Vendredi le 19 decembre - Joyeux Noel!

Booked out again all morning at the college than at the primary this afternoon and then back to the college for a drink and nibble at 3:30.
The children at the primary today had a fun afternoon before the holidays – just like us! I watched Ice Age for the first time and then the children had an amazing afternoon tea! The food was impressive – the French really know how to do food! My eyes boggled at the choices the children had and the treats that were provided.
At the college we had a variety of non alcoholic drinks available and again the most amazing platters of treats and chocolates and petits gâteaux!
We then headed out toa shopping centre to get some last minute supplies before we head off tomorrow morning on our big adventure to Languedoc!
Today the letter arrived to say we could finally collect our Carte de Sejours! So off Neville went with the official bits of paper and our passports this afternoon – however he only came back with his as he wasn’t allowed to collect mine – I have to go in person! So this will have to wait until after the holidays!
Home to get packed and organised!
The blog will take a break for a couple of weeks as I am out of internet contact – however I may go to a café and collect emails. So after a few weeks there will be a bit to read I am sure!
Can’t wait also to hear all about you, in summer and what you have been up to. Who sung what camping etc… and any other embarrassing and cool stories! Keep them coming it really is the highlight to get info from home. I apologise for not answering you all individually but after I do this there isn’t much else left to say.
Joyeux Noël et Bonne année ! Sante !
Thinking of you all at this festive time – Glasses raised : clink! clink !

Jeudi le 18 decembre - Xmas Vin Chaud

An incredibly busy day – booked out at the college all day today, repeating lessons about NZ xmas! I managed to find the only data projector at the school (500 pupils). No one has really used it and the kids were amazed to see me setting it up etc!
I showed them many photos of traditional kiwi Christmas and things we do in summer break….camping!!!!
The children found it hard to comprehend it is summer! Also that there isn’t that much lights and decorations outside – because it is so light!
Anyway all went well and it was refreshing teaching the same thing over and over. I also showed photos of what school is like – now that got them talking! Many wanted to come to NZ with me – I could have doubled APS roll within hours!
At 6:00 we were invited to a college colleagues house for a vin chaud and traditional aperitifs! We were picked up and taken there by other colleagues which was also very nice.
The atmosphere was very convivial and the lighting, heating and smells created a wonderful atmosphere.
The table was laden with amazing edible treats – chocolates, biscuits, liqueurs, meringues etc..Many things I hadn’t seen before and of course…had to try!

Naturally I made a pavlova to treat everyone, as all day the teachers had seen photos of them so I thought they should try it!

There was an awesome train set up for Xmas, that went around the tree and over a table and had a double level and all the gorgeous houses etc that went with it. Very hard to explain.
The vin chaud was amazing… it had been prepared 24 hours in advance and the smell permeated the house. This was the best I had had yet. Our glasses just kept getting filled up – I think I probably had 8 glasses! I was a bit worried about the effect it would have in the morning! I do think we will start this tradition when we get home – maybe have to have it in winter though. Don’t worry everybody – I got the recipe!
Nev and the girls got a ride home about 8 and I stayed on for another hour. It really was a nice way to meet some colleagues and of course it was very traditional! From what I gather there are no staff functions as we know them. So this was it!

Mercredi le 17 decembre-CLA Xmas Function

Finally, the appointment for the children to get their official status here in France confirmed! We made this appointment in September.
We did a couple of jobs and then made our way to the prefecture – along with copies of this/that and the next thing. Unfortunately we didn’t bring their passports (wasn’t on the list) and so have to return with those tomorrow!
They also went to look for our Carte de Sejour cards – I had thought they were posting them but apparently you have to go in and collect them! However they were not there but they did say a letter telling us to come and collect them should be here this week!
Went to the bank to get some money- I also asked why I still haven’t received the ATM card for my account yet – you have to come and get it -it has been here for 2 months! Amazing, 2 things in as many hours! It didn’t occur to me to go and collect these things – in NZ the card is posted to you and the code is posted separately. I got the code by mail but no card so had been waiting!
Tonight we were invited to the CLA for a family gouter and spectacle! Not sure what to expect we went along, it turns out that everyone else was staff and we were the only ones invited who weren’t. The tables were full of juice and wine, quiches and many chocolates and cakes. The children were each given a cellophane bag full of chocolate as a gift. After the hour of food there was entertainment put on – a group of 5 comedian/musicians/ magicians who had the children spellbound as they didn’t talk at all and used music and action to explain the acts.
A nice way to celebrate for the children and to get into Xmas spirit.

