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