WORLD CUP FEVER

Yesterday was tres occupee (very busy) sorry no blog! French lessons were great and NO HOMEWORK. See, the french do have hearts.

Different markets in the Plaza de comedie yesterday, linen, plants, jewellery and Indian foods. As it was so hot we watched a movie at the girls apartment. In the evening I left them at the shops (of which there are many) and went home for dinner. Monsieur Paul cooked cod from the mediteranean with onion, lemon and herbs served with steamed veg, wine, and afterwards, the platter of cheeses with bread and fruit. Very simple healthy cooking.

At dinner the conversations was about the Euro plunge, the nationalities of Europe and the wars, and finally the Commonwealth......this lead them to tell us they loved the song "God Save the Queen" which they both sang! They do not like their own national anthem as it is about killing, this is where I took the opportunity to brag! Tomorrow I will give them the written version of our song in French, I hope they dont expect me to sing it!

After dinner I went with Josh to the Promenarde du Peyrou where we saw the Faculty of Medicine founded in the13th century, its still used today although part is museum, the plants from nearby botanical garden are used in the medical faculty. We watched the sun set over the medieval wall which surrounded the city years ago, there were folk singers, dancers and gypsy beggars. The streets were full of diners at every bend.

Today, the girls and I returned to the Royal gardens on the Promenarde for a picnic lunch. It was hot and we were unaware that a Mardi Gras was in the making. A large group of Lesbian and Gay men were preparing for a parade, so we had our own little show to watch as we ate our lunch.

Another manifestation today. There has been one every day. Today the french were expressing their angst against Israels latest stunt.

Happy Birthday Aunty Leeann! Your candle is not on the cake because it is still burning in the Cathedral where we left it for you! We might just have to go and get a glass of Vin tonight for a toast!

Love Ros, Kate and Kim xxx

A day in class.

After school today as usual, I met the girls. There is a different market happening each day in the Place de la Comedie. Yesterday it was degustation, heaps of marquees with foods from different regions. Today it was handbags and shoes from Italy as well as clothing and jewellery. It was hard to resist buying some of the bags as they were really good quality and not too expensive.

We walked in another direction and found an area full of brassieres (how unusual) and luckily we chose a great one that served "plat of the jour" including a dessert for 9.90E. It was a scrumptious meal of paella, salad and baguette followed by a dessert of petite cakes including the macaroon and a petite coffee which was tres enjoyable.

At Alliance there are only three of us in class. Lots of classes happening, mainly young people from all over the world. The building is old and in the mornings when we buzz the huge double doors at the entrance I can hardly believe that I am here. The walk up to the second story on the marble staircase past the enormous light fittings, stained glass and old wallpaper is breathtaking. The teacher is a young pretty girl, she is great, of course there is no English spoken in class. If we get to something really difficult she will draw it on the board instead of saying it in English. Every night we have a bit of homework. The pace of class is about the same as in Adelaide and I am re-doing most areas which is good. This morning when we arrived she said we are having a 10 minute test !!!!!! I cant wait to sea the results tomorrow. HA!

One of the students in class is Josh, he is living in the same house as me. He is 26 and is here on a scholarship. After 4 weeks in Montpellier he is doing 4 weeks of french in Bordeaux and then off to South Africa for 3 months study. He has studied economics at college and worked for the peace corp for two years in Guatemala interpreting for the Indians in their Mayan language as well as Spanish, both of which he is fluent in. Its great having the two of us in the house. Kate thinks he is just an over achiever.

The other student is Lois, a Jewish woman aged 61 from New York. She is a college Professor as is her husband. She has written a few books on education and is working on another. She and her husband holiday in France for a month every year. They rent an apartment. They both write. She speaks Swedish, Spanish, Latin and of course New York Americano which I love. She is really nice and right from the first class we hit it off.

Off course when these Americans have a conversation (they know every detail about their history and the dates each president came and went) I just go into an internal panic that they may ask me something I don't know. Thank goodness I bought a copy of our national anthem with me. You think I am joking....NO.

Ma hosts Monsieur Paul and Madame Francene are also academics. He was a journalistic professor at the Montreal University. She is still working in an office but I cant quiet work out where as of course NO ENGLISH!!!

