At 5:00 we went to the group singing lesson. We were a few minutes late because Aurore and Barbara were spraying hairspray everywhere in the bathroom (getting ready for the Spectacle) and then Marine put some in her hair and chased me around the house with the can, haha. Then we escaped to the car so that Marine's mum wouldn't suspect that it was Marine who had sprayed the hairspray all around the house. But sure enough, mothers being mothers, she knew exactly who had done what. So as punishment she took her own sweet time getting to the car. Haha, gotta love it : )
Anyway, this particular group singing lesson was a deciding point for me ; ) enough said there :P.
Once everyone had gathered around in a circle - the teacher started a warm-up activity where you had to throw an imaginary baloon at someone else in the circle and make a sound (started off with one sylable, and the second round, three). I immediately sat down. Haha, technically I wasn't actually part of the group. But sure enough Karine (the singing teacher) said, "Becky. Stand yourself up." (but in French). Haha, so yes, normally I would hate these activities as I'm not really a fan of making funny noises and trying to keep it serious and proffessional. But it was actually quite fun, surprisingly : ) hehe.
After the warm-up we all stood in a semi-circle (after getting our chairs and whatnot) and Karine began to teach a song in French (haha, this time she didn't ask me to join in...I wonder if that was due to Billy Jean...). Then we sang it through with the CD (the intro was rather funny, so Alexis did a little dance, haha). Then she moved on to the solo performances for the Grand Spectacle in March. Alexis was first, singing "Scooby-Doo" (haha, not "...---Dooby-Doo where are you?!") which involved a lot of Chorus parts. So Karine got all the girls to sit on the circular blue and white block and sing, "Scooby-Dooby-Doo ooohaaah, Scooby-Dooby-Doo" when neccessary.
Floriane was next. Her song didn't require any Chorus-ing on our part, so a few of the girls sat down...Hehe, and Marine, Natacha and I welcomed the space, haha. I was quite amazed at how many people could fit on such a small block. Then Alexis decided to sit right in the middle of the three of us : | Bye Bye space, haha (nah, just kidding : )). It was nice to have some Facebook entertainment, haha. Marine was the most approving of this though, I believe. Responding with a long, "mmmMMMmmm" when Alexis confirmed that, yes, he had unlimited internet access on his phone, haha.
It was then Marine's turn to sing, SPACE AGAIN! WHOO! :D Just kidding again ;D. She sang really well : ) I had heard her practicing before we left : ).
It was then time to go...When we arrived home, Marine and I quickly grabbed something to eat before collecting Marine's old "Sing Sing" t-shirts (haha, this was our way of getting a free pass into the Aurore's concert, via the company "Sing Sing" haha...and it worked :D).
We headed out again after only 10 minutes of being home. After we picked up Mammie and had made it through the front door, we waited for Natacha and her family. Although there weren't enough chairs so we had to extend our row a bit...Or as mum would say, "be creative" (yes yes mum, just like your parking :P).
The Spectacle was hilarious! HAHA! It started with the lowest group, who made animal sounds, and ended with a very...disturbing performance by the adults. This resulted in my silently laughing and crying (haha, the blonde in front of us wasn't very happy...I don't think she understoood that it was meant to be funny...oh well, her loss ;)) and Marine shrieking and actually screaming at times! And my host-mum crying too, haha, with laughter.
I don't know what the performance was meant to be...but thankfully little kids have yet to develop a "dirty mind" :O
---
Once Mammie was safely back at home and we had returned to the house, we ate three "half" sandwiches (tuna, tuna and ham and cheese) that my host-mum had prepared earlier.
We slept at midnight that night...After doing the unthinkable :S (we were tired, okay!)...Something that involved a cup, "tea" and a window...Something that will remain between Marine, Sawdatou, Henry and I...:O
---
Yesterday, we were hoping that maybe because we had gone to bed rather late, that my host-parents would let us take the morning off school and start at 10am instead of 8am. No such luck. Let's just say that that was one loooooong day. And we finished at 6pm.
I got 08/20 in Gestion. Which is apparently average. Rather surprising as I actually did not understand a single thing on that sheet. I still don't know what exactly Gestion is :S.
---
We had three hours of lunch. Apparently the food at the cantine wasn't good so we went into town to a nice boulangerie that my mum, host-sisters went to to buy the baguettes that one night where all the boulangeries seemed to be closed (aka, the night before Marine and I went to see "The Princess and the Frog" at the cinema). Sawdatou, me and Marine all got these massive tuna paninis which were stuffed with tuna, egg, lettuce, tomato, and had an extra layer of panini in the middle. Really nice though :D.
And, due to our earlier extreme hunger, we then proceeded to get together all our coins and buy a pack of raspberry jam doughnuts (they're better here, : ) they're not fried and sugar dusted :D a nice change)...And then proceeded to go to my host-mum's mum's house and say that we hadn't eaten (although I was stuffed...haha, so I just ate a biscuit because she insisted that I must eat something for lunch...too bad she didn't know about the OTHER somethings...).
Anyway, we returned to school for three hours of Communications. Hehe, and I can proudly say that I successfully completely writing conclusions for my survey graphs all by myself :D. Although Marine proof read and there were a few mistakes (surprisingly A LOT less than I thought there would be).
For the following two ours we worked on this sheet on Word that the teacher had prepared earlier. The folder wouldn't work for me, so I had to work off her account. She told not to save my work. I only saved once (haha, Ctrl+S is automatic for me, so I did pretty well)...and then had to delete everything I had writen and saved again : ).
For a while, Marine and I wrote messages to eachother on our documents...I really hope I deleted them all! Because Marine logged off for me and she accidently clicked "Yes, I would like to save the changes made to this document"!!! And I couldn't do anything about it either!!! Because I didn't know the teacher's password :S.
Anyway, went to bed rather early last night.
---
Didn't sleep well at all last night, Marine gave me her cold. It seemed that whenever I lay down in my bed or drank water, I had a very strong urge to throw-up. Too bad I'm a person who has an inablity to do so :S. Can't stand the sight, feel, or sound :S...or taste, for that matter.
Anyway, after talking to my host mum, she decided it would be better if I stayed home. So I went back to sleep and slept an extra 3.5 hours. Didn't really do much else today. After eating lunch I started a drawing of Marine's eye and then went back to sleep for three hours before waking and saying hello to Aurore and my host dad. Marine finished at 6pm today after started at 8am. Anyway, feeling a lot better now : )
And tomorrow I will hopefull make it to Cora to help my host-parents with the shopping and the ingredients that Marine and I need to prepare diner tomorrow night. Mini yoghurt based pizzas (with baby spinich leaves - oh I had fun trying to describe them to my host-mum before, olives, tomatos, red capsicum, ham or other meats, and cheese, and white-chocolate, raspberry muffins (my mum's recipe :D).
Dinner should be soon...seems to be rather late tonight, as it's already 8.08pm.
(Uh oh, throat getting that itchy feeling again :S...more caramel flavoured throat syrup for me : )...although it does taste more like coconut :D, me likey :D).
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
: : Billy Jean est mort [[ R.I.P ]] : :
Soooooooooooooo - got back kind of late from the spectacle last night and still have my maths homework to do, so that kind of took the place of my blog writing.
Anyway, yesterday was rather long. We started, rather aprehensively at 8am. That means getting up at 6am. Apparently I didn't wake up when Marine came in to get me up, so she tried again after her shower. Which meant that I was running approximately 20 minutes late. Whoops...haha. I made up for it though :D.
Marine and I ate breakfast together before I went and dried my hair, which was nice. Usually I eat while she showers and she eats when I shower : ).
Anyway, we started, as normal with Droit. French Legal Studies...not nice at 8am...yes. Especially when you have a test. Oh, no that didn't go too well. I had tried to learn those definitons - there were 15 on the sheet and only 5 on the test - but nup, didn't really help. Oh, and then the teacher caught me drawing a worried/confused face on my sheet and announced that I was drawing on my paper to the class...hm...lucky he thought it was cute and rather amusing when he collected my sheet :D. Then we had Maths. Marine wasn't feeling all that well so I took her to the nurse half-way through...Only to return to a message that Yanis had writen on my calculator. NO COMMENT.
Then we were meant to go to Spanish, but the teacher wasn't there so Soaodatou (:S not too sure how to spell her name...hehe), Marine and I went to the library (after searching for a study room...they were all full :S) and played the "subject-verb-place" game in French after going to the nurse with Cindy to get some bread (we were rather hungry)...which we ate in the library with our eyes on the librariens.
---
We were able to go to the cantine early (haha, first in line for once!) because we didn't have classes from 10-12 and the cantine opens at 11.30. For lunch we ate fish with potatoes and salad, and a slice custard tart with a full baguette...haha, rather full after that.
We restarted classes at two with Communications, so we still had two hours of break left by the time we had finished eating, so we went into the city. At first we went into a shop and tried on these matching white hats and red striped sunnies before the lady told us off...for no real reason, as Saoadatou was actually going to buy them...*wink wink nudge nudge*.
Anyway, afterwards we went to the supermarket with all our change that we had dug out of our bags, pockets and wallets and bought some lollies and these refrigerated chocolate bars with yoghurt/marshmellow type stuff in them. Haha, I didn't eat too much of our perchases as they were all rather sugary for me.
We then looked around in some of the clothing stores on our way back to the first shop (just to annoy that old lady apparently, although I thought that we had actually forgotten to but something). Oh and we saw bras, with sizes and padding and all for three year-olds! I'd heard about them before, but had never actually seen them in reality...Bizarre...and rather wrong :S.
---
Anyway, we arrived back at school with twenty minutes or so to spare...a nice change from sprinting back (a looooooong way) and pretending I had gotten lost. What a silly little Aussie I am, eh?
Communications = test. Whoohoo.
Good thing I understood most of it as common sense. And it also helped that Marine took to teaching me the stuff before we were meant to have Spanish :D.
I think I did alright - although I realised this morning that I had misunderstood a whole column in a table I had filled out. I thought I was meant to write the sponsors (it said "[enter French word here]/SUPPORT"), but it was actually the type of communication. i.e Letter, poster etc. Oops..hehe.
After Communications I was meant to have three hours of Arts Plastiques but I was feeling rather exhausted and had nothing to do in Arts Plastiques so my host-mum let me return home with Marine to get ready to perform Billy Jean.
When I got home, I slept for two hours while Marine watched a movie. Afterwards we ate dinner and then Marine and I ran though Billy Jean a few times. We were rather pumped in the car and were ready to make complete fools of ourselves; however once we arrived and caught up with the 35 year old women, Sandra, who was singing with us, she reminded us that we had to sing in two seperate parts, and because I was taking Alexis' place, I had to sing with her. After asking her about three times if we could just sing it all together, she decided that we were run-through and see how it sounded. Good, she said. So we were singing it in parts.
Merde.
Anyway, by the time we were all on stage, Aurore filming with my camera for Alexis, the singing teacher decided that she would sing for Alexis and I would just stand on stage without a microphone incase I sang super-badly or something, haha, I found this rather funny.
Anyway, Marine and I got moving to the music a bit at the beginning (it was decided that I would be singing the same as Marine and Natacha), but once we hit the part where we were all together, we got a bit more into it. Haha, Marine's putting the video onto Daily Motion. You can see the teacher's face when we started with our little bit of dancing ; ) haha. And then she decided to do a little solo dance of her own.
I think we really killed the song Billy Jean. Haha. It was rather catastrophic.
Time of Death: 9:23pm, Tuesday, 22nd February 2010
The spectacle ended a lot earlier than expected with only four performances.
We got home at about 10:45pm. While my host-mum made Marine and I some honey/lemon tea, we got ready for bed (doing all those bathroomy things). When the tea was ready, we took it upstairs and began on our maths homework. We finished at about 11pm and then went to bed.
---
I slept right through till 7:50am this morning. Before we started with our showers, Marine and I ate our breakfast we had been planning all week. Something that is traditional in the north of France. It was Marouille cheese, in baguette, dipped in coffee. It was rather nice, although at first I had a bit of trouble tasting the cheese, which is bizarre as it is quite strong. Marine and I joked about our wonderful smelling breath afterwards, haha, and how all the people at school would be driven away when doing the double kiss kiss on each cheek, haha.
Due to our ensemble breakfast eating, Marine and I were again running a little late, hehe. But we go to school on time : ).
We started with maths - Marine and I didn't really do anything...we were both really tired and had headaches...
That was a very very long hour...
Then we had Communications which was good and woke me up a bit with the massiced gusts of rain outside. Oh, and I understood the whole lesson! And was able to participate too - not without getting all hot and perhaps a little red, though : (. Oh well, that breakthrough's still get to come, I guess.
---
Lately my host-dad has just started back at work after a year off, so it was just my host-mum, Aurore, me and Marine for lunch today. We had an entree of avocado, crab, tomato and shallot salad (haha, I think I ate a bit too much of that) with bread, followed by three-cheese pasta which my host-mum had prepared in seperate bowls for each of us with melted cheese (yes, more haha) on the top.
It was all really nice but I was stuffed afterwards.
---
After lunch (aka, now-ish), I set to searching for the English summary of this poetry book we have to ready for next week in French. Les fleurs du mal. I would've had luck if the page hadn't kept stuffing up (I'm still waiting for it :S)...So I took to writing this instead :D.
Anyway, tonight is the Spectacle of Aurore : ). Should be good, although I think we're eating afterwards which will be 9pm/9:30pm or later :S.
Anyway, yesterday was rather long. We started, rather aprehensively at 8am. That means getting up at 6am. Apparently I didn't wake up when Marine came in to get me up, so she tried again after her shower. Which meant that I was running approximately 20 minutes late. Whoops...haha. I made up for it though :D.
Marine and I ate breakfast together before I went and dried my hair, which was nice. Usually I eat while she showers and she eats when I shower : ).
Anyway, we started, as normal with Droit. French Legal Studies...not nice at 8am...yes. Especially when you have a test. Oh, no that didn't go too well. I had tried to learn those definitons - there were 15 on the sheet and only 5 on the test - but nup, didn't really help. Oh, and then the teacher caught me drawing a worried/confused face on my sheet and announced that I was drawing on my paper to the class...hm...lucky he thought it was cute and rather amusing when he collected my sheet :D. Then we had Maths. Marine wasn't feeling all that well so I took her to the nurse half-way through...Only to return to a message that Yanis had writen on my calculator. NO COMMENT.
Then we were meant to go to Spanish, but the teacher wasn't there so Soaodatou (:S not too sure how to spell her name...hehe), Marine and I went to the library (after searching for a study room...they were all full :S) and played the "subject-verb-place" game in French after going to the nurse with Cindy to get some bread (we were rather hungry)...which we ate in the library with our eyes on the librariens.
---
We were able to go to the cantine early (haha, first in line for once!) because we didn't have classes from 10-12 and the cantine opens at 11.30. For lunch we ate fish with potatoes and salad, and a slice custard tart with a full baguette...haha, rather full after that.
We restarted classes at two with Communications, so we still had two hours of break left by the time we had finished eating, so we went into the city. At first we went into a shop and tried on these matching white hats and red striped sunnies before the lady told us off...for no real reason, as Saoadatou was actually going to buy them...*wink wink nudge nudge*.
Anyway, afterwards we went to the supermarket with all our change that we had dug out of our bags, pockets and wallets and bought some lollies and these refrigerated chocolate bars with yoghurt/marshmellow type stuff in them. Haha, I didn't eat too much of our perchases as they were all rather sugary for me.
