YA-6: Fish and Chips night, La Fête de l’Hareng and Le Havre solo trip!

Salut! I’m back with a new blog post. I cannot believe I am now in the countdown of my placement, with less than two weeks before I go back home! Honestly, time has gone by so fast! Here are the latest stories of my adventures in France.

To be honest, my week days have been pretty average lately. I have to run errands, cook, do the laundry… Just the general things you must do when you are an independent adult, nothing too fascinating. On Tuesday the 22^nd I slept in since it was my day off and wrapped up the parcels for the Fish and Chips night. We ran out of cello tape so Moni and I popped to the Intermarché to grab some more. Wrap the parcels are so tedious! I’m not the best at wrapping in general, so wrapping stuff in 6-9 layers is not how I like to spend my mornings…. After lunch we went to the Library in hopes of finding some useful books for my essay. I didn’t have high expectations which was fortunate because save for some wine and champagne guides, I barely found anything. I will have to rely on surveys and online literature for it… Fortunately a few people have helped me out with online sources, so cheers everybody! I came back home at around half four, took a shower and did some more reading in bed. To be honest I know that deadline season is stressful and I wouldn’t change with those in Bath having a hard time, but I do miss student life!

On Wednesday we learnt the dance for the fish and chips evening – we were definitely going to set up a show! And, believe me, having four children’s lessons and learning choreography when you have sore muscles all over is not an easy feat! In the evening I took a skills webinar by my University about effective presentations and influencing the audience which was quite good. I was looking forward to the one about assertiveness but it sadly got cancelled again due to low sign-ups. It is really cool that I can still take part on courses online, I’ve found a few of the skill courses at Uni quite helpful!

On Thursday I started the morning with a laugh with one of the adult students saying he’ll “weep when I leave”! I don’t think the verb ‘to weep’ was what he was looking for, although he was adamant. It was a hilarious comment! I do find it rewarding to know the students enjoy my lessons though! As a rookie teacher it is reassuring! [By the way, if you want to know a little bit more about what I do at the school, check out my post on the University of Bath Placement Blog: http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/hss-placements/2016/11/28/year-abroad-ii-working-in-a-local-language-school/ I go more in depth about what I do at my workplace!]

In between my lessons that day I rushed back home and got changed and ready for the evening. We were having a Fish and Chips evening at Le Barbican, a restaurant by the quai well-known for their fish and chips. The school does this kind of event a couple times a year and it is quite popular – the whole place was booked (and full to the brim) by us! Moni, Gillian and I headed over to the restaurant in advance to decorate it. We met Tony and Sarah, the cook and his wife, and the waiter who I swear I’ve seen before somewhere but I cannot for the life of me pin down where. We put up some Union Jack garlands and the Telethon chair, some flags… And then people started to arrive quite early. I ended up sitting next to a lovely old couple who I hadn’t met before, and two women on the other side. Sadly, nobody was sitting opposite me which made it kind of awkward but I chatted to the old couple and shifted places throughout the night, as we were in charge of the entertainment. I’d prepared a quiz about fishes which went down pretty well, Liam played the clarinet, we did pass-the-parcel with parcels flying over heads and precariously missing the wine glasses, we played bingo which got Gill laughing so much she was crying and then a couple songs. As per usual, we were the ones having to provide the entertainment and ended up singing and dancing in front of everyone – such guinea pigs! It was a lot of fun though and everybody enjoyed themselves so I can say for sure that it was a great success. We had some wine, traditional fish and chips and apple crumble, true English meal.

On Friday evening after work, Liam and I went with Manu and his dad to a ‘fun evening’. We’d been invited to an accordion concert in a nearby town. There is a man called Freddy Friand and his wife Sabrina who are apparently quite well-known in the area and even teach some of the students from the English school. They were playing for a Telethon evening and so they took us there to watch since the accordion is such a traditional instrument in France which is now experiencing a revival. Anyhow, turns out we ended in this random canteen full of elderly people sitting along three long tables and a small dance floor in front of the speakers where Sabrina, Freddy and a couple students were playing and singing. Just as we arrived, Liam and I exchanged glances and our faces just meant everything. It was such a weird night. Interesting to see the music but I felt like it would have been something my grandmother would have enjoyed… Manu and Christine were really into it and danced a couple of times. They also took us both Liam and I dancing. I tried. I really tried. But I have two left legs, especially when I have no idea how to dance the songs that they were playing. But I still tried my best (and also failed at it). Monika would’ve enjoyed it but sadly she was feeling ill so couldn’t make it. Overall, it was an interesting night that I will remember, but maybe not for the right reasons.

