New Caledonia Diary - March

11 March
The countryside is incredibly green, far more so than NZ. Forest and bush green-green right down to the edge of the road, and looking as if anything from dinosaurs to fairies could be living in there.

The studio is a 3.25 by 5 metre thing, with a good 2 by 2 metres for the bathroom (including shower). The rest has a bed, desk, bedside table, low chair, and fridge. There's a trundle-drawer under the bed and several shelves in the wardrobe.

I was offered a lift into town and wandered around a while, looking at what shops there were, though most were closed for Saturday afternoon. Walked back to the school -- took about half an hour along the harbour and then over the bridge to l'Ile Nou -- and wandered around until I located my studio again.

12 March
Was taken swimming by a teacher and his wife, Franck and Veronique; afterwards we went for lunch at a place at Anse Vata, where I got a pizza, folded over on itself, with the eggs runny inside. Very delicious.

Back at my studio I tidied up my room a bit more, shifting bits of furniture. Wandered down to where Franck and Veronique thought might be a beach, behind some trees in sight of my window. It was indeed a beach, and though I didn't have togs to swim in it I picked up some shells.

13 March
Up at six to go to the market in town for a baguette -- quite a nice walk at that time of morning. Great snails, conical cones about two inches long, on rubbish on the side of the road, like on a coke can.

Ate half of the baguette as breakfast on the way back to the lycée; it was warming up already by then.

At eight o'clock Alberte Siles came to meet me. We went to do all the formalities with a guy from Vanuatu studying at the university. First to get the carte de séjour (mine, for some reason, says it doesn't authorise me to work, but I think I'll ignore that and assume that all's well and good). Then to open bank accounts. Mine's at the BCI. I'll get a cheque book in a week and a card in about three weeks.

Before going back to l'Ile Nou, Mme Siles helped me find a frying pan thing -- not exactly what I'd envisaged, but it'll do. We couldn't find anything except a crepe thing at the most obvious place, a household pots/pans/dishes/some-electric shop. But this was in the supermarket at 9600 francs: one of those cheese-melty things. It's got an element, which is the important thing. Below it are six little spade-like things arranged in a circle; above is the frying-pan-like thing, though that doesn't have a handle. It's also got a rack to keep things warm on, and a lid which can let steam out or keep it in.
Then Mme Siles drove me back to the lycée and introduced me to the proviseur and secretary there. The proviseur's secretary got me started with filling out forms for social security, then I was handed over to Daina, a new girl working admin, so we could go have our first lunch together and keep each other company. A solid, though fairly bland, meal. Showed her my studio.

Dozed for a couple of hours from half past twelve to three. Rearranged the studio again a little: I set up the frying pan thing on the desk, put the chair under the desk and the zebra chair in the corner where the chair used to be. The frying pan box I'm currently using for a coffee table.

14 March
Lay in until after nine, then pottered around, always meaning to get down to admin, until I was called by Daina to go and get my permanent lunch card. I was humourously chided by one of the secretaries for being so shy -- they obviously don't understand quite how lost you can feel in this sort of situation. Not just speaking a foreign language; it's more the being chivvied around by people, doing things you're not quite sure about. It wouldn't be so bad if they'd left me to my own devices completely, just with a list of things to do and a map or two. That way I could go ahead and do them one by one and know where I was doing them. As it is, someone says to me "Oh, I'll introduce you to so-and-so," then leaves me with that person who procedes to hand me forms to fill out. Or "Come and see me again tomorrow," and I arrive the next day not really even knowing why I'm there!

Daina came knocking at my door about eleven am or so and she was inviting me for lunch. I blathered out a 'no I'm eating chez moi today' and felt terribly rude as she said 'tant pis, maybe another time,' or something. Eleven o'clock just doesn't seem right for lunch to me. But when the market opens at five, the school day starts somewhere between six and seven (haven't figured out exactly yet), the supermarket opens at seven thirty, other shops and even banks at eight... well, I guess the whole day's just in advance at least an hour. That's something that changing the time on your watch just doesn't help.

Made myself a pencil holder out of an old milk carton.

15 March
Another lazy day. Incredibly lazy! Got up after nine and pottered around; ate the last bread and made pancakes for breakfast. Made crepes for lunch from the leftover pancake mixture. Need to practise those; they're hard to spread thin and wide. Probably need to make the mixture a little runnier.

This evening Laurent, one of my neighbours, came by to introduce my neighbour in studio 3 (he's in 2, I'm in 4) who's called Florienne.

