Sunday, April 15, 2012

THE END : : two years late and unfinished : :

Dimanche:

We spent the morning of Sunday getting ready and preparing for Marine's singing concert that she had been invited to do with Eloise (the girl who came first in the competition Marine did at Guise). We all gathered in the office before our showers and went through Marine's songs. She couldn't do one of them as the version her dad had downloaded for her was a dodgy karaoke one with that weird flute-sounding backing...We also went through her posture (hehe, it really is horrible!) and her breathing.

After our showers, Marine realised just how many texts she still had to revise for her French BAC and just how little time she had left...then there was the added factor of how little she actually knew the songs she was going to perform in a few short hours...

So, despite wanting to get out of it as it was really stressing her out, we ended up hopping in the car after lunch and driving to the train station where we met up with Eloise's family before following their car to an apartment block a few places down.

The day started out quite nicely, though, if anything a little chilly...It wasn't until Marine and Eloise started their sound checks that it started to rain...didn't really help that the concert was to be held outside...hm...

The rain was pretty much on and off – it was sunny during to Eloise's first songs, but started up again in her last one for the first part, which meant that Marine sang on the sheltered footpath for her first two. The sun came out for l'Aigle Noir, which meant that she was able to really connect with the small crowd, she even stroked one woman's cheek to go with the lyrics :).

Marine got an “encore” for l'Aigle Noir at the end ;).

During the second part after juice and cakes had been served, a woman from Tibet wanted to sing some typically Tibetan songs – which she did :). She didn't speak much French or English so I went up to her and spoke a little mixture of both – although I must be honest, the French was a little better :).

She had noticed that I had filmed all of her songs, so she made me show her and then got me to delete one that she believed wasn't truly Tibetan. I think it might have had something to do with the fact that she was a well-known Tibetan singer :). (She seemed to really like us as she got pictures taken with us at the end :D).

When Eloise, Aurore, Marine and I had returned from the car (where we talked before the Tibetan lady sang), we sat down and danced around a bit (me on Marine's lap, haha, I think I hurt her a bit :O)...and then, it was a MIRACLE! The sun came out! WHOO! Hehe, we were happy – so Marine and I went and danced in the centre between all the apartments – Aurore followed.

Lundi:

Monday was spent mostly getting ready for my family to come. Sandrine had gotten up extra early and prepared all the appetisers (tuna cake etc) for that night.

I spent my morning preparing myself mentally, and then, when Marine was somewhere, Sandrine at work, and Aurore at school, I took to cleaning my room up a bit (after Aurore had made a massive mess dancing around COMPLETELY naked in my bedroom :O). I put on some music and took to dancing around my bedroom, folding dooners and trying to find some reception so I could text my mum to ask where she was.

The reception side of things was quite disastrous...Even when everyone was home (except my host-dad who was still on the train, returning home from Paris), I still didn't have any :S. Sandrine and Aurore even took me outside to look for some. It was all rather strange as I had even placed my phone in between Marine's and Sandrine's, which both had reception...:S.

Sandrine ended up calling the hotel we thought they were staying at to ask if they had arrived. The woman on the other end told us that they were full and weren't expecting my family as they had not confirmed their room reservations :S. Well, you could imagine, this sent my host-mum into full-on stress mode.

So, she let me call my mum with the home-phone. At first she didn't reply (this made us worry a bit), and then my step-dad...no response. The second time, however, we did get onto my mum. She told me that she was driving past Cora and that there had been a hold up at the airport and they had to wait two hours to rent the car. Annnnd, that they were staying at a DIFFERENT hotel. Marine and I were quite relieved...although when we told my host-mum she just kept putting on her worried face and saying, “well, I hope!”...I don't think it would have taken any number of, “no, it's sure!”'s from Marine and I to destress her :S.

Mammie Blanche and Didier arrived at 7.00pm. After talking for a while, Didier took me out to the boot of his car where he had a massive box of French music CDs that he wanted me to choose one from (I had promised him I would take one before I left...so he took his whole collection to me to make sure ;) haha).

I ended up choosing the CD with 7500 French songs on it and he threw in a French Party mix too, hehe.

At 8.00pm, when my mum told me they would arrive, Marine, Aurore and I ran down the road to wait for my parents. We got excited with every car...for some reason there seemed to be A LOT more cars than usual :S.

After waiting for about 10 minutes, we started singing to the music on Marine's phone and dancing in the middle of the road with the poppies that were growing around us :). Hehe...what's more, we were in slippers ;) what a glorious sight ;) haha. Aurore and I even raced in them...with neither of us winning as our slippers got in our way :S.

They ended up being in the least likely car – a massive silver van...At first we raced it down the road a bit...then my mum told us all to hop in.

When I arrived at the window next to her, she held out her arms and said, “aw! She's real!”...I guess it must have been pretty strange for her to see her daughter grow up and change in pictures, eh?

It was so strange to hear English again! And even more so, trying to speak it! :S I just kept answering in French! Haha...I didn't even realise that I was doing it.

After giving everyone a tour of the house (and my step-dad asking me where “this fella'” lived...yes, Graeme...that was my HOST-dad you were talking about :P that was a little embarrassing...), we sat down to appetisers. Dinner was spent trying to get used to the English language a bit and my host-dad saying that I was pretty hypocritical when I said that my mum spoke English fast :S hehe, and Aurore and my sister trying to communicate with Aurore's limited English and my sister's non-existent French...
Both Marine and Aurore sang during dinner and my parents got them to sing a duet too :) it was the first time I had ever heard them sing together and it was quite magical! :)

It was rather funny seeing my family stuffed with food when I found the meal quite light...haha, just goes to show how much I've been eating in France, eh? Hehe – I even out-ate my sister ;)

Oh and everyone really loved my host-mum's flan! :D My favourite dessert – and the only one that I believe is worth going back for seconds for :)...other than my host-dad's tirimisu :D.

That night Aurore didn't slept with Binny...AHAHA! We had warned her during dinner to be scared...but I don't think she fully understood ;).

Mardi:

My mum and step-dad arrived at 11 am to take Binny and I into Soissons so that I could show them around a bit.

So after tea and biscuits (those one's that are like a shortbread with melted chocolate in the middle :D) we were on our way :D.

First we visited the cathedral...they were all rather blown way by it and town in general which I didn't really get – I mean, I knew it was beautiful but it was home too and I didn't really appreciate the tourism side that they all brought to it :S. Didn't really want to end my exchange as a tourist, if you get what I mean...

We ate lunch at a pasta bar and I tried to explain to everyone what I had learned...although I found it a lot harder than I thought, especially as my lessons were so simple...perhaps it was just due to the fact that they were more personal and I didn't really see my experience in France as just another life lesson, but something that was truly close to my heart – I don't think they understood that, as it was 1/32 of my life to them, right? It made me really want to show Soissons to my dad as he seems to always be more tuned into the hearty stuff :).

When we arrived home, Natacha and Marine were at the dining table and Natacha was testing Marine on her French. After introducing Binny to Natacha, we all waited for Clement to arrive as we were going to dress him up as a girl, hehe, he was the one who agreed to it! :P

While we waited, we decided to have something to eat. I gave Binny nearly EVERY biscuit or cake in the pantry – my reasoning? She had to taste 5 months worth of food in three days ;) hehe. While she ate, I kept my rose close to my nose :) taking in its sweet scent :) too bad I can't time it back to Australia with me : (.

Aurore got really excited when he finally arrived – running in and out of the house just to laugh and giggle...haha, it was rather funny :)

Apparently he had gotten lost because he couldn't remember where Marine lived so he had ridden around Vauxrezis quite a bit on his scooter before arriving...but he made it in the end! :D

We took him upstairs and got to work...first it was the foundation – which was Sandrine's, so it was REALLY orange! :O hehe, although I diluted it a bit with moisturiser.

