Overwhelmingly Everything

So, yet another week has passed at the beautiful Côte d'Azur and I am left with just seven more days of my adventure here in France. At the moment, I can't decide if I want to stay or I want to leave - I love the madness here, but you can only live madness for so long without actually going insane! At the moment, I have so many thoughts going round in my head I have difficulty separating them - hence the non-specific title to this post. Let me explain:

My two perspectives regarding my time here are thus:
I love the excitement that comes from working with children - the imagination, the noise, the giddiness. I love the friends that I've made here, the social life, which is non-stop, and the fact that when I walk down the road here I can say hi to the waiters/receptionists/life guards/trapezists/cyclists etc., etc., and I know them as friends. I love the weather (except this ridiculous heatwave), and the fact that when we go out in the evening, we can casually just stroll down to the beach - just amazing. Also, I love the challenge that comes from pushing myself to be stronger, better, more imaginative every day... and finally, I love that all of this happens in French, and I happen to be part of it!

However, there are also things that I don't enjoy quite as much. When I get tired (which is often), I lack the motivation to challenge myself in the way that I want to. Also, that way it becomes harder to socialise - either I can't concentrate on the conversation, or I just can't understand what's being said! Another thing - I miss church. I miss being with a group of people that believe deeply in their hearts that Jesus is love and that God's way is the best way to live your life, no matter what the cost. The culture here is pretty secular - in terms of drink, sex, etc. - which is difficult for me - I struggle without someone to call me to account in what I believe, and sometimes I find myself accepting things that I don't necessarily like, or even agree with at all. And, lastly, I miss my friends and family. This summer has made me appreciate those close friends with whom there is a deep level of mutual understanding - I have had the luck to have made these kinds of friends in the UK (you know who you are), and I hope to make more in the future - but for the moment I have to be content with what I have, which is a large group of lovely people who I like spending time with, and who like spending time with me (I hope!).

So, to sum up, I have loved my time here, and I appreciate every minute that God has given me, but I think I am ready to leave. I will never forget my summer in La Belle France - and perhaps I'll come back next year! Who knows? I'll just have to wait and see!

All Change!

So, after a week of walking the fine line between icy cold and over-friendly, I think I have managed to work it out: basically, you have to make it dead obvious if you like someone - if not, it's all fun and games! No worries there.

So, this week - everything is starting to change! The fact that I've been here already for a month (which makes me halfway through my placement here), added to the fact that my housemate went back home last weekend, and there are even more people leaving soon - it makes me realise that I really don't have long left here at all. What's more, I've been moved to a different club this week - instead of being with the Kids, I'm with the Juniors - bye bye littlies! It definitely doesn't do to get too comfortable here - before you know it, everything is different again. I suppose that's a lesson in life - never take things for granted. Things change!

On a different note, as my spoke French improves, people are starting to notice less and less that I'm a foreigner. Obviously, I still have an English accent, but either it's becoming less noticeable or people just care less! This gives me an interesting opportunity - I can either tell people that I'm British, or I can carry on without mentioning it, and stick with the French. However, I'm finding that, more often than not, I choose to tell people where I'm from - and I'm proud of it! Why not? We have the les J.O. (Olympics), London, the Queen, Adele (who they LOVE here!), Ed Sheeran, etc. etc. Vive l'Angleterre!

Taking on the Challenge

Ok, so it's day eleven and here I am, trying to think of a way to sum up the last seven days in one short paragraph. It's quite hard! I finished my last post with work, so I'll start there and see where I end up. Work here is great fun - every day there's something new, many excited children and a lot of dressing up (pirates, anyone?)! The great thing about children is that they don't care that you aren't French - they just go ahead and speak anyway. I've had many a child come up to me, jabbering excitedly about something or other, and as long as I nod and look interested, they seem to be happy. The difficulty comes when I have to give instructions - the accent is hard enough when you're speaking to one person, but a group of 30? Quite a challenge! But a challenge I can take. I am really enjoying this new stretching of my capabilities, and it's definitely never boring. I even had to translate from French to German for most of the days this week for a little German girl called Lily! In short, the work this week has been incredibly tiring but incredibly rewarding.

On to of that, there's the nightlife. I think I'm going to have to continue, as there's still a lot to be said - I hope you don't mind that this post is a bit longer than the previous two. As nearly everyone lives here at the holiday village, there is a lot of opportunity to meet people and make friends with the other 'animateurs' (and others). In addition, we are right near the beach, so there is a pretty good opportunity to go down to 'la plage', or even 'la crique' (WordReference tells me that this is a cove) to do a bit of socialising! The language is rather more difficult when it is dark/noisy/full of people, so I am quite often a silent bystander, but I'm getting there on the talking front - at least they tell me my accent is 'mignon' (cute) - a little patronising but positive all the same. I have also made friends with a Spanish girl called Lara, so quite often I end up spending the night talking in two or three different languages!

OK, I think that's enough for now. I'll tell you all about the people here, and the events that are put on, and perhaps that fact that I've signed up to be in a show (!) next week. That is, unless something else momentous happens that I don't know about yet. Oh, and we are going to have another resident in our little flat this afternoon (Marion), so I shall have to tell you all about her. Until then - farewell - au revoir!