Hi all,
There’s still plenty of stuff going on from day to day here, but I’ve been feeling a bit lonely because of the intensity of time I spent with people when I was on holiday.
I’ve been concerned about planning ahead a bit as my contract finishes in little more than two months!! So the latest news on that is that I’m applying to extend my contract at the schools until the end of May/mid-June. I have to pluck up courage to speak to the two Heads this week about that, I need a ‘Yes’ from each of them, plus then a ‘Yes’ from the local education authority. It’s not necessarily easy to get that, but I’d really like to stay on.
I have just received some good news regarding the summer. I will be going back to Le Pas Opton to work there for the main summer holiday period which I’m really happy about. If you don’t know, it’s a holiday campsite in the Vendée region of France (think roughly half way down the West coast of France and it’s not far from there) which is run by a UK organisation called Spring Harvest Holidays (linked to Spring Harvest, but not that similar!). It’s mainly British Christians who go there on holiday and it’s a fantastic place. If you want to know more, don’t hesitate to ask me, I love talking about it!
Over the past week I’ve had lots of sleep and done varying enjoyable and not-so-enjoyable activities, not getting as much work done as I wanted but making some progress. The weekend just gone was great. On Friday night I had Laurence and Hughes round for dinner. Then on Saturday I hung out with a friend from CU and church, Nathan, we ate lunch then went for a walk around the citadel and zoo. Later on I went to a crêpe party and sleepover at my friend Lucile’s flat. What was supposed to be four girls in the initial planning turned out to be two of us, but we still had a great time together :) On Sunday I went to church twice and had youth group planning.
On Monday afternoon I went back to school and unfortunately one of the teachers who I was supposed to be with had forgotten me and had planned to go off with her class to take part in some interaction project and I asked her if I could help but apparently there wouldn’t have been any point in that. It’s not the first time I’ve been forgotten as it’s hard for the teachers to keep up with my three week timetable. It’s now getting on my nerves because of the amount it’s happened. I know it’s nothing personal, but hey… So I was at school for three hours and taught one, which didn’t even go that well. Here’s to Thursday and Friday going better!
Fiona x
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Half term
So it’s definitely blogging time again after being absent for nearly two weeks. I have been off a-travelling through England and have a fair amount to share with you, so here goes…
Eurostar mishap of a non-snowy nature!
I was sitting on the Eurostar train from Lille to London and heard an announcement come across the tannoy. Normally you think it’ll always be for someone else, but lo and behold, the announcement clearly stated my name. The train guard requested that I go to carriage number 1 to speak to the train management. I went through fifteen carriages and over fifty doors wondering why they would want to speak to me and hoping it was a good reason as it was taking such an effort to get there! As it turns out, the man had my passport and I’ve no idea how it got there but was extremely glad to have it back safely! I must have got through passport control and then dropped it at some point but not noticed because I was chatting away to a French girl who I’d met in the queue.
Southampton
Being back in Southampton was very strange. There was a hive of activity all around me which I knew so well, yet I wasn’t part of it. That said, I spent a very pleasant three days there. On Saturday I went to Anne’s baptism which was lovely. The same day I had a nice surprise when I learnt that two friends from home, Afua and Ian, were making the journey to Southampton for the day to see Katie and me, so we had a good catch up. Later on in the evening I met up with another friend, Jo. On Sunday I went to Katie’s church, over to Anne and Liz’s for lunch and then back to Katie’s for some sister time. Monday came along and I met up with lots of lovely people during the day before paying a visit to International café in its ‘new’ location (not that new anymore but new for me!) which was great fun. Tuesday morning was an early one, with a special breakfast for my friend Ellie’s birthday and then onto the library (Hartley was missing me… it would’ve got upset if I’d missed it out) and lunch with Jo before hopping on the train to destination two.
Home
I spent three days at home and enjoyed chatting, good food and sleeping. Mum took a day off work on Thursday and we went swimming and had lunch and a wander in Brentwood. The British shops excite me a lot at the moment, mainly because I know what I can find where and normally at a much better price than French shops. My time at home was great.
Coventry
So on Friday I arrived in Coventry to Sally and Hazel’s house. They are two girls I met while working at the Spring Harvest Holidays campsite in summers 07/08. Jen and Sioned (not a typo, it’s a nice Welsh name), two other friends from the campsite joined us too. We ate pizza and chatted until the early morning. On Saturday we had a leisurely morning and then headed to Solihull where a pub lunch awaited us followed by the choice of watching the Wales vs. Scotland rugby match or shopping, and then in the evening we had a delicious roast dinner. Sunday came round and we went to Hazel’s church followed by another lovely meal and a sad goodbye before the journey back to Lille via London. Got back without any stress except the last 5 mins or so of the journey when I was desperate for the toilet, so dragged a heavy case along the street pretty swiftly!
So I’d say I’ve had one of the best weeks of my life right there. It’s the people that made it so special. :)
Love to you,
Fiona x
Eurostar mishap of a non-snowy nature!
I was sitting on the Eurostar train from Lille to London and heard an announcement come across the tannoy. Normally you think it’ll always be for someone else, but lo and behold, the announcement clearly stated my name. The train guard requested that I go to carriage number 1 to speak to the train management. I went through fifteen carriages and over fifty doors wondering why they would want to speak to me and hoping it was a good reason as it was taking such an effort to get there! As it turns out, the man had my passport and I’ve no idea how it got there but was extremely glad to have it back safely! I must have got through passport control and then dropped it at some point but not noticed because I was chatting away to a French girl who I’d met in the queue.