Marine and I then did one eye each, and one lip each :). Once the make-up was done, we popped on Aurore's witch wig and cut a fringe :)...then went on Marine's red dress, fur collar jacket, bra (with stuffing) and flats...Binny even went ahead and painted his nails red :D.

We wanted him to go out in the street so that we could convince people that Marine had won a scholarship to go to Australia for disguise, hehe. That way she could get people to sponsor her.

He didn't end up going, so Marine and Aurore stole his belongings, and he stole Marine's bed...so they were even ;). I then helped him get his stuff back because he promised me that he would speak English if he didn't go out in the street.

After a while, I helped him remove his makeup (haha, it was a tad difficult with all that foundation!), and we all went downstairs and ate marble cake with yoghurt.

I continued smelling that rose while they ate and looked at pictures – haha, that rose was the best smelling rose I've ever smelt! :)

Once Clement had left on his scooter – looking masculine once again ;) - Marine and I got ready for the concert.

We left after dinner – we arrived 20 minutes later than the time that I had told mum and Graeme to be there...So we were a bit confused when they weren't there :S.

We waited and waited and waited. We met up with Alexis and playing a game with my sister where we asked her whatever question in French that we wanted and she had to reply “oui” or “non”, even though she didn't understand. She seems to be amazingly good at this game – answering correctly each time.

We went around in a circle and when it got to Alexis, who was before me, he asked her if she liked her sister (aka me :S) and she said, “non”. We had a good laugh about that and I felt like killing him :P haha, not really.

So, it was my turn and I asked her if she liked Alexis. Alexis then told me that I couldn't say his name as it was too obvious.

So, I tried asking if she like the guy next to me – this time pointing to him. He then laughed and said it didn't work because I pointed to him.

So, I turned my back to him and asked her if she like the guy behind me – this time chucking me thumb back at him. Again, he laughed at me...So...I tried one last time, this time getting it right :D...She answered, “oui?”...HMPH!

Then we got Binny to repeat the phrase we had taught her earlier and got her to say to Clement when he arrived, telling her that it was a form of politeness in France ;) hehe.

“Tous les mecs sont cons” - aka, “all men are d***heads” hehe

Then we got her to say, “tous les mecs sont des couchons!” - aka, “all men are pigs”...Alexis liked it...hehe despite her accents, we all understood :).

Alexis and I had a good laugh at Aurore too when she sand “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga in, I don't know which language! Haha, t'was funny! :D

When it got to the point where mum and Graeme were 50 minutes late, Natacha let me borrow her phone. I called mum and asked her where they were – apparently they had arrived one our before the concert (they thought it was be better to be early, pfft!) and the man at the door told them what time it started, so they decided to go and have dinner.

They ended up arrived just as the concert started :S...close call – I had to run over to the car and get them to run into the building with me.

Boys Don't Cry was second...and was a disaster! The first time we sang it, the microphones weren't working (there were only three as well, so I had to share with Alexis) so Karine jumped on stage and started singing into mine and Alexis' microphone...So we started again, and the second time, Marine and Natacha forgot the tune, so it ended up being Alexis and I who couldn't hear ourselves anyway.

During the break, Marine and I asked Karine whether my mum could sing “The Rose” with Marine at the end...my host-dad wasn't too happy about the timing as apparently the concert would finish late and he had work the next day...so we had to go and ask again, but this time if they could sing at the beginning of the second part...she said “oui” :D.

While mum and Marine printed off the lyrics and sang the song through a few times, Alexis joined me to watch them after he had talked a bit in English to my host-dad. He explained what he was doing in English and then freaked out, telling me he had said whatever words came to his head. I told him it was fine and that what he had said to me in English was 100% perfect :).

We moved over the to brochure shelf and picked out a few that Aurore needed ;) hehe. Aurore then pointed to one with a naked woman on the front and started giggling before full on laughing and shouting, “IT'S BECKY!!!!”. Alexis and I exchanged some worried looks and backed away, haha. Then laughed as she checked out some other brochures that we hadn't pointed out to her on alcohol and took them! Hehe.

After Karine had sang two songs, she invited Marine and mum onto the stage to sing. They sang without music and sang rather well.

Sandrine had taken Alexis' seat so that she could speak English with my mum so he had to sit in between my sister and I, across from Marine. We all had some good fun, with Marine imitating a drummer and me accidentally screaming, “ONZE!” (eleven) into Alexis' ear because the music was too loud...whoops, I think I did some damage there :S hehe.

We then went outside to get some air. We walked up the street and Marine teased Aurore about what she had done Sunday night in my bedroom – this made her cry so Marine got down on her hands and knees in the middle of the road and promised us that she would never repeat what she told us haha.

Alexis tried to get me sing too as he really wanted to hear me...I said no...then he begged me to and told me that he would sing with me – haha, not falling for that one! So I said no again – hehe, yes I am a nice person ;).

We continued talking about his name in America and how it's a girls' name how that's the reason he has a 'stage name', Victory...

Natacha and Marine, who were ahead of us decided to ring a doorbell and run for it – a common French pass time, as I learnt...Alexis and I misunderstood and thought that Natacha said that there was a person coming (she actually said that there WASN'T a person coming :S) so we raced around the corning, with screaming, “aaah, my pants!” and trying to pull them up at the same time :S.

When we arrived around the corner, we saw mum and Graeme waiting with Marine's parents to take us all home...hehe. Alexis and I thought that maybe that man had stopped the others to give them a good talking as they were certainly taking their time running away from that building! Haha. But instead they just made their way casually around the corner and informed us that there was no need to sprint...whoops? :D

Mecredi:

– family in Vauxrezis
– touring around – didn't get to go into the woods
– too hot
– lady offered water
– ate lunch with everyone
– Graeme was impatient to leave – host mum showed mum around the garden
– started packing
– Mammie called to say goodbye – got emotional
– Natacha and Deborah came over
– went into town with everyone – host-mum dropped Natacha, Marine and I off first, at the Auto-Ecole – worried about wearing the flats that gave me blisters
– Marine had a lot more lessons to go than she thought and probably wouldn't have them done by the time she leaves for Australia
– waited for Deborah, Aurore and Binny to be dropped off
– Walked to Pimpkie to try and use voucher – useless, ended up going through all the earrings and jewellery and choosing three pairs of earrings
– walked to singing
– Alexis arrived later and I waited for parents outside
– Mustang Sally first to rehearse, then Boys Don't Cry – before we started, Alexis pointed out that there were FOUR microphones which meant that he should hear me and begged me to sing loud enough
– while we were waiting to sing, Alexis wrote a message for me to send to Sam on the back of the lyrics of Boys Don't Cry – gave me email address and password (on another piece of paper in case Aurore found it) so I could go onto his Facebook account as he was moving house and didn't have any internet
– Sang – couldn't hear anyone – band too loud
– left mum and Graeme inside, and went outside (Karine tried to get Alexis to sing higher)
– Alexis whispered to me in English that we were going to dump Aurore in the rubbish bin (she slapped him in the face) – wasn't any space, so we counted to three and ran instead – didn't work, Aurore screamed and ran with us – Alexis got stuck with her because he ran into a bush and there was a dead end so he ran in the other direction, then we pretended we were running away from Natacha and Binny because we had lost them
– went and found mum and Graeme waiting for all of us outside – Binny and Natacha lost...
– Found them (they were looking for us)
– Said goodbye to Deborah for the last time – lots of hugging – see you soon, to Alexis – and “not sure if this is our last goodbye” to Natacha
– All got in the car – Marine was left all alone in the middle row
– Went to Didier's – host-parents very late
– Aurore cried because she wanted to share a verrine with me and because I was leaving soon
– Didier gave parents his favourite book
– Friends of Didier gave me some haricots de Soissons that I never got to try
– went out for dinner
– Sandrine told me that my French was perfect and we talked to the waitress quite a bit before hearing, “Sandi! Let's get going!” from Graeme who was outside
– Aurore cried all night
– I got emotional and started crying, but happy-crying-ish when my host-dad didn't know if he would see me in the morning or get to say goodbye.
– Sent message for Alexis

Jeudi:
– got up at 6.20 am
– had breakfast with host-family
– host-dad had to get going early so I had a quick 5 minute goodbye :S
– went upstairs and mucked around a bit
– had a shower and then sent a thank you message to Alexis and replied to one from Natacha and Deborah too and sang to Queen songs
– went to say goodbye to Natacha
– still in her pjs
– started crying – took automatic photos of everyone with camera hanging off tree
– sang random songs together
– saw car driving around – had to go back
– walked arm in arm up to the house and got bags
– said second last goodbyes to host-mum and host-sisters
– held it together quite well, although I did start crying...it was only until I got into the car and my mum closed the door on my butt that they started to really come, but I had Daisy the rabbit.

