Le Club Anglais, et quelques petits cadeaux!

Look what I got today! Some of the more creative pupils have made me some little British-themed presents to welcome me to the school. I now have some hand-made British flags, some paper frogs (très French), a little paper flower and a note saying "Hello, my name is Chloé," accompanied by what I think is a good try at a Scottish flag. The budding artists were very keen to present their creations to me, and I was genuinely touched to get all this stuff. I seem to have made a good impression with the kids, so I'm going to have to up my game if I want a bottle of wine from each of them by Christmas!

After a full day of school - part of which involved getting 7-year olds to say "Ello, my nam eez" non-stop for an hour - I just had time to get drenched by a sudden downpour before heading off to meet the Club Anglais at the Bar London. There were about a dozen of them and everyone was very welcoming, the conversation flowing easily despite a fairly large age difference between me and the regular attendees. The high/low point of the réunion was a fairly senior British ex-pat decrying "pointless" Anglo-French bilingualism in Canada while the French members of the group listened in politely with the aim of improving their English. As the old saying goes, "You can take the man out of Britain..."

After I finished my beer, I decided that I was close enough to McDonald's to treat myself to a fast-food dinner. After a week of superb meats, delicious restaurant lunches and sensational pastries, eating a Big Mac felt supremely sinful; the ultimate guilty pleasure in the land of haute cuisine. Whatever you think of McDonald's, getting it to taste exactly the same in 33,000 restaurants around the world is quite a feat, and damn does it taste good. Also, I'd go so far as to say McDonald's is the only truly global company in the world - it's inherently American, but every country has its own variation; there are enough local "specialities" in French outlets for it to seem native but reassuringly familiar at the same time. Perhaps that's its enduring appeal.

Anyway, rugby in Clermont tomorrow! My pupils reliably inform me that the local team, ASM Clermont, is the one to beat, so naturally I'll be cheering them. Allez!

This entry was sponsored by McDonald's.