Every evening at 7 dinner is served. Paul refuses to accept help. We have wine with the meal. Always a plate of cheese after the main course and then a small dessert. Never coffee or tea after the meal. Last night they had guests from Montreal (french people who happen to be their daughters future in laws.) They served them wine and spirits with pate and chips whilst the female visitor played their grand piano. Then they went to a restaurant leaving Josh and myself with a cooked meal on the table. We polished off their bottle of wine. The wine here is good.

I have tried to take photos of the house and the street below which is paved in marble, cobblestones and tiles. Its a long Rue full of boutiques. Early in the morning it is very noisy from the street cleaner, the rubbish collector and any vendor who can not receive a delivery after 8am.

Hope you have the feel of the place. Cest Tres bien!

Love Ros, Kate and Kim xxx

THE BEACH

BONJOUR TOUT LE MONDE; Today after my class Josh, Kate, Kim and myself caught a bus to the coast to a beautiful Mediterranean beach side town called Palavos. Flat, clean, sandy beach with clear water. Very pretty. Its a holiday spot, lots of families playing ball with wooden bats. Of course topless girls everywhere, the French are so comfortable with themselves!

We found a nice little boulanger where we ate lunch before a long walk on the beach. Josh went in for a swim and loved it. We wandered around the Marina and canals full of yachts and coloured fishing boats surrounded by baskets of nets and fishing gear. I would love to be there on market day. We discovered little cobble stone rues (streets) and of course the never ending tables and chairs in the squares set out for refreshments. We forced ourselves to rest in the shade of one and have an ice cold beer. They went down very quickly (not french etiquette at all).

All in all a great day at the beach, BUT, now I must leave the exhausted girls and the net book and return to my home for dinner (formally served at 7pm) and homework. More about that tomorrow.

A Demain.

Love Ros Kate Kim.xxxxxxx

Settling In

Today's blog is being hijacked by Kate and Kim. Ros has been locked in her room, by her hosts, ordered to do her homework and catch up on the sleep she has lost the last two nights from the magical drilling pigeon. Mum also doesn't have access to the internet where she is staying, combined with the fact she has no idea how to use the netbook, even though we have been teaching her for over a month now.

We met mum today for lunch after her morning class. She advised us that her lesson this morning was much more difficult. Apparently the teacher walked in on the three students discussing a Spanish fruit that Josh had brought at the markets, in English. The teacher was not happy and insisted they continue their conversation, describing a Spanish fruit, in French....we still don't know what the fruit was.

We walked along the commercial centre of Montpellier to the river, where there were a few café's, one being Ayres Rock Bar and another being New York Grill. Not the authentic cuisine we were hoping for. After picking from the alternatives, we had a salad each for lunch. Pretty disappointing.

We really haven't seen an outstanding choice of savoury French meals, some of the best eats we have had were the Italian fish dish in Bordeaux and the Moroccan meal on our recent visit to Paris. Come to think of it, all the wonderful meals we rave about are the sweets and pastries. We are yet to see a Beef Bourguignon, real Foie Gras or Bouillabaisse. Mum did get excited in Paris when we found a French Onion Soup on the menu one day. But the excitement disappeared when she tasted the bowl of tepid water with a floating whole onion doused in olive oil.

We took a walk among the more residential part of town, lacking in the dated century old buildings, Montpellier is much more modern than the other towns we have been to. There are more modern buildings squeezed in between a church and the street, they look much more out of place when scattered haphazardly around the city. On our walk we came across another 'manifestation' (strike) as you can see in the video, making a lot of noise. Mum's hosts told her protests happen almost daily here, everyone in France is frustrated with the political situation at the moment, everyone seems to have an opinion. Until elections are held in two years time, people are going to protest about changes they want until then. Everywhere you walk in this city there seems to be someone approaching you with a petition to sign, or a pamphlet to read.

Glad the weather is warming up, although the wind here could blow the filling out of your baguette, it was a warm 27C today. Should be this warm for the duration of our stay, which means good weather for visiting the coast, spending time outside and drinking wine!

Love Kate and Kim....... Oh and Ros

xxx

FIRST DAY IN MONTPELLIER

Sunday in France was Mothers Day. We walked past the boulangiers where the locals were lined in the streets to collect their orders of pastries and baguettes for the day. The flower shops quickly emptied as people waltz off with arms full of colour.

In the afternoon we caught the train to Montpellier, travelling through Nimes, the country side was beautiful, lots of farms and little ancient villages. It has been a nice journey on all of our train trips, Oh, that's other than Kate being accosted again! Some nut got on the train and came to our seats and began begging, when he received no joy he continued to berate Kate who, by this time, had almost dug a hole. Luckily we had no idea what he was saying.

