History, cakes and being a damn strong woman!

What a week it's been! This week has been and gone so quickly, it's scary! Next week it's the first of February and I don't know where the time has gone for the year abroad! After an incredible weekend at Caroline's, full of amazing food, apéritifs, RACLETTE and of course a lot of love, I was then ready for the week ahead - with a new time-table at one of my school's and The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the primary school. The primary school is always un grand plaisir of mine, the children are always so motivated for our hour together and this week was especially fun - flashcards galore and the video of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I possibly may have enjoyed this more than the kids! We go from one extreme to another this week with teaching my 3èmes (14/15 year olds) swear words...ooops!

The sun rising in France - Quelle photo!

I also have been educated this week! I've visited a war memorial site! Not far from Arras is Notre-Dame-de-Lorette a fairly recent memorial site (2014 it was opened by Hollande himself).

With nearly 580,000 names written (including many nationalities) lost in WW1. It was a freezing cold day and the ambiance was a strange one. Even so, I managed to find many Rushton's in the mix of things! And also discovered the French national remembrance flower - the bleuet. I thought it was important to show the difference between this and our famous poppy!

As you can see, the plaques go all the way round and form a circle. It was icy cold and very slippy, but an interesting experience! I then saw the chapel and other war memorial placed next to it. It was HUGE. I was really grateful that the mother and daughter of the family I give French lessons to, decided to take me. 

 

This week was also a lot of fun for hair braids and the well known French plait! I felt very cliché being in France and all, but the girl I tutor has a serious talent with hair (plus I had a lot of compliments at work YAY)!




It was another great pleasure this week being part of yet another French family. I was treated to a French film "Albator" a sort of Manga/Anime styled film with lots of action, romance, fighting - you name it, it was in there. I was also given a night of CREPES! How exciting, and also got to try the famous French sugar of the North...I now have two bags of the stuff to let my family try it! Apparently people travel from around France to the North just to buy it! LA CHANCE!

Today was also another perfect "cake date" with Vanessa!

If this doesn't make you hungry I don't know what will! The eclair is also full of strawberry sweet sauce yay!

I really cannot believe I enter February next week...crazy to think that by May my job here is over...but maybe not the travelling! I had a really nice sunrise yet again on the train to work today, and realised how lucky I was (as I often do say) to be here, to be learning such a fantastic language and to be part of so many wonderful families (Lille friends included!). 

SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? This weekend we have the important birthday meal in Lille - half my friends here are born in January so it'll be a little way to celebrate and eat nice food...what else sounds better! I've also began reading a lot more - OK a lot more than I usually do - and re-reading two of my favourite Proust stories (for more vocab, comprehension and other geekness). 

My thought for the week (now I sound like WA broadcast..) is that distance isn't always a bad thing.

• Distance has allowed me to grow up, more than I possibly ever could have at home. I navigate myself round a foreign country, language, culture every day without batting an eyelid. IT ALL SEEMS SO EASY NOW!
• I've also learnt to not be too caught up on being away from home. YES the start is always hard after being home for a little while, but I seem to adapt faster here than I ever did at Nottingham...Thanks to the love of French families I think! It also makes me realise, what I have at home is the greatest family I could ever wish for, who continually support me even at such a distance. 
• Also can appreciate someone who puts in all the effort and waits for me to come home, despite being surrounded by couples who can see each other when ever they like! It makes me appreciate that maybe (he could disagree here) I could possibly be worth the wait, the distance and the time we have together. I know he definitely is. 
• Distance has also made me realise I'm far stronger than I think I am. I can take on many challenges that make me the woman I am today.  I truly believe I can now start thinking of career options involving my language, with such a strength of this year behind me!

JR

xxxx

Galette des rois and a french week!

What a week it's been! Currently I look like this:

BUT I'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING SOON.

After Amsterdam it's pretty much been go go go - which I LOVE. I've began exercising too, so I'm pleased the New Year's Resolution is more than a note in a book!

