Bruxelles: A lot of fun on a small budget.

Brussels: A spontaneous weekend away. This year abroad keeps getting better and better.

Soooooo, the previous Wednesday a few of us were talking about going to Brussels for a weekend, although all the trains we looked at seemed really expensive. HOWEVER, our friend Norah had heard about a cheap return ticket to Brussels from Luxembourg- a 'passe-partout' for those who have youth on their side (i.e. for those under the age of 26). After leaving chez nous at 6h50, we finally arrived in Brussels around midday (got a group ticket to Luxembourg, then took a 3 hour train to Brussels). We'd also managed to find a hotel suite for the five of us on booking.com for a mere 2o euros each!

Hilarity ensued when we turned onto the street where our hotel was. Our street was full of soliciting prostitutes, even at 12h30 in the afternoon. Incroyable. This was made worse by the fact that the hotel opposite ours was clearly a 'shag-pad' for a lot of the prostitutes and their clients. Seedy.

Anyway, I'm not going to bore you with an endless 'And then we ate this....and then we did this' account of our fabulous weekend in Brussels, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Highlights included

• Food. Chips, a boudin chaud (sausage) and amazing waffles with chocolate sauce.
• Beer- 9.5% beer in Delirium, quite possibly the coolest bar I have ever set foot in, full of travellers and studenty types. Kriek beer (tasted like cherryade) and others of which I can't remember the name.
• Walking round the beautiful main square and seeing the most famous attraction- the Manneken Pis, a statue of a chubby boy weeing. I hated it- apparently it's because I'm 'soo British'.
• Seeing TinTin graffiti everywhere. Just graffiti everywhere in general. Beautiful buildings right next to piles of rubbish (quite literally). Brussels is Paris' edgy, less pretentious sibling.
• Walking round the European buildings- the Parliament and the Commission. Comedy pictures next to Union Jack flags and the like.
• Going to a flea market in one of the 'working class areas'. Walking back into the centre finding cool vintage shops along the way.

Hope I'm selling it to you. Just seeing the red light area (i.e. our street) was an experience in itself...

Livin' la vida loca

….as our good friend Ricky Martin sings, I really do feel like I am living the crazy life in este momento. Life in France is speeding along; before I know it it’ll be the end of the assistantship and then quoi? Answers on a postcard please.

Quoi de neuf?

Bullet points are essential here.

• Avoided starting my Year Abroad project. (Y).
• Finally went for a run. (YY)
• Written/made a presentation about the differences between French and British higher education with a student from the École des Mines (engineering school). Presented it in French. Pas mal.
• Went to Brussels for a weekend (another blog is necessary, I feel)
• Been out for drinks in Blitz café, v. cool bar as far as they come in Nancy.
• Been to a retirement do at school- the 68 year old food technology teacher is finally throwing in the towel. Spent several minutes wearing a hairnet and banging cutlery around (even the Head and Deputy Head joined in- some kind of farewell ritual). Then proceeded to devour the mini patisserie buffet.
• Been to Le Normandie, the other foyer in Nancy for drinks/prawn crackers and general mayhem.
• Went to a party with the name ‘Soirée Info-Nympho’. Basically, an École des Mines soirée where you either had to dress up as a geek or a hooker. I chose the former. Funny night pre-drinking with some guys from the school, before catching the last tram to a random church and dancing the night away. Felt like a school disco, albeit with beer. Hilarious.
• Went out for a birthday meal (Yerark’s) with a few assistants from a nearby lycée. Ate lots. Standard.
• Went on a school trip to a glass blowing factory. The bus driver got us lost (bloody sat-nav). I was chief photographer so had to take pictures of the kids (something which would NEVER be allowed in the UK).
• Went to a place called Ludres the other evening. A couple of weeks ago, I met a woman, Sandrine from the Champagne region who invited Jackie and I round to hers to sample some proper Champagne. (I love my life). Spent a lovely evening eating smoked salmon (winner), drinking champagne and chatting in French.
• Went to see the new Clint Eastwood film, Hereafter (or Au Delà as it is known over here). I liked it. Jackie hated it.
• Went shopping. Bought clothes (Y).
• Went for an African meal on Thurday evening with a load of other assistants. Was enjoying the nice atmosphere and delicious food until I ate something that did not agree with me. Suffice to say I am STILL allergic to nuts. Mouth swelled up, felt ill then proceeded to ‘chunder’ all over the bathroom in the restaurant. Nasty. Jackie took me home, threw up some more then think I passed out in the bathroom for a while….. Luckily felt fine the following morning!! Bastard nuts…Good African beer though.

