August 22nd and Loving Life!

Bonjour tout le monde!

Great excitement as everyone arrived at school this morning and we were greeted with 23 smiling faces! They were all happy with their families and had had a good night - Sulize didn't see much of her evening though! She fell asleep before dinner and they couldn't wake her up!  She slept right through the night until she was woken for breakfast, so she certainly was tired! The others had all enjoyed their dinner and no-one had food they couldn't identify or hadn't eaten before!  Lani had my pick of the bunch - prawns, which she said were delicious.  They eat quite a bit of pasta here so the majority of them had some form of that. Charlie had burgers which he thought were just like ours and Chris said he had 'the most delish wrap that was the best he'd ever, ever eaten'!

We started off with the first period in an empty classroom put aside for our use over the next two weeks. It's good to have a base at school where we can spend quality time discussing, comparing and just quietly observing them all as they work and talk.  They started showing us their morning snack and lunch boxes after sharing that they'd each done last night.  Mums you may need to re-evaluate school lunches and their containers when the kids return! Pep, don't worry for a minute about Holly not getting the right or enough food! Check out her lunch box today. Underneath the packet of nibbly things at the front was a second salad, a mushroom one - worthy of a position in the Replete display counter!

All this packed in it's own chilly bag. And some of the other 'lunch boxes'.....

Yes, they are all in chilly bags and I assure you, they are all being well-fed!

 

                             Off to the city Museum (That's Lani grinning from the top storey)

At 9am we travelled into the city centre and spent a couple of hours at the city museum. The kids learnt about the colonisation of Noumea by the french and how it was used as a penal colony originally - very much the same as the Britain used Australia. The convicts here actually built much of the early town and most stayed here when their time was up because they couldn't afford passage back to France. We drove past the site where the Guillotine was positioned in back in those early days.

                                                             

                                              - a gory procedure to explain to the kids!

We had lunch in La Place des Cocotiers in the city centre and then we went to some local touristy shops to peruse the merchandise and to practise purchasing and using their currency conversion card. This was definitely worthy of a few giggles for Bill and I. " I'm buying this for my brother! How much is 2,500F?"  A minute's study of the conversion card takes place..."What a ripoff! I'm not spending that much on a little thing like this!"
It's funny how the worth of an item takes on a whole new perspective when it's your own money being used!
They revelled in the colours, the variety and the excitement of finally getting rid of some cash!

Even though Dior and Chanel shops were just down the road from where we were, the pungent aroma wafting up from the storm water grates is a reminder that we are on a Pacific island and not just around the corner from the Champs Elysee!

We walked down to the Cruise ship terminal for a while before heading to the second World War museum.  Unfortunately the English audio system wasn't working and most of the exhibits had french explanations but we were still able to get lots from it. They loved the old jeep and I thought it deserved a cameo pic. Renata quite fancied himself behind the wheel!

Alana and Bill left their mark behind on the comments board. Very deep I thought!

 As we walked the streets to this museum, many of the kids commented on the graffiti which is prevalent over here. Even  beautiful old colonial homes are marred with it.

It is a shame to see so many buildings like this, but there are many beautiful sights to see here as well. Alana went down to the beach last night to watch the sunset and took some gorgeous photos similar to this.

It was cloudy today but still warm and extremely pleasant!
Looking forward to an awesome day out at Phare Amedee tomorrow.

Au revoir!
Colleen