Video

Well, it really hadn't occurred to me to put videos on here until I read Tiffany's blog today. This is the only video I have taken, and it might be a bit long. If it messes up your computer please let me know! If it works then I guess I could take a few more. Quite exciting! This is Guy (aka TM) singing when I was having lunch with him and his wife at their place. He is accompanied by his little grand daughter! It starts a bit abruptly because I was a bit slow at getting into gear. Let me know how it goes.

Les parcours du coeur.

This morning Marie-Helene and I got dropped off in Centre Ville by Christian, and we did a fundraising walk for what I guess is the equivalent of the Heart Foundation. We arrived a bit after the start so basically were walking on our own, but unless everyone arrived back at the starting point and then quickly left before we saw them, then the turnout was actually quite disappointing anyway. It was really well organised with all the streets closed off and men with luminous vests on at intersections. Actually, you see men with luminous vests a lot - there is usually a bike race or some such thing on most weekends. Well, since the weather has picked up anyway. It only cost 1 euro to take part, and you got a T-shirt with that! I gave 3 euros which still didn't seem like a great deal.
It wasn't a very long circuit, (not like the City to Surf Les - well done!) but some of it was down a street I hadn't walked down before, and Marie-Helene was able to show me the house where Christian grew up, (which you can see here),
the apartment where she and Christian lived when they were first married, and her old office in the Education Department. When Christian grew up there, many families lived in the lovely old houses, but of course the houses have nearly all been converted into studios for students now, so everything is different. But it's understandable - it's very close to Centre Ville. Well, in fact it IS Centre Ville. So it was all very interesting.
We got back to the square in front of the Hotel de Ville just in time for the speeches and prizes. Here I am having a jus d'orange after my efforts.
There were a few prizes and one was an award for the person who had come from the farthest away, and M-H was gutted that I hadn't put NZ as my address when I registered. In fact a friend of hers rushed up to tell them that there was someone there from New Zealand. But in fact I live in Poitiers at the moment and I would have felt like a real fraud winning the prize. And anyway, I have no need for a cup! (Now had it been chocolates I might have gone out to bat for myself, but.....)
I also got to meet the Mayor, as M-H knows him. AND I had my photo taken with him!
He is the Mayor and from what I can gather is also the local member of parliament. Not in Sarkozy's team. (And speaking of Sarkozy, he is flying into Poitiers tomorrow apparently, but then going straight on to Chatelleraut, another city nearby.)
Working backwards, yesterday I went for a good walk in the morning with Annick, and then later on I went to the cinema with M-H and Christian. We went to see a film called Welcome. It was just wonderful - quite sad, but superbly done. It's a French film, but a lot of the dialogue was in English which was good for moi! Anyway, if you get the chance to see it I highly recommend it.
And now it's Sunday afternoon. I have a test tomorrow at uni and also some homework to do, so I have plenty to keep me out of trouble. The photo at the start is me with Notre Dame in the background, taken while we were waiting for Christian to come and pick us up. Bonne semaine, tout le monde.