It was all going so well...

• Went out with the assistants I know from the lycée. Irish bar MacCarthy’s and Loveboat. Danced to Shakira. Free lollipops. Niiiiice!

Phewwww. Almost finished. On Friday I found myself in Ludres again- I was visiting Anne, an English woman I had met a couple of weeks previously at the English speaking dinner (see previous blog, my friends). I love her! She’s 81 ish but looks about 65 and is really active (she’d been to the gym before I arrived!). After a lovely aperitif which came from the Ile de Ré (Charentes I think…), we had a lovely meal of avocado and tuna, shepherd’s pie, bread and cheese and apple crumble!! All of which was home-made, a proper taste of home. I ended up staying 7 hours! Got to hear all about her life- she’s been living in Belgiuim/France for the last 55 or so years. When she was younger she borrowed her mum’s car and drove from Essex to the south of France with some girlfriends- and that’s where she met her Belgian husband! They settled in Belgium, then moved to Nancy around 30 years ago. Such a nice story! Her husband passed away 20 years ago, but now she has a Chihuahua to keep her company (the dog took a shine to me and fell asleep on my knee for a couple of hours, sooooo cute!). Was a great afternoon hearing about her amazing life on the continent and her huge family (she only speaks to her daughters in French). A real inspiration. She also gave me some home made Mirabelle jam and little cakes she'd baked to take home with me- I was smiling the whole way back. The way to my heart is clearly food…

Right, that’s that for now. I wish la vie en France would stop whizzing by so fast. The cliché is true: so much to do, so little time. Mais la vie est belle!

Luxembourg and sunshine!

Luxembourg, cute as!

After a long absence, the blogging business is back in full swing. Felt another one was necessary after the really nice weekend I've just had. Sorry if I sound smug....

Perhaps the main reason for my good mood is the weather. Living in a notoriously rainy city, any sunny day that comes your way is worshipped to an almost ridiculous level. Today (Sunday) was a blinder of a day, so Jackie and I headed to the other end of town for a walk along the canal. Beautiful! So many people were out on their bikes/running, felt very French all of a sudden. Apart from a hilarious incident where we ended up running away from hissing swans it was a relaxing Sunday morning stroll. We finished in Place Stan with a cup of coffee from a bar right opposite the town hall and indulged in some people watching- a great way to spend time if ever I needed another excuse to procrastinate. Amazingly we had our coffee outside, sans coat! Was so warm and a rare treat to soak in the sun in the industrial heart of France. Job done.

The weekend got off to a good start on Friday evening when Jackie, Michelle and I were invited to dinner with an English class. An English tutor (and Anglophile to a downright weird extent) organised a soirée featuring a ''traditional'' English meal (more on that later) and English conversation. As we had been invited, our three meals were free which was pretty convenient. The ''English'' meal consisted of coleslaw (never have I eaten coleslaw as an entrée), strips of rozbif (or roast beef) and gravy accompanied by a hash brown and salad. Yes. SALAD. A true Brit knows that roast beef would NEVER be accompanied by salad, and hash browns are for breakfast! Dessert was cheesecake (nice, but American...) so although it wasn't a particularly English meal it was nice all the same to have a free meal in exchange for speaking some English. The English learners were mainly middle aged/ retired but were lovely and very interested in what I had to say. After the meal I moved onto another table and everyone was looking at me like I was a famous person/ alien (take your pick) asking countless questions from 'What is the weather like in England?' to 'What do you think of Sarkozy?'- the perennial question really. When posed this question, I tend to just mumble something along the lines of 'He was alright before he came to power but now he's just a short idiot' which seems to do the trick...

Anyway, I met an English lady who's been living in Belgium/France for the last 50 years so it was interesting to talk to her (she's been in France so long that even her grandchildren can't speak English). She lives in a village about half an hour away from Nancy and invited me to her house for lunch one day which was nice of her. She even took the time to draw me a map of how to get chez elle- including which bus stop to get off at. Will definitely take up her offer, think it would be nice to hear all her tales of France (I'm sure of which there are many). In addition to this I've also been invited to a French woman's house for some proper Champagne (she comes from the Champagne region and was horrified to hear that I'm yet to drink any of the stuff since my arrival in Nancy (True dat). La vie est belle!