Monday was a long day - I did my full 6 hours at Vitry and tutored afterwards. This day was New Year's Resolutions and I felt I did myself proud doing the same lesson over and over! I had some really nice classes playing How Well Do You Know Your Friend?! A sort of game show, where they have to send their best friend out, answer questions about them, and see if they can guess the right answer! A really nice way to finish a long Monday! My tutoring is also going really well, planning things in advance seems to be key, moving from there with different activities found online or made up on paper! (I'm planning on doing a blog post at the end of my time with EVERYTHING I used!)

Tuesday- A day off - or the start of the exercise. The Nike application allows me to use a bit of the gym equipment I have in the house as well as having nothing! It's started off a bit of a killer but lets hope it progresses! Tuesday night after a good Sherlock session catch up, was a repas chez Vanessa! And my god it was damn good. Thank you again Vanessa for the incredible company, I can't wait to do the same this week!

Wednesday- After working on The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Mine and Max's favourite, I went to Douai with Vanessa for a cake date, to buy Paris tickets (27 euro aller et retour cha ching!) and to help Vanessa at the bank!

Cake dates are my favourite! Thanks again for coming with me Vanessa, I had my first Merveilleux that day too yay! This, for people not so Frenched up, is a meringue covered in chocolate and with cream inside! 

Thursday was a day off, which lead to more work than a normal day, and of course exercise!!!!

Friday I stopped Chez Lauren and Becca's sadly sans a Becca! But I had such a fantastic night, thank you again for having me Lauren. It was an absolute pleasure after feeling a little run down to have bangers and mash, to watch Hitch and then to eat our weight in sweets and snacks. I loved every minute of it! Thank you again!

Saturday was really exciting too! Meeting Vanessa in town, all three of us went round the sales (I'm not sure if we thought that one through!) but it meant a nice trip to Sephora and Furet Du Nord so I was happy. We also managed to eat in the petit crêperie in the grande place that me and Zoe had previously been to!

We had savoury crepes to start with, then we ate sugary ones with LOTS of yummy toppings. It was definitely the highlight of the day, with a special (and bloody expensive) cider. It doesn't get much better than this! I also brought the entire works of Proust - so now I have no excuse what to do for my dissertation someday! I'm excited to start my pencil scribbles already!!!

TODAY, SUNDAY- The famous Galette des rois party. I was invited by Amélie, a colleague at work, the sports teacher to be precise, to a house party. I felt a bit nervous, my track record at strangers houses wasn't the best and I didn't really know what to think about having a huge cake for a meal...or what would be involved! 

The Galette des rois, is the cake of Kings, traditionally eaten in January to wish the New Year in. What better than a New Year's party with a lot of champagne (8/9 bottles ?!!), wine and more food than you could possibly eat?! I was welcomed by a lot of lovely French people, who not only told me my French was impeccable, but also discussed so many different things with me I felt just at home! What an ego boost too! 

I ate the famous Northern Oysters, and even snails! I felt very well treated, with lots more apéritifs and lovely food, who even had room for the galette?!?!

So why on earth do I look like this?

The galette has a small little figure stuffed into it and the cake is then made and cut up into pieces. The youngest person in the room then gets to decide who gets which piece of cake. The game is if you get the 'feve' figure, you get to be King/Queen, winning a crown. You also get to pick your King/Queen to go with you too. So it's a really cute game for kids...and Jessica of course. 

Ours were little cats, but the boulangeries all have their different "feves" inside. The one down the road does Mr Men for example! So I got to be queen for the evening.

I'm so so glad I went, I had the most fantastic time with yet another huge French family, who are now dying to see me again! I'm going to run out of weekends to do things in soon!!!! 

SO WHAT'S NEXT?

I'm finally going to Caroline's to spend a family weekend at hers this week! Then I have a huge birthday meal for the girls in Lille (a huge happy birthday again Nia, Lucie, Julia and Beth!) and then Vanessa and I are going Paris woohoooooo! Roll on the next few weeks!

xxxx

JR

Amsterdam!

So this weekend was the long awaited trip to Amsterdam with Nia, Zoe and Claudia! What a trip it was! Firstly a huge thank you to you three, it was such an amazing trip and it was incredible company to have. Thank you!!!!

