‘O-Day’ was first published on bee-bakes.com on September 29, 2014
Today is Monday. It’s the fifth night at my humble abode, in a tiny village of Yssingeaux in the middle of France. So much has happened since taking the bus from Lyon on Thursday afternoon, it’s almost hard to remember.
Thursday was when it really hit that I’m actually doing this. Nick had arranged for a fancy lunch for the two of us, prior to taking the bus, and as I was getting ready for lunch I suddenly felt a nervous sickness in the pit of my stomach and didn’t think I could go through with lunch! The last time this happened was when we got married in Australia. Half way through the reception dinner, as I was tucking into green beans soaked in lemon olive oil and topped with parmesan cheese, I suddenly remembered that we had to dance the Charleston as a surprise for our wedding guests after dinner and I couldn’t eat anything else.
This time, however, I was determined not to let it stop me and so we ate in style at the new Paul Bocuse restaurant that has opened in our quartier, Monplaisir. Housed in a beautifully redecorated belle villa bourgeoise, the Marguerite Restaurant seemed like a fitting farewell before heading off on my culinary adventure.
In the afternoon, after saying goodbye to our hysterical furball, Fortie, (I think he knew I was leaving) Nick drove me to the airport to meet up with the rest of the students. They were easy to spot. Waiting in the grand hall for the airport train station was a group of people from all parts of the world, all guarding massive bags of luggage, ready for several months in a foreign country. After we realised there were people delayed thanks to Air France strikes, Nick waved goodbye and left me to get to know my new classmates. We eventually all boarded the bus to the château school a few hours late. Cue sleeping for several hours while being stuck in peak hour traffic.
Much later, we arrived at the school and were greeted by various members of staff while waiting for the Programs Manager who had shown Nick and me around the school in August. We were pre-warned that he is always late and after waiting for several ‘five more minutes’ he finally showed. Then it was off to a three course welcome dinner in the château restaurant (of course there is always dessert) and then shuttling us off to our new homes.
I got a place on my own! Yay! There’s room for Nick and Fortie to stay and it’s just off the centre ville. It’s just around the corner from a large square with fountains and apparently where the Thursday market is held. While it’s old, has ugly paint and wall paper, has some kind of water hammer issue and reminds me of uni accommodation in Ballarat, the location is so good and I have a view, over rooftops, to the mountains and the setting sun.
After a rough sleep due to waking up every 15 minutes to loud bangs from the water pipes of my neighbours downstairs, it was up to the château for Orientation Day! On Saturday I met up with a group of people from the course and we all realised that we couldn’t actually recall much of what happened on O-Day… It was one of the longest days ever, especially after the sleep issues. Starting at 8am we waited around for ‘five more minutes’ till everything was ready before entering the large teaching kitchen where we spent the rest of the day. Here’s what I remember:
– a constant supply of juice, hot coffee and tea and multiple pastries.
– trying on chef’s outfits to find the right size. Three chef’s jackets and two pairs of houndstooth chef trousers coming my way.
– going through and checking the Pâtisserie Tool Kit. That’s right—tool kit. Complete with a cute tool box. Whisks, spatulas of all shapes, the biggest knife, chocolate thermometer, things I don’t know how to use etc etc.
– ‘getting to know you’ session, otherwise known as ‘my nightmare’ session. Each student had to tell a little story about themselves and how they came to be at the course. I don’t even know if I made sense, but I got there in the end.
– lunch in the château with more dessert.
– visit from our main pastry chef. We discovered there were a few more things we needed for our kits, including a fork and a spoon…should have brought some from home.
– visit from the La Poste. Random, but informative for students from overseas needing bank accounts and mobile phones.
– class timetable! Oh my…first week is four days of 6am starts…interesting…
– too many questions.
After all that and a lot of talking, I was almost delirious. All I wanted to do was run off to the very far away supermarket and stock up on some basic supplies and go to sleep. And so I did.
More later!