I'm back, and this time it's permanent...

(written Wed 5th April, late night)

I have returned from France! The closures/strikes/lack of time I suffered during my last few days in Paris (plus of course the distraction of my birthday!) meant that I was unable to write much, and since I have been back I have been both trying to enjoy some relaxing time to myself and organise my life, so blog updates have taken rather a back seat, I'm afraid! However, I now feel I have organised myself sufficiently for the time being and can gather my thoughts in blog form :)

So, the end of my time in Paris was very busy but also very enjoyable. The day of the strike I didn't go out during the day (Julia typically forgot it was happening and got stuck in a train station for 2 hours!) so got some tidying etc done in my room, then in the evening I had dinner with Miguel and Anne-Marie (one of the English teachers at Antony-val de Bievre) at her house, which was delicious and very good for my French as we hardly spoke English all evening!
My birthday was a really good day - both weather-wise (hurrah!) and enjoyment-wise! I went shopping with Julia and bought a summer dress and some perfume I'd wanted for ages, before going home to shower and change. In the late afternoon I met Miguel in Paris for a coffee before going to meet Antony, who came over from London with extra suitcases for helping me to move out, at Gare du Nord. He got me some really lovely presents for my birthday - some photos of us that I particularly like in frames, a DVD, a '21' glass with a drunken bear on it, a very clever pen whose ink can be rubbed out, and a silver locket with photos of him and of us inside! :) In the evening we went to the Frog&Rosbif pub in the Marais, and I think around 21 people came for drinks in the end (not including Antony) so it was a big group and I really enjoyed just watching everyone chatting and being in each other's company! It was a nice mix of IUFM assistants and people I know from Warwick, too, although the two groups didn't really merge other than to say hello. I got more presents - a cool candle from Julia and a fab make-up/vanity case from Lessy, who knew I needed one!

Antony came along with me to work the next day and helped me run my quiz qbout the UK, then after the classes had finished the other assistants and we had a celebration with the teachers for the end of our contract! We drank pink champagne from plastic cups, and followed it up with a meal at an Indian restaurant. It was sad, as we knew we wouldn't get to work with the teachers again, nor would we be able to see each other for much longer - Paz will be in Chile from the end of April, Miguel will be in Puerto Rico, Dina is already back in Canada, and the other assistants in their respective countries covers most of the corners of the globe! Hence meeting up in future is unlikely at best...
I moved out (with Antony's invaluable help) on the 31st, having squeezed everything into bags the night before, and since I had to move out on the morning, we installed the bags in a locker at Gare du Nord and went into Paris for the day. After lunch we walked down to the Marais and spent a very pleasant few hours in a Starbucks cafe with Miguel, before going to wander around the shops in the area. Eventually we had tea and sandwiches in a 'salon de the' before leaving Miguel and going back to the station to get the bags out and get the Eurostar. We eventually arrived back in rainy london, and got back to my house around midnight.

My birthday presents were worth the wait! An apple green, leather Radley handbag and a Silver fountain pen from mum and dad, and a gorgeous silver necklace with freshwater pearls in the pendant from Tom and Ella! Then the following day I got a really pretty pair of earrings from the Smiths, and a beautiful silk-covered notebook and a posh pen from Amy, so overall I did really well!! We spent Saturday doing absolutely nothing, apart from watching TV, which was really lovely!!
We went out for lunch for my birthday celebration on Sunday to a Vietnamese restaurant in Wanstead, and ate far too much! Antony had to go back up to Coventry in the evening :( but he's coming back on Friday for the weekend, so it's not for too long that we're apart this time.
This week I have been making a list of things that need doing and working through it slowly, starting with tidying and organising, and moving on to studying and practical things like re-heeling shoes and posting letters. I have also managed to include rather a lot of shopping - I have a new case for my laptop, a new pair of trainers, a book, a bikini for going to Tunisia, and a computer programme to learn how to touch type! (I decided it would look good on my CV and be useful, and since I have quite a lot of free time it would be a good opportunity to learn)
Tonight I went to the pub with Amy, Amy's boyfriend Chris, David and Elly, which was nice since I haven't seen Elly for ages and I haven't met Chris before. On Friday I must try and meet up with my friend Catherine while she's in London (during term time she's at uni in Cambridge so I haven't seen her for a while) and then as I said Antony's coming down for the weekend - it's Amy and Lucy's birthday on Saturday, then on Sunday it's our (mine and Antony's) two-year anniversary! Crazy...but we're still really happy so it's lovely too :) I will write about it all afterwards so as not to spoil the surprise for him ;)

Apologies again for the mammoth entry, recent lack of blogging and general not-having-much-interesting-to-say, but I promise I shall blog more regularly from now on, now that I am home and with constant internet access!
L xx