Had a great weekend with other assistants, exploring some new towns and meeting up with people I haven't seen since the stage (the 'stage' was the few days of training we had at the beginning of our assistantship).

Friday night I visited Chauny (where Gulliver lives) with Katie, Willie and Matt - Gulliver cooked us a proper dinner (mmm, curry) and then the others proceeded to drink lots and lots of red wine (I, of course, remained sober!). Tobias (the German assistant at Chauny) joined us, which was fun, although he drank far too much (straight-laced Germans not used to drinking) and got really sick during the night. There were far too many of us for the number of beds available (ugh, another uncomfortable night), but we still had fun- even if we felt a bit the worse for wear on Saturday!

Saturday I was the first up, and decided to go get breakfast for everyone (I know, how shocked are you all?!). After we had revived ourselves we caught the train to Beauvais, which took a long time because of all the changes we had to make and all that - and the French trains are the worst when it comes to frequency (on Sundays there are about 3 trains per day - I promise I'll never complain about CityRail again!!!!). Beauvais was lovely - the town is all decorated for Christmas, with lights up everywhere, and there was a kind of fete with mulled wine and an outdoor ice-skating rink - the first classically "French" town I've seen here! I can't wait to go back and try out the ice-skating - an essential Christmas outdoor experience!

The Beauvais team had organised a kind of scavenger hunt, with challenges that got points (like making a human pyramid next to the giant Christmas tree or jumping in the fountain in your underwear). We decorated white shirts with a team name, player name, logo and number and went bar-hopping, taking photos of ourselves completing the challenges; it was so much fun! Our team name was "Steve's and Ross's lusty bar wenches... + a homosexual" and I was, of course, "Busty wench". It was great to meet up with all these other people and do silly but fun things; some of the assistants I hadn't seen since the 'stage' and some I had never met at all! It really recharged Willie and I, as we have seen all the same people and been to the same places every weekend

Having fun, can't believe how soon it is to Christmas (aaack!). Sometimes it feels like this will never end, and then I think about how 2 months have already passed since I left home - how bizarre - before I know it, I'll be back in Aus. again. Check out the photos I posted of Creil; I'll put up a description of my time in England soon!