Last Days

It had to happen. It all had to come to an end sometime. Tomorrow is my last day at school and I'm feeling a bit sad yet excited for the next part of my trip. I am looking around at all the chalets in the Christmas market and thinking, how beautiful it all is: the lights, the huge tree, the people. There is a crèche at the market too, set in medieval times with santons of shepherds and kings coming to visit baby Jesus. Santons are little statues of people, dressed like people of that era. You can recognise their function in that society. There's the wood- cutter, the shepherd, a mum with her children, the milkmaid and many others. The setting is very cleverly made and attracts a lot of attention. Often there are smaller crèches set up in people's homes. I enclose a picture of the one where I am staying.
My time here has been amazing. This place is amazing. Montpellier is a bit like Auckland with people from all over the world. Here they are mostly speaking French but sometimes Spanish, Japanese, English, Arabic and other languages I can't recognise.
Saturday there's the carol service at the little church I joined while I was here. I will miss the friendship from this group who took me into their fellowship and made me feel at home.
Sunday I fly to Frankfurt Hahn, about one and a quarter hours from the Frankfurt we usually hear about. After that a four hour train trip to my next stop. I am looking forward to the train.
I will keep writing blogs as I find access to internet. My holidays start now. I have been a very good student and have worked hard at my studies.
I want to thank all of you who have written me letters. I really appreciate it. If I just met you at language school, welcome. Hope to hear from you soon. To the teachers at Lycee Joffres who were kind enough to let me join in their classrooms, I say thank you and let's keep in touch. To all my students in NZ, have a great Christmas and come back refreshed and ready to go. I hope you all get the opportunity to travel to France and live here "a la Francaise". All the best with your exam results. If I may ask, who are you who are reading this blog in Russia, Czech Republic, Alaska and Malaysia? Interesting!
Catch you next time.