A Day in Town

The day dawned with beautiful blue skies and rising temps. We headed into the city to the Morand chocolate factory. It is supposedly the best in town and we all agreed it must be!  Chocolatiers are real artisans and his decorations and garnishes were absolutely amazing! Aly, Saxon and Harrison all tried their hand at making chocolate shells and didn't do too badly.

We had a look around a few shops after that and I wandered in to a beautiful linen shop for a browse. The prices are always off-putting though, and I was very strong and left without purchasing anything. A few seconds later the friendly lady from the shop called out to me and asked me to come back inside. I thought she must have something else to show me, but she closed the door behind me and asked me to open my bag! An older 'gentleman' had come in while I was browsing and apparently had told her I'd stolen something! He didn't think I could understand french and was busily telling her it was hidden in the front, and then when they saw it wasn't there, he said I must have it in the front pocket! She was very apologetic as I repacked my bag and in my very best french, I asked the 'gentleman' if he was sorry as well! He rudely just looked the other way and didn't reply. ...my first experience in Noumea of french arrogance!

We then had some lunch in the shade on some grass as the kids were starting to wilt in the heat!  We rested there for an hour, then headed up to the dance studio. They had a great afternoon performing with some fantastic teachers. The studio is run by professional dance instructors but owned by the Council. It is open after school hours for young kids to attend a wide range of classes from the various arts, and is all free.

We saw them off with their families after numerous hugs and instructions to use sun block over the weekend!

Tomorrow we teachers hope to drive further North and visit the NZ war cemetery. New Caledonia was the hospital base for the Pacific during the war and of course  quite a few NZ soldiers died here. We will spend more time trying to load photos tomorrow seeing we don't have to go to school early in the morning.