Busy bee

Hi again,

I’ve been very busy recently, not really sure where the last two weeks have gone! Most of one week went on the organisation of the Chinese new year party. So let’s start with that.

The Chinese dumpling making was an experience; the day we did it we spent all afternoon making 200 of them in a team of about 6/7. There were several stages involved: - Chopping vegetables into tiny pieces - Making the dumpling dough - Combining meat or eggs with the veg to make the fillings - Measuring out the dough and rolling it out in small circles making sure the middle was thicker than the edges - Filling and sealing the dumplings - Open-freezing them. I wanted to take pictures of all the different phases but got so involved that I forgot.

For the rest of the week until the following Sunday Manqi, Loïc and I spent a lot of time organising and discussing the evening, folding napkins, shopping, and pre-preparing some food (Manqi and her friends). I also spent a fair amount of time organising the Sunday school club for the Sunday morning, which was about praising God with instruments. So the Sunday came, I hit the ground running and I didn’t stop for most of the day but the party was a huge success J There was a really good atmosphere and it seemed as though everyone enjoyed themselves. We had an aperitif followed by a game using chopsticks, then the Chinese fondue accompanied by other dishes for the main meal and then cakes for pudding. The cakes were for Michèle’s birthday and we had asked different people to bring along a cake that could be cut up into squares and triangles, in order that we could form a large number 60 out of them (my idea!). We then stuck 59 candles in and rolled the cake table towards Michèle on a trolley! It should’ve been 60 candles of course but one broke when my friend was putting it into its holder! It’s ok…nobody noticed!

I’ve been to volunteer at English club twice now when they have their conversation classes on a Monday and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. They’re really grateful for me being there and some of them were delighted that they could understand me! (I was speaking slowly and clearly of course!) I think they’re a really interesting bunch of people and they have so many stories to tell and different reasons for learning English. The oldest member of the club is dear old François who is 91 years old and has been going to the club for 20 years! He goes because he wants to keep loneliness at bay and keep his brain going, and he’s a real character.

Yesterday I went on a day trip to Nantes, which was organised by some tourism students at the university. This particular group are on a course run by the history of art department, and they have language classes given by my department because they are obligated to speak two other languages. We nearly didn’t even make it to Nantes, as when we were ready to set off at 8:15am in the morning, our coach didn’t arrive. This was followed by a phone call to the company who told the students that the coach hadn’t been confirmed properly and they didn’t know whether they were going to be able to send one! Thankfully at 9:30 (an hour and a half later!) we were able to get on a coach.

The students took us for a tour around the ‘Isle of Nantes’ which is a shipyard and a Museum, then we had lunch in a restaurant, travelled to Clisson Castle and had a tour there and then went on to a vineyard where again they gave us a talk which was followed by a wine-tasting. At each point of interest we all split into 3 groups; one tour was done in French, one in Spanish

and one in English (not because there were people who couldn’t understand French, but because this was what was required of the students for their practise). I thought they did really well as they had to research and remember a lot of stuff and acted like proper tour guides (some more than others)! On the way home they gave us a quiz with prizes of a bottle of wine and petit beurre biscuits which are made in the Nantes area. My team did well and was in the tie-breaker, only to lose out narrowly. We still got biscuits though which suited me more than the wine (bit easier to share out too)!

Fiona x

Saying goodbye and fresh opportunities

Bonjour tout le monde!

Sadly last Saturday we said goodbye to an American friend, Christy, who was in Rennes for 1 semester. She often stayed round here in Manqi’s part of the house and we went to church together etc, so we got to know her quite well over the 4 months. On Christy’s penultimate day, Manqi and I went shopping with her and in the evening we made home-made pizzas and cookies in a larger group. On her departure, breakfast was American pancakes followed by a send-off at the station. There were 6 of us there of 6 different nationalities! Christy is next to me and then in the middle there’s Jana from Slovenia, followed by Ruth from Holland and Manqi (Chinese), with Loïc (French) behind the camera. Unfortunately we’re also getting ready to say goodbye to Ruth too who leaves us next week, who, similarly to Christy, has spent a lot of time at our house. I’m going to miss them both a lot, but Manqi will even more so, as the three of them were particularly good friends.

I had the pleasure of discovering something this week which doesn’t exist in England (to my knowledge), it’s called a ‘ludothèque’. I’m sure you all know the word for library is ‘bibliothèque’, well this is the same kind of thing, except for games. So I’d call it a ‘games library’ in English. You step inside and there are shelves lining the walls packed full of games, and there are also some table games, and children’s toys laid out on a carpeted area. It was Michèle’s son Loïc who took me along to show me and he knows the people who run it a bit, they were really friendly. They can teach you how to play games and join in with you or they’re happy to leave you be to play games amongst yourselves. Much like a library, you can also set up an account and rent games for 1€/week. We learnt 5 or so new games in an afternoon which was nice, I really enjoy playing board games.Post-Christmas my life in Rennes has changed a lot. I’ve now switched to the second semester timetable, which (if you remember me explaining before) is a lot lighter. I now teach for 6 hours a week on just one day, 2 of which are overtime hours! So although there is prep for my lessons and some marking to do, my job has turned very much part-time. This will allow me to enjoy some time which I didn’t have last semester to explore the area, get involved in new things and spend more time maintaining or making friendships.

