So... here I am, sat in the delightful East Midlands Parkway
train station, sat waiting for my megatrain connection to London , thinking
this is the perfect time to start the lastest edition of my much-anticipated
and eagerly awaited (I’m sure) year-abroad blog. This may seem like a bit of a
strange place to be starting such a blog, but I have officially left York for
good (well, at least 8 months), and as I have decided I am not allowed to start
my book for the journey (On The Road
by Jack Kerouac) until I actually start the proper journey (yet another
megabus... this time to Paris) on Sunday, there is little else to do in this
particular train station on a rainy Friday afternoon.
For those of you that haven’t been informed or who asked
where I was going but were too polite to ask where on earth it is, I’m casually
off to French Guyana to be a primary school English assistant for the year. FAQ
answer number one: NO, its not in Africa... thats GHANA... (easy mistake). It
is in fact on the northern coast of South America neighbouring with Brazil and
Suriname- which you’ve probably never heard of either. Trust me to find the
smallest and only country in South America which is French-speaking to sneak
off for my year abroad. Yes, Calais was tempting, but alas I decided to go for
this instead.
Not only is it in South America (my fav continent of the
moment) ...but... RESULT, as it is technically part of France, imagine
Yorkshire being transported to the middle of the Caribbean... I still qualify
for all the extra grants and fee waivers that result from being in the EU and
an Erasmus student. Not going to lie, I think this is the furthest away part of
the EU there is, apart from maybe La Reunion (these frenchies are crazzzzy).
Thus, FAQ answer number two: Yes, they use the Euro. Minds boggled?? Well, if
they are not already, they will be after FAQ answer number three: NO, I’m not
coming home for Christmas. I’m not saying that I value my £700 pounds more than
seeing family and friends or so, (well, maybe I am :P) but it just seems a lot
of effort and a bit of an anti-climax to come back to rainy England for a week
or so when I could stay and experience a properly Caribbean Christmas (I’m
thinking rum cocktail drank out of a pineapple whilst lying in a hammock with a
sea view... right Sando?)
Now, being as prepared as I normally am when I embark on
these crazy trips, obviously I don’t really have many plans, except for to buy
an adapter before I get to the airport, as I forgot to pack it..oops! I also
don’t really have any idea what to expect when I get there. And I mean as soon
as I get there...the woman supposedly picking me up from the airport has chosen
this week to neglect checking her email it seems, brilliant! What I do know, is
that i’m arriving in Cayenne, (the capital city, population less than York!) on
Monday and then, a week later I’m being taken to my town-
Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni- where I immediately start teaching. I’ve got some stickers
and a list of useful websites (thanks Lydia!), what more do I need? How hard
can it be to keep a class of under 10s occupied for an hour, when they speak a
language that I have NEVER had to use outside of the classroom :S I am
definitely being thrown at the deep end....
Unlike most French language students about to embark on a
year away speaking said language, I have chosen to spend most of the summer in
Spanish speaking south American countries,
chatting away, loving life, all well and good until someone asks me a
simple French question and I reply with Claro que si! Not ideal! At least if a
security guard tells me off for trying to sleep in a Parisian airport for the
night (actually happening on Sunday) I can explain, probably honestly, that I
don’t understand. I’m thinking it’s going to be one of those things where it
all comes rushing back to you when you need it, that’s going to happen, right?
As for now, my plan for the weekend is to spend a couple of
last days with the boyf- mostly just so he can help me carry my bags which
altogether feel like they weigh at leastttt one me- maybe? Lets just say its
not quite the 10kg which I have taken with me on all trips before... to be fair
I don’t think two backpacks is too bad! Ok, maybe I DONT need the FOUR new
pairs of sandals that I bought in the sale laughing at everyone because Im off
to sunny country for a year (I think its sunny, to be honest, like most things,
I haven’t actually checked), but the laptop, speakers and books are deffo
necessary to fill my time seeing as how my job contract is only for 12 hours a
week. Don’t they know.... thats just one long shift at the hut!
Anyway, I’ve written nearly a thousand words and I haven’t
even actually GONE anywhere yet- I don’t think Nottingham counts.... So I’ll
leave it at that, and the next one will be whenever someone picks me up from the airport and takes me
somewhere with internet connection (you
could be waiting a while).
Hasta Luego! ...err Au Revoir? That right isn’t it?
POLLY x
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