Mardi le 16 decembre

Hermione much better today but Seph started last night. Luckily she was all over quickly and back to normal.
Worked up at the Lycee this morning and then at the primary this afternoon and the English club! What a difference with about 4 away – including the ‘little darling’. We made xmas cards – it was really great!
I had an email from the lady whose house we are renting to say there was 30 cm+ of snow so bought snow boots yesterday and today arranged for the snow tyres to be put on!
Tonight I went with Josianne (Lycee and college teacher) to a bar for an aperitif before dinner. We had a lovely wine over 1:30 hours and chatted. It was really nice to have a xmas drink!.

Lundi le 15 Decembre

Hermione at home today- naturally. I headed off to CLA to enrol in a course for January. The lady there was so rude and unhelpful. She kept going on about how last year the other student enrolled and then they were not paid by AFS! So this has made it really hard for me to get in now! SO I have to go back tomorrow with all their contact details and I will also email them to ensure that it gets paid instantly!
After this I headed to conversation practice and then shopping! Trying to find presents for the girls!! Not so easy – I never know what to get Hermione. It also has to be small – to get home and fit other criteria - €€€€!!
A very calming day after the rush of the weekend.

Dimanche le 14 decembre - Lunch at Friends!

Last night I made a pavlova as we have been invited out to lunch at Seph’s friends place. We had been out once before and enjoyed their company so we were very lucky to have been invited for lunch. However Hermione certainly wasn’t very well, but she got up and had a shower, downed the panadol and said she would be ok.
We were picked up just after 12 and headed out to their small village. I thought it might be flash when there were 3 wine glasses with each table setting! (The children ate separately – they had chicken nuggets and chips! Then pavlova! Same the world over!)
When we arrived we had an aperitif, champagne and nibbles then a wee while later we had entrée – prawn cocktail, beautifully presented along with a still white. At 3:00 we had our main plat – beef Bourgogne accompanied with a red!
Fromage to follow – I finally got to taste the most amazing Roquefort! I thought about sending it home to Dad but there is no way it would get through our border patrol! I always think of Dad when I have anything to do with cheese – he is such a cheese lover.It really is a wonder he never made it to France just for the cheese!
Roquefort really is a fantastic blue cheese – so all those who like blue – this is the ultimate!
After this we had the pavlova! Accompanied with another bottle of champagne! Shortly after this Hermione started to go downhill and we needed to get her home. However it was dark and at 6:00 lunch was over!
John and Christelle are a lovely couple and I will have to think of how to repay the invitation! We have talked about heading to Europapark in the spring for a weekend together – so will make sure this happens!
Back home Hermione crashed big time and woke up at 9:00 vomiting again, after 24 hour clearance – bit strange!
Hopefully she will be over it all soon!

Samedi le 13 decembre- Strasbourg markets!

This building has a painted facade and cool sleigh!

Had to put the alarm on to get up this morning to get breakfast before it shut at 9:00! So off we trotted down to the dining room where I was amazed at how many older people were staying at the ‘youth hostel’ also many families like us. They really are flash and very popular in Europe. It had a restaurant, café, disco, tv room, pool room etc. Our room had 4 beds and an ensuite, quite adequate really. Many people use them and they are cheap. €18 per person.
Breakfast was a continental type – cereal, bread and coffee machine and juice. The time was very strict and as soon as it hit 9:00 the food was taken away – people went up to get another drink and they had turned them off!
Anyway we headed to the walk bridge to cross the border into Germany – we had to do the France / Germany hop! From one to the other and be split in half etc… Hermione in particular thought this was so funny!
Then we ambled back to the bus stop we got off last night and even in the daylight there were no signs and it certainly wasn’t our idea of a park! They really need better instructions for visitors – we surely can’t have been the first nor the last to get so horribly confused.
Into town and went straight to the Gare to drop off luggage so we didn’t have to carry it for the day. Leaving luggage is taken very seriously now and it all has to be x rayed and has security guards monitoring the locker room. It also has a door like the bank where you must wait to be buzzed in!
Then to the markets….but how the crowds have arrived, last night was very pleasant walking around hardly anyone – today they were 10 thick across and went on for ages! It was so worth it though – Strasbourg says it is the Noel capital – I would believe it. There were so many markets in all the little parks and squares – many food places too. Food really is a huge focus at Xmas, I have taken a liking to vin chaud!
For lunch we tried to get into a place that we couldn’t last night “Tiger Wok” – at this restaurant it has an asian flavour and very cool atmosphere. The idea is very simple and I think would really fly in NZ. So maybe a business opportunity here. Very simply you get given a plate where you go and help yourself to the vegetables you want and then a choice of 2 meats/ fish. You chose the oil, sauce and garnish as well. You give your plate to one of the ‘muscley’ t shirt clad men at the wok stop who cook it in front of you.
It was great – the girls loved it, having all the ownership over what you eat! Back at the table they also serve you your own little bowl of rice to go with it.
Fantastic!
More markets! Hermione said she wasn’t feeling well and had a bit of a rest while Seph and I zoomed around another market. When we got back we had to start heading for the train but Hermione was sick on the way! Poor kid! You could say she left her mark on Strasbourg a couple of times. However we made it right on time back to the Gare. I was slightly worried how the trip home would go but passed OK! Straight home to bed after this. What a shame to end the trip this way. I actually could have stayed another day, if we could have got accommodation, as still heaps to see and do. As it was we booked in September for this and it was the only night we could get that could accommodate 4 then! Very popular!

