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

20 avril 2015

UNICEF Heroes Day

Yesterday was UNICEF Heroes Day: a worldwide, running-applications-and-various-other-gadgets-connected run whose goal was to raise money to vaccinate children. The idea was to get everybody to run 10 kilometres and connect via various running or fitness-based...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:07 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: t-shirt, blue, photo, race, run, children, money, day, 10km, application, charity, competition, connection, donate, donation, hero, shoelaces, ten, unicef, vaccinate

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2 février 2015

Brugge

On my last day in Lille, H had to work all day, so I dropped him off at his school, planning to go back down to Lille and across to Roubaix, where I'd heard there was an interesting exhibition about Camille Claudel as well as 500 or so wool soldiers that...

Posté par calligraphy à 03:51 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: house, shop, photo, camera, museum, trip, visit, bike, fountain, horse, travel, chocolate, day, lille, belgium, beer, architecture, bruges, brugge, canal

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19 mai 2014

Repoblikan'i Madagasikara : a visiting vazaha.

Just spent a week in Madagascar, and absolutely fell in love with the place. It's beautiful. It started off with a rather strange idea of going to Antsiranana - more pronounceably known as Diego Suarez - to learn to kitesurf. One of those all-inclusive...

Posté par calligraphy à 01:19 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: holiday, sea, road, market, chameleon, children, red, animal, trip, surf, lemur, antananarivo, antsiranana, diego, emerald, kite, madagascar, suarez, tsingy, frog

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28 octobre 2013

Wedding Dances

Last Saturday, something rather exceptional happened. The Blue Mango, my music group, is followed around by the Dancing Lizards, who are a group of folk dancers who come to all our concerts to dance. One of these dancers is a Comorian lad called Halidi,...

Posté par calligraphy à 03:06 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, food, rice, blue, accordion, guitar, music, mango, pilao, flowers, dance, wedding, violin, jasmine, bride, groom, meat, necklace, salad, samoussa

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23 février 2015

N'Gouja, probably for the last time.

It's the holidays next week, so this weekend was really the last one before the holidays on which to go to the beach. I don't go that often - not really interested in lying around in the heat, and not bothered about salty water and small fish - but H...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:15 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: humidity, mayotte, temperature, heat, colleague, water, coral, fish, reef, beach, photo, underwater, road, camera, turtle, tropical, computer, ngouja, electronic, equipment

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9 mars 2015

The Nutrition Transition

A rather interesting article turned up in the newspaper this week. Mayotte has been in the middle of a nutritional transition (poetically put) for quite a few years now. From not having enough to eat and suffering from various lacks and deficiencies,...

Posté par calligraphy à 01:06 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, cassava, food, water, chicken wings, rice, supermarket, coconut, oil, beef, diabetes, fat, sugar, nutrition, cholesterol, malnourished, obesity, overweight, pregnancy, underweight

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1 septembre 2014

Alefa Madagascar! Part 2 of 2.

The starting point of anything Malagasy is Antananarivo, the capital city, generally shortened to Tana. It's bang in the centre of Madagascar, and it's where all the planes go to and come from. So, logically, this was the starting point of my adventure....

Posté par calligraphy à 04:35 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: house, food, rice, motorbike, people, town, road, village, tree, down, mountain, trip, travel, republic, madagascar, alefa, voyage, capital, city, paddy

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8 juin 2015

Protests in the Classroom

Recently, just for the fun of it, I thought I'd get my kids riled up about something. So I started a nice, light and cheery series of lessons about world problems: racism, discrimination, poverty, starvation, the environment, war, deforestation, animal...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:11 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, school, rubbish, clandestine, immigration, martin luther king, kids, violence, room, rape, classroom, litter, attack, discrimination, dream, environment, poster, racism, segregation, speech

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24 novembre 2014

Transfer time.

It's transfer time. The server opened yesterday, so I've been busy choosing where I want to go next year. Not that I actually get an awful lot of say in the matter, but I do get a chance to express my wishes, if in vain most of the time. In French education...

