A belated happy new year to you all! May 2013 bring you good health and prosperity.
I was extremely happy to be able to go back to Jersey for Christmas, although I only got home on the 22nd December so I missed a lot of the run up to Christmas. It was so good to see all my friends and family again, and to be in an English speaking country.
The journey from Fauville-en-Caux to St Malo where I get the boat is about 3.5hrs by car so I decided to stop off in Caen along the way. I stayed overnight in the Mercure Centre Port de Plaisance which is a great hotel, highly recommended. I spent the afternoon exploring the town. First I ate alone (sad, isn't it?) but I had some moules frites and a great café gourmande in the best smelling restaurant in the area (I genuinely followed my nose!). I then decided go up to the old castle where they have a Musée de Beaux Arts and a museum about the history of Normande. The castle itself was built by William the Conquerer and there are abbeys in the town dedicated to him and his wife, though I didn't have time to see those. I decided to order myself a pretty cheeseboard and a glass of wine while I watched French TV and relaxed in the evening.
Back in Jersey after Christmas, Alex came to visit for a week and my family celebrated my father's 50th birthday with a dinner at the Somerville Hotel - one of my favourite places to eat out in Jersey! I also had a couple of friends round for New Year's Eve, the theme was 'ugly' knitwear...
Massive thank you to Maisie for the amazing Christmas jumper that she bought me for Christmas this year!
I was dreading coming back to France, not because I hate it or anything, I quite like it here, but the idea of having to drive 3.5 hours in one go back to Fauville made me want to die. I had a boat to catch at 8am and I arrived back at my place at about 4pm. I was completely exhausted. The novelty of driving has definitely worn off.
I've settled back into the routine of life in France now. I'm back to teaching and the kids have been mostly great so far (though I have the dreaded 4es coming up). On the weekend I was trying to decide how I can plan a really kickass lesson for them then a small voice in my head said 'It doesn't matter what you plan, they'll just muck about anyway.' Still, I'm determined to try to get them to work and enjoy it, even if some of them try my patience.
At the end of my first week back I went to Paris and do Disneyland with some of my friends from RHUL, Steph and Jenny. I hadn't seen Steph since June and Jenny since August so it was so good to get together again. I was a little worried that perhaps I was too old and the magic wouldn't be there anymore but it was AMAZING. I even stayed for the fireworks at the end; I've never done that before because I was quite young the last few times I went and my parents decided to take us home, or go to dinner at a show. Definitely one of the best days ever! I'm sooooo tempted to go back to the Disneyland in Hong Kong this summer (even though I went last time). The thing I was not prepared for was the extortionate prices int he gift shops! I was expecting expensive but not €6 for a plastic biro! NO ME GUSTA!
In other news, I have a new favourite annoying song...
It's the background music for a lot of videos by a guy on YouTube called haywong709 who does videos in Cantonese (trying to improve my skills, you see). The song gets stuck in your head for hours though.
That's all for now, dears.
ttfn x
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