Vendredi le 12 Decembre- X Country / Strasbourg

Off to a class at the Lycee – hadn’t met them before – I got there and the teacher again asked “What are you going to do with them?” This class was 17 years old, never seen them had know idea how good their English was, no idea of what they were doing – yet expected to teach them, with no resources, no hints etc! So I just did general conversation and they asked questions again about NZ and differences!
Raced back to the primary school for the “cross” this was a great concept. Nev went with Hermione and I was with Seph! It was held in the snow! No cancelling things here! I think we would never cancel again – the children were out in the snow for over 2 hours and perfectly fine! Not one whinge or injury!

All the children were put into different animal categories. So each animal category had 1 child from every class (about 12 per group) there were also children from the other primary school under the same organisation. The 5-6 year olds were not part of this.
Then they went to the rugby/soccer grounds beside us and all the teams were well spread out around the whole course – probably 30 teams.
Then the event ran for 1:30 hours! As each child left to go on a run around the course they were given a ticket – when they arrived back at their base camp they put it into a container. The children then could have a quick break then go again or have no break grab a ticket and go off. As a spectator it was just a continuous line of runners – as you just started and finished at your base camp on the course. No pressure! No individual winners – but at the end your ticket box was collected and counted.
It would have been pretty close to 1km per loop – Seph completed 8 trips and Hermione did 11! Hermione’s team came second with 139 tickets! Seph’s group only did 98! Both girls said they preferred this X country as no pressure - no stragglers being last and they ran so much further than at home. Maybe we could look at something like this as well as sorting out our competitive runners for C.O. as you could easily have the children collect their own tickets or have a competitive event separately for those contenders.
All the stations had parents looking after a small group – many brought thermos of milo for something warm in between times. It was a fantastic atmosphere! They had music blaring out the loud speakers to run along to. Loved it! A great finale was all the children gathered in front of the pavilion and a popular song was played, the children all sang and then spontaneously made chains and went around the snow to the music.
After this we had a picnic in the gymnasium – (roller skating hall) then returned to school for a play.
At 1:30 we walked down to a church for a small service about being together (with the other school) and there were heaps of songs. Then back to school for a degustation– cake and drink!
I then got the girls to finish early – 4:00 as we had to catch the train to Strasbourg at 5:00!

The TGV was full – maybe because a Friday night and people returning home, also maybe lots heading to Strasbourg as it is considered the capital of Christmas markets.
We arrived at 7:30 – the girls had eaten so much food we had taken on the train so we decided to wander around the streets to take in the Xmas atmosphere and to look at all the amazing lights and decorations!
Straight out of the Gare were the first set of markets – beautiful presentations. All stalls are in their own little wooden huts, which certainly add ambience and unification. Perfect for the weather, lighting, security etc. All the towns so far have these huts – the council rents them out for events. There are different sizes and frontal variances so depending on whether you are food or not you can pick what suits you. Our council should consider something like these, it really looks smart and very practical. No trestle tables to be seen!

