Tales of Tyre-racing, Makis and M'zungus.

22 février 2012

The Motorbike Saga Continues

I've had fifteen hours of motorbike lessons so far, and have reached the stage where I'm working hard at it and not feeling I'm actually getting anywhere. There's a circuit you have to do for the test at a very slow speed, as you have to drive through...

Posté par calligraphy à 10:47 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, temperature, emily, lesson, motorbike, driving school, helmet, jacket, track

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19 février 2012

Mahabou and M'Gombani

This Sunday afternoon was lovely and fine, so we set off to walk up and around the Pointe Mahabou, a cliff on the other side of Mamoudzou where the very first sultan of Mayotte, Adriansouli, was buried. Other cars were driving up, so I started driving...

Posté par calligraphy à 08:31 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mamoudzou, sun, road, brochetti, flowers, m'gombani, mahabou, maoulida, park, restaurant, shengue, signpost, state, walk

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15 février 2012

Tying the knot

Took the car to the garage this morning for an oil change and to get the air-conditioning sorted out, as there seems to be a leak somewhere. The mechanic behind the counter received a phone call while we were there and put the caller - apparently one...

Posté par calligraphy à 07:37 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: car, garage, air-conditioning, employee, knot, oil, telephone, tie

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14 février 2012

Inspector Valentine

I’m being inspected today. Inspections in the French education system aren’t like Ofsted ones: there’s only one inspector at a time, usually, and he or she’s only coming to inspect one particular teacher over one hourly period. The teacher is warned a...

Posté par calligraphy à 04:26 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: school, lesson, inspection, marks, ofsted, plan, sleep, students, tuesday, valentine

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12 février 2012

Madame, la pluie, elle tombe!

Talk about keeping things for a rainy day. There are so many rainy days here – and so much rain – that I don’t know what to do with most of them. Some do, though. There’s construction work outside at the moment – just underneath our flat, actually – where...

Posté par calligraphy à 17:01 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, flat, water, rain, philip, crepi, curtain, rainbow, table, television, wall

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30 janvier 2012

All Golfed Out

Last Sunday, P and I were invited to a "Grand Golf Initiation" organized by my new friends the Bretons of Mayotte. As P likes golf, and as I don't, we were asked to bring our instruments and at least play those. We ended up playing both golf and music....

Posté par calligraphy à 13:17 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, emily, accordion, bretons, guitar, music, recorder, sun, combani, golf, initiation, instruments, philip, ylang

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15 janvier 2012

Water, water everywhere...

I got a call the other day from a girl I’d met at a friend’s birthday party, asking me if I wanted to do something on Sunday. The search was on. She rang me back yesterday evening, having thought of going to the beach, renting a kayak, paddling round...

Posté par calligraphy à 20:34 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: indian ocean, island, water, emily, coral, diving, fish, mask, reef, camera, flippers, friend, kayak, swim

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10 janvier 2012

Happy New Year to all

P and I spent Christmas and New Year with my favourite people this year. When I got back, I was invited to a friend’s birthday party, where I was informed that I must be crazy to voluntarily spend any length of time in such a cold place when I live in...

Posté par calligraphy à 00:01 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: humidity, mayotte, cat, electricity, strike, boat, music, christmas, 2012, concentration, family, mould, new year, tree

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19 décembre 2011

She'll be coming round the mountain...

I went round the Mont Choungui last week-end with a walking group. It's near the bottom of the island, and is the most famous mountain in Mayotte, if not the highest (That's Mont Bénara, 664m). From its top, you're supposed to be able to see all the southern...

Posté par calligraphy à 15:00 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: banana, boy, rice, banga, chameleon, choungui, coconut, forest, maki, mont, spider, teenager, village, web

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15 décembre 2011

Bouéni Jolie

You often see girls and women here with m’zindzano on their faces. It’s a beauty mask made from sandalwood ground on a pure coral table, mixed with a little water. The table is made of one piece of coral, and often weighs 3 or 4 kilograms. It is the fine...

Posté par calligraphy à 04:40 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, ceremony, coral, mask, photo, beauty, boueni, mdzindzano, jewellery, cosmetic, mzindzano, paste, sandalwood, skin

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