Papillion Nuit et Cartes Postales

Today not too much happened. I have managed to speak in full sentences most of the day which is a big achievement for me.

This morning I went swimming in the pool with the children and then went for a walk with Wandrille to the shop to buy postcards. I find him very funny. On the way to the shop I asked Wandrille, "Do you like... the sea, the sand, the sun, the shop, the holiday etc.?" To every question he replied, "No" and when I asked why, he just said "I like the swimming pool!" So it became a game and he thought it was hilarious! When I asked 'Do you like your friends?' he said that there was no friends so then I asked 'what about me?' and he said "Yes, mais mon ami prefere est Papa Noel!" (My best friend is Father Christmas!) 

When we went to pay for the postcards, the man at the counter said "Quatre Euros Soixante" very fast and so I wasn't sure what he had said. I just went to get out €10 but Wandrille saw that I had €5 note and said 'Non, Non' and pulled out the €5 and gave it to the man! He was very pleased with himself for helping!

When we got back I found a giant moth in the toilet. At first I thought it was not real because it was as long as my finger. It was still there this evening so I mentioned it to Helene who told me that they don't have a different word for moth and butterfly so in french it is just called a night butterfly, or 'Papillon Nuit'.

Papillion Nuit

The Moth - it was as long as the toilet roll!

Today I let the children play games on my phone again. It keeps them quiet! They were playing cut the rope (where you have a sweet attached to ropes and you have to cut the ropes to make the sweet go in the frog's mouth!) and Fruit Ninja (where you slice fruit like a ninja...) Wandrille was playing and whenever he won a level or scored lots of points he would shout "VIVE LA FRANCE!" Haha. He has also started to copy me when I speak in English and so when I ask a question in french he will now reply 'Yes, Yes, Yes' in english! It's very cute!

On the way back from the walk to the shop, I saw that our Villa has a weather vane on the roof which is the same as the Corse Flag. I have been interested in the image on the Corse Flag since I arrived so actually looked it up today! 

The Flag of Corsica

The flag depicts a black man with a white bandana - the man sometimes also has an earing in. My first impression of it was that it's a bit racist so wanted to find out about the origin. Originally the flag showed the black man (or Maure/Moor) with the Bandana over his eyes and chains around the neck but in the 18th Century, the General of the Nation, one 'Pascale di Paoli', decided that the chain should be removed and the bandana raised to signify the liberation of the Corsican nation. Very interesting.

Rambo!

This afternoon I went swimming with Wandrille again while the others went hunting in Rock Pools and then I sat in the sun. It was very nice but the Grandmother was very worried about me and came out with a hat, water and sun cream for me and moved a chair into the shade for me! She didn't believe me when I said I was ok!

The German uncle has a very big dog. It's name is Rambo and he is very old. He is struggling to keep cool and isn't allowed in any of the human areas (the house/pool) so just has to wander around outside. He keeps sitting by the fence around the pool and looking longingly at the water! I expect he's boiling with his big coat!

Hermit Crab

In the rockpools they caught a 'Bernard l'hermite' (Hermit Crab) which they brought back to the house to show everyone. The german uncle also went fishing and brought back some whelks which we had for Aperitif.

Dinner was Spaghetti Bolognase, and then Alice had made an Apple Tart Tatin for dessert. Alice, Tanguy and Alienor had all gone to a big party last night so they were were reserved at dinner and then went to bed early.

Helene spoke to me in English a little bit today. She comes out with the strangest things - I think she must read the dictionary as she was asking me what 'Statehood' was, and what '-hood' meant. I tried to explain that 'something-hood' was usually a state of being so 'statehood' would be to do with being a state but she didn't really understand. I tried explaining that it was to do with America and would only really be used in relation to America and so I didn't know much about the word but she didn't believe me because 'it is in my Oxford English Dictionary and so it is English'. I explained that just because a word is in English, does not mean it is from England.... She then wanted to know more words ending in 'hood' so I told her about 'Parenthood', 'Adulthood' and 'Childhood' - the period or state during which you are a parent/adult/child but she then asked if 'childishness' and 'childhood' was the same thing... It's very difficult to explain a lot of things as they don't really make much sense but I try! 