The Marché de Noel was amazing – can’t describe it – would love to go back again. Really the Xmas spirit in the whole town and the decorations were exquisite. Definitely in the Xmas spirit now myself. We wandered around in town to the different markets for about an hour then decided we better go find our accommodation and then get tea. So off to the tram stop – on ‘D’ tram till the end (by now it was 9:30) and then a bus, had to wait at the bus stop for 25 minutes. Finally the last bus of the night arrived – unfortunately they didn’t announce each stop and we missed our stop! After talking to the driver he said it wasn’t a problem as the bus continues into Germany does a loop and returns back past! What! Anyway it turns out that in the next minute, we crossed a bridge – and were now in Germany – Kehl. We did a loop around the main centre and returned to France! How weird – it just sounds so strange!
We alighted at our stop and then the instructions were to traverse the park for about 10 minutes and we would find our accommodation – Auberge de Jeunesse – A Youth Hostel!
These were not terribly good instructions – cold dark, 10:15 at night. Crossing a park? We think of walking through grass, gardens and maybe a path. I couldn’t even find a “park”! As it turns out we decided to ring and ask for directions from where we were – the lady couldn’t tell me, she didn’t recognize an equestrian centre nor did she seem to be able to give us directions from a walk bridge over the river – she suggested going back to the bus stop and walking behind the church!
On closer inspection I read the address of the equestrian centre and it was number 1 of the street the hostel was on! So we continued down the road…. It was quite deserted… I then found a place with a lot of cars in the carpark and I met some people on the way out and asked for directions – luckily they had a map in their car and it turned out that the next building over would be the hostel. So on we went – FOUND IT!
Couldn’t believe the receptionist not understanding where we were as it was a one way road and she must have had to pass it everyday to get to work. Also she did speak English so no confusion there. Anyway now 10:30 – no tea! All pizza deliveries had finished so we were forced to get a sandwich and piece of fruit from a vending machine. The girls ate theirs in bed at 10:45! Whew! What a day!

Jeudi le 11 decembre - John the kiwi!

I have had classes at the Lycee this morning and am writing my blog in between them! It really is frustrating as I end up taking 2 hours for a 1 hour class – or like today I have classes at 9-10 then 11-1:00 then 3-4:00! Not enough time to go anywhere in between the classes.
I have also been asked to hand in a copy of my timetable to the Lycee – eekk! It doesn’t look very full because teachers block off times with me then cancel because they have assessments or tests or something else. Also sometimes the classes are fortnightly too. One week (last week) looks fairly empty but this week is fairly full! Not sure how this goes down but nevermind!
The last class today the teacher handed me a picture, some vocab and said I would like you to work on this “Clashes”. Then I walked with her up to the class and she opened a door and directed me inside – she didn’t follow – waited and then about 9 students turned up, 17 year olds. I then had to do the whole thing! Not really sure what to do as there hadn’t been any discussion really. I found it quite hard to explain the vocabulary as the students are not allowed dictionaries and I can’t translate – I know some were totally lost as was I at times! This was really hard – I don’t think we would do that to a teacher in NZ. Also remember that the school structure is very different and I certainly am not used to 17 year olds either, but I quite like them!
Home to a very early tea – as we were meeting John the Kiwi at 6:00 in a bar in town. This turned out to be really good – Nev is still there as I write this now. It was so nice to meet and talk naturally about things we know! It was also nice to drink like a kiwi – John’s words!
John is a non linear engineer at the university who spends most of his time in research. We certainly are spending a lot of time with academics. He has a 3 year old girl and a 10 year old boy, who rang while he was with us, and he was busy teasing him that we were just planning the arranged marriage – this was nice for our girls to see some typical kiwi humour. He also reminded us a lot of Lumpy – not sure which part exactly but just the whole package – not that you can be replaced Lumpy, so don’t feel threatened!
I do wonder what time my hubby will roll in – the most we have consumed in a while!
Strasbourg tomorrow – off to the Alsace/Lorraine area, apparently have great Xmas festivities so am really looking forward to that.
The girls have also a whole school event “un cross” which we thought was a cross country at first but now we are not so sure. I have volunteered to go with Seph’s class and Nev with Hermione’s. I do know they have to take a lunch – how unusual – will let you know what it turns out to be.

Mercredi le 10 decembre

Woke up to snow on the ground and it still snowing lightly – at home it would have been a snow day! After lunch headed into town to complete a few little jobs, one of which was to go to the library and change books/DVD’s.The library certainly doesn’t have the selection our library does, maybe only 15 on the shelf. We ended up bringing home E.T. the children hadn’t seen it so we watched it – it is still quite a powerful film even after all these years.
Went to the food market to look for some veges to go with a pork roast – our first since NZ!
I really wanted parsnips but hadn’t seen any around the supermarkets but we did find them at the fresh food market along with yams and orange kumara! YUM!!!!
Needless to say our roast was delicious and satisfying – a taste of home!
It continued to snow on and off all day but most of the footpaths were well trodden and ok to walk on.
I am slightly worried about this as I may have mentioned – I really don’t think we have the proper footwear for walking in the snow and keep debating about going to buy some before we head away to our house in the whop whops! Also I think we may have to go and organise snow tires for the rental car – would hate to get stuck somewhere out of cell phone range (which we will be at our house) and not know what to do! That would really test my limited French!

