Sheddair Sheez and Sushi

Evening everyone, 

It's half term already- crazy!

Thursday was the last day of school and I’ve begun to realise just how much happier and more confident I now am. Last term I spent my lunches alone in the corner desperately avoiding awkward French small talk, whereas Thursday I was able to ask teachers about their plans for the holidays and reorganise how some of my classes will be taught next term. A big bonus is that I asked the teacher of my first class of the day if I could start at 9am instead of 8.30 and she said yes – hello lie ins!

For three of my classes I brought in some traditional English food to finish our topic of la nourriture and as a little treat for the last day of term. After each sample they had to tell me if they loved, liked, didn’t like, or hated each thing. Unsurprisingly, cheddar cheese was very popular and I got lots of “I like sheddair sheez”. Sausage rolls however, got more mixed results. I think the concept of meat wrapped in pastry is quite alien to the French (they have no idea what pies are either). I was mostly told multiple times “I ate sauce-aj roll” and that’s not them correctly conjugating the verb ‘to eat’ in the past – it’s how they say ‘hate’. This completely baffles me as my CE2 are constantly saying “I am hate years old”…

Introducing a bunch of little kids to chocolate digestive biscuits was always going to go well. Their little faces lit up at the word ‘chocolat’ and they all clamoured to get the biggest piece. The whole room happily chorused “I love…” then they struggled, we eventually settled on “chock-o-lat digesteef bisquee”. Last but certainly not least were proper scones with strawberry jam and cream. There were various responses some loved them, some didn’t like jam and one memorable response came from little Selma who said “I don’t lick scones”. Bless.

Not only did my offerings of foreign food make me very popular with my students, I also made it into almost all of the teachers’ good books (because of course I had enough food to share around the staff room). It wouldn’t surprise me if they all set of to M&S to stock their fridges with some ‘sheddair sheez’. Someone who wasn't enjoying all of the yummy English food that she bought with her own money was - me! Dairy in everything...darn it.

Thursday night Han arrived (not talking in the third person, Hannah is one of my best friends!) We got sushi takeaway for dinner which was sublime - sushi is surprisingly a massive thing here! There are as many Japanese restaurants as there are boulangeries and I  usually have sushi once a week! Friday we went to Le Marais for some authentic falafel which was delicious and then we went to a very fancy shop called Sabon where we were given a free hand treatment that left our skin ridiculously soft. I ended up buying the mango and kiwi shower oil for 22 euros (yolo) and I think I’ll buy the body scrub when I’m in London next week (yolo again)!

We had a lovely weekend catching up on life and planning out futures and it was quite sad saying goodbye as we probably won’t see each other until I get back from Madagascar in July!

All in all things are definitely looking up and tomorrow I'm going home which I am super excited about, even though I've been kicked out of my room! I have exciting plans while back in England though, so keep your eyes peeled for a new addition to my ink!

Bisous à tous

xxx

Thoughts of the week

Morning everyone, I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day yesterday (how is it already the middle of February?!) Second of all, you’d think that having a week off last week would mean I have tons to write about today. I don’t.

I’ve been ill - exciting news, I know. I’ve had a bad cold/light flu for about a week and I’ve been feeling very sorry for myself. I am never, ever sick, which means I do not deal with it very well. Not having my family around to pamper me by making me a bed on the sofa or bringing me soup hasn’t helped the situation but I’m happy to report I’m feeling much better now. Just in time for the last week of term.

Yep, it’s the last week of term. Already. The build up to Christmas felt like it took an age, however, this side of the festive cheer has flown by and I feel like summer is just around the corner (and I am nowhere near bikini ready yet!) I can’t believe I only have two months left in this amazing city. It feels like yesterday that I was sat in a lecture hall panicking about how I couldn’t speak French and that I was going to have to function in a foreign country. And look at me now – I’m actually doing it.

I remember planning over summer what I wanted to get out of this year and the list was absolutely ridiculous:
- Read all of Shakespeare’s plays (I’ve read 4)
- Get super fit (the stairs still kill me)
- Learn Spanish (what was I thinking…)
- Become fluent in French (nowhere near!)

And that’s just a few of them. Safe to say I was completely overambitious in terms of actual things I wanted to achieve this year. Something I have come to realise however, is that my time here has changed me drastically already and I’m not even finished yet.

- I would never have imagined myself going to a writer’s group (alone?!) and sharing my writing, yet it’s one of my favourite nights here.
- I would never have thought I’d have the confidence to stand in front of 30 expectant 7 year olds and teach them English in French, yet I do it without thinking now (and often without planning).
- I would never have imagined that I would have crazy French conversations with the most adorable little four year old in the world, yet I do almost every day.
- I would never have pictured myself functioning without my family for longer than a few weeks, yet here I am miles away from home and not a miserable wreck.
- I would have never thought I’d decide to go to Madagascar for two months on my own, but I leave in 73 days!

People told me that my Year Abroad was going to be the best year of my life, and I think that’s why I built it up to be this year of massive achievements. With two months left, despite my plans failing miserably, I’m proud of myself. I still can’t believe I’m doing this. 

Bisous à tous xxx