I visited 'European' classes today. These are kids who opt for more English than everyone else and they have an extra three hours of English classes per week. They are also doing German, Latin and often music studies. They were 13 and 14 yr olds! So their week has an extra 5-6hrs more than other kids! It was great to be with them as the teacher said they are fully self-motivated and just want their English to improve. I only spoke in English and just spoke slowly - they understood the lot! The school (as everything is! ) is very old but no maintenance seems to be undertaken! The walk to the College classrooms showed old facades, some of which were crumbling and when we arrived at the classroom door, one wondered just what would be revealed on the other side!
Classroom Door
Walk to classroom
I had lunch in the canteen again and once more was amazed at the choices! It is definitely food produced en masse but is tasty and perfectly edible. Yesterday one of the options was a lamb casserole! How can it be possible to make mountains of that and stick within your budget? Weird to think it's possible here but that it would be far too expensive to do so in NZ!
The entree at this school is a self-help bar. You can serve yourself a bit of everything or just one dish - your choice. There was a carrot salad, a sliced olive and tomato salad, couscous, lentils or beetroot salad. Mains was a choice of, or some of everything if you want, pasta, baked chicken, chicken curry, vege ratatouille, stuffed tomatoes and big slices of champagne type ham! I don't think the french do Woolies shaved ham! You can also put on your tray a plate with a selection of three different slices of cheese and then choose from six different desserts pre-made in small dishes! And of course..... slices of beautiful fresh bread. You would be happy if your child had a meal like this each day at school!
Lining up to scrape plates after lunch
Dishing up mains
Dessert and fruit selection
I had finished before the teacher driving me home this afternoon had finished teaching for the day, so spent some time looking around Maubeuge. I was told it was a city but I have my doubts. It is very spread out but the actual shopping area is smaller than Taupo. It looks very industrial as well, with little colour evident. It is a manufacturing town with various plants and of late a Toyota plant! Japanese is now being taught in some schools in the area. Coal used to be extracted from surrounding areas and it looks to me like that sort of town! I'm so glad I'm staying in a village some distance away and not in Maubeuge! I walked over the lock in the centre of town and this river was used to transport the coal out of here to other parts of France.
This river is still used to transport freight and the occasional leisure boat I'm told.
I am pleased I have no school tomorrow so I will take the opportunity to bus in to another neighbouring town, Valencienne and do some exploring. Apparently it is bigger and much nicer than Maubeuge! To my delight I did find some interesting shops in Maubeuge this afternoon though, and enjoyed my meander - interior decor and baby shops! Just up my alley! I am already planning the first parcel home!
To close tonight, I just had to include a photo of the staff toilet at the school today! Ugh!!
Another great entry! Another thing .. do you ever see kids eating outside meal times? They seem to be properly nourished at sit down meal times and it seems so much more civilised doesn't it. Even at university level I didn't see the adults eating or snacking between main meal times. Keep on writing! xx
ReplyDeleteYou are right! The only snacking I have seen is when my AFS friends handed around little meusli type bars and biscuits during our hike in the woods. Nourishment was very appreciated! To think the kids go till 5.30 - 6pm at school with nothing after lunch! Ours would think their throat was cut!
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