We are preparing for a party next week at church, which will be a celebration of both Chinese New Year (for Manqi and her Chinese friends) and Michèle’s 60^th birthday (Michèle = the lady who's house I’m lodging in). For Chinese New Year the tradition is to eat a fondue, but it’s a bit different to the cheese or chocolate fondue that comes to mind when we mention that word. You chop up a heap of vegetables and meat in small pieces and the fondue is basically water bubbling away which you cook the meat and veg in (and sometimes noodles or pasta too). But the water is flavoured either with some meat on the bone or a spice mix, so you can have anything from a mild fondue to a very spicy fondue. You kind of chuck the food in and leave it to cook for a bit then take it out again. With chopsticks of course! So we’ve tried the mild and spicy (though not as spicy as the Chinese would normally have it) versions in our house. I was present for the latter and it was nice to share in the experience. It’s going to prove difficult to roll it out for 50 people next week though. Tomorrow I’m going to help to make Chinese dumplings that we can freeze ahead of the party.

Earlier this week I contacted one of the local organisations which provide activities for over 50s in Rennes, because I’d spotted that they have an English club so I thought I might like to volunteer and help them out with that. I got a positive response so I’m going in on Monday to help and see what it’s like. I’ve also taken on helping out with the kids work at church as they needed people to help out with the 3-6 year olds. I’ve not done much with 3-4 year olds before but I’m hoping I can adapt quite easily from previous experience!

Fiona x

The Christmas holidays

The two week Christmas break was just what I needed, with rest and activity in good measures. On the first Sunday I accompanied Katie to church in London to see what it was like and I realised how hard it is to commute to church in central London and become a part of a church there.

In the afternoon I helped Katie make a gingerbread house which was a lot of fun, although a precise kind of baking for which we had to measure out the sides of the house, roof and chimney, and get the thickness of the icing right so we’d have a house that stood. It did thankfully, and then we had fun tiling the roof with white chocolate buttons and putting sweets all around it.

On the Tuesday evening of the first week I went to my friend Amy’s house for an evening with Katie and another friend, Afua. We had pizza, crêpes and a good chatter. For Thursday lunchtime I went to visit my friends Melody and Pedro in their new flat in South London. I wasn’t expecting it to take me an hour and a half to get there (no problems with transport), but it was so good to see them when I did.

Then on the Friday before Christmas our family spent an afternoon and evening in London, going to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition which was a selection of stunning photos, followed by Prezzo for dinner and Hillsong church’s carol service in Wembley Arena, which was packed out with people. For the last two we were joined by an American friend of mine from Rennes who was on her way back from a trip to Ireland via London.

On Christmas day, Katie took on the challenge of cooking the Christmas dinner for the first time and did a brilliant job of it. We’d normally go to church but Mum and Dad’s one and Katie’s one weren’t doing a service because they’re in central London and I didn’t want to go to church on my own, but afterwards I wished I had. In the afternoon we opened a good set of presents, went out for a walk, watched TV and then played a board game.

After Christmas we travelled north to go and visit family in the Manchester area for a couple of days – great Aunts, Aunties, Uncles and cousins. It was lovely to see everyone as we don’t get to see them very often. We even had the luxury of staying in a hotel, the highlight of which was using the swimming pool which had a separate Jacuzzi pool with one part which was exposed to the outdoors (only partly because it’s winter), so there was a cool breeze coming in and reacting with the hot bubbly water making it all steamy and you looked out to grass and trees. It was kind of misty and dream-like and I really liked it, but am probably not doing it justice in the description!

Dad took me out to practise my driving a number of times so I can get better (I have passed my test but need to improve my skills), which although frustrating at points has helped me a great deal, and I even managed to drive halfway to Manchester and halfway back which I was pleased with and it was a weird experience for Mum, having to be a backseat passenger (thankfully not a backseat driver!).

Nearly as soon as we got back I went away again, this time south, to a small place on the South coast called Winchelsea. I met up with a group of uni friends there, there were 13 of us in total. We went for a coffee, played games, walked along a beach and sand dunes, visited Hastings and Canterbury and ate good food. To see in the New Year, we had an 8-course meal (but weren’t stuffed at the end, thankfully the first 5 courses weren’t too heavy), did Secret Santa and watched a couple of the boys do a fireworks display in the cold and wet! It was a lot of fun and good to catch up with them.

Fiona x