After arriving in Montpellier we booked into Kate and Kim's apartment. We then went into the square in the old part of town nearby, which was full of atmosphere with a writers weekend happening in the Place de Comedie (a main square in town). Lots of books and music. We had a meal and checked out the surroundings, then it was time for me to toodle off to my new home for the month. We found the red doors in the narrow winding street of my hosts house, rang the door bell where Madame Francine came down to let me in, the girls returned to their apartment.

We had to walk up 2 floors of stairs and Madame insisted on helping me with my big heavy bag. Thank goodness I took her flowers. The stairway was wide and when Madame opened the door to the apartment I could not believe my eyes. A huge dining room with a gold framed Mirror on the floor leaning against the wall, probably 4x3 meters. I had to close my mouth cause next I saw the grand piano in the lounge room. Monsieur Paul is also very nice (even though he informed us that we were no longer to speak English, only French!), they have 3 adult daughters living in Montreal, Paris and London. They are dancers and uni lecturers, do you think I am out of my league?!!!!

It just so happened that another student arrived to stay with them yesterday as well. He is a young man from Boston called Josh. Josh has a big bedroom next to their yellow and blue kitchen. I have the next bedroom which contains a double bed a single bed, two desks and a massive antique robe as well as a tall boy and two long windows reaching up to the tall ceilings. Paul told me the building was built in the 17th century. Below their apartment are some boutiques and on top of them is an empty apartment. There is only one other, one room studio, in the whole building so most of the time they have it to themselves.

All of the ceilings are ornate and the floors are huge limestone slabs, all original. Still getting use to these old buildings, unfortunately I left the window open during the night and an electric drill sound that had kept me awake ended up being a pigeon sitting on the windowsill.

It was comforting to go to Alliance Frances, a 5 min walk, with Josh. He told me how he was blown away upon arriving at the house and how they cooked him whole quail for dinner. We were gloating, that was until we were given a 4 page test once we arrived in Alliance Frances! To work out which classes we should be divided into. Its hard to remember anything under pressure and I couldn't think. Madame Rous came to me and told me to come back at 11! She did ask me what I would do for 2hours before I return and I told her I would visit my 2 daughters. She replied in front of everyone at school that she hoped I was there to study and not just for a holiday! No pressure or anything! I walked out of the ancient building (yet again) down the wide marble staircase, past the mirrored walls and the stained glass domes, out onto the cobblestone street and went to visit the girls.

Upon my return I was put in a class with a New York woman...and Josh. He got kicked out as well. We had a young girl teacher, she is really nice and I enjoyed the lesson. We have homework..what?!

The girls met me for lunch and afterwards we did the usual walking around. Its very windy here, all the greenery off of the trees is all over the roads. We spent some time together and now I must return to the other home to do my homework. Girls are happy to rest in their apartment (which is the size of my wardrobe) for the rest of the evening. BUT, before I go we are going to have a cake for Mezza's Birthday. Happy Birthday Maryann. The candle on your cake cost 2 euro from the basilica sacre cure in Paris . Hope your day is great.

love Ros Kate and Kim xxx

LAST DAY IN PARIS

Every time we go out into our little narrow street there is a different restaurant open, they seem to spring up from no where. Right by the two large entrance doors to our apartment where it has been quiet all week, we discovered a restaurant/bar that kicked on all night last night. Most of the people are out on the street so its loud and it felt as though our beds were bang smack in the bar.

So, we had a lazy day today, wont bore you with the details as it is the same ol same ol. Walk your socks off...getting to be a bit of a bore isnt it? Another Basillica, another 17 crt gold statue, more roads leading to more ancient buildings. More cobblestone streets to climb along. More of the Parisian stalls with the Paris handbags, statues of the Eiffel tower and postcards of Mona Lisa. Ho Hum! Another bridge with 25 bronze statues.....AND THEN WE DISCOVERED A HOME MAKER SHOWROOM! What fun, they had really nice light fittings, curtains and home fittings and fixtures, bit like a trip to IKEA. We had to drag ourselves out.

Later in the afternoon we ate in a Korean restaurant before watching buskers in the square.

Tomorrow we train it to Montpellier where the weather is 27c. Its currently cold and raining here in Paris and everyone is getting caught up with Tennis fever and Eurovision.

Love Ros, Kate & Kim xxx