The start of the finish...in so many ways...

Sunday, June 20, 2010

: : Une Rose Pour La Passion [[ ...et une rose pour les grand-mères ]] : :

: : Monday : :

Monday was a bit of a 'sickie' day as we might say in the land of Aus...My host-mum woke up feeling rather tired and ended up throwing up :S. Looks like all her business and lack of sleep caught up with her :S. She decided to take the day off work and Aurore too as Deborah was also sick (Sandrine was meant to drive them both to the bus-stop)...although we found out later on that this was due to an English test that neither of them wanted to do or thought that they were ready for :S haha.

Sooo, we had four for lunch - something that we weren't expecting (Sandrine had bought double serves of everything for the week as we were expecting it to just be Marine and I alone at lunch for the entire week).

After lunch, Marine began her revision for her BAC - well, not began, but continued with ;).

While she was doing so, I got her to help me pick out my top 10 photos for the Student Exchange Australia photography competition which I thought ended on the 15th of June (haha, turns out I stuffed up the month :S). Marine chose 13 which I later on sent to the photography expert, Alexiiiiis! He then told me which ones not to send.

Marine was a little nervous about going to code...Soooo, me being the wonderful person I am :D hehe, I decided to accompany her. So I got together my iPod and book. Although my iPod was out of battery and my earphones were no where to be found :S. They ended up being my Aurore's DS as she had mistaken them for Marine, and, unfortunatly broken them :S so only one of the ear buds works :S.

Code ended up going extremely well and she really didn't have the need for my company :) hehe. Although Jacki told her off a few times for talking to Maxime. And she had to lie to him when he asked how many mistakes she had made, "three" haha, nope...it was actually seven :O.

: : Tuesday : :

So, it was the 15th of June and Alexis had responded to my photo-email before he went to school. I was rather stressed as I thought it was the closing day of the competition.

I spent the morning attaching and reattaching my photos to emails to send to Student Exchange Australia as they kept being way too big to be sent. I even explained it all to my host-mum and left my computer on the kitchen table for after I my shower...Which resulted in even more Delivery Failed notifications :S. Whoo!

During lunch I had a bit of a breakthrough as they actually worked! hehe, I think Marine was a bit frightened by my instantaneous jumping in and out of my chair to check whether they had sent or not.

It wasn't until later on when Natacha popped by to say hello as she was back from her holidays, that I checked my emails and found three "Message Delivery Delayed" notifications! :O Three that replaced my emails which I THOUGHT had sent :S. They said that the delivery would be delayed until the 17th of June; I panicked as this was past the closing date. So while Marine and Natacha practiced, "Je te mentirai" for Friday, I sent a message to Student Exchange Australia via Facebook and put all my photos onto Photo Bucket too (hehe, yes, I really was quite desperate :O).

Ten or so minutes after I sent that message, June (another fellow exchangee) commented on my post telling me that in fact, it was the 15 of JULY...not June...hehe, yes, I felt rather idiotic, but amazingly relieved :D.

This was also the day of Marine's little "Code story" with her run in with a mother...let's just say mothers don't seem to like her all that much :O. So we both had a rather disastrous story to tell eachother when we were reunited after her code.

: : Wednesday : :

My host-mum was a little stressed Wednesday morning as one of her English students called up and made a last minute appointment :S. Although all passed well and the two ended up talking about hot-chocolate in the kitchen and how to pronounce it, hehe. While they were at it, I moved onto the rather emotional task of removing all my memories and souvenirs from the shelves surrounding my desk and putting them in box...:'(

After lunch, Marine went to her code. I chose to stay home when Aurore and my host-mum left to pick her up. Aurore was going to get her hair cut, "just like Becky!". Earlier that morning my host-mum had tried to show Aurore some haircuts that were similiar to mine but might suit her face better...but she just kept on yelling, "je veux couper mes cheveux comme Becky!" (I want to cut my hair like Becky!). So I tried to reason with her and told her that she would have to explain to the hairdresser what she wanted and that she couldn't just say that she wanted her hair cut like mine because I wouldn't be there...

At 3:30, Natacha popped by...I wasn't really expecting this as I was the only one home. We went upstairs into my room and I started to help her with "Boys Don't Cry".

Marine arrived home soon after and we sang the song all together. It was a little bit disastrous as neither of them could get the melodie that well :O hehe but it was good fun.

Natacha left and Marine and I were looking fowards to seeing the new "Becky" walk through those doors.

When we were in the bathroom getting ready to go to singing, Aurore entered! :O I caught a quick glimpse of her as she squealed and ran into the toilet, giggling.

The way the hairdresser had styled her hair was rather funny, hehe...but it was better after it was washed ;).

When we arrived at singing, we were 15 minutes early. We said hi to Alexis, who was already there and, for once when he asked me how I was I didn't say, "oui"...instead I answered, "...triste..JE VEUX PAS PARTIR!!!" (...sad...I don't want to leave!).

Because we still had a while to wait until we started with the group singing of "Boys Don't Cry", Alexis decided he would return his art magazines to the library (which was next door).

We had a little trouble finding where to return them...going down the stairs, to the childrens' section, then up two flights of stairs to the non-fiction section, then down the stairs again to get out...a lot of stairs :O.

On the way back to the Centre Culturel, Alexis stopped and gasped, telling us that we could take amazing photos at this abandoned building thing. I handing him my camera and he got Marine to stand in front of it as if she was on a deserted island. He then got me to join her and we both yelling, "OU SONT LES GENS?!?!?!" (WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE?!?!?!). Hehe, it was rather funny.

When we returned, we were 15 minutes late :O. Which turned out to be alright as the room was still locked we arrived outside the door.

Karine came to see our group first. I made a point to tell Marine that I was just there to help with the English pronounciation as I was rather afraid of what Karine would say if she knew I was trying to sing with the group again :S.

It turned out well, as she realised that I knew the lyrics and the melody (hehe, Marine and Natacha were rather catastropic!) and I told her, that yes, I knew the song well :). So she paired me up with Alexis and left Natacha and Marine together. We sang through one time in couples (Alexis/me, Natacha/Marine). I wasn't really used to the microphone so I shied away quite a bit, which resulted in Alexis trying to shove his microphone infront of me when I was least expecting it, and me, firmly closing my mouth...Then, Natacha and Marine joined in two, so I was faced with THREE microphones :S.

We had a bit of a break from the hot little room and loud music and Marine, Natacha, Alexis and I went to the art room and had a little poke around :) before returning to our singing duties.

That night was "La Nouvell Star"! The final! Between Francois and Luce. The whole family was going for Luce as Francois was all stuck up and...:S-ish. Marine and I took our computers downstairs to the dinner table so we could watch the final as Marine still hadn't reconstructed her computer from when she took the speakers for the party. We didn't end up really watching it that much and even left before the finish; although we both heard Luce win :) which we were rather happy about :D.