We then looked around in some of the clothing stores on our way back to the first shop (just to annoy that old lady apparently, although I thought that we had actually forgotten to but something). Oh and we saw bras, with sizes and padding and all for three year-olds! I'd heard about them before, but had never actually seen them in reality...Bizarre...and rather wrong :S.
---
Anyway, we arrived back at school with twenty minutes or so to spare...a nice change from sprinting back (a looooooong way) and pretending I had gotten lost. What a silly little Aussie I am, eh?
Communications = test. Whoohoo.
Good thing I understood most of it as common sense. And it also helped that Marine took to teaching me the stuff before we were meant to have Spanish :D.
I think I did alright - although I realised this morning that I had misunderstood a whole column in a table I had filled out. I thought I was meant to write the sponsors (it said "[enter French word here]/SUPPORT"), but it was actually the type of communication. i.e Letter, poster etc. Oops..hehe.
After Communications I was meant to have three hours of Arts Plastiques but I was feeling rather exhausted and had nothing to do in Arts Plastiques so my host-mum let me return home with Marine to get ready to perform Billy Jean.
When I got home, I slept for two hours while Marine watched a movie. Afterwards we ate dinner and then Marine and I ran though Billy Jean a few times. We were rather pumped in the car and were ready to make complete fools of ourselves; however once we arrived and caught up with the 35 year old women, Sandra, who was singing with us, she reminded us that we had to sing in two seperate parts, and because I was taking Alexis' place, I had to sing with her. After asking her about three times if we could just sing it all together, she decided that we were run-through and see how it sounded. Good, she said. So we were singing it in parts.
Merde.
Anyway, by the time we were all on stage, Aurore filming with my camera for Alexis, the singing teacher decided that she would sing for Alexis and I would just stand on stage without a microphone incase I sang super-badly or something, haha, I found this rather funny.
Anyway, Marine and I got moving to the music a bit at the beginning (it was decided that I would be singing the same as Marine and Natacha), but once we hit the part where we were all together, we got a bit more into it. Haha, Marine's putting the video onto Daily Motion. You can see the teacher's face when we started with our little bit of dancing ; ) haha. And then she decided to do a little solo dance of her own.
I think we really killed the song Billy Jean. Haha. It was rather catastrophic.
Time of Death: 9:23pm, Tuesday, 22nd February 2010
The spectacle ended a lot earlier than expected with only four performances.
We got home at about 10:45pm. While my host-mum made Marine and I some honey/lemon tea, we got ready for bed (doing all those bathroomy things). When the tea was ready, we took it upstairs and began on our maths homework. We finished at about 11pm and then went to bed.
---
I slept right through till 7:50am this morning. Before we started with our showers, Marine and I ate our breakfast we had been planning all week. Something that is traditional in the north of France. It was Marouille cheese, in baguette, dipped in coffee. It was rather nice, although at first I had a bit of trouble tasting the cheese, which is bizarre as it is quite strong. Marine and I joked about our wonderful smelling breath afterwards, haha, and how all the people at school would be driven away when doing the double kiss kiss on each cheek, haha.
Due to our ensemble breakfast eating, Marine and I were again running a little late, hehe. But we go to school on time : ).
We started with maths - Marine and I didn't really do anything...we were both really tired and had headaches...
That was a very very long hour...
Then we had Communications which was good and woke me up a bit with the massiced gusts of rain outside. Oh, and I understood the whole lesson! And was able to participate too - not without getting all hot and perhaps a little red, though : (. Oh well, that breakthrough's still get to come, I guess.
---
Lately my host-dad has just started back at work after a year off, so it was just my host-mum, Aurore, me and Marine for lunch today. We had an entree of avocado, crab, tomato and shallot salad (haha, I think I ate a bit too much of that) with bread, followed by three-cheese pasta which my host-mum had prepared in seperate bowls for each of us with melted cheese (yes, more haha) on the top.
It was all really nice but I was stuffed afterwards.
---
After lunch (aka, now-ish), I set to searching for the English summary of this poetry book we have to ready for next week in French. Les fleurs du mal. I would've had luck if the page hadn't kept stuffing up (I'm still waiting for it :S)...So I took to writing this instead :D.
Anyway, tonight is the Spectacle of Aurore : ). Should be good, although I think we're eating afterwards which will be 9pm/9:30pm or later :S.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
: : Vacances? [[ bye bye : ( ]] : :
Okay, so yesterday I was a bit slack and didn't write about my last three days :D. Hehe, let's just say I was making the most of the end of my holidays...Which, may I add, went extremely quickly : (.
---
: : Samedi : :
Soooooooo, Saturday morning I got Marine to wake me up as I didn't want to again miss the routine Saturday morning shopping trip to Cora.
Once we were all ready, my host-parents, me and Marine hopped in the car (Aurore was still sleeping, I think, haha) and drove into Soissons to drop Marine off at "Code" (only four mistakes this time :D) before taking a detour to Cora.
Once at Cora, my host-parents joked around with the trolley for a while (here they're plastic...and A LOT easier to steer, haha), trying to bed me to sit in the tiny baby-seat. Haha, with all the cakes and cheese I've been eating lately (*cough at Didier's cough* --- oh, and I forgot a course...hot chips :O) I think I may have killed the poor trolley : (. Haha.
Anyway, we did the shopping...My host mum and I taking an extra long time in the fruit section sorting through hundreds of rock-hard kiwi fruits...In the end we got the ten...I think we ended up imagining that they were at all ripe :S.
I also picked up a few recipes advertising certain fruit/veg products : )...Might come in handy ;).
When we were heading to the dairy/bread section, I ran into Ludmilla. Lots of hugs there as she had spent her holidays with her correspondant in London - hehe, she told me today that she now realises why I say, "oui" and nod, just to confirm that I have some comprehension of what's going on around me, haha.
Once we were all finished, we headed back home (me with my mouthwash, visual diary, chewing gum and deoderant...mmm, vanilla :D). I helped my host mum put away all the groceries - surprisingly something that I've found I love doing. It's kind of a bonding time : ) haha, we have fun with all the different products and our "attempts" (if you can call them that :S) at rearranging the fridge so that all the food fits :S. Haha.
She was also impressed at how I had arranged the bathroom cupboard when I carefully stacked away the various packets of new toothbrushes (haha, neatly behind the mirror :D).
I declined when my host-dad asked me if I would like to go with him to pick up Marine. My host mum assured me that it wasn't a problem and that she could finish up alone, but I stayed and helped : ).
Once Marine was with us once more, we sat down to a lunch of vegetable soup : ) yummy.
That afternoon Natacha called confirming that the singing concert was this Tuesday...SOmething that Marine, me and the family was not aware of. Alexis, Natacha, Marine and another woman were meant to be singing Billy Jean which was no where near ready :O.
Anyway, we spent quite a while trying to contact Alexis. Once we were finally on to him (by this time, I had taken up playing my trumpet), he informed us that he couldn't make it because he had school early the next morning (the concert starts at 9pm and goes till midnight - late, I know. That was when I did something really really really stupid. Something that I really regret doing now.
I voluntered to sing in the place of Alexis. Oops?
Anyway, that night Natacha came over to figure out what we were going to do, as we didn't know the lyrics and everything. Oh and we were meant to come up with a dance too. We ended up scrapping the dance, singing through Billy Jean once and then doing whatever. Haha, a tad catastropic...
---
: : Dimanche : :
Marine and I woke up at 9am to get ready to go to her grandmother's house for lunch.
After eating breakfast and speaking to my mum and Henry on webcam in New Zealand, and then proceding to talk to dad and my sister on webcam in Australia, it was time to go.
After eating the apparatifs, and being served a rather large slice of salmon quiche, I thought that it was time for dessert as I was already rather stuffed. But I was informed that no. The quiche was the entree :O, haha. Oops? Again. For the main meal we ate duck with potatoes, and afterwards a large slice of apple tart. No wonder those kilos are coming on : ( haha.
For dinner that night we had chicken with potatoes and fried fennel, and for dessert, creme au chocolat and apple cake. I kind of reached my bursting point of food at that stage...rarely being hungry and having each meal build upon the last :S, haha. I onlt ate two spoonfuls of Marine's creme au chocolat that night.
---
This morning Marine and I woke at five to seven in the morning to find Aurore in the bathroom, so we ended up having to wait and eating breakfast together. Cereal for me. Apple cake for Marine :).
When we first stepped outside and made our way to Natacha's mum's car ready for school, we were rather surprised that for once we weren't cold : ).
(When we were driving home with Natacha's mum, we learned that it was 14 degrees! hehe, and that's above freezing point :D!)
We started at 9am with two hours of Droit. Then geography (mark received - 13.5/20). Then lunch (which wasn't all that great :S) which we ate with Ludmilla : ). Then Management (got my resulat back for the test - 09/20). Then History (we were late because I went to the nurse for something for my stomachache). Then Spanish (where Marine snapped my pencil!!! haha, I think she's been doing Henry's training program in secret! haha). Then French. And then we were done! Whoo! Annnnd, we finished an hour earlier than we though :D.
And now Natacha is here with us and we're going through Billy Jean...CATASTROPHE!!!!!!!!!!! I think we might make people's ears bleed...seriously : (. And Marine's speaking to Alexis on Facebook about the concert. I wonder if she's going to go through with killing him...like she said before...: ) Muahahahaha.
---
: : Samedi : :
Soooooooo, Saturday morning I got Marine to wake me up as I didn't want to again miss the routine Saturday morning shopping trip to Cora.
Once we were all ready, my host-parents, me and Marine hopped in the car (Aurore was still sleeping, I think, haha) and drove into Soissons to drop Marine off at "Code" (only four mistakes this time :D) before taking a detour to Cora.
Once at Cora, my host-parents joked around with the trolley for a while (here they're plastic...and A LOT easier to steer, haha), trying to bed me to sit in the tiny baby-seat. Haha, with all the cakes and cheese I've been eating lately (*cough at Didier's cough* --- oh, and I forgot a course...hot chips :O) I think I may have killed the poor trolley : (. Haha.
Anyway, we did the shopping...My host mum and I taking an extra long time in the fruit section sorting through hundreds of rock-hard kiwi fruits...In the end we got the ten...I think we ended up imagining that they were at all ripe :S.
I also picked up a few recipes advertising certain fruit/veg products : )...Might come in handy ;).
When we were heading to the dairy/bread section, I ran into Ludmilla. Lots of hugs there as she had spent her holidays with her correspondant in London - hehe, she told me today that she now realises why I say, "oui" and nod, just to confirm that I have some comprehension of what's going on around me, haha.
Once we were all finished, we headed back home (me with my mouthwash, visual diary, chewing gum and deoderant...mmm, vanilla :D). I helped my host mum put away all the groceries - surprisingly something that I've found I love doing. It's kind of a bonding time : ) haha, we have fun with all the different products and our "attempts" (if you can call them that :S) at rearranging the fridge so that all the food fits :S. Haha.
She was also impressed at how I had arranged the bathroom cupboard when I carefully stacked away the various packets of new toothbrushes (haha, neatly behind the mirror :D).
I declined when my host-dad asked me if I would like to go with him to pick up Marine. My host mum assured me that it wasn't a problem and that she could finish up alone, but I stayed and helped : ).
Once Marine was with us once more, we sat down to a lunch of vegetable soup : ) yummy.
That afternoon Natacha called confirming that the singing concert was this Tuesday...SOmething that Marine, me and the family was not aware of. Alexis, Natacha, Marine and another woman were meant to be singing Billy Jean which was no where near ready :O.
Anyway, we spent quite a while trying to contact Alexis. Once we were finally on to him (by this time, I had taken up playing my trumpet), he informed us that he couldn't make it because he had school early the next morning (the concert starts at 9pm and goes till midnight - late, I know. That was when I did something really really really stupid. Something that I really regret doing now.
I voluntered to sing in the place of Alexis. Oops?
Anyway, that night Natacha came over to figure out what we were going to do, as we didn't know the lyrics and everything. Oh and we were meant to come up with a dance too. We ended up scrapping the dance, singing through Billy Jean once and then doing whatever. Haha, a tad catastropic...
---
: : Dimanche : :
Marine and I woke up at 9am to get ready to go to her grandmother's house for lunch.
After eating breakfast and speaking to my mum and Henry on webcam in New Zealand, and then proceding to talk to dad and my sister on webcam in Australia, it was time to go.
After eating the apparatifs, and being served a rather large slice of salmon quiche, I thought that it was time for dessert as I was already rather stuffed. But I was informed that no. The quiche was the entree :O, haha. Oops? Again. For the main meal we ate duck with potatoes, and afterwards a large slice of apple tart. No wonder those kilos are coming on : ( haha.
For dinner that night we had chicken with potatoes and fried fennel, and for dessert, creme au chocolat and apple cake. I kind of reached my bursting point of food at that stage...rarely being hungry and having each meal build upon the last :S, haha. I onlt ate two spoonfuls of Marine's creme au chocolat that night.
---
This morning Marine and I woke at five to seven in the morning to find Aurore in the bathroom, so we ended up having to wait and eating breakfast together. Cereal for me. Apple cake for Marine :).
When we first stepped outside and made our way to Natacha's mum's car ready for school, we were rather surprised that for once we weren't cold : ).
(When we were driving home with Natacha's mum, we learned that it was 14 degrees! hehe, and that's above freezing point :D!)
We started at 9am with two hours of Droit. Then geography (mark received - 13.5/20). Then lunch (which wasn't all that great :S) which we ate with Ludmilla : ). Then Management (got my resulat back for the test - 09/20). Then History (we were late because I went to the nurse for something for my stomachache). Then Spanish (where Marine snapped my pencil!!! haha, I think she's been doing Henry's training program in secret! haha). Then French. And then we were done! Whoo! Annnnd, we finished an hour earlier than we though :D.
And now Natacha is here with us and we're going through Billy Jean...CATASTROPHE!!!!!!!!!!! I think we might make people's ears bleed...seriously : (. And Marine's speaking to Alexis on Facebook about the concert. I wonder if she's going to go through with killing him...like she said before...: ) Muahahahaha.
Monday, February 22, 2010
: : Two thirds [[ and one drop ]] to go... : :
When people told me that going on exchange, and experiencing a new culture, left you with I sense of appreciation. I thought I knew what to expect. What to think of this.
I thought that this appreciation would be felt towards those who had opened their hearts and their homes to me. And, probably more importantly, their lives. It didn't occur to me, nor had it ever entered my mind, that perhaps this appreciation would be spun upside-down. Onto those whom I had left.
Being welcomed into a family, and treated like family – well, to a certain extent, as there is still that feeling of hesitation, and that final conclusion that no. I cannot talk back. I cannot feel somewhat negatively towards these people – left me with a born respect towards my family here.
Those situations where you would normally find yourself being selfish or all too stubborn, rolling your eyes at some chore you thought could be done those ten minutes later have suddenly stopped bothering me. It's a strange concept to grasp when you realise that suddenly you are watching, perhaps not yourself, but someone like you, react the same way you had in the past. Watching how it effects the others around them.
You are able to see the care a mother takes in perfectly ironing and folding the family's clothes, and the pain when she sees them carelessly tossed on the floor – regardless of whether there was any intention of hurt or neglect. Or how a father may make a comment without thought of how it may effect his child.
It is only now, when I am able to drift between that mother and father, those two siblings, or perhaps those two friends who just don't get along any more, that I can truly experience both receiving ends. Like in movies where the screen shots clearly depict what each character is feeling, yet, they are blinded by all the commotion and perhaps their own emotions – perhaps even the embarrassment or maybe just the humanity of taking that next step and saying sorry, or looking beyond a simple gesture. To realise that life is complicated – so what's the point in complicating those things that are simple to begin with?
