new and old friends!

less than 2 weeks left here in nantes - i can't believe it!
these past few weeks though, have been full of fun stuff to do with having old friends to visit and making some new ones! my friend martine from quimper came to visit and she and i had a great time seeing all the sights in nantes. we had wonderful weather for it too....

treats at la cigale

the navibus that runs up and down the Erdre - included in the tram/bus pass!

miss martine at my place!

blue stick men everywhere!

unfortunately i keep having to say goodbye to folks as they leave nantes before i do. here's a shot of me, carina and wendolyn just before carina left nantes for good. :-(

les anneaux de buren sur l'ile de nantes - from each side of the loire.

this past weekend i had a super random thing happen - my buddy april and i were walking in the pedestrian district of bouffay when a girl came running up to us from out of nowhere. turns out she is the other french teacher at jordan high (where i'll be teaching in durham) and she was having dinner with her friend (who is another french teacher from the district) when she saw me walk by and recognized me! i thought it was wild that they just happened to be visiting nantes and that we ran into each other! after that we spent the next day or so wandering the city, checking out the bars at hangar à bananes, the market at talensac, the music festival, etc.

april and i also got to spend time with an old friend who came to visit - casimir, who was in nantes back in october for a few weeks before he started a job in paris.

random pics - me in décré and 'yellow hat lady' at commerce.

(she's one of those denizens that's always in the same outfit and muttering to themselves.)

happy picnic. happy galette.

l'éléphant on a beautiful afternoon.

and that's pretty much all for now!

ROYAL DE LUXE

So, here's the story of Royal de Luxe. They are a French theater/performance group that are based out of Nantes. They tour all over the world and do really cool stuff. L'ile de Machines is one of their creations that they left behind...that's where the giant mechanical elephant lives. (you may recall pictures of him from previous blog posts.) Much of what they do is street puppetry, but on a scale of which few have ever seen!

a couple of weeks ago, the blue tree-men appeared on cours 50 otages. not for sure whether they have anything to do with royal de luxe or not but still pretty neat...especially as on the right with the mist....

then the wolves arrived at the chateau, downtown. there was a pack of about eight i guess, coralled in the moat area.

then, 'la petite geante' arrived....here's the anchor from her boat.

the story goes: once upon a time, there was a magical island where giants lived. some english pirates found the island and kidnapped the little girl and, i think, her parents. they were being transported on the Titanic when it sank and the little girl escaped on a boat. while she was floating about the seas, her uncle, the Diver, undertook a search for his lost family. he found the wreckage of the Titanic and buried his sister and continued looking for his niece - la petite geante. they came together, finally, in Nantes after wandering, separately, all over the city for the whole weekend.

it was an amazing experience seeing them all over the city and hearing everyone talk about the event. there was very little press beforehand and so, the schedule of events and their locations were all very mysterious, which added to the excitement! many of just walked about the city looking for signs/news and then pressed into the huge crowds to follow them.

the petite geante, napping.

waking and walking

giving kids rides.

the diver, striding across the city.

carina and rachel

more shots of the 'scaphandrier' or the diver. at certain points he would release thousands of letters (via cannon shot) into the air - these were supposedly from a mail bag from the Titanic that he found. i was fortunate enough to collect a bunch!

the little girl in her boat on her way to rendez-vous with her uncle.

the reunion

needless to say, this took all day and indeed, there were events all weekend before the two giant puppets took off in a boat on their way to St. Nazaire via the Loire. It was really just too cool.

you can find more info and pics on the internet, now that this event has happened...here's a couple of good links that i found

wonderful footage of the diver, walking...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGW__ZXsQ0w

http://la-geante-et-le-scaphandrier.blogspot.com/

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_de_Luxe

http://www.nantes.fr/culture/nantes-ville-de-cultures/la-veritable-histoire-de-royal-de-luxe.html

the countdown begins

hello all and sundry, the month of june is flying by and very soon my sojourn here will be history! i've been trying half-heartedly to get ready by packing some boxes but i think i'm still gonna have too much stuff to carry when all is said and done. wish me luck! since i posted last, there's been some fun stuff going on that i can tell y'all about. my buddies and i did another mini beach trip to st. michel-chef-chef. (what a name right?)
but a beautiful beach.

also went to the last FC Nantes game which was even more fun than usual because there were protests outside and inside the stadium. apparently things got even more wild after the game and the crowd had to be dispersed with tear gas. (*sigh* i will miss the demonstrations)

the protest outside on the way to the arena.
riot police!

rachel, being her usual, silly self.

me rae and april

banners and general mayhem

the first weekend of june was Royale de Luxe and that deserves it's very own post, so....

a toute suite!

may updates

hi everyone!

the month of may has just flown by. i can't believe i have just one more month left before coming back state-side! i know it's been a while since the last update - here's a couple things i've done lately....

nantes football club soccer match....as usual, we lost. (nantes doesn't have a very strong team and, for some reason, is in the top division. caonsequently, they get their asses handed to them on a regular basis. doesn't stop the nantais from going to games though!)

the stadium at beaujoire....myself, eugenie and april - fellow assistants. the yellow and green things you see us wearing are scarves with the nantes' logo and colors. over here, fans don't wear hats, only sometimes wear jerseys but always wear a scarf.


a player being carried off the field after an injury. the rennes fans, jeering the home team.

i found it interesting that they keep the fans of the opposing team in a separate spot in the stadium and then afterwards, hustled them out a separate entrance! too much violence post-game, i guess. these folks take their football seriously!

earlier in the month, myself and a couple other assistants went to the beach for a picnic. we wound up on ile de noirmoutier - which was just gorgeous. none of us were very photogenic that day, which is why you'll just have to satisfy yourself with beach pics!

since the beginning of the month, many many assistants have been leaving the city, as they had 7 month contracts. (because i am working in a primary school - i have a 9 month contract and so, am here til the end of june.) so alot of may has been filled with going away parties and dinners. it's been sad seeing people go, but i know most of us will keep in touch.