#peaceinparis

Well, what a horrific 24 hours.  I first learned of the events that unfolded in Paris via messages from family and friends at 11pm just before I was going to bed last night.  It seemed that every 5 minutes the death toll climbed by another 10 people.  I think at present the number is around 130 with 200 injured and around 80 in a critical condition.

As I am sure is happening everywhere, there is rolling coverage on the television here.  Apparently one of the culprits was known to police for his radical links and had been brought before the courts eight times over the past ten years, but never did any jail time.

To say I had a rotten night's sleep last night would be an understatement.  I guess there was a certain degree of concern about flying through Paris today.  However, it all seemed business as usual and the flights departed and arrived without incident.  The plane from Paris to Rennes was only half full, so I wonder if some people decided against travel.  I can't say I really noticed heightened security measures at Charles de Gaule airport, but then I had to run (yes, I ran) to catch my connecting flight for Rennes.

At Rennes, the story was quite different.  It is a relatively small train station and there were four soldiers (complete with semi-automatic weapons) and six policemen doing the rounds.

Despite this terrible event, I will continue to visit this beautiful country.

The piece below written by Rick Steves was something that came up on my Facebook feed which pretty much sums up how I feel:

After Friday's horrifying events in Paris, as we keep the victims and their families in our prayers and marvel at how violent hatred can express itself, it’s natural for those of us with travels coming up to wonder what is the correct response. Let me share my thoughts:

I have two fundamental concerns: what is safe, and what is the appropriate response to terrorism.

About safety, I believe this is an isolated incident. Tomorrow Paris will be no more dangerous than it was the day before that terrible Friday the 13th. I also believe that security in Paris and throughout Europe will be heightened in response to this attack. Remember: There's an important difference between fear and risk.

About the right response to terrorism, I believe we owe it to the victims of this act not to let the terrorist win by being terrorized. That’s exactly the response they are hoping for. Sure, it’s natural for our emotions to get the best of us. But, especially given the impact of sensational media coverage, we need to respond intelligently and rationally.

In 2004, Madrid suffered a terrorist bombing in its Metro, which killed 191 and injured 1,800. In 2005, London suffered a similar terrorist bombing in its Tube system, killing 52 and injuring 700. These societies tightened their security, got the bad guys, and carried on. Paris will, too.

I'm sure that many Americans will cancel their trips to Paris (a city of 2 million people) or the rest of Europe (a continent of 500 million people), because of an event that killed about 150. As a result, ironically, they’ll be staying home in a country of 320 million people that loses over 30,000 people a year (close to 100 people a day) to gun violence.

Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Paris, the victims, and their loved ones. And it remains my firmly held belief that the best way for Americans to fight terrorism is to keep on traveling.

Bath

On Tuesday I arrived in Birmingham to attend the Firefly National Conference (for those of you who don’t know, Firefly is the Learning Management System we use at school).  As I arrived a day and half before the conference, I decided to use my time well while here, so on Wednesday headed for Bath.

What a beautiful town.  I managed to find the ancient Roman baths and spent about 2 hours exploring this site.  The first shrine on this site was built by the Celts to the Goddess Sulis (who the Romans called Minerva).  The name Sulis was conserved by the Romans, with them calling the town Aquae Sulis.  The first temple was built in 60 – 70 AD and the bathing complex was bulit up over the next 300 years.  Of course it fell into disrepair with the fall of the Roman Empire.  The spring is now housed in 18th century buildings.  The baths themselves are heated by geo-thermal activity and reach around 46°.

 Sulis Minerva

There is an impressive array of Roman artefacts around the site, including “curses” inscribed on lead.  These were written to the goddess Sulis Minerva to ask for punishment on those who had, for example, stolen people’s clothes while they were bathing.

After visiting the baths I went and had lunch at the famous “Sally Lunn’s.”  Sally Lunn was a young French refugee who arrived in England in the 1700s.  She baked a rich, round and generous bun now known as the “Sally Lunn Bun.”  It is somewhat the texture of a brioche.  This bun became a very popular delicacy in Georgian England as its special taste and lightness allowed it to be enjoyed with either sweet of savoury accompaniments.  I had a savoury version with salad and bacon, washed down with a very nice ginger beer.