: : Thursday : :

Thurday morning, Marine got up early to go pass her Code...for the second time. We both thought it impossible for her to actually PASS as she kept making 6-8 mistakes at Code, in general (but telling her parents it was only 3-ish as you need to get less that 5 to pass...ahem).

I was to meet Marine in Soissons after her code, which meant that I had to catch the mini-bus. Marine had told her mum that I would have the change to pay the woman...when, in fact I only had two 20 euro bills...a bit much :S.

Before my host-mum dropped me off at the bus-stop, she received a message from Marine saying, "j'ai pas mon code...j'en ai marre". Which basically meant that she had not passed her code...:O...we were both really disappointed :S.

The woman didn't have any change for me :S. So I told her I was meeeting a friend in Soissons and maybe she would have some money...and if not, I would go and exchange some money.

I was rather proud of myself, doing all ths on my own :) hehe.

When we arrived at Soissons, neither the woman nor I could see Marine waiting for me, so she asked if she could drive me around to a shop so I could exchange some money and then pay her...Howeer, it was then that we both spotted Marine on the ground :). And she had the required two euros :).

When I first saw Marine and called her over, she screamed at me, "J'ai mon code! J'AI MON COOOODE!!!" (I have my code! - aka, she passed her code), I was rather confused at this stage as she had sent an SMS to her mum saying otherwise...Then I realised that she was joking. It was funny as Marine had called NZ to tell Henry that she had her code too and she had used all her credit, so she couldn't reply to her mum's worried calls and texts...haha, Sandrine ended up getting Mammie to call Marine...Marine filled her in on the surprise ;).

Marine and I walked around Soissons for a while before waiting for Sawdatou at the bus-stop, not sure whether or not she would come...turns out she didn't...so we proceded to go and eat Kababs. Marine's head was in the clouds when ordering and the man behind the counter and the whole queue had a good laugh, hehe.

After eating, we went looking in the shops...I had the 15 euro Pimpkie giftcard from Cindy in my bag and was ready to do some Pimpkie shopping; however, we didn't find anything :(. So instead I bought some tan brown shoes from MIM :).

We waited for Marine's mum outside my school where there were a lot of students stressing an waiting to do their BAC. :S

When my host-mum arrived, we were mid-photo-taking with the school and its sign.

We told her that Marine actually did have her Code in the car and she didn't believe us...HAHAHA!



: : Friday : :

Friday, I was in a bit of a misty mood as I was hit with an overwhelming wave of, "life-in-France = over". So up until lunch my mood was pretty solemn...

After lunch we heading to the bus-stop just outside the church in Vauxrezis. As we were walking there, we watched as our mini-bus passe us. We began to panic a bit as we thought that perhaps my host-mum ha given us the time of arrival and NOT the time of DEPART :O.

We quickened our pace and put on some motivational music as always. When we arrived, we were relieved to see the mini-bus still parked behind a school bus :).

The driver had gotten out of the vehical and was talking casually with the other bus driver. It turns out she was Marine's bus driver when she was younger and she commented on how much she had grown.

She dropped us off at the market place where we then walked on towards "Le Bureau" (The Office) - a bowling cafe - where we would be meeting everyone.

Marine and I were 15 mins or so early, so we took a seat and waited for everyone.

Cindy was the first to arrive...then Clement, with his new haircut (I gave him Aurore's massive pink sunnies which he wanted to borrow too :))...then Constance...then Kenvin (some random who invited himself and who we originally thought was just a passer-by)...then Yanis.

By this stage we realised that Sabrina was going to be late, so we entered the cafe and made our way up to the bowling area on the second floor.

Once Sabrina arrived, we paid for our shoes and game and got to it.

It started off horribly! The first four people (Cindy, Constance, Yanis and I) got 0s, and then after that 1s. Sabrina won in the end.



At the end were the goodbyes and when I ave Constance a great big hug, Yanis wanted one too - so he got one. We took a group photo at the end (with Sawdatou, as she had arrived 5 minutes before the end as she thought it was the last time she would see me).

After our goodbyes, Cindy, Sawdatou, Marine and I accompanied Clement to go and get his scooter. He looked rather funny strutting down the street, pink sunnies and scooter ;) haha. It was hilarious watching the looks he got! We all took a photo with him, haha.




Marine and I then caught the mini-bus back home where we got ready for the concert that night.

Marine sang to me in her bedroom while was getting ready to see if she was with the music. I got rather emotional and started to cry as I realised that this was the last time I would see her and all the others singing at those mini concerts that I love so much. After a chat in the bathroom we went back upstairs - where Aurore was still on MSN talking to her friend (she talked for her fr three or more hours...:O and even invited her to come to watch the concert - she and her dad said yes...)

Marine was tired and wanted to go in her street clothes which had holes in them :S. I covinced her otherwise...;). Oh and I got to wear my new shoes :) muahahahahah :D.

Natacha arrived later on to go over her songs with Marine while I packed dinner and te drinks for the family.

When we arrived we joined two tables and sorted out the ten chairs we needed; although people ended up stealing them so Aurore and I had to go on a wild chair hunt...we didn't find any...so we went next door and asked for some ;).

Aurore's friend never showed up which really upset Aurore - sadly, the family believed it was on purpose :S...so Alexis came a joined us at our table as there were two seats spare. When Marine was singing, Aurore started crying...I didn't realise until afterwards when Alexis tapped me on the shoulder and told me - so I took my adopted little sister out of the room and into the bathroom.

She told me that she was upset because she didn't want me to leave, so I held her in my arms and promised I would come back. I had a little trouble wording why Aurore was upset when Alexis came to check on us, as even I was starting to choke up...but I kept a straight face for quite some time, not wanting to give her a reason to be sad...however in the end I did end up cracking when Natacha and Marine joined us and we in a great big group hug.

Later on, Marine and Natacha had to sing...and they were really not in the mood...So Natac put on te brave face and said that they would sing for me. So I took my seat and watched on.

I managed to go pretty well throughout the song...but then at the end, Marine had to announce that the song was for me and pointed me out...Luckily I had a tissue handy :').

Once the concert was over, I went to put the many cans and cups in the bin. Natacha and Marine were already outside with Alexis (he didn't sing and was pretty gutted as his new microphone did't work and cost hime 400 euros!). He had even brought a constume and everything with him.

When Marine's parents joined us and this little 6 year old girl who Marine had made friends with, Alexis gave me the roses that were meant to be for his performance as a gift for my depart. There was a red one an a white one :). Sandrine got a little over excited and started saying in French AND English, "oooh, red. The colour of the passion!" which went on for a full five minutes...Alexis and I were quite shocked and laughed at her...I added that white was the rose for grandmothers too, so if she wanted to take his literally, I was a grandma who he was passionate about :P haha. But nah, we exchanged some pretty worrying looks, hehe. They smelt really really really good though :).

When we got home, I put the roses in a vase and Sandrine made me leave them in the dining room as it was more practical to change their water...although I wanted to take them to my room :(. Oh well...



That night, Aurore set up the mattress and dooners in my bedroom, where she spent the night as she wanted to spend as much time with me as possible before I leave, which is sweet. Annnnd, that means that the mattress is already prepared for when my sister comes to stay...

Saturday:


Monday, June 14, 2010

: : Soirée [[ du 12 juin 2010 ]] : :

: : Samedi : : Le jour de la fete...WHOO!

Saturday morning, Marine and picked out what we were going to wear for the party that night. I had nothing...as usual. I didn't really plan on bringing summer night clothing when it was negative eight degrees!

I tried on Marine's shorts...too big. Aurore's denim skirt...a little too big againa and it didn't really go with anything which I had (haha, doesn't really help that the washing machine's broken :S). So I put on my mum's black skirt, black singlet and black vest...although again, I was looked a bit weird...So I put on my black leggings instead.

Haha - I still wasn't all that happy so I put on my sparkly Pimpkie leopard print top :).

I was rather annoyed as I STILL couldn't wear my flats due to my massive blisters from the last time when we walked home...