Mardi le 9 decembre

Tuesday again already – Full on day with the Lycee and primary classes and the kindy! I also had a meeting with Pascale form the college organising some Xmas lessons for the last 2 days of school. This means I have to cancel my Lycee classes – not sure how that will go down! Amazingly there were 3 away from the kindy class – most importantly the “tricky” child was absent! What a difference to the class today.
More importantly Nev is finally feeling better but still not 100%.

Lundi le 8 decembre

Off to college at 8:00 to go with the 4eme to the cinema – Alfred Hitchcocks’ North by Northwest. The footpath was a bit frosty and luckily, it had been gritted. After this had conversation practice at CLA then a wee bit of Xmas shopping before heading home at 4:00!
Nev still not right but improving slowly so maybe we can avoid the pharmacie for another day.
Popped over to school and found the secretary busy decorating the Xmas tree – must be part of the job description the world over!
I have had trouble adjusting to the fact it is near Xmas – maybe because I am not part of the madness – reports and paperwork, end of year trips, prizegivings to organise, Y8 dinners, goldentime nd of course all the Xmas do’s! It just doesn’t feel right – possibly it is to do with change of season too. Not sure but can’t get in the spirit – hope this passes soon! It also could be the fact that all our dear friends are not with us and we cannot socialise like normal – there is a huge gap missing and you all have a part normally to help fill it. All the parts to make a whole!
I just reread this and it is a bit soppy!!

Dimanche le 7 decembre- First French Meal!

Up earlyish as I had a pavlova to make for lunch time. We were invited to Ghislaine and Simon’s for a traditional lunch. Unfortunately Nev was still too sick to come and ended up not coming at the last minute.
On Friday I raced around the supermarket trying to find all the French equivalent ingredients. So we started to whip up a storm in the kitchen, I really was holding my breath as I haven’t baked in the oven and not really sure how it would turn out. But all was great!
We headed into town on the bus with me holding a tray with the pav on it and hoping the bus wasn’t full and I would have to stand. Luckily we arrived all intact.
We also took along Marmite and crackers for them to try – there was also Claire whom we met last week and Stefane ( a mathematics lecturer and researcher at uni). Everyone seemed to like the marmite especially Victor the baby.
After this we had a few more wines while we waited for the beef Bourgogne to cook. The conversation was great as all could speak English and Stefane especially knew colloquialisms. However we all spoke French at times too – until it got too hard!
Then the main meal arrived accompanied with potatoes, after a bit more time in between we then had fromage –cheese, 3 different varieties. A bit more time then we had the pavlova - I had to succumb and use canned cream, the closest I could find to whipped. (Over here the cream does not whip like ours- don’t know why! Maybe the milkies could tell me?) Decorated with kiwi and spread around the plate were pineapple chunks! The pavlova proved very popular and the leftovers on the plate were even picked at.

More time then the strong coffee in tiny cups, naturally I passed on this. More conversation then another cup and WOW- 5:00pm!
This was such an amazing time for me – a few reasons – the first time we have shared a meal with French friends, it was traditional, and so what I am here for! Not sure how to repay the invite as certainly not enough room here!
So time for the bus and home to check on Nev. Such a shame he missed out, maybe if he is still sick tomorrow off to one of the many pharmacies!

Later on the girls were playing and the next minute tears and pain – Seph’s wrist had been bent back and she was in pain. Oh Ooh! I was so scared this was going to be a major and what do we do?
Luckily I thought it wasn’t too bad - made a sling out of my scarf and gave some panadol and off to bed. I kept listening out in the night in case it kept her awake, but all good. Whew!

