Another Battle with BNP!

Monday teaching went pretty well, singing head shoulders knees and toes repeatedly to each of my three classes was particularly enjoyable! I must say though after the 25th time of going through it i wasnt even bothered about how stupid i looked and sounded! 

Dinner our with Flora at a lovely italien restaurant was lovely, if extremely filling, thought i was gona burst when i left, Jess and I definitely made a mistake with our choices and realised this as soon as we saw how big the starter was!!!

Wednesday began fairly well though i did find it particularly difficult to get out of bed, not quite sure why but it really was, plans to go to the British Cultural centre were abandoned and i spent my morning catching up on tv. Met up with the girls to go for a coffee and to arrange out secret santa, went to a lovely little cafe and had a really enjoyable time, right up to the point when Jess recieved an email from our best friends the BNP claiming that they were closing our bank accounts and that it would be necessary for us to go to the bank and withdraw any funds still remaining there! Its safe to say we were gobsmacked. completley obvlivious to what we had done this time, we set off straight to BNP- with Chloe as our backup. Jess was livid and not sure she could string a proper sentence together in french so felt it was neccessary to have a person who was removed from the situation with us. After leaving us waiting for 20 mins we went to complain only to be told that Celine was in fact to busy to come speak to us and that the bank would be shutting in 10 mins anyway so there was no point waiting. It was slightly strange that originally we were told that she was in a meeting only to be later fobbed off with the excuse that she was writing 'un grand dossier.' We have a sneaking suspicion that maybe she just didnt wana speak to us.... Cant think why! We had got to the point of despair and really didnt know what to do so turned to our forever trusty Anne to help us. She agreed to come with us to the bank the following day and Jess and I were both very relieved as having a native french speaker come with us was certainly going to improve our chances of actually getting to the bottom of what we had done wrong this time! 

We arrived and were seen by Celine straight away, she was surprisingly polite to us and overly helpful, cant think why...Maybe Annes' subtle guilt tripping in which she detailed how she was very much responsible for us and our 'wellbeing' whilst in france and the great amount of pressure we are under and the difficulties we would face if, in fact we did close our accounts with BNP and moved somewhere else. The problem was swiftly resolved by us being told that we would be sent ANOTHER letter that we would have to sign for to prove where we live! Cannot even believe how ridiculous this country can be sometimes.However its just a relief now that they are not closing our accounts! 

Friday was abit of a pointless day as far as teaching was concerned as two of my three classes were cancelled due to the teacher taking them on a school trip so i was forced to travel all the wya to school at 3.30 to teach one class for 45 mins, im so glad its only 3  stops of the metro! Last night i went for a drink with Hana Chloe Flora and Jess and Rowan as he is visiting this weekend, we went to a really cute bar. It was all lovely until mine and Hana's drinks arrived in a tiny glass and consisting of pure alcohol! We knew that our drinks were cheaper than everyone elses but they were still in the cocktail section! A bottle of limonade was definitely necessary to tame the overwhelming taste of rum! 

All in all this week has been pretty good, Lille got a small flurry of snow though it is too wet here to settle so i think its safe to say we will experience all the cold of winter without the bonus of a pretty white covering. Cant say im that disappointed as i think sometimes can be more hastle than its worth!

Harry Potter Tonight- Excited doesnt even cover it! 

Our first French curry, internet installed, and French TV!!!!!

Its sunday and i really should be extensively planning my lessons but im really finding it hard, having the responsibility of teaching these kids from scratch is started to make me feel very under pressure. In addition to this i have so much work to do for uni and its really starting to get my down, especially as certain people i have met out here don't have the same workload, i feel like this year is designed to improve my language but all this work  Southampton is expecting me to do im worried it will start to negatively effect my experience here as eventually i am going to choose to stay in and do  work over experiencing french life! I do think the project we have been assigned will encourage us to keep up our work ethic so i do understand i just thought that every uni would set a similar task.

Yesterday Jess and I went into town in search of a cheap  home phone and certain cables we needed in order to connect out new orange tv box! After an interesting visit to some giant electrical store we discovered what cables we would need and after a trip to carrefour we managed to get them. Though i will have to say France does seem to be lacking in certain things i really wanted to find some nice  birthday cards and i just cant find anywhere that sells any that are appropriate for guys, its really odd.