I know it may sound cliché when I say this, but this experience has made me realise that the phrase, “enjoy the simple things in life” is exactly that. Often it is overlooked. Often complicated. Human beings are complicated. I guess it is in our nature to over complicate things, strive for what we cannot have. That happy parent-child relationship, that understanding-friend that you had before, but who changed.
It's bizarre when it occurs to you that you are given all these things naturally. We just have to be cautious that we don't over-analyse things, don't overlook those folded clothes, or that smiling daughter – that hug from that certain friend.
Before now I had always looked at myself and seen a “glass-half-full” person, but being here has made me realise that that was not the case. Before there was always that little bit of an absence, that question of why not this or why not that. Always thinking that more could be done for me.
Now, especially in this last week, I have felt a real appreciation for what I have back home. Friends, those who I did over-analyse and perhaps pushed away. And most importantly family. Those times where I chose to react or perhaps put something off for later. Seeing how all this effects others, and not being able to change anything is quite a frustrating position to be in over here. When I see a friend treating another friend badly, and knowing how the rest will play out, yet not being able to do anything about it. At times I know I will do things that will perhaps contradict myself and what I'm saying, and I may not have my glass filled exactly half-way. Maybe a third. By nevertheless it's under that tap, catching each drop one by one – maybe one day just one drop will make it over that brim...
I thought that this appreciation would be felt towards those who had opened their hearts and their homes to me. And, probably more importantly, their lives. It didn't occur to me, nor had it ever entered my mind, that perhaps this appreciation would be spun upside-down. Onto those whom I had left.
Being welcomed into a family, and treated like family – well, to a certain extent, as there is still that feeling of hesitation, and that final conclusion that no. I cannot talk back. I cannot feel somewhat negatively towards these people – left me with a born respect towards my family here.
Those situations where you would normally find yourself being selfish or all too stubborn, rolling your eyes at some chore you thought could be done those ten minutes later have suddenly stopped bothering me. It's a strange concept to grasp when you realise that suddenly you are watching, perhaps not yourself, but someone like you, react the same way you had in the past. Watching how it effects the others around them.
You are able to see the care a mother takes in perfectly ironing and folding the family's clothes, and the pain when she sees them carelessly tossed on the floor – regardless of whether there was any intention of hurt or neglect. Or how a father may make a comment without thought of how it may effect his child.
It is only now, when I am able to drift between that mother and father, those two siblings, or perhaps those two friends who just don't get along any more, that I can truly experience both receiving ends. Like in movies where the screen shots clearly depict what each character is feeling, yet, they are blinded by all the commotion and perhaps their own emotions – perhaps even the embarrassment or maybe just the humanity of taking that next step and saying sorry, or looking beyond a simple gesture. To realise that life is complicated – so what's the point in complicating those things that are simple to begin with?
I know it may sound cliché when I say this, but this experience has made me realise that the phrase, “enjoy the simple things in life” is exactly that. Often it is overlooked. Often complicated. Human beings are complicated. I guess it is in our nature to over complicate things, strive for what we cannot have. That happy parent-child relationship, that understanding-friend that you had before, but who changed.
It's bizarre when it occurs to you that you are given all these things naturally. We just have to be cautious that we don't over-analyse things, don't overlook those folded clothes, or that smiling daughter – that hug from that certain friend.
Before now I had always looked at myself and seen a “glass-half-full” person, but being here has made me realise that that was not the case. Before there was always that little bit of an absence, that question of why not this or why not that. Always thinking that more could be done for me.
Now, especially in this last week, I have felt a real appreciation for what I have back home. Friends, those who I did over-analyse and perhaps pushed away. And most importantly family. Those times where I chose to react or perhaps put something off for later. Seeing how all this effects others, and not being able to change anything is quite a frustrating position to be in over here. When I see a friend treating another friend badly, and knowing how the rest will play out, yet not being able to do anything about it. At times I know I will do things that will perhaps contradict myself and what I'm saying, and I may not have my glass filled exactly half-way. Maybe a third. By nevertheless it's under that tap, catching each drop one by one – maybe one day just one drop will make it over that brim...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
: : Chez Mammie [[ Chez nous ]] Chez Didier : :
Okay, so I've decided to be a good little grand-daughter and put my poor grandparents out of their misery :).
So, obviously I've skipped a few days (going to make up for that :D, promise) - yes, well this has been due to being rather busy...
I'll start with Tuesday.
---
: : Tuesday : :
The morning moved pretty quickly - soon after eating a late breakfast it was time for lunch, that type of thing...
After lunch Marine and I went upstairs where I began creating a photobook using Snapfish for my first month in France. That took up most of my time...After a while, Marine came into my room with her laptop and helped me choose the photos to upload.
At 4.00pm, my host mum made us each a "banane au chocolat" - which is a banana, split down the middle and filled with dark chocolate before being baked in the oven for about 5-10 minutes. I wasn't really hungry, but Marine was starving, so we proceeded to sneak the biscuits that Tom brought over the night before, some left over "Petit Dejeuner" biscuits and the massive tub of Nutella...Which Marine ate with a spoon, haha.
At about 5pm we packed our bags ready to go to my host-mum's mum's house, where Marine and I were going to spend the night. Once we were ready to go and in the car, Marine and I remembered about all the food we had snuck up to my room and that her dad would be going in there to workout, and that it was certain he would spot the treats that were in clear view on my desk...Oops?
When we arrived Chez Mammie (number two, haha), we had to search for a carpark for a while but Marine and Aurore convinced my host-mum to be "creative" with her parking; however when we told Mammie about this we learned that it's likely for our car to be towed because the area is always being checked. This scared my host-mum a bit, and she left to move the car, despite Mammie insisting that it would be fine.
A while after arrival, we were joined by two other people to eat cheese, crackers, chips, olives etc. After about approximately an hour, Aurore and my host-mum had to leave because my host-dad called saying that dinner was ready. The other two people left soon after.
One is was just Marine, Mammie and I, we sat down at the small table in the kitchen for dinner. We ate quiche (again, who ever said that the French ate small portions???) and this salad of tiny circular leaves with a vinegarette dressing.
After finally convincing her that one slice of quiche was enough, and no, we didn't want any cheese, Mammie brought out the dessert. Wow, a lot of dessert. Which she had spent all day preparing. We each had a large bowl of "creme au chocolat" (which is like chocolate custard) accompanied by a thick slice of yoghurt cake.
After dinner, I think the chocolate got to Marine and I and we both went a little crazy - pictures as proof.
Once we were dressed in our pjs, we went and watched, "World's Strictest Parents" in French - two episodes, before going to bed.
Didn't really sleep all too well that night. I think it might have been my sugar intake :S. I was still awake in the early morning when Marine started talking - at first I responded, before realising that she was sleep-talking. The talking turned into screaming and she woke from a nightmare. We ended up sleeping with one arm around eachother.
Marine woke early the next morning to call Henry on her mobile phone...Not a good idea. Seven euros for four minutes.
Anyway, Marine got up afterwards and went and ate a breakfast of brioche and left over yoghurt cake while I slept for ten more minutes. I joined Marine in the kitchen while Mammie took a shower and ate a slice of brioche with tea and berry jam.
After we had finished eating, both Marine and I went up to the bathroom with our clothes to brush our teeth and decide who would shower first. It was rather funny because Mammie seemed to think that we were going to shower together. I even said to Marine that it would be funny if she went downstairs and Mammie commented on how quick her shower was. And sure enough, that's what happened, haha.
While I was in the shower, Marine's cousin and an ex-postmas dropped by - I went downstairs after to say hello before proceding to our bedroom and photographing the necklace that Marine gave me upon my arrival here in France.
With "aurevoir"s said to the postman and the cousin, Marine and I prepared our bags, grabbed the rubbish, dumped it in the large bins and hopped into Mammie's car. At 12:06pm we arrived home where we would soon be joined by Leila, Bruno and their little son. We ate the snacks at about 1pm - we then went upstairs where I continued with my creation on Snapfish. Aurore and Sammy (little boy) played rather loudly in my bedroom, with Sammy throwing balls at me...rather chaotic. He also wouldn't stop poking me, which wasn't nice, especially with me not having had much sleep the night before.
For lunch we ate duck, with a white wine cream sauce, two different types of mushrooms (picked by my host-dad in the forest last September and last April) and potatos...Possibly the best meal I've had here :D.
For dessert it was "Tarte aux pommes" which was really nice :). We all finished eating at around 4.30pm with Bruno, Leila and their son leaving at 5.30pm.
For dinner that night it was a bit of "just help yourself if you're hungry". When Marine and I went down to get some food, my host-mum remembered the pack of macaroons she had bought me, so I took them up to my room with the platter of food that Marine and I had prepared. We ate baguette with herb and garlic cheese and crab, and some fruit while we watched a French movie on my bed.
At the end of the movie, Marine's laptop ran out of battery and I went to the toilet and after all that, we didn't end up watching the very end of the movie, but we got the gist of how it ended anyway.
Afterwards Marine was stressing about the phone call she would receive from Henry the next morning, so I taught her a few Aussi/NZ slang words and we went from there, haha, that was good fun and wore off the choatic-ness of earlier on.
---
Thursday morning, Marine and I woke and ate breakfast together. She was expecting the call at 9:30am. She was stressing about who would answer the phone. As it turned out, her parents ate at the same time as us - which was a good sign. It meant that while we were eating, the office was empty. But 9.30am came and went (although Henry had a good reason - between him and I...a surprise for Marine) - so we made our way upstairs and signed onto MSN - and yes, Henry was online. So we talked to him. Turns out he was stressing about what to say if my host-dad picked up, haha - fair enough. We decided on Aurore answering the phone. So Marine and I sent her downstairs to the bathroom (next to the office) where she would start singing to let us know when to give Henry the sign to dial.
Sure enough, about 30 seconds later we heard Aurore call, "Becky! Marine!". We made our way downstairs to the office, where we spent an hour talking to Henry.
---
Afterwards, Marine and I showered and got ready before eating a lunch of spaghetti with beef and tomato sauce (no, not the bottled type :P). The meat was really really nice - never experienced meat "melting in your mouth" until yesterday. After I was finished...I was informed that it was cow tongue and that it was the most tender cut of meat. Surprisingly, I wasn't at all bothered by this :).
After lunch we made our way into the city of Riems, where we visited a cathedral (very very beautiful!)and shopped (famous for its boutiques). Marine and I weren't all that successful with our shopping...We ended up spending the little time we had at a store called "Mim", which is also in Soissons...hehe. I bought a casual black dress and a brown cardigen, and Marine bought a plaid shirt and a star necklace (haha, the "rock star" look we decided to buy for her, haha).
When we were heading back to the cathedral to where we were meeting her parents, Marine and I put on massive sunnies and walked like gorillas back to the cathedral, haha, got a few weird looks.
We then took pictures of our surrounds and waited for everyone.
On the way back to the car, we stopped at a giant champagne bottle where my host-dad took pictures of Marine and I.
Once in the car, we were all rather hungry, so my host-mum took out the "Madelines" (orange flavoured, shell shaped cakes) that she had prepared earlier. After eating one, I fell asleep, and after her second, Marine too.
We managed to sleep all the way back home (45mins) before getting ready to go to Didier's for dinner. When Tom hadn't arrived at Didier's, Marine and I were sent in search for him at his grandmother's house with Oceane and Aurore tagging along too. The house and gate was locked so we ended up standing outside yelling, "Too-ooom! Madame Barbi-eeeer!". But there was no reply, so we walked past the two houses, to Didier's. It turns out that his grandparents made him go to bed at 7:30pm...nothing out of the ordinary, apparently.
Anyway, after eating a rediculous amount of appetisers, we were faced with SEVEN more courses...why didn't anyone stop me eating those nuts?
Course 2: Salad with eggs
Course 3: Pork in white wine sauce with sauteed onions, garlic and bacon, served with buttered green-beans and potatoes (...yes, I thought this was the LAST course)
Course 4: Pork, cheese and onions baked in a loaf of pastry (I only made it to this course...:S...but tasted the rest)
Course 5: Cheese and baguette
Course 6: Red fruit salad (really nice!)
Course 7: Madelines (made by my host mum)
Course 8: Bread and butter pudding (with apple - also made by my host-mum - again, really nice :D)
Let's just say that after that, Marine and I were both pregnant, with food babies. Triplets. Maybe even quadriplets.
After the pork, cheese, onion pastry, when Didier announced that there was more, I picked up my toothpick and began mock-stabbing my heart...That made my host-mum laugh to the verge of tears, haha. And then I grabbed Didier's back-scratcher (hehe, it had a mini-hand) and started brushing Marine's hair with it...haha, judging by her sounds of approval, she enjoyed that, haha. Marine's mum then said, "Ooooh! Oh! Henry!"...haha, yes, laughed myself stupid at that.
After dinner, Didier then went around spraying whipped cream into everyone's mouths...in fear of bursting I declined, haha, didn't stop him trying though :S.
For the majority of the rest of the night I photographed Marine with her necklace...playing with the focus (or what was meant to be a focus, haha).
---
This morning I woke up...had breakfast, and showered before going downstairs to meet a 68 year old women who my host-mum had told me about the night before. She was there for an English lesson with my host-mum and was apparently rather posh...
She wanted to hear my accent...I had a bit of trouble finding words to say in English for her, so I ended up saying, "France is very beautiful and I enjoy going to the centre of Soissons".
---
After a lunch of soup and the left over duck, mushrooms and sauce served with the left over pasta (yummmm), Marine and I went upstairs, played Cafeworld together and now she's at her driving lesson : ).
---
OH! And I had a language breakthrough Wednesday night!
After the movie, Marine and I went downstairs to brush our teeth and get ready for bed. While we were teeth-brushing, I asked her why, in French, some phrases take 'ne' without the 'pas' (the two together wrap around a verb to form a negative) - and no, communication with a mouthful of toothpaste and a toothbrush wasn't the breakthrough :P haha, although I was rather amazing that I had come from not understanding someone speaking one word at a time, to rattling away while brushing my teeth.
Anyway, Marine, growing up with the language, had no idea why, so we went to consult her mum. For about five minutes we were standing there, with my host-parents sitting on the couch with the tv in the background discussing why it was. It was when I shouted out, "OH! The 'ne' is like 'any' for 'ANYthing' or 'ANYone' in english and it's the absence of that thing" (only in French). And my host mum shouted out, "yes! Yes that's it!" and we all let out a sigh of...not really sure what it was...a release of tension, I guess. For me that seemed like such a breakthrough. It gave me the "happy-dance urge" and that smile that doesn't go away, hehe. Bizarre, really. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Probably like in sport, or maths when you work really hard at getting a new Personal Best or working out that one question that makes no sense, and suddenly, it's there and you've done it. The same feeling, only magnified, that I had when I came third for the Make Your Mark competetion. And it's so unexpected, too :). Hm, good times, good times :D.
So, obviously I've skipped a few days (going to make up for that :D, promise) - yes, well this has been due to being rather busy...
I'll start with Tuesday.
---
: : Tuesday : :
The morning moved pretty quickly - soon after eating a late breakfast it was time for lunch, that type of thing...
After lunch Marine and I went upstairs where I began creating a photobook using Snapfish for my first month in France. That took up most of my time...After a while, Marine came into my room with her laptop and helped me choose the photos to upload.
At 4.00pm, my host mum made us each a "banane au chocolat" - which is a banana, split down the middle and filled with dark chocolate before being baked in the oven for about 5-10 minutes. I wasn't really hungry, but Marine was starving, so we proceeded to sneak the biscuits that Tom brought over the night before, some left over "Petit Dejeuner" biscuits and the massive tub of Nutella...Which Marine ate with a spoon, haha.
