Andrea and I slept in this morning, thank goodness! The boys left to explore Barnes &Nobles while the moms went on a walk, and Andrea and I were left alone. I decided to show her a little bit more of Charlotte, so we walked in the hundred-degree heat to the Arboretum. I wanted her to see the store Tutti, but we passed a consignment store on the way to it and went in there instead. They were having the best sale! I found a $150 Lilly Pulitzer dress with the tags on for $40! Andrea got a really cute Ralph Lauren bathingsuit cover-up, too.
Afterwords, we went to Costco, one of my favorite stores in the entire world. We made the rounds to taste every single free sample they had-the smoothies were the best!
We finally departed for my uncle's lake house on lake Hartwell in South Carolina. We arrived late in the evening. After hanging around a bit and eating dinner, we all had super intense Wii Dance-offs! Even Franck and Nico joined in the awkwardness that comes with not-really dancing!
When everybody went to bed, Andrea, Nicolas, Taylor, and I all hung out downstairs. I think it really bothers Taylor that he can't understand a word that I say in French. I've gotten tired of translating everything word-for-word for him. He and the frenchies had fun exchanging cuss words, though. I'm just glad to be speaking French again! It's been too long!
Even after the boys hit the hay, Andrea and I sayed up talking and gossipping and laughing!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
The Summer Duck Farm
I cannot begin to express in words how excited I am to be able to speak French again! If I had it my way, Andrea and Nicolas would move in with me in Charlotte and I would never speak American ever again!
We made a pit stop on our way to The Farm. We paused at a Walmart in Albemarle to pick up Nico's prescription. Here, I introduced them to "the people of Walmart". I am not a Wally World snob by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it was one of my most missed stores while I was in France. They were amazed by the vastness of it. (I, honestly, did not think it any more impressive than the Auchan in Henin-Beaumont.) The great thing about speaking French in small-town America is that no one understands anything. If, perchance, anyone has learned French, it is most likely classroom French in which case, there is only the slightest possibility he or she knows what any of us say. It totally bugged my brother, Taylor, that I would not translate everything for him.
We finally arrived at The Farm. After a traditional southern US meal of REAL BBQ, we spent the afternoon riding golf carts and ATVs, walking the grounds, lounging about, and just chatting. Even though Taylor has trouble understanding a lot of what goes on, I think he likes Nicolas, and I'm pretty sure he has a crush on Andrea (no suprise there).
Andrea and I beat the boys in a golf cart race. They got even by initating a water fight.
We made a pit stop on our way to The Farm. We paused at a Walmart in Albemarle to pick up Nico's prescription. Here, I introduced them to "the people of Walmart". I am not a Wally World snob by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it was one of my most missed stores while I was in France. They were amazed by the vastness of it. (I, honestly, did not think it any more impressive than the Auchan in Henin-Beaumont.) The great thing about speaking French in small-town America is that no one understands anything. If, perchance, anyone has learned French, it is most likely classroom French in which case, there is only the slightest possibility he or she knows what any of us say. It totally bugged my brother, Taylor, that I would not translate everything for him.
We finally arrived at The Farm. After a traditional southern US meal of REAL BBQ, we spent the afternoon riding golf carts and ATVs, walking the grounds, lounging about, and just chatting. Even though Taylor has trouble understanding a lot of what goes on, I think he likes Nicolas, and I'm pretty sure he has a crush on Andrea (no suprise there).
Andrea and I beat the boys in a golf cart race. They got even by initating a water fight.
Ma Famille Ici!
To fill anyone in on what I have been doing since my return to the states from Frogland, suffice it to say that I have been exceedingly busy! I returned home on Thursday, June the ninth. On Saturday, June eleventh, I took one of my still unpacked suitcases and headed from Charlotte to Charlottesville. There, I have spent the past eight weeks in a classroom for seven and a half hours a day from Monday to Friday learning Italian. While I have no where near the fluency I have in French, I feel pretty confident that I know most all of the Italian grammar!
Ecco un corto metraggio che abbiamo fatto in classe e che ho messo su YouTube! Non vi preocupate-- è un film d'orrore e deve farvi paura!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y10emTu77E
Today is actually "Graduation Day", but I asked for special permission to leave early. For the past two weeks, my second host family, the Helous, have been touring the southeast states in the USofA. I did not actually think that I would be able to see them because they had planned to pass through Charlotte the first through the third of August. I begged them to come on a later date, because if I had missed even one day of classes, I would fail automatically.
I spent last night at my dad's house in Radford, VA. This morning at 7h45 my grandmother came to pick me up, and I drove three hours to Charlotte to meet my family! Both Andrea and Nicolas have ear infections, and without American insurance, the doctor's visit cost $150 per child and the prescription cost $138. Che peccato! After letting everyone know that, "Aux USA on se fait des câlins, pas les bises," we departed almost immediately for The Summer Duck Farm.
http://www.littleriverwines.com/OurStory.html
Ecco un corto metraggio che abbiamo fatto in classe e che ho messo su YouTube! Non vi preocupate-- è un film d'orrore e deve farvi paura!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y10emTu77E
Today is actually "Graduation Day", but I asked for special permission to leave early. For the past two weeks, my second host family, the Helous, have been touring the southeast states in the USofA. I did not actually think that I would be able to see them because they had planned to pass through Charlotte the first through the third of August. I begged them to come on a later date, because if I had missed even one day of classes, I would fail automatically.
I spent last night at my dad's house in Radford, VA. This morning at 7h45 my grandmother came to pick me up, and I drove three hours to Charlotte to meet my family! Both Andrea and Nicolas have ear infections, and without American insurance, the doctor's visit cost $150 per child and the prescription cost $138. Che peccato! After letting everyone know that, "Aux USA on se fait des câlins, pas les bises," we departed almost immediately for The Summer Duck Farm.
http://www.littleriverwines.com/OurStory.html
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Me Voilà!
After a nine hour flight during which I watched The Tourist, Burlesque, and half of Chocolat, my feet are finally touching US soil. Amidst my hours of movie-marathoning, I also sweaked in one hour an a half of a nap, but that was all I could manage. I tried my hardest to sleep more than that, yet counting sheep has never had much appeal to me. This entire past week I have fallen asleep past two o'clock in the morning and I have awoken before six without any alarm. Someone must have slipped Adderall into my fruit juice, because I have had nothing but energy all week long, whereas I usually need ten hours a night just to function! Even now, I feel the adrenaline rushing through my body, and I know that I will not crash until at least 19h00 tonight. The great side effect resulting from this is that unless I die and take five days to catch up on sleep, I doubt that jet lag will affect me too terribly.
Anyways, this post was just to let everyone know that I'm alive and well. No, the plane did not crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Now I'm off to drive a car!
Anyways, this post was just to let everyone know that I'm alive and well. No, the plane did not crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Now I'm off to drive a car!
Ça Y Est
Well, here I am in the airport. I finally broke down and trashed my Rotary vest. The only problem now, besides not being able to move, is that I feel and look like a Christmas tree. Ironically, I've been craving Christmas music all of this past month!
At least I'm giving the airport staff a good laugh. They had a good time picking through my pins, pointing at my carte 12-25 that I have affiched to my back. I even had one woman from Minnesota ask me if I were a stewardess!
At least I'm giving the airport staff a good laugh. They had a good time picking through my pins, pointing at my carte 12-25 that I have affiched to my back. I even had one woman from Minnesota ask me if I were a stewardess!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Le Gala
I rushed when I got home to eat my host grandmother's super yummy Calamars Provencale. I was already running late. Of course, it was my host grandfather who drove me at 40 km/h to Mathilde (host sister) and Cloe (school friend)'s dance spectacle. I just barely made it. As I walked in the door, I saw Mathilde begin the dance that she had begun to learn in February when I first arrived. I had thankfully only missed the beginning, and I was able to watch both of Mathilde's dances and both of Cloe's dances!
Chantilly: The Home of Whipping Cream
Despite my lack of sleep this entire week, I awoke this morning around seven to leave for Beauvais at 8h30. Mr. and Mme. Delesalle came to pick me up from the house, and we drove about two hours to see the cathedral. It was beautiful! Plus, the town had cleaned it, so the front half was a pearly white that almost hurt my eyes! The grandeur of the church was incredible. It was so large that it had already collapsed twice; ironically, it was not even completed. The entire church consists of just a choir and a transept; there exists no nave, and if there did, it would be four times the size it is now!
After lunch, we drove for another hour or so until Chantilly. Driving around the town, I realized that that was the town in which I had dreamed of living. It looked so typical French, especially with the imposing chateau in the background. I wish I had had more of an opportunity to visit multiple chateaux. This one was magnificent! Apparently, the last Duke who owned it gave it to France with the stipulation that his art collection remain exactly as is. Boy, does he have a collection! Among the artists displayed, Raphael, Delacroix, Fouquet, and Poussin are some of the most well known. When we finished the tour of the chateau itself, we moseyed on over to the stables. If anyone else saw them without knowing what they were, he would confuse them for a chateau, too! They are the most elegant stables I have ever seen in my entire life. It's because the Prince who lived there believed that horses were the reincarnation of human beings, so he made a temple devoted to them.
Since Mr. Delesalle used to be the principal of Lycee Saint Paul for twenty-eight years, he took me to see the chapel within the school when we returned. He could not believe that I had attended the school for an entire year without going in there!
After lunch, we drove for another hour or so until Chantilly. Driving around the town, I realized that that was the town in which I had dreamed of living. It looked so typical French, especially with the imposing chateau in the background. I wish I had had more of an opportunity to visit multiple chateaux. This one was magnificent! Apparently, the last Duke who owned it gave it to France with the stipulation that his art collection remain exactly as is. Boy, does he have a collection! Among the artists displayed, Raphael, Delacroix, Fouquet, and Poussin are some of the most well known. When we finished the tour of the chateau itself, we moseyed on over to the stables. If anyone else saw them without knowing what they were, he would confuse them for a chateau, too! They are the most elegant stables I have ever seen in my entire life. It's because the Prince who lived there believed that horses were the reincarnation of human beings, so he made a temple devoted to them.
Since Mr. Delesalle used to be the principal of Lycee Saint Paul for twenty-eight years, he took me to see the chapel within the school when we returned. He could not believe that I had attended the school for an entire year without going in there!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Une Lettre
Chère Madison,
Si tous nos students exchange ont toujours été merveilleux, toi tu exceptionnelle.
Malheureusement l'heure du départ est venue, mais toutes les bonnes chose ont une fin et Nicole et moi ne sommes pas là pour te souhaiter un bon retour... Ne soit pas triste de repartir, tu sais bien que quand on vient dans le nord l'on pleure 2 fois, en arrivant et en repartant, ton amie nous l'a rappelé ce samedi a la conférence de district et puis tu te souviendras toute ta vie de cette année. Et comme maintenant tu aimes la France, je suis sûre que tu y reviendras et puis un nouveau challenge t'attend, la reprise et la réussite dans tes études.
Au nom de tous les membres de notre club, j'ai souhaité te remettre la médaille de notre club afin que tu emmènes un petit morceau de nous dans ton pays.
Bon vent Madison, au plaisir de te revoir
Bisous
Nicole et Jean Michel DeGrugillier
Si tous nos students exchange ont toujours été merveilleux, toi tu exceptionnelle.
Malheureusement l'heure du départ est venue, mais toutes les bonnes chose ont une fin et Nicole et moi ne sommes pas là pour te souhaiter un bon retour... Ne soit pas triste de repartir, tu sais bien que quand on vient dans le nord l'on pleure 2 fois, en arrivant et en repartant, ton amie nous l'a rappelé ce samedi a la conférence de district et puis tu te souviendras toute ta vie de cette année. Et comme maintenant tu aimes la France, je suis sûre que tu y reviendras et puis un nouveau challenge t'attend, la reprise et la réussite dans tes études.
Au nom de tous les membres de notre club, j'ai souhaité te remettre la médaille de notre club afin que tu emmènes un petit morceau de nous dans ton pays.
