PV-Holidays Residence Maeva Le Hameau du Golf Pornic

So decided to stay a second day in Nantes....hotel was in fab location, but loads of bars right outside the hotel, thank goodness for double glazed windows!

Went to the local saturday market this morning, geez, i love the french markets. took us about 20 mins walking around just to figure out what to eat.

Off to see the chateau this afternoon then maybe to a soccer game (Nantes vs. Nimes) this evening.

Chateau ...

... I met in Sheffield during our HSBC training! Anyway, 2 north African guys were then met by the aforementioned large men and rapidly whisked away in front of our eyes before they could have said (in French) "Jack Robinson". I think it was perfectly legit. As long as my hairdresser car boot has remained unbroken, I'll be happy. I will know in the morning.

Football-wise, Villa are still unbeaten since I left. Blackburn tomorrow!! Jamie is tremendously excited!!

We have moved on to Nantes for a day as we had seen a programme on TV before we left about a workshop making mechanical animals. We visited today and were astounded by this 12 metre high elephant and we had a ride on it! The workshops are old ship yards and form the centre of a regeneration scheme for the area. There are other animals ...

Nantes starts out like many over our days since heading north from Biarritz...with hotel issues. Because of our detour to the zoo we have arrived in Nantes at 11pm and there is not a sole at the desk. After trying the phones, the back offices and snooping through their reservation papers Jen has an epiphany - where else would the late night clerk be...the restaurant bar of course. We negotiate an upgraded room and search out food.

We are scheduled to ...

... one there was a song. They actually played Shout to the Lord in French. I was so happy to hear it I kept trying to sing the English lyrics, but all the French people kept messing it up. This time the American pastor was back so I actually understood the whole sermon. He speaks really slowly and it's easy for us to understand. Then after the service, Lauren introduced me to Malinda. She's absolutely hilarious. She has my kind of humor (the really mean kind) and it was so much fun ...

... I took the tram to La Neustrie (end of the line) and planned on taking the bus to her house. I called her and it turned out her husband was out anyway so he picked me up. I was so nervous about that the whole time. I didn't know whether I was supposed to speak French or English to this guy. He's French so I wasn't sure. Thank goodness Emma was with him or I would have been even more nervous. The dad's name is David and he turned out to be pretty awesome. He chatted ...

... class. I think they know the kids will learn that I'm nice and that they can take advantage of me. Anyways, we started coloring and pasting and then the fighting started. One girl grabbed a blue marker away from someone and when they started fighting about it, the girl accidentally poked another girl in the eye with her marker. It was awful. She had a huge blue mark on her face, and then she cried, which made the mark run all over her cheek. It was actually kind of funny ...

... PS I also found out that the town I'm teaching in is pronounced BoGUHnais and not BoJuhnais- the real way to say it sounds awful). Then she helped me move in my stuff and actually gave me some pots and plates and silverware so that I wouldn't have to buy it. It was so sweet. My room is really nice; it's got a bed, table, stove, sink, and then an attached bathroom with a nice shower and stuff. I was really surprised that it was so nice. After I was settled in there she took me to ...

... time the rest of the day - you've already greeted them that day. - Snakes on a Plane is "Les Serpents dans un Avion" - Politics, religion, and everything else are regularly discussed at the dinner table and in every other social situation. - You speak to people in the formal "vous" until they invite you do do otherwise. - It rains. A lot. Also, I discovered today that a croque-monsieur (an open-faced grilled ham and ...

... pas om 16.30 vertrekken. Ik breng dinsdag nog een laatste bezoek aan het internet café om met de baas er van te overleggen om mijn XP programma opnieuw te installeren, het geen hij mij afraadt omdat ik al mijn programma's zou verliezen en hij geen "office" er op wil zetten, omdat dat door Microsoft bij de eerste de beste keer op internet er wordt afgegooid. De rest van de middag maken we een prachtige wandeling lang een stuk van de golf. Daarna vertrekken we, er waait veel wind, maar ...