Next I explored the Bath Abbey, which was very impressive.  It had memorials to Isaac Pitman (the inventor of shorthand) and Captain Arthur Phillip who died in Bath.

Finally I wandered toward the river to see the Pulteney Bridge (completed in 1774) which spans the river Avon.  The bridge features shops along the edge, forming a narrow street.

After a very enjoyable day, I hopped back on the train to head back to Birmingham.

Saint-Nazaire - day 2

On Sunday 9th November I did a tour of the shipyards with Rosalie and her boyfriend, Frank. Unfortunately photographs were forbidden, but we were shown the process of building the massive cruise liners and naval ships.  There was one such cruise liner in the process of construction (google “Harmony of the Seas”) which is due for completion in April next year.  It really has to be seen to be believed.  Some of its features include 4 swimming pools and a bar where you are served by a robot.  One week on board will set you back €1700 in the cheapest room.  These rooms don’t have balconies or portholes, so there is a projection of a balcony on your cabin wall.

Afterwards we went to Saint-Marc sur Mer for lunch.  This site is best known as being the place where the 1953 French comedy film “Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot” was filmed. After lunch we enjoyed a lovely walk along the coast.

That night I headed back to Rennes to spend a couple of days with Jorgia before heading over to England.

Saint-Nazaire

Last night I left Vannes to spend the weekend with a French girl (Rosalie) I met last year in Toowoomba.  She used to come to St Ursula's to give David and I conversation lessons once a week for a little while.

She lives in Saint-Nazaire which is one of the most important port cities in France along with Marseille and Le Havre.  While it is in the Pays de la Loire region, it is very much Breton in the cultural sense.

During World War II it was occupied by the Germans; they built a massive submarine base shortly after the occupation.  With its 9 metre thick concrete ceiling, it was capable of withstanding almost any bomb in use at the time.

Much of Saint-Nazaire was destroyed in World War II as the result of allied bombardments.  Only 10% of the original town remains.  Unfortunately the post-war buildings don't have the same character as the beautiful old houses below.

We took a drive over the Saint-Nazaire bridge to Saint Brévin.

Rosalie's house has spectacular ocean views and when we got home we went for a walk along the path that runs behind her house.  If you want to you can do a two and a half hour walk past 20 beaches (one-way).

Tonight we are going out to a concert.

Vannes

Whew!  The last few days have been pretty gruelling.  I have been collapsing in a heap at 8.30, so hopefully my hosts haven't found me rude.

I've been sitting in on French history and literature classes, so it has been really fantastic - right up my alley.  Today in one of the classes, they happened to be studying my favourite French poet, Jacques Prévert.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when the teacher asked me to read out my all time favourite poem from the sheet that had about 20 poems on it.  It was a poem that I learnt myself at high school when I was in grade 8.

This afternoon I went for a walk in Vannes.  The medieval part of town is just gorgeous with its quaint little buildings.  Anyone who knows me terribly well will know that my sense of direction is horrible to say the very least, so I was very proud of myself when I managed to walk into town, wander through the labrynth of little streets and get back to school without getting lost once!  A very proud moment!!!

This afternoon, I have taken off classes in order to prepare for an English class later in the week.  I am going to be talking to them about the Australia and its schooling system, St Ursula's College and me.  Hopefully they will find it interesting.

I've had a lovely two evenings staying with the principal and his gorgeous family.  I didn't meet their son, but their two daughters were just lovely.  They are all students at the high school.  Tonight I move to a different family.

First day at school

Yesterday I left Jorgia and her host family in Rennes and headed for Vannes.

This week I will be visiting the Lycée Notre Dame le Ménimur, an Ursuline school in Vannes.  Apparently when the Deputy Principal asked the staff who would like to welcome me in their classes hands went up everywhere.

The school has several different pathways for students in terms of their final Baccalauréat (like the Senior Certificate) - things like science and economics but also health care.  They have rooms that are dedicated to learning about specific areas of health care, notably caring for babies and the elderly.  They learn practical things like how to lift a person from a hospital bed.

