So... it's Chalon!

Salut! I've been meaning to update this for a while, and now I have some time to sit and type so here we go!

I found out where in France I'm going, and it's NOT Montpelier as I had hoped for, but in fact it's in a little town in central France called Chalon-Sur-Saone, less than an hour south of Dijon (mustard land). It's marked on the map on the right!

For 12 hours a week, I shall be teaching at Nicéphore Niépce lycée, a sciencey kind of school with a large majority of male pupils (!!!) aged between 14 and their early twenties. Apparently what I'll be doing is mainly discussion based lessons, according to Patricia - the English teacher at the school, who I was chatting to over MSN this morning! She seemed very friendly and keen to answer any questions!

Ooooh another good thing, I get free accommodation living in the school! I got an email from Chris, who was the previous assistant, and he said it'll be in the former nurse's quarters above the medical room... apparently very basic (very very basic!) but it means I get to save money and time on finding a flat. :-D

I went out to Chalon for a week at the beginning of August, to have a look around and allow my parents to see where I would be.

During this time, I attempted to set up a bank account, bought a french mobile, saw the school, forgot how to say 'How much is it?', got embarrassed, drank copious amounts of coffee, discovered an amazing tea rooms, took trips to Dijon and Beaune, made friends with some random french people, got to know the town very well, had quality time with my parents, wrote lots of stuff, sat on lots of trains, got told I looked "too cute and young to be taken seriously" by an old woman in a restaurant when I told her what I'm going to be doing, decided to tone down the 'peroxide hair' :-(, after a very loud screeching of breaks I saw a toddler get hit by a car but he wasn't killed, thank God! Found a potential church and yeah, generally let the atmosphere of Chalon soak in.

I liked it a lot. It's a small town but not too small, it has everything I need and I'm sure I will discover so much more over the next few months.

I just got back from Soul Survivor, where my faith has been completely restored - in God, in people, in the world, in love. I'm so glad there's a place like that, somewhere I can go where it's like I'm being dipped in heaven. Soaking up nothing but goodness. I went their feeling verrrry empty, now I feel more alive than ever, more in touch with everything around me and with a desire to know God more.

In France, I'm not assuming I will have any kind of good Christian support around me so I'm going to have to be strong in what I stand for. It's just me and God, I'll be relying on Him loads - with Him all things are possible.

"You are closest to who you are when you are closest to your creator."

And I don't want to be anything other than ... me, so that says it all.

Thanks for reading :-) Au Revoir!

xx