Made myself a rice risotto for dinner -- only problem is the washing up after. :-) But even that's not difficult -- I just love the non-stickness of the pan.

16 March
I like getting up at about half past five -- the walk into and back from town at that time of the morning is quite pleasant. Raining this morning briefly as I walked. I dried out by the walk back, though; it was just morning mist, I think.

Was flicking through cookbooks and found a recipe for fudge. Okay, so of the five ingredients I didn't have three but I just had to make it (substituted marge for butter, jam for cocoa, and lemon juice for vanilla). It didn't set too well, but was nevertheless very delicious.

I went down to see the proviseur. Nothing interesting in that meeting per se. For internet access, he passed me on to the intendant, who, learning that I had a computer, passed me on to the chef de travaux, M Montba-something which I keep not catching. Found out his name (Monbailly) and things are getting sorted out. Slowly. I have to take the contract in to Offratel, who're at Anse Vata; I also have to pay three months in advance and get a cord for between the modem and socket -- none of the three Dad gave me are right!

Got a visit from Florienne, dropping off a couple of faxes about the stage next week and reassuring me that teaching isn't too terrifying and the kids are never actually _mean_. Apparently they can be quite shy individually, though in a group they're very boisterous. Until that moment I hadn't really put any definite thought to the fact that I'll be actually teaching soon.... The stage is for three days, not just two, it turns out. And starts at 7.30 one morning, 8am another (Monday it's just the afternoon). Blink -- I've got to get used to this early timetable thing!

17 March
Went into town as had to take the internet contract into Offratel, way over in Anse Vata. Thought of taking a bus, but of course that'd be too much hassle... so instead I walked the whole way. An hour each way, in mid-morning sun. Of course I put sunblock on, but later discovered I hadn't applied it properly; there was a touch of burn on my forehead, and a slowly but surely developing burn on my right shoulder, my back, and the right side of my neck.

Got there, got the contract signed, and got out -- or almost as quickly. They've set up my account, so if I was willing to pay the fees for all of March for just a few days then I could connect right now. I still need the phone plug, though, and I'm supposed to phone someone about setting it up on my computer.

Came back, lounged around a bit. Made banana paella for dinner. Then called home -- almost seven here, almost nine there. Sass answered and we talked a bit. Then talked to Dad, updating him on things here and giving him my phone number. Before we hung up so he could test it, talked to Mum too to say hi. Dad called back about half a minute later and we talked a bit more. The govt's apparently still fouling things up. :-)

18 March
The other assistants from NZ and Aussie were supposed to be arriving today, so I was half expecting to be called to introduce myself to them. Wrote for a while, then -- wouldn't you know it -- an Aussie assistant arrived and I got called to introduce myself. :-) She's called Britta, from Adelaide, and is the same age as me but a few months older. And her French is around about as good as mine; a bit more vocab though her grammar's a tad rusty. We got on quite well; she unpacked a bit, then Florienne showed us around the school. A bit later when it became clear that the Chilean Florienne was expecting wasn't going to come, F took us into town to do a bit of shopping and look around a bit.

Talked to Britta for a bit when we got back -- gave her some of my blu-tack for her to pin up her photographs, and lent her my phonecard to call her parents. Told her I was writing, and she told me she does art. Her qualifications are in French and she's doing an education course, but art is to her as writing is to me. She's pretty cool, and I think we'll get along well.

The teacher who brought her from the airport came back at six thirty to take us to dinner at her place. First we went for a bit of a tour of the bays, then to her place in the Anse Vata inland area. She had a bundle of other people there: brother, niece, friends etc. All very nice and talkative -- particularly talkative, as at times it seemed there were four of them talking at once (even if it was only two at a time each holding animated conversations with someone else). Had a delicious dinner, an arab meal with mutton and chicken, finished with a chocolate sauce on icecream and then a tisane of lemon grass. The whole thing took until about ten thirty, so yet another late night :-).

19 March
Woke at six and went down for a swim at the little beach. Fairly large waves there, but nice water. Just spent a short time there; I'm not fit at all for swimming. Britta arrived at eight to go to the market.

We talked almost all the way, mostly in French. Mostly about this and that, some about her petit ami, about what we've done at varsity etc and why we came here. We both would have preferred to go to France, and I think she really should have -- she's studying for Education and her French is good. Unless it's because we both wrote that we'd go to NC if we had to and they were having problems finding people to go to NC, but that doesn't seem fair.

