La neuvième semaine

Overall it was a really cool first week of the holidays however with a couple of not so good things as well...

Sat 28 Jan - Woke up with a runny nose and a dry throat. What a way to start the holidays, honestly. Today I mostly just rested to get better faster.

Sunday - I felt much better today which is always a good thing. After dinner I also got to catch up with Hannah M and that was really cool just to talk about what she has been up over summer and what I have been doing here in France, holidays, school etc.

Monday - No school and not a lot happened but it was a nicer way to kick off the holidays than the Saturday!

Tuesday - I went to school! And yes it might not have been with people my age but I still had a lot of fun. I went in to give them a presentation on NZ and also to help out with some English. Matthieu and I arrived earlier than the kids so there was a few minutes of silence. As soon as they came around the corner and saw me, all I heard was my name + some yelling and all I could feel was my arms and body being enveloped in hugs. I think they were a bit happy to see me. Then we went into the class only to discover that I had brought the wrong USB so I had to walk quickly home to go and get the right one with the presentation on it...good job me! Once I returned with the right USB, I did the presentation which included me doing the Haka and the Hokey Pokey dance (which they then showed me the french version of). They loved the photos of New Zealand and asked me A LOT of questions - like all little kids do because they are curious. After the next break, we went into the classroom again and did an English-French activity however the children were the ones saying the words in English and I translated to french. This was really fun and again, I learnt some new words and got to practice the pronunciation. Overall I had a great time and loved it all.

Wednesday - A very nice relaxing day after a very intense afternoon

Thursday - I went to school again! As soon as I walked into the school I found myself with attachments clinging on to every available part of me (not that I really minded ;) ). While we finished off the break, they asked me some more questions and also wanted me to do the Haka again (so I did). Then they proceeded to do parts of the Haka which was pretty cute and really cool. We started off with hockey and that was so much fun. We started with the room split into quarters and in each quarter there were 2 people (one from each team). At each end there was a goal so the ball had to go through everyone in your team before you could score. Then the room was split in half and finally full field. It was awesome and I got so hot that I was even running in a singlet (in a French winter! Crazy!). During the break after hockey, Matthieu and I went to get the youngest children in the class from the other part of the school and when we got back into the class we had a slice of cake and a drink as it was Lola's 9th birthday. After that, it was time to go home so they all hugged me goodbye and/or walked me out of the corridor holding my hands or arms. While some of the children were waiting for the bus, I taught them a couple of hand games which was a bit difficult as I had to teach them with mostly actions but it was good fun.

Friday - Running day today. I ran to the same spot as last time however I did it about 10-15 min faster which is strange because there was crazy wind (and rain by the end of it). It was going quite well until I reached my halfway point (a stop sign at an intersection) when it started to rain. It had been spitting before that but not too badly. On the way to the stop sign I had a good tailwind but when I turned around, it became a bigger headwind and plus the rain? Definitely an incentive to run faster. I came home and had a lovely hot shower which was much needed because my fingers and legs were almost numb from the wind and rain. the temperature was actually quite good - around 10°C - but the weather made it feel just a little bit cooler than that...That night I also caught up with Hannah R which was also really cool just to see how school was going now it had started and what was happening in her life and mine etc.

Also this is a day late because yesterday I was very sick and couldn't look at a screen properly...hope you enjoyed it though!