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 

Storms, flowers, castles and eggs

Last week spring finally arrived. This week it's wandered off somewhere, but will hopefully find its way back soon. The gardeners have been let loose in Melle, however, and there are flowers everywhere! 

Whilst you may have cottoned on to the fact that I love summer and sun and warmth, I'm also a girl who likes her storms. It must have rubbed off from my dad who will get up in the middle of the night and stand by the window for half an hour if there's a storm. On Sunday there was suddenly a storm here, and the rumbles made the glasses in my kitchen clink. So I threw open the windows and watched the hail come down like I've never seen it, as the thundery sky passed by overhead. It made for some not bad photos if I may say so myself:

The other day I came home to find a LOCAL PAPER in my letter box. No clue why this is the first I've received, but I was intrigued as to what could possibly happpen in Melle to warrant writing a news article about. Turns out Melle is actually an exciting little place when you dig deep. I'm sure none of you care at all about the history of my dear little town, but I'm going to summarise the article anyway:

During the recent lime-tree felling and replanting exercise in the centre of Melle, an interesting discovery was made as the workers uncovered part of a wall that belonged to the old castle of Melle. Apparently this was the last part of the wall in the 'jigsaw' so to speak, but no one had been able to locate it. Until now. The chateau was built during the 11th and 12th centuries, and was composed of a motte-and-bailey, one or two curtain walls, and surrounded by a dry moat. Most of the building was left in ruin in 1577 after Henry III ordered the castle and the town's fortifications to be demolished during the Wars of Religion. As a result all that remains today are some of the ramparts, including the recently discovered 4.5m thick wall underneath the main town square.

An 17th century engraving of Melle with the castle on the right, by a Monsieur Chastillon, which I've stolen from the paper, muahaha.

Other than that, I've had a very uneventful week. Apart from agreeing to receive my first ever Couchsurfer who is going to be staying with me tomorrow night and other Wednesdays over the next few weeks. Yay to potentially having another French friend (who is relatively young at 25), with the added bonus being that she's a music teacher, and not just that but a clarinet teacher. How coincidental is that?! Hopefully she's nice and we can toot away together. 

Dinner time for me now. The pressure cooker is whistling away as if it may explode volcano-style any second now if I don't go and relieve the egg steaming away inside it. Yes, I've made the most amazing discovery of pressure cooking eggs when I want them hard-boiled for my salads. For some scientific reason this method of cooking puts a layer of air between the shell and the white, thus making them easy to peel, and I know no one else in the entire world universe is going to find this piece of culinary genious in the tiniest bit interesting, so I'll just go and enjoy my easy-peeling hard-boiled eggs with a smile on my face.

Bon appétit ;)

Fresh daffodils in front of an 11th century church....poetry right there