Bon vent Madison, au plaisir de te revoir
Bisous
Nicole et Jean Michel DeGrugillier
My Last Rotary Meeting
Tonight was my last Rotary meeting. Mr. Vanoverberghe started the meeting by giving me another flag, a medal, and a package which I later opened to discover a stuffed dog. Mr. Vanoverberghe owns a toy store in Lens called Joue Club. I named my puppy Eleu. (Don't even try to pronounce that in English, please.)
Then, Mr. Crapet read me the lovely letter from the President of the club, Mr. Degrugillier.
For the real meeting, Mr. Delesalle gave a Powerpoint presentation of the World Heritage sites as named by UNESCO. I now have a long list of places to visit and things to see, as if my list were not already around the corner and down the block in the beginning!
Then, Mr. Crapet read me the lovely letter from the President of the club, Mr. Degrugillier.
For the real meeting, Mr. Delesalle gave a Powerpoint presentation of the World Heritage sites as named by UNESCO. I now have a long list of places to visit and things to see, as if my list were not already around the corner and down the block in the beginning!
Une Peche Au Thon
Today was my last day of school in France. Ever. School technically does not finish for Lycee Saint Paul until this Saturday, and even after that, the students still have to pass the BAC. If you wonder whether they had a big bang party to send me off into the vast unknown that is my future in the United States, I will quickly put an end to that thought by noting that nothing out of the ordinary happened at all today.
I arrived at school at 9h15, decided to skip Spanish class to hang out with my friends, took notes in French and Economy, ate lunch, and took some more notes in Maths and History. The funniest part of the day happened at lunch time. I was looking at the menu for the day and noticed that in the entree (appetizer) column, the dish "peche au thon" was noted on the board. At first I freaked out, saying, "Eew! How gross! Who in their right mind woud serve tuna fish with a peach?" I then realized that peche also means fishing, so I corrected myself, "Oh, wait, that's not right; it's probably just freshly caught tuna! Duh!" Surprisingly, however, Cloe turned to me and told me that I had been correct the first time. So, in an effort to try new things, I ate a tunafish filled peach at lunch time today. What's even more surprising is that I enjoyed it, in fact! After lunch we went back to the Salle de Travail where I recounted stories from this weekend; we laughed so hard we almost exploded. After school had ended, we also spent the last hour in the Salle de Travail. When we left it was pouring down rain. Under Marie's umbrella that barely covered my head, I removed my shoes so as to avoid ruining them. I thought my friends were going to die of laughter! You cannot imagine how may weird looks I received, running through the rain from the bathroom with Somaya. I even got a text from Andrea (host sister) who had seen me from the bus window.
I arrived at school at 9h15, decided to skip Spanish class to hang out with my friends, took notes in French and Economy, ate lunch, and took some more notes in Maths and History. The funniest part of the day happened at lunch time. I was looking at the menu for the day and noticed that in the entree (appetizer) column, the dish "peche au thon" was noted on the board. At first I freaked out, saying, "Eew! How gross! Who in their right mind woud serve tuna fish with a peach?" I then realized that peche also means fishing, so I corrected myself, "Oh, wait, that's not right; it's probably just freshly caught tuna! Duh!" Surprisingly, however, Cloe turned to me and told me that I had been correct the first time. So, in an effort to try new things, I ate a tunafish filled peach at lunch time today. What's even more surprising is that I enjoyed it, in fact! After lunch we went back to the Salle de Travail where I recounted stories from this weekend; we laughed so hard we almost exploded. After school had ended, we also spent the last hour in the Salle de Travail. When we left it was pouring down rain. Under Marie's umbrella that barely covered my head, I removed my shoes so as to avoid ruining them. I thought my friends were going to die of laughter! You cannot imagine how may weird looks I received, running through the rain from the bathroom with Somaya. I even got a text from Andrea (host sister) who had seen me from the bus window.
La Conference de District
Hugues came and picked me up from the house at 7h45. The 1520 Rotary district conference did not take place far from home. I was one of the first of the exchange students to arrive in Lille besides Jess (US) and Kathryn (Australia). When everyone started arriving, we discovered that we didn't actually have to attend the conference. Instead, we all went out in the courtyard to catch up on everything and sunbathe a little. Some of my favorite Rotary moments happen when we're all just sitting in a circle and chatting together. I don't know why we even had to arrive so early, because when we sang Gregoire's "On a Tous Le Meme Soileil", it was after 11h00. Cari gave the most wonderful speech, though, beforehand, about how this was the best year of all of our lives, and we all probably would have cried had there not been two hundred adult Rotarians staring at us. The best part of the conference, besides the people, of course, was that we got Rotary satchels! I love free stuff!
I sat next to Kevin (India) and Suzanna (US) at lunch. Afterwords, Suzanna and I ended up being late for getting on the bus because we went on a wild goose chase for filled water bottles to drink after lunch. When we finally found two, we couldn't find any bottle openers. Thank goodness buses have toilets.
After spending the entire bus ride singing, we arrived in Dinant, a small town in Belgium, around 18h00. We put our affairs on twin bunk-beds in rooms of ten and almost immediately re-departed to go visit the town. Unfortunately for us, at 18h05, we discovered that all of the shops and pretty much the entire town closed down five minutes before our arrival. Tant pis!
Except for the beautiful buildings in the typical Belge style along the river, the landscape reminded me a little bit of the Vermont. The big bummer for me was that even though I had charged my camera the previous night, it died within ten minutes. Suzanna and I walked around the town, sitting next to the statue of Adolf Sax, the inventor of the saxaphone, crossing the bridge with tens of giant saxaphones, and participating in swan staring along the river.
At dinner time, I sat down next to Michael (US), Chris (US), and Kevin who were having a delightful conversation about fecal matter which developped into stories about bidets. After eating, I joined some girls outside until it started when we went inside to continue our girl time. Pretty soon, Michael joined our girl time, and not long afterwords, we had a giant group of people playing a card game called PIG in a circle around us. When the whole PIG group formed, I had gone to the bathroom, and when I came back, I was too late to join. So instead, I played good watch-bad watch, umbrella, and concentration with Rafael (US). By the time we got to concentration, though, I was so rattled by the other two games, that I couldn't focus. We ended up playing it with continents. However, I still had to ask for a specification: whether there were five, six, or seven continents. The big group of people finally got tired with PIG and let me join in to play a different kind of reflex card game, and, no surprise, I lost. We played one more round, and that was the end of the card games for the night.
Suddenly, we remembered that Kevin had promised to let us get rid of his moustache! I ran upstairs to get my facial wax because no one had remembered razors. We only got half of his 'stache with the wax (I don't think they removed it properly). Those who waxed his moustache kept trying to reapply the strip and rip it off; it didn't work. In the end Kevin got fed up from getting hurt so much and went to shave it off himself with a razor that we discovered someone actually had brought. All of the other guys were incredulous that I actually put myself through a similar torture with wax on a regular basis. When Kevin returned, he looked like a completely different person!
I sat next to Kevin (India) and Suzanna (US) at lunch. Afterwords, Suzanna and I ended up being late for getting on the bus because we went on a wild goose chase for filled water bottles to drink after lunch. When we finally found two, we couldn't find any bottle openers. Thank goodness buses have toilets.
After spending the entire bus ride singing, we arrived in Dinant, a small town in Belgium, around 18h00. We put our affairs on twin bunk-beds in rooms of ten and almost immediately re-departed to go visit the town. Unfortunately for us, at 18h05, we discovered that all of the shops and pretty much the entire town closed down five minutes before our arrival. Tant pis!
Except for the beautiful buildings in the typical Belge style along the river, the landscape reminded me a little bit of the Vermont. The big bummer for me was that even though I had charged my camera the previous night, it died within ten minutes. Suzanna and I walked around the town, sitting next to the statue of Adolf Sax, the inventor of the saxaphone, crossing the bridge with tens of giant saxaphones, and participating in swan staring along the river.
At dinner time, I sat down next to Michael (US), Chris (US), and Kevin who were having a delightful conversation about fecal matter which developped into stories about bidets. After eating, I joined some girls outside until it started when we went inside to continue our girl time. Pretty soon, Michael joined our girl time, and not long afterwords, we had a giant group of people playing a card game called PIG in a circle around us. When the whole PIG group formed, I had gone to the bathroom, and when I came back, I was too late to join. So instead, I played good watch-bad watch, umbrella, and concentration with Rafael (US). By the time we got to concentration, though, I was so rattled by the other two games, that I couldn't focus. We ended up playing it with continents. However, I still had to ask for a specification: whether there were five, six, or seven continents. The big group of people finally got tired with PIG and let me join in to play a different kind of reflex card game, and, no surprise, I lost. We played one more round, and that was the end of the card games for the night.
Suddenly, we remembered that Kevin had promised to let us get rid of his moustache! I ran upstairs to get my facial wax because no one had remembered razors. We only got half of his 'stache with the wax (I don't think they removed it properly). Those who waxed his moustache kept trying to reapply the strip and rip it off; it didn't work. In the end Kevin got fed up from getting hurt so much and went to shave it off himself with a razor that we discovered someone actually had brought. All of the other guys were incredulous that I actually put myself through a similar torture with wax on a regular basis. When Kevin returned, he looked like a completely different person!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Famimial AuRevoirs
Tonight Pascaline dropped me off in Vermelles. I went to Sabine and Christophe's first to say goodbye. It felt bizarre to know that I will not return to their home in the near future. Afterwords, I stopped by the Ghysel's. Philippe had spent all morning putting together a video of our time together. They also gave me all of the pictures we took together, pyjamas I had left at the condo in Stella, and Pierre discreetly passed me a card that Mathilde had written to me. (The card had bounced back, and Pierre was supposedly told to give it to me a while back. After they gave me all of that, we rushed over to a practice-run of Mathilde's dance recital. It was so cute, she and her friends dressed up as cats and pranced all over the stage looking adorable! When she finished, we rushed over to say a quick "Hello" to Stephanie, and then I had to return back to the Adamski's
I honest to goodness hope that each and every one of my host families comes to visit me! I know we will have the occasion to see each other since I'm coming back to France as soon as I can, but I just do not wish to leave France in the first place!
I honest to goodness hope that each and every one of my host families comes to visit me! I know we will have the occasion to see each other since I'm coming back to France as soon as I can, but I just do not wish to leave France in the first place!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
La Descente De La Lesse
I ended up staying last night in the guy's room with a few other girls because we went over there to talk (all of the other girls fell asleep straight away), and then on avait la flemme to leave, so I squished into a single bunkbed with Rafael (US) and Jess (US). Those were some of the most pathetic bunkbeds in the world! Whenever one of the guys tried to climb up to go to sleep, some of the support boards always broke off, so we finished by putting all of the upper mattresses on the floor. I have to admit that sleeping at three in a twin bed does not provide an optimal space, so at I'm guessing 4h30, I changed back into the girls' room, and made Maddi (Australia) scootch over since I did not want my top bunk to break on top of her.
When we awoke around 8h00 this morning, we had a quick breakfast, jumped in the bus, and headed for Dinant Adventure where we all picked out our paddles and prepared for our kayak adventure.
I rode in a kayak with Suzanna (US). It was so much fun because to enter the water, we had to use a type of slide, and Suzanna and I chose to slide in backwards! We didn't even get wet!
Awkward moment of the day: I really needed to use the Ladies' Room, but the water was too shallow where we were. So, Suzanna and I rowed over to the shore and climbed up the embankment. I started to head to where there might be a tad more privacy until I noticed that it was a field of Ortie. I needed to tinkle so badly, that I just pulled down my pants there and went with barely any heads up to Suzanna. She also needed to go, bus since she had already gotten stung by the nettles, she decided it could wait. I'm amazed at myself for not feeling at all embarassed, even now! When I had finished and was pulling up my shorts, Asaki (Japan) and Yuki (Japan) rowed by in their kayak and said, "Aw. Did you go pee pee?" Why yes, I did.