By Saturday the 26^th, the Christmas spirits started to kick in and we were listening to Christmas songs at the school. Deemed too early for some, but I was really into it! Even got my Christmas playlist going on!

On Sunday the 27^th we woke up fairly early to go to the port as it was La Fête de l’Hareng or the Herring Festival. Because there is such a big fishing heritage in Fécamp, the festival takes place the last weekend of November every year and it is a pretty big occasion. There are various events that range from being able to try herring to special meals at restaurants, live music, special guided tours and even the election of the Herring Queen. This one was a strange one. She’d been elected the day before but we did get the chance to see her on the Sunday: a heavily built queen with a lot of makeup, pink hair and miniskirt – the man behind the costume was having fun though! ‘She’ wins her weight in herring, for which they have a sort of weighing scale with a throne for her to sit on one side and a box to load with herring on the other. Bizarre, bizarre! And then they say the Drag Queen of Carnival is weird!

Anyhow, Moni, Liam and I made our way to the Quai to have a look around. There were various stalls selling different products and, of course, herring everywhere – fresh, fried, grilled, smoked... I must say, I was the only one brave enough to try it – I got myself some herring and baked potato which were actually pretty good! We had a wander around and ended up listening to a folk group playing near the water, but we came back fairly early since Moni wasn’t feeling very well. I did want to go back later on though, because I really liked the atmosphere there, so I spoke to Manu and he agreed to pick me up later that day and go back to the quai.

Turns out, there was a slight change of plans. Since I was the only one going, we decided to head over to Lillebonne to have a look at a games festival that his son was helping out with instead. Since I had nothing else to do, why not? We went on his motorbike. Bear in mind, I hadn’t been on a motorbike for over five years. It was good; he’s a good driver and it was a new way of exploring Normandy. It was freezing though! It was funny because I remember my Placements Officer telling me about him and his trips on motorbike while I was applying for the job haha The festival itself reminded me of the game area at PIT. We played a couple of board games and at around half four decided to return so we’d make it back in time for the end of the herring festival. 

I got to see the inside of La Boucane, where they used to traditionally smoke the herring and then we listened to some sailors singing Britton songs – it was wonderful! It sounds really strange but when I see the sailors around here they look like proper sailors. Not to say that those in the Canaries don’t, but these are northern seas fishermen with long beards, wool jumpers, tobacco pipes and cozy hats – it’s so cliché! Manu bought some fish and then brought me back home. It was a long but memorable day! The festival faintly reminded me of the Romerías back home.

The following week was both average and very busy. Since Monika started feeling quite ill on Friday she was off work in order to recover. However, despite going to the doctor’s and getting prescribed some medicine, she was still feeling quite sick and so we had to cover for her because she couldn’t really work. I had to run a few errands, have a Skype check-in meeting with the Placement Officer at my University, prepare and teach extra lessons… I was quite busy but not interesting busy, I had to work quite a few extra hours and use up the rest of my time to keep up with chores. For once I treated myself to watching a film and went for ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ which I hadn’t seen in ages. I also treated myself to some leisure reading and finished ‘La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi’ by Paolo Giordano. I absolutely loved it! It was certainly not what I expected and reading it in Italian took a bit longer, but it is beautifully written and I would recommend it to anyone. Shout-out to Bea for recommending it to me!

We also got to enjoy some lovely winter sun for a few days. It was freezing outside but the sun was lovely. I prefer this kind of weather, the crisp mornings are lovely! However, the sun sets by five and I’m not that keen on this side of winter. I feel the need to get up earlier to be productive because once it’s dark outside I just feel like curling up in bed and doing nothing…

As December rolled over, the Christmas street lights finally came on and it was at last socially acceptable to be excited about Christmas! I must say, the Christmas craze I experience in England is not what you live in France. People are excited but not crazy about it. Like in Spain, decorations are put up quite late. The illuminations were lit up on the 1st, Place Bellet was decorated and it finally felt Christmassy since when I got off work all the lights were on! Can’t wait to go back home at this point; I’m really pumped for Christmas!

Since my Thursday morning lesson got cancelled I went over to the Mairie to have a look at a photo exhibition by the Vieux Amis de Fécamp called “Fécamp, hier et aujourd’hui”. It was a collection of old photos from the end of the 19^th century and start of the 20^th of different places in the town opposed to pictures of the same location but nowadays. It was cool to see how little the place has actually changed – a lot of old traditional houses are still there and, although now some new buildings have appeared and the streets are obviously more modern, two World Wars and a century later, Fécamp hasn’t changed that much after all!

