What a stunning day to wake up to this morning! The sea was like glass and the sky an almost irridescent blue. By the time we got to school at 7.10am it was warm already. There were a few waiting by then and we listened as we were told about their meals the night before and what they had done in the evening. Mark was intrigued with the metal shutters that get rolled down electronically over the outside of the windows at night.
We went straight into the canteen where we shared a Welcome Breakfast with our billets.  It differed from what we normally have, because many shops and supermarkets aren't re-stocked yet after the strike over the last two weeks. So........ there were no croissants, pain aux chocolats or palmiers but nobody was complaining about what was presented!

The Principal of Jean Mariotti, Madame Lisnic, welcoming us. (It's not very often I find another adult shorter than me! I love standing next to her! ). To her right is Madame Perraud, who will be bringing students out for us to host in October. To her left is the Vice-Principal Monsieur Pare.

Sausages and bacon - with baguette of course.

New Friends

                                                                     

An impressive array!

                                                                   

                                                  What is that?  Should I try it?

                                                                     All good.

After breakfast the bus picked us up and we went in to the Melanesian Museum. There is a varied display of arefacts here - most being of kanak origin, but also some from other areas of the Pacific. There are many similarities to be seen between Melanesian and Polynesian cultures.
A man from Lifou, in the Loyalty Islands, then greeted us and taught us a traditional dance from his Island. The kids learnt this quickly and understood how the dance told a story. He showed the kids how to merge his dance with our waiata and haka, so after a couple of practices, it all became a great presentation!

The sharing of our traditional dances and songs was great. He is  a little guy but a very lithe and supple professional dancer and I started doing this activity at the Museum three years ago. He loves seeing the haka and hearing our Maori waiata. We finished with He Honore and Bill explained to him that it is a Maori hymn and we always finish special occasions with it and he bowed to us and said he was honoured.  We are lucky to participate in an activity such as this and it adds another dimension to our 'cultural exchange'.

             Men are the only tribe members who can blow the conch shell so our boys were shown how to do so.  Thomas was the man of the moment and the only one out of all of them, including Bill, who could blow it making the correct sound!

When finished, we had half an hour to spare before we were collected again so there was time to walk over the road to the marina and the bordering markets - not nearly as big and noisy as it is on a Saturday but the kids were delighted to relieve themselves of some cash as the jewellery stalls were all open!  You have some stunning collections on their way!

Back at school the kids were met by their billets and most went home at 11.30am. School is closed but some do sports on Wednesday afternoons so they still eat lunch in the canteen and then go off to their various sports activities.

The wind has come up this afternoon and on the exposed Anse Vata beach where we have our apartment, there is an amazing display of windsurfers and kitesurfers plying their skills.
Maybe we will be windsurfing instead of paddleboarding tomorrow........