Ladies of leisure.

I seem to have become a lady of leisure. Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé? What happened? The French and their casual approach to work, that's what happened. Although officially I am supposed to be teaching 12 hours of English per week, last week I worked the grand total of 6 hours. 6 hours. And I got paid a ridiculous amount to do it. Mais comment?

It's mainly to do with the fact that the French have a ridiculous amount of jours fériés- or bank holidays as we would say in ye olde Angleterre. As last Thursday was a bank holiday and Fridays are my usual days off my weekend commenced last Wednesday. Vive la France!

After recovering from the guilt of not working (which didn't take long to get over, quelle surprise), I went and celebrated my youth by attending a party in a forest. As you do.

I should probably mention here that the last three nights out have been pretty memorable as far as nights out go. After inviting all the other English assistants we know round for a pre-lash last weekend (or 'un before' as it is known in France), an assistant proceeded to 'chunder everywah'. After cleaning up sick for what seemed like ages (to be fair, it did take a fucking age), we decided to head out into Nancy-ville quand-même, ending up in the cultural establishment that is le McCarthy, supposed watering hole of the Irish. Memorable.

Back to the party in a forest. My friends from the local Grande-École (friends in high places, clearly) invited me to a soirée their school was holding in a forest just outside Nancy (pourquoi pas??). Obviously our answer was 'Bah, oui!'. 15 euros for a party in a forest with an open bar seemed like a pretty good deal. And no work the next day!

So after hopping on a coach from the Ecole des Mines at 23h30 (very funny coach journey, felt like I was on a bus with a load of football hooligans à la Millwall), we arrived at the Forêt de Haye ready to P.A.R.T.Y! Luckily for us, the party was being held in an old warehouse and was not in fact outdoors as I had originally assumed (it rained every day last week so that would have been disastrous). After spending a ridiculous amount of time waiting for a measly beer, we hit the dancefloor...4 hours later we were still 'busting-a-move' on aforementioned d'floor. Was definitely an experience anyway, perhaps due to the absence of toilets (but maybe that's too much information). Two guys sitting near us on the bus back 'made a little vomcano' which was lovely to watch if I do say so (or not- haha), but apart from that it was a night to remember!

'Livin' it up' was rounded off by a night out in Nancy last Friday, which culminated in a trip to La Friterie, a 'Munchies' type affair if you're familiar with late night takeaways in Newcastle upon Tyne (thought not). This does seem to be a common way to round off an evening- perhaps I should commence the jogging I've been postponing indefinitely for the last month (?).

Et voilà! That's your lot. I should probably get back to work. Who am I kidding?!

Where is Brian? Brian is in the kitchen!

In case you were wondering, the title of this post refers to a sketch by Gad Elmaleh (the guy in Priceless, with Audrey Tatou) about learning English in France. Apparently, the same names appear in all the English text books- Brian, Sophie et al, so if you admit to being a native English speaker, it is likely a French person will at some point ask you where Brian 'eez'. Just for your reference!

My first week in the industrial east of France has come to an end and what a week it's been! Can honestly say it has been much more enjoyable than expected. I thought the first week would be a constant stream of paperwork, angst and early nights with only a DVD for company, but luckily Nancy is FULL of language assistants (namely English speaking). In true Brits abroad fashion, we have been frequenting Nancy's Irish bar (La Taverne de L'Irlandais) for the typically French 'demi-pêche'- Stella and peach sirop. Sounds bizarre but it's good stuff!

So the first few days here were taken up by constant shopping (and not the fun kind of shopping). Our poorly equipped kitchen was in need of some essentials so Dan (another English assistant from the best university in the world) and I visited 'Tatti' a few times for cutlery, mugs and pans. The name says it all really- it's a bit like Wilko's but even more, well, tatty! Ha. We did find time to visit the Irish bar and go for a pizza so it wasn't all grim...

BNP MEMBER ALERT!

Yes, today I have joined the BNP. Luckily this has nothing to do with the British BNP (the racist British National Party for all those who don't know), but I opened a bank account with the BNP Paribas! Amazingly I managed to sort out all the bank stuff without any difficulty- I was in there a good half-hour and opened a student account which is freeeeee!! Apparently you have to pay around 3 euros/month with most other French banks, so I wasn't having any of that! It even has internet banking which I'm sure will prove interesting trying to figure out. The lady who opened the account for me was lovely though, as was the lady who sorted me out with a French sim card and phone number, so don't believe all the French stereotypes! So after opening my bank account toute seule earlier, I headed straight for the boulangerie near the flat for a celebratory raspberry tarte. Well deserved (I think).

Les Soirs

Evenings have been pretty busy so far, namely because it takes about 20 minutes to boil a pan of water in our kitchen! My travel kettle has been an absolute life saver (cheers nan and grandad)! Jackie (my American flatmate) and I have been 'creative cooking' with our hob- chicken risotto and home-made ratatouille being the favourites. After going to a French pre-lash on Thursday night (but not going out afterwards), I finally experienced Nancy by night on Friday. And Saturday. Naturally, the Irish pub featured on both occasions. On Friday, we moved on to Les Artistes, a studenty cocktail bar which I feel is going to become another one of our haunts. I opted for a lager-cocktail, merely because I was intrigued. Turned out to be a good choice! Anyway it was a really lovely evening with all the other English assistants (shame we weren't speaking French though- next time perhaps?!). The evening ended with a 'lovely' photo of myself in front of Lyon's team bus, eyes bright with excitement. It's a shame Nancy lost 3-2 to them the following day...

A perfect Sunday

My first Sunday in Nancy was a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight. Walked down to Place Stanislas- the main square in Nancy (a World Heritage sight, no less) and it is just incredible! So many people, but the architecture is amazing. Needless to say, a LOT of photos were taken. After eating a heart-attack tarte-fromage in a bag, we headed for the park which has a ZOO! Was probably a bit over-excited about that, in retrospect. Nevertheless, we saw monkies, goats and even an albino peacock! You don't get that in Sleazes Park!

Needless to say, this perfect day ended with a trip to La Taverne de L'Irlandais. A pattern is emerging...