Life in Sancerre

Theresa writes:
Day 7

It has only been a week since we left New Zealand but, as Holly said before, NZ feels a long time ago.  Our life is very different living in our apartment in this old village.  Sancerre is built on a hill with amazing views over the local countryside. Everywhere the streets are skinny and cobbled, the roofs are tiled and things taste and smell different.   Approximatly 1000 people live here but everyday the town fills with tourists, mainly from the barges travelling the Loire as well as us in the language school.

Today we have visited the épicerie (grocery store) fromagerie (cheese shop) and the boulangerie (bakers).  Like the locals we visit the boulangerie each day for our loaf of bread for lunch and croissants/gateaux if we fancy a treat.  Its a daily ritual that the locals enjoy and even at the supermarché I couldn't see the cut loaves of bread as you would find at home.  We visited the fromagerie with our teacher today to buy the crottin (goats cheese) that is the local specialty.  James and Emma couldn't bear the smell of the shop so they stood outside but Holly managed to put up with it and ordered from the shop keeper in french.

The locals are quite friendly and we can understand the simple conversations with the shopkeepers and restauranters.  But just when you think you are making progress in the language someone breaks into fast, colloquial french and you feel like a total novice again! 

The language school is great, there are 16 students all together and most seem to be taking private lessons or as a couple.  We meet the others for coffee most mornings in the shared space and for the pronunciation class at 8.30am.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the pronunciation class this morning as their accents are quite good and it amused them that there were adults in our class who struggled with the words that they found easy. We take our main lessons en famille with the four of us in together. It is interesting to see how much James and Holly know and it forces me to be certain of my pronunciation and grammar when I have to help them.

The weather has been wet since Monday and is set to continue until Friday. Not great weather for sightseeing but good for studying as there is little incentive to go outside other than our forays to the local shops for supplies.  After the busyness of Paris the children are really enjoying some downtime inside and don't seem to be in a hurry to go sightseeing.

Medieval Tower

James writes:

Day 6

Today we had our first french lesson. We had to introduce ourselves. 

eg.Bonjour je m'appelle "(your name)" 

J'ai "( your age)"ans

J'aime une/un/le "(your hobby)". 

We live in a very old town called Sancerre. The streets are made of cobblestone  and are very skinny. It is from medieval times. We live up a tower.

Here is a picture.

A Rainy Sunday

Emma writes:

Day 5

Today it was pouring with rain. At 5:00 we went to an outdoor concert luckily they had it under shelter It was held at a school. But they had no grass or a playground it was a bad school. I would not want to go to that school. The concert was like a choir. There was 3 men and 13 women.

 

We went to the supermarket I got an wind blower, an activity set and mentos. My brother got mentos too. We got a weird shape Oreo packet with a face on it.They tasted delicious and yum.

Emma ⛲️⛺️🏕🌯🍱🍔🍟🍭🍿🍧🍝🍉🍽🍾☕️🍼🍩🎂🍦🌮🍒🍎🍐🍊🍋🍓🍍🍯🍗🍪

A Change In Scenery

Holly writes:

Day 4

Today we woke up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. This was an early start to a very long day. First off we went to the wall of love. It had 'I love you'written on it in over 300 different languages. JE t'aime (French) and I love you (unknown) were almost right in the middle. 

Next we moved on to Sacre Couer Basilica a MASSIVE Christian church. It was at the highest point of the entire city. It looks much older than it is, the building was finished in the late 20th century. It was huge and beautiful inside. At the very end it had a big mosaic of Jesus.

Since we had a lot of time we went back to Notre Dame. This time to see inside. There were brilliant stained glass windows with intricate designs. Lots and lots of candles were all around the place. Over 10 million people visit each year, making Notre Dame one the most popular tourist attractions in Paris. 

We arrived back at the hotel to collect our bags and headed to the train station. After waiting for an hour we realised it was 50 minutes delay. We were on the train for two hours before arriving at Sancerre, a small town in the French countryside. Here we were introduced to the language school we will be staying in for a week.  Our apartment was on third floor and we couldn't stop looking out the window. It was so old and beautiful. New Zealand feels like a life time away.

Au reviour 

Holly xxx

A Day In Paris

Theresa writes:

Day 3

We had a full day of sightseeing today and the children are getting really proficient at reading the metro and the street maps.  This is just as well as I keep going the wrong way and setting us lost! This morning we had an early breakfast and headed to L'Orangerie, a small museum with Monet's water lily paintings.  This was a great museum for the children as the paintings are large and beautifully displayed in the two oval shaped roooms.  James said wow when we entered the first room, and this echoed what we were all thinking surrounded by these gorgeous paintings.

We spent some time wandering along the Seine and over the Pont Alexander ( ok I might have gotten us a little lost about this time....).   We caught the metro to Jardin Luxembourg where we spent a good portion of the day. The children loved the playground and they spent over an hour there. When hunger struck we had a picnic lunch followed by more playing.  Heading out of the park I wasn't planning on another art gallery but when we were walking past the Musée Luxembourg they asked to go in.  This was another small museum with some gorgeous paintings.  Of more interest to the children were a lot of gory photos.  James enjoyed the severed head on a plate and the woman driving a nail into a man's head.  We followed this up with a walk around the Latin Quarter and the Pantheon followed by ice-cream.  

We are a little footsore and tired tonight so it's a simple dinner and early to bed for us.

The Strike

James writes:

Day 2

On the metro there were tons &tons of people.When we got off we looked up the Novotel Paris.We had been walking for ages and then we thought we had found it but they told us that there more than one.So once we had found the right hotel and dumped our heavy bags we went exploring. We went to 

Place de Vosges for lunch.There were police everywhere carrying guns and batons. They were wearing armour that made them look like they were army people. When we left we found a strike at Bastille. 

And that is why the police closed off the streets.

We found Notre Dame it was the biggest church I have ever seen. When we got bored we went to look at the pigeons. Someone gave me some corn and pigeons flew onto my hands.

                                                         

Getting There

Emma writes: 

Day 1

Today has been the best. We were in the pool for 3hrs. I got 10hrs and a half of tv. I watched Kung fu panda 2 and 3. It was awesome. On number 3 it was about a Kung fu master. Pow! Bam! Boom! Everyone went wild.  I loved Kung fu panda 2 better than Kung fu panda 3. I liked the evil peacock. I liked the tiger girl best because my favourite animal is a tiger. Now we about to leave Singapore for Europe. 

Goodbye. Goodbye

🍼🍪🍧Emma 

The Build-Up

Holly writes
Hello friends, family and classmates

Welcome to our blog. We haven't even left the ground yet, but the excitment is in the air. Emma packed her bag a week early, Mum bought a book titled 'All You Ever Needed To Know About Paris' and I've written the first blog post.

Mum has definitely made sure we are ready. French lessons since I was 4, running around the house, making lists, packing and unpacking bags. With all the research, planning and timetables I'm suprised she hasn't exploded.

There are so many things we are looking forward to, here are a few of our top ones:
Mum can't wait to pratice her french skills by speaking french to all the french people.  James is willing to try a few culinary specialties and eat some snails and frogs legs. Emma is excited for all the gelato in Italy and climbing the Eiffel Tower in France. I am hoping to see the original Mona Lisa and see the leaning tower of Pisa in all its glory.

I know we will all miss our friends, our family and our animals (maybe the last one is just for me). but I can't wait to start adventuring.

Au Revoir
Holly xxx