In the evening we met up with Hana, Flora and her friend Alex from uni. It was our first experience of a french curry! Although the restaurant resembled any other curry house in England it seems that french curries are in fact, abit different Flora and Jess  both had Korma's and said they were lovely but different from English Korma's. I on the hand had a spinach veggie curry it was absolutely gorgeous, very different from anything i have ever had before but was so nice. We headed onto Le Zeppelin after this and enjoyed some cocktails. I will  say that i do really enjoy the french way of life, the way that you really can go out for some drinks in a bar with good atmosphere and music but not so its so loud that you cannot have a conversation with people. Eventhough drinks prices are taking a real getting used to! Friday night being a perfect example with drinks in Smile hitting the ten euro mark and bottles of champagne actually costing 2000 euros! I think these kind of prices are just unfathomable for us English students! The club had a similar vibe to the only other club we have experienced in Lille (seven heaven), it seems that french music consists of bad clubbing  "tunes" and trance remixes of good songs!!!!! We were so excited everytime they played a song we recognised but were horrified by the remix of "I've had the time ofmy life" from dirty dancing, was pretty awfull! Though i was pleased to see some of the french girls in more dressy clothing meaning that we didnt feel so over the top in dresses! There were even some girls in heels, couldnt believe it!!!! Though i will have to say the highlight of Friday night had to be predrinks at mine and Jess's flat! We had such a great time, dancing and singing to old school pop including Busted, Aqua and spice girls!!!! Though im not sure how much the people above us really appreciated it, i think that living in a appartement building is going to take a bit of getting used to. Though me and jess couldnt even tell you who is actually living above us seeing as we have never seen the same people head up the stairs! 


Lessons at school  on Friday at Mme de Maintenon went pretty well, the kids are really great but having the teacher comeback nearly 15minutes after she was supposed to did start to get my stressed as my lesson was planned for 45 minutes with the last task being for them to use their new knowledge of colours to colour in a Union Jack, had an awkward moment when two of them  finished really quickly and i had nothing else left for them to do,in the end i just asked them questions  about whether they enjoy learning english and if they had visited england. 

Need to get back to my planning now, have written a little speech about Bonfire Night for my class with the headteacher  and im hoping to be able to show them a dvd of kids building a bonfire and lighting fireworks. Im thinking now that with my other classes tomorrow i might do abit of "head,shoulders, knees and toes" cant wait to have to sing in front of the class! Im hoping i can just sing along to the song on my laptop maybe even just mouth the words so that they dont have to listen to my terrible singing voice! 


Oh and also Lille is currently building the xmas market and there is now a massive Ferris Wheel in the grand place!

For the first time i actually feel welcome...

So today actually turned out to be a fairly good day,  as usual my lessons at DV (perfect school) went brilliantly, we did some small  group discussions on what foods the kids liked followed by some gamesof bingo and then learning objects in the pencil case was pretty good. Though i have to say the more time i spend trying to teach english the more i feel lucky that i never had to learn it as a foreign language, it is actually quite difficult particuarly for the French who find certain sounds impossible ,to pronounce! It was difficult to watch the kids struggle with the difference between rubber and ruler, rubber started to come out as something resembling "wubber" not quite sure how but the kids really struggle with the rrrr sound. 

Classes at Mme de Maintenon i think are always gona be weird but today i had my class with the headteacher, she asked me to prepare a little presentation on Halloween,not sure why when it was over two weeks ago but anyway, i had to prepare it all  in one night, it was abit of a mission as i had to research it all as the directrice had asked me to talk about all the background and where it derives from and i had no idea. Though what i talked about seemed to be fine and for the first time i  can actually say i felt welcome at that school,she even took a picture of me teaching, cant say i was entirely thrilled about it but i didnt have much choice. So that was pretty good and it seems likemy main job in her class is to do presentations on civilization and englishness- i know thats not really a word but she seems to want me to provide a cultural background knowledge to their classes which i have to say eases the .pressure on lesson planning as it limits it to only 6 45 minute classes a week, well fingers crossed anyway. Im hoping that its really gona improve my confidence as i not only hate speaking but standing up in front of people and speaking is so much worse! So i think this practice can only be a good thing really. Today in general has actually been pretty successful on the amount of french spoken front as Jess Flora and I had lunch with Gisela who is a spanish assistant and one of my schools and one of Jess' and her english is not as good as her french so we spend most of lunch talking french which makes a nice change!