Wandered around the market -- fruit and veges and being the weekend there was a band and all sorts of tourist junk. Some looks nice. All we bought there was some bananas for her, as they were only 100F. Went next to the Casino supermarket. Britta asked about the way to Anse Vata and if I wanted to go with her. I pleaded off on the very good excuse that I didn't have any suncream on -- silly of me, even just to the market and back, but I seem to have gotten away with it. So we walked back to the lycee. She took a photo from the bridge of that blue-blue water on the way back.

20 March
Up at six to do my washing. Fried myself an egg while the washing got done, then went down to wait for it to finish while reading "Les Miserables". Then kept reading as it was drying. I went briefly to see M Montbailly; he hasn't been able to find me a cordon, but he called a friend who said he would look for me. So I then went into town to get my chequebook from the bank.

Did a bit of shopping, then went back to my studio. I phoned M Poinas. He was there this time and we arranged a meeting for when I'll have the cordon (Wednesday morning).

Went back to town for the stage at Lycée La Pérouse. It was endless, hot and sticky in wooden chairs. M Sam was interessant, though, talking to us about the Kanaks and answering questions about particular problems we might have in classes.

It turns out that I'm in *two* schools (the stage kept me so busy for three days I had to write this originally in note style, and one of my notes is:
(I don't know exactly what it was meant to mean but am guessing at) apparently: Jules Garnier general and LPI. This means I have to go to two réunions with the profs on Wednesday afternoon, each two hours long, the second of which will interfere with my meeting with M Poinas. I tried talking to Mme Markl about it -- she asked me if internet was really that important, as I could use the phone... Eventually she said I could just stay at the second meeting for half an hour.

I walked home with Britta, though it was already sunset. Cars rushing back and forth past us on the road, the streetlights on; back while there was still just a tiny bit of light. At my studio I phoned M Poinas and left a message on his answerphone about the meeting change

Made myself banana fritters as I needed to use up some very overripe bananas. It was delicious:
-- beat an egg in the bowl
-- add two mashed bananas
-- add a tablespoon of flour
-- fry in pan with oil/butter/margerine until golden brown

21 March
Got up this morning at 5:30 to be ready to leave by half past six, with Britta for the stage today -- starting there at seven thirty.

(Note: another long day without time to write more than notes. Here they are, slightly rounded out.)
- had the stage all day
- lunch nice - given to us at the nearby restaurant school; we had potage, fish, and a lovely selection of desserts
- visited supermarket on way home
- rice risotto for dinner

22 March
I had to see M Monbailly so couldn't go with Britta and was nervous I'd be late for the stage. He came at 7.20; I wrote out the cheque for the installation and first three months of Internet, and gave him cash for the cordon to go from the modem to phone outlet. Then hurried off into town. I ended up arriving about quarter past eight, but Britta told me later I was only a couple minutes later than the teacher. I'd taken my Press and Reader's Digests, which the teacher looked at and suggested things to do with varying bits of each; very useful.

At lunch, Britta and I went into town. Ate bread and fruit in the Place des Cocotiers; went back to our classroom, where I flopped onto the floor until I'd cooled down from the heat outside, and Britta read the Press. The réunion in the afternoon we expected to let us meet the teachers and for them to meet us. But the room had barely filled when Mme Markl came and started blathering the same old stuff from the B.O. (official publication, doesn't stink too much :-)) about what assistants were for and how we'd integrate into the classroom etc etc. Luckily Cendrine Jarraud just kept on working out Britta's and my timetables, and held whispered conferences with us about it. But it wasn't until most of the way through the two hours when Mme Markl left the room to get something that the teachers got us to introduce ourselves, and it wasn't until the end of the two hours when the teachers got to introduce themselves to us in a big wave -- I wrote down a few names and numbers and gave my number out to them. Planned one meeting for Friday afternoon. Phew.

And then there was the next lot of teachers, for the LPI, and I was only going to be there for half an hour. Quickly I located which were mine, told them I had to leave after a bit and showed them my timetable which they hadn't seen yet. Gave my phone number to one. But don't know who any of them are or how to contact them.

Went out to meet M Poinas. He drove me to Garnier, where he came into the studio and did the necessary modifications to get the thing to work. Slightly strange that he didn't know whether the phone was tone or pulse... But it got working -- except for Usenet! I checked my messages on Altavista.

In the evening there were a couple of knocks at my door and no-one there when I answered, so I went over to Britta's while I was up and we chatted for a while.

23 March
Got up in time to go with Britta into town at about 8am. I showed her the post office and then we went to the supermarket. We walked back to the lycée around half past nine, and it was already getting very hot. Before going up to our studios to déposer our sacs (dump our bags), we stopped off at the admin offices to talk briefly to Mme Russ and to the intendant (boarding house guy). Mme Russ, on seeing our bags, offered to take us into town around lunch anytime we wanted, to save us the walk.