Went to Luxembourg yesterday (Saturday) for the day with 3 other assistants which was great! It's the sort of place you'd never think of going for a weekend but it's actually a really nice city/country. Had a bit of bother with the trains- our train on the way there was late and took 2 hours instead of 90 mins and our train on the way home was cancelled! Had to change and wait 50 mins in Metz but at least we weren't stranded. Upon arrival in Luxembourg we headed to the nearest eating place as we were all starving after our long train journey. Went to a Chinese buffet which was a bit crap if I'm honest- not much choice and the food wasn't very hot (avoided the chicken). Norah, an Irish assistant exclaimed ''I never wanted a fekkin' Chinese anyway!'' upon our exit. Don't mess with the Irish....

Still, the dodgy Chinese didn't ruin our day in Luxembourg. Did a walking tour of the city which is built on two hills. Ended up walking down below in the valley which was pretty and wandered round the old fortifications just as the sun was setting. Got some nice pictures (hilarious ones involving coloured vases and our reflections). I'd definitely recommend Luxembourg for a day trip- there's not loads to do (a few galleries, a history museum but that's about it) but it's nice for an amble.

After my four day weekend, it's back to work tomorrow. Probably should start doing something more useful with my time. A la prochaine fois!

La rentrée.

La Galette des Rois

I should start by saying Bonne Année! Can’t believe it’s already mid January- only 3 ½ months until my French adventure is over (work-wise anyway). After the mayhem that was early December, I packed up my suitcase- direction: England! Luckily I managed to get home hassle free despite all the snow/ rail disruptions. Was supposed to have an hour to change trains at London St. Pancras but as my Eurostar was running late, I ended up having just 8 minutes. Mega stress! Not only that, but I had to try and find a ticket printing machine as I’d booked online. After running around St. Pancras like a headless chicken, I made it onto the train with three minutes to spare. Not bad! (Albeit red faced and on the verge of collapsing).

Something felt good though, and I couldn’t help smiling as the train pulled into Chez-Vegas. I love it when you return home and get the feeling that absolutely nothing has changed, as if you never went anywhere in the first place. C-town is definitely one of those places. (I used to think that was bad but after living abroad for a few months, I find it oddly comforting).

So after a decent cup of tea and a few slices of toast (walking cliché, I realise) I was back to normal My two weeks in England flew by and mainly consisted of…

• Eating anything I could lay my hands on. Cheese, turkey, stuffing, chocolate log and crisps featured highly.
• Making the most of toast (how poetic).
• Drinking wine
• Seeing family
• Catching up with friends (we seem to pick up where we left off. None of this ‘tell me everything about France’ business that really pisses me off).
• Watching TV! Didn’t realise just how much I’d missed it.
• Christmas walks! Ambling round Bakewell before going to a tea room for a scone. Could I BE any more English?!
• Showing my American flatmate England (something I took very seriously). She had a fair few pints, we ate lots, went to York, went to a panto (oh yes we did…) and showed her a PROPER night out on New Year’s Eve. Perfect.

So after two weeks of gluttony and catching up with the people that matter, I wasn’t feeling particularly keen to return to France. No-one to cook for me, or do my washing, plus I had to go to work. Bleurgh. It’s actually been fine though. I thought things would slow down a bit after Christmas but it’s been mental.

La rentrée has been better than expected. I’ve had some great groups of kids these last two weeks. I taught my oldest kids about chavs which I think they really enjoyed and I did a lesson on the London Underground with a group of 4èmes(year 9)- my favourite group in the whole school.

On the 6^th January, i.e. Epiphany we had the Galette des Rois- the pastry of the kings which is a bit like apple strudel but cake-shaped. You buy these Galettes in the boulangeries or the supermarket and there’s a toy or little trinket inside each one. The person who finds the trinket becomes le roi- the King (or la reine) and gets to wear a cardboard colourful hat for the rest of the night. A week after Twelfth Night and these galettes still seem to be everywhere –not that I’m complaining….

Agenda for the next few weeks:

• Go for a run (ha.)
• Going for an English meal with a load of French students. The rule= no French allowed.
• Going to Luxembourg tomorrow- another country to tick off the list.
• Planning a weekend trip to Colmar in Alsace /Basle in Switzerland. Really want to try Couchsurfing for the first time.
• Doing a presentation about the differences between French and British higher education at the École des Mines next week
• Cinema.
• Planning the adventure that will be EASTERN EUROPE. In the February/March holidays I’m going to Krakow, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague. Flights are booked, but everything else is yet to be done…..
• And no doubt a few Irish bars…

How many weeks til the holidays??!