Amazing moment of the day: The morning began beautifully with blue skies and warm weather. The news had warned us that it might rain, however. At one moment Suzanna and I looked ahead of us to see two kayaks in front under a downpour of rain while we rode along completely dry. We then passed the frontier of the rain cloud. It was breathtaking!
When we all arrived at the campground 21 kilometers later, we ate lunch with a Rotary exchange group from Belgium that included a guy who resembled Jesus.
After playing Umbrella, My World, and Good Watch and singing every other song we could think of in the bus ride, Hugues presented me with my Rotary Ambassador Certificate. The best part about leaving are the hugs. The worst aspect is that I actually have to leave. We did manage to get through the afternoon without crying, which is wonderful in my opinion!
When we awoke around 8h00 this morning, we had a quick breakfast, jumped in the bus, and headed for Dinant Adventure where we all picked out our paddles and prepared for our kayak adventure.
I rode in a kayak with Suzanna (US). It was so much fun because to enter the water, we had to use a type of slide, and Suzanna and I chose to slide in backwards! We didn't even get wet!
Awkward moment of the day: I really needed to use the Ladies' Room, but the water was too shallow where we were. So, Suzanna and I rowed over to the shore and climbed up the embankment. I started to head to where there might be a tad more privacy until I noticed that it was a field of Ortie. I needed to tinkle so badly, that I just pulled down my pants there and went with barely any heads up to Suzanna. She also needed to go, bus since she had already gotten stung by the nettles, she decided it could wait. I'm amazed at myself for not feeling at all embarassed, even now! When I had finished and was pulling up my shorts, Asaki (Japan) and Yuki (Japan) rowed by in their kayak and said, "Aw. Did you go pee pee?" Why yes, I did.
Amazing moment of the day: The morning began beautifully with blue skies and warm weather. The news had warned us that it might rain, however. At one moment Suzanna and I looked ahead of us to see two kayaks in front under a downpour of rain while we rode along completely dry. We then passed the frontier of the rain cloud. It was breathtaking!
When we all arrived at the campground 21 kilometers later, we ate lunch with a Rotary exchange group from Belgium that included a guy who resembled Jesus.
After playing Umbrella, My World, and Good Watch and singing every other song we could think of in the bus ride, Hugues presented me with my Rotary Ambassador Certificate. The best part about leaving are the hugs. The worst aspect is that I actually have to leave. We did manage to get through the afternoon without crying, which is wonderful in my opinion!
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Problem With Music
Tonight we went over to Pascaline's sister's house for dinner. Almost as soon as I arrived, their son Nathan invited me to go to a "rock concert" with him. I was already exhausted, but I knew that we would leave after he returned home anyways, and it was a better option than sitting at the dinner table for five hours.
When we arrived at the Rock Café with his friend Alexia, there was no one there. The band had not even arrived at 20h30. The people around the bar were super sketchy. At one point, some creeper, who we later discovered had 31 years old, came up to us and started chatting. He was completely hammered already and refused to leave us alone. He kept talking and talking. Of course, because he was so drunk, not even the French could understand him.
By the end of the night, I was pretty much ignoring him, noddin my head, "yes" to every question he posed. By 22h the band had finally started to play. I think that tonight was the first time in my life that I have ever heard "Mary Had A Little Lamb" as a rock song.
I couldn't pay attention to the music because the weirdo kept repeating a question. I asked Alexia what he was saying. When he repeated it again, Alexia told me that he asked if he were my type. I cannot believe that I nodded a "yes" to him! When we went outside to wait for Alexia's dad, he came out and asked me to go to dinner with him sometime. Nathan and I then proceeded to pretend we were in a relationship. Why is it that I already attract weird, creepy, loser-ish, old, unemployed, freaks on a guy level?
When we arrived at the Rock Café with his friend Alexia, there was no one there. The band had not even arrived at 20h30. The people around the bar were super sketchy. At one point, some creeper, who we later discovered had 31 years old, came up to us and started chatting. He was completely hammered already and refused to leave us alone. He kept talking and talking. Of course, because he was so drunk, not even the French could understand him.
By the end of the night, I was pretty much ignoring him, noddin my head, "yes" to every question he posed. By 22h the band had finally started to play. I think that tonight was the first time in my life that I have ever heard "Mary Had A Little Lamb" as a rock song.
I couldn't pay attention to the music because the weirdo kept repeating a question. I asked Alexia what he was saying. When he repeated it again, Alexia told me that he asked if he were my type. I cannot believe that I nodded a "yes" to him! When we went outside to wait for Alexia's dad, he came out and asked me to go to dinner with him sometime. Nathan and I then proceeded to pretend we were in a relationship. Why is it that I already attract weird, creepy, loser-ish, old, unemployed, freaks on a guy level?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Versailles
I road the RER this morning from Paris to Versailles. In the train station, I met some super nice people from Oklahoma. On the train itself, we had wonderful entertainment by some musicians on accordians! I arrived in Versailles around 9h30, but since the Adamski's were not supposed to get there until 10h30, I waited for an hour by the statue of Louis XIV.
When the Adamskis did arrive, we decided to do everything backwards. We began in the horse stables that now hold a carriage exhibit. Oh, how I want to ride in a horse drawn carriage wearing glass slippers on the arm of a prince! A girl can dream..
In the Queen's appartment we walked through rooms whose lavishness I could never compare to any American suite. She had a view to kill for, and enough distance from her husband's chateau that she could breathe enough, so the idea of killing her husband would never present a problem.
We moved on to the gardens so extravagant that I thought I might lose myself even with a map. We watched a fabulous waterworks display in a labyrinth of roses. I just kept wondering when the dolphins would make their appearance.
We finally, after waiting a modest amount of time, we entered the Château. No comment. It was incredible. I am officially marrying the next monarch who calls himself the Sun King!
I honestly think that Emilie had more fun in the gift shops afterwords, though! The guards had to kick us out at closing time because we overstayed our welcome.
I wonder if it would be possible to be a squatter in a chateau like Versailles....
When the Adamskis did arrive, we decided to do everything backwards. We began in the horse stables that now hold a carriage exhibit. Oh, how I want to ride in a horse drawn carriage wearing glass slippers on the arm of a prince! A girl can dream..
In the Queen's appartment we walked through rooms whose lavishness I could never compare to any American suite. She had a view to kill for, and enough distance from her husband's chateau that she could breathe enough, so the idea of killing her husband would never present a problem.
We moved on to the gardens so extravagant that I thought I might lose myself even with a map. We watched a fabulous waterworks display in a labyrinth of roses. I just kept wondering when the dolphins would make their appearance.
We finally, after waiting a modest amount of time, we entered the Château. No comment. It was incredible. I am officially marrying the next monarch who calls himself the Sun King!
I honestly think that Emilie had more fun in the gift shops afterwords, though! The guards had to kick us out at closing time because we overstayed our welcome.
I wonder if it would be possible to be a squatter in a chateau like Versailles....
Movin' On Up
I discovered this morning that because I have been accepted into an Italian language immersion program at the University of Virginia for this summer, my plane ticket has suddenly been moved from the eighteenth of June to the ninth. This only leaves me seven days! I think I want to cry.
IL FAUT PROFITER!
IL FAUT PROFITER!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
La Fete Des Meres
We celebrated, belatedly compared to the US, La Fete des Meres (Mother's Day) today. I took a train back from Lille with Paul (Germany) this morning around 10h00. With barely any sleep from the night before since I slept over with Sofie (Argentina) and Emma (Finland), I just wanted to rest.
Instead, I ate a "barbeque" with my host family and Jean-Michel's parents (Pascaline's are actually in Montenegro.). Speaking of barbeque, I miss it dearly! In France barbeque is like what you get when you ask for barbeque in California, which means that barbecue is the verb that means to cook out or to grill. When, in the south, we say barbecue, we mean the real stuff, the pulled pork sandwich with the ketchup-based sauce (because it tastes better than the SC mustard-based or the western NC vinegar based sauces). It's heaven in a bun.
Anyways, after talking briefly to Pierre-Alexandre via Skype, and eating grilled chicked and sausages, I took a nice long nap. When I awoke, I packed my affairs and headed over to the Helou's to spend the night with them.
Instead, I ate a "barbeque" with my host family and Jean-Michel's parents (Pascaline's are actually in Montenegro.). Speaking of barbeque, I miss it dearly! In France barbeque is like what you get when you ask for barbeque in California, which means that barbecue is the verb that means to cook out or to grill. When, in the south, we say barbecue, we mean the real stuff, the pulled pork sandwich with the ketchup-based sauce (because it tastes better than the SC mustard-based or the western NC vinegar based sauces). It's heaven in a bun.
Anyways, after talking briefly to Pierre-Alexandre via Skype, and eating grilled chicked and sausages, I took a nice long nap. When I awoke, I packed my affairs and headed over to the Helou's to spend the night with them.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Last Lille
Today was the last day in Lille for me for this year in France. I met up with Maddi (Australia-whose French has either improved greatly, or who has become a lot less self-conscious) almost as soon as I got there, so we spent most of the afternoon together. We saw a giant parade of people playing instruments on bicycles for no purpose, we saw at least three groups of fiances acting crazy before getting married, we drank yummy, pulpy orange juice, and we got half of our shopping checked off of our lists. We also had a super dooper time singing the song 1234 by the Plain White T's. While we were walking towards the shopping centers, first Printemps, then Gallery LaFayette, I saw a large, creepy, tattooed, biker-looking guy hanging out with the homeless people on the side of the street. I turned to Maddi and said, "Oh my gosh, that guy over there is so scary!." Then he moved, and I added, "Oh no, he's walking over here. He's walking towards us!" Then, as if I were not already freaked out enough as it was by his appearance, he barked at me. Yes, he barked like a dog, and I screamed at the top of my lungs in the middle of the square in Lille. I started cracking up afterwords because I could not believe that I actually screamed out loud.
After Maddi bought her Longchamp bagfrom the Galleries LaFayettes, she ditched me, and I went to hang out with Marti (Argentina), her friend Sofie (Argentina), Cari (Ecuador), Emma (Finland), Tim (Australia), and Paul (Germany). We all gave Sofie a mini-tour of Lille, and at around 20h, the girls headed over to Cari's house to snack on dinner, chat, and watch the Barcelona-Manchester football game while the guys just went to a bar. If anyone is vaguely interested at all, Barcelona creamed Manchester 3 to 1.
After Maddi bought her Longchamp bagfrom the Galleries LaFayettes, she ditched me, and I went to hang out with Marti (Argentina), her friend Sofie (Argentina), Cari (Ecuador), Emma (Finland), Tim (Australia), and Paul (Germany). We all gave Sofie a mini-tour of Lille, and at around 20h, the girls headed over to Cari's house to snack on dinner, chat, and watch the Barcelona-Manchester football game while the guys just went to a bar. If anyone is vaguely interested at all, Barcelona creamed Manchester 3 to 1.
J'Ouvre Les Parenthèses
Whenever my Economy teacher, Mme. Braun gets off topic in class, which happens quite often, she always opens and closes the parentheses. Today, she made a Titanic reference. When she asked about the Celine Dion song and no one knew the reponse, I automatically said, "My Heart Will Go On." Of course, I used my normal American accent to say this. She just looked at me and said, "Can you repeat that so I can understand?" Without missing a beat, I said, in the most amazing French accent in the world, "My Arte Weeeel Goh Onne". Everyone died of laughter, but Madame understood this time. She then closed the parentheses and went on with class.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
My Metaphorical Baby
One of my friends at school pointed out that I would be giving birth to my baby today if I had gotten pregnant the day of my arrival in France. I hope I don't look that fat!
On a more serious note, Daniel's (Mexico) father passed away today. Daniel, you and your family are in my prayers.
On a more serious note, Daniel's (Mexico) father passed away today. Daniel, you and your family are in my prayers.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Pairi Daiza
Today the Adamskis and I went to Paradisio, the most amazing zoo-park in the entire world! We arrived at 11h00, and immediately wanted to see the feeding of the monkeys.
While heading over there, we ran into kangaroos!