It's half past 10 and all of the children are awake, running around and fighting in the corridor. I refuse to go out and deal with them so their mother will just have to get up and do it! Eurgh!

Les Fourmis et Les Sables

The Ants and The Sand! They are everywhere!

Last night I slept quite well but kept waking up. There was a thunderstorm at around 4am which was very loud but I didn't get up to see if there was lightening (the shutters on the windows block out all the light so I couldn't see any without getting out of bed).

I was woken up by the children at about 9am (about the same time I woke up yesterday) but apparently today 9am was quite late... When I got up I found that everyone was out or had already had breakfast so was left to fend for myself. This wouldn't be a problem but I have no idea where things are kept! After 10 minutes of searching for bread/milk/hot chocolate powder I gave up and went to get dressed instead. I decided to just get straight into my swimming costume and stick clothes on top as yesterday I couldn't be bothered to go swimming, partly because it was raining, but mainly because I would have had to go and get changed first.

When I was dressed the children came to talk to me to tell me that it was Hillaire's 12th birthday today and that Benoit was taking them out for a drive. I then talked to Hillaire in french about Magicians and card tricks - in french. It's a good job I have google translate on my phone because we would have no way of communicating clearly otherwise!

A French Breakfast
Bread with butter and honey,
a peach, and hot chocolate in a bowl
for Petit Dejuner!

After the children had left, their grandmother (I can't remember the grandparents' or uncle's names as they are just referred to as 'grandmaman', 'grandpapa' and 'Oncle') asked if I had eaten (in french) and when I said no, she said 'But you must!' (in English!) and marched me to the kitchen to show me where the bread, milk and chocolate lived. The milk is UHT and was stored in the laundry room (or the fridge once opened), the chocolate was in a cupboard in the hall, and the bread in a tall basket on the floor in the kitchen (looks like a wash basket but thinner and taller).

Gorgeous view for breakfast!

Alienor, Tanguy and Alice decided to go to the beach and invited me to join them. They were ready to go before I had finished eating though so I said I would catch them up. When I was getting ready to leave, 'Grandmaman' wanted to make sure that I wasn't needed by Benoit or Hélène so she called Benoit on the telephone to check. I tried to explain that they had gone out and wouldn't be back until later but I don't think she understood...As we arrived at the beach by around 10:15am there weren't many people there. The sun wasn't quite so hot either so that was good, but by 11am, there were lots of clouds and it got a bit cold and windy. Tanguy said that they come to Corsica nearly every summer and that this is a very cold summer for Corse. Apparently in July it is often too hot to walk on the sand in bare feet and the sea is lukewarm! It's a shame it's not like that this year!

I had a long swim in the sea while at the beach. I'm still not a very good swimmer, but I find that I can get myself about if needed. It's much more difficult in the sea though because of the varying depth, waves and current - and all the seaweed, salt and sand! I got some seawater in my mouth at one point. It is really disgusting! When I came out all the sand just stuck to me. I remember that this is why I didn't like the beach as a child... It makes it really hard to dry off because the sand is on the towel, and on you, and then it sticks to everything. I have sand in my beach bag, in the cracks of my sunglasses, flipflops, towels, and everywhere!! I'll be washing out of my clothes until October I'm sure!

At around 12 we walked back to the house. I keep forgetting to bring some money with me and every time I walk past the shop I remember about postcards! I will try to go tomorrow I think...

For lunch today, we had salad, bread, cheese, that dried meat stuff, tomato and onions, and the leftover baked courgettes. The children had pasta, a cream cheese sauce and smoked salmon. I think I would have preferred theirs!

After lunch I really wanted a nap after all the swimming in the sea, but because I hadn't spent any time with the children in the morning I felt obliged to sit with them for a while. Wandrille had a strop because he wanted to play with my phone, and then Hermine got upset because I tidied up the Loom bands (for some reason they have all claimed a selection as their own which they hide from everyone else... I don't understand why as pooling the supply would mean there was a much better range of colours to choose from. Very odd, but perhaps we would have done the same as children at home). I am still finding it very difficult to understand what the problem is when they get upset as it often seems like it comes from nowhere. Today I learned 'quel est le problème?' which will hopefully be very useful when they have tantrums in future!