Samedi le 6 decembre- Fribourg / Freiburg

Fribourg – Freiburg whichever way you want to spell and pronounce it! The day was cold and miserable – pouring and the wind chilled you to the bone. Nev unfortunately was still unwell but we loaded him up with pills and off we went. Nevertheless we made it to the bus, Hermione found her friend and Seph sat with her friend as well. Just over 1 hour into the journey and we stopped for a toilet break. In the meantime we were introduced to the Directrices son who spent a year in Whakatane learning English. The man behind us was listening and then spoke to us for the rest of the journey. Arnold – is originally Dutch but shifted to France 12 years ago with his Dutch wife. He can speak 6 different languages – Dutch, German, French, English, Italian and Spanish! He is an organic farmer producing free range eggs and cereals. Very interesting man! As we got near the German border he asked if we had our passports – which we did! But as it happens we just drove straight on through. Not sure if this happens all the time or not. Very disappointing to think you pass through and cross the Rhine river and you are in another country without even a stamp in the passport!
When we arrived, just over 2 hours travelling, in Freiburg (the Black Forest precinct) there were many buses (10-15) all arrived for the Marche de Noel – The Xmas Markets. Town was busy and naturally everything had changed – no longer French but German signs, street names, language being spoken. I felt a bit out of my comfort zone for a moment or two. However, it did make me realise how much French I do know and can understand being spoken.
Immediately I went into the far reaches of my brain to try and remember something from my 3 years of German at High School – yes I even passed School certificate in it!
I could easily remember the numbers, greetings, please and thank you etc.. I however didn’t know –‘How much?’ which would have come in useful. I also had difficulty remembering the colours for some reason. I did remember though that the ‘rathaus’ is the town hall – not that this was particularly useful!
The first market we came across was the fresh produce and I always find it incredibly interesting to wander around and look at the fruits and veges etc on sale. There were many stalls where they were using the pine leaves etc to make wreaths for Xmas. Mistletoe was for sale and I actually had never seen it before in real life or at least I don’t think I had.
We found the cathedral – another piece of beautiful architecture but we didn’t spend long there. A service was in progress and we sat and listened to the German priest for a while. After this we strolled through little lanes that connect one street to another and looked around the old centre of town. We happened to go past a hat shop where I finally spotted exactly the hat I was looking for – I had been searching since we went to Paris. This hat is angora and very snugly – I really am not a hat person but it is mighty cold some days and this was great yesterday against the cold wind.

On we went to the markets, how beautifully they were decorated – on the outside of the little wooden huts they were covered in fresh pine(?) fronds all over and they just looked so festive. Lights and decorations gave a great ambience. Many of the stalls are food stalls – as in here in Besancon- selling ‘vin chaud’ hot wine and drink. Lots of Bratwurst stalls and of course other traditional sausages etc.
We went into the information centre – located in the ‘rathaus platze’! The girl there told us of a traditional German restaurant for lunch –so off we trekked. The place itself was very deceiving, as many places are, with not really any frontage except a small sign and a door. You never know what you will get when you open the door, but inside was a thriving and surprisingly large restaurant. We had to wait a few minutes for a table and then OMG! The menu – eekkk!!! All I could make out was ‘schnitzel’! In the end our waitress, older and stern, realised after the second visit that we couldn’t decide and she huffed and puffed and went away sending back a young waitress who spoke some English and could describe some dishes to us. We all went for the traditional schnitzel, the girls came with chips and salad ( really a lot like home) and ours came with ‘spatzle’, which is a short pasta in sauce. Nothing to look at and was pretty bland! It might have helped if it was really hot but luke warm didn’t do it for me. I am pleased however we did make the effort to go to a traditional restaurant; even to people watch was interesting. Watching the different plates of food coming out and trying to guess what it was kept me amused. The meals here also came out with little bread rolls and the salad is served separately.

After this we found more markets that were not quite as nice although they were all handcrafts but just not for me. Then we happened upon the oldest pub in Germany – it has been running as a pub since 1120!!

Unfortunately we couldn’t have an ale as they were busy setting it up for a big function that evening. It was very interesting to look at and all the light holders had been individually carved and had different figures on top. Pretty cool!

We continued back to the markets as I really wanted to find some gifts to send home and something for us as a memento…try as hard as I could nothing appealed! By 4:30 it was getting darker and by 5:00 everything was all lit up. The town was decorated in a beautiful fashion, there were people busking around every corner – many different music styles and instruments. One man had a variety of stuffed toys to help in his orchestra! The kids found this amusing, they did somehow seem all choreographed and it sounded fine!
We tried some ‘spiegel’ and then time to walk and catch the bus at 7:00pm. We met up with Arnold and his group near the bus at the ice rink that they had set up in the square – it did remind me of movies about northern hemisphere Xmas with them going skating and walking through all the lights and everyone all ‘rugged up’. We had the traditional German “Gluhwein” another variant of hot wine, before embarking. Arnold talked to us all the way home about lots of interesting things. Home 9:30!