Unfortunately, we walked rather slowly, taking in the breathtaking scenery, and we missed the feeding. I was amazed at the monkey enclosure, though. I thought they would be behind cages, but it was completely the opposite! They had their own little island on which they roamed freely. They even came close enough for us to pet them.
Taking the bridge off of the island, we walked into a grotto filled with seals and penguins!
That eventually led us into the aquarium that housed, among other animals, sharks, bubble-eyed fish, and jellyfish. I wished all throughout the aquarium walk that I had seen Finding Nemo in French, because I could have quoted the entire movie in there.
We had Chinese for lunch. Why is it that almost every single Chinese restaurant on the planet is buffet-style or at least has some sort of buffet in it?
Afterwords, we read on the map about Dr. Yu's. I had read about it, but had never tried a foot massage by fish! It was amazing! I didn't know what to expect, really, but it tickled! It was the oddest sensation to have hundreds of tiny fish eating my feet! (I saw an advertisement for a thirty minute, 45Euro session in the Touquet, but my twenty minute session here was only 5, and it was so worth it!) It was the coolest experience I could ever imagine involving fish! I highly suggest it! (Mommy, can I have a new pet? We don't even need to buy stuff for it, 'cuz I'll keep it in the bathtub, and we don't have to pay for food!)
After walking through the Chinese gardens, lighting incense, tying goodluck ribbons on a tree, and banging the gong, we went to the aviary. MeepMeep I saw the roadrunner! In your face, Wylie Coyote!
We took a quick break for mate tea, and continued on to the African animals.
We were even allowed to feed the giraffes and elephants!
Let me just say that Dumbo has a pretty prickly trunk, but he's very friendly and likes carrots.
We rushed through the rest of the park because it had the shortest hours known to man and closed at 18h00. We saw the elephant get a bath, a show given to us from the raptor center. I totally thought at one point in the show that the eagle would land on my head.
We finished the day in the petting zoo farm area. Guess what I just realized? Mutton is a lot like the french word for sheep, mouton! Whoa!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Le Retour du Gastro
I knew I couldn't avoid it forever, and now it has made its comeback. The infamous gastro (stomach bug) hit once again. Unfortunately for me, it chose the most inconvenient hour of five o'clock in the morning! At least I didn't have school today anyways since it's a journée pedagogique (teacher workday).
So, I went back and counted all of my other blog posts, and this is the eighth time I've had the Gastro since I've been in France.
Why me?
So, I went back and counted all of my other blog posts, and this is the eighth time I've had the Gastro since I've been in France.
Why me?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
One Month
I only have one month left as of today. Pauline initiated a vote today inquiring how many of my friends petitioned that I stay. Marie raised both arms and a leg. What I'm telling people now is that as soon as my visa expires, I'm becoming an illegal immigrant. (Let's just hope that no one from the French government reads blogs.)
I had a full day of school today. It's for a good cause. I consequently don't have school on Friday or Saturday! Plus, I didn't have Italian this afternoon. I was in a goofball mood all day. This morning in French class, we were talking about some ninteenth century seductive traits, so I drew a moustache on my index finger and held it up to my nose. This afternoon in Political Science (The Saturday classes moved to Wednesday afternoon this week.) Florine was yawning, so, while Nicolas and Paul were taking credit for a Powerpoint that Yamina made, Flo and I played thumb wrestling to keep her awake.
This evening, Pascaline, Jean-Michel, and Emilie picked me up while I was walking home so we could all go shopping in Lens. One of the great things about living in an itty bitty town (approx. 30 000 people) is that when you go out, you know half of the people you see. I saw Corentin from my class at school in Yves Rocher, Andrea (host sister) in front of Pimkie, and one of the girls with whom I was interviewed for the Rotary in front of Etam.
I had a full day of school today. It's for a good cause. I consequently don't have school on Friday or Saturday! Plus, I didn't have Italian this afternoon. I was in a goofball mood all day. This morning in French class, we were talking about some ninteenth century seductive traits, so I drew a moustache on my index finger and held it up to my nose. This afternoon in Political Science (The Saturday classes moved to Wednesday afternoon this week.) Florine was yawning, so, while Nicolas and Paul were taking credit for a Powerpoint that Yamina made, Flo and I played thumb wrestling to keep her awake.
This evening, Pascaline, Jean-Michel, and Emilie picked me up while I was walking home so we could all go shopping in Lens. One of the great things about living in an itty bitty town (approx. 30 000 people) is that when you go out, you know half of the people you see. I saw Corentin from my class at school in Yves Rocher, Andrea (host sister) in front of Pimkie, and one of the girls with whom I was interviewed for the Rotary in front of Etam.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Powerpoint Playback
I had my second Rotary presentation tonight. Hugues had told me that I could talk about whatever I wanted. I originally thought I should do my life in France up to that point, but since I had to do the powerpoint in my Political-Science class the other week, I decided to choose the lazy route and not make extra work for myself.
It was nice because not only did Sabine, Christophe, and the Adamski's come, but Elise, Louise, and Marie from Spring Break came as well. There was also a futrue outbound going to Kansas named Paul.
I was a little nervous about my presentation to all of my Rotary club, and it didn't helped that half of the pictures on my powerpoint just decided to disappear for no reason. On the plus side, when I did give my presentation, everyone inserted comments, questions, and witty remarks that greatly lightened the mood. They even made fun of me a little bit, but in a teasing way!
After my whole schpeale had finished, we all sat down to eat. At one point in the evening, we were talking about weight gain, and I mentioned how I have an Indian friend who has lost at least ten kilos here. It was followed by the quote of the night given by seven year old Miss Louise Bultez. She said, "But the Indians, they don't exist anymore," with the most serious expression on her face. Have I mentioned how much I love little kids?
When we were leaving, Hugues mentioned how he thinks that I have changed. I am apparently more open and confident now. My secret? High heeled shoes. (I know my dad hates them, but it's true!) Even though I like being short most of the time, hight gives confidence, at least it does for me.
It was nice because not only did Sabine, Christophe, and the Adamski's come, but Elise, Louise, and Marie from Spring Break came as well. There was also a futrue outbound going to Kansas named Paul.
I was a little nervous about my presentation to all of my Rotary club, and it didn't helped that half of the pictures on my powerpoint just decided to disappear for no reason. On the plus side, when I did give my presentation, everyone inserted comments, questions, and witty remarks that greatly lightened the mood. They even made fun of me a little bit, but in a teasing way!
After my whole schpeale had finished, we all sat down to eat. At one point in the evening, we were talking about weight gain, and I mentioned how I have an Indian friend who has lost at least ten kilos here. It was followed by the quote of the night given by seven year old Miss Louise Bultez. She said, "But the Indians, they don't exist anymore," with the most serious expression on her face. Have I mentioned how much I love little kids?
When we were leaving, Hugues mentioned how he thinks that I have changed. I am apparently more open and confident now. My secret? High heeled shoes. (I know my dad hates them, but it's true!) Even though I like being short most of the time, hight gives confidence, at least it does for me.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Welcome Back
Welcome back to my blog! I'm sorry, but due to suspicious activity, I had to take myself off of the internet for a while. Don't worry! I've been posting this whole time, so you have a whole afternoon's worth of blog posts awaiting.
Have fun!
Have fun!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Really Bad Art
I had breakfast this morning with the Brambrings. Sabine made the best orange jelly in the entire world! I absolutely had to get the recipe, so voila!
Orange Jelly
2:1 Pressed Orange Juice (without pulp) to Jelly Sugar
1 cut vanilla bean (scrape insides out into the jelly, cook the entire bean, but remove the shell before serving)
2t lemon juice
cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring the entire time
remove
add 1 shot orange liqueur
put immediately into glasses and flip upside-down for 5 or so minutes.
After breakfast we met up with everyone who had slept in the hotel at Josef Albers Museum. Apparently he's a German artist that the American's adopted. (I honestly have no clue why.) He does not paint just squares-it's a mind trick! He paints a square within a border within a border, and there is a whole mathematical equation behind it. Ziad and I discovered that exact equation! So, you have to look at the paintings from 10,25 cm away, and then you discover that (y4x2 + 2xy – y)/(x – 1) = axn + bxn − 1 Of course, it's much easier to reach this conclusion with Beethoven easy-listening music playing in the background. The funny thing is that the Germans actually took the entire visit seriously and sincerely enjoyed the exhibit.
Orange Jelly
2:1 Pressed Orange Juice (without pulp) to Jelly Sugar
1 cut vanilla bean (scrape insides out into the jelly, cook the entire bean, but remove the shell before serving)
2t lemon juice
cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring the entire time
remove
add 1 shot orange liqueur
put immediately into glasses and flip upside-down for 5 or so minutes.
After breakfast we met up with everyone who had slept in the hotel at Josef Albers Museum. Apparently he's a German artist that the American's adopted. (I honestly have no clue why.) He does not paint just squares-it's a mind trick! He paints a square within a border within a border, and there is a whole mathematical equation behind it. Ziad and I discovered that exact equation! So, you have to look at the paintings from 10,25 cm away, and then you discover that (y4x2 + 2xy – y)/(x – 1) = axn + bxn − 1 Of course, it's much easier to reach this conclusion with Beethoven easy-listening music playing in the background. The funny thing is that the Germans actually took the entire visit seriously and sincerely enjoyed the exhibit.
Thankfully, the second half of the exhibit were dinosaurs!
We had lunch at the German Rotary President's home. He presented our President with a Josef Albers painting (I wonder if he'll actually hang it in his home), and Jean-Michel gave him a bottle of nice wine.
I really like Germany. The people are nice, the weather is about the same as in the Nord-Pas-De-Calais, the homes are nice, the towns are clean, it's in Europe, and it reminds me a lot of the US. I only wish I could speak the language.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Dusseldorf
I woke up at five this morning to meet the bus at 6h30 in Lens. While they had told me that 6h30 was the meeting time, I was one of the first people to arrive, and we did not end up leaving until a little after seven. Unsurprisingly, I slept most of the busride.
We arrived in Germany a little after 11h30 to a warm reception by the Bottrop Rotary club. I surprisingly remembered some faces from the group that had come to the Passation de Pouvoir in September. I was almost immediately introduced to Sabine Brambring, my host mom for the weekend, and Rob, a Canadian. To complete the first activity on our list, we walked along the Rhine to a restaurant where we had a typical German beer-tasting and ate a lunch of fish.
The Eurovision was in town, so we saw a long parade of Europeans in costumes. We even saw West-Point students in the mix. The Eurovision Contest is an international song competition, and today was the finale. Unfortunately, the crowd from the Eurovision parade watchers blocked me, and I got separated from the French group. I was not competely lost; however, I was completely confused the rest of the afternoon following the Bottrop Rotary group's German tour of the city. It was so nice because we passed a spice shop, which smelled heavenly, and I mentioned that I had been craving cayenne pepper, especially since the French hate spices. Sabine then went in and bought me some fresh pepper! She's such a sweetie pie!
The Eurovision was in town, so we saw a long parade of Europeans in costumes. We even saw West-Point students in the mix. The Eurovision Contest is an international song competition, and today was the finale. Unfortunately, the crowd from the Eurovision parade watchers blocked me, and I got separated from the French group. I was not competely lost; however, I was completely confused the rest of the afternoon following the Bottrop Rotary group's German tour of the city. It was so nice because we passed a spice shop, which smelled heavenly, and I mentioned that I had been craving cayenne pepper, especially since the French hate spices. Sabine then went in and bought me some fresh pepper! She's such a sweetie pie!
After the tour at 15h30, we had two hours of free time. I went with Rob to the shopping center, and we walked around aimelessly. We went into two trinketey shops where we saw the most bizarre objects ever! You know your life is complete when you have seen a toilet bowl brush with a handle in the form of a gun. We then went into a mini supermarket, and I interrogated Rob on everything I saw since I understand zero German.