My favourite phrase is still "qu'est-ce c'est?" [kes-ker-say] - what is it? I think I must say that about 100 times a day while pointing at things or repeating a word I don't know. Today I asked the children "qu'est-ce une grenouille?" which led to lots of 'crok, crok, crok' and demonstrations of hopping all around the room. (It's a frog, in case you didn't guess!) I told them that in England, frogs say 'ribbet, ribbet', but they said that was stupid and didn't sound like a frog haha.

Hélène asked if I could 'entrust you to the children'. She wanted me to watch them while she and Benoit went for a walk and told me that they had to go outside and that 'they will had a meal before 5pm so that they were still hungry for dinner at 7pm like bread or more bread'. In english, they have an afternoon snack but she wanted them to have a snack before 5pm... I let them play on my phone some more until about 4:30pm when I got them some bread. Hermine was being a bit of a brat and kept snatching things from Wandrille and getting stroppy, shouting at me in french - I still have no idea why. When I asked her if she wanted bread she shouted 'NON! TU NE SAVEZ PAS!', and knocked the bread onto the floor. I assumed this meant that she didn't want any so gave some to the others and didn't worry about her. She came back about 10 minutes later to discover that all the bread was gone (obviously) and then started crying and screaming (they make themselves cry and go off in a huff without telling you what's wrong, it's stupid). 

After they ate, Wandrille and I went swimming in the pool. Alienor and Alice (who had been baking a cake for Hillaire's birthday) came to tell me that I had to look after Hermine too because they were going to the beach and Hillaire and Anthelme had gone with Grandmaman to the shops. I really didn't want to look after Hermine too as it's hard enough having one child talking at you in french, but to have a second that just gets angry and impatient when I don't understand... I stayed in the pool for a long time. The sun came out so I just sat on a float and sunbathed - very nice! 

When I came out, I had a shower and then it was time for dinner. As it was Hillaire's birthday, the children were allowed to join the adults for dinner which they don't usually do. For aperitif is was that soup/salad thing again (still can't remember the name!) with bread. Grandmaman told me that it was greek, not french. There was a stewed leg of lamb (I think) in red wine and onion sauce which we had with pasta. For dessert it was birthday cake. The girls had made what they called a 'Piñata' cake - just a plain sponge with chocolate icing but when Hillaire cut into it, the middle was hollow and filled with sweets.

I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed so I cleared the table, filled the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen and washed up so that I wouldn't get asked to put the children to bed and could just go to bed myself after. They were all very grateful (they told me that they had hired a chef/kitchen help for this week so that they didn't have to worry about food or washing up but she resigned at the last minute!) It didn't really work though as Hélène came to tell me that the younger children were in bed, but not asleep, and to make sure the older ones went to bed as she and Benoit were driving Alienor, Tanguy and Alice to a Party a few hours away. Tanguy would have just driven his dad''s car but last week when he did that, he returned the car with one of the rear lights completely smashed up (apparently his friend drove it into a tree or another car or something when drunk... but that's not the story the parents heard!)

There are ants everywhere too! When I was washing up, there were dishes swarming with them! It's disgusting! There are hundreds in the corridor outside my room too and last night there were several in my bed which I had to kill before I got in. After I washed up, I got a cloth and tried washing/wiping them from the floor in the corridor but they were coming out of holes in the skirting board/wall/plug holes etc. and whenever I wiped up some, within seconds the area would be swarming again! Really nasty. Anne (the aunt) says tomorrow she will find some more ant killer because they are getting too much now.

I got to try some macarons et chocolats from the Jean Luc Pelé Patisserie this evening. Anne and Grandmaman told me that he is a very famous Patisserie in France and that his sweets and cakes are very luxurious! I tried a strawberry macaron which had jam in the middle. It was very nice but so sweet I couldn't have eaten more than one!

Anne told me that she thought my french was getting quite good now. I definitely can say much more and she said I am doing much better at talking with everyone much more than I could before which is really good. I definitely am understanding more, but I still can't keep up with conversations. They all speak so fast! It's frustrating because they'll be talking about something and then all laugh and I don't always know the subject of the conversation, let alone the joke! Tanguy seems to be very good at telling jokes and stories - he gets very animated and does different voices and all sorts but I just can't understand! It's a shame because I expect it is very funny!