At about 5pm we packed our bags ready to go to my host-mum's mum's house, where Marine and I were going to spend the night. Once we were ready to go and in the car, Marine and I remembered about all the food we had snuck up to my room and that her dad would be going in there to workout, and that it was certain he would spot the treats that were in clear view on my desk...Oops?
When we arrived Chez Mammie (number two, haha), we had to search for a carpark for a while but Marine and Aurore convinced my host-mum to be "creative" with her parking; however when we told Mammie about this we learned that it's likely for our car to be towed because the area is always being checked. This scared my host-mum a bit, and she left to move the car, despite Mammie insisting that it would be fine.
A while after arrival, we were joined by two other people to eat cheese, crackers, chips, olives etc. After about approximately an hour, Aurore and my host-mum had to leave because my host-dad called saying that dinner was ready. The other two people left soon after.
One is was just Marine, Mammie and I, we sat down at the small table in the kitchen for dinner. We ate quiche (again, who ever said that the French ate small portions???) and this salad of tiny circular leaves with a vinegarette dressing.
After finally convincing her that one slice of quiche was enough, and no, we didn't want any cheese, Mammie brought out the dessert. Wow, a lot of dessert. Which she had spent all day preparing. We each had a large bowl of "creme au chocolat" (which is like chocolate custard) accompanied by a thick slice of yoghurt cake.
After dinner, I think the chocolate got to Marine and I and we both went a little crazy - pictures as proof.
Once we were dressed in our pjs, we went and watched, "World's Strictest Parents" in French - two episodes, before going to bed.
Didn't really sleep all too well that night. I think it might have been my sugar intake :S. I was still awake in the early morning when Marine started talking - at first I responded, before realising that she was sleep-talking. The talking turned into screaming and she woke from a nightmare. We ended up sleeping with one arm around eachother.
Marine woke early the next morning to call Henry on her mobile phone...Not a good idea. Seven euros for four minutes.
Anyway, Marine got up afterwards and went and ate a breakfast of brioche and left over yoghurt cake while I slept for ten more minutes. I joined Marine in the kitchen while Mammie took a shower and ate a slice of brioche with tea and berry jam.
After we had finished eating, both Marine and I went up to the bathroom with our clothes to brush our teeth and decide who would shower first. It was rather funny because Mammie seemed to think that we were going to shower together. I even said to Marine that it would be funny if she went downstairs and Mammie commented on how quick her shower was. And sure enough, that's what happened, haha.
While I was in the shower, Marine's cousin and an ex-postmas dropped by - I went downstairs after to say hello before proceding to our bedroom and photographing the necklace that Marine gave me upon my arrival here in France.
With "aurevoir"s said to the postman and the cousin, Marine and I prepared our bags, grabbed the rubbish, dumped it in the large bins and hopped into Mammie's car. At 12:06pm we arrived home where we would soon be joined by Leila, Bruno and their little son. We ate the snacks at about 1pm - we then went upstairs where I continued with my creation on Snapfish. Aurore and Sammy (little boy) played rather loudly in my bedroom, with Sammy throwing balls at me...rather chaotic. He also wouldn't stop poking me, which wasn't nice, especially with me not having had much sleep the night before.
For lunch we ate duck, with a white wine cream sauce, two different types of mushrooms (picked by my host-dad in the forest last September and last April) and potatos...Possibly the best meal I've had here :D.
For dessert it was "Tarte aux pommes" which was really nice :). We all finished eating at around 4.30pm with Bruno, Leila and their son leaving at 5.30pm.
For dinner that night it was a bit of "just help yourself if you're hungry". When Marine and I went down to get some food, my host-mum remembered the pack of macaroons she had bought me, so I took them up to my room with the platter of food that Marine and I had prepared. We ate baguette with herb and garlic cheese and crab, and some fruit while we watched a French movie on my bed.
At the end of the movie, Marine's laptop ran out of battery and I went to the toilet and after all that, we didn't end up watching the very end of the movie, but we got the gist of how it ended anyway.
Afterwards Marine was stressing about the phone call she would receive from Henry the next morning, so I taught her a few Aussi/NZ slang words and we went from there, haha, that was good fun and wore off the choatic-ness of earlier on.
---
Thursday morning, Marine and I woke and ate breakfast together. She was expecting the call at 9:30am. She was stressing about who would answer the phone. As it turned out, her parents ate at the same time as us - which was a good sign. It meant that while we were eating, the office was empty. But 9.30am came and went (although Henry had a good reason - between him and I...a surprise for Marine) - so we made our way upstairs and signed onto MSN - and yes, Henry was online. So we talked to him. Turns out he was stressing about what to say if my host-dad picked up, haha - fair enough. We decided on Aurore answering the phone. So Marine and I sent her downstairs to the bathroom (next to the office) where she would start singing to let us know when to give Henry the sign to dial.
Sure enough, about 30 seconds later we heard Aurore call, "Becky! Marine!". We made our way downstairs to the office, where we spent an hour talking to Henry.
---
Afterwards, Marine and I showered and got ready before eating a lunch of spaghetti with beef and tomato sauce (no, not the bottled type :P). The meat was really really nice - never experienced meat "melting in your mouth" until yesterday. After I was finished...I was informed that it was cow tongue and that it was the most tender cut of meat. Surprisingly, I wasn't at all bothered by this :).
After lunch we made our way into the city of Riems, where we visited a cathedral (very very beautiful!)and shopped (famous for its boutiques). Marine and I weren't all that successful with our shopping...We ended up spending the little time we had at a store called "Mim", which is also in Soissons...hehe. I bought a casual black dress and a brown cardigen, and Marine bought a plaid shirt and a star necklace (haha, the "rock star" look we decided to buy for her, haha).
When we were heading back to the cathedral to where we were meeting her parents, Marine and I put on massive sunnies and walked like gorillas back to the cathedral, haha, got a few weird looks.
We then took pictures of our surrounds and waited for everyone.
On the way back to the car, we stopped at a giant champagne bottle where my host-dad took pictures of Marine and I.
Once in the car, we were all rather hungry, so my host-mum took out the "Madelines" (orange flavoured, shell shaped cakes) that she had prepared earlier. After eating one, I fell asleep, and after her second, Marine too.
We managed to sleep all the way back home (45mins) before getting ready to go to Didier's for dinner. When Tom hadn't arrived at Didier's, Marine and I were sent in search for him at his grandmother's house with Oceane and Aurore tagging along too. The house and gate was locked so we ended up standing outside yelling, "Too-ooom! Madame Barbi-eeeer!". But there was no reply, so we walked past the two houses, to Didier's. It turns out that his grandparents made him go to bed at 7:30pm...nothing out of the ordinary, apparently.
Anyway, after eating a rediculous amount of appetisers, we were faced with SEVEN more courses...why didn't anyone stop me eating those nuts?
Course 2: Salad with eggs
Course 3: Pork in white wine sauce with sauteed onions, garlic and bacon, served with buttered green-beans and potatoes (...yes, I thought this was the LAST course)
Course 4: Pork, cheese and onions baked in a loaf of pastry (I only made it to this course...:S...but tasted the rest)
Course 5: Cheese and baguette
Course 6: Red fruit salad (really nice!)
Course 7: Madelines (made by my host mum)
Course 8: Bread and butter pudding (with apple - also made by my host-mum - again, really nice :D)
Let's just say that after that, Marine and I were both pregnant, with food babies. Triplets. Maybe even quadriplets.
After the pork, cheese, onion pastry, when Didier announced that there was more, I picked up my toothpick and began mock-stabbing my heart...That made my host-mum laugh to the verge of tears, haha. And then I grabbed Didier's back-scratcher (hehe, it had a mini-hand) and started brushing Marine's hair with it...haha, judging by her sounds of approval, she enjoyed that, haha. Marine's mum then said, "Ooooh! Oh! Henry!"...haha, yes, laughed myself stupid at that.
After dinner, Didier then went around spraying whipped cream into everyone's mouths...in fear of bursting I declined, haha, didn't stop him trying though :S.
For the majority of the rest of the night I photographed Marine with her necklace...playing with the focus (or what was meant to be a focus, haha).
---
This morning I woke up...had breakfast, and showered before going downstairs to meet a 68 year old women who my host-mum had told me about the night before. She was there for an English lesson with my host-mum and was apparently rather posh...
She wanted to hear my accent...I had a bit of trouble finding words to say in English for her, so I ended up saying, "France is very beautiful and I enjoy going to the centre of Soissons".
---
After a lunch of soup and the left over duck, mushrooms and sauce served with the left over pasta (yummmm), Marine and I went upstairs, played Cafeworld together and now she's at her driving lesson : ).
---
OH! And I had a language breakthrough Wednesday night!
After the movie, Marine and I went downstairs to brush our teeth and get ready for bed. While we were teeth-brushing, I asked her why, in French, some phrases take 'ne' without the 'pas' (the two together wrap around a verb to form a negative) - and no, communication with a mouthful of toothpaste and a toothbrush wasn't the breakthrough :P haha, although I was rather amazing that I had come from not understanding someone speaking one word at a time, to rattling away while brushing my teeth.
Anyway, Marine, growing up with the language, had no idea why, so we went to consult her mum. For about five minutes we were standing there, with my host-parents sitting on the couch with the tv in the background discussing why it was. It was when I shouted out, "OH! The 'ne' is like 'any' for 'ANYthing' or 'ANYone' in english and it's the absence of that thing" (only in French). And my host mum shouted out, "yes! Yes that's it!" and we all let out a sigh of...not really sure what it was...a release of tension, I guess. For me that seemed like such a breakthrough. It gave me the "happy-dance urge" and that smile that doesn't go away, hehe. Bizarre, really. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Probably like in sport, or maths when you work really hard at getting a new Personal Best or working out that one question that makes no sense, and suddenly, it's there and you've done it. The same feeling, only magnified, that I had when I came third for the Make Your Mark competetion. And it's so unexpected, too :). Hm, good times, good times :D.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
: : 3 en 1 [[ de Droit ]] : :
Yes, another three in one blog entry - Sorry for the absence lately, hehe, been a bit caught up in things.
Anywaaaaay, I'll start with Saturday (oh, watched Bridget Jone's diary in French Friday night - interesting stuff!)
---
I was meant to go to Cora with my host parents - but yet again they didn't want to wake me from my sleep. My host dad commented that I was like a certain animal (keep forgetting what it's called...). But my anyway, my host-parents keep telling me that it's no big deal and that it's normal that I sleep a lot more here than in Australia because of the climate.
Marine had to go to "Code" (theory test for driving) so that meant that it was just me and Aurore for the morning.
I did a big clean up of my room while my host-parents were gone. [[ family in general - don't worry I'm consistantly keeping a clean room...]] It's amazing how Marine's belongings can pile up on my desk, haha, you can really tell when she's visited for a few hours, haha. --- hehe, don't worry Marine - I don't minds :D
By the time my host parents had arrived with all the shopping I was still cleaning up, so I quickly finished (hehe, quickly meaning within 10 minutes) before taking Marine's pile of stuff into her room. Hehe, I was a bit dumbstruck as to where to put it as there were things everywhere, hehe, but I settled with a place near a few picture frames near her window --- hehe, her bedroom has since been cleaned ; ). I then made my way downstairs and helped my host mum put away all the groceries. She'd bought me some yummy cereal (which I only got around to trying today).
Marine arrived home and it was time for lunch. We had beef and vegetable spiced soup, which was really nice : )...and welcomed with the cold weather...SNOW! hehe.
---
After lunch, Aurore, Marine me and my host-mum went into Soissons to buy a few things. It took a few tries to find a clothing store with suitable pyjama's for me (they seem to all be short shorts and t-shirts...interesting, considering the temperature...), but we got there in the end. I bought some sky blue snoopy flannel pjs : ).
Once out in the cold again, we ran into my host-mum's cousin. After exchanging hellos, introducing me and telling her about the underwear that Marine and Aurore had just bought (haha, got a wide-eyed look from Marine for that) - we were on our way again to our next shop.
We stopped off at this cheap little shop in search for some good bargains. Marine and I were considering dying our hair this deep red colour for Tom - but I was a bit hesitant as the brand wasn't good and I didn't want to ruin my hair...Sandrine thought the same, so we left it for another day.
---
On the way back to the car we went in search for some baguettes for the evening. At the boulangerie, Marine and I bought a massive pistachio flavoured green heart shaped macaroon to share and Aurore something else...can't remember what it was, but it looked rather good.
With baguettes and macaroon in heavily gloved hands we got in the car and made our way home.
Marine and I got nice and dressed up for Tommy-Boy as a joke, haha, yes we had good fun with that. Oh, and took some lovely photos with her heart shaped cushion and her cupid wall stickers.
---
With still half an hour till the arrival of the one and only Tom, Marine and I took to singing karoke off her laptop (yes, she has a karoke program :D).
---
After much earlier discussion about the seating arrangements of everyone at the table - and with the little name tags laid out...It was official. I was sitting next to Tom.
---
At 7:30pm Marine and I took the laptop downstairs and searched for the plug in the wall in preparation for our later conversation with Henry.
And then...
Guess who came a knock kncok knocking at the door?
Oh, no, false alarm - just Mamie :D
Five minutes later we were faced with that knocking once more. And yes, this time it was Tom, Didier and Oceane (Didier's grand-daughter...I think). So we ate our entrees. Sat on the couch...waited. Then invited Tom to sit on the couch with us. Waited some more...no sign of Henry, even though we both knew it was still too early. Then decided to show Tom the videos of us on Youtube. Marine and I were laughing our heads off, while, as far as I could tell, he was just sitting there. Afterwards, we used the excuse "toilet" and went into the kitchen and said to eachother, "oh, no. He didn't laugh! Haha, he just sat there while we were laughing...".
Soooo, main course - Paela (or something). A Spanish dish with rice, alot of seafood and chicken and tomatos. Nearing the end of the main course, we heard the, very loud, sounds of "incoming instant message". Yes. Henry had arrived. We sneaked away from the table and began speaking to him...Tom invited himself too after a few minutes.
Anyway, after Tom became bored by us and went to search for the rest of the gang, the conversation turned to Marine and Henry ; ). According to Marine's parents she'd never had a boyfriend...*cough cough*...And Marine wanted Henry to tell the family about their newly found love (I hope you two don't mind me sharing this :S). After much stressing and figuring out what to say - and a few preparation trips to the toilet with a few more songs thrown in the mix, we decided on Henry asking the family's permission if Marine could be his Valentine. It helped a bit that the family all already loved "Becky's guitar playing cousin from New Zealand" and that my host-mum already suspected something from before when she saw Henry's personal message...(ie. it had something to do with Marine).
So when the adults returned it was go-go. Henry read out the pronounciation for the French that I had written for him earlier and the whole family, plus Mamie, Didier and Tom (okay, maybe not Tom...but you never know) fell for his charm.
---
We then ate dessert - brioche and fruit salad.
After dinner Marine and I escaped to my bedroom where we were laughing about Tom and his, "Je sais pas"s and "[shrug] ca va."s...When we heard footsteps. Knock knock. Knock knock. Haha, Marine then ran to the handle and held the door shut. Knock knock. Marine ran back to the bed. "Oui?". Tom entered, looked around and sat on the chair. Rather awkward situation.
Marine and I tried to make conversation but it seemed to keep ending up being about Lola, the cat. Wow, he really was interested in her, haha.