When our free time had ended, I went home with Sabine and Bernd Brambring, and we prepared in ten minutes to go to dinner at a restaurant. After the appetizers, the lady sitting across from me discovered that I had been a vegetarian a few months before coming to France (I'm not allowed to continue vegetarianism here.) and insisted that I get the vegetarian menu with her. Apparently fish is vegetarian in Germany. It was very yummy, but I also would have been fine eating the duck that everyone else got because that smelled wonderful.
When our free time had ended, I went home with Sabine and Bernd Brambring, and we prepared in ten minutes to go to dinner at a restaurant. After the appetizers, the lady sitting across from me discovered that I had been a vegetarian a few months before coming to France (I'm not allowed to continue vegetarianism here.) and insisted that I get the vegetarian menu with her. Apparently fish is vegetarian in Germany. It was very yummy, but I also would have been fine eating the duck that everyone else got because that smelled wonderful.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Ecole Primaire
Today I skipped school to attend my host sister's Elementary School. She is currently in CE2, the US equivalent of third grade. We began the morning with the entire class introducing themselves to me. I now know what Leo, Emilie's "boyfriend" looks like and who her best school friends are. I love little kids. I wish I had better hearing, though, because soft voices plus listening to a non-native language does not facilitate comprehension. Mme. Dupas left the room shortly after, and the English teacher came in. Today we learned about the objects in a classroom, and they all sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". It surprised me that the English teacher spoke almost the entire time in English and hesitated to convert to French to explain to them. When the English teacher left, Mme. Dupas had not returned to the class, so one of the boys stood at the front of the room and watched over all of his classmates while they giggled and tried not to speak. (If they did speak without raising their hands, the boy wrote their names on the board.)
Mme. Dupas then came back and began a spelling lesson. Afterwords the class had recess, but I went with the teacher to the teachers' lounge.
Back in the class, I explained a little about my life in the US, and the other students asked me questions. Mme. Dupas gave me a children's book, a booklet of French expressions, and a synonym dictionary to fill the rest of class time.
We had to wait for probably an hour at recess before going to eat. I walked around with Emilie and her friend Alice during that time. At one point a boy who looked to be ten or so came up to us and shouted, "Woohwoohwoohwoohwoohwooh!" Emilie did not know him. Alice did not know him. I still do not know who he is.
It was really nice because I then saw Alice, Elise's ten year old sister with whom I passed the weekend in Lyon during the vacations. She is so adorable!
I felt so popular today. I had so many random children come up to me saying, "Are you American? Do you speak American? How old are you? Do you have a boyfriend? What's your name? Can you say something for us in American?" It was wierd at the same time since I have never seen so many pairs of eyes on me. Without exaggerating, at any time during the recreation periods, half of the kids outside were staring at me. The little boys in Emilie's class were really cute because they would come up to me and say,"You're sexy" or "So-and-so thinks you're sexy." I would respond, "Thank you," and they would all giggle and tell their friends, "Look, she says, "Thank you" when we say she's sexy haha!" After eating I played some sort of dodgeball game with everyone. When we had finished, a possy of boys followed two feet behind me wherever I went. I, in a way, felt like an alien with everyone oohing and aahing all over me.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. They had a grammar lesson, gym class, another recreation period, a geography class, and school then let out a 4h30.
Tonight, Michael came over for dinner. (I'm so glad we're friends again!) We played S.O.S. (the French version of the basketball game H.O.R.S.E.) and then went down to the ducasse and rode the bumper cars for an hour.
For dinner Pascaline made Chinese food. It was delicious!
I would have to say that this was probably the best Friday the 13th ever!
Mme. Dupas then came back and began a spelling lesson. Afterwords the class had recess, but I went with the teacher to the teachers' lounge.
Back in the class, I explained a little about my life in the US, and the other students asked me questions. Mme. Dupas gave me a children's book, a booklet of French expressions, and a synonym dictionary to fill the rest of class time.
We had to wait for probably an hour at recess before going to eat. I walked around with Emilie and her friend Alice during that time. At one point a boy who looked to be ten or so came up to us and shouted, "Woohwoohwoohwoohwoohwooh!" Emilie did not know him. Alice did not know him. I still do not know who he is.
It was really nice because I then saw Alice, Elise's ten year old sister with whom I passed the weekend in Lyon during the vacations. She is so adorable!
I felt so popular today. I had so many random children come up to me saying, "Are you American? Do you speak American? How old are you? Do you have a boyfriend? What's your name? Can you say something for us in American?" It was wierd at the same time since I have never seen so many pairs of eyes on me. Without exaggerating, at any time during the recreation periods, half of the kids outside were staring at me. The little boys in Emilie's class were really cute because they would come up to me and say,"You're sexy" or "So-and-so thinks you're sexy." I would respond, "Thank you," and they would all giggle and tell their friends, "Look, she says, "Thank you" when we say she's sexy haha!" After eating I played some sort of dodgeball game with everyone. When we had finished, a possy of boys followed two feet behind me wherever I went. I, in a way, felt like an alien with everyone oohing and aahing all over me.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. They had a grammar lesson, gym class, another recreation period, a geography class, and school then let out a 4h30.
Tonight, Michael came over for dinner. (I'm so glad we're friends again!) We played S.O.S. (the French version of the basketball game H.O.R.S.E.) and then went down to the ducasse and rode the bumper cars for an hour.
For dinner Pascaline made Chinese food. It was delicious!
I would have to say that this was probably the best Friday the 13th ever!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Cookie Connoisseur
Today I made chocolate chip cookies with Emilie and her best friend, Lea. The problem with making cookies for French people is that they're used to the additive-infested, nasty, crunchy, Famous Amous-type boxed cookies. So, they don't appreciate the yumminess of a warm, gooey cookie. I could maybe understand the gooey part because everyone has his or her own bad tastes, but there is just no excuse for not wanting your cookie to be warm! What ends up happening is that they beg you to make them chocolate chip cookies because they think that that will make them American, but then they stick their noses up at the good stuff for pre-packaged poop.
Note: This mini-rant does not apply to all of the French, just the ones with bad taste.
Note: This mini-rant does not apply to all of the French, just the ones with bad taste.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Audi
This afternoon I went to an Audi dealership with my Rotary club. We listened to a ten minute presentation of data to which I did not pay one lick of attention. It didn't even matter because all of th adults talked about how they didn't understand it either! Afterwords, we had champagne and hors d'oeuvres as per usual, and some people even went to test drive the cars-especially the convertibles!
Monday, May 9, 2011
La Ducasse
Ducasse is a Ch'ti word that means a small, crappy carnival that stays in town for two days. Five year-olds ooh and ah over it, though because it consists of a bumpercar arena, two carousels, and a cotton-candy machine. I went with Émilie this afternoon and we rode the bumper cars for five rounds. The first time was a freebie because we didn't know we were supposed to insert our ticket into the car itself, and the guy came over and did it for us. The second time our car broke down half way through, so the same guy gave us an extra token. Then, we still had three tokens left that we couldn't use on any of the other machines. I feel like such an old person if I complain about my body hurting...but I did have fun nevertheless!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Du Char À Voile
We stayed up so late last night talking. I got to hear all of the gossip about the bus trip. At one point around four AM, we all got quiet for a moment. At that same moment, someone passed gas with a little, loud squeak. I feel so sorry for that person, but we didn't make fun of him/her at all; we just laughed!
I woke up this morning in pain. I have never had problems sleeping on the floor before, and I love camping, so I don't know what's wrong with me!
After breakfast we headed to the beach. We had to put on the nastiest jumpsuits and bright yellow helmets; I felt sexy.
For the next two hours we did char à voile. I don't know how to explain it except that it's a mixture of a tricycle and a sailboat that you ride on sand. It was so much fun! We spent two hours going in circles, racing, and getting soaked with wet sand. By the time it had finished, not one of us was clean!
After our typical lunch of cold chicken, couscous, and fruit we weren't allowed to touch until dessert, we gathered into a group and practiced singing Soleil by Grégoire. After the fourth round and cries for mercy, we finally stopped. Up until now our goodbye hugs have always been given with the knowledge that we would see eachother again within the next two months. This tome, Daniel, SooMin, and Azriel won't be joining us. Half of us cried, half of us sang Disney songs, and all of us gave eachother hugs all the way back to the cars!
I woke up this morning in pain. I have never had problems sleeping on the floor before, and I love camping, so I don't know what's wrong with me!
After breakfast we headed to the beach. We had to put on the nastiest jumpsuits and bright yellow helmets; I felt sexy.
For the next two hours we did char à voile. I don't know how to explain it except that it's a mixture of a tricycle and a sailboat that you ride on sand. It was so much fun! We spent two hours going in circles, racing, and getting soaked with wet sand. By the time it had finished, not one of us was clean!
After our typical lunch of cold chicken, couscous, and fruit we weren't allowed to touch until dessert, we gathered into a group and practiced singing Soleil by Grégoire. After the fourth round and cries for mercy, we finally stopped. Up until now our goodbye hugs have always been given with the knowledge that we would see eachother again within the next two months. This tome, Daniel, SooMin, and Azriel won't be joining us. Half of us cried, half of us sang Disney songs, and all of us gave eachother hugs all the way back to the cars!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Boulogne-Sur-Mer
This afternoon I rode with Asaki to Boulogne for the last repas exotique with all of the other exhangies. We met up with everyone at a high school, I gave Maddi the homemade snickerdoodles she had requested (we shared them with everyone else, too), and then we went for a tour of vieux-Boulogne. We started by walking around a beautiful church. We spent two minutes inside a castle, and I don't know why we did not spend more time than that in there. I didn't really notice then, though, because I was having so much fun catching up with all of my friends. There was the cutest group of British children touring Boulogne at the same time we were, and Jess (NY) and I freaked out, jumping up and down, oohing and aahing over how cute they were. Whenever they passed by us, we would get really still and really quiet in hopes of hearing their adorable accents! I totally would move to England if the weather weren't so terrible. To finish our tour, we walked through the Argentinian embassy and former home of San Martin. Martina (Argentina) aka Margentina was so excited about San Martin and kept telling us that her mother would cry when she showed her the pictures of his home.
We returned to the school to eat the nasty croque-monsieurs (I never eat them because I know that I will always stuff my face with foreign food afterwords.) and we signed a giant going away card for Daniel (Mexico). Soo Min (South Korea) and Azriel (Philippines) are also leaving in the next few weeks. I don't want anyone to go! I want us all to stay together forever as one giant Rotary family!
I had made tuna tetrazzini for the repas, and I'm pretty sure that everyone liked it. After everyone had been served, Martina (Canada) danced a traditional Canadian Indian dance for us. Daniel had written a song for us, and he sang that as well. There was not one dry eye in the house.
We returned to the school to eat the nasty croque-monsieurs (I never eat them because I know that I will always stuff my face with foreign food afterwords.) and we signed a giant going away card for Daniel (Mexico). Soo Min (South Korea) and Azriel (Philippines) are also leaving in the next few weeks. I don't want anyone to go! I want us all to stay together forever as one giant Rotary family!
I had made tuna tetrazzini for the repas, and I'm pretty sure that everyone liked it. After everyone had been served, Martina (Canada) danced a traditional Canadian Indian dance for us. Daniel had written a song for us, and he sang that as well. There was not one dry eye in the house.
My Sci-Po Powerpoint
Today I gave my presentation on the USofA in my Political Science class. I did not talk about political science at all; the teacher had asked me to present my life in the US.
I began with the location of Charlotte, North Carolina, talked a little bit about my state, and showed pictures of my town. I also gave everyone homemade Snickerdoodles at the same time, so that, in the case I did a horrible job, no one would notice because they would be too occupied with their cookies.
I went on to explain the school system, complete with a public school-private school comparison that included my class schedule from last year. I followed that with pictures of my homes, my families, the shopping malls, typical hang-out spots, school dances, and my friends. Thank goodness everyone peppered my presentation with questions because they totally helped me to calm down and enjoy presenting so much more. I'm pretty sure that I unintentionally confirmed all of my classmates desire to go to school in the states.
I began with the location of Charlotte, North Carolina, talked a little bit about my state, and showed pictures of my town. I also gave everyone homemade Snickerdoodles at the same time, so that, in the case I did a horrible job, no one would notice because they would be too occupied with their cookies.