Time for bed now. There's lots of spiders and ants in my room but there's nothing I can do about it! 3 more days to go in Corsica...

Some pictures from my trip to the beach

Il Pleut Ici Aussi!

...but it is still very warm and beautiful.

This morning I woke up a little later - around 8:45am. The family was just getting ready for breakfast so it was good timing! I learnt today that they don't just have chocolate in a bowl, they have tea or coffee, but also in a bowl! I also tried honey on bread with butter and decided I quite like it. Honey must be an acquired taste as I haven't really liked it before.

It rained all morning but the boys went swimming in it. I decided that it was a bit too cold to go in so just sat by the pool getting wet from the rain instead! Wandrille fell off of an inflatable crocodile and got water in his eyes so had a strop and went inside! I am finding his tantrums very difficult to deal with as his speech gets very whiney and so it is even more difficult to understand his fast, high-pitched french. Some of the adults can't understand him when he's like that either though so I'm not the only one!

Everyone loves the loom bands! Hélène went to Carrefour this morning and bought more of the coloured bands because they were running out! We need to buy some more of the looms because there are hourly disagreements about who is using them, and the older girls keep wanting to make big patterns that use the whole loom so it can't be shared. I've been letting Wandrille do it on my fingers but it's quite painful after a while!

I realised yesterday that the 20yr old cousin of Wandrille, Hermine, Alienor etc. is not called Tommy but Tanguy. I'm just glad I haven't said his name to anyone!

For lunch, we had leftover potatoes from last night, stewed carrots, melon, cheese and meats. I find some of their combinations a bit strange!

After lunch, Anne (the aunt) went for a swim in the sea and then found a starfish (étoile de mer) in the rockpools which she brought back to show the children. I learnt all about starfishes, but in french! 

l'étoile de mer! 

The Starfish

I'm finding that my french is improving greatly. The children are very good at telling me that I'm pronouncing things wrong and telling me what things are in french. They all know how to get to the Google Translate app on my phone when needed! It is interesting how many different subjects we cover in french. I would never have expected to talk about space, the history of france, sea creatures and many other things but I have!

Wandrille and I read a book today. Well, I read it and Wandrille repeated what I said with correct pronunciations! The book was about the adventures of 'Big Jack' the pirate and his shipmates. He finds it very funny that I can't read! He told Hélène that he was teaching me to read and asked her why, as a grown up, did I not know how? With children's books, occasionally there are words that doesn't have a real translation into english. Today the unknown word was 'scrogneugneu' and Hélène tried to explain it but she said that it was like Harry Potter, ie. a Sorcerer or Wizard, but Alice said that wasn't right and that it couldn't be explained in English - 'it is just a french word', she said. I have just googled it and it looks like it's the french version of a Scrooge! (aka. a grumpy old man). French Wiktionary tells me it can be an interjection or a noun to describe someone, just like in English.

This afternoon the parents and children went for a walk so I decided to have a lie down. They all seem so offended when I want to be alone as though it's because I don't want to spend time with them. I tried to explain that it's not that I dislike their company, but that I was tired and wanted to have a nap but I don't think the message was getting across. I find it quite tiring to sit with them all as they pretty much only speak in french and it's really difficult to keep up with them all and to understand more than just a few words. I'm lucky if I can actually work out what the topic of conversation is when they're talking let alone to join in or understand specifics!

The correct way to lay a french table
(with the forks and spoons upside down!)

I set the table and was told by the german uncle that I was doing it wrong. In France, the correct way is to place the forks and spoons upside-down! Alienor said it didn't matter because they were on holiday but Benoit explained that it was the proper way to set a french table.

At around 7pm (slightly earlier than the past few days), they served the aperitifs. Just as it was served, Hélène asked me to run a bath for Wandrille and help him get into his pyjamas which meant that I missed out on it. I can't say I minded - it was the same salad/soup thing and tomato sauce as yesterday which I didn't really like. After the aperitifs, there was Bouillabaisse (a fish soup as featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - at the feast with the french and nordic schools, Hermione says it is very nice). They served it with toasted bread. After the soup, there was salad with french dressing, baked courgettes, cheese and more bread. For dessert, Alice had baked a cheesecake - the cheese flavour was quite strong but it was very nice.

