First weeks at Home

Home. Room. Relief. After those two days of not knowing where I was going to live, I was glad to discover a welcoming place and to meet welcoming people. Ann and Richard, the landlords, have been friendly as soon as I reached the door of their home.
We went straightly to the room to "visit it", though I knew that was the place I would spend the rest of the school year. I was so happy with it that I completely forgot about Aga, and I told her only three days later, after she sent me a text, that I would stay in Spennymoor. She did not replied, deleted me on Face Book and avoided me when we met at Durham bus station last week. This is childish, I know I took a good decision!

I will always remember how surprised Ann, Richard and their daughter Emma were that I came from France to settle for several months in England with only one suitcase. When Emma had to leave for Uni, she had, let's say, three times more things than I had! Indeed, I took the minimum stuff from home: a pair of sheets for the bed, a towel, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of trousers, 5 tops, 2 pairs of shoes and underwear. My netbook and my hard drive. And some make up. Well, it's not that I can't survive without make up, but I didn't know what to expect from England... Now I know! England IS the place where you can buy cheap make up! And cheap clothes... This is definitely a women's paradise! Ann invited me to join them for tea, as I had just arrived  and was still a bit lost. I was glad to be with them because we learnt about each other, they told me about the area and mostly, as they had lived four years in Japan, they didn't have this pitmatic accent that I could not understand at the beginning of the year!

Back to the room, I made my bed, put my clothes in the wardrobe and found a plug for my adapter and my netbook. Richard gave me the code for the internet access, and I could finally be in touch with my friends and my family.

So, from then, I had three weeks of total freedom before I started my job at the school. I had a walk in Spennymoor every two days, almost, to buy food, to get some fresh air, to visit the place. One of the first thing I bought was a warm jumper, because we, French people, say that it's really cold and wet in England. September was actually sunny and warm. I even had a sunburn while reading in the park.

Jubilee Park,
Spennymoor

When I wasn't out, I stayed at home, it's as simple as that. I watched a lot of films I didn't have time to watch when I was in France: Water for Elephants, Dorian Gray, Pride and Prejudice, Your Highness, The Waterhorse... a lot of series also, as I started The Big Bang Theory, Drawn Together (bad), How I met Your Mother and the fifteenth season of South Park. I had the library card, so I read a lot of books, too. And because I'm still a student, I wanted to be serious so I revised all the grammar, History and literature lessons I had the year before.
Emma wondered if I wasn't bored after a while, spending my time around here... I was not! I felt so so free! Furthermore, it was the first time in my life I spent so much time on Face Book because some of my friends cared for me, so I chatted a lot via this social network.

Sometimes, however, I felt homesick. I wasn't used to being separated from my family, friends and boyfriend. Thank God the internet exists! Skype, msn, Face Book, I was always in touch with the people I like. I even asked my grandmother to open a Face Book account so that she could see my pictures!

If at first I wanted to be on my own in England,then I realised I was reassured to finally live with other people, moreover with such a nice couple. The second week I was there, Ann even offered to come with her to a country show next to Barnard's Castle, on the 17th of September. I didn't know what to expect because a "Country Show", in France, is a kind of party in a town center with Cowboys VS Indians, dance in line, everybody dressed like during the conquest of the Far-West...
It was actually completely different. Rural. I have never been to such an event before, and I really enjoyed it. I only saw cows and sheep, but they were species I haven't seen before, and tractors, ferrets and owls.

                                             aren't they cute? B-)








I had a really good time at this country show though the weather was... well, it was a British weather for a British event! At least, that day, I learnt the word "wellies"!

During those first weeks at home, I also visited another city, Durham, but I have so many things to say about it that it will be in another article ;)