I went on to explain the school system, complete with a public school-private school comparison that included my class schedule from last year. I followed that with pictures of my homes, my families, the shopping malls, typical hang-out spots, school dances, and my friends. Thank goodness everyone peppered my presentation with questions because they totally helped me to calm down and enjoy presenting so much more. I'm pretty sure that I unintentionally confirmed all of my classmates desire to go to school in the states.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Escalade
Today was our first day of escalade in sport. I'm so glad because eventhough I loved the gymnastics unit, I do not think I could manage a split right now. I was pretty pumped about the wall climbing thing at first since I used to love climbing the giant pickle at WCU when I was younger. I did fine getting to the top. I was even fine at the top of the wall. It was there, however, that I discovered I have trust problems. It really would not have mattered who was waiting for me at the bottom, I just hate the idea of lettin go of something concrete for air and potential death. (Note: this is a hyperbole since the climbing wall does not even reach the ceiling, and falling would result in a few broken bones at the very worst.)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
"Why is He Biting Her?"
This morning when I arrived to school, Pauline stopped me quickly before walking into class. Then, randomly out of the blue, she handed me a book. I thought she was just lending it to me until I saw the inscription on the inside. I love my friends in France!!!
Do I really have to leave?
This afternoon after Italian, Emilie, Pascaline, and I went to a farm to see the animals. Enilie used to do horseback riding there but stopped this year since she lost interest. We started with sheep (I have a tiny obsessions with moutons.) then we headed over to the bunny rabbits, goats, and pigs. The sheep, goats, and rabbits all had babies that looked to be a few weeks old already. The pig was sleeping, which was a little disappointing. When we left to see the roosters, we heard a loud squealing. Turning around, we saw the pig come out the back, followed by a giant hog (the size of a riding lawnmower) come out the back. Emily then pointed out that the hog was climbing on top on the first pig. Then we passed the geese, peacocks, and pigeons. Outside of their pen we saw two ducks. Emilie made a similar comment, "Why is he on top of her biting her?". That duck was squealing louder than the swine.
Well, this was an educational experience today because I'm pretty sure I never would have seen anything like that in Charlotte.
Do I really have to leave?
This afternoon after Italian, Emilie, Pascaline, and I went to a farm to see the animals. Enilie used to do horseback riding there but stopped this year since she lost interest. We started with sheep (I have a tiny obsessions with moutons.) then we headed over to the bunny rabbits, goats, and pigs. The sheep, goats, and rabbits all had babies that looked to be a few weeks old already. The pig was sleeping, which was a little disappointing. When we left to see the roosters, we heard a loud squealing. Turning around, we saw the pig come out the back, followed by a giant hog (the size of a riding lawnmower) come out the back. Emily then pointed out that the hog was climbing on top on the first pig. Then we passed the geese, peacocks, and pigeons. Outside of their pen we saw two ducks. Emilie made a similar comment, "Why is he on top of her biting her?". That duck was squealing louder than the swine.
Well, this was an educational experience today because I'm pretty sure I never would have seen anything like that in Charlotte.
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Last First Day Back To School
Today was my last first day back to school in France. I awoke to find out that Osama bin Laden had been killed and thought it was a joke. It was all over the news all throughout the day, and everyone in France talked about it. The only difference between France and the USA is that we didn't have any street parties, celebrating, or masses of people chanting, "USA" and waving American flags.
As for school, I had my first class of ECJS since before Christmas, I think. We had today to research, and my topic is 'the dangers of cults'. I'm in a group with Louise, Matine, and Constant. Constant, however, was not here today because apparently he drove in front of a truck on his motorbike, fell off, and got a few of his toes cut of by the truck.
Tonight I made sloppy joes for the Adamskis. I discovered that it's pretty much identical to the recipe I use for meatloaf except that here I add a tablespoon of vinegar, a little extra ketchup, and mash up the meat instead of forming it into a loaf. It was yummy!
As for school, I had my first class of ECJS since before Christmas, I think. We had today to research, and my topic is 'the dangers of cults'. I'm in a group with Louise, Matine, and Constant. Constant, however, was not here today because apparently he drove in front of a truck on his motorbike, fell off, and got a few of his toes cut of by the truck.
Tonight I made sloppy joes for the Adamskis. I discovered that it's pretty much identical to the recipe I use for meatloaf except that here I add a tablespoon of vinegar, a little extra ketchup, and mash up the meat instead of forming it into a loaf. It was yummy!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Five Boys And A Third Girl
Today I met pretty much all of the family on Pascaline's side. Her sister, who resembles her greatly, has two sons, one of whom goes to Saint Paul with me. I have never even seen him, though. Her brother and his wife also have two sons (they look like they could be twins) and an adorable eight year old girl. They all came over with the grandparents for afternoon dessert. I had made fudge and pumpkin cheesecake. Everyone else also brought a dessert, so hardly any of it was eaten. I had amazing, unheard-of, inhuman willpower and didn't even try any of it!
I know now that I am more-or-less official part of the family since Pascaline's mother adopted me as one of her grandchildren when she said that she was so glad to have another girl for a grandchild!
I know now that I am more-or-less official part of the family since Pascaline's mother adopted me as one of her grandchildren when she said that she was so glad to have another girl for a grandchild!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Cheval
This morning I went to the marché in Arras with Pascaline. I love going to marchés! Atthis one, not only did they sell everything from clothes to live chickens and geese but they also had a man walking around dressed up like a condom! I would hate to have his job.
For lunch I tried cheval for the first time. No, it's not some super exotic dish that can only be found in France. It's just unheard of that anyone would eat a horse in the US. However, I had never tried any, so I specially requested it. If you're already completely repulsed right now,I probably shouldn't tell you that it was delicious.
This afternoon, I went to the zoo in Lille! I didn't even know there was a zoo in Lille! It was small, but it had a pretty good collection of animals. As soon as I saw the Kookabura, I had his song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Watching the apes made me want to go and live like Jane Goodall, immersed in the chimp culture in Africa. When we got to the general Africa area, we saw zebras, antelope, and a peacock who opened his feathers with a shiver and strutted right in front of us!
For lunch I tried cheval for the first time. No, it's not some super exotic dish that can only be found in France. It's just unheard of that anyone would eat a horse in the US. However, I had never tried any, so I specially requested it. If you're already completely repulsed right now,I probably shouldn't tell you that it was delicious.
This afternoon, I went to the zoo in Lille! I didn't even know there was a zoo in Lille! It was small, but it had a pretty good collection of animals. As soon as I saw the Kookabura, I had his song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Watching the apes made me want to go and live like Jane Goodall, immersed in the chimp culture in Africa. When we got to the general Africa area, we saw zebras, antelope, and a peacock who opened his feathers with a shiver and strutted right in front of us!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Dentelle-ification
Andrea and I were planning on lemon juicing our hair again today. The sun, however, hid behind the clouds all day. Andrea and her cousin also slept in until noon, as well, so we wouldn't have had an early start like we wanted. Instead, I watched the Royal Wedding! Thank goodness I live in Europe now because I would have had a hard time waking up at four in the morning in the US! I love princess stories! So does Deby, the dog, since she sat in my lap the whole time. (Shh! I don't think she's supposed to be on the couch...)
Afterwords, I returned to the Adamski's who had returned from visiting Pierre-Alexandre, their son, in Tully, NY.
Afterwords, I returned to the Adamski's who had returned from visiting Pierre-Alexandre, their son, in Tully, NY.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
101 French Dalmatians
This morning we decided to relax a bit and chill at the house. For lunch, I made tuna tetrazzini, boiled down green beans, and Marie helped me with zucchini brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, Anne wasn't feeling well, so in the afternoon we stayed at the house. Marie and I spent the time playing a board game, organizing their entire children's DVD collection (they have almost every Disney ever made), and watching 101 Dalmatians in French!
At around 19h00, I returned to the Helou's.
At around 19h00, I returned to the Helou's.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Disneyland
We woke up this morning and went to the train station again. Luckily, the train wasn't late and it didn't stop in the middle of the tracks this time! We arrived at Disneyland just before ten, which was perfect as all of the rides open at ten. We went directly to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and followed that with an Indiana Jones rollercoaster. Eventhough she is tall enough and likes rollercoasters, Marie freaked out right before Indiana Jones and held our bags for us instead of riding. Ironically, just after that we went to Space Mountain and she rode that twice with me. We then watched Captain EO with Michael Jackson in English. It didn't even have subtitles in French!
For lunch we went to L'Auberge de Cendrillon (Cinderella's Inn). The food was amazing! There were princesses everywhere (I would love to do that for a summer job!) but I do feel sorry for the guy dressed up as Prince Phillipe since not only did he look like a purple, poofy plum, but he had to dance with Aurora every fifteen minutes.
After lunch, we crossed over to the other park where we watched a Lilo&Stitch show, rode Crush's (the turtle from Finding Nemo) roller coaster, which is, in my opinion, the best coaster in the park, got lifted up in the air in the Toy Story G.I.'s parachutes, and RC's coaster. I conquered my fear with R.C. Ever since I was ten, I have been deathly afraid of anything resembling the pirate ship that just sways back and forth. It turns out that it's not so scary after all.
Before we left for the night, we rode a Star Wars ride and finished with Space Mountain.
I love any and everything Disney!
For lunch we went to L'Auberge de Cendrillon (Cinderella's Inn). The food was amazing! There were princesses everywhere (I would love to do that for a summer job!) but I do feel sorry for the guy dressed up as Prince Phillipe since not only did he look like a purple, poofy plum, but he had to dance with Aurora every fifteen minutes.
After lunch, we crossed over to the other park where we watched a Lilo&Stitch show, rode Crush's (the turtle from Finding Nemo) roller coaster, which is, in my opinion, the best coaster in the park, got lifted up in the air in the Toy Story G.I.'s parachutes, and RC's coaster. I conquered my fear with R.C. Ever since I was ten, I have been deathly afraid of anything resembling the pirate ship that just sways back and forth. It turns out that it's not so scary after all.
Before we left for the night, we rode a Star Wars ride and finished with Space Mountain.
I love any and everything Disney!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Pee in Belgium
We took the train to Brussles this morning! I was really excited since I have only seen Brugges, and this ticks off another capital on my world map. When we first arrived, we spent a half hour or so in the grande place.
We than walked to the Mannekin Pis (Little Julien) AKA the little, eensie weensie, statue of the fountain boy with pee water coming out of his penis. I honestly don't know how that became such a major landmark. He's like the Mona Lisa in the fact that he's about the size of a waterbottle.
We read in the tourguide that he had a female counterpart, so we crossed through the prince's markets to try to find her. Jeanneken Pis was in the tiniest sidestreet with no sign indicating her. In case you're wondering, yes, she was crouched down to tinkle.
After that, we stopped to eat lunch. Marie had been dying of hunger since ten o'clock, and it was finally time for the restaurants to start opening. I ordered a vegetable soup. It came with ice cubes in it. Is that normal?
After that, we stopped to eat lunch. Marie had been dying of hunger since ten o'clock, and it was finally time for the restaurants to start opening. I ordered a vegetable soup. It came with ice cubes in it. Is that normal?
When we finished eating, we hopped on the metro and headed over to the Atonium. I'm not sure what purpose it has, but it's a giant atom of iron made with aluminum. The tickets we purchased included the MiniEurope park next to it, so we went to that afterwords.
I love the MiniEurope! It's not a very large park, but walking around the miniature capitals with a sixty page fact booklet takes a lot more time than expected. The figurines of the capitals were really intricate. I read in the pamphlet that one of them took over 19 000 hours of labor and 350 000Euros! They were beautiful!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Chocolate Chickens
We went to the zoo this morning! I love zoos! It was completely free, and they actually had great animals. We started off with the flamingos and went on to see giraffes, lemurs, monkeys, crocodiles, tigers, and elephants! The only animals we did not see were lions and bears. I could have seriously spent all day long just walking around there!