Yesterday i took my three CP adn CE1 classes by myself, was scary again but actually the kids were pretty great and actually helped me out alot when i struggled to find certain french words,i think thats the great thing about primary school kids, they dont judge you at all. Though i have to say i do have a really a little know it all  who has already studied abit of english as he attended a school in Paris for a while and he had the cheek of trying to correct me when i was teaching them "My name is" claiming that he had been taught "my names'...." clearly the french are trying to cut corners and make it easier for the kids to grasp the phrases. However i do not see how teaching them bad grammar is useful, therefore i simply chose to ignore him and continue in my own way.

About to take a trip to Lidl to buy loads of veggies so i can make  some yummy soup now i finally have my blender, its amazing how such a little thing can make me so happy!!!!! 

Ikea, DIY and a visit from Erna

So Friday was a pretty unproductive day all in all, as i didnt hear from my school as to whether or not i was supposed to go into school i found myself with not much to do. Friday night we headed out with everyone to our seemingly favourite bar in Lille. The Loft Shisha bar, i feel that we have been there more than any other place in Lille. It was a good night, for some reason they had a DJ who seemed to be a master of the Gay classics, including Grease the saturday night fever soundtrack and ABBA! its safe to say there was alot of singing involved! 


Saturday began with another let down from the landlord, he was late again for our prearranged trip to Ikea. He did eventually turn up only to tell us we could just go and when we were ready for him to pick up our stuff he would just meet us. To be honest i think this was a much better option as i was concerned about having to make polite small talk in french as we were walking round the shop. so Jess and I finally got our last important bits, an actual bed frame being the key item that we still required, and a desk and some other little bits. We waited another twenty minutes for the landlord to actually turn up and pick up our bits in his van.  Erna arrived at about 4 and after giving her a little tour of the flat we headed into town to show her around and get something for dinner. We went to one of my personal favourite restaurants that Josh and I discovered whilst on our trip in the summer, La Creperie, it serves not only crepes and gallettes but these gorgeous tartines, its literally one of the nicest places i have been, the service is great and the food is so nice and really well presented. After our lovely dinner we took Erna on a little walk around Vieux Lille and decided to go for a drink in a bar. Funnily enough we ended up choosing a place called 'The Pub' it had a british vibe as well as some interesting american nick nacks. We each had a cocktail, it was so lovely to see Erna. In addition to that, the little packages of things sent over from my mum that Erna brought with her was a real highlight. This included actual pillows and my double duvet, after sleeping on a cheap Ikea cushion for the past few weeks i can tell you those pillows felt like the most comfortable things in the world! 


Today i woke up early to say goodbye to Erna as she left to complete the rest of her journey over to Holland. I should really be planning lessons after i finally got an email yday from my evil school finally telling me my actual hours! Instead though, i have fully assembled my new bed! I can tell you there is something incredibly fulfilling about turning some planks of wood and screws into an actual bed, and a pretty sturdy one at that, i was not entirely convinced on buying it at first seeing as it was the cheapest one Ikea did and in the showroom it didnt seem that good but i am actually really impressed, its just so nice to not be sleeping on the floor anymore. 

                                    The menu, Jess i hope you dont mind me stealing this

Ok so again after a long absence on the blog front, i feel that i need to recap on everything i have been up to. 

After an enjoyable Toussaint i returned to Lille after a mission of a journey lugging a extremely heavy suitcase across London, without any offer of help from anyone! Was not appreciated, and neither were the blisters i developed on my hand! The first week back was long and punctuated by numerous visits to Mcdos in order to use their free internet, not an enjoyable experience when you have to repeat it everyday i can tell you! 