Britta came by in the evening to check her email, a yahoo account that seems to be acting up. I got lots of mail from people.

(In retrospect, this was kinda a boring day. Apart from the email. :-)

24 March
Britta turned up and we chatted a bit, then went back to her studio -- we'd just arrived when she got a phone call from her father. While she talked to him, I looked at the books that she got from the school library this morning, including a translation of "Clockwork Orange" qui m'a interessé beaucoup (which interested me a lot) because of the slang -- it used the same words, more or less, as the English version for the invented stuff, with just a minor change or two like an 'é' instead of 'e' in a word.

Britta and I went down to admin and got a booklet from Mme Russ which includes a map of the school. So for my meeting this afternoon with one of the teachers, Sylvie, I'll now know where to find her.

Found the English class without too much trouble this afternoon. I actually hung around outside a bit, as I was early. When I went in, the teacher, Sylvie Lambinet, introduced me to the class by saying I didn't speak any French -- and what a ruckus there was at that! Then she had me introduce myself, and I couldn't quite think what to say. I ended up telling them that my name was Deborah Fitchett; I come from New Zealand, Christchurch, that is in the South Island; I studied -- can't say French, as I "don't speak it" -- Linguistics at university; and I have two brothers and two sisters, all younger than me. At about that point I was able to sit down, luckily; was not feeling prepared at all, and the class was *big* -- somewhere between twenty and thirty there, I think, but it really seems a lot.

After the class she showed me a bit of what they've been doing; told me that I'd be working with them in groups of five, probably, just getting them used to the idea of speaking in English for their exams at the end of the year where there's a ten minute presentation of a text and a ten minute conversation.

25/26 March
It was busy enough in the weekend that I didn't write anything in my diary; quiet enough that I can't remember what happened....

27 March
While my laundry was drying I went straight into town to get my and Britta's baguettes. It was a nice walk there, lots of wind to keep me cool, but on the way back the wind had stopped and, already at quarter to eight, it was starting to get hot. Plus I was hurrying, as the washing had put me off my schedule; I was intending to meet Britta at quarter past eight to get some things done at admin before our classes.

We went to find out from Viviane about medical insurance and doctor's appointments at CAFAT. While there we also got the list of the rooms and teachers we'd have for our classes today. Then I went to do the same at the LPI; met Mme Bonaud, the proviseur adjoint there, who was a wonderful person and very organised. Gave me everything I needed, deleted one of my classes and says there'll be two more added sometime.

My first class started at 9h30. I went, located the class with a little help from a teacher (who started speaking English to me, so I might have him, or he might be with Britta), and found no-one there. Another teacher stepped in, we wandered back and forth between a couple of places trying to find out what was happening -- whether that teacher was supposed to be in some other class -- and eventually ran into Cendrine, who said it was because we weren't supposed to have the classes according to our timetable yet, just wait for the teachers to contact us.

Plus we had a time table change. Just a small one in my case, and a nice one for that matter. We got given lots of information, as a matter of fact -- the first time for ages it seems! We were given keys for classrooms, and shown where our courrier box / pigeonhole is, and shown where to get the carnets for absence sheets.

Of course, even though the general school wasn't having us at the classes today, I still had to go to the LPI classes. Assumed that, at least, but it worked out fine. I went to the LPI teacher's room first, and a good thing too because the rooms given to me by Mme Bonaud are for when I've got the classes to myself, not for the observation period.

Both my classes today were with Franck Yan, who I met on my first Sunday here. They were good - 14 in the first, and 20 in the second class; all boys except for a girl in the second; largely from en brousse, esp the second; aged from 16 to 19 in a class that's equivalent to NZ fifth form / year eleven / fifteen years old. Very very rowdy, but they all participated, with a bit of patience. Britta's BTS class apparently just stared at her and muttered if they had to say anything. Mine asked me, when the teacher was occupied, if I smoked marijuana.... We also had small conversations about my knowledge of Maori and customs, and about the book I'm writing (sf, called 'Bird of Hope', set in space, 400 years in the future, main character a captain called Scaalit rAys and also 'Bird of Hope'). Their vocab level's very low -- they have problems even saying how old they are -- but they're quite willing to use what they've got.

28 March
Got up early this morning so I'd have time to rush into town for groceries before an early morning class with Sandra. Got some apples from the market and onions (lettuce prices seem to be coming down; only CFP600-850/kg, as opposed to 1000-1200 when I arrived), and got bread from the petrol station.