I went to see the children after that. They were getting ready for bed. Hermine got very upset about something - no idea what. She then decided to move her bed so I had to remake it on the other side of the room. The grandmother told me that 'a la maison, les enfants ont une chambre par enfant' (they have a room each) so I told her 'c'est tres difficile partager une chambre avec trois freres' (it's hard to share a room with 3 brothers!) I was very impressed with myself!

I'm still very tired so I'm going to sleep now. Hélène is going for a walk with her father tomorrow morning so Benoit may wake me up very early to help with the children! I hope not!

Views from the Villa across the bay towards Porto Pollo.

The Pool in the Garden

The path leads straight to the sea via a
little path between bushes and some rocks!  

Mon Premier Jour en Corse

I am staying in a Villa in Belvédère-Campomoro. The views are stunning - we are a stones throw from the beach and have a view across the bay and further towards Porto-Pollo (another village that is further north on the West Coast).

This morning I woke up at around 7am but didn't want to get up. By about 7:45am I could hear a lot of voices so went to see who was awake. The aunt asked me if I wanted something to eat but it looked like she was still setting up breakfast so I went to have a swim with the children first which was very nice. The mother (Hélène) had mentioned yesterday that the youngest child, Wandrille (5 years old) was not good at swimming so needed to be watched by someone older so when I was ready to come inside I tried to ask Wandrille if he wanted to come inside. He either didn't understand or didn't want to but the 12yr old (Anthelme) told me he would watch Wandrille and that it was super. (He speaks a little bit of english but not much. Hélène later came to tell me off for leaving Wandrille all by himself and that he was too young, she told me, it was very dangerous etc. etc. I understand what she means but she just said 'older' to me, not an adult. Her english is really bad!

After my swim, I had a shower. Most of the rooms are ensuite but mine isn't. There is a toilet near the kitchen and then just a 'Spa' which has a Jacuzzi and a 'Hammam' (apparently this is the correct name for a Steam Room rather than our anglicised 'say what it is' thing we have) although this also has a shower in it. I've googled and it looks like there is a proper ritual for 'Hammam's which is to scrub off all the dry skin with hard scrubber things, and then paint yourself with a clay or mud mix and wait for a while, and then put some black soap stuff on and leave that for a while too before rinsing off (sounds a bit like my body wrap experience at Tortworth Court Spa....) The girls said I could use their shower if I needed to but there is already 3 of them in their room so when I went to  ask them if I could they said it was in use. Not many other people were around to ask so I just used the shower in the Hammam. It was fine, it just didn't have a shower hook on the wall so I had to hold it. 

I then came out for breakfast and had my first experience of french hot chocolate in a bowl! It is brilliant! I drink that much hot chocolate anyway and it's really milky. Hermine (7yr old girl) made me some in the microwave. Most of the adults had bread and honey and/or cheese and ham and fruit for breakfast. No croissants or pastries though *sad face*.

Hélène came in briefly to ask me to make sure that Wandrille had suncream on as she was going off for a swim. Then me and Wandrille did some loom bands (the ones I brought as a present for them). They all love them! Alienor and Alice told me that they haven't seen them in France but Alienor had seem them once or twice when she was in London. (She was Au Pairing but only for a month with a family friend).

For lunch, they had pasta, bread and salad and then cheese for dessert. They just put olive oil on the pasta but it was lovely (I think Mum puts too much olive oil on pasta when she does it!) After that, they had cheese and more bread. They had bought some local cheeses - goats cheese and a cow cheese but apparently they were unusual because they were made with raw (unpasteurised?) milk which the german uncle said was illegal in most EU countries.

After lunch I had a nap and then was woken up by Hélène who had come to tell me off for not putting suncream on Hermine (she didn't tell me to!) She had burnt a little bit but Hélène told me it was my fault because I had to make sure the children were 'wearing the sunscreams'. Hermine was in the pool where her mother went after telling me to put some on Wandrille so you'd think she'd have known seeing as she was already outside?! Alienor later told me that it wasn't my fault and helped me learn how to say 'have you got suncream on?' so I can actually ask the children tomorrow. I am really struggling to understand the younger ones - they don't speak any english at all and speak very fast. Wandrille is very high pitched and I think must have a bit of a childish lisp as he doesn't pronounce words very clearly. Hermine is quite good at repeating things several times for me or trying to explain things in a different way.