Ok so on my return i was optimistic about the start of my teaching career, though i have to say a little nervous too. I have one perfect school, the kids are amazing the teachers, so welcoming and friendly. They completely understand what my job is supposed to be, so i take out small groups of children to practice speaking, or we divide up the class and i take small groups. I never thought i would actually find it so rewarding but it truly is, when a child surprises you with their knowledge and understanding. However i cannot say that everything is going as well with my other school, after informing me that they could only provide me with just over two hours worth of work, its safe to say i was concerned. After all, i am required to complete six hours in each school, a fact that i did share with their headmisstress which she then proceeded to deny when my responsable came to my school to sort out the situation. i think i can honestly say that she now is no longer my biggest fan. I emailed her on tuesday asking her when i would be told my additonal hours and if it would be necessary to go to school today. I am still awaiting a response..... So all in all i cant say im particuarly happy with the whole situation. The classes i did teach i am expected to take completely alone as there is no actual English teacher at the school meaning that i have the sole responsibility of teaching the youngest kids! I feel completely unprepared and unqualified! 

Other exciting occurences this week, included finally getting my bank card! Do not ask me how i actually mangaged to get it, as both Jess and I have been told we only received it due to special circumstances as they still have not received the relevant notification from the post office to say that we signed for our letters. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that i looked like i was about to burst into tears, but anyway, i cannot complain as now i finally have it! 

A trip to La Piscine museum in Roubaix with Chloe and Jessica was one of the main highlights of my week, its a beautiful museum and gallery, though i will say that the Desgard exhibition did not really live up to all the hype. Previously an actual swimming pool, it has been converted to house some amazing works of art whilst still maintaining many of its original features such as the fact that you can still see where the pool used to be and many of the exhibits are housed within areas that clearly were the showers or changing facilities, sounds odd but it was actually really impressive and definitely worth the visit. As well as this, Roubaix seems to be famous for its fashion and houses pop up boutiques featuring fashion students/designers collections which i thoroughly enjoyed!

Also this week was Jessica's birthday, we went out to a really cool restaurant called The Berliner, it was really edgy and had walls inspired by the Berlin wall, as well as impecable service and a small but gorgeous menu. I could not bring myself to be angry with the waiter when there was a slight confusion with my meal but when it came it was just amazing, topped off with the most amazing white chocolate cheesecake i have ever eaten! After our meal whilst on out way to an Australian bar for drinks we were stopped by a teenage french boy who proceeded to tell us all about his trips to England and how his friends were 'keen on us' there is just something so cute about english spoken in a french accent. Though i did feel bad as i know how i feel when people think i speak french in a "funny voice" as i have been told by some of my children. 

On wednesday Cait and Louises' house mates were throwing a house party. So we all took the metro over to Roubaix, it was such a good night in which there were so many nationalities all in one room. Much French was spoken and it was not nearly as intimidating as i sometimes imagine it to be. After a couple of glasses of wine its always easier to feel abit more confident! 

Thursday in France meant that it was a national holiday so Hana and i fought our need to stay in bed after a long night on Wednesday and took the short drive across the border to Ypres. The weather was horrific but its something to be able to say that i spend Armistice day at one of the Key memorial towns in Europe. Unfortunately we missed the 11oclock service but we still had a lovely day visiting the museum and Menin gate followed by hot chocolate and waffles after we could no longer face the cold.  

All in all this week has been a good one, im hoping that my teaching issues in my horrible school will be resolved and im looking forward to a visit from my best friends mum tomorrow so im sure this weekend will be lovely! 

22nd September 2010

So this is a post i wrote a little while ago but didnt get a chance to put up... 

So Jess and I have finally moved into our new home, It took us about 4 different trips to actually get all of our stuff across, not exactly sure how we fitted it all in her car when we first got here! I think I have already accumulated quite abit of stuff and I have only been here over a month!

