Somewhere to begin

This might seem like an odd time to start my year abroad blog, given that my time in France for the moment is nearer to the end than the beginning, and part 2 doesn't kick off properly till October - I agree. Nonetheless, yesterday my summer with the lovely (and mad) Paxé family came to an end, and I've moved in with my French 'copine' Manon for a week which should bear a bit more resemblance to a holiday! So this is where we begin.

Miellerie de L'Oratoire

Let me start by updating you on the back story. For those of you who don't know, I spent most of last summer as a 'jeune fille au pair' for a family living in Sainte Anne du Castellet on the French Riviera. In a miellerie (honey 'farm'). Lucky me! Au pairing is a mixed bag, (especially when one of the children is a psychopath) but I had a wonderful summer - so much so, in fact, that I decided to come back for a second helping this year!

Perfect afternoon at the beach

So I rocked up to Marseille airport at the beginning of August, suitcase full of summer dresses and bikinis, and unable for the life of me to remember why, after leaving last year, I had vowed never to au pair again - I must have been mad. But then the psychopath child locked me in the cellar in the dark and reminded me precisely why. And after a delicious dinner (lovely rare steak with frites, followed by cheese... followed by more cheese... followed by ice cream... followed by more cheese), I remembered the 7kg I managed to gain last summer. Ah well, the sun was out, and I was by the sea - on a honey farm! And I was going to make the most of it. So I have eaten lots and lots of delicious food, drunk lots of delicious wine, sunbathed and spoken lots and lots of French, which gets progressively easier each day. A very proud moment last Sunday was when I told Olivier (the dad) a joke, and he managed a weak smile and told me it 'wasn't bad'. I find humour is one of the hardest things to translate between languages - especially my rather dry, quintessentially English brand. But generally I am in a fortunate position with my language, as the horrible 'Oh God I have been learning French for nearly ten years but I can't actually speak a word' phase (an inevitable part of the moving abroad process) happened last year.

Me at Saint Cyr market

I have also been  making the most of all my favourite things from last year - especially trips to the market on Sunday mornings, which I love so much that Olivier is coming to pick me up from Manon's at 8am tomorrow so I don't miss out. Having usually been on the tourist end of the French market experience it's a little bizarre to be working there, but it's doing no harm to their sales figures to have me helping out (I think I appeal to the key honey demographics of pensioners and tourists), and at any rate, I always have a great time. Probably helped by the 3 or 4 beers Olivier and I consume over the course of the morning, and, of course, pain au chocolat for breakfast. Yummy.

No gloves either!

One thing I didn't get to do last year was to don the full bee suit and visit the hives. This always greatly disappointed people when I told them I had spent the summer on the honey farm but had no bee suit pictures to prove it - so this year I was determined not to let the opportunity pass me by. The bee suit was happening. So, one sunny day when there was a visit to the miellerie, Olivier let me put on the suit and act as demonstrator for the day! How exciting! What you can't see in the photo though, is that I was wearing flip flops, so the suit was mostly for show. What a daredevil. On a side note, one unexpected (and not unwelcome) side effect of my trip is I am no longer the slightest bit afraid of bees. (Wasps are still a bitch though...)

Evidence of my 'tan'...

One of the best bits about coming back for a second time (well, actually third, if you count my 3 day 'séjour' in June) is that people are starting to recognise me as 'l'anglaise', mostly either by how 'blanche' I am (this is actually rather disheartening as I am currently about as tanned as I get, but sadly true), or by the fact that I have clearly been relished as a foreign delicacy by the mosquitos. But mostly it's nice that I'm starting to become 'connue', and it's a community which I am starting to feel more and more a part of. This was especially lovely at the Brûlat fête, where I had a rather frightening experience where a creepy man was following me. (I appreciate how much of a non-story this is, but it was scary at the time!) Anyway, everyone there went out of their way to make sure I got home safely, and the next day I had about 8 different guys tell me to let them know if I saw him again and that they'd sort it out (or 'sort him out' - got to love that little ambiguity in the French language!) Luckily he didn't reappear, but it was good to know anyway. People are also fascinated by the fact I am English, and are all either desperate to practice their (often drunk and terrible) language skills, or to introduce me to French singers all of whom they refer to only by their first names, and who they can't believe I've never heard of. But I'm becoming more educated in French culture as the days go by, which has to be a good thing.

The 'boulodrome' in Ste Anne

Another favourite hobby of Frenchies around here is laughing at my assistantship destination for the next year - Montargis (in the north of France, about an hour south of Paris). What amuses me the most about this is that their main criticism is 'You'll be shocked by the weather there!' Hah! By comparison to summers on the Côte d'Azur, perhaps, but compared to winter time in Durham it will be practically tropical! Anyway, (I can only assume because of an aversion to the glacial weather...) I haven't been inundated with offers of visits, except by the older of the two Paxé kids, Benjamin (who wants to finish a game he has started on my iPod) and, under duress, Manon. So looks like I'm relying on my English friends for visits (hint!)

Montargis!

On that note, I feel like things for my year as an 'assistante' in Montargis are starting to come together! I've been in touch with the future Spanish assistant at the same Lycée, who informs me that the school have a flat for us - so that's good news, I won't have to go househunting any more! Just have to keep my fingers crossed I get on with this Spanish girl - it'll be just the two of us as there's no German assistant this year (although that does mean I'll have a guest room - hint!) To be fair though, I still haven't heard anything from the school, so this could all change... I've also had a lovely message from a girl who was an assistant in Montargis last year and she says it is "BEAUTIFUL" but that "going out prospects = nil". Sounds a lot like Durham, really, so I'm not too worried. What I am slightly more worried about is the nearly 50 page document  the British Council have sent me about the French bureaucracy I am about to encounter. Tuesday I have a meeting at the bank to try to open an account - wish me luck!