Anyway, we decided on a game of Foozball (or however you spell it). Marine and I against Tom. We lost, he won. Haha, and for some reason Marine and I ended up fighting eachother - hehe, she had a blood lip in the end. Haha, she whacked her head on my shoulder. Was rather interestimg. Anyway, we then told Tom we'd be right back (by this time Aurore and Oceane were with us...phew!)...which may or may not have been true...As we went to remove our make-up and brush our teeth. I told Marine in the bathroom that I bet he would come looking for us. Which he did...after Aurore and Oceane had joined us in the bathroom and Aurore had told me that apparently Tom thought I was cute and if it worked out, wouldn't mind marrying me *gulp*.
Anyway, when he joined us again, I was halfway through brushing my teeth. I think I ended up brushing them for something like 7 minutes - expecting him to leave while I spat. Haha - no luck. Marine had to take a seat on the bath, I took so long. But in the end I gave up and spat in front of the gathered audience.
---
Luckily it was time for them to leave soon after...only for Didier to invite us over on Thursday again before Tom left. Oh joy, haha. YAY for Didier! Uh oh, for Tom. Haha, nah, I'm sure I'll survive :D.
---
Yesterday : :
Hm, what did I do yesterday...?
Oh yes - yesterday I woke up rather early considering the late night the night before. 9:15 I think it was...After showering and eating and all that, it was ready for lunch. We had duck with vegetables and this orange flavoured stuffing which I didn't like all that much, so my host-mum ate the rest of mine. The duck was good though :D. After lunch, Marine and I took to doing Henry's training program, which didn't really work all that well...haha.
Before dinner, Marine and I were rather hungry and filled up on these chip things...only to be faced with more entrees when dinner started. I think I ate about 45 pistachio nuts, 8 twisties, 17 rolled dorito-type-chips and then started the main meal of pork hotpot. Really nice :D. And then, when I thought I was done - Tirimisu :O. Haha - yes, was extremely full after that, but had a good chat with Marine and my host-dad when I was cheese tasting somewhere between the main course and dessert.
Marine and I went to bed soom after dessert as we were both rather tired.
---
Today, I had been warned was the day that we would start our holiday homework. After eating an apple and cereal for a late breakfast, Marine told me that it was a CATASTROPHE! Yes - there were three pages of definitions to learn for Droit (law). After a lunch of soup, we wemt to the doctor to get Marine vaccinated. There weren't that many people there but it took a while of waiting, all the same.
Afterwards, we arrived home and started learning the definitions (hehe, and stole the box of lollies from downstairs - wow , felt really sick after that!). About ten minutes later, there was some more knocking at the door as my host-dad's sister payed us a visit with her 20 year son and 14 year old daughter. Apparently the 20 year old son never comes and my host-parents suspected that it was because of me because he was the type who didn't care about 5 years age difference...
Anyway, Marine and I kept moving from the dining table, speaking to the fmaily, and my room where we tried to learn the vocab.
We also did the unspeakable with the lollies...hehe.
Anyway, now Marine's in her room again learning the vocab, as it is more important for her to learn it than me, at this moment in time. Three pages of vocab - and on the test, you only need to write out the definitions of five. Difficult, to say the least.
My host dad is doing his routine work-out in my room (it's the playroom/gym as well). And yes, I'm doing this :D.
So that's it for now...Three days in one blog entry. Three pages of vocab in one study session. All done. For now...
Anywaaaaay, I'll start with Saturday (oh, watched Bridget Jone's diary in French Friday night - interesting stuff!)
---
I was meant to go to Cora with my host parents - but yet again they didn't want to wake me from my sleep. My host dad commented that I was like a certain animal (keep forgetting what it's called...). But my anyway, my host-parents keep telling me that it's no big deal and that it's normal that I sleep a lot more here than in Australia because of the climate.
Marine had to go to "Code" (theory test for driving) so that meant that it was just me and Aurore for the morning.
I did a big clean up of my room while my host-parents were gone. [[ family in general - don't worry I'm consistantly keeping a clean room...]] It's amazing how Marine's belongings can pile up on my desk, haha, you can really tell when she's visited for a few hours, haha. --- hehe, don't worry Marine - I don't minds :D
By the time my host parents had arrived with all the shopping I was still cleaning up, so I quickly finished (hehe, quickly meaning within 10 minutes) before taking Marine's pile of stuff into her room. Hehe, I was a bit dumbstruck as to where to put it as there were things everywhere, hehe, but I settled with a place near a few picture frames near her window --- hehe, her bedroom has since been cleaned ; ). I then made my way downstairs and helped my host mum put away all the groceries. She'd bought me some yummy cereal (which I only got around to trying today).
Marine arrived home and it was time for lunch. We had beef and vegetable spiced soup, which was really nice : )...and welcomed with the cold weather...SNOW! hehe.
---
After lunch, Aurore, Marine me and my host-mum went into Soissons to buy a few things. It took a few tries to find a clothing store with suitable pyjama's for me (they seem to all be short shorts and t-shirts...interesting, considering the temperature...), but we got there in the end. I bought some sky blue snoopy flannel pjs : ).
Once out in the cold again, we ran into my host-mum's cousin. After exchanging hellos, introducing me and telling her about the underwear that Marine and Aurore had just bought (haha, got a wide-eyed look from Marine for that) - we were on our way again to our next shop.
We stopped off at this cheap little shop in search for some good bargains. Marine and I were considering dying our hair this deep red colour for Tom - but I was a bit hesitant as the brand wasn't good and I didn't want to ruin my hair...Sandrine thought the same, so we left it for another day.
---
On the way back to the car we went in search for some baguettes for the evening. At the boulangerie, Marine and I bought a massive pistachio flavoured green heart shaped macaroon to share and Aurore something else...can't remember what it was, but it looked rather good.
With baguettes and macaroon in heavily gloved hands we got in the car and made our way home.
Marine and I got nice and dressed up for Tommy-Boy as a joke, haha, yes we had good fun with that. Oh, and took some lovely photos with her heart shaped cushion and her cupid wall stickers.
---
With still half an hour till the arrival of the one and only Tom, Marine and I took to singing karoke off her laptop (yes, she has a karoke program :D).
---
After much earlier discussion about the seating arrangements of everyone at the table - and with the little name tags laid out...It was official. I was sitting next to Tom.
---
At 7:30pm Marine and I took the laptop downstairs and searched for the plug in the wall in preparation for our later conversation with Henry.
And then...
Guess who came a knock kncok knocking at the door?
Oh, no, false alarm - just Mamie :D
Five minutes later we were faced with that knocking once more. And yes, this time it was Tom, Didier and Oceane (Didier's grand-daughter...I think). So we ate our entrees. Sat on the couch...waited. Then invited Tom to sit on the couch with us. Waited some more...no sign of Henry, even though we both knew it was still too early. Then decided to show Tom the videos of us on Youtube. Marine and I were laughing our heads off, while, as far as I could tell, he was just sitting there. Afterwards, we used the excuse "toilet" and went into the kitchen and said to eachother, "oh, no. He didn't laugh! Haha, he just sat there while we were laughing...".
Soooo, main course - Paela (or something). A Spanish dish with rice, alot of seafood and chicken and tomatos. Nearing the end of the main course, we heard the, very loud, sounds of "incoming instant message". Yes. Henry had arrived. We sneaked away from the table and began speaking to him...Tom invited himself too after a few minutes.
Anyway, after Tom became bored by us and went to search for the rest of the gang, the conversation turned to Marine and Henry ; ). According to Marine's parents she'd never had a boyfriend...*cough cough*...And Marine wanted Henry to tell the family about their newly found love (I hope you two don't mind me sharing this :S). After much stressing and figuring out what to say - and a few preparation trips to the toilet with a few more songs thrown in the mix, we decided on Henry asking the family's permission if Marine could be his Valentine. It helped a bit that the family all already loved "Becky's guitar playing cousin from New Zealand" and that my host-mum already suspected something from before when she saw Henry's personal message...(ie. it had something to do with Marine).
So when the adults returned it was go-go. Henry read out the pronounciation for the French that I had written for him earlier and the whole family, plus Mamie, Didier and Tom (okay, maybe not Tom...but you never know) fell for his charm.
---
We then ate dessert - brioche and fruit salad.
After dinner Marine and I escaped to my bedroom where we were laughing about Tom and his, "Je sais pas"s and "[shrug] ca va."s...When we heard footsteps. Knock knock. Knock knock. Haha, Marine then ran to the handle and held the door shut. Knock knock. Marine ran back to the bed. "Oui?". Tom entered, looked around and sat on the chair. Rather awkward situation.
Marine and I tried to make conversation but it seemed to keep ending up being about Lola, the cat. Wow, he really was interested in her, haha.
Anyway, we decided on a game of Foozball (or however you spell it). Marine and I against Tom. We lost, he won. Haha, and for some reason Marine and I ended up fighting eachother - hehe, she had a blood lip in the end. Haha, she whacked her head on my shoulder. Was rather interestimg. Anyway, we then told Tom we'd be right back (by this time Aurore and Oceane were with us...phew!)...which may or may not have been true...As we went to remove our make-up and brush our teeth. I told Marine in the bathroom that I bet he would come looking for us. Which he did...after Aurore and Oceane had joined us in the bathroom and Aurore had told me that apparently Tom thought I was cute and if it worked out, wouldn't mind marrying me *gulp*.
Anyway, when he joined us again, I was halfway through brushing my teeth. I think I ended up brushing them for something like 7 minutes - expecting him to leave while I spat. Haha - no luck. Marine had to take a seat on the bath, I took so long. But in the end I gave up and spat in front of the gathered audience.
---
Luckily it was time for them to leave soon after...only for Didier to invite us over on Thursday again before Tom left. Oh joy, haha. YAY for Didier! Uh oh, for Tom. Haha, nah, I'm sure I'll survive :D.
---
Yesterday : :
Hm, what did I do yesterday...?
Oh yes - yesterday I woke up rather early considering the late night the night before. 9:15 I think it was...After showering and eating and all that, it was ready for lunch. We had duck with vegetables and this orange flavoured stuffing which I didn't like all that much, so my host-mum ate the rest of mine. The duck was good though :D. After lunch, Marine and I took to doing Henry's training program, which didn't really work all that well...haha.
Before dinner, Marine and I were rather hungry and filled up on these chip things...only to be faced with more entrees when dinner started. I think I ate about 45 pistachio nuts, 8 twisties, 17 rolled dorito-type-chips and then started the main meal of pork hotpot. Really nice :D. And then, when I thought I was done - Tirimisu :O. Haha - yes, was extremely full after that, but had a good chat with Marine and my host-dad when I was cheese tasting somewhere between the main course and dessert.
Marine and I went to bed soom after dessert as we were both rather tired.
---
Today, I had been warned was the day that we would start our holiday homework. After eating an apple and cereal for a late breakfast, Marine told me that it was a CATASTROPHE! Yes - there were three pages of definitions to learn for Droit (law). After a lunch of soup, we wemt to the doctor to get Marine vaccinated. There weren't that many people there but it took a while of waiting, all the same.
Afterwards, we arrived home and started learning the definitions (hehe, and stole the box of lollies from downstairs - wow , felt really sick after that!). About ten minutes later, there was some more knocking at the door as my host-dad's sister payed us a visit with her 20 year son and 14 year old daughter. Apparently the 20 year old son never comes and my host-parents suspected that it was because of me because he was the type who didn't care about 5 years age difference...
Anyway, Marine and I kept moving from the dining table, speaking to the fmaily, and my room where we tried to learn the vocab.
We also did the unspeakable with the lollies...hehe.
Anyway, now Marine's in her room again learning the vocab, as it is more important for her to learn it than me, at this moment in time. Three pages of vocab - and on the test, you only need to write out the definitions of five. Difficult, to say the least.
My host dad is doing his routine work-out in my room (it's the playroom/gym as well). And yes, I'm doing this :D.
So that's it for now...Three days in one blog entry. Three pages of vocab in one study session. All done. For now...
Friday, February 12, 2010
: : Un petit mot [[ d'un petit bonbon rouge ]] : :
So, judging by the date...It appears that Saturday is approaching ever-so-quickly :O. It wasn't until I was talking to Whye Yen on msn this afternoon that I realised that it was indeed Thursday and not Tuesday...
Why do I keep having to be reminded that I've been here for nearly a month already??? That's 1/5 of my exchange almost gone :O. Me no likey!
---
Before I start my recap of today, I would like to write something that my experience so far has taught me.
Last week, when I was standing out in the rain, after Arts Plastiques, waiting for my host mum to pick me up, there was something that occurred to me.
I had been randomly placed, in another country, by people I didn't know, to live, learn and be around complete strangers for five months. Before arriving here, I had been warned, time and time again, that this exchange would be a journey - at times a hard and most of all it would mimick the journey of a rollercoaster...oh and then there was the culture shock thrown in the midst of things as well.
As I was standing there, watching the strangers move, laugh and run through the rain around me, I realised that for me, there was no culture shock - that there would be no rollercoaster. Perhaps I'm "speaking to soon" when I say that, but life is a rollercoaster and will be till the end. So, if life = rollercoaster and rollercoaster = exchange, then really, doesn't exchange just equal life? Why be here, afraid of the next jolt, the next plunge into nothingness, not knowing what's around the corner, when you can just take it and say, "well, I'm going up...oh, whoohoo! That means the thrill of the drop is ever approaching...!". This isn't a rollercoaster. This is just the climb that builds you for those times when life is tough - it teaches you that you can make it through those times and be proud that you've let go of that handle bar and screamed like no one was sitting there with their fists in their ears.
I realised that where I was, at that moment, was a place no different to any other. There were people who had made mistakes, people who were too positive, or the opposite, too negative. There were people just like me. And as the sun set over the school, a group of friends ran past in the rain. All five cold and wet. Just like me. They were screaming and laughing and being too loud, making fools of themselves. Something you're able to do with people who don't judge you. It reminded me of those times in Australia with my own friends. Whether it be dancing in the rain after photogaphy club, lining half melted jellybabies on the steps of the science lab, or just feeding off eachother's energy. There were people with their own stories, heads ducked against the wind.
All this made me ask myself, what separates people? Here I was on the other side of the world, in a differnt climate and culture and the people were just the same. Complete strangers, yet mimicking the same patterns I have seen before.
People think that they can go on exchange and be a different person - start a new life...But how is this possible if you are faced with the same everyday situations?
This experience changes you, yes. But you are the same person, just growing and maturing and catching up with yourself, really. Your anticipation, curiousity and perhaps fear grows as you wait in suspense for that dip at the end of the road. Each person around you, a stranger yet a shadow of someone you know. It is for this, I think that there is no home sickness no rollercoaster out of the ordinary. Just life. Life multiplied a hundred times, then multiplied again. And right now I'm heading up that mountain, not knowing what lies ahead. There is no fear. Just the knowledge that the strangers surrounding me are there to hold my hand and scream in unison as the ledge approaches...
People don't change. They just experience things that bring out different traits from within. It's our own choice what we choose to experience - how to react to an experience. People have told me this all my life. But it wasn't until it hit me that one day afterschool, that it became true, maybe not for everyone, but for me. One person amongst billions. Just one small step - just one metre of railing. But still, it's a start :).
---
---
---
Okay, resurfacing again : ).
This morning I woke after some rather pleasant dreams : ) : ) : ). Haha, which seemed to scare away my headache and sore throat. Instead I just woke a little heavy eyed and generally blocked up (especially in the nose region...three more mint scented tissues gone! You should really see my bin!).
After eating breakfast and showering, and doing a few other random things, it was lunch time. We had Chicken Curry again. OH! And the long lost parcel addressed to me and my family for Christmas finally arrived (although, to the return address, haha). So before and after lunch I spent time unwrapping all the gifts. There were things for me, my sister and my mum. Very nice things too :D.