After my shower, Marine, Aurore and I did the chores (while my host-parents were out shopping)...then Marine and I proceeded upstairs to try and find more people to come to the party...again...as there were quite a few people who cancelled at the last minute...So it turned out to be, Clement (from Portugese), Maxime (from Code), Yanis, Alexis (from singing), Chloe, Cindy, Sawdatou and Marine and I...

At 3.30pm, Marine, my host-mum and I made our way to Didier's to set up. We had three bags - one with food - one with plates/cups/napkins etc - and one with the sound system.



Cindy arrived not too long after and the three of us were taken to the supermarket to buy some quick last minute things before the three of us joined Didier in the kitchen where he was preparing dinner for the adults upstairs. He beheaded them and de-gutted them...which was rather digusting :S. Marine then wanted to have a shot at it...She went to cut off the head like Didier had showed her, but she cut it way too horizontally and ended up cutting it in half, where we could all see the half open mouth and everything :S.



The three of us left Didier to do the rest and the four of us (Aurore, Cindy, me and Marine) proceeded to the bathroom...which was rather small for all of us :O. I ended up changing my pants in the shower (I realised there was a hole in my leggings so I brought my black pants with me :)).

We did Cindy's makeup and straightened her hair :D and then walked to school where Sawdatou was meeting us. She told us she was already there, so we were a bit confused when she wasn't...so we continued down the street and found her waddling towards us...she was feeling a bit sick in the stomach : (.



When we got back to Didier's we made her a hot tea which she drank while she changed into her dress and did her makeup.

The now five of us went downstairs and cut up the tuna, cheese and ham, and ham and olive cakes....It was a bit disastrous as Cindy and Marine cut them in a squashing motion :S haha.

I cut up the tomato tart and the ham and cheese quiche that my host-mum had prepared too.

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We all took our chairs out the front of the house as there was a marathon around Soissons and Didier's house was just near the finish. We encouraged the runners and Marine and Sawdatou couldn't understand why anyone would run a marathon for 8 euros. Haha - Didier was also at his window calling to them to come and have a BBQ as she dangled giant slabs of meat outside his kitchen window... :O hehe.






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After moving out chairs back to the backyard, we awaited the first of our guests to arrive. The first was Clement...he had brought us a giant layered chocolate and cream sponge cake :). And his hair was rather interesting too ;) hehe. Didier had a good laugh about it when he welcomed him in the garage.

The six of us waited outside the front of the house for the others to arrive. Alexis number two (who Marine's mum called in the car when we were on our way to the supermarket...we were desperate for people, haha) and Chloe arrived at the same time...and then we got a text from Alexis (singing) and Maxime telling us that they were on their way and would be there in 5 or so minutes...HA! Turned out to be more like 45 minutes... :O

Yanis was lost so we had to guide by phone to the house and Marine, Aurore and I ended up running up to him in the street because he was walking to slowly : | hehe.

On our way back to the house, WITH Yanis, Maxime arrived...We were then waiting on Alexis. Marine got me to go upstairs, and get my phone so I could give her his number to call him.

When I opened the door to the first storey, I was a little surprised when I walked right into him...I let out a rather loud, "OH! T'es la!"...the same reaction as Marine when saw him behind me when I came back down the stairs without my phone.

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The evening started horribly. No one really spoke and there were terrible silences when the music stopped each time. So Marine decided to tuck everyone in at the table and force feed them.

Thankfully the night got a bit better after the girls attempted to lighten up the night with karaoke...which failed disastrously...so Alexis took over with the music and it got better from there.

Aurore was rather love struck by Alexis, which was hilarious. When Marine and Chloe were singing a song with the words, "Je t'aime" (I love you) in it, Aurore sang those words and those words only to Alexis, who gave me rather scared looks in reponse.

So, the two of us counted to three and then attacked her, me taking her arms and Alexis talking her legs and chucking her outside...where we chased her around the cars (outside the garage)...haha, she wouldn't stop screaming, so we stopped incase the parents started to worry. We took her inside and danced with her instead.



Later on we all moved outside where Sawdatou and Alexis had a bit of a photo war - haha, I was Alexis' shield and Aurore ran around screaming :O



When Yanis left, we walked him down the street a bit and I gave him a great big hug incase I never saw him again : (.

We talked outside for a while and then Alexis and I decided to go back inside because we were too cold.

On our way, he got me to speak French with an Australian accent - he found it hilarious and didn't understand all that much. Then he got me to speak with a Picard accent - he told he me say, "je m'appelle Rebekka, han!" - haha, I sounded a bit blocked up in my nose there :O but he said it was good :D.

When we opened the door, we cracked up laughing when we saw Sawdatou all alone in the garage dancing with herself!!! Hehehehe.

Alexis got Sawdatou to dance like a real African woman - so the two danced together and it was hilarious!

ALexis number two and Chloe left and the night was split into two groups. Alexis, Sawdatou and I who were seated on the couch, singing and dancing a bit crazily and Clement, Marine, Cindy and Maxime who talked.




At one stage, Marine grabbed some massive scissors and trimmed Clement's mohork type thing and then, Maximes hair. She even agreed to have a little bit of her's chopped off by Maxime..haha. Alexis, Sawdatou and I watched them with our mouths open :O.



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Afterwards, we watched the video of Marine's singing final as Alexis still hadn't seen it and Maxime was interested. So we watched it and then attempted to take a group photo...which failed the first few times as Clement couldn't find a place in the webcam and Marine kept falling and pushing me forwards, haha.

Although, we got there in the end and Alexis accidentally fell across some...photos of Marine...which he quickly exited...luckily there were only about three people who saw it :D hehe.



We walked Alexis to the end of the street where Cindy and I stayed and talked to him for a while before he left and Marine went and said goodbye to Maxime as his mum was waiting for him.

So then there were the five left over who were sleeping...Clement, Sawdatou, Cindy, me and Marine.

It was 5.30am when we decided to go to bed as we had stayed up cleaning and talking - Clement and I were pretty tired and were on the floor laughing and crying with laughter, haha.

When we went upstairs we were surprised to see that Didier was still up! We thought he was sleeping!

When we told him we were going to bed, he decided to START his dishes! :O A bit late...!

We ended up sleeping four in one bed with one person in the bed downstairs. Surprisingly it was rather comfortable, even if Cindy fell off the bed and we only slept for less than three hours haha.

When we got up, Didier had breakfast ready for us...I didn't eat all that much as I was still half asleep and my French was disastrous - I did, however drink 6 glasses of water : |. I was thirsty, haha.

Cindy's mum came and picked her up at 11.30am...And when we were saying goodbye to her at the car, Sawdatou appeared at the door with her mouth open and waving as she thought that Cindy was her ride home...hahahahahhahaha.

We packed up the food and waited for Marine's mum to come and get the rest of us.

First she dropped of Sawdatou, then Clement. When we arrived home, Marine and I didn't eat lunch (although we had a bit of a snack marathon at 3pm or so).

The day was rather horrible - we still hadn't had a shower since the day before and our hair was all greasy :S. Instead we lounged on Marine's bed...then had a nap at 4.30pm or so...which lasted till 7pm when Aurore came and woke us up. She told me something that scared me and thought that it was really urgent that we woke up Marine...So me, still being half asleep, told her to take my bottle of water and threaten her with it as a joke - but instead Aurore poured it all over her and in her ears. Marine screamed and cried and it scared everyone. Her parents weren't happy at all and Aurore kept telling me to tell her parents it was me. I don't think she realised that I couldn't do that...So she ended telling them that it was my idea and I got in trouble...Although we cleared things up with my host-mum later and she realised that it really wasn't my fault and Aurore shouldn't have told me what she did :S.

Whatsmore, it was my host-parents wedding anniversary :'(.

After dinner, Marine and I weren't all that tired so we slept rather late...Although we slept well :).

