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??!