Vendredi le 5 decembre- Visiting Artist

Well the end of another week! Nev still not well and has had to cancel our rendez-vous tonight with a fellow kiwi – must be sick!
A couple of interesting things happened today – straight after school 4:30-5:00 was a cake stall. 50c a piece or you could buy whole cakes. Many different varieties and man, were they selling, even though it was pouring and bitterly cold. A good idea as most parents collect their children and of course they are starving! It had been advertised on doors etc. 50c a piece also worked out at getting a fair price for the whole cake.
I must say the choices were great.
Also at 5:00 basically straight after school was a ‘show’ in the Gymnasium. The parents were invited to take their children to a magic performance “Fifi and Riri” – 2 clowns with a bit of magic. This visiting artist was outside school hours and supervision became parents responsibility, rather an interesting concept. It also meant that littler siblings could also come and enjoy. Maybe we would get a nice family feel if we did this! I must comment how many Dad’s were there too – maybe the 5-6:00pm time was right for them, but also it was straight after school pretty much and many people of course used the 20 minutes to buy cakes and mingle! Rather clever networking!
I must say I am still amazed at what time most children get home and get fed. I still see children leaving late – 6:45 ish. No wonder they need Wednesdays off just to catch up. Although I have found a room at the primary with about 20 little stretchers where the children that are young (presume equivalent to our NE) go with their snugglies/ comforters and have a sleep straight after lunch. It does amaze me that they are allowed to be in class and around the school constantly sucking and snuggling etc with their bits of rag or soft toy. I find it really babyish and very unhygienic, it does amaze me that with all the formalities around here this is allowed!

Jeudi le 4 decembre - Special Delivery!

Busy day with school – mainly at the Lycee. Nev not feeling very well “man flu” and is moping around and spent most of the day in bed – really hope he comes right for Saturday.
OH MY GOODNESS – A PACKAGE! When I collected the mail from school – a package for us – what a thrill. We were all just astounded and truly amazed by the thoughtfulness of our good friends – won’t name you, but you know who you are. It was a special moment that touched us all deeply. I think that is the first time I have received a ‘care’ package since Mum used to send them to me at uni. The girls were so excited! It made our day, week, month and XMAS!! So nice to have a bit of KIWI.

Mercredi le 3 decembre - Piscine!

Seph had been keen to go to the public pool and go swimming – so after lunch we headed off to Piscine Lafayette. I thought it had a slide but was really not sure if it had a wave pool, lazy river, diving well or any other attractions. What an experience! I wasn’t go swimming – (far too cold) anyway it turns out that spectators can’t go to the pool area or anywhere near it! I had to stay upstairs behind glass in a tiny little Salle D’Attente (waiting room).

Meanwhile Nev and the girls headed down to the change area, first they had to take socks and shoes off to wade through an antibacterial bath, then they entered an open change area with big drum like lockers. The change area was unisex but there were cubicles. After this they were shown how to use the lockers, no money required! Next,to the shower with antibacterial soap. Then as you were just about to exit the area and get close to the pool you went under another shower! Absolutely no shorts (Bermuda or other) or tee shirts. Everyone, including Nev had to have a swimming cap.
As it turns out nothing amazing – an open slide into a splash pool, next to the main children’s pool, no diving well, no lazy river, a few fountains and a spa – that the children were allowed in! A 50m lane pool and a nice outdoor area, well would be in Summer, with the showers for in and out!
The complex on the other side is the ice skating rink and in the centre is the admission desks and a restaurant – not a snack bar but a full on restaurant, it was quite busy too. From the restaurant you could see down into the pool complex and the rink. Quite well laid out and thought about. Except for the spectator thing!

After we headed into town to confirm our booking for Morocco in February – another hurdle organised.
I have been trying to use my Visa to pay for our Xmas accommodation on a system called “Paypal” which states it accepts Visa, but having heaps of problems, it states “does not support that type of card” and NO it isn’t because of insufficient funds!!! So I have been emailing back and forth to NZ who can’t really tell me why! Frustrating really as the lady in England is awaiting payment. All these sorts of things are time consuming and a pain.
Any bright ideas anyone?

Mardi le 2 decembre

Tuesday is always a busy day – Lycee + Primary and kindy kids! I had a class today at the Lycee who were asking me lots of questions about NZ as they are going to run a quiz show later on. So I got all my NZ resources organised and sorted out internet sites (with good examples of the haka- as we all know girls are not supposed to do it so I have never learnt it – also I don’t think I am nearly ugly enough, you really have to have a bunch of men who have all the facial expressions to make an impact, in my opinion!) and many books and other goodies, including Marmite! Well the time disappeared quickly but the worst thing is I couldn’t use my laptop – no technology in that classroom! After, we went to book the multimedia room for next time – no data projector either to show the photos – it really is quite technologically challenged compared to lucky us – data projector as standard equipment! We really do uptake on technology fast. Although – tonight I went to a meeting at the school after I received a letter from the City of Besancon. It turns out, I think this is the deal, that all children in CE2 ( name of Seph’s year level) are being given a free computer and internet connection and software etc.. by the Besancon City Council, I think it is theirs for quite some time, maybe permanently. Not sure of all the other bits but that is the general gist. Parents were told to bring a car as the boxes are big to collect the computer and the date they were being issued. I don’t think we will take up the offer, a bit impractical for us but what a tremendous initiative. It would be interesting to know the percentage of children who did have a computer at home and how often they used it. I know at home (I think there was only 1 or 2 in my class who didn’t have access.) the percentage is high. Obviously there is a real need for this here, maybe the childrena ren't as computer savvy as kiwi kids!