After lunch Marine and I had a little wrestling match over my keyboard...haha, ouch. But I gave in in the end...(that's something I'm not willing to share :P Muahahahaha).
Oh, and during that time, Marine knocked over my bin of tissues twice...haha, she had to pick them all up! But nah, she's sick too, we're embracing eachother's germs, hehe.
At 4pm, Marine was hungry so we went down stairs and made a nutella hot chocolate and put "Petit Dejeuner" biscuits in it (they're these chocolate biscuits for breakfast with a few oats thrown in them, they quite good). Haha, was a bit too chocolately for me, so I got a mandarine instead. But Marine ate it and managed to spill it all over her top (haha, I think it stained).
At 5.40pm-ish Marine left for her driving lesson. Haha, you won't want to get in her way! It snowed tonnes today...and Marine + snow + a car = CATASTROPHE, I'm thinking. Haha.
Anyway, she should be back soon for dinner. Probably in 40 minutes or so : ). I'll add to this after dinner :D. Whatever we're having smells mighty good! Hehe.
---
After dinner : :
Okay, so dinner turned out to be a yummy omelette, haha. A very very very yummy omelette. I think my host dad is possibly one of the best omelette makers : ). They're not your everyday omelette. Instead there are layers of potato, tomato, meat, onion, herbs, parsley, and then, finally the egg and a lot of cheese. For entree we had charculerie meat and more cheese on slices of baguette.
After dinner we went upstairs and Marine started to write out a resume for finding work in Soissons.
After a little while, we went downstairs and ate prunes soaked in some sort of alcohol - quite nice, although the alcohol taste became a bit strong for me, still ate them and enjoyed them though : ). And the heat was well welcomed.
Anyway, going to get ready for bed now :D.
Bonne Nuit et bisous : )
Why do I keep having to be reminded that I've been here for nearly a month already??? That's 1/5 of my exchange almost gone :O. Me no likey!
---
Before I start my recap of today, I would like to write something that my experience so far has taught me.
Last week, when I was standing out in the rain, after Arts Plastiques, waiting for my host mum to pick me up, there was something that occurred to me.
I had been randomly placed, in another country, by people I didn't know, to live, learn and be around complete strangers for five months. Before arriving here, I had been warned, time and time again, that this exchange would be a journey - at times a hard and most of all it would mimick the journey of a rollercoaster...oh and then there was the culture shock thrown in the midst of things as well.
As I was standing there, watching the strangers move, laugh and run through the rain around me, I realised that for me, there was no culture shock - that there would be no rollercoaster. Perhaps I'm "speaking to soon" when I say that, but life is a rollercoaster and will be till the end. So, if life = rollercoaster and rollercoaster = exchange, then really, doesn't exchange just equal life? Why be here, afraid of the next jolt, the next plunge into nothingness, not knowing what's around the corner, when you can just take it and say, "well, I'm going up...oh, whoohoo! That means the thrill of the drop is ever approaching...!". This isn't a rollercoaster. This is just the climb that builds you for those times when life is tough - it teaches you that you can make it through those times and be proud that you've let go of that handle bar and screamed like no one was sitting there with their fists in their ears.
I realised that where I was, at that moment, was a place no different to any other. There were people who had made mistakes, people who were too positive, or the opposite, too negative. There were people just like me. And as the sun set over the school, a group of friends ran past in the rain. All five cold and wet. Just like me. They were screaming and laughing and being too loud, making fools of themselves. Something you're able to do with people who don't judge you. It reminded me of those times in Australia with my own friends. Whether it be dancing in the rain after photogaphy club, lining half melted jellybabies on the steps of the science lab, or just feeding off eachother's energy. There were people with their own stories, heads ducked against the wind.
All this made me ask myself, what separates people? Here I was on the other side of the world, in a differnt climate and culture and the people were just the same. Complete strangers, yet mimicking the same patterns I have seen before.
People think that they can go on exchange and be a different person - start a new life...But how is this possible if you are faced with the same everyday situations?
This experience changes you, yes. But you are the same person, just growing and maturing and catching up with yourself, really. Your anticipation, curiousity and perhaps fear grows as you wait in suspense for that dip at the end of the road. Each person around you, a stranger yet a shadow of someone you know. It is for this, I think that there is no home sickness no rollercoaster out of the ordinary. Just life. Life multiplied a hundred times, then multiplied again. And right now I'm heading up that mountain, not knowing what lies ahead. There is no fear. Just the knowledge that the strangers surrounding me are there to hold my hand and scream in unison as the ledge approaches...
People don't change. They just experience things that bring out different traits from within. It's our own choice what we choose to experience - how to react to an experience. People have told me this all my life. But it wasn't until it hit me that one day afterschool, that it became true, maybe not for everyone, but for me. One person amongst billions. Just one small step - just one metre of railing. But still, it's a start :).
---
---
---
Okay, resurfacing again : ).
This morning I woke after some rather pleasant dreams : ) : ) : ). Haha, which seemed to scare away my headache and sore throat. Instead I just woke a little heavy eyed and generally blocked up (especially in the nose region...three more mint scented tissues gone! You should really see my bin!).
After eating breakfast and showering, and doing a few other random things, it was lunch time. We had Chicken Curry again. OH! And the long lost parcel addressed to me and my family for Christmas finally arrived (although, to the return address, haha). So before and after lunch I spent time unwrapping all the gifts. There were things for me, my sister and my mum. Very nice things too :D.
After lunch Marine and I had a little wrestling match over my keyboard...haha, ouch. But I gave in in the end...(that's something I'm not willing to share :P Muahahahaha).
Oh, and during that time, Marine knocked over my bin of tissues twice...haha, she had to pick them all up! But nah, she's sick too, we're embracing eachother's germs, hehe.
At 4pm, Marine was hungry so we went down stairs and made a nutella hot chocolate and put "Petit Dejeuner" biscuits in it (they're these chocolate biscuits for breakfast with a few oats thrown in them, they quite good). Haha, was a bit too chocolately for me, so I got a mandarine instead. But Marine ate it and managed to spill it all over her top (haha, I think it stained).
At 5.40pm-ish Marine left for her driving lesson. Haha, you won't want to get in her way! It snowed tonnes today...and Marine + snow + a car = CATASTROPHE, I'm thinking. Haha.
Anyway, she should be back soon for dinner. Probably in 40 minutes or so : ). I'll add to this after dinner :D. Whatever we're having smells mighty good! Hehe.
---
After dinner : :
Okay, so dinner turned out to be a yummy omelette, haha. A very very very yummy omelette. I think my host dad is possibly one of the best omelette makers : ). They're not your everyday omelette. Instead there are layers of potato, tomato, meat, onion, herbs, parsley, and then, finally the egg and a lot of cheese. For entree we had charculerie meat and more cheese on slices of baguette.
After dinner we went upstairs and Marine started to write out a resume for finding work in Soissons.
After a little while, we went downstairs and ate prunes soaked in some sort of alcohol - quite nice, although the alcohol taste became a bit strong for me, still ate them and enjoyed them though : ). And the heat was well welcomed.
Anyway, going to get ready for bed now :D.
Bonne Nuit et bisous : )
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
: : TROIS [[ in one ]] : :
Okay, so picking up from where I left off...: :
---
Before dinner (two days ago)my host mum, me, Aurore and Marine went searching for baguettes. What we originally thought would be a 10, maybe 15 minute trip to the Boulangerie, turned out to be an epic search for an OPEN boulangerie...something I thought I would never do, you know, living in a country where baguettes are eaten with every meal of the day...and for snacks with Nutella - something that Aurore loves to do.
I was a bit confused when we left the usual boulangerie empty handed - I thought there were plently of baguette varieties to choose from...but apparently not...When we got in the car and started down the road, we waited for two boys (about 16) to cross the road. My host mum started waving at the manically as if we knew them, and then Marine followed suit...and afterwards, I waved at them with a clownish smile from the back window. Haha, the face on the poor guy's face was priceless as he was spinning around in circles in the middle of the road looking confusedly at us, half waving, half not. Funny funny.
It took a lot of driving around Soissons before we found an open boulangerie....and it was only 6.00pm (the shops close at 7pm here). But we found one in the end. We got three baguettes - original, maize and multi-grain, plus our desserts. I got this raspberry thing that was a bit like yoghurt...haha, hard to explain.
After we got our baguettes, we stopped by a chemist to ask about part-time work for Marine during the summer holidays...no such luck. Here they only take you if you're 18 years old. And with only 16 years - you have a very slim chance.
Making our way back to the car, my host mum spotted a Merry-Go-Round that was closed but was still lit up - so she went and asked the man who was there if we could all have a ride because I was Australian and was curious, haha.
When we got in the car my host mum and Marine decided that tomorrow (yesterday) Marine and I would go to the movies while Aurore went to a friend's house. Marine asked me what genre I liked, and I said comedy. She said, "oh, moi aussi". After a few seconds had passed, we said, in unison, "Comedie romantique", hehe, we seem to be thinking very much alike lately.
---
Yesterday : :
After lunch, the whole family hopped in the car while it was a not-so-pleasant -3*C outside. We had a little trouble finding, "le Rue Chateau" (or something) and had to stop to ask for directions...but we made it in the end : ). Afterwards, my host parents dropped Marine and I off in the centre of Soissons where we spent about 1.5hours asking shop-assistants whether they would allow a 16 year old to work in their shop...We weren't all that successful, getting only three maybes in the end.
We were originally going to see Up In the Air at the cinema; however when we arrived and viewed the screen...it was apparently not on, haha, just our luck. So instead we saw "La Princesse et la Grenouille" (The Princess and the Frog). Hehe, it was quite good, and I managed to understand quite a bit of it in French :D. Hehe. When we first entered the cinema I was blown away : ). The cinema had it's own toilet, a stage, and a lot of comfy, massive, red chairs : ). When Marine and I sat down in the middle of the middle row, we took of our coats, and shoes and sprawled ourselves across the seats with our jackets as blankets, hehe. Fun times : ).
When the movie had finished we had 15 minutes to spare before we were picked up. Lucky Marine had told the cinema staff earlier that I was Australian...haha, because they laughed at us as we took pictures with the cutout characters and posters, haha. We also went outside (very very very cold! So that only lasted about all of two minutes...) jumping off the stairs. Marine was a bit catastrophic, haha. When she jumped, she fell onto me and pushed me into the line of an approaching car :S. Haha, but I'm alive aren't I? Haha, nah, got a really good picture where she kind of looks like a flying crazed gorilla coming to get me, hehehehehehe.
---
After dinner that night, we took to filming our comic singing and posting three videos on youtube...although we got a bit annoyed when we found out that the best parts had been, for some strange reason, cut out. [[ I'll see if I can get the links on here ; ) ]]
Because of You
Angles
We Will Rock You
---
This morning when I woke up my head was pounding :S thanks to me being sick and all : |. When I went to blow my nose, I found that one nostrel was completely full of blood...lovely stuff that was : |. But after a full morning of nose blowing, I was good to go.
At lunch, yet again I thought my host dad was kidding...nup, not the case...yet again. When my plate was piled with left over spaghetti from our previous lunch, and then told it was the entree, I was somewhat disbelieving. But sure enough, the main dish was brought out - sauteed potatoes, layed with charcuterie meat, parsly and cheese.
---
After lunch we left to go to "Le Musee de Voitures" (car museum), where we had a very boring, stict guide. Haha, my host mum joked that she was a witch and that the news headlines would be, "People Trapped in le Musee de Voitures!" or something along those lines : ). What's more, there was a boy that wouldn't stop following Marine and I around the museum :S haha. But yes...it was rather interesting, and helpful that my host mum translated some of what was being said into English for me. I joked to Marine and her that it must be confusing for the other people there because she was telling me what was being said in English and I was responding in French, haha, go figure.
Afterwards we proceeded (through the snow), the the Chateau : ). Marine was naughty and took photos with her flash when she thought no one was watching, and when they were, she would say, "oh, whoops!", hehe, was rather funny...until she was told off by the man in charge, with her mum pretending that it was an accident and the camera was just playing up.
---
After the chateau, we went to Cora to buy stuff for dinner (Marine and I falling asleep in the car). Marine, Aurore and I were a bit hungry so we went and bought a pack of 12 macaroons to share between to the three. Vanilla, lemon, berry, coffee, chocolate and pistachio nut. I really like the pistachio ones normally but left them for Marine and Aurore as they hadn't yet tasted it. I had coffee, vanilla (because they were the two flavours I hadn't yet tried), berry, 1/3 of chocolate and 1/3 of lemon.
---
For dinner, we ate a traditional French (Cora prepared, haha) meal - Cassoulet : ). It's canaloni (I think...) beans, cooked in a casarole dish with lamb, beef and sausages - plus the usual onions etc. What quite nice : ). Marine and I ate it with herb and garlic cheese spread on multi-grain bread - and for dessert I ate this rice pudding thing...although it wasn't rice, it was this other fine grain. Yummy :D.
After dinner we sat down, as usual and watched the French soap opera - Plus Belle la Ville. My host dad and Marine really really really enjoy it. Haha - I tend to zone out and just watch the pretty colours flicker across the screen, haha. Nah, just kidding. I just get the gist of what's going on through the movement of the characters : ).
---
Bonne Nuit :D
P.S --- think I might go get some throat medicine...:S
---
Before dinner (two days ago)my host mum, me, Aurore and Marine went searching for baguettes. What we originally thought would be a 10, maybe 15 minute trip to the Boulangerie, turned out to be an epic search for an OPEN boulangerie...something I thought I would never do, you know, living in a country where baguettes are eaten with every meal of the day...and for snacks with Nutella - something that Aurore loves to do.
I was a bit confused when we left the usual boulangerie empty handed - I thought there were plently of baguette varieties to choose from...but apparently not...When we got in the car and started down the road, we waited for two boys (about 16) to cross the road. My host mum started waving at the manically as if we knew them, and then Marine followed suit...and afterwards, I waved at them with a clownish smile from the back window. Haha, the face on the poor guy's face was priceless as he was spinning around in circles in the middle of the road looking confusedly at us, half waving, half not. Funny funny.
It took a lot of driving around Soissons before we found an open boulangerie....and it was only 6.00pm (the shops close at 7pm here). But we found one in the end. We got three baguettes - original, maize and multi-grain, plus our desserts. I got this raspberry thing that was a bit like yoghurt...haha, hard to explain.
After we got our baguettes, we stopped by a chemist to ask about part-time work for Marine during the summer holidays...no such luck. Here they only take you if you're 18 years old. And with only 16 years - you have a very slim chance.
Making our way back to the car, my host mum spotted a Merry-Go-Round that was closed but was still lit up - so she went and asked the man who was there if we could all have a ride because I was Australian and was curious, haha.
When we got in the car my host mum and Marine decided that tomorrow (yesterday) Marine and I would go to the movies while Aurore went to a friend's house. Marine asked me what genre I liked, and I said comedy. She said, "oh, moi aussi". After a few seconds had passed, we said, in unison, "Comedie romantique", hehe, we seem to be thinking very much alike lately.
---
Yesterday : :
After lunch, the whole family hopped in the car while it was a not-so-pleasant -3*C outside. We had a little trouble finding, "le Rue Chateau" (or something) and had to stop to ask for directions...but we made it in the end : ). Afterwards, my host parents dropped Marine and I off in the centre of Soissons where we spent about 1.5hours asking shop-assistants whether they would allow a 16 year old to work in their shop...We weren't all that successful, getting only three maybes in the end.
