Kasteelhof 'T Hooghe Ypres

... else trying to find out if they're British as well (hey, that's me!), and look quite defensive when somebody else sits next to them (hey, that's me as well!). They then get out an English book and try to look very superior because they speak another language. (I do that sometimes.)<br>A lot of French people, particularly early in the morning, sit down and close their eyes and somehow magically wake up when it's their stop and run off the train. I don't know how they can do that ...

... art" exhibition with Annabelle, the teacher in charge of me at school and a good friend. We went to see an exhibition by Peter Klasen, a German artist called "Retrospective". This was by far the most bizarre "art" I have ever seen in my life, ranging from photo collages to toilets with ultraviolet lights to a mock-up of "The Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka, a short story which I read last year for University and found most disturbing! I'm sure you ...

... had forgotten that I was coming, or in one case, did not turn up themselves! I taught a lesson on Saturday jobs on Friday morning which was very difficult, the text was very challenging for the students and I'm not sure how much they took in. In the afternoon Annabelle and I taught a lesson together and we used the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette which was excellent and we both really enjoyed the class, hopefully the students did too!<br><br ...

... we then went to Lille, the fifth largest city in France, by the way it is at the top of my list of places visited so far. Our hostel was based in Lille. We all went out as a group and found some really nice bars. There was a lot of dancing going on, and come to find out the next day, our professor told us we had been in the gay district of Lille. No wonder no one was getting talked to besides the guys. It was fun all the same! The next day we walked around Lille and ...

... more at home. We spent the Friday evening unpacking, moving furniture and making the place more homely and by the time we went to bed we were much happier about our new home!<br>That evening we also met some other English language assistants who are staying in the same "Résidence" and discovered that there are actually quite a lot of us!<br>The following day we took a trip to the closest Carrefour supermarket, which is just across the road in Euralille, a huge shopping centre which we ...

... a time. After we left the museum, we made a brief stop at the Commonwealth Cemetery and planted a few Canadian flags on the graves of Canadian soldiers.<br><br>Next we drove to Vimy Ridge, near the town of Arras, France. Vimy Ridge is the home of the Canadian WWI Memorial. In April 1914, the four Canadian divisions banded together and took Vimy Ridge. This event gave a sense of unity to a nation of individual ...

... br><br>I am sure someone has posted it on u-tube, or whatever it is called.<br><br>When it was over I asked if this is normal for the crowd and was told yeas and during the summer it can be even bigger and is bigger on November 11.<br><br>We went into a couple of war antique shops and then stopped for an ice cream, but since we had lots yesterday we opted to try some Belgium chocolates. Mmmm they were good.<br><br>Camping at Jeugdstadion, Bolwerkstraat 1, Ypes.

... remember - the Germans had settled their Eastern Front Offensive with the Russians and had now pushed more Divisions onto the Western Front. We saw the 5th Australian Division and cemetery at Polygon Wood - this is where the Aussies battled the Germans in the 3rd Battle for Ypres. The hill that still exists in the cemetery today was bitterly fought after - it was the high ground. It is also where a British and ...

14-15/4/08 So we have made it on to the European continent to start our 6 mth adventure in Clive. After a week of goodbyes and lots of drinks we were feeling very hung over and sad to be saying good bye to our friends. We started off ok, packed everything into our van brought a few things from the supermarket and got to Dover on time. It was nice to wave goodbye to the white cliffs of Dover (I am sure there ...

... the sun was setting and eventually arrived at our B and B which we had booked the night before, only to discover that the sweet but befuddled elderly owner had misheard our arrival time and had given our room away when we didn't appear by lunchtime. Luckily, she still had a single room spare, so we checked in and headed straight down to the Menin Gate war memorial for the nightly playing of the Last Post. The Gate turned out to be a huge memorial with the names of more than 54, 000 ...