Mon quartier, St Eloi

My suburb. Just a few pictures. As you know, there are some utterly beautiful places in France. And the centre of Poitiers is packed with history and is lovely to explore. But it's not all quaint with climbing roses. I live on the edge of St Eloi, in part of a house which looks to be quite old. Certainly our street is very established. However, most of St Eloi has been built over the last few years to cater for the burgeoning immigrant population, in the main. There are efforts to make it into a good community, with parks being developed, a new Lycee just about ready to open and a good bus service. I'm not all that fussed about all the apartment blocks, and it much more densely "apartmented" than these photos really show, but it always seems quiet and perfectly OK to me. In fact, I hadn't even noticed any graffiti until I looked at these photos! I have been told that the Police are always here at night, but I think it might be "Give a dog a bad name" sort of story. Not that I am wandering around the streets at night so I really don't know! So, no cute cottages, no roses sprawling up the walls, no little courtyards...... but real people live here just like they do everywhere else.
What else? Not much news really. I was supposed to be going to the village of Ruffec this weekend, but the people have cancelled due to sickness. Fair enough, but I was really looking forward to it! The weather has packed up a bit too, so I'm not sure what I'll do. If I go into town for a wander round I just end up buying chocolate! You would wonder how so many specialist chocolate shops could make a living, but I guess if there are enough people like me around it's not too hard!
So a few more random things. If I have done anything useful while I have been here I hope I have educated at least a handful of people about New Zealand. Like the Russian guy in our uni class who wondered how I would travel to New Zealand after flying into Australia on my way home. I told him I wasn't flying into Australia. But you wouldn't be able to fly direct, he said. Well, the plane has to stop to fill up with petrol or whatever they use, but yes, after Singapore it was straight on to New Zealand. And we do have airports. We even have our own airline! (Pixie Town Air, possibly.) Perhaps people have a vision of something akin to the Chathams. I don't know. The Mexican girl in our class thought that we were up near Greenland, but I suppose that's a not uncommon view. The theme in class at the moment is Women's Rights and the text book makes the assumption that we all come from countries where women have held no leadership positions. I seem to be always doing the "But in New Zealand...." thing. I think even the Prof was doubtful when I told her that we had had two women PMs and that Helen Clark had been the leader for 9 years. They also now know which country was the first to grant women the right to vote!I would have liked to have had enough grasp of the language to have mentioned Dame Sylvia, Sian Ellis and all the other recent women leaders. Mind you, I would have also liked to have had enough grasp of the language to explain how I always seemed to be ahead of my time and never quite came to terms with waiting in the car outside the Woolston Working Men's Club while John had drinks after cricket, because women weren't allowed in!! And there are other similar tales, but perhaps that might be straying a little away from the scope of the Blog title. :-) But feel free to ask me! Anyway, it was quite funny listening to the Korean girls, well, mainly my friend Gi, going on very passionately about the subservient role women have in Korea. Interesting!
Oh yes, here's another thing that has popped into my mind. You know how people always answer cellphones and say in a loud voice, "Yes, yes I'm on the train!" Well, I had my big moment the other day when someone rang me and I was obliged to say (in French), "Yes, yes I'm on the bus!" Quite funny really! And speaking of buses, when I got on one day this week I met a chap I know, who did the kissing on both cheeks thing. So I texted Louise and said, "I got kissed on the bus this morning." She thought that not being satisfied with just having a Toilet Man I now had a Bus Man too! In fact, I also have Restaurant Man, but there isn't much of a story to tell there.
Oh yes.... have I told you about all the Skype calls I get from men in Africa? I don't know how they are able to track down names and find women in France, but I'm sure it is relatively straightforward. Anyway, these blokes obviously REALLY want to come and live here, so chatting up a bird is an option I guess. They often ring, and I just ignore the call. Or they chat. Usually it is an Arab-ish sort of name - from Tunisia, or Algeria, or wherever. But last night I had a chat message from Fred! Very African! Who actually said "I would like to make friends with you. I would like to have a friend in France. I can be a good friend for you." I have tried replying in the past, but think it's best to pretend I don't exist. I suspect that in their determination for a move to France they wouldn't even be put off my my advancing years! As Hilary suggested about someone else, they are probably just after my valid Carte de Sejour. :-)
We move our clocks forward for Daylight Saving this weekend. And on that note..... Feel free to leave a comment. :-)

Comments from George W, and Margaret Mead.

I am delighted you gave up any aspirations to become one of the wives of a wealthy Lebanese citizen. I did not lavish my teaching skills on Room 9 to have one of my favourite 42 pupils become one of the wives of a Lebanon husband; even the favourite wife. Remember, "The Wedding March," is alleged to be the greatest battle song ever written. From George. :-)

And I like this a lot too - Hilary sent me a Daily Reflections On Love calendar which is a fundraiser for Help Free the Children. www.freethechildren.org.nz I was most taken with this quote yesterday from Margaret Mead. Never believe that a few caring peple can't change the world. For indeed, that's all who ever have.

A lovely day and why you should always check that your camera battery is fully charged.