We all went to the beach at around 3pm and I had a swim in the sea. I think I'm better at swimming than I think as every now and then when the sea got deeper because of the tide or waves and I had to swim because I couldn't touch the bottom I was fine. I find swimming very tiring and my technique is probably very bad but it was ok. The beach was very picturesque and there are even fishes in the sea. I only saw one small one but I think we might go to the rockpools tomorrow as that is directly outside the garden gate! When I came out of the sea I had heat-rash style red bumps on my arms, tummy and legs so Hélène thinks I am allergic to suncream. I don't think I am though as I hadn't put any on before swimming this morning and it happened a bit from the pool too.

After swimming, Hélène and the famille went home but Wandrille wanted to stay so we made sandcastles 'chateaux de sable' though he mostly called it 'un fort'. We tried to make a moat but we had problems because I couldn't think of the word for 'moat' or 'river' or 'around' so settled on 'de l'eau'. Eventually I just got some water from the sea and made one but the water kept sinking into the sand. Turns out 'oh no' is a common phrase as he said that a lot!

Wandrille said he wanted the toilet so I kept trying to ask him if he wanted to go home but he kept saying non. I tried loads of different ways of saying it but then he got really stroppy and smashing sandcastles so I just started packing up the things and gave him his shoes! That worked! Haha.

Back at the villa we washed off and then it was nearly time for dinner. Dinner today was very odd... 

Hélène told me it was the "birthday wedding of her parents a to-monday" so I corrected her...
They had some strange cold onion and cucumber salad/soup with a type of chilli sauce - it had a very french name but I have no idea what that was. Also there was some strange spicy tomato sauce thing, and a black thing which I first thought was caviar but it was disgusting! They also had a massive bottle of Champage - un magnum pour celebrations. Champagne brings out flavours though so not the best thing to have after eating disgusting black stuff. I tried to eat it though as everyone else seemed to really like it. It just made me feel sick though!

L'aperitif!
Grapes
Tomato sauce stuff, Bread, strange Salad/soup,
Watermelon

For dinner they had freshly caught 'Dorade' (Sea bream) and some kind of sliced baked potato with herbs on it, and courgette. For dessert it was the leftover watermelon and grapes and a dessert wine from Corsica made with the 'Muscat' grapes which are very sweet.

I keep getting bitten by mosquitos. They are everywhere. I don't think I had seen them before but I'm covered in little red dots from the bites. Savlon seems to make it better though so that's good.

Alice et Alienor then asked if I wanted to go to the Spa so I went in the jacuzzi with them. They are very good at english. Alice goes to Camp America or similar camps in Canada every year so she is near enough fluent. Alienor is also very good at english but struggles with some unusual words. They were telling me all about french music, schools and exchanges.

It is very hot tonight! The weather forcast for tomorrow is rain apparently so not sure what we'll all do. If it's warm and just a shower I think I'll walk to the local shop to get postcards! If it's really bad then I think I'll just sleep. I'm aching all over from carrying heavy suitcases and swimming so could do with a resting day. That's if Hélène lets me... Jusqu'à demain!

La Piscine!

Arrivée en Corse!

My year in France has begun!

4am view from the plane! 

After a very long journey (16 hours!) I have finally arrived in Corsica! It is very hot and very beautiful.

The flight was ok. I was sat next to an elderly french couple who didn't speak english but managed to find out that they lived in Ajaccio and had been visiting their son in London. They asked me in english 'why you go to Corsica?' and I tried to tell them that I was coming here to work but couldn't remember the word for work! I tried 'l'emploi' but I must have been pronouncing it wrong as I just got blank looks.

Mon sac being
unceremoniously
thrown into the hold...

