When A Door Closes Another One Opens

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Geo: 50.7644, 1.63106

Alors, we were back in to familiar territory after a great two weeks in Bangladesh and a family holiday in Holland.
It was even the more special because it signified for Anna being back with her family after one full year away.
It also signified a new start, a start that for me has been absent for nearly 4 years.
Arriving in France and staying with Anna's parents in Wimereux had been great. As we commenced our quest in to the real world, being there allowed us to get our affairs sorted without having to incur too many expenses.
We have enjoyed a number of different activities over the stay, starting with a visit from Anna's Aunty and a evening with Anna's sister and her boyfriend where they cooked a special snack for us, Frog Legs!, they look totally unappealing when they are raw, like human legs, but are quite nice to eat. We spent part of the night playing caps and dancing, great fun.

Anna and I took a walk through the dunes near Ambleteuse on a gorgeous sunny day which went through a small forest and finished by the beach. On the second Friday night, Les hommes, went to a basketball match in neighboring Boulogne sur mer.
The teams are in the second division but the atmosphere was incredible with people playing almost non-stop on instruments.
After a couple of weeks being back in France, Anna, her mum and myself took a day trip over the ditch to England to visit the grandparents for a hearty Sunday Roast and a English food run at Tesco's.

Sometimes extreme high tides occur around the Wimereux area. On this occasion the English Channel got pretty choppy and mixed with break walls along the "Digue", created some big splashes when the big waves crashed in to the wall sending the water up meters in to the sky and dislodging concrete seats.
It was quite a cool thing to see.
This also happened again but a bit differently in Boulonge when we encountered 100km winds on one day and went to watch the waves crash against the break wall for the harbour. This was just as spectacular as the water went far higher, like bombs were being blasted in to the sea like it was World War 2 all over again. Except that we were safe, but almost blown off the side of the cliff.

A few birthday events happened as well. First was Claire's where we had a great seafood lunch followed by some games. Later that evening Corentin had prepared a surprise party at their place with a few friends.
The night went really well, the surprise worked wonders and I didn't find it that awkward that it was mostly spoken in French. I even somehow won the small caps tournament, gosh that games fun and addictive!. And before we left for our new life in Brighton we enjoyed Ben's birthday.

Also during my time there I volunteered with L'Arche nearby. I started in the gardens where they grow and sell their own vegetables. It was quite hard for me to fit in though as they could only speak French and that I wasn't able to contribute as much as I had hoped too because the people know what they need to do and didn't really need help, so I felt I was in the way more than I was helping.
Nonetheless, after surviving the week, I joined in the workshop for another week where they make Christmas puddings and complete the final packaging for cat food to be distributed.
I enjoyed working in the workshop more because I felt I was helping more. It was also a good way to improve my French by just talking with people.

I'm going to miss France, I really love being there, I love the culture, the food and the language.
I look forward to every time we get to go back.

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