Back a wee bit.....

I'm at home in Auckland and still struggling with blasted dial up which I was quite happy with before.... (My life is now divided in two - BF and AF. Not too difficult to work out!) But I will have a go at writing an entry and seeing how well the photos download. Or is that upload? (In fact they take ages, so I haven't put on my artistic shots of butterflies, :-) or me standing plaintively at Poitiers Railway Station. Another time perhaps!)
My last day in France was probably not quite as sad as some others as I was pretty busy and didn't have too much time to dwell on things. Basically I got up and got ready and finished packing my suitcase and cleaned up a bit. I left behind a lot of stuff - electric jug, electric mixer, toaster... etc etc. But I was never going to bring them home. I also left behind some clothes which were either too bulky or too ugly to bring back!
At about midday Christian and Marie-Helene took me to the station. It is hard to express my feelings of affection for them both. They have been wonderful friends from the start. I think that Christian got a bit pissed off with me when I first moved into the studio and kept knocking on the door to use the internet. But once I got it set up for myself all was well! And we got on really well. In fact the three of us enjoyed each other's company immensely. We had some great discussions - politics, education, sport... the usual stuff. The language was never really a barrier when I was with them. Which isn't to say there wasn't the occasional misunderstanding! I lived my own life and they lived theirs (tricky to know where the apostrophe goes there so I'll leave it out!! lol) but we often came together to do stuff. I was really incredibly lucky.

Anyway, as I was saying, off we went to the station. By the time we got there and I fiddled round with my overweight suitcase and fished some stuff out which M-H said she would post, the train had arrived (en provenance de Bordeaux - I LOVE the train announcements!) and I had to haul my luggage on board; suddenly I had left my hometown and my friends. What can I say? I have hardly had time to think about the departure since, but just quietly here in my room and thinking about it now... well, I'm just grateful I had the opportunity to do what I did. What an experience.
At Charles de Gaulle Airport my 26.8kgs suitcase was checked though without comment - phew - and off I went. Great flights with Lufthansa, and on the long Munich to Singapore leg I sat with two super young women, Barbara and Dorotha. We then hung out together at Singapore airport, which is a bit like a hotel anyway. Have you been to the butterfly place there? It's really cool.

And so on to Auckland. My flight was 45 minutes early which somewhat threw my wonderful reception committee, as I arrived before they did! Lol. But it was great to see everyone. And if my head was struggling to take it all in a week ago, it is coping a little bit better now. In fact I have just finished unpacking my suitcases and some boxes which I had posted last year and that has decluttered my brain a little.
School tomorrow, and Brian, my boss, rang this morning to say that I would now be taking over a different class from what I had been told. A more difficult class. "Unsettled" was the word he used. Hahahaha! Well, I'm unsettled too so we'll make a good team. I'll keep you posted!