: : VACANCES [[ !!! ]] : :

: : Thursday : :

WHOO! The first official day of the holidays :D. It was mostly spent with Marine preparing for her French BAC, while I sat back and realaaaaxed :P hehe.

We also spent much of the day chasing after who still hadn't got back to us abot whethr on not they could make it to the party.

Later on in the day, Marine and her mum had a bit of a misunderstanding about how Sandrine was going to take Marine to Code because she had to pick up Aurore at the bus stop...So you cold imagine how onfused I was when Aurore appeared n the doorstop a mere five minutes after the two ha left to pick her up...

I went upstairs and textd Marine (although it was a bit of a horror trying to find an connections whatsoever!) three times asking whether it was normal that Aurore was already home...but none of them sent : |...so I just left it.

It seemed that they got Deborah's mum to pick her up.

When Marine returned home she told me one of her Code stories...It seems that whenever I don't go, something exciting happens! So I agreed to go the day after :).

(Marine received two of my apparently "failed" three texts later on that night when we were crazy and laughing and rolling around in her room as she wrote and sent text messages which I thoug actually sent..but in fact that didn't due to ther not having any connection :).

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Friday, I went to code with Marine after she worked on her French revison. Maxime, meand Marine ended up doing a combined code ;)...not that we were meant to...:O.

We received even more bad news that night with five o so people who had originally sai that they would beable to make it to the party, telling us otherwise :S. So we went on a desperate hunt...

That night, Marine also got the sound system working, which was AWESOME! :D

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

: : The first goodbye of many... [[ et Rougie le poisson rouge ]] : ;

: : Yesterday | Monday | Lundi | My second last day of school in France : :

I was expecting yesterday to be short like all the other days last week, although it proved to be a lot longer...hehe, 9am - 6pm that is :O.

In droit, we finishe the final chapter. He didn't get us to write anything down whiwasgood so we just sat back and relaxed while he joked away. At the ed of the class he photocopied some sheets with BAC questions for next year :) I didn't have to do anything, so I was rather relaxed :D.

In history, I think the teacher was a little annoyed with the class...He told me off and told me to look at my sheet when I was gluing it into my workbook. I think he thought I was scribbling all over it or something :S.

Hehe, Marine and I were a little stupid too...Sawdatou had ddropped her pen and she asked one of us to pick it up. So Marine and both reached down at the same time and head butted eachother...hard :S haha, it was funny though :D. And Sawdatou couldn't stop laughing at us from the chair behind :P haha. It must have looked funny :O.

We ate lunch outside as usual :). My host-mum had put the rest of the roast pork in our sandwiches from the night before. While we were eating our 1.5 sandwhiches each, Marine started joking that we had eaten half a roast pork each (haha, yes, there was rather a lot in there...).

During Spanish, for once I didn't read my book : ). The teacher had organised a tonne of activity sheets to do. She paired us in twos...I was with Marine : ).

I ended up doing the "spot the difference" one, trying to do a cross-word where there was pictures and you had to find the Spanish word (haha, the teacher gave me a French/Spanish dictionary, which wasn't much use as there were words I didn't even know in French...So I quickly abandoned that one and pushed it over to Marine), and tsome other word-searches, WITH the words GIVEN :D.

We ended up coming second - Jennifer and her partner came first and won one euro each to buy a hot-chocolate or coffee from the machine :).

Monday was also the day that I decided I woud try and document a school day in France, although it ended up being over two days :).

That night, my host-mum had placed all her nicest champagne glasses, that her mum had given her for her wedding anniversary, on the coffeetable in the corner of the room to put away after dinner.

During dinner, Nikitta (the cat) had jumped up onto the table and my host-mum freaked and started screaming, "NIKITTA, NON!" and running towards her...Not the best idea, as she got scared and jumped off the table, whipping her the glasses with her tail and having them fall and break :S.

My host-dad wasn't happy at all! He chased her around the house :S. Aurore got scared and started crying (I think she thought my host-dad was going to do some harm - but he's not like that at all, thank goodness). It was all rather disastrous.

Luckily only four of the eight broke...but unfortunately, when host-mum was putting the four away, she pulled on the table cloth and broke the little clay bowls that her mother-in-law had given to them another year for the anniversary :S.

I don't know what it is lately, just everything is going wrong : |. Everything is breaking etc.

: : Tuesday | Mardi | Last day of school in France : :

Today, when I entered school, I had my camera out and ready! We were nice and early too because my host-mum had to drop us off fifteen minutes or so earlier than usual because AUrore needed to be driven to the bus-stop.

We took a detour to the bathroom and had a chat to Julie...I even took a picture of thmemorable "female-toilet" sign : ) hehe, all those morning trips to the bathroom ;).

Droit again was nothing much. We took out the sheets from the day before (hehe, where we had written, "la vie me donne rien" over and over again, trying to copy eachother's writing, hehe.

Afterwards, we made our way to Maths where we got our maths exams back (hehe, I topped the claaaaaaaaaass :D :D :D). We didn't do much other than get our moyennes that lesson, so Sandy, Yanis, Nafissa, Cindy, Marine and I left the classroom and wondered around the school to go ask some questions about the French BAC. On the way, we took photos : ) And Sandy gave Yanis a piggy-back ride, and then Yanis gave Sandy one too - haha, it was rather funny :D.

Marine, Cindy and Sawdatou decided not to go to Spanish as there weren't many students going. So instead they went into town with me to the supermarket where Sawdatou bought her lunch so that she could eat with us outside in the school courtyyard.

We returned in time for English. We finished watching "Dry White Season" and then spent the rest of the lesson getting our moyennes, and talking to the teacher about how Marine was going to come to Australia for two months.

We sat outside for lunch. Marine and I eating our herb chicken sandwiches and Sawdatou, her tuna sandwich, chocolate sticks and chips.

Marine decided she was still hungry and opened the packet of biscuits that was meant to be for the class party in Communications :O Haha.

The three of us talking about our thoughts and opinions on cetain things and Marine and I made video interviews (see below) while Sawdatou sang and daydreamed...ahem...



At 3pm, we made our way to the Communications room where a lady told our class off (I have no idea why...strange...)...

I was surprised at just how much food the Communications teacher had bought for us from Cora! She had two massive cloth bags full! There must have been at least 15 packets of lollies/cookies etc!.

We got our moyennes while we ate and then we took a photo of the whole class (although Flavien didn't want to be in it and Jennifer and Sandy hid behind everyone and tried to pull down Yanis' and Fabien's pants, hehe).

When the bell went and we were officially on holidays, Sawdatou started crying :( because it was the last time she would ever see some people...it was all quite sadening...

It wasn't until that night when I was putting all the photos from the day onto my computer that it really hit me that yes, that was the last time I would ever see some of my friends and the people in my class :O. It shocked me and made me realise that I really would be leaving behind my life her in France in less than two weeks...:'(

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

: : Maison de retait, le gant orage [[ et la communion de son amour ]] : :

: : Saturday : :

So we woke up rather early Saturday for the Maison de Retraite (Nursing Home). I was a bit worried about going because I wasn't sure if Karine would be too happy :O.

Anyway, we were home alone that morning as Eric, my host-parents and Auror were out and about doing something. All I knew was that Eric was going to take us to the market in Soissons at 10:15.

At first we had a bit of a false alarm. We thought that Eric was 20 minutes early and I wasn't ready (hm...had a bit of a "stop" in my program...ahem...). It turned out it was just the flower delivery woman...

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The Market was choc-o-block when we arrived! And we had to squeeze through the crowd rather quickly as we only had 20 minutes or so to find me a pair of flats for the Maison de Retraite and Aurore's communion.

The third shoe stall - and the messiest - was where I finally found those shoes :D. Imagine the relief! I didn't want to go to either of the events in thongs or converse!

Marine and I stopped and said hi to Dalida who was there with her brother before making our way to the Hairdressers.

