Food, Food and more Food!

The morning was beautiful so we walked down to the end of Anse Vata beach which looked stunning. The sea was still like glass and paddleboarders were making the most of the conditions and all the while packs of road cyclists biked past on their Sunday rides. It was a hive of activity!

We went to Veronique's at 11am for our lunch. We had some of the red snapper her husband had caught yesterday. He showed us his biggest caught at 350 metres!

 

He is a mad keen fisherman and also a great cook. Our lunch consisted of salmon tart for the first course, then the red snapper and herbed potatoes for the second. Third course was salad and a range of beautiful cheeses with baguette and warm seeded bread from the oven and the fourth was the most amazing praline basket of chocolate mousse-filled chouquettes! They are like soft profiteroles.  Lastly was swiss chocolate!

 

                                                     Baked Red Snapper with Ginger sauce

Herbed Potatoes

Praline basket of chouquettes

 

We were greatly in need of some exercise after that eating marathon, so had a big walk through the Parc Forestier which was great. They have a range of native birds in aviaries there so Paul was able to see the symbol of New Caledonia, the Cagou, a flightless bird about the size of a kiwi.

 

We are back to school tomorrow and looking forward to seeing the kids again to see how their weekend went and to give them all the messages left by you.

 

Au revoir until tomorrow!

Le Weekend

We woke to drizzIe this morning, drat it!  We headed out to the enormous hypermarket about 15mins from the city centre instead of going to the markets first as originally planned. . Half of Noumea looked to have the same idea! There were so many people there-just like many NZers do on a wet day! We spent a couple of hours wandering around. These places sell everything from food, clothing, electrical goods, furniture and bedding to games, books and shoes.

Some different island veges

A fav section of the supermarket - le fromage!

                                      A range of saucisson - dried sausage a bit like salami
                                                                

A few locals with their own stands outside the supermarket.

 

The weather had improved by the time we had got back and Paul

had a snorkel. They had cancelled the parade at lunchtime because of the weather unfortunately. It was really still and quite clear late afternoon so it would have been OK. We were looking forward to seeing April-Rose in zumba gear part of the parade!
I rang Arabella to wish her a happy birthday and she sounded happy. Her family was taking her out to a restaurant tonight to celebrate.

                                                         Looking down onto Anse Vata Bay

We had dinner tonight with a friend who teaches at Jean Mariotti College which was nice. Paul thinks he's stacking on weight already with all the eating he's doing!  He's enjoying re-acquainting himself with some of the foods he loved when living in Switzerland though. Tomorrow we are having lunch with Veronique, the French teacher at JMariotti who is in charge of our exchange at this end. There will be others from the school there and it will be a very long, enjoyable feast knowing them. Sunday lunch traditionally involves about 5 courses with plenty of time inbetween for digestion and conversation! Paul may never want to go home....

Mathematics in French and Sunshine!

The day was cloudy first thing but gradually improved with the afternoon  warm and sunny.
We were noisily greeted by everyone running up and excitedly telling us what their family was like, what they ate and Katie saying, "This is the best thing I've ever done, Mrs Westerman!".  We made sure we spoke to each of them and they were all bubbling.
We began our day with a welcoming breakfast in the canteen.

                                                                             Choosing........

Yep, that's me sorted!

 

Queuing for breakfast was a novelty, but toast and cereal may be a bit boring when we return!

 

After breakfast the kids went off to classes with an assigned French student. Paul and I walked down to the local Table Tennis Centre and watched  a PE teacher take a class. There is no playground at the school - just big concrete areas around the perimeter of the buildings and there is no hall or gym so PE is taken at sportsgrounds and facilities which are all closeby luckily. Classes begin at 7.30am, there is a 15min break at 9.30am and then lunch is from 11.30 until 1pm. This long lunchtime is to accommodate 1000 students getting through the canteen in shifts for their hot lunch. They don't eat snacks during their break and just all hang around talking for the break and also the long lunch. Our kids couldn't believe there was nothing to do! 

Angus had no trouble amusing himself! He is the king of selfies!

