Toussaint Week 2 - A Week With My Other Half!

Salut!

If you've been keeping up to date, you'll know how *ahem* wonderful the first week of my holidays was, and how much I needed a break, to spend the second week exploring some of Brittany with Lewis.

After waiting like what seemed forever, Lewis finally arrived on Friday evening, with a carload of some things from home. Y'know, all the important things, baked beans, spaghetti hoops, Dairy Milk, gravy granules etc. Plus I have another suitcase full of my winter woolies, a stack of books to read in my spare time, and a few DVDs. After unpacking the car, we had a homemade Nando's for tea (yup, missed that too!) and set to catching up as much as we could on The Walking Dead! 

On Saturday we ventured to the very cultural Ikea to do a bit of shopping. This was necessary because the furniture the school had put in my room was tragic. Eg. A wardrobe without a rail to hang things. I left Ikea with a bookcase, cubing unit and lots of candles. Once it was all assembled, and my duvet and cover from home were on the bed, my room looked more cozy and welcoming, unlike the prison cell it resembled before. 

Sunday was a lazy day where I showed Lewis around the town, despite the fact that everything was closed. We planned to visit Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo the next day.

Mont Saint Michel was breathtaking. I loved it there. The picturesque buildings, the drawbridge, the cobbled streets and the inviting smell of the food cooking in the numerous restaurants. I felt like I was in Diagon Alley. 

After Mont Saint Michel we drove over to Saint Malo, which was a really special place for us to visit as it was a place Lewis went on holiday to with his family when he was a bit younger. Traffic getting into Saint Malo was ridiculous and we had no idea why, but when we got there, there were thousands of tourists, loud music, and lots of boats and it turned out that it was the start of the Route de Rhum which is a yacht race between Brittany and Guadeloupe, which takes place every 4 years, and we just happened to stumble across all on the excitement. What are the chances?!

The beaches looked incredible, especially due to the fact that we were there at the end of October.

Then Lewis showed me this place, which is a swimming pool built into the sea, where it is revealed when the tide is out! What a cool idea! I wished I'd brought my cozzie!

Then of course, how can you be a tourist in Brittany without indulging in a Crêpe au caramel au beurre salé. Delicious!

On Wednesday, we decided to visit one of the Spanish assistants in Lannion, which is about 30 minutes away by car. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos, but we had a lovely walk around, and again, ended up in a Crêperie for lunch! On our way home, we decided to detour and drive up to the Côte de Granit Rose which was beautiful.

On the way home we stopped off in a place called Ploumanac'h, which again, did not tai to impress!

And of course, how can a trip to France be complete without des macarons?! Chocolate and chocolate orange! A win.

After a lovely week it was time to say goodbye to Lewis which was awful. I'd had such a great time and knew that from that point on, it would be a long stretch until Christmas before seeing anyone from home again. It was so difficult saying goodbye, and many tears were shed! I tried to focus on making sure Lewis drove home and arrived safely, and by that point, my holidays were over...briefly.

Toussaint Week 1

Bonjour!

For those of you who don't know, Toussaint is the name of the holidays in October/ November. As a language assistant, I had a whole two weeks off work, which was great! My holidays were eventful to say the least.

In the first couple of days we had a knock at the door from a plumber who said that there was a huge leak in the school, so if we needed water, we'd have to climb in and out of the manhole to turn the valves. (If you need water....phttt of course we need water!) For the next few days we trekked to the hole to turn the valve as and when we needed it. However, one day it stopped working all together and we ended up having to spend the night with one of the teachers from the school. The teacher took myself and Talena to an amazing creperie close to his house and made sure we had everything we needed during the water crisis!

The head teacher was called to sort out the problem, but was far too busy spending the holidays on his boat to fix the issue! Alright for some, eh?! Eventually (two weeks later) the problem was fixed, just in time for the students to return to school. 

In the second week my fiancé came to stay so that we could do a bit more exploring of the area. Stay tuned for my next post about the second week of the holidays!

Bises
xx

Language Assistant Training Day

Well, to be completely honest, I had no idea what to expect from the training day. First of all, it was held on 6th October,  and my teaching contract started the 1st, which in my eyes seemed a bit pointless. My training day was in St Brieuc, about a 15 minute train journey from Guingamp. 

There was around 20 language assistants from all around the world; Canada, South America, Austria, China etc. In the morning we filled out paperwork and spoke about what is expected of us in our jobs. The afternoon provided us with ideas for teaching. We were split into groups based on our native language and had a lesson on teaching. 

The training day wasn't amazing in itself, but it was a great way of meeting other assistants. From the day I have managed to stay in contact with a few assistants, which means there is always someone else to visit, and somewhere else to stay for a few days!

It is comforting to be in touch with people who are in exactly the same position as you. You can swap lesson ideas, talk about what you've been up to and it's just nice to have friends when you're in a foreign country.

There's not an awful lot else to say about the training day, other than don't be nervous about it, like I was, and make the most of meeting new people!

A bientôt
xxx