Day 19 Report

Our teacher didn't come AGAIN today (if I didn't hear wrongly, she can't teach anymore morning classes because of her back problems or something). So as usual, we had to introduce ourselves to the new substitute teacher - our name, nationality, and how long we're staying here.

Everyone was surprised when I said today was my last day. I didn't know that they didn't know it was my last day! :P

We didn't follow any lesson theme today, but we did a lot of relative pronoun exercises yet again. They keep getting more complicated. Time passed relatively fast, however, especially since we spent the last 10 min playing hangman.

Then I had my last microwaveable meal for lunch, before Denise and I had to ask for our certificates from the front desk. Our teacher was supposed to give it to us, but obviously she hasn't since she's been absent for half the week.

The wait for the certificates was soooooo long that we managed to waste a lot of time standing in silence in the reception area, then give up and go take pictures with the other Singaporeans (who were in a hurry to leave the school), THEN waste more time standing in silence in the reception area.

After which we finally got our certificates, and left CIEL for the very last time. To our surprise, we met everybody at the bus stop - the Singaporeans AND our classmates. We took photos and exchanged email addresses before the bus arrived, then we rode off.

Denise and I were the only ones who were headed all the way to Brest though. Valerie, BJ and ER got off quite early to attend some concert in the neighbourhood, and we said au revoir to our classmates as they dropped off at their respective stops.

At Brest we split up. (Well to be honest I didn't have time to stop so I just kept walking and happened to lose Denise along the way. :P) I looked for Le Conquet postcards, and ended up buying another stack of postcards. Then I bought my little purple cat from the baby's section at Monoprix, and a top from H&M.

My last stop was the supermarket, where I happened to meet Denise again. We spent a loooooooong time choosing biscuits and crepes for tomorrow's train ride and our stay in Paris. We spent such a long time there that I didn't get to visit my planned last stop (Zara), so we just went home after that. Of course, I took some photos to mark my last walk back to the Stephans' house.

Before dinnertime rolled around, I packed everything that I could possibly pack today. Dinner was a corn and tomato salad, followed by grilled potatoes and a fluffy omelette, and rounded off with some rum and raisin ice cream cake. During dinner I told the Stephans that the other Singaporeans (and their host families) were going back to CIEL tonight for a concert. It's the Fête de la Musique (music festival) today and there are concerts all round the area. Mrs Stephan said that in fact, the festival will be held all over France and Europe this weekend to mark the start of summer. She asked me what I'm planning to do in Paris tomorrow, then she brought down this thick file (which is basically her guest book) for me to write in. So I took out my card (with a nice orchid print in front) and present (a penholder in the shape of the Merlion with an orchid embedded inside)! She read the card while I wrote in the book, which was just as well because apparently my explanation in the card wasn't clear enough so I could explain the origins of the Merlion and talk about the Vanda Miss Joaquim.