It was down a little side-steet in a rather madest little shop.

We were early and placed our bags etc in the cupboard...We were happy to have a sit down as it was too hot to be walking around, even if it was only 11:50 or so :S.

I changed into my new shoes, and Marine and I looked through the hair colour and hairstyle books...But we chose to go with Alxis, the hair expert's advice instead :). A fringe for me and Blond Cendre streaks for Marine...Although she found the colour a bit grey, so the hairdresser suggested something different.

While Marine was getting foiled, the young assistant didn't really know what to do with me so she ended up washing my hair or 45 minutes, at least three times! Although, I wasn't complaining :) 45 minute head massage...mmmm :)

So a woman finally got me in a chair and out of the sink. She asked me what I wanted done and I tried to explain to her in my best French possible what i wanted done (ehe, wouldn't want to muck that one up! haha). She seemed to understand, which was good :D. Although she told me she was going to straighten my hair with the new GHD hair straightener (best straightener I've ever seen! :O), however, she ended up doing me hair like a mother in the 1950s :S.

When Marine was done, she wasn't too happy with the colour as she thought it was white :S. I thought it looked rather angelic...:)

After we paid we hurried off to a bakery to buy some lunch. I got this sandwich thing with a tonne of mayo and Marine got an apparently "tasteless" cheese, chicken and tomato panini, which I quite liked.

As we walked to the Maison de Retraite (we were working off the directions that the hairdressers had given us as neither of us were all that sure of where we were going otherwise).

We found A maison de retrait and were 40 minutes in advance, so we waited outside and tried to convince ourselves that our haircuts suited ourselves. It didn't really work...ahem...

At about 20 minutes to two, we decided we would go inside the maison. We rang the doorbell but no one answered. It was then that we asked a passerby whether it was the right maison...hehe, noooope...another ten minutes up the road, we were told. Thank goodness we were early!




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When we arrived at the RIGHT maison, we waited outside in the hot sun a bit (by this time, my new shoes had started to give me blisters :S) before a woman came and opened the gate for us.

We were the first ones there and were told that we could sit at one of the tables by the piano although I was busting and found myself to the bathroom instead.

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We waited at the table for some time before Floriane's mum entered. WE said hello and she told us how there were sixor so people from our singing group waiting at the locked gate.

After they were entered, we awaited Karine and helped her unpack her car.

Alexs arrived afterwards (he was excited to see our new haircuts) and convinced us that yes, they had done a good job.

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Luckily Karine didn't really mind that I was there. I was just an extra person to dance and sway along behind the singers.

During one of the performances, there was an old woman who became fixed on me and came over to dance. She seemed to like the idea that I didn't know what to do with her and laughed at me, then she took out her fake teeth adn tried to hand them to me...It was at this point that Karine, Alexis, Natacha AND Marine started laughing, and then, when she chucked them on the floor, the nurses started too...hm, interesting that...

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After the Maison de Retraite, we helped pack up and then ate mini-pain-au-chocolats and drank orange juice which had been provided as a thank you to us.

When everything was done, Alexis, Natacha, Marine and I waited for Marine's mum outside. When Marine told us that we would have to wait 20ish minutes for her mum to pick us up because Aurore had to be dropped off at home first, we decided to walk home...I don't think any of us thought about the distance before doing so :S.

It was hot and we started walking in the shade...then Alexis realised that he had forgotten his bag...sooooo...all the way back we walked...:P

So, with the bag in hand and making sure that everyone had EVERYTHING we were on our way again. Alexis mainly questioned me about life in Australia and we complained to Marine and Natacha about the distance and why we couldn't walk in the shade...oh and how our feet were getting sunburnt. Although I don't think they heard us as they were too far ahead :S.

After an hour and a half of walking in the 32 degree heat without any shade and my bag on my head as a hat...I had blisters on blisters and my feet were bright red. Natacha called her dad and asked if he could come and get us...he said yes :D hehe.





Although, it turned out it was her mum...and she wasn't too happy...especially waiting for Alexis and I to catch up...whoops...:|

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When we returned home, I rushed to the bathroom and washed the blood off my feet (I had a blister that had formed and popped in the centre of another burst blister).

The four of us continued upstairs after drinking some much appreciated glasses of water. Alexis showed me his artwork which he had put on his phone to send to his host-family in Australia - he surprised me with his copy of Picasso! It was amazing!

Aurore joined us afterwards - laughing and showing probably a bit TOO much interest in Alexis (haha, too bad he was already scared of her...:O).

Before Alexis left, he and I quickly went through the Australian school requirements and filled out his part of the school form.

Oh! And I got him to try iSnack too! He's officially the first person in France who has like it so far. I evn prepared the bin and a glass of water for him...

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That night we ate outside again with Eric. Marine's mum tried to convince me yet again that my haircut suited me...I must say, I was feeling a lot better about it :).

My host parents laughed about the message that I sent them at the hairdressers too. I had stuffed up my french a little and said, "I am finished" (dead) instead of "I have finished"...haha...whoops.

"Je suis fini! Marine est encore dans la chaise qui donne chaud a la tete"
"I am finished! Marine is still in the chair that heats the head" haha, didn't know the name of the chair, okay! :P

My host-dad said that he wasn't going to forgot that one anytime soon as it sounded like I was dead and Marine was being tortured in some sort of electric chair.

That night after dinner...Marine and I discovered some things...:O

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: : Sunday : :

LA COMMUNION D'AURORE

Despite going to sleep past midnight the night before, we were all up at 7.30-8.00am to get ready for the Communion.

By the time I had gotten up, early as it may have been, Eric had already left (he wasn't able to go to the actual communion :( ).

I had breakfast and then hopped in the shower with my new dress still on the hanger and hanging off the doorhandle.

After I got ready, I prepared my bag and got ready to leave...although we had a little last minute rush to try and find bandaids for my four massive blisters from the day before :S.

I ended up putting them on in the car as my host-dad was yelling at us all to hurry up...not that we were by any means late, but because a massive thunderstorm was brewing and then rain was getting heavier by the second.

When we arrived in the Soissons, he stopped the car outside the cathedrale and I got out and sprinted (very painfully) to the front door as there was now thunder and lightening to go along with the heavy rain (we say people absolutely drenched in the street! Their clothers were like extra layers of tight, colourful skin!), falling into a puddle on the way and completely wetting the bandaids.

The Mass was...interesting. Let's just say that for the majority of it, my head of off in space...however, what I did take in from it was that instead of ready psalms and saying, "amen" it was all sung...

I was rather thankful when my host-dad got Marine and I out of the service early to collect the baguettes and the croqu'en bouche from the bakery. The rain had stopped and Marine and I my host-dad laughed at my attempts to walk in my shoes :S. My host-dad teased me and told Marine not to walk too fast when she wasn't even moving, or else I would get left behind :P.

So with everything in the car, and the cake next to me in the back (and the three of us worrying it would fall and break...we underestimated the strength of caramel!), we made our way home where we waited an extra hour than we thought we would before everyone arrived at the house after the mass.

With appetisers out, Aurore and I danced around the room, ballroom style while we waited for Marine to get the music working.

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We ended up eating from 1:30 - 7:00pm :O No dinner that night :S, haha.

Marine also sang L'aigle Noi yet again for the family.

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I went to bed rather early that night - 10:30 or so :).

Aurore's communion presents:

Mini laptop (like mine)
Gameboy DS (with puppy game)
Dolphin earrings
Bracelet
Necklace

Saturday, June 5, 2010

: : Read. Set. [[ COMMUNION! ]] ::

So Wednesday morning was yet again spent at the all-too-familiar lycee...

At lunchtime, Marine and I returned home where we ate left over pasta salad with my host-mum and Aurore.

Afterwards the four of us drove to Mammie's, where we picked her up before making our way into Soissons to shop for dresses for Aurore's communion on Saturday.