When I arrived, I waited in the Airport for a few hours. I met an italian girl who had also travelled from Bristol who was meeting her friends from Italy to go camping in Corsica near Porto-Pollo. The girls at the information desk were very helpful and told me that there was another bus that I could get rather than the one at 4pm. The earlier bus was at 3pm but I needed to call the coach company to tell them to pick me up at the airport. When I called, they told me that there was an earlier one - at 2pm - but that I would have to go to 'Gare Routiere'. So, at 12.30pm I got on a bus to the 'Gare CFC' and then had to walk nearly a mile to 'Gare Routiere' which was not very fun with my very heavy bags! I met a nice english woman though - she was a secondary school french teacher in Oxford and was going to do 'WOOF'ing. Something about Working on organic farms or something but she said she was going to be working with horses at some stables in Bonafaccio (South Corsica). We also met a french girl who was fluent in English who was meeting up with friends to go on a Scuba Diving holiday.

First views of
Ajaccio en Corse

When we got to the Coach station, I bought my ticket and then waited almost an hour until 2pm but when it arrived the bus driver said 'the weather c'est nice et tres comfortable. We go at 3hrs'. Was a bit annoyed about that but me and the french girl and teacher went to find dinner at a little brasserie.

The brasserie was funny. It was being run by 4 or 5 men (really tiny place so not sure why there were so many but perhaps it was a family?) None of them were doing much - except the oldest man who was smoking and talking to some locals. When they brought us the menu they kept telling us all about the buffet and that it was wonderful and to please have the buffet because it was very good. I think about 3 of them came to tell us to have the buffet! The french girl (her name was Emiline) said that they were probably lazy and didn't want to do any cooking! I just had some pasta bolognase which was very nice!

On the bus I managed to fall asleep for a little while, but not long! Helene picked me up from Propriano but she kept trying to get me to tell the bus driver to take me to different places because she didn't want to drive in traffic (there wasn't really any queues, just lots of cars). I just got off in Propriano and she found me within 15 mins.

First views of Corsica
(I was surprised
by the mountains!)

We then had to go via a petrol station and get the car washed. The car wash was an outside/uncovered one. It took about 5 minutes per car and there were about 4 cars in front of us when we joined the queue! (And they were worried about the time it would take to drive through Propriano town centre...!?) The drive back to the Villa from there was ok but through mountains which, at times, was terrifying! It was a little bit like that on the coach too but I just went to sleep instead of watching!

Je suis arrivé à
l'aéroport d'Ajaccio

The family is very nice. Benoit speaks quite good english, and Helene's sister speaks english with her german husband. Helene has 5 children (Alienor -17, Hermine-7, Hillaire-12, Wandrille-5 et Anthelme-10) and all but the 2 youngest speak some english. Alienor is nearly fluent in English along with her 2 cousins (Tommy-20 and Alice-15). The youngest two - Wandrille et Hermine are facinated with me because I'm a new person and I don't understand what they're saying so they keep sitting next to me and repeating the same sentence over and over again and try in different voices, slower, louder etc. in the hope that I'll understand. They are very sweet though so hopefully I'll start understanding what they're on about soon!

The villa that they are staying with is really lovely. It overlooks Tizzano harbour and has a pool. They have put me in a little utility room where they were storing the luggage but the grandmother thought I might like to have my own space. No one else seems to realise that and they have spent all evening asking me if I'm sure I'll be ok in this room and if I want to I can share the girls room. Why would you leave a perfectly suitable room empty? I only have a double duvet cover as a blanket so hopefully it will stay warm and I won't get cold in the night.

It turns out that the grandparents have actually paid for the holiday. It's a family reunion in celebration of grandparents and parents anniversaries (50 and 20/25), and some birthdays. They all loved the musical tin and fudge/shortbread though they haven't eaten it yet. I will probably play with the loom bands with the children tomorrow.

We just finished dinner about half an hour ago (around 10:30pm). Very late. We had bread, cheese and some kind of uncooked, smoked ham/bacon stuff and melon as some sort of aperitif, then spaghetti with bolognase (again) or 'pulpe' (octopus) that they caught this morning, and then a roast chicken course, and then salads, and then dessert (a kind of vanilla and raison semilina pudding which was quite nice). Most of dinner was outside where I just kept getting attacked by mosquitos! 

I'm very tired and have no idea what time the family will all get up or what they are all doing tomorrow. We'll see!

View from the bus
to Gare CFC