For lunch we went to George's Brasserie, the oldest Brasserie in Lyon. Since I have five years old in my heart of hearts, I jumped up and down when I saw that they gave Alice, Louise, and Marie coloring pages with crayons. I got one, too! As it turns out, I filled in the spaces at the bottom with my name and age (10) and handed it in to the front. In the meantime, I tasted escargots and loved them. Who knew that snails could be so yummy? To top off that wierdness, they were covered in some sort of green sauce that did not look appetizing at all. When we had all finished eating, the front drew names from the hat. All the girls at my table won either a giant egg or a giant caterpillar. I won a giant chocolate chicken! Oh, yeah!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter
This morning we walked around the market before heading over to celebrate Marie's birthday.
In the car on the way to the restaurant, I noticed a group of people that I thought I knew out of the corner of my eye. Luckily we were at a red light. I asked them to roll down the window, stuck my head out of it, and screamed, "Leah! Julia! What are you guys doing here?" It was so exciting to see all of my Rotary friends who were doing the bustrip in Lyon! I only got to talk to them for two minutes, but it put me in a great mood for the rest of the day. As we were driving away, I saw Jess (NY) turn around and say, "Wait. Was that Madison? Madison! Hey!"
We went to a lovely restaurant for lunch. In France adults celebrate their children's birthdays as an excuse to reunite with friends and family and have a party of their own. Elise, Arthur (Elise's 12 year old brother), and I sat at the adult table. The meal was exquisite with about ten courses.
Since it was Easter as well, we had an Easter egg hunt. Here, they hid the chocolates directly and didn't bother with tacky plastic egg coverings. Since technically I still am a kid, I got to participate in the hunt! The French do not skimp on their chocolates, let me tell you! They hid great candy, including giant Ferrero Rocher eggs and Lindt bunny rabbits!
We finished eating at 17h00 when we went to the basilica at the top of the mountain to see a great view of the city! After that, we went to the ruins of an ancient theater where Elise and I sang Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" at the top of our lungs.
Then, to finish the night, we went to the grandparent's home to eat some more. I hung out downstairs with the children and we watched Raiponce (Tangled) in French.
Side note: The weather today was beautiful with a shining sun, slight heat, and baby blue skies!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Lyon
We took the train to Lyon this morning. At the trainstation we met up with Elise, who is actually in my grade at Saint Paul, and her family. The train unfortunately broke down on the tracks for twenty minutes, so we were late for lunch. There I met Marie, the Bultez's ten year old daughter. From watching Louise hug me so much, she almost immediately adopted me, too! We had giant US portions at the restaurant where we ate.
Afterwords we took a tour with a guide of vieux-Lyon. We began with the statue of Charled de Gaulle. Since the grande place is so large, the typical meeting point of the Lyonnais is under deGaulle's horse's tail.
We had to hurry after that to go to the church Saint Jean to look at the clock. It was the coolest cuckoo-clock in the history of intensely-cool cuckoo clocks. A sentinal walked around the tower, Mary turned toward Jesus, the Holy Spirit came down, God blessed everyone with the cross, and the rooster flapped its wings!
We then walked through the traboules. Traboules are open passage ways that cut through apartment buildings to get from one street to another. We finished our tour in the shop of a silk scarf maker. While everything that he made was beautiful (more or less), I am glad that I don't have to put up with the noise of his giant weaving machine.
We ate dinner in the Nord (return home!). I sat next to Elise. I'm so glad I met her because we get along really well, and she's so nice!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Chez les Bultez
I spent this afternoon in Lille with Andrea. At 7h30 I met up with the Bultez family from my Rotary club. They have invited me to spend the next week of my vacation with them. Since it was close to dinner time, we ate at a fish restaruant before heading to their home in Lompret, a town next to Lille.
Upon arriving at the house, Louise, their seven year old daughter took it upon herself to give me a tour of the house. She is so cute! When she showed me the room in which I would sleep, I bumped my head on the ceiling (it went down in a diagonal). She started cracking up, and from then on, she adored me. We played for a half hour in her room, and it was like she had known me for years!
Right before going to bed, she showed me her Cat in the Hat book, and I translated it for her as a bedtime story. I hesitated a few times and made up words (If Dr. Seuss can do it, why can't I?) but I think I did a darn good job with my on-the-spot interpretation!
Upon arriving at the house, Louise, their seven year old daughter took it upon herself to give me a tour of the house. She is so cute! When she showed me the room in which I would sleep, I bumped my head on the ceiling (it went down in a diagonal). She started cracking up, and from then on, she adored me. We played for a half hour in her room, and it was like she had known me for years!
Right before going to bed, she showed me her Cat in the Hat book, and I translated it for her as a bedtime story. I hesitated a few times and made up words (If Dr. Seuss can do it, why can't I?) but I think I did a darn good job with my on-the-spot interpretation!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
When Life Gives You Lemons...Dye Your Hair
I spent a few hours this afternoon bathing in the sun. I decided not to take Deby for a walk, even though she loves it, because I'm still pouting about the Ortie incident from yesterday. My foot now has plenty of red bumps everywhere. It's digusting.
Around 16h00 Andrea came outside, and we decided to lemon-juice our hair. I looked up how to do it online, but we ended up adding a whole mess of junk in it. It reminded me of making "perfume" with Taylor, my younger brother, when we were little.
In the first batch, we put in lemon juice, a bit of lemon pulp, honey, and citrus olive oil. I drenched my hair in it. When it dried, it stuck out in all different directions. I felt like the bride of Frankenstein, and Andrea commented that it looked like we had dreadlocks. Andrea made the second batch with the leftover lemon juice, pressed oranges (I don't know if that did anything), honey, citrus olive oil, and a capful of oxygenized water (I later realized that this is hydrogen peroxided-I then freaked out because I don't want to look trampy-blonde!).
After dinner, we mashed up an avocado, put in a natural yogurt, and added a few tablespoons of honey, and then slapped that onto our faces. We looked lovely, and if I had not added the pound of conditioner to my hair earlier, I would have definitely passed for Frankenstein then!
Around 16h00 Andrea came outside, and we decided to lemon-juice our hair. I looked up how to do it online, but we ended up adding a whole mess of junk in it. It reminded me of making "perfume" with Taylor, my younger brother, when we were little.
In the first batch, we put in lemon juice, a bit of lemon pulp, honey, and citrus olive oil. I drenched my hair in it. When it dried, it stuck out in all different directions. I felt like the bride of Frankenstein, and Andrea commented that it looked like we had dreadlocks. Andrea made the second batch with the leftover lemon juice, pressed oranges (I don't know if that did anything), honey, citrus olive oil, and a capful of oxygenized water (I later realized that this is hydrogen peroxided-I then freaked out because I don't want to look trampy-blonde!).
After dinner, we mashed up an avocado, put in a natural yogurt, and added a few tablespoons of honey, and then slapped that onto our faces. We looked lovely, and if I had not added the pound of conditioner to my hair earlier, I would have definitely passed for Frankenstein then!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Thwarting The Ortie....Or Not
I took Deby on another walk this afternoon. I still let her lead the way, but I made her turn a few more times, so that we took a more scenic route than yesterday. She led me through a pasture behind somebody's house, which I wasn't too happy about, so I led her through a field that was far away from everyone else. I wanted to use the field as a cut-through, but when we got to the opposite side, I saw that there was a fence blocking our way, so we had to turn back from where we came.
Today, for the first time in my entire life, I wore tennis shoes without socks. I think the French are getting to me, although it that look is equally as unfashionable as with socks, in my opinion. Anyways, because I wasn't wearing socks, I noticed immediately that my foot had brushed Ortie. I had no clue what ortie was before coming to France, but when I returned home this afternoon, and explained to Catherine, she told me that it's apparently very good for the circulation. I personaly don't care about my circulation. I do know that as soon as my foot brushed that ortie stuff, it felt like I had stepped through poison-filled needles. When I bent down to pick out the needles, nothing was there! I rubbed my foot to make the pain go away, and I slowly saw the top of my foot begin to get red. It soon developped twenty or so white bumps among the redness.
It's just my luck that as soon as I go awhile without getting sick, I step in Ortie.
Today, for the first time in my entire life, I wore tennis shoes without socks. I think the French are getting to me, although it that look is equally as unfashionable as with socks, in my opinion. Anyways, because I wasn't wearing socks, I noticed immediately that my foot had brushed Ortie. I had no clue what ortie was before coming to France, but when I returned home this afternoon, and explained to Catherine, she told me that it's apparently very good for the circulation. I personaly don't care about my circulation. I do know that as soon as my foot brushed that ortie stuff, it felt like I had stepped through poison-filled needles. When I bent down to pick out the needles, nothing was there! I rubbed my foot to make the pain go away, and I slowly saw the top of my foot begin to get red. It soon developped twenty or so white bumps among the redness.
It's just my luck that as soon as I go awhile without getting sick, I step in Ortie.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Walking Aimlessly in a Roundabout Manner
I took Deby, the Helou's dog, for a walk today. I figured that that would be fine for my leg (see torn hamstring) since Deby seems like a calm enough dog, and I wouldn't be running, anyways. I quickly learned that she is a puller. Since, I don't really know my way around Vimy that well (it was too cold and wet when I was here last), I decided to let Deby lead the way, and I would follow. We knocked over a trashcan along the way, but since I'm an exchange student, I don't get embarassed that easily anymore, even though plenty of people saw it and laughed at me.
Since I let Deby lead, she took me to heaven-knows-where, and I was completely lost. I still trusted her, and in the end, I realized that we had made a complete circle! I'm sure she had probably gone on that walk before, but if not, I'm seriously impressed!
Since I let Deby lead, she took me to heaven-knows-where, and I was completely lost. I still trusted her, and in the end, I realized that we had made a complete circle! I'm sure she had probably gone on that walk before, but if not, I'm seriously impressed!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Aldi in Germany
We woke up this morning and went to Germany. Just like that we crossed a bridge, and in five minutes we were there. I love Europe! We didn't stay long, though, because we needed to get back to Vimy, but we walked around in a park for about fifteen minutes. We probably just drove through a nice neighborhood, but everything was immaculate! The houses also looked more American-style and made me think of Wisteria Lane. No, I have never seen Desperate Housewives, it's just that one of the houses was covered in wisteria. After that we went to Aldi's. We did not need to do any shopping, even though prices in Germany are apparently one third of what they are in France, but since the Helous own a E.Leclerc, they wanted to watch how efficient the cashiers were. Europeans don't like self check-out (my favorite part of grocery shopping) because they think that it puts people out of jobs.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
L'Enterrement D'un Lézard
Andrea and I probably went to bed last night around 10h30. We stayed up talking until after one in the morning! Of course, the lights were out since we were supposed to be falling asleep. Around midnight we heard the creepiest rasping whisper/scratching noise from the corner of the room! Yes, teenagers still get freaked out by weird noises. Thankfully, it did not manifest again after we turned on the lights.
This morning we all went to church. Since it was Palm Sunday, I expected there to be palm fronds, but this church handed out leaves from evergreen trees. I'm still not sure what to do with mine, but I'm afraid to throw it away for fear of offending someone.
We had a cookout in the backyard afterwords. They invited two other families who both had really cute kids. Nina, who looked about four, came up to me at one point and told me to follow her. When I did, she showed me a dead lizard. Lovely. Not knowing really how to handle the situation, so I suggested we bury it. We covered it with dirt, leaves, and a rock headstone. Andrea almost died of laughter (no pun intended) when we told her about it.
In the afternoon we took a tour of "la Vieille France". Sun makes everything prettier! For the walk back to the car, Andrea and I bounced Nina and swung arms. I ended up carrying her on
my shoulders.
Tonight we played a game called Time's Out. We had cards with people's names, and we had to make everyone else guess the name by using a play on words or describing them. I surprisingly knew who many of the people were. Unfortunately, my main pronunciation problems in France arise when attempting to say an English name with a French accent.
