Une année presque terminée

Where oh where does time go? It's been 2 and a half weeks since my last post, we're now over a quarter of the way through 2013, and I'VE ONLY GOT 4 WEEKS LEFT. What's even sadder is I'm about to enter into my last week of teaching. I know I moan about some of the kids, I have to wake up early, and lesson planning is a bit of a drag, but I really will miss being an assistante anglaise. I'll miss feeling like a celebrity surrounded by shouts of "'ello Emma, 'ow hare you'" every time I walk from one side of the school to the other. I'll miss little Maël in 6eme, my favourite pupil whose legs dangle off the chair since he is so tiny, and who makes such an effort to speak English in class despite making a mistake evey other word. I'll miss my car journeys with Laurent as he quizzes me each week on English current affairs to which of course I am totally oblivious. I'll miss school lunches where I get the opportunity to try random but delicious French dishes such as rabbit, stingray, and duck drumsticks. Most of all I'll probably miss Domie and Anne-Lise, who have never ceased to try and make me feel welcome. 

But hey, it's not over yet, and I've still got to tell you what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks. I shall attempt to summarize the highlights.

Rob's been here again. He didn't want me to be alone for Easter, so turned up at Stansted airport as I was about to go back to France after having been back for a day to go to a friend's 21st, informing me that he'd booked himself onto my flight and would be staying for the next 9 days. We didn't do much, since I had work, and he is currently training for 2 MARATHONS (once again I'm going to be cheeky and post the link to his sponsor page just in case anyone is feeling generous: virginmoneygiving.com/run-rob-run), but we ate yummy food, did more walking, and went to the Easter masses. 

The Easter Vigil was one of the nicest masses I've ever been to. Normally in England I'm playing keyboard or clarinet for this mass so I don't really get to appreciate it properly, but with the fire and candlelight procession into the beautiful Eglise Sainte-Hilaire, joyous singing resonating around the building, and church bells being rung on the Gloria to celebrate the ressurection, I felt so lucky. I wish I could have subtly taken a picture of everyone with their candles.

On Easter Sunday, after mass we went for a walk to Saint-Romans-les-Melle, which I'd already been to but Rob hadn't, and I think it's one of my favourite places in the area. It's just so peaceful and pictureque, and there were so many flowers. I literally couldn't stop taking pictures, Rob was getting a bit frustrated.

Here's some more photos from our afternoon in St-Romans:

Lavoir de Saint-Romans on La Béronne river

These little lambs have yet to be told by their parents that it's rude to stare

Christ est ressuscité, il est vraiment ressuscité!

On Monday evening we watched the sunset, but got there too early so left before it had fully set:

Night night Sun.

On Wednesday Rob left.

On Friday night I went to Poitiers with Mike, Sonia, Bethan, Amy and Lizzie for an 'end of year abroad' night out. It was a really good night, but was sad to think that might be the last time I see most of them :(

Other than that, time has been spent trying to do my YARP. Cry :(

And so here begins my final few weeks. A la prochaine xxx 

Please VOTE FOR MY BLOG!

I got a nice surpise message on my blog the other day, when I was informed that someone had nominated my blog for the iX13 (International eXchange and eXperience blog competition)! Merci mille fois to whoever that was, it really means a lot to know that someone appreciates what I write here, and that my 'memoirs' are serving as more than just a way of documenting my experiences for my own personal future benefit.

So now comes the part when I ask you all to PLEASE VOTE FOR ME! Voting's open until February 17th, and you can do so by visiting http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/vote-for-your-favorite-ix13-blog. The list of blogs is in alphabetical order, so you'll find mine in the M section, obviously :P Thank you so so much to anybody that votes for mine! 

While I'm writing a new post, I may as well tell you what I've been up to the past week. The main event was going to Poitiers for the day on Friday with Mike. This was the 4th main time I've been to Poitiers, and it was the 4th timed it rained whilst I was there. Needless to say, my impressions of Poitiers aren't the greatest. Nevertheless, we managed to have an enjoyable day, despite the weather and despite having to wake up at 6:30am in order to meet our CoVoiturage chauffeur so as to make transport a lot easier and cheaper. We decided to be touristy, and went inside the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, the Notre-Dame la Grande Church, and the Palais de Justice where it took over 5 minutes at the security in the entrance after we were asked to open every single bag-in-a-bag we had, and where at one point I thought I was going to end up naked the way they were going, asking me to remove item of clothing after item of clothing to see what the guilty metallic object was that was setting off the doodah. The rest of the day was spent shopping, eating, café-ing, getting wetter and wetter, and eventually meeting up with Bethan and a friend of Mike's.

The beautiful painted interior of the Cathédrale

What else.... oh yeah, it was finally sunny this weekend! It was so gorgeous in fact that I ended up going for 2 walks on Sunday and discovering that Melle is actually bigger than I thought it was so that to my surprise I ended up getting lost.

Layer of ice on a crisp sunny morning in Melle

Eglise Saint-Pierre, Melle

The pretty woodland area at the bottom of my road

I also got a shock yesterday when I walked out of my flat to find 3 chickens by the door. I knew from then on it was going to be a good day!

My Sunday morning surprise. Bonjour Messieurs les Poules!

More exciting news - this evening I have booked a hotel for Mike, Sonia, Bethan and myself to stay in in Bordeaux at the weekend. It's been on my to-go list for ages, so I'm really looking forward to that....although I've just checked the weather forecast and rain's due the whole time we're there.