Today we had a lovely day, got up finished most of our packing and then headed into town for abit of lunch. We have come to realise that Lille, like every town in Lille completely shuts down on a Sunday, the only things that are open being restaurants and then the trusty McDo! So we finally made it to my favourite restaurant from when I had visited with Josh La Créperie just off the Grand Place! I was slightly concerned that it wouldn’t live up to expectations as I had been going on about it ever since we first arrived. However I can safely say that it did not disappoint! Jess and I both had the same meal and it was amazing, beautifully presented and so yummy! Definitely a must visit for anyone coming to Lille! After our lunch  went for a wander around Vieux Lille as we felt that we had not fully appreciated it, jess brought her massive camera and took some arty shots and I had my trusty little canon. We timed leaving perfectly as after being in the car for less that 5 minutes we were subjected to a hail storm of mammoth proportions was the oddest thing and made such a racket on the car!

On returning to the MAJT we put the last of our stuff into the KA and came over to our new apartment, im currently typing out this entry into word as we don’t have internet yet, even with our attempts to hack into our neighbours wifi.

Our new home is really starting to take shape and I can really imagine us living here now. Our huge built in wardrobes have been a life saver as we both have a huge amount of clothes! 

Ok so i dont think i am that great at this whole blog thing, i just keep forgetting... and my internet in the dreaded MAJT has been so unreliable when i do write i lose it...bloody nightmare

Anyway this week has been a good one, Jess and I have finally found somewhere to live, not too far from where we are now but on a much nicer street. Its a F3 appartement, meaning there are two bedrooms and a separate lounge, the only flaw being that it is not furnished! But it is still a lovely space with large built in wardrobes and plenty of room for us both. A quick trip to IKEA not only provided us with mattresses, bed side tables and other accessories but also a quick trip to the cafe where we were given our food half price- dont ask me how we managed it, its a mystery to us all!!!!

So we went to our new home again today to move across loads of our stuff and we are thinking that one more trip over in Jess's KA should do the trick, the landlord has been really helpfull and has even said he will drive to Ikea and pick us up our bed frames as they are too large for Jess's car! 

So we have one more day tomorrow before im homeward bound! I managed to get internet sorted yesterday- well not sorted but the engineer is booked and the package has been agreed, we just need to sort out paying for our electricity and gas bills and have to take out insurance- its gona be a busy day on monday i think! 

La vie commence

So i planned to write a blog to catalogue the events of my year abroad but i never got round to starting it this summer and i got to the point where i felt that i would simply be jumping on the blog bandwagon if i started one now but then thought what the hell. I wana be able to look back on my year abroad and remember it properly! 

So i would love to say my move abroad has been an easy transition and completley stress free. However as much fun as i have had there has been many a stressfull situation. 

My trip began with being introduced to another girl who was doing the same thing as me. Our responsable put us in touch with each other and when she offered to drive me over with her it was like a huge weight had been lifted, knowing that i would not be going totally alone meant that i started to relax and think positively about my "big move." Our friendship began with our mission to squeeze in all of our suitcases into Jess's KA, a slightly, easier task than we had first thought and then we were off. Arriving at Dover and boarding the delayed ferry meant that our arrival date was pushed back and we were concerned that Jess was going to have to drive the whole way in the dark. However in the end everything worked brilliantly, Jess was amazing, i couldnt believe how calm she was, i know how scared i would be if i had to drive on the other side of the road, i mean i get myself stressed driving around Reading in rush hour! 

Soooo... The weeks since we arrived on that first day feel like they have flown by.. I am starting to really love Lille and although i sitll dont have a permanent residence i feel that Lille is turning into a place i could really call home. We have been staying in a foyer near to Porte d'arras- appartently one of the more dodgy areas in town, we have had middle aged french men offering us 500 euros to "spend the weekend with them" aswell as living in a place full of unemployed youths who enjoy playing hardcore french rap all hours of the day! So needless to say we are not loving our situation right now we are getting to the point where anywhere would be better than here especially as the internet here is the biggest joke! It signs me out every 5 seconds and I cant do anything without having to disconnect and reconnect! The good news though is that we have two viewings this week both for apartments in the centre which aren’t furnished but we have started researching how much it would really cost to furnish a place and we are really considering it, im so desperate to have a place I can truly call me own that I really don’t care anymore! So we wait and hope and see what tomorrow brings, maybe for once we will get some good news…