Nos endroits préférés à HK

Noemi 
Mon endroit préféré à Hong Kong ca doit être le quartier de Causeway Bay. Là bas, il y a pleins de centre commerciales où on peut aller faire du shopping, déjeuner etc. Les magasins que je visite les plus souvent c'est Forever 21 et Monki - tout mes vêtements viennent de ces magasins! A Causeway Bay, il y a un "Times Square", un peu comme celui de New York City. Dedans se trouvent une énorme variété de restaurants, europeans ou asiatiques! Par contre, pour moi, c'est un peu trop chèr. Alors, je vais au centre qui s'appelle "Hysan Place". Là, je peux aller avec mes copains manger dans un food court. Mon plat préféré  dans ce food court c'est le pad thai, c'est super bon!

Rafa:
Mon endroit préféré à Hong Kong est le quartier de Kowloon. J'ai grandi là-bas et je vis dans le quartier maintenant, il y a tellement de choses à faire et tant d'endroits intéressants à visiter. Un de mes endroits préférés à faire est Argle Center qui est un type de centre commercial avec de nombreux stands qui vendent tout ce que vous pouvez penser, du vêtement aux accessoires, au maquillage et même à la nourriture! Et la meilleure partie? Tout est super bon marché! L'une de mes autres choses préférées à Kowloon est le «front de mer», qui est un endroit pour se détendre et se promener avec une belle vue sur la mer. C'est très relaxant et il y a beaucoup d'arbres partout, donc j'adore passer du temps avec ma famille et mes amis là-bas.

Our Carnival holidays

My carnival holidays

Quentin

My holidays were enjoyable. I went to carnival only for two days: on Carnival Sunday and Monday. I went with three of my friends to Fort-de-France to spend the afternoon there. We saw a lot of groups which played music and danced. We also saw cars called "Bwadjak". They're modified cars which make a lot of noise. On the car body people painted the latest news' topics to laugh at the society. I saw the 2017 "Vaval", Vaval is a big dummy which represents an important event of the year to laught at it. It was very funny ! During the rest of my holidays I went to the cinema with some of friends, we saw "The split" a thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan and "Il a déja tes yeux", a French comedy directed by Lucien Jean-Baptiste, a Caribbean film-maker. I also went to the beach with my family. I've spent good holidays !
The end

During the begining of the holidays, I went to the stadium of my city to play with some friends, and see a tournament  between teams of Martinique and Guadeloupe which lasted two days. In the second week, I went to a barbecue and it was a very good time because there was a river next to the house. During the last day of the holidays I went to the cinema to watch triple x reactived, the movie was very good, there was good actors like Vin Diesel and Samuel L.Jackson  but I think the special effects were too exaggerated.

Stéphane

Bèlè dancing and creole Last Friday

On March 10th, every school where creole language is taught could organize a cultural action on Bèlè music. Our students will talk about it:

Last Friday there was a group of bèlè dancers called BèlèLégliz in our school library. Bèlè is originally a traditional seduction dance from the island of Martinique.  Bèlè music is very old. Bèlè was created in Africa during slavery and it was imported to Martinique by the slaves before 1848. The first bèlè dancers were the slaves who wanted to enjoy themselves and relax  after a hard  working week. 

The main instruments are drums and wooden sticks called 'ti-bwa' in creole language (ti-bois or Petits-Bois). The two 'ti-bwa' give the rhythm at the beginning of each song. The ti-bwa player hits his two sticks on the big drum behind the player sitting on it.

The name of the male dancers is 'kavalié' or 'cavalier' in French and for women it is 'Danm Bèlè' or 'Dame Bèlè'. The traditional clothes for the female dancers are a large madras (checked material whose origin is supposed to be  the town of Madras in India) or flowered skirt, a petticoat and a madras square scarf tied around their waist. Men wear tucked up trousers and a square-shaped madras scarf rolled around the waist through the pants belt loops. Men and women dance bare feet.

- I discovered Bèlè music which is a traditional dance in Martinique: I had never danced it before. (Camille from Nîmes in France, 2nde4).
- I liked all the dances. I discovered a new language, creole because I am from New Caledonia.
(John 2nde 6).
- I really enjoyed the show because it is our Martinican heritage. (Alizée, 2nde 6)

We were told about the history of our folk music. We have  loved the emotions caused by this music.

We really enjoyed ourselves during the show. The visitors talked about the origin of Bèlè. They told us about Ti-Emile, one of  the bèlè singers  from the hills of St-Marie, North of Martinique. The first school of bèlè was created in that town. We were happy to hear about  our traditions. Nowadays, Bèlè music is very successful as we try to protect our traditions.

The pupils of 2nde 4 and 2nde 6.

Texts read in creole were interrupted by songs and dances.
There was interaction with the students.

Carnival in Martinique

Melissa

We were on a carnival holiday recently. The carnival has been a living tradition for us for many years. It lasts only 4 days and is celebrated once a year. Carnival begins on Sunday and there is a 4 am pyjama parade on ShroveTuesday and it ends on Ash Wednesday. During these demonstrations there are several groups of dances wearing disguises and there are also big decorated trucks that pass through the streets with different themes. There is also a sort of gigantic dummy called " Vaval " ; this year Vaval was a Gaul, half man half woman with heels and manicured nails. It is present from Sunday to Wednesday. On the last carnival day, once all the admirers gather around it, it is burnt; which marks the end of Carnival. Then the next year a new Vaval will be made with a different theme.

European section's trip to London

You can visit the blog of Acajou 1 European section to see their latest adventures.

London trip : from Feb 19th, 2017

Kyricka

The English European class of my school had been organizing a trip for over a year.This trip took place from the period of the 17th to the 28th of February to the famous British City entitled London. We took the plane from Martinique to Paris. An eight hour flight.Then the Eurostar from Paris to London. (Eurostar is a high speed service connecting London with Paris and a few other areas. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France).
The flight and the train took about a day as we got to London the following day that we had left Martinique.

Finally in London, we had a strict schedule and our coordinator who was also our English teacher wanted to stick to it  and accomplish all that she had planned out for us.
The weather was our biggest question whenever we had to go out. Making sure that we were all covered properly, after a few students had fallen sick. In London whenever you see the sun, know that it will be a very cold day.That's what I've learnt about their weather.So we kind of never wanted to see the sun.
We visited museums,went to see plays, went on long historical walks and even squeezed in some shopping sprees. To be honest it was an amazing experience that I'd like to live over.

Canary Wharf towers in London