Posté par calligraphy à 01:34 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: france, mayotte, colleague, school, teacher, french, north, section, civil servant, academy, compliment, education, international, lille, normal, paperwork, points, server, transfer, translation

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27 octobre 2014

Ngazidja

"Salam aleikoum." "Aleikoum salam. Gawamnono?" "Ndjema, hamdulillah!" I've just got back from a week's holiday in Ngazidja, the largest of the four Comoros islands. They are known as Ngazidja (Grande Comore), Mwali (Mohéli), Ndzuani (Anjouan) and Maoré...

Posté par calligraphy à 03:57 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: island, mayotte, house, holiday, shop, construction, anjouan, painting, comoros, volcano, grande comore, hamdulillah, mitsamiouli, mohéli, moroni, mwali, ndzuani, ngazidja, salam aleikoum, site

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18 août 2014

Réunion mon amour, part 2 of 2.

We spent a total of four days and three nights in Mafate. There are no roads, the area is only accessible on foot or by helicopter. The name comes from a wizard who used to live in the cirque, and whose speciality was killing people, using just a piece...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:06 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: island, postcard, photo, cold, group, reunion, hike, cirque, mafate, volcano, fournaise, neiges, passport, piton, route, snow, stamp, tamarin, trek, trou de fer

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20 janvier 2014

Thank You For A Lovely Christmas Holiday.

Family photos. A lovely Christmas was had by all. Lots of people, lots of presents, lots of games, lots of tablet computers. At one point, there were seven of us playing silly games on our various tablets while watching a film. Lots of food, too. A month's...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:18 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: holiday, english, flute, music, family, dorchester, french, england, present, museum, bach, brandenburg, chocolate, cinema, concerto, ilkley, knitting, tablet, tank, wareham

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11 février 2013

Going to the Circus

The Cirque de Paris has been in Mamoudzou for the last few weeks, and is staying until the 17th of February. The circus tent is planted in the main square of the capital city, with a large Coca-Cola tent in front and the market to the left. Behind is...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:14 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mamoudzou, water, henna, family, show, mahorese, balance, circus, cirque de paris, clown, dove, elephant, expat, flag, hand, hoop, hula, joke, mireille, neighbour

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19 janvier 2015

Lille

Two British Rail trains, four Underground trains and two Eurostar trains. I don't mind travelling, really. I'm not keen on all the waiting around that has to be done in airports and train stations, and I'd rather not have to justify my identity and defend...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:51 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: france, photo, town, rain, camera, walk, cold, cheese, visit, luggage, travel, chocolate, train, cooking, city, lille, beaux-arts, british rail, eurostar, palet de dame

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9 février 2015

Still playing.

On January 24th, we had our Annual Fest-Noz. With capital letters. It's a huge and terrifyingly-organized evening centred around Breton music and dancing, it needs so much work put into it that there is only one per year (compared to several per week...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:28 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, accordion, bretons, guitar, music, recorder, concert, sing, violin, church, rehearsal, clarinet, organ, piano, cello, viola, charlie, hebdo, fest-noz, saxophone

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4 septembre 2014

The Malagasy Highway Code

The Malagasy Highway Code for Motorbikers When you see a lorry coming your way, take a big breath and hold it. It's going to stink. A full helmet is great for safety if you fall and hit your head, but it does mean you can't scratch your ears. Even after...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:00 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: zebu, rice, motorbike, rain, road, skin, orange, hair, highway code, pothole, police, madagascar, malagasy, paddy, emergency, horn, indicator, rickshaw, traffic, trolley

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31 mars 2014

Hellen

The weather was pretty grotty this weekend, so I haven't been out much. In fact, Mayotte was placed under "strong rain warning" on Thursday evening, because a depression was forming in the Mozambique channel, along the coast of Mozambique. On Saturday...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:18 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: dzaoudzi, water, rain, tree, kwassa, driving, weather, wind, stones, tropical, ferry, cyclone, avalanche, storm, tempest, election, hellen, mozambique, tanzania, vote

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7 octobre 2013

Those who can, cook. Those who can't, eat.