With the bus leaving from 4 Cantons in Lille at 6:30 am, no one was awake or half ready for the journey ahead! With an estimated arrival time of 10:45 am, we relaxed into what was a half new-ish looking coach for the few hours ahead of us. With the weather becoming colder, snow had began and the roads icier than ever outside of France, leading us to drive slower and arrive later in Amsterdam (11:45am!) As anyone could imagine, cold tired and hungry girls were so ready for a Maccies it was untrue!

The scenes were stunning as we arrived, the canals weren't frozen over thank goodness and we ate quickly before starting our next adventure: a sex museum.

For 4 euros, we decided "why not" and ventured inside, when in Rome and all that. With three floors of, as Claudia said, "material", the museum was a lot bigger than we thought! Personally, it was funny in certain ways, and highly weird, uncomfortable and potentially scarring in others. But it was an experience to say the least, one none of us are going to forget for a long time; can't go to Amsterdam without trying a little culture!

   Yet I think maybe that's enough of that for a while....

Nia really wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum, something that I was also keen on seeing! After booking tickets online, we walked through Amsterdam to find the museum. January is really freaking cold, with ice, sleet and a bit of rain so it's no surprise there wasn't many of Amsterdam's famous tulips/flowers around!

 The walks around Amsterdam were lovely, a little nippy, but picturesque and the perfect place for an SLR! When arriving at the museum, we didn't have to queue and went straight in due to our tickets. I would recommend it to any art lovers, or anyone who really enjoys museums, as I learnt a lot that day. My favourite section was either the recent (only until 29 of Jan) exhibition about Monet, Daubigny and Vincent Van Gogh, their connections and influences, or the section on Van Gogh's letters (all in French so I did geek out!). It was a lovely museum, well laid out and definitely a good 2 hours of my life well spent. Thank you so much girls for taking me there!

 

My guides for the day, you heros!

  

I have to be truthful, it was a very tiring day. With the bus now picking us up at 9pm instead of 7pm to give us more time, we really started to feel the pain of our 5am starts. Fortunately we had enough time to see the outside of the Anne Frank House (so sad how long the queuing is for this place!) and then more of the beautiful night scenes of Amsterdam before eating a loooooovely Italian meal.

                                    
                                    
Arriving in Lille was a late one 00:30! But thanks to the hospitality of Nia, everyone managed to get some sleep. Thank you to your wonderful ideas as ever. Where would we be without you (not in Amsterdam anyway!)

I really did enjoy Amsterdam, but I can see it's appeal for blokes. It's a true cannabis smelling city, with many bars and many sex museums! I really appreciated the museums but it was very cold to enjoy a sit down by the canal. I think summer would be key for a visit here!! I'm also very biased, as France is always going to be my favourite...sorry!

So it's back to work tomorrow 8am starts and 5:30 finishes for the first Monday back. It's going to be a long day but it'll be fine! As for me, I'm feeling a whole lot better since my last post. I'm settled again and ready to travel, read and make more exciting plans. This week I'm seeing Vanessa and Lauren for certain, so I'm excited! I've also decided to re-start my 10km at least twice a week thing, hoping to feel some benefit again, whilst of course trying to power through reading. I've spoken a lot today to my family and this always helps the transition!

So I'll leave you on the thought that Zoe and I had today: learning to be by yourself is really hard, but we can do this. It takes time, adjustment and it isn't as easy as people think it is. I'm not fully alone, thank goodness, with living with a family, having French and English friends, and family only a phone call away, it's never that bad, but some days, it feels it, I understand that. But it's the small things on the year abroad, from learning to spend all day running errands by yourself to doing nothing but watching French TV - every little step matters. Be bold, be confident and take French life with all your force. This time next year we'll be in January exams - and who the hell wants that?!?!



JR
xxxx

Xmas and Assistantship truths

Happy New Year or bonne année 2017!

