More from the recce - the school

Pat has been to see the school that Samy's kids go to (he's the Floirac church's pastor). It's in Pessac, near the university. It seems very friendly. Pat asked if she could meet the pastor's wife to ask her about the school - but that turned into a visit to meet the head and some of the teachers and to have a tour of the school. There are English-speaking teachers at the school and Gwilym & Catrin could be placed in their classes.

I was very amused to hear that after we all had a 4am start on Monday (her flight was at 6:45 from Manchester) Pat had a 5:30am (French time, so 4:30am BST, 3:30am GMT!) wake-up on Tuesday because they had to get to the pastor's house for 7am to go to the school for 8!

What's the chances of Pat coming home "a mornings person"?

(I can tell you - no chance at all.....)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor
Read more

The Kitchen

 Our new apartment will be equipped with toilet and bathroom etc. but not with anything at all in the kitchen. Not even a sink. So we need to purchase a kitchen and engage a kitchen fitter. A friend who knows how to fit kitchens suggested buying an Ikea kitchen. "They're guaranteed twenty years and they honour their guarantee", he said. "I've proved it". Well I don't know any other kitchen laces in France, and I can't imagine there's much that's cheaper than Ikea, so I was happy to accept his advice. So it was that on Monday I booked an appointment with the Ikea Kitchen Planning Service in the centre of Bordeaux. The woman was friendly. "You've already started the process", she said, (have we?) "so that will save us lots of time". "What are you aiming for?" Something not too country, something discreet, something that can adapt to whatever colours we put in the rest of the room. She understood our dislike of
Read more