I've been teaching my students about food recently, as you saw in the recent blog post about the European classes. They love learning the English words for their local fruit and vegetables: cassava, breadfruit, chicken wings... they're shouting over each...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:25 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, banana, breadfruit, food, tomato, class, school, lesson, pasta, vanilla, yoghurt, hungry, cinnamon, courgette, healthy food, junk food, local, muffin, sausage, shepherd's pie

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15 avril 2013

Who let the kids out?

Last Thursday, I was called in to replace a sick colleague on a school trip. The idea was to take a class of 14-year-olds to visit the remains of a sugar-cane factory, a copra dryer and a museum about ylang-ylang flowers and vanilla. Two teachers, twenty-nine...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:19 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, girl, class, pupils, school, boy, photo, coconut, ylang, students, oil, vanilla, distillery, copra, jimaweni, mtsangamouji, museum, soulou, sugar, trip

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29 juin 2015

Pneumatophores.

I've been fascinated by the mangrove since I arrived in Mayotte. The mangrove goes pretty much all round the island. From most points on the coast, you can either see it or smell it, or both. Mangrove trees are salt tolerant, and they have an very simple...

Posté par calligraphy à 01:24 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, water, mangrove, root, tree, threat, breathe, filter, filtration, guyana, guyane, human, influence, new caledonia, nouvelle calédonie, pneumatophore, scientists, threatened, crab

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25 mars 2013

The North from East to West

When P was here, he wanted to see if his scooter still worked. As I hadn't gone anywhere near it for the past few months, it didn't start. P pulled bits of it out and put it all back together, gave it some petrol and kept trying, and it started a couple...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:15 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: island, mayotte, house, green, scooter, shop, beach, village, philip, bamboo, north, animal, building, concrete, corrugated, iron, mosque, sheep

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13 octobre 2014

The United Gingdom, a guided tour. From the Palace of Wismmister to Wenstre Game.

I've been working on the British monuments and flags with my kids. The test was at the end of last week, just before the holidays which have just started. The moment of truth, when I get to see what they've remembered from my naturally scintillating lesson....

Posté par calligraphy à 03:50 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: school, teacher, country, lesson, english, students, state, england, america, city, 10 downing street, badminton, buckingham palace, canada, mexico, nice, tower of london, union jack, westminster abbey

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17 décembre 2012

Please do not spit in the hospital. Thank you.

We went on a boat trip the other day with our friend Franck and a friend of his, a doctor named Brigitte. We now know that... The most wide-spread illnesses in Mayotte are high blood pressure and diabetes. However, the women may be fat, they never suffer...

Posté par calligraphy à 02:19 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: dzaoudzi, mamoudzou, mayotte, girl, women, children, men, age, blood, diabetes, doctor, fat, hospital, ill, jacaranda, patient, pressure, sick, spit

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19 août 2013

The rain in Spain didn't fall upon the plains.

The holidays are over, I'm afraid. Five weeks of Spain and England, a much-needed break from Mayotte. I like Mayotte very much, it's certainly interesting, but I'm also very pleased to get out occasionally, to see my family and boyfriend, to see more...

Posté par calligraphy à 09:33 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: holiday, park, madrid, spain, bike, bull, cathedral, fight, ring, salamanca, ventas, egypt, el escorial, fountain, monastery, street, temple, valle de los caidos, zoo

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5 mai 2014

Carnival Week-End II : A Colourful Parade

The carnival in commemoration of Slavery Abolition Day continued on the Sunday as well. First of all, I wanted to show you the diversity of musical instruments. In case you're wondering, the most prized instrument here is an old washing-machine drum....

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

Tags: mamoudzou, mayotte, music, friend, instruments, hat, make-up, parade, week, washing-machine, abolition, carnival, slavery, accessory, costume, headscarf, oven, tray

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