We were originally going to see Up In the Air at the cinema; however when we arrived and viewed the screen...it was apparently not on, haha, just our luck. So instead we saw "La Princesse et la Grenouille" (The Princess and the Frog). Hehe, it was quite good, and I managed to understand quite a bit of it in French :D. Hehe. When we first entered the cinema I was blown away : ). The cinema had it's own toilet, a stage, and a lot of comfy, massive, red chairs : ). When Marine and I sat down in the middle of the middle row, we took of our coats, and shoes and sprawled ourselves across the seats with our jackets as blankets, hehe. Fun times : ).
When the movie had finished we had 15 minutes to spare before we were picked up. Lucky Marine had told the cinema staff earlier that I was Australian...haha, because they laughed at us as we took pictures with the cutout characters and posters, haha. We also went outside (very very very cold! So that only lasted about all of two minutes...) jumping off the stairs. Marine was a bit catastrophic, haha. When she jumped, she fell onto me and pushed me into the line of an approaching car :S. Haha, but I'm alive aren't I? Haha, nah, got a really good picture where she kind of looks like a flying crazed gorilla coming to get me, hehehehehehe.
---
After dinner that night, we took to filming our comic singing and posting three videos on youtube...although we got a bit annoyed when we found out that the best parts had been, for some strange reason, cut out. [[ I'll see if I can get the links on here ; ) ]]
Because of You
Angles
We Will Rock You
---
This morning when I woke up my head was pounding :S thanks to me being sick and all : |. When I went to blow my nose, I found that one nostrel was completely full of blood...lovely stuff that was : |. But after a full morning of nose blowing, I was good to go.
At lunch, yet again I thought my host dad was kidding...nup, not the case...yet again. When my plate was piled with left over spaghetti from our previous lunch, and then told it was the entree, I was somewhat disbelieving. But sure enough, the main dish was brought out - sauteed potatoes, layed with charcuterie meat, parsly and cheese.
---
After lunch we left to go to "Le Musee de Voitures" (car museum), where we had a very boring, stict guide. Haha, my host mum joked that she was a witch and that the news headlines would be, "People Trapped in le Musee de Voitures!" or something along those lines : ). What's more, there was a boy that wouldn't stop following Marine and I around the museum :S haha. But yes...it was rather interesting, and helpful that my host mum translated some of what was being said into English for me. I joked to Marine and her that it must be confusing for the other people there because she was telling me what was being said in English and I was responding in French, haha, go figure.
Afterwards we proceeded (through the snow), the the Chateau : ). Marine was naughty and took photos with her flash when she thought no one was watching, and when they were, she would say, "oh, whoops!", hehe, was rather funny...until she was told off by the man in charge, with her mum pretending that it was an accident and the camera was just playing up.
---
After the chateau, we went to Cora to buy stuff for dinner (Marine and I falling asleep in the car). Marine, Aurore and I were a bit hungry so we went and bought a pack of 12 macaroons to share between to the three. Vanilla, lemon, berry, coffee, chocolate and pistachio nut. I really like the pistachio ones normally but left them for Marine and Aurore as they hadn't yet tasted it. I had coffee, vanilla (because they were the two flavours I hadn't yet tried), berry, 1/3 of chocolate and 1/3 of lemon.
---
For dinner, we ate a traditional French (Cora prepared, haha) meal - Cassoulet : ). It's canaloni (I think...) beans, cooked in a casarole dish with lamb, beef and sausages - plus the usual onions etc. What quite nice : ). Marine and I ate it with herb and garlic cheese spread on multi-grain bread - and for dessert I ate this rice pudding thing...although it wasn't rice, it was this other fine grain. Yummy :D.
After dinner we sat down, as usual and watched the French soap opera - Plus Belle la Ville. My host dad and Marine really really really enjoy it. Haha - I tend to zone out and just watch the pretty colours flicker across the screen, haha. Nah, just kidding. I just get the gist of what's going on through the movement of the characters : ).
---
Bonne Nuit :D
P.S --- think I might go get some throat medicine...:S
Monday, February 8, 2010
: : honk [[ HOOOOONK ]] : :
--- Title inspired by Daddy :D ---
Hm, where did I leave off yesterday...ah yes. Lunch.
Well, after lunch we didn't really do much. Marine compressed the file of her singing "Angel" by Robbie Williams (from the Soiree) so she could send it to Henry (hehe). Which took about two hours...hehe.
By which time it was almost dinner :).
For dinner we had left over hare legs (oh, wow that sentence sounds odd...) with mash.
After dinner, Marine and I were on a bit of a high and took to singing...really badly..."Hurt" (haha, I'm pretty sure we hurt a few people's ears), "High" by James Blunt, and [[some opera]] by Pavaroti (not quite sure on the spelling :S)...For Cindy on webcam...hehe, I think we scared the poor girl a bit, muahahahahah!
Haha, my host mum found this quite amusing...apparently we were rather loud :S. Hehehehe.
Before going to bed, Marine and I played ping pong on her laptop...Which I lost, misserably. Something like: 480 000 to 2 800 000 haha.
---
This morning I was quite proud of myself as I got up before Marine! Haha, at 9:30ish am. I then went downstairs and ate some rice pudding and an apple for breakfast. Afterwards my host mum and I had a little honkathon in the kitchen (blowing noses, haha). And that's it. Yes, my holidays aren't proving to read very interestingly I bet...But just wait till the dreaded Saturday :O I'm sure that'll be worth a read. Haha : |.
Hm, where did I leave off yesterday...ah yes. Lunch.
Well, after lunch we didn't really do much. Marine compressed the file of her singing "Angel" by Robbie Williams (from the Soiree) so she could send it to Henry (hehe). Which took about two hours...hehe.
By which time it was almost dinner :).
For dinner we had left over hare legs (oh, wow that sentence sounds odd...) with mash.
After dinner, Marine and I were on a bit of a high and took to singing...really badly..."Hurt" (haha, I'm pretty sure we hurt a few people's ears), "High" by James Blunt, and [[some opera]] by Pavaroti (not quite sure on the spelling :S)...For Cindy on webcam...hehe, I think we scared the poor girl a bit, muahahahahah!
Haha, my host mum found this quite amusing...apparently we were rather loud :S. Hehehehe.
Before going to bed, Marine and I played ping pong on her laptop...Which I lost, misserably. Something like: 480 000 to 2 800 000 haha.
---
This morning I was quite proud of myself as I got up before Marine! Haha, at 9:30ish am. I then went downstairs and ate some rice pudding and an apple for breakfast. Afterwards my host mum and I had a little honkathon in the kitchen (blowing noses, haha). And that's it. Yes, my holidays aren't proving to read very interestingly I bet...But just wait till the dreaded Saturday :O I'm sure that'll be worth a read. Haha : |.
: : Cora [[ the explorer ]] : :
Yesterday, I missed the early morning Cora shopping experience yet again :S. Although I managed to wake up quite early considering my past weekends of sleeping...9am : )
After eating breakfast I went and had a shower before going upstairs and doing a few random things with Marine. (Haha, such as uploading her music onto my laptop :D).
For lunch was left over duck with tomato salad and green beans.
After lunch, my host mum took Marine, me, and Aurore to Cora (her second trip for the day) because earlier on they had forgotten to buy lemons, tea and honey - for the sore throats ; ).
And to search for some new pjs for me : ) but we didn't have much luck...so I got more face wash instead :D. While we were there we ran into Marine's grandmother and had a little chat - which led onto Tom...the guy that Didier wants me to marry :S uh oh!
Marine got a little carried away at that point and decided to call Didier and tell him that we were going to drop in on the way home (yes, this was after recieving a text saying that Tom was now with Didier). After much pleading not to on my part...we still went :S.
It was rather catastrophic if you asked anyone who was there - apart from Didier...
When we first arrived Didier asked us if it was the worth the wait to see each other (trust me...I was hardly itching to...haha). Yes, well I couldn't really say no. So I just said a sweet little "oui" and that was done with it. After a rather awkward 15 minutes at the table drinking water with Marine, Tom, Aurore and Didier...Super-Host-Mummy came to my rescue! Haha, with macaroons and this pastry thing.
Marine pretended to be figuring out how to take a picture with her phone and took a picture of Tom instead. Which I think he knew...because he was looking pretty smug in the photo :S haha.
Tom's grandma came to pick Tom up soon after Sandrine arrived as his bath was ready (haha - he was 16, 6ft and baby-faced, if you're wondering).
I wasn't thrilled to find out that he was coming over next Saturday for dinner to see me :O. Uh oh!
---
My host-Grandma came over for dinner...lots and lots of eating :S. Hehe, let's just say that Marine suggested I weigh myself...and as it turns out...it was me, myself and I, each weighing an additional kilo. Yup 3 kilos. However, that was after downing 1.5 litres of water and a massive dinner. Tried again this morning. + 1 kilo-ish.
---
Last night I slept horribly. Being sick and all. I got up at 6:30am to blow my nose and go to the toilet (which my host parents heard...hehe, whooops : |). I then went back to bed only to be woken by Marine and Aurore at 20 to 12pm. Sandrine had to call Mammie and tell her that we might be a bit late because I was sick - we were meant to go there for lunch at 12.30pm but we made it 12.45pm.
Sandrine wanted to take my temperature so she sent the thermometre upstairs with Marine and Aurore. At first I was kidding when they told me that you had to lie in bed and stick it up your bum (litterally). I laughed and said, "nooooon, c'est pas vrai!". But sure enough my host dad confirmed it for me :S. Haha, I wasn't game enough so I ended up just sticking in under my arm. haha, the reading was something like 35*. Not at all accurate. Haha.
After my shower (and taking a lot of medication...) I was feeling better and had time to dry my hair before going to Mammie's house. The food was much welcomed (probablly a bit too well welcomed considering the extra kilo :S).
And yeah. Finished eating at about 3pm.
After eating breakfast I went and had a shower before going upstairs and doing a few random things with Marine. (Haha, such as uploading her music onto my laptop :D).
For lunch was left over duck with tomato salad and green beans.
After lunch, my host mum took Marine, me, and Aurore to Cora (her second trip for the day) because earlier on they had forgotten to buy lemons, tea and honey - for the sore throats ; ).
And to search for some new pjs for me : ) but we didn't have much luck...so I got more face wash instead :D. While we were there we ran into Marine's grandmother and had a little chat - which led onto Tom...the guy that Didier wants me to marry :S uh oh!
Marine got a little carried away at that point and decided to call Didier and tell him that we were going to drop in on the way home (yes, this was after recieving a text saying that Tom was now with Didier). After much pleading not to on my part...we still went :S.
It was rather catastrophic if you asked anyone who was there - apart from Didier...
When we first arrived Didier asked us if it was the worth the wait to see each other (trust me...I was hardly itching to...haha). Yes, well I couldn't really say no. So I just said a sweet little "oui" and that was done with it. After a rather awkward 15 minutes at the table drinking water with Marine, Tom, Aurore and Didier...Super-Host-Mummy came to my rescue! Haha, with macaroons and this pastry thing.
Marine pretended to be figuring out how to take a picture with her phone and took a picture of Tom instead. Which I think he knew...because he was looking pretty smug in the photo :S haha.
Tom's grandma came to pick Tom up soon after Sandrine arrived as his bath was ready (haha - he was 16, 6ft and baby-faced, if you're wondering).
I wasn't thrilled to find out that he was coming over next Saturday for dinner to see me :O. Uh oh!
---
My host-Grandma came over for dinner...lots and lots of eating :S. Hehe, let's just say that Marine suggested I weigh myself...and as it turns out...it was me, myself and I, each weighing an additional kilo. Yup 3 kilos. However, that was after downing 1.5 litres of water and a massive dinner. Tried again this morning. + 1 kilo-ish.
---
Last night I slept horribly. Being sick and all. I got up at 6:30am to blow my nose and go to the toilet (which my host parents heard...hehe, whooops : |). I then went back to bed only to be woken by Marine and Aurore at 20 to 12pm. Sandrine had to call Mammie and tell her that we might be a bit late because I was sick - we were meant to go there for lunch at 12.30pm but we made it 12.45pm.
Sandrine wanted to take my temperature so she sent the thermometre upstairs with Marine and Aurore. At first I was kidding when they told me that you had to lie in bed and stick it up your bum (litterally). I laughed and said, "nooooon, c'est pas vrai!". But sure enough my host dad confirmed it for me :S. Haha, I wasn't game enough so I ended up just sticking in under my arm. haha, the reading was something like 35*. Not at all accurate. Haha.
After my shower (and taking a lot of medication...) I was feeling better and had time to dry my hair before going to Mammie's house. The food was much welcomed (probablly a bit too well welcomed considering the extra kilo :S).
And yeah. Finished eating at about 3pm.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
: : *cough [[ malade ]] cough* : :
Yes, my thoughts yesterday were in fact correct. I am now sick. First night of holidays and am sick :S...haha, just my luck I guess : ).
Sore throat (very very very sore :S)
Ear ache (right)
Headache
Heavy eyes
Glad the runny nose hasn't started yet...but don't want to jinx myself ; )
---
Today school started at 11am. I got up at ten to nine and had a little bit of a laugh with Marine about how miserable we both sounded (with our lost voices etc.).
Anyway, we started today with Maths. It turns out after not understanding ALL the French terms in the maths test, I did reasonably well :). 12.5/20 (haha, yes, I know that's not much at all in Australia...but the marking here is a lot harsher and different. Ie - 15/20 is brilliant :D. Hehehe.
Then was two hours of Gestion after lunch. Lunch was potatoes and fish fingers (which were odly gluggy and powdery...interesting stuff). And a chooclate eclaire for dessert.
Two hours of Gestion commenced with a test which I absolutely did not understand...and the teacher laughed at my miserable attempts.
OH! And I think I had a break-through! I'm pretty sure that Gestion is ACCOUNTING! WHOO! haha
Marine did her oral today : ) I think she went pretty well :D Which is good :D.
After Gestion was two hours of sport. After walking about 20 minutes to our sporting venue, we started Ping Pong. Haha, CATASTROPHE! Haha, let's just say that we had a bit of a competition where if you won you moved one way, and if you lost, you moved the other. I had the teacher constantly correcting my serve, haha, and I ended up at table 11...the last table, haha. Turns out that I am the worst Ping Ponger in our class, hahaha. Along wit Mudmilla haha. And to make things worse, we had to announce what table we ended up at and the teacher recorded our results...uh oh.
I think someone's going to be failing Ping Pong! Haha.
Anyway, instead of walking all the way back to school where Sandrine was picking us up, Cindy offered us a ride. When we waved at Ludmilla on our back, she started yelling and laughing at us like an old granny you see in Comics, haha.
---
When Sandrine picked us up, we went to the bakers and bought something to eat (even though it was 6:15pm) and a baguette. I got an assortment of five macaroons which I shared and Marine got a chocolate pastry type thing.
For dinner we had thin crust pizzas and then ate this pear cake...lots of cakes here. Haha, I think that the kilos are beginning to pile on...my host dad even suggested I go with him mushroom hunting soon because of the three hour trek there and back :S haha.
Anyway, throat hurtin...tired...beddy byes for me, I think : )
Bonne Nuit :)
Sore throat (very very very sore :S)
Ear ache (right)
Headache
Heavy eyes
Glad the runny nose hasn't started yet...but don't want to jinx myself ; )
---
Today school started at 11am. I got up at ten to nine and had a little bit of a laugh with Marine about how miserable we both sounded (with our lost voices etc.).
