On the Thursday I had a great journey to Paris on a snazzy double decker train and arrived in the afternoon with my hands thrust firmly in my pockets due to a severe case of pick-pocket paranoia that was largely brought on by the numerous warnings I had been given from teachers and friends here in Oyonnax. I had been to Paris once before on a school trip when I was 12 but I didn't remember much so I was looking forward to being a top tourist with Lizzie.
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| le louvre + baguette = earning some top tourist points |
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| art in le jardin des tuileries |
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| eiffel tower |
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| lizzie loving life as a parisienne |
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| the best photo we've got from what was a very wet and windy evening at the top of l'arc de triomphe |
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| traditional french indian cuisine |
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| an amazing meal in for two |
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| me, lizzie and lara - nottingham reunion at my first night out since being in france |
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| squinting at la bastille looking happy about having my first crêpe |
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| the view from the pompidou centre |
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| looking cultured at a photography exhibition |
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| continuing the cultured look at the pompidou centre |
After a fantastic five days in Paris I had a rather long and hectic journey to Granada. After flying to Malaga, I had planned to take a late night bus into Granada, which I knew was always going to be a risk seeing as I didn't have much time to find the last bus of the day and I don't speak any Spanish. Our flight was late and I missed the bus, but I plucked up the courage to ask another passenger for help and ended up getting a free car ride all the way into Granada with the kindest couple ever and the lead violinist for the Granada orchestra. It was completely surreal and I had an hour and a half of talking in French about classical music and listening to lots of Spanish as well as getting regular updates from a live marriage proposal over the phone! Anyway... I made it, and I spent the next five days falling in love with Granada.
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| me and ro outside granada cathedral |
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| cerveza, sangria and tapas |
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| blinded by the spanish sun |
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| some amazing tapas |
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| guacamole tostada - best hangover food |
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| late night view over Granada |
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| me, nav and the alhambra |
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| mango mojito - the most amazing cocktail |
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| churros con chocolate |
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| halloween |
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| me and ro on halloween |
My journey back from Granada was also a bit of a nightmare, but the worst bit of it all was that I went to the ladies' toilets in the airport and didn't realise until I walked out and got some pretty dirty looks. But I got on the plane on time and I spent another lovely night and morning in Paris before getting the train all the way back to Oyonnax. I want to say another massive thank you to Lizzie, Ro and Nav; getting a little taste of other people's years abroad is amazing and it doesn't make me want to change what I'm doing now, but it definitely makes me wish I had an infinite number of years abroad with a different experience each time!
Since being back in Oyonnax I've been working hard planning and teaching lessons, and I'm still really loving the work. I've also started at my second school and I'm getting to know all of the pupils better and discovering what does and doesn't work in class.
The most exciting thing that's happened since I've been back was on the 11th November when François Hollande, the president of France, came to visit Oyonnax. To cut a lot of history short, Oyonnax is famous for its part in the French resistance during WWII. On the 11th November 1943, when all commemoration services were banned in occupied France, a secretly planned march took place through the streets of Oyonnax and this act became one of the strongest symbols of the French resistance. This year was the 70th anniversary, and so to mark this historic event there was an amazing re-enactment of the march with around 700 actors, and the president made a speech and laid a wreath. I thought the whole event was brilliant and very moving and I was lucky to be standing right next to the choir as they sang a rousing rendition of the French national anthem. However, the atmosphere wasn't quite what you would expect as it seemed that most of the people were more concerned with complaining about Hollande and expressing their anger at him being here in Oyonnax. I have never seen such a strong and united dislike against one man and it seemed a shame that his incredible unpopularity overshadowed the event itself.
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| the sun was shining as everyone sat and waited |
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| the re-enactment of the march was shown live on big screens |
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| here he is, le grand fromage himself - i wasn't actually that far away from him but he was so surrounded that it was better to watch it on the screen |
A month today I'm flying home for Christmas and I can't wait, but although I really miss home, I'm still looking forward to the month ahead! As I said, I'm making my next video blog at the moment and I'll have it edited and uploaded as soon as possible so that you can see what a week as a language assistant in Oyonnax is really like!
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| also today I had my first full day of Snow in Oyonnax - I'm going to need to get used to it because apparently it will be like this until March... |
à bientôt!
