If I don't find anything soon, I'll have to go-- in which case you can expect another blog post, but we're all hoping that this doesn't happen until the end of August, okay?
Well, would you want to leave this place?
Admittedly, these photos aren't from this year. Before I go, I want to take pictures of the various approaches to the two main squares: Le Grand Place and La Place de l'Opéra which are right next to each other. La Vielle Bourse (The Old Stock-Exchange) is in the last picture and I remember when I first saw it (nearly two years ago) with my friend Keelia. The Chamber of Commerce is the tower just behind it, and that's a lovely building, too. At the start of the year, I wondered if I would ever get bored or cease to notice how beautiful the centre of Lille and the old town (Vieux Lille) are, and I can honestly say that each time I approach either of these squares, I'm still in awe. It's been even better recently with the amazing weather we've had and the events that have been going on in Le Grand Place. Every time I've gone into Lille and lingered slightly while walking through these squares, I've thought with a joy and happiness I can't quite explain: "I live here!!"
The thought of leaving for good is genuinely upsetting, and not just because of the place itself. I will miss the friends I have made here very much and all the places I go to with them: various cafés, bars, restaurants, Franglish (a language café I go to on Tuesdays) and the fun that I had there with them. There's a certain atmosphere about the place that just makes you want to stay, too, not to mention hearing French everywhere.
French people have a certain way of phrasing things that really only French people seem to be able to do and once you begin to understand the language, you start to notice all these little details. The beauty of it is really only apparent when you can hear each component of a person's speech and examine the word order and grammatical construction of a written text. Admittedly, I can't express myself in this subtly-French way, but I never tire of hearing or seeing it. For example, as a native speaker of a language where there are no such things as gendered nouns, the 'masculine'/'feminine'/'plural' issue can be annoying, but at the same time I find it quite beautiful that native speakers of languages where these categories (and more) exist are so naturally trained to think about the gender and number of the things they are talking about, or the people they are talking to, and are immediately able to adjust the article preceding the noun and the adjective(s) that describe it.
Every time I get to England and the sudden onslaught of my native language hits me, I feel sad. I can understand every word: there's no mystery about what anyone says, there's no new linguistic detail to listen to or look out for. Everything makes immediate and perfect sense. Of course, I'm pretty sure I can say I am fluent in French now, but to get to the stage where you understand absolutely everything 100% whether you're tired or not, and to know all the slang (French slang can be fairly mind-boggling), I think you need to be immersed in the language and culture for a few years.
I suppose what's keeping me here is that I still have things to learn and a life that I'm not willing to leave.
Getting back to my last week at work, I was certainly touched by the farewells I received:
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| This was from my 4ème euro class, who I'll miss a lot! |
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| This is from the 6èmes (the youngest class)-- they are the cutest kids ever! |
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| This was from another 4ème euro class who were really fun to work with! They got me a box of chocolates, too, but they're obviously... no longer available. |
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| This is everything from all the classes I had in one of the schools. |
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| N'awww |
I must say, I felt like I must have been doing my job right when, one Tuesday afternoon, I was on my way to the bus stop to go back home and (naturally) the bus was about three minutes early and drove by without me... The next one was in 15-20 minutes. I was standing by the bus stop feeling mildly bitter when four of the girls from my Friday morning 4ème class came over to say hello. We chatted for a while and I asked them if they were waiting for the bus too, and they said no, they just didn't want me to wait at the bus stop alone! They waited the full 20 minutes until I was on the bus and then they went! Adorable!
La Fin
Today also happens to be the day when the production I'd been helping the English teachers with in one of the schools was finally on show. That really felt like the end of an era. We'd worked on writing our own version of West Side Story for a show for parents and it really was brilliant. Honestly, teachers put in so much work for these things, and they are so rarely recognised for what they do. The kids were brilliant and there were so many talents on display with all the singing and dancing, stage props and the play itself. I'm very proud to have helped even the smallest amount, because it was great and the students definitely enjoyed themselves.
La Bêtise
I'll leave you with a slight faux-pas (quite literally speaking, actually)...
So, I walked into the school this morning (it was also an open day, so they had a registration desk in the reception area), but I seemed to have forgotten that there was the slightest step just after the door and, well... I didn't quite go flying, but it was definitely a fairly conspicuous trip witnessed by the two teenagers at the welcome desk (of course). I laughed it off, because it was quite funny, but I was slightly mortified.
À la prochaine!