On the Friday I had dinner with Gillian. An informal opportunity to check on me and my progress since I’ve been here. We went to Barbican and had fish and chips and it was a nice evening. I really have met a lot of great people out here and I will really miss them when I leave, they’ve made my experience of Fécamp the best I could’ve wished for!

Saturday was an incredibly tiring day since I worked 9 through to half four and I was the only assistant in after lunch. After work all I really wanted to do was shower and go to sleep but I forced myself to go back out into the cold to pay a visit to the ‘European Christmas market’ in town because it was only open Friday through to that Sunday. It was then or never and if I’ve learnt one thing since I’ve lived abroad is to never pass on an opportunity because you never know what might happen! I got the chance to have a look at the Christmas decorations in the centre-ville in all their splendour (including the dodgy arrangement of light garlands in the Christmas tree outside the Mairie, those made me laugh!). The Christmas market was quite small but they had stalls from the twinning towns and, hail the Christmas angels of the Vale of Glamorgan, I managed to get my hands on some Sainsbury’s mince pies! My day was made! After that I picked up some cream to have with the pies and took a look around the pedestrian street. I bought myself some new earrings to change out my piercings and found a couple Christmas presents. Not bad at all in the end, Christmas vibes and a full stomach!

On the Sunday I woke up early and Manu drove me down to Le Havre with Cooper. I was lucky because the day was really sunny and lovely, despite it being freezing wherever the sea breeze hit you. I was spending the day wandering around Le Havre on my own, so I was really glad it wasn’t raining! Le Havre is an industrial city, rebuilt after the Second World War because it was pretty much bombed down to rubble. It is certainly not the prettiest place I have been to since I’ve been in France, but I didn’t want to leave without paying it a proper visit – I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity! Manu was nice enough to drive me there and drop me off at St Joseph Church. The inside of the Church was absolutely breath taking! It was beautiful! It is made of concrete with geometrical shapes and stained glass, such a strange combination but it really worked! It was quite magical to be inside because it was lit up by the sun creeping in through the stained glass on the walls all the way up to the hollowed tower and I was on my own and there was an organ playing somewhere in the church. I really loved it and I think it is certainly worth a visit, particularly on a sunny day!

I then made my way along the port down to the modern art gallery Musée André Malraux (MuMa) and past it to the Maison de l’Armateur, one of the only surviving buildings after the bombings. Sadly it was closed since they were dismantling one of their exhibitions. That ruled one out of the three things I wanted to visit, St Joseph already being one of them. Because I had a lot of time to spare I decided to roam around and I literally walked around quite a lot, to and from the same places because I kept missing the opening times. Not that it mattered since the winter sun was beautiful and the streets were really peaceful because, as a Sunday, everything was closed. Throughout the day I visited a few different places. The Bassin de Commerce and Memorial to the Fallen in Charles de Gaulle square - the Bassin was really calm and I even saw some cormorants drying their feathers under the sun. I also visited the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame which was amazing because someone was actually playing the organ there (I believe practicing for a Christmas concert judging by the songs played) and the sunlight filtered through the windows lighting up the inside. Architecturally speaking it wasn’t amazing, but the acoustics inside were extraordinary! 

MuMa was also fantastic. I really wanted to go because they have quite a lot of impressionist works since the area was quite popular amongst Impressionist painters. I saw a few paintings by Monet, Pisarro and the likes, along with some both more modern and old styles of paintings. There was a temporary exhibition by Jacqueline Salmon called ‘Du vent, du ciel et de la mer’ which was quite interesting. It was a mix between pictures and paintings and analysis of the air flows and currents. It was good to go to the gallery; it had been quite some time since I’d visited an art museum and I couldn’t pass on seeing actual Impressionist works in an actual Impressionist location! I also went to the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle in which there was an exhibition about South African artists. It was quite interesting although the layout of the exhibitions was a bit confusing… Alexia and Anthony picked me up at around four and we drove back to Fécamp stopping off in Breauté to pick up Katy from the train station. Overall, it was a nice solo trip making the most of my last days in Normandy. I’m glad I got to visit Le Havre before I leave – would definitely recommend checking out St Joseph and MuMa if you are around!

I apologize if this blog post felt a little bit all over the place, my life is all over the place right now! With only a week and a half to go, I barely have time to keep up with y’all but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! There will be one more story-type blog post coming up in a fortnight about the last two weeks in Fécamp. Keep your eyes peeled! So sad this French adventure is nearly over!