 

I think our lunchtime sports equipment will be far better appreciated from now on!

They all found classes interesting and all  could understand bits and pieces of what was said. Tui wasn't impressed with Maths in French! In English is bad enough!

 

Lunch was in the canteen and it is such a different experience for us. Serviants, or playground supervisors make sure students are lined up where they wait until one shift is finished in the canteen, then they can move up to a row of basins to wash hands, then eventually go inside. They had fish today with vegetables, baguette and then strawberries and cream!  Sure beats peanut butter sammies!

 

 

The afternoon's activity was a ride around the city in Le Petit Train. It follows a very scenic route then goes through the Latin Quarter showing us examples of early colonial architecture and all the while providing a very interesting commentary on New Caledonia's history and development.  Just like many other places in the Pacific, Noumea probably wouldn't look the same if this hadn't been an early penal colony for France. They physically built many structures remaining today.  Convicts were banished here for 7 years and then after their release, had to stay another 7years before they could return home. Of course many stayed here and along with early settlers, became the ancestors of many New Caledonians today.

Remnants from WW2

 

 

                                           This is the site where the Guillotine was situated many years ago. It had already beheaded one of the Louis and his wife, then was kindly given to New Caledonia in order to carry on dealing out the ultimate punishment! 

 

We were back at school by 3.30pm for everyone to be collected by their billets. They all happily said goodbye with a variety of exciting activities planned for the weekend.  I laughed watching Allistair run up  to Connor's host Mum as they were getting into their car, "You'll look after my brother well, won't you?"  As I said yesterday, the parents are so nice and Veronique has had lots of feedback from them saying what wonderful kids we have!  Tomorrow is the Noumea Carnival and the parade goes through the city centre at 5pm and there is to be a big fireworks display out on the harbour at 9.30pm. I'm sure the kids will all have a great weekend.

 

Here's hoping for continued sunshine........ 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrival

What an awesome bunch!

Well, we are here at last! The kids will be tired after such a long day. It has been a day to remember....  we had no hiccups at Auckland and everyone's weight was fine, so thank you for that. 

                                                Just before we went through to security

                                     Checking out the massage chairs as we waited to board.

The airline had been changed from  Air Calin the national carrier, to Tahiti Nui because our original plane was being serviced.  Unfortunately it wasn't quite up to usual standards in terms of flight entertainment! Some kids were peeved that they couldn't get their movies to work or else couldn't get them to change to English (me included, so I was forced to getting into the swing of the language again before we landed!).  The kids  were all good though and amused themselves well.

The flight was OK until we started to descend!  It was definitely the worst flight I've had  going over. There were excited calls of "Yessss!" when the first few bumps occurred but that sure stopped fast!  We rocked and rolled for 20mins on the way down and had a couple of real good drops as well. They were not the only ones on the plane going "ohhhhh".   It definitely was a long 20mins!  We had a couple unwell and a few more pale faces but all very glad to land judging from the cheer that went up as we touched down.

We walked outside to pouring rain though! It's also a first for me - I've always had great weather.  By the time we reached the school 45 minutes later after the bus ride into the city, it was fair teeming. They have no school hall or gathering place so the meet and greet was done on the footpath under umbrellas in the semi dark as we were late!  We were drenched!  When the French teacher took Paul and I to the supermarket to get supplies afterwards, Veronique stopped to wipe my eyes. I had mascara running down my face, hair drenched and dripping......... obviously looked great when I met the parents!

The parents all seemed really nice, as Paul commented to me  a while ago. They were concerned about the kids being cold and wet - wet yes, but it's 24deg so we are definitely not cold like they are! We had to ask for the air conditioning to be turned on in the bus as we were all getting rosy cheeks.
The weather is supposed to improve a bit tomorrow so here's hoping we get the train tour in without getting wet!

Bon soir tout le monde!  Until tomorrow.....

Eight More Sleeps To Go!

Well, the countdown is on and final preparations well in  hand - me breaking my wrist was definitely not part of the deal though!
I'm going to be packing my bag at the weekend. Make sure you are under 23kgs!