This morning we all went to church. Since it was Palm Sunday, I expected there to be palm fronds, but this church handed out leaves from evergreen trees. I'm still not sure what to do with mine, but I'm afraid to throw it away for fear of offending someone.
We had a cookout in the backyard afterwords. They invited two other families who both had really cute kids. Nina, who looked about four, came up to me at one point and told me to follow her. When I did, she showed me a dead lizard. Lovely. Not knowing really how to handle the situation, so I suggested we bury it. We covered it with dirt, leaves, and a rock headstone. Andrea almost died of laughter (no pun intended) when we told her about it.
In the afternoon we took a tour of "la Vieille France". Sun makes everything prettier! For the walk back to the car, Andrea and I bounced Nina and swung arms. I ended up carrying her on
my shoulders.
Tonight we played a game called Time's Out. We had cards with people's names, and we had to make everyone else guess the name by using a play on words or describing them. I surprisingly knew who many of the people were. Unfortunately, my main pronunciation problems in France arise when attempting to say an English name with a French accent.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Strasbourg
I arrived at the Helou's (2nd Host Family) last night because the Adamski's are going to Tully, NY to visit their son, Pierre-Alexandre. I am officially on Spring Break! We woke up early this morning to get on the road to go to Strasbourg. The MapQuest estimated travel time is about five hours. Going 140 km/h (87mi/h) the entire way, we pretty much cut that down into three and a half hours.
We met Didier and Andrea in their sunny yellow house, and went out for lunch. I split my dish with Andrea(my host sister), and I'm so glad I did. It was just ok, what they gave me. I expected some sort of potato dish with salmon, but ended up with thick, slug shaped pasta, a teensie bit of salmon, and a kilo of a cream sauce that was not necessarily the best I've had in France.
Now it's time for the politically incorrect joke of the day (in French, of course): Les petits japonais ne vont plus à l'école. Pourquoi? Parce-qu'ils sèchent! (It's a play on words if you just tried to translate that.)
This evening we took a tour of Strasbourg by car. I'm not really sure of everything I saw since I had my window open most of the time and couldn't hear. I do know that we passed by the European Union parliament building, and I learned that it is only used three days per month!
We met Didier and Andrea in their sunny yellow house, and went out for lunch. I split my dish with Andrea(my host sister), and I'm so glad I did. It was just ok, what they gave me. I expected some sort of potato dish with salmon, but ended up with thick, slug shaped pasta, a teensie bit of salmon, and a kilo of a cream sauce that was not necessarily the best I've had in France.
Now it's time for the politically incorrect joke of the day (in French, of course): Les petits japonais ne vont plus à l'école. Pourquoi? Parce-qu'ils sèchent! (It's a play on words if you just tried to translate that.)
This evening we took a tour of Strasbourg by car. I'm not really sure of everything I saw since I had my window open most of the time and couldn't hear. I do know that we passed by the European Union parliament building, and I learned that it is only used three days per month!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Une Déchirure Musculaire
I went into school this morning eventhough Pascaline said I could stay at home. Consequently, Marie made fun of me for limping like an old lady. After lunch Pascaline picked me up from school and took me to the doctor. Surprise and disappointment: many French homes do not include sinks in the toilets. I did not expect this to be the case in the doctor's office, but when I went to wash my hands, I could not even find hand sanitizer!
According to the doctor, I tore a muscle. I now have to take Advil, an anti-inflammatory, a decontractor, and rub a lotion on my thigh.
I miss walking and skipping!
According to the doctor, I tore a muscle. I now have to take Advil, an anti-inflammatory, a decontractor, and rub a lotion on my thigh.
I miss walking and skipping!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Craqué
I went to school at noon today to go over the acro-gym performance for this afternoon. We went over it a few times, and Cloé and Florine finally figured out how to descend and get me out of my split in the air without me landing on my head (remember that?). Now, they kneel back down, and I more or less slide down into a split on the floor. After English we discovered that we still had one figure to add. We started freaking out, but we managed to squeeze it in at the end.
Mr. Meurice told us we had six minutes left to rehearse. We went on the main mat/stage to practice with the entire space. Our run through went really well until the split. Going up was iffy because half way into the lift, Cloé announced that she didn't have a good hold on me and my foot almost slipped off her shoulder. The rest went fine until the descent. I have no idea what happened, but all of a sudden we all heard, even over the music and noise of the gym, a nasty knuckle cracking sound that came from my upper thigh. I was so bummed not to be able to perform, especially getting injured three minutes beforehand! I did still wow everyone with my wicked Pledge of Allegiance, but I couldn't even dance the salsa!
Mr. Meurice told us we had six minutes left to rehearse. We went on the main mat/stage to practice with the entire space. Our run through went really well until the split. Going up was iffy because half way into the lift, Cloé announced that she didn't have a good hold on me and my foot almost slipped off her shoulder. The rest went fine until the descent. I have no idea what happened, but all of a sudden we all heard, even over the music and noise of the gym, a nasty knuckle cracking sound that came from my upper thigh. I was so bummed not to be able to perform, especially getting injured three minutes beforehand! I did still wow everyone with my wicked Pledge of Allegiance, but I couldn't even dance the salsa!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Medieval-schmeval
Random event of the day: my French teacher ran out of the classroom bawling for no apparent reason. I really wanted to give her a hug when she came back, but then I realized that hugs aren't very "French".
This afternoon after Italian, I stayed until five to go over the accro-gym presentation with my group that we're going to put on tomorrow. Our project is great! The theme is 'Around The World' and each person represents a country. Camille is the explorer, Florine is the Indian, Cloé is Japanese, Damien is Egyptian, Valentin is American, and I'm Spanish. Pretty much all we did this afternoon was to figure out what transitions we needed to add in between the time when we did our pyramids. It's pretty cool because we're doing meditation, Kung-Fu Fighting, mummy rolling, basketball, I'm saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and we finish with salsa and a closing.
Tonight I went to a Rotary meeting that combined the Lens-Lievin and Lens-Henin Beaumont clubs. The theme was Medieval, but I totally didn't understand that because all I saw were creepy people dressed up in masks and walking on stilts. They did breathe fire, though, so that was neat.
This afternoon after Italian, I stayed until five to go over the accro-gym presentation with my group that we're going to put on tomorrow. Our project is great! The theme is 'Around The World' and each person represents a country. Camille is the explorer, Florine is the Indian, Cloé is Japanese, Damien is Egyptian, Valentin is American, and I'm Spanish. Pretty much all we did this afternoon was to figure out what transitions we needed to add in between the time when we did our pyramids. It's pretty cool because we're doing meditation, Kung-Fu Fighting, mummy rolling, basketball, I'm saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and we finish with salsa and a closing.
Tonight I went to a Rotary meeting that combined the Lens-Lievin and Lens-Henin Beaumont clubs. The theme was Medieval, but I totally didn't understand that because all I saw were creepy people dressed up in masks and walking on stilts. They did breathe fire, though, so that was neat.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Proximity is a Plus
Today I walked home from school! That's one of my favorite things about this new house! On the way home, I even stopped into a pet shop for a few minutes en route and had my fingers licked by puppies until they turned pruney! My hands smelled terrible afterwords, but oh well. When I arrived at the house, I turned right back around and went shopping in the Auchan shopping complex. Pascaline was in the mood to buy me something, so she got me an umbrella (the third one's a charm, I hope), adorable button earrings, and a pretty necklas. My host sister, Emilie, gave me a collage that she had made for me. How cute!
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Last "Changement de Famille"
Today was my last day chez Les Ghysels. I'm always sad to change! I really loved this past host family! It was really sweet, too, when I left because they got me a scarf, a necklas, a lotion, and Coco Mademoiselle perfume! The French love their perfumes, and I love that the French love their perfumes!
I do like my new host family, despite my reluctance to change. Pascaline and Jean-Michel seem nice, and I'm sure that eight year-old Emilie will be an adorable ball of fun! I'm back to a boy's room since Pierre-Alexandre, their son is in Tully, NY in Michael's sponsor club. The house is nice. I'm not really sure if I think it's large or not on the French scale, but it is very open, airy, and (the best part) sunny!
I do like my new host family, despite my reluctance to change. Pascaline and Jean-Michel seem nice, and I'm sure that eight year-old Emilie will be an adorable ball of fun! I'm back to a boy's room since Pierre-Alexandre, their son is in Tully, NY in Michael's sponsor club. The house is nice. I'm not really sure if I think it's large or not on the French scale, but it is very open, airy, and (the best part) sunny!
Rebellion by A French Catholic Schoolgirl
So this morning Pierre and I got to the bus stop, and about two minutes later Pierre turned to me and said, "Ok, Madison, I haven't studied for the English quiz we have next, so let's just 'miss' the bus, ok?" Now, I always get super nervous in this type of situation, but I said fine anyways so as not to be a raincloud. I'm sure it was a good host brother bonding moment, too. We waited for the bus to pass for about ten minutes, but, ironically, it didn't pass at all! So, with no need to fib, we returned to the house. Pierre is still a pretty honest guy, so he called his mom to tell her what had happened. He didn't expect it, but she came hime to drive us to school. We still had a half hour of English that we didn't want to attend, so we hung out on a bench outside of school and waited for class to end.
I feel like such a rebel! Don't worry, though, because piercings, leather jackets, motorcycles, and tattoos still scare me!
I feel like such a rebel! Don't worry, though, because piercings, leather jackets, motorcycles, and tattoos still scare me!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Paris-Roubaix
This morning around noon we all hopped in the car to visit Candide, Bertrand, the butchers, and their kids Rufine and Augustin. Like most house calls, this was a six hour sit down dinner. The difference was that today we had dinner and a show, for the bike race from Paris to Roubaix (near Lille) passed right in front of their home!
Of course, since Candide and Bertrand are butchers, the food was excellent! We started with an assortment of hors d'oeuvres including a ball of what reminded me of hushpuppies, followed with salmon starters. For the main meal we dined on Parmesan potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, and pigeon in the most delicious sauce! We only had had about three bites when the cyclists began to turn the curb, so we left our food standing and threw most of it away when we came back to the table (not by my suggestion).
Of course, since Candide and Bertrand are butchers, the food was excellent! We started with an assortment of hors d'oeuvres including a ball of what reminded me of hushpuppies, followed with salmon starters. For the main meal we dined on Parmesan potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, and pigeon in the most delicious sauce! We only had had about three bites when the cyclists began to turn the curb, so we left our food standing and threw most of it away when we came back to the table (not by my suggestion).
Saturday, April 9, 2011
I've Never Been So Happy About A Sunburn!
Today was another beautiful day! This morning weeks some girlie shopping at the market in Touquet. I wasn't planning on buying anything, but Nadine bought me the cutest beige ballet flats! I love them! The great thing about beige is that I can wear it with all of my clothes that I cannot wear with black. (It's too early to wear white.) The French do not have the "no white after Labor Day and before Easter" rule. I'm sure this is because their Labor Day is May first. (Their Easter is the same, in case you had a brain fart.). Nevertheless, it has been engrained in me never to wear white before Easter, so to sum up this mini-tangent, I'm probably a little too excited about my new shoes!
After the market and lunch, we went to the beach. Since the Touquet and Stella are literally at the tippy top of the point of northern France, it was still too cold to get in the water. I did have a wonderful time just laying in the sun. At one point Mathilde got bored and tried to bury me (in my clothes) with sand. She succeded in immersing my jeaned legs, but that's about it. There was so much sun that I now have a slight sunburn! I'm so glad I can finally start making up for the rays I missed all winter long!
Before we left we took a walk along a nature trail, but we had to leave, sadly.
After the market and lunch, we went to the beach. Since the Touquet and Stella are literally at the tippy top of the point of northern France, it was still too cold to get in the water. I did have a wonderful time just laying in the sun. At one point Mathilde got bored and tried to bury me (in my clothes) with sand. She succeded in immersing my jeaned legs, but that's about it. There was so much sun that I now have a slight sunburn! I'm so glad I can finally start making up for the rays I missed all winter long!
Before we left we took a walk along a nature trail, but we had to leave, sadly.
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