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Did someone say gueule de bois?

Somehow, and trust me, no idea how...I escaped very lightly. The phone however does not seem to be emerging anytime soon, so the first thing I did after work was go and get a new one. Pretty glad I did actually, as I now have a new contract which is two euros a month cheaper! I mean, it doesn't cover the cost of a new phone...but it does make me feel a little better. I felt awful for the girl in front of me in the queue, as she had actually lost her iPhone somewhere in the madness, and was going to have to go to the police station and get it blocked and all of that jazz. As mine was the cheapest in the shop, didn't really worry me too much! The sales assistants were lovely, and I managed to even have a little chat about nothing much, something that I really could not have felt comfortable doing a few months ago.

My second success of the day was a breakthrough with the CAF office. Now, bureaucracy is slow in France, remember this...however, I have now been waiting for this money for six months with an occasional letter saying that I hadn't sent in a particular form which I had. So buoyed by the phone shop experience, and Claire saying that she had finally got her CAF only after going into the office a few times, I decided that I would go in and try my luck. So they were, of course, missing something else that they hadn't sent me a letter about (apparently you have to be a mind-reader to get any sort of money from the government in France) but I did have all of my documents so that was soon sorted. I have now been given a new letter detailing how much money they owe me for the months of October - January. A start has been made, the next fight will be the need to sort out the rest of my months here but I'm not going to think about that yet!

Only full class of the day today was the quatrième EURO, and I am currently marking their speaking exams. Now I've worked through more than half the class it is a bit like seen one, seen 'em all...but I have to say that so far I have not had one awful student, they have all really worked on giving a good presentation! I also had a half hour with a few troisième INTER students...and we worked on the Martin Luther King speech again. The thing that really surprised me is that one of the students I have on a different day decided voluntarily to come to an extra session! It is the little things in life sometimes.

The final event of the day was something that I have been very much looking forward to for a long time, and it didn't disappoint! Now Caroline has had baby Zoé she is free to come on an evening out with us girls...and I will be completely honest, I haven't laughed that much in ages! There was one particular moment on the street with Caroline and Kendra where I could barely breathe I was laughing so much. So, pictured are Becky and Kendra in Maître Corbeau (the speciality cheese restaurant, well worth a visit!) and we followed this by a visit to Le Vertigo where it seemed like no conversation topic was taboo! It was so lovely to see Caroline so happy, it really is true when they say new mothers glow. Can't wait to have another evening soon!