My timetable is going to be quite a mixed bag.  I’m currently sitting in a political science class… pretty heavy duty.  But these are final year students and they are working independently on research assignments.

Later on today, I have “moral and civic education” and then a class where they work on a personal project.  Later in the week I’ll visit English, French, Culture and Health Care classes.

Lots of teachers have also offered to host me at their homes.  Tonight and tomorrow night I will be hosted by the principal Monsieur Manuel Krzyzosiak.  I will be referring to him as “Monsieur” because his surname is unpronounceable. I think over the 2-3 weeks that I’ll be here, I’m being hosted by four different people.  It will be interesting to get an insight into the lives of different families.

The teachers seem to have similar teaching loads here - 18 hours face-to-face a week but no playground duty or assembly. (Interestingly, sport teachers must do 21 hours of contact time because it is considered that they have less marking than other teachers).  I’ve just looked at the timetable of the teacher I am with at the moment and he has all of Tuesday free and only one class on Thursday.  He is able to stay at home when he doesn’t have classes. Having said that, the days are longer, starting at 8:15am and  finishing at 5pm, so he does have bigger days on the three other days of the week. There is a 15 minute break for morning tea and then a lunch of one hour.  The students go to a canteen and sit down to eat their lunch.  Teachers have a separate cantine.  The meals are quite good – I had confit du canard today with a selection of salads and vegetables.

In other respects, the teachers at St Ursula’s are on a pretty good wicket compared to here.  While there is a “salle de prof” (teacher’s room), it is tiny in comparison to our upstairs lunch room – perhaps a fifth of the size for 100 teachers.  Next door to this room there is a little computer room for the teachers with 10 computers.  There is no laptop programme for students or teachers.  Teachers must book into computer rooms (like we had to in years gone by at St Ursula's College) with their classes. Teachers do not have a desk, but there is a place (inadequate) to keep their resources in the teacher’s room.

In other news, I’m still enjoying spectacular weather, I haven’t really had to break out the winter woolies for a couple of weeks now.  It’s around 20° today with clear blue skies.  But as it is Brittany, the Deputy Principal told me it won’t last and the rain is sure to come.

… Later

I’ve just sat in on a class of Year 11 equivalent called TPE - Travaux Personalisés Encadrés (final project).  This is where students choose a topic and they have to present an assignment on it.  This class runs once a week for 2 hours.  It was really brutal towards the end, I could see why the students were getting restless.  There is very little teacher input other than telling them they need more in depth research.

Rocamadour

We boarded our minivan this morning for the final instalment of our three day tour of Dordogne.  To say the weather was glorious would be an absolute understatement.  The sky was so blue and it was warm enough to discard our jackets.

The hour long journey took us through more spectacular French countryside where we witnessed autumn scenes worthy of a calendar (complete with châteaux perched on hillsides).

Our destination today was Rocamadour which is probably in the top 5 of my favourite places in France.  This is a famous pilgrimage site, and has been so for the last 1000 years.  Legend has it that one of Jesus’ disciples, Zacheus, fled to France fleeing from persecution in Palestine eventually seeking refuge in this part of France.  The body of Zacheus (otherwise known as St Amadour) was discovered in 1166 and this, along with the black Madonna which was supposedly carved by Zacheus contributed to this becoming one of the stops on the “Chemin de St Jacques de Compostelle” pilgrimage.  To this day it remains an important pilgrimage site and the faithful climb the 200+ steps on their knees.  There are still 7 churches and chapels remaining at Rocamadour and one of them is dedicated to rugby (yes, rugby as in football).  I said a little prayer for the Aussies to play well against New Zealand in the World Cup grand final.  The chapel containing the black Madonna is adorned with miniature boats and in the ceiling a bell.  It is said that the Madonna rings the bell to save those in trouble at sea.

On the way back we stopped to take some photos of some geese... no doubt soon to be foie gras.

As our tour finished early, Jorgia and I wandered around Sarlat when we got back.  We took the opportunity to take the lift to the top of the church tower and enjoy the panoramic view of Sarlat.

Tomorrow we hit the road for the long journey back to Rennes.