Now I really should go to bed because I'm quite tired. I also should do my homework, because for the first time I haven't done it! (I'm talking about the first time recently. I don't want you consulting my teachers at Otago Girls. Yes yes it's true, I admit it! I didn't do my homework!) But anyway, as I was saying.... I just want to write this because I'm buzzing really. I have had such an enjoyable day. It's funny how things turn out...... This morning I was lounging about in my dressing gown and wondering what was happening with the tennis, when I got a text from Annick, asking if I would like to walk. I thought - right, if I'm not going to the tennis then indeed I will walk. I checked with Guy and as I suspected I was going to have to get there myself on the bus. I could perfectly understand that, but decided that although I would have liked to have watched the finals I didn't want to get the Sunday bus and sit there by myself. So I decided that I would walk with Annick. I texted her and she said she would come and pick me up in 40 minutes! I hadn't realised we were going this morning! So I rushed around and got ready. And waited at the gate for 35 minutes and she got lost but never mind. Off we went to a man-made lake about 25 minutes away called Lac St Cyr.
It's a really big recreational area and it took us about an hour to walk round it. Very nice indeed. At one stage it seemed quite reminiscent of walking round the Nelson Airport, especially when we walked past a golf course. We also went to the golf clubrooms there and got a great view of the surrounding area.
And I saw three old chaps there, and Bass, I could have sworn that it was you, Hazza and Wowsie! And then one of him spoke, and he was a Pom. It WAS you! :-)
We then went back to Annick's place in Poitiers and she cooked lunch. Nice again. Then she asked what I would like to do in the afternoon! I said I would be happy to watch rugby on TV! Lol. No, she said, she hates rugby. She got out a whole pile of pamphlets and newspaper cuttings about things to do in the region. Then she exclaimed that she had a good idea, and off we went to La Roche Posay! I have been wanting to go there as I have been reading about it. It is a place where people have been going for many many years to "take the waters". A sort of thermal resort.
We went into one of the centres there and got quite a bit of info on massages etc, but it really is very expensive. I had thought that a weekend retreat some time might be nice, but in my dreams I think. We walked around the town, and watched some chaps playing Boules.
I don't know if I have mentioned Boules before, but you really do see lots and lots of games being played all the time and all over the place. La Roche Posay had quite a few people milling round, but in good French style they had nothing to do, as it was Sunday and everything was closed! This photo is of people filling up containers with The Water. I suppose they drink it, but it's supposed to have restorative properties for the skin, so they might wash with it. It looks a bit like they are standing at a Pissoir, doesn't it? :-)
We also visited the Casino there, which is very popular, but we couldn't get in because we had no ID. In fact we should have had, because I think it is illegal to be out and about without any. And actually the guy at the door was Samoan, although he didn't speak English. But even though that made us almost cousins, he still wouldn't let us in!
We then headed off again. Well, we ended up in a little village which has been voted the loveliest village in France - Angles sur L'Anglin. And yes, it quite probably is the loveliest village in France. At last - the typical French village that fulfills the picture postcard expectations! A ruined castle on a hill,
narrow cobbled streets, hills so that there were many viewing vantage points, a river,
quaint houses with climbing roses on the walls..... It was perfect. Annick's son and his wife chose there to have their wedding photos taken. I think I would go there for that too.
Perhaps I was in the right frame of mind - I don't know - but I just loved Angles sur L'Anglin. I might add that this is where my camera battery died. I realised then that I had NOT needed to take 3 photos of people playing golf, or of swans on the lake - one must always be ready for the unexpected! Lol. However, Annick has assured me we can go back. Probably in June when the roses are blooming. Aaaah! Anyway, we walked around the wee streets and then had a cup of tea at a gorgeous little restaurant right opposite the castle ruins. I will not mention the crepe for Annick and the Glace Gartempe (ice cream sundae) pour moi.
And so we drove back home, listening to, and unfortunately for Annick, me singing along to, an Elvis CD. It was just SUCH a lovely day. Annick was great and enjoys doing the same sorts of things. Nice. So that was my day. I didn't get home till about 7.30pm. Tired but happy.

Some photos

I'll just post a few photos of this and that. The cafeteria at uni. No, not THE cafeteria, A cafeteria, as there are several. In fact far and away the smallest one. And sign at the bus stop announcing that there would be very few buses the next day due to the big strike. And Marie-Helene and me on a walk, which included a visit to the little villlage of Montamise. The Boulangerie was lovely, but of course I have yet to meet one that isn't! Now, I realise that those of you with Facebook accounts will have seen these. Sorry about that. There are four groups, Dear Reader. Blog readers. (Thank you thank you.) Facebook fiddlers. A combination of the two. And, group 4 - those who don't do either and send the occasional email saying, "Now, tell me what you have been up to!" :-)
It's still the 21st here. 34 years ago today Toby was born. Would it be terribly corny to say, "My, where has the time gone?"

Wedding.

Nah, not mine! (I'll keep you posted on that one! Lol.) I have actually been invited to a wedding in Lebanon by my university friend Abir, who is the bride. I really like Abir and as you know love doing different thngs, but there are just too many fish hooks. She is at pains to assure me that I don't have to be a Muslim; Christians are allowed to be there. I don't think I even qualify in that category to be honest, but that might be a bit hard for her to comprehend! I think it would be a wonderful opportunity, but a)I would be a wee bit nervous about flying into Beirut really, and b)I have just checked flights and it is damned expensive. Even flying with such well-regarded airlines as Bulgarian Air! (Don't they sound pretty confidence-boosting?) It's in August, and a week or two before I am due to head back to NZ, so the timing is quite good, but sadly I don't think it's an option. I haven't entirely dismissed the idea, but....
What do you think?
Of course, I could end up as the star in one of those "Not Without My Daughter" stories, as I might be in the market for Abir's father. I think she is a bit worried about me being on my own, and said that I could perhaps become another wife for her father! I said that I didn't think I was a sharing kind of gal, but she assured me that he would like me best! Today she even told me that she had told her father about me and he wants to see a photo!! DO NOT WORRY! I AM SURE IT IS ALL A JOKE AND I DO NOT PLAN TO MARRY AN ALREADY MARRIED MAN WHO LIVES IN LEBANON! (However, were he a nice French man....)