On Wednesday I went for lunch with my friend Nicola and one of her friends from home. I thought it was just going to be lunch somewhere in Lille, but she phoned me up and suggested we go to the end of the metro line and walk into Belgium from there, and we’d take a picnic and eat it somewhere when we got there. This was a novel idea, so I agreed and off we went. Thankfully Nicola knew the way as she’d done it before, but it was really cold and although there were a few shops here and there, we didn’t find anywhere to sit down. It seemed better to eat our lunch while walking anyway, because if we’d sat down for any length of time we’d have been even colder. We got excited at the idea of a hot drink in McDonalds when we saw a sign, but there were signs pointing in two different directions and we didn’t find it! We did enjoy a browse around a chocolate shop and an amazing cake shop, and decided to head back to Lille for a drink. It was lovely to spend time with the pair of them and Nicola had made a tasty packed lunch which made up for the walking-while-eating!
On Thursday, it was a bank holiday in France. I worked in the morning (in my flat) and then I went off to join a ‘rally’ with my French church in the afternoon. We drove out to a picturesque village in the countryside and someone had diligently prepared a set of quiz questions and we went round in teams to fill it in. There was even a coffee stop, with someone from the church manning a picnic table with drinks and biscuits!
Half way through the route we came to a hall, where we played ‘la bourle’, a traditional game of the North region of France. It’s a game where you roll 1.5kg cheese-shaped r
ounds and there are different point zones, depending on how far you roll it. If you roll it too far though, it ends up in the zero point zone at the end of the alley! The alley is curved too, which adds an extra dimension to the game. I hope the picture helps. Each team threw 12, and there was first a trial, then the real go. The maximum number of points was 4 for each item, so maximum total 48. Our team did better in the trial – typical! We ended up with 23. I loved having a go, it was very enjoyable. I was told by a friend to ‘throw for England, throw for the Queen’! I am sure there are more complicated versions of the game than the one we played. I wonder whether a Frenchman came up with it while rolling cheese once upon a time!
Thursday evening saw the British cultural evening at C3, for which we did a presentation, put together a good spread of British food, and I prepared two games with British coins, toss-a-penny and shove-a-2-pence! There was a really good turnout and we saw a number of new people, I think that was down to the theme.
On Friday I went to work as usual, even though a good number of Frenchies were ‘doing the bridge’…i.e. because they had a bank holiday fall on a Thursday, they decide to say ‘au revoir’ to Friday to make a four day weekend (typical French attitude). And it’s certain whole schools or workplaces which do this. Needless to say, the station and streets were looking a bit bear on Friday morning! Friday at Pérenchies (my preferred school out of the two) went very smoothly, which I was grateful for. Then in the evening I met up with my friend Marie who’s in Lille just from time to time, with her boyfriend Ludovic. We went to a mussel restaurant, so there wasn’t much choice for me not being keen on seafood, but it was a nice evening out.
On Saturday, I did various bits and bobs and then headed round the corner to the celebration for ten years of evening services at Christchurch. It was so lovely to hear how it started up and think about those who had gone before us, laying down the foundations for the evening service which is now very popular, and from which I have benefitted a lot in my time here. The evening was loads of fun, starting with a service and then onto food, chatting, a short quiz, and dancing.
On Sunday amongst other things, I sorted out my accommodation for next year in Southampton :) I’ll be living in a nice house with 3 other Christian girls, Rosie, Jo and Sarah. It’s a relief to have this sorted and I’m really at peace about it, I think I’ll be happy there.
Sorry for so much news at once, good job I didn’t fill you in on the smaller details of all the admin and other stuff I’ve been up to!
Fiona x
On Thursday, it was a bank holiday in France. I worked in the morning (in my flat) and then I went off to join a ‘rally’ with my French church in the afternoon. We drove out to a picturesque village in the countryside and someone had diligently prepared a set of quiz questions and we went round in teams to fill it in. There was even a coffee stop, with someone from the church manning a picnic table with drinks and biscuits!
Half way through the route we came to a hall, where we played ‘la bourle’, a traditional game of the North region of France. It’s a game where you roll 1.5kg cheese-shaped r
ounds and there are different point zones, depending on how far you roll it. If you roll it too far though, it ends up in the zero point zone at the end of the alley! The alley is curved too, which adds an extra dimension to the game. I hope the picture helps. Each team threw 12, and there was first a trial, then the real go. The maximum number of points was 4 for each item, so maximum total 48. Our team did better in the trial – typical! We ended up with 23. I loved having a go, it was very enjoyable. I was told by a friend to ‘throw for England, throw for the Queen’! I am sure there are more complicated versions of the game than the one we played. I wonder whether a Frenchman came up with it while rolling cheese once upon a time!Thursday evening saw the British cultural evening at C3, for which we did a presentation, put together a good spread of British food, and I prepared two games with British coins, toss-a-penny and shove-a-2-pence! There was a really good turnout and we saw a number of new people, I think that was down to the theme.
On Friday I went to work as usual, even though a good number of Frenchies were ‘doing the bridge’…i.e. because they had a bank holiday fall on a Thursday, they decide to say ‘au revoir’ to Friday to make a four day weekend (typical French attitude). And it’s certain whole schools or workplaces which do this. Needless to say, the station and streets were looking a bit bear on Friday morning! Friday at Pérenchies (my preferred school out of the two) went very smoothly, which I was grateful for. Then in the evening I met up with my friend Marie who’s in Lille just from time to time, with her boyfriend Ludovic. We went to a mussel restaurant, so there wasn’t much choice for me not being keen on seafood, but it was a nice evening out.
On Saturday, I did various bits and bobs and then headed round the corner to the celebration for ten years of evening services at Christchurch. It was so lovely to hear how it started up and think about those who had gone before us, laying down the foundations for the evening service which is now very popular, and from which I have benefitted a lot in my time here. The evening was loads of fun, starting with a service and then onto food, chatting, a short quiz, and dancing.
On Sunday amongst other things, I sorted out my accommodation for next year in Southampton :) I’ll be living in a nice house with 3 other Christian girls, Rosie, Jo and Sarah. It’s a relief to have this sorted and I’m really at peace about it, I think I’ll be happy there.
Sorry for so much news at once, good job I didn’t fill you in on the smaller details of all the admin and other stuff I’ve been up to!
Fiona x
Such great news about your accomodation :) x
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