Christmas is over, we're all stuffed from too many meals and too many drinks and its the dreaded time to go back to work...or for us assistants...school! Two weeks was never going to be enough, especially after being used to a month off thanks to university. After four months though, I literally had the time of my life at home. Here are some of my highlights as there were too many photos to just throw on! I changed my hair, I went to Christmas parties, we went to Xmas Eve at the pub, Xmas day and Boxing day with the whole family, freshly baked mince pies, Xmas walks, family love and New Year's eve.

 



 

 


January 2nd came round a bit too quickly for myself and my family. I'd barely been home five seconds and it was time to pack the suitcase and return to Lille. It's really important that assistants current and potential understand that this transition wasn't easy - and I think I can vouch for a lot of us here in France - it's sad to come back after such a family orientated time at home...especially how short it is. I did not deal with coming back easily - something which shocked my friends here, as I was the one who loved France more than breathing and got on so well after 4 months. Homesick Jess is well known due to Nottingham, however, so my family were almost ready for this reaction. An evening of tears, saying goodbye and a whole morning of crying in Birmingham had branded me as far away from a "brave girl" as humanly possible. But this is can happen to the best of us, home is where my heart is and that's far from changing.

Arriving in Lille was lovely as I had a fantastic journey with Ellie (thank you again so much for boosting my mood and putting up with me chatting away) and seeing Lucie in the station was fab! Isa and Marie picked me up from the station which was one less worry and then I was taken home by Julien (who's learning to drive! where does the time go!?). The night was a lot of phone calls, unpacking and settling back into my lovely room. I'm so grateful to be in such a family home. Tuesday was my day off, a day where everyone bar me goes to work. I was actually worried sick about being on my own all day and most of the evening, but I feel I did myself proud.

I woke up not wanting to move, let alone go and get a train pass. I missed home, I didn't want to be in France and I was fed up. It took me until 11:30 to even leave the house! I decided to go to the library first, to get a Proust Tomb and have a little walk. The library always made me feel better if I felt stressed before and this day was no exception. After that, I decided it was time to find a sandwich and charge my "pass-pass". My favourite sandwich place - not far from la gare - was shut. DISASTER. Surrounded by clothes shops and the occasional French pub, what was I going to do now?! * Note * When missing home, everything does really feel like the end of the world. But it's not. I promise. I then took up the courage to eat in a little café a few doors down, as a kind gentlemen recommended its food (after I asked of course!) Throwing away all ideas of a sandwich, I had an omelette with bacon and chips. The staff couldn't have done more for the little English girl eating alone, giving me their wifi password, lovely chats and a little bread basket to myself. 

Eating and reading a little I turned to see the lady next to me - also reading! To my surprise she was sat reading Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea in ENGLISH. Me being me, I began to chat to her as we both ate, asking her why she read in English and had the pleasant conversation about my love for Proust. 

Leaving the café I was suddenly really proud of myself, I felt braver than ever and it really made me confident again. Sometimes you have to do what makes you happy, sometimes that can be outside your comfort zone! The day then ended with lots more French speaking and family phone calls. 

Today I decided to buy the ear-rings I've wanted since forever, read my favourite author and see my lovely friend Vanessa. Eating a subway and catching up about our holidays was fab and we've got plans together next week now which I cannot wait for. This weekend is Amsterdam and I'm really excited to see Nia, Zoe and Claudia again!

So some important truths: Homesickness happens. It hurts. It will come back in waves. I'm sure this won't be the last time at all.

What we as assistants have to do, is whatever makes you happy. Go to the cinema and forget about life, read a book, eat French cakes, go buy the ear-rings you wanted. Cheer yourself up, because how many other people can say they're living in France for a whole year?!?! I know this isn't as easy as ABC, but what has really helped me recently is making plans, having phone calls and staying positive. If you can't stay positive, phone someone or be with someone who can be. Just get out there and make something of it. I know first hand this is the hardest yet most rewarding thing I've ever done, let's not waste it.

To all the other assistants who are finding this the hardest part so far: it will get better, I promise.



Sending my love to Matt, my family, Bel and my friends, who have made these past few days easier and easier for me. Where would I be without you?

JR - a sort of brave girl.
xxx