Got back just in time. The class was okay -- definitely had better vocab than the LPI people. I basically sat in the back and listened, though introduced myself at the start. Sandra wants to 'save me' for when I've got them to myself.

Had two classes at the LPI with a teacher called Patrice. He hadn't known I was coming until very recently so hadn't prepared anything with the class; so he let the first class ask questions in French, which he'd translate. They kept asking me all sorts of things that were hard for me to answer, about sports and things that'd need statistics to answer. Plus, out of their hearing, he kept refering to them as beasts and animals.

The second class at least asked me questions in English. Of course they were a roudy lot, and there was about thirty or so of them as in the previous class. But they were happy to ask questions, and what really annoyed me was that Patrice would keep going off into monologues after I'd give an answer to one person, so that as I was turning to another person who was asking a question, Patrice was just showing off with some other subject that had been mentioned in the first class.

Britta and I're planning an outing with a few other assistants who've been in touch with Britta, probably to a concert on Kuendu beach on Saturday. It's after dark so transport'll be interesting, but something should be arrangeable; whether it's walking with torches or hitchhiking in small groups.

29 March
Went into town to collect my Carte Jade from the bank and get bread. Also got some bananas as they were on special at the supermarket. On the way home saw a rainbow low against the hill at the start of l'Ile Nou and looked at the colours.

At the studio I managed to kill a mosquito that bit me several times, including a time or two -- and what cheek! -- while I was applying cream to the other bites!

Britta arrived to lament her day of chaos. For her CAFAT appointment she'd got a lift with one of her teachers, but when she arrived there it turned out to be the wrong place; there are now several agencies. They asked her who her appointment was with, and of course she didn't know, so they said it was silly to go for an appointment without knowing who it would be with. Well, yes, but Vivian didn't tell her. (Or me! Luckily I'm not going until next week.) Britta tried getting them to phone the school, but it was 1.45 and so the offices were closed. So no appointment. Plus she'd already had hassles with a teacher not quite realising what was going on....

Tried to call Laurence Cardeilhac about something she had Sandra leave in my casier on Monday, but only got the fax/modem.

30 March Went shopping this morning. Had just left when it started raining cats and dogs; I contemplated going back for my umbrella but figured it wouldn't be worth it, so was soon soaked to the bone. A car stopped for me -- he was late for work but had taken pity on me walking in the rain. I figured 'what the hey' and let him drive me into town. He was very sympa, pegged me right away for a New Zealander (not Australian!) and dropped me off at his nearest point to the supermarket. I got my bits and pieces there, came out and the sun was shining -- my dress almost dried out on the way home!

Daina and I went for lunch together - both our cards worked this time, and we talked more than last time. A dryish mince patty (I added lots of ketchup), some fries, bread, a pizza tartlet and a nectarine were on the menu. Nice to have a change of fruit from apples and bananas. :-) Didn't talk in depth with Daina really, as the kitchen and washing up operation nearby was pretty noisy and I couldn't hear very well. But much better than the uncomfortable silence last time.

I left a message for Laurence Cardeilhac asking how many photocopies I needed of a sheet she'd given me, and when I should come to class and what I should prepare for it. A bit later got a brief note from her about when classes are.

31 March
Britta and I left this morning for the market at six thirty, again in the rain. I brought my umbrella this time, but because of the wind it didn't really help. Prices are really starting to come down -- lettuce is now only 300/kg, and other fruit like papayas are starting to look pretty affordable too. I might get some papayas actually; make some papaya paella!

Was going to have two classes this afternoon, but got called up by one teacher saying she'd forgotten to prepare her class, so it wasn't worth me going today; also she invited me and Britta to a picnic on Sunday if the weather's okay. So I just had the BTS class (top level, beyond even the baccalaureat which is final exams). There I was working with them on a reading comprehension. At first they were very giggly, whether because there was something funny about me or they were just not used to an assistant teacher. But then, when it started to get on my nerves, I very innocently asked, "Would anyone like to explain the meaning of 'labour-intensive daily maintenance'?"

*That* quietened them down quick-smart. :-) They all shook their head with emphatic "no"s, and then when I went through it a bit at a time, and through the other phrases in the text, they were lovely and answered all the questions I asked. Then went through filling in the blanks; we were done after about twenty minutes or half an hour, at which point they were going to turn back to a translation which it'd be pointless for me to be there for (because I "don't speak French") so I went back to the studios and chatted with Britta for a while.

On to April part 1.

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