Lundi le premiere Decembre

Many jobs to do today – have to get paperwork done for school – I tend to use a Monday as my setting up for the week in lessons.
I also go to the CLA and have my conversation practice – I always look forward to this as it is so unthreatening and a chance to try phrases and new vocab out.
Amazingly – I got an email from AFS NZ!!!!
Went in to sort out Morocco and the lady was all set to put it through when Nev asked “Do N.Zers need a visa for Morocco?” Just as well as she went and looked it up and said “yes” better contact the Moroccan embassy in Dijon. The very thought of obtaining a visa now sends shivers up my spine! So home we went to do this and everywhere says we don’t need one – so will go back and book! Amazingly we won’t know flight details until about 2 weeks before as it is a charter plane, so have to wait till then to book connecting trains. It feels so far away February but really it isn’t that long – and Africa will offer its own challenges. Meanwhile a lot of organising to do for all these holidays!
By the way forgot to mention that last Thursday I went to the supermarket and called into the hairdressers to make an appointment – they took me straight away. It was very hard to describe what I wanted but amazingly after much gesturing and very simple French got my desires across. It is pleasing to know that “foils” exist here – they are called “mèche” I think. The only surprise I got was at the end – the price advertised is for the foils only – then you add, washing + conditioning+ cutting+ drying! EEkkk!!! Anyway will put a photo in so you can see!

Dimanche le 30 novembre

A quiet day till 4:00 when we were invited to a friend of mine, Ghislaine – one of the ladies who I practise speaking French with – to her house to meet her partner, Simon and her 16 month old son Victor. We arrived and then so did some other friends of theirs who also speak a bit of English – Remo and Clara, he is a physicist at the university and she works in the science department as a promotions officer. This was so great – Nev felt great meeting others and we had afternoon tea then we went for a walk to the markets where we all had a ‘caribou’ which is hot wine with whiskey and maple syrup, very nice but incredibly sweet. It was great to stand around all rugged up holding hot wine and talking with friends – Yes everyone – we miss you all – no doppelgangers have been found! It turns out that Simon also occasionally plays poker with the lads and Nev is invited to the next gathering! Simon actually works in Paris and lives there during the week. He returns Friday night and leaves 9:00 Sunday night to return!
Anyway it was great and it turns out that Remo works with a fellow kiwi at the university and he is going to forward us his contact – another native speaker for Nev and his cabin fever!
Also I spent the past 2 days researching for the next lots of school holidays – February and April. Easyjet pulled through and we have booked to go to Rome, Italy for April. We also have researched for February and as it is still quite cold we decided to go where the sun is shining – at least a bit – AFRICA! Well to Morocco in any case – again very cheap package deals all inclusive prices, including drinks – alcoholic and non alcoholic! So we are heading in to the travel agents tomorrow to confirm.

Samedi le 29 novembre - Marche de Noel

I am very surprised at how well we all sleep in – maybe we are using extra brain power but whatever it is we are terribly slow to get going. I know some of you are saying this is no surprise for me, however the rest of the family have definitely caught the bug!
After lunch we headed into town to the Marche de Noel - The opening of all the markets and they turn on all the lights. This was a really great experience, the effort people go to for the lovely warmth through lighting and displays it really is different in winter.
I still am trying to get my head around the fact it is December, I am naturally not thinking Xmas yet, it still feels like months away!
We went and sought refuge from the cold for an hour until the lights went on in a bar/café. We were sitting there and the guy next to us had a matchstick up on its end and was turning it without touching it – this of course had us intrigued. Turns out he is a professional magician. The kids thought this was great and to be honest so did I. He spoke English as he often has to perform internationally which certainly was a bonus. We struck up quite a conversation and soon enough we had our vey own private magical performance with Seph as star assistant! He placed the end of a teaspoon in Seph’s hand and then touched her hand for a few seconds (it looked like he was squeezing really hard – but Seph said he wasn’t and it didn’t hurt) when she unclasped her grip - it had a bend in it about 3 cm down from the end. It was just the normal spoon that came with the café. We certainly couldn’t bend it afterwards either – he didn’t bend it across the spoon but sides into the middle. Very amazing! He also did card tricks and by the power of his mind – made a pen drop after it was balanced across the top of a glass. It was really neat to talk with him and the girls were so engrossed.
Home after we saw all the lights on – the town did look pretty.