Southampton
Being back in Southampton was very strange. There was a hive of activity all around me which I knew so well, yet I wasn’t part of it. That said, I spent a very pleasant three days there. On Saturday I went to Anne’s baptism which was lovely. The same day I had a nice surprise when I learnt that two friends from home, Afua and Ian, were making the journey to Southampton for the day to see Katie and me, so we had a good catch up. Later on in the evening I met up with another friend, Jo. On Sunday I went to Katie’s church, over to Anne and Liz’s for lunch and then back to Katie’s for some sister time. Monday came along and I met up with lots of lovely people during the day before paying a visit to International café in its ‘new’ location (not that new anymore but new for me!) which was great fun. Tuesday morning was an early one, with a special breakfast for my friend Ellie’s birthday and then onto the library (Hartley was missing me… it would’ve got upset if I’d missed it out) and lunch with Jo before hopping on the train to destination two.
Home
I spent three days at home and enjoyed chatting, good food and sleeping. Mum took a day off work on Thursday and we went swimming and had lunch and a wander in Brentwood. The British shops excite me a lot at the moment, mainly because I know what I can find where and normally at a much better price than French shops. My time at home was great.
Coventry
So on Friday I arrived in Coventry to Sally and Hazel’s house. They are two girls I met while working at the Spring Harvest Holidays campsite in summers 07/08. Jen and Sioned (not a typo, it’s a nice Welsh name), two other friends from the campsite joined us too. We ate pizza and chatted until the early morning. On Saturday we had a leisurely morning and then headed to Solihull where a pub lunch awaited us followed by the choice of watching the Wales vs. Scotland rugby match or shopping, and then in the evening we had a delicious roast dinner. Sunday came round and we went to Hazel’s church followed by another lovely meal and a sad goodbye before the journey back to Lille via London. Got back without any stress except the last 5 mins or so of the journey when I was desperate for the toilet, so dragged a heavy case along the street pretty swiftly!
So I’d say I’ve had one of the best weeks of my life right there. It’s the people that made it so special. :)
Love to you,
Fiona x
Thursday, 4 February 2010
“N’importe quoi!”
The title here is my favourite French phrase at the moment. It’s something which the kids at school say to each other and sometimes a teacher will say it to a pupil. It means ‘You’re not thinking before you speak, you’re just saying whatever comes into your head first and it’s annoying!’
Apparent name change
I got a letter last week which told me that I’ve been allocated a new social security number because they’ve decided to change my surname from being correct, to putting a gap in it! Crazy. My name has never had a gap and never will do thank you Mr French administration! It was clear on the copies of two identification documents, and why have you decided to change it now, after a couple of months of being happy with it? It now requires hassle one way or the other, to leave it changed and change other things, or to make it go back to how it was. This really confused the secretary at my school too when I showed her. She’s never seen anything like it and went on the phone to try and sort it out, but I have to go in person to an office, which is fortunately not that far from here but I could do without the hassle. The poor old Frenchies obviously aren’t used to dealing with Scottish names!
University project
I have to do a project this year for university, to keep that academic part of the brain ticking over! It’s 5000 words in French on a subject of our choice, but one which can only realistically be carried out in France and doing interviews with French people. I’ve chosen to look at the French way of eating as it interests me a lot because it’s so different, and it doesn’t seem that there are many fat French people! So I’m looking more specifically at 13-14 year olds and their attitudes towards food and sport, linking that to obesity.
Soirée de prière
I went to a prayer evening last night which was called ‘100 minutes for 100 000 students’. It was organised by the GBU (Christian Union) and another Christian student group, the FEU. People from churches in the area were invited to join us as well. So we prayed for around an hour and forty minutes about all manner of things student-related and it was great to be able to do this. It seems pretty daunting when you think that there are nearly 100 000 students in Lille, and not many of them know the life that can be found in Jesus, but God can bring great things out of small things. Please do pray for Christian and non-Christian students in Lille if you get the chance.
Holiday time
I have two weeks holiday starting this weekend – lucky me! I’m back to England for the first week and returning to France for the second. I’m going to do a little tour – first Southampton (University), next to Mum and Dad and then to Coventry (Some friends live there) :)
Fiona x
Apparent name change
I got a letter last week which told me that I’ve been allocated a new social security number because they’ve decided to change my surname from being correct, to putting a gap in it! Crazy. My name has never had a gap and never will do thank you Mr French administration! It was clear on the copies of two identification documents, and why have you decided to change it now, after a couple of months of being happy with it? It now requires hassle one way or the other, to leave it changed and change other things, or to make it go back to how it was. This really confused the secretary at my school too when I showed her. She’s never seen anything like it and went on the phone to try and sort it out, but I have to go in person to an office, which is fortunately not that far from here but I could do without the hassle. The poor old Frenchies obviously aren’t used to dealing with Scottish names!
University project
I have to do a project this year for university, to keep that academic part of the brain ticking over! It’s 5000 words in French on a subject of our choice, but one which can only realistically be carried out in France and doing interviews with French people. I’ve chosen to look at the French way of eating as it interests me a lot because it’s so different, and it doesn’t seem that there are many fat French people! So I’m looking more specifically at 13-14 year olds and their attitudes towards food and sport, linking that to obesity.
Soirée de prière
I went to a prayer evening last night which was called ‘100 minutes for 100 000 students’. It was organised by the GBU (Christian Union) and another Christian student group, the FEU. People from churches in the area were invited to join us as well. So we prayed for around an hour and forty minutes about all manner of things student-related and it was great to be able to do this. It seems pretty daunting when you think that there are nearly 100 000 students in Lille, and not many of them know the life that can be found in Jesus, but God can bring great things out of small things. Please do pray for Christian and non-Christian students in Lille if you get the chance.
Holiday time
I have two weeks holiday starting this weekend – lucky me! I’m back to England for the first week and returning to France for the second. I’m going to do a little tour – first Southampton (University), next to Mum and Dad and then to Coventry (Some friends live there) :)
Fiona x
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