We stopped at MIM where Marine and I tried the same dress...I think there was something wrong with their sizing as I tried size 36 (size 8) which was way too big, then 36 (size 6) which also proved to be too big...so I didn't end up buying it, although Marine did :).

At 4.10ish, Mammie, Aurore and my host-mum left to take Aurore to singing and Marine and I were left with 15 minutes or so to find me a dress before walking to singing ourselves.

I ended up finding a blue and white floral patterend dress, which I hope will go nicely :D.

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While walking to singing, Natacha's mum stopped her car to say hello, which was nearly unheard of. We then had a good laugh about it and Alexis turned around to face us (apparently he was 2 metres or so ahead of us that whole time...hm...

We then found Natacha and I gave her her English work which I had corrected after lunch.

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We returned home for 20 minutes or so before heading off to the trainstation to pick up my host-dad and make our way to Aurore's concert, where we ate on the benches outside...Watching as Aurore danced around and ran after one of the boys in her singing group...ahem...

The concert wasn't as messy and strange as the last time. There was a theatre theme and the 5 groupes had already pre-filmed mini-movies with songs sung and some scripted parts, which was nice.

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Luckily the concert didn't end toooo late and we were able to return home and watch the end of La Nouvelle Star...even with Benjamin gone :(.

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The following day (aka Thursday) we had a bit of an early start, with a 6:15 wake up call for shower taking.

We arrived at school for Gestion - where Marine and I did nothing at all. Instead we mucked around a bit...meh, neither of us are going to take it next year anyway, so it's all good : ).

We then had an hour break before English...And Marine, having not eaten the morning before, was rather hungry. So we took out our packed lunches of tuna cake, a sandwich and a tub of pasta salad. Marine ate both hers and my slice of tuna cake *grrr!!!* as well as half her sandwich and a quarter of the pasta. I helped out a bit with the pasta and had a bite of my tuna cake to make her feel better.

Haha, apparently it was the first time she'd ever eaten lunch at 9am.

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During English we watched a movie and I spent French doodling all over my page as it was BAC preparation. Thomas contributed to it too and Ludmill wrote that she was going to miss me : )

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Marine and I finished our lunches outside and then went into town until 3pm when my host-mum picked us up and we helped with the shopping.

Marine and I ran around the shopping centre using oil bottles and sauce bottles as microphones as we sang...hehe, Marine reckoned we gave the place a little life ;).

When we got home, Marine and I studied a little for the maths test on Friday...which was on everything since the START of the school year, so I had to learn half of it too :S.

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Went to sleep rather late that night...***gants oranges***, hehe.

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So Friday arrived, and we started at 10am. I woke up earlier than expected which worked out rather good as I could fit in a last little bit of revision before school.

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First we had French...this time I copied everything down...noooo idea why.

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Then the maths test...WHOO!

BEfore we entered the room, the class before us told us how difficult it was, blah blah blah. At first I had no idea what they were talking about as it was extremely easy...however, when I got to the third section and none of my answers were making sense, that was when I realised what they were all talking about...ahem...

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We then had three hours until Gestion. It was extremely hot and Marine's mum had prepared sandwiches and put two slices of left over quiche on a plate to reheat in the canteen. Wow, we got some weird looks! Haha. Oh, and we stole the cutlary from the canteen too as we couldn't exacly eat with our fingers.

We ate outside...in the HOT HOT HOT sun...

Sawdatou got a bit annoyed at us because she didn't have any lunch to eat...hm...

SO we went and bought some...at first we thought she wasn't going to come back, but she did, once we had moved into the shade and had started eating our sandwiches against the wall.

That afternoon, we attempted to play ping pong outside, but got too hot...so we moved inside and played Fooseball (???) for a while, and were apparently too loud as we rotated groups of two against one. I was hopeless by myself...

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During Gestion we didn't do anything as it was the last lesson (well, the teacher tried to get us to do something, but we were all rather reckless).

There were exams next door and at one stage a girl came and told us to shut up. We died down for about 5 minutes...

Then there was a hall monitor...

Then the directer who threatened us and told us that if the noise continued, he would call the police...eh he he?

I took a tonne of photos during Gestion, dodging the teachers gaze ;). We weren't allowed to, but I want some classroom memories :).





Marine even ate a sandwich in class and dropped tomato all over the floor before her and clement started having water and pen fights.

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That night, Aurore's godfather arrived to stay for two nights, so Aurore was in my bedroom.

We ate dinner outside with Eric (her godfather) which was nice : ).


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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

: : A chain that joins two by the heart [[ "Il y a un DS que je vais garder" ]] : :

This morning as we were walking to Natacha's car Marine very nicely reminded me that, yes, the teacher of Droit was going to give back out tests :S.

That morning we arrived at school the bell had already gone so we hurried up the stairs to find our teacher at the end of the hallway making his way to the classroom...we didn't stop and stare as I didn't really know where to look after my test yesterday...ehhe...and Marine neither after her email the night before...

He was not in a good mood when he arrived at the door and that made me nervos with my heart pounding...:S

The class started on a rather low note with a few getting instant detentions for not handing in some definition thingo that he had made us all do (not me though :D hehe).

Although, once he had come back from photocopying the corrections for the test (he told us that he hadn't had the time to correct them so he was going to hand them out at random for us to correct which made me stress even more! Imagine the person correcting MINE?!?!?!), he was in a much better mood.

After handing out the corrections, he then moved on to handing out some other sheets...so he had corrected them after all :P. I waited impatiently in my seat...but when he had given out the last of the sheets, I was still without my copy...

He sat back down at his desk and announced, "et bien sur, il y a un DS que je vais garder : )" (and surely, there is a test that I am going to keep : )). Marine then asked him if he laughed reading it - he said no, not too much as it meant a lot to him and that when he showed it to his children they laughed at my drawing : ).

A good outcome afterall :D.

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Maths was revision - Spanish, reading and English watching.

At lunch time we had another 22 minutes before the mini-bus came and picked us up to take us hom for lunch, so we went to CoxiMarket behind the school and I bought Marine the most expensive block of chocolate there (2.92 euros = $5.80 or so) under the condition that I would pay for her food (haha, which I do quite often - buying sweets and pastries out of the kindness of my heart :D) if she bought my entertainment - eg, bowling, movie tickets etc : ). But I must say, it was the best chocolate I've ever tasted! It was nougat (proper noughat too!) layered with a little bit of praline and obviously, with chocolate surrounding it all.

When we arrived at the buss stop I had to hide it from Marine as she had already eaten half the block :P.

We ended up being a little impatient and hopping onto the WRONG mini-bus. Luckily Marine asked where it was stopping or else we would've been in a rather monstrous pile poop! Haha...so we got off and tried again.

Our bus driver was rather nice :D. He was a little middle-aged man with rosy red cheeks and was a ibt chubby. He even dropped us off at the start of our street as we were the only ones on the bus : ). Although we noticed he was hovering so we walked right past our house and pretended we lived somewhere else...which worked as he drove off, waving to us.

I prepared lunch - set and cleared the table, so I left Marine to do the dishes, which she wasn't too happy about :P haha. So I took her chocolate with me and pretended I ate it all.

I ended up giving it to her later on though and she finished it with pleasure : ).

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While Marine was at her code (6 mistakes this time...:S) Aurore returned home with some rather exciting news...Elle a peut-être commencé son régle! Which I helped her with : ).

That night, Marine and I stole the peanuts that were in bacon flavoured peanuts that would have normally been for apparetifs...we sat on my bed eating them before dinner which was tuna pasta salad.

Before we started eating, my host mum placed a small box with an even smaller box inside infront of me - my delayed birthday present : ).

I opened it us and found a small chan bracelet, just like Marine's with my name engraved on it and the date of my arrival in France on the back : ) which Marine had chosen for me.

It couldn't have been more perfect! : )

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