Anyway, we started today with Maths. It turns out after not understanding ALL the French terms in the maths test, I did reasonably well :). 12.5/20 (haha, yes, I know that's not much at all in Australia...but the marking here is a lot harsher and different. Ie - 15/20 is brilliant :D. Hehehe.
Then was two hours of Gestion after lunch. Lunch was potatoes and fish fingers (which were odly gluggy and powdery...interesting stuff). And a chooclate eclaire for dessert.
Two hours of Gestion commenced with a test which I absolutely did not understand...and the teacher laughed at my miserable attempts.
OH! And I think I had a break-through! I'm pretty sure that Gestion is ACCOUNTING! WHOO! haha
Marine did her oral today : ) I think she went pretty well :D Which is good :D.
After Gestion was two hours of sport. After walking about 20 minutes to our sporting venue, we started Ping Pong. Haha, CATASTROPHE! Haha, let's just say that we had a bit of a competition where if you won you moved one way, and if you lost, you moved the other. I had the teacher constantly correcting my serve, haha, and I ended up at table 11...the last table, haha. Turns out that I am the worst Ping Ponger in our class, hahaha. Along wit Mudmilla haha. And to make things worse, we had to announce what table we ended up at and the teacher recorded our results...uh oh.
I think someone's going to be failing Ping Pong! Haha.
Anyway, instead of walking all the way back to school where Sandrine was picking us up, Cindy offered us a ride. When we waved at Ludmilla on our back, she started yelling and laughing at us like an old granny you see in Comics, haha.
---
When Sandrine picked us up, we went to the bakers and bought something to eat (even though it was 6:15pm) and a baguette. I got an assortment of five macaroons which I shared and Marine got a chocolate pastry type thing.
For dinner we had thin crust pizzas and then ate this pear cake...lots of cakes here. Haha, I think that the kilos are beginning to pile on...my host dad even suggested I go with him mushroom hunting soon because of the three hour trek there and back :S haha.
Anyway, throat hurtin...tired...beddy byes for me, I think : )
Bonne Nuit :)
Friday, February 5, 2010
: : Byebye [[ echarpe ]] : :
Sorry - I will probably bring shame to all Australians when I say that today I was hot and sweating...9*C...:O Yes, me hot with my 9* here, while Australian summers reach up to 48*C.
Anyway, sorry there was no entry yesterday. After an hour or two spent crazy and laughing with Marine last night, I was too tired to do anything else.
Hm...don't really remember much about yesterday, sad to say. Only three hours in the morning at school - Droit, Maths (test - didn't understand all the French maths terms...:S but we'll see...tomorrow we get our results back), and Communications where we just did these puzzle type things.
We knocked off at lunch and went home to eat tuna/tomato/cheese pasta. At 2pm my host dad took Marine to her driving lesson, returned and then took me to my first trumpet lesson at 3pm (picking up Marine on the way).
What started off to be just a consultation with the trumpet teacher, Ruldolf (the red nose reindeer, haha, just kidding :P), turned into a lesson so I could "show him what I've got" haha. He said that my tone was good and I think he was happy to have an older student as most of them are younglings.
After my trumpet lesson we had 40 minutes to spare, so Marine and I went to Soissons to buy me a new bag and a necklace chain for the pendant she gave me when I firt arrived (a little sterling silver heart that says "I LOVE YOU" :D).
With that all done we went into another shop and tried on some really out-there clothing...too bad I had forgotten my camera :( would've been a good photo-op ;).
We arrived at singing 30 minutes early (started at 5pm), so we went into the bathroom to warm up...It turns out I got a little too warm and was walking around the place with red cheeks, haha, a few comments there.
***May I add, I think I'm now getting sick with thanks to the two sickies at singing *cough Marine cough Alexis* --- pardon the punn ;)
During singing each person was assigned a traditional French song. It was pretty awesome hearing some authentic French music :D Reminded me of all those French scenes in movies with the music playing while the characters enjoyed time by the riviera :).
At one stage one of the drumming teachers came in and started dancing funnily to the music. Good times :)
Afterwards, I think Marine's sickness got to head, haha :P, and she called her mum to ask where she was - but she was already there...haha, all the fussing about with Alexis' phone, trying to remember her mum's phone number :P.
Before picking up Aurore, we went to the French pattiserie and bought something for dessert. The cakes are so much bigger here! Which is kind of hard to believe considering some places in Australia! I got a lemon tart :D.
After a dinner of chicken and veggies, and our desserts (which I have a feeling contained a little toooooooo much sugar) Marine and I went upstairs and talked crzsily on the massive mattress - she then proceeded to draw me whiskers, and me, a moustache for her, haha. Then we took lots of crazy photos. Haha, was fun.
In the end I forgot about the whiskers and went downstairs to brush my teeth and say goodnight. That resulted in two laughing host parents telling me that I was cute, haha.
---
Anyway, this morning Marine and I were pretty much dead. Marine with her sickness, me with my fatigue (and my soon to be sickness...Grr sickies, grr! :P), so we took the morning off from school, catching the mini bus at 11:36 to take us to school for a lunch of charcuterie meats, some acidic vegetable thing, potatoes, creme bruleee, and tomato salad (not necessarily in that order, hehe).
After lunch we had three hours of Communications. We had to go around questioning people using our pre-prepared questionnaires. After the first person, we both took to just handing our the leaflets. Haha, which we weren't meant to do...but hey? My French isn't all the understandable, and Marine had no voice. We did what we hado do :P hehe.
After we had gone through all our papers, we realised that some had been filled out wrong, so we found a safe place, away from teachers and altered the results...haha, SHHHH! No one needs to know ;).
We returned and entered all the "results" into the computer and constructed the necessary graphs, which we then copy and pasted onto a word document.
Then it was the end of the class, and time to go home :). Which is where I am now, writing this.
---
Random things from today:
Missed Management in the morning which resulted in a lot of people coming up to Marine and I, telling us that the teacher of Management wasn't all the happy because I managed to get a higher mark than the majority of the class (the Communications teacher was proud :D - apparently he told her)!!!! Hehe, very happy with this.
Missed English too - top of the class :)
LOTS of people stressing about their French BAC - Marine's preparing now. Really hope she does well! Been studying really hard. But then again, a girl who went today had the adjudicator tell her that she was "catastrophique" which was bizarre because she's one of the smartest girls in our class!
---
Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! Which means that after 6pm...it's HOLIDAYS!!!! YAY! Hehehe!
Start at 11am tomorrow, and go till 6pm. Should be good :D.
Anyway, sorry there was no entry yesterday. After an hour or two spent crazy and laughing with Marine last night, I was too tired to do anything else.
Hm...don't really remember much about yesterday, sad to say. Only three hours in the morning at school - Droit, Maths (test - didn't understand all the French maths terms...:S but we'll see...tomorrow we get our results back), and Communications where we just did these puzzle type things.
We knocked off at lunch and went home to eat tuna/tomato/cheese pasta. At 2pm my host dad took Marine to her driving lesson, returned and then took me to my first trumpet lesson at 3pm (picking up Marine on the way).
What started off to be just a consultation with the trumpet teacher, Ruldolf (the red nose reindeer, haha, just kidding :P), turned into a lesson so I could "show him what I've got" haha. He said that my tone was good and I think he was happy to have an older student as most of them are younglings.
After my trumpet lesson we had 40 minutes to spare, so Marine and I went to Soissons to buy me a new bag and a necklace chain for the pendant she gave me when I firt arrived (a little sterling silver heart that says "I LOVE YOU" :D).
With that all done we went into another shop and tried on some really out-there clothing...too bad I had forgotten my camera :( would've been a good photo-op ;).
We arrived at singing 30 minutes early (started at 5pm), so we went into the bathroom to warm up...It turns out I got a little too warm and was walking around the place with red cheeks, haha, a few comments there.
***May I add, I think I'm now getting sick with thanks to the two sickies at singing *cough Marine cough Alexis* --- pardon the punn ;)
During singing each person was assigned a traditional French song. It was pretty awesome hearing some authentic French music :D Reminded me of all those French scenes in movies with the music playing while the characters enjoyed time by the riviera :).
At one stage one of the drumming teachers came in and started dancing funnily to the music. Good times :)
Afterwards, I think Marine's sickness got to head, haha :P, and she called her mum to ask where she was - but she was already there...haha, all the fussing about with Alexis' phone, trying to remember her mum's phone number :P.
Before picking up Aurore, we went to the French pattiserie and bought something for dessert. The cakes are so much bigger here! Which is kind of hard to believe considering some places in Australia! I got a lemon tart :D.
After a dinner of chicken and veggies, and our desserts (which I have a feeling contained a little toooooooo much sugar) Marine and I went upstairs and talked crzsily on the massive mattress - she then proceeded to draw me whiskers, and me, a moustache for her, haha. Then we took lots of crazy photos. Haha, was fun.
In the end I forgot about the whiskers and went downstairs to brush my teeth and say goodnight. That resulted in two laughing host parents telling me that I was cute, haha.
---
Anyway, this morning Marine and I were pretty much dead. Marine with her sickness, me with my fatigue (and my soon to be sickness...Grr sickies, grr! :P), so we took the morning off from school, catching the mini bus at 11:36 to take us to school for a lunch of charcuterie meats, some acidic vegetable thing, potatoes, creme bruleee, and tomato salad (not necessarily in that order, hehe).
After lunch we had three hours of Communications. We had to go around questioning people using our pre-prepared questionnaires. After the first person, we both took to just handing our the leaflets. Haha, which we weren't meant to do...but hey? My French isn't all the understandable, and Marine had no voice. We did what we hado do :P hehe.
After we had gone through all our papers, we realised that some had been filled out wrong, so we found a safe place, away from teachers and altered the results...haha, SHHHH! No one needs to know ;).
We returned and entered all the "results" into the computer and constructed the necessary graphs, which we then copy and pasted onto a word document.
Then it was the end of the class, and time to go home :). Which is where I am now, writing this.
---
Random things from today:
Missed Management in the morning which resulted in a lot of people coming up to Marine and I, telling us that the teacher of Management wasn't all the happy because I managed to get a higher mark than the majority of the class (the Communications teacher was proud :D - apparently he told her)!!!! Hehe, very happy with this.
Missed English too - top of the class :)
LOTS of people stressing about their French BAC - Marine's preparing now. Really hope she does well! Been studying really hard. But then again, a girl who went today had the adjudicator tell her that she was "catastrophique" which was bizarre because she's one of the smartest girls in our class!
---
Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! Which means that after 6pm...it's HOLIDAYS!!!! YAY! Hehehe!
Start at 11am tomorrow, and go till 6pm. Should be good :D.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
: : Crepes [[...for dinner? ]] : :
Well, this morning we started school a whole one hour earlier than I expected, which was a bit of a shock to be honest, haha.
Anyway, started the day off with Droit (beginning to notice a pattern here...:S) - as usual the teacher was his crazy self and took to giving out tic tacs - followed by maths - which I thought I didn't understand, but really it was just really simple and rather pointless, what we were learning.
We finished the morning at 10am. Marine and I restarted school at 2pm and were catching the mini-bus at 11am to go home for lunch. Today was freezing cold with rain, not fun, haha. So we walked into random shops - taking a particularly long time in the lollyshop, discussing each lolly as we walked past so that we could stay longer...I think the saleswoman got here hopes up...
Anyway, at 11am we caught the mini-bus as planned, but the driver dropped us off quite far away from home because there was black-ice on the roads, so we had to walk 10-15 minutes in the cold wind and rain to get home. Let's just say that I was resembling a snotty nosed Rudolf when we arrived...
Lunch was very much appreciated as we were cold and hungry. We had buttered peas and carrots with pork stuffed with cheese and an array of charcuterie meats. We were rather stuffed afterwards :S.
We arrived back at school at 10 to 2pm for Communications. Same old same old there. After Communications was three hours of Art Plastique. I talked to my arty friends about music, films, France and Australia for the first two hours before three of them had to leave. Then it was just me and this guy who could draw really really really well!
After Art Plastique, I waited in the rain for a while for my host mum...not really knowing whether she wanted me in the rain or whether I was meant to know where to go on rainy days to be picked up...anyhoo, she came :).
When I arrived home, we prepared crepes for dinner (today was a festival...keep forgetting the name though!!!). Haha, and I successfully flipped a crepe! Without it sticking to the ceiling! Whoohoo! Haha. The first two tries I accidentally flipped it 360*, haha, but then came the perfect 180*, haha...Marine also had a try, she went well, but then there was the epic fail of Aurore, haha, with the crepe hanging half out of the pan. Funny times...
We ate loooooots of crepes (I had 5 I think), with Nuttella, berry jam, marmelade, prune jam, hazelnut cream (natural), sugar, honey and Aurore wanted to try iSnak 2.0 as well, but I convinced her otherwies :S haha.
Anyway, tomorrow I have a maths test...which'll be interesting for a few reasons:
- didn't have time to study tonight
- have only had three maths classes
- don't understand the French questions
- everything seems to be backwards...who said maths was universal, again??? :O
Tomorrow we finish at 12 which'll be good :D. After lunch we're going into town to buy a new bag for me (mine is pretty much dead right now :S) and a new simcard that actually works here, haha. Then I'll go to my first trumpet lesson, and Marine, her fourth driving lesson before going to singing class.
Bonne Nuit : )
Anyway, started the day off with Droit (beginning to notice a pattern here...:S) - as usual the teacher was his crazy self and took to giving out tic tacs - followed by maths - which I thought I didn't understand, but really it was just really simple and rather pointless, what we were learning.
We finished the morning at 10am. Marine and I restarted school at 2pm and were catching the mini-bus at 11am to go home for lunch. Today was freezing cold with rain, not fun, haha. So we walked into random shops - taking a particularly long time in the lollyshop, discussing each lolly as we walked past so that we could stay longer...I think the saleswoman got here hopes up...
Anyway, at 11am we caught the mini-bus as planned, but the driver dropped us off quite far away from home because there was black-ice on the roads, so we had to walk 10-15 minutes in the cold wind and rain to get home. Let's just say that I was resembling a snotty nosed Rudolf when we arrived...
Lunch was very much appreciated as we were cold and hungry. We had buttered peas and carrots with pork stuffed with cheese and an array of charcuterie meats. We were rather stuffed afterwards :S.
We arrived back at school at 10 to 2pm for Communications. Same old same old there. After Communications was three hours of Art Plastique. I talked to my arty friends about music, films, France and Australia for the first two hours before three of them had to leave. Then it was just me and this guy who could draw really really really well!
After Art Plastique, I waited in the rain for a while for my host mum...not really knowing whether she wanted me in the rain or whether I was meant to know where to go on rainy days to be picked up...anyhoo, she came :).
When I arrived home, we prepared crepes for dinner (today was a festival...keep forgetting the name though!!!). Haha, and I successfully flipped a crepe! Without it sticking to the ceiling! Whoohoo! Haha. The first two tries I accidentally flipped it 360*, haha, but then came the perfect 180*, haha...Marine also had a try, she went well, but then there was the epic fail of Aurore, haha, with the crepe hanging half out of the pan. Funny times...
We ate loooooots of crepes (I had 5 I think), with Nuttella, berry jam, marmelade, prune jam, hazelnut cream (natural), sugar, honey and Aurore wanted to try iSnak 2.0 as well, but I convinced her otherwies :S haha.
Anyway, tomorrow I have a maths test...which'll be interesting for a few reasons:
- didn't have time to study tonight
- have only had three maths classes
- don't understand the French questions
- everything seems to be backwards...who said maths was universal, again??? :O
Tomorrow we finish at 12 which'll be good :D. After lunch we're going into town to buy a new bag for me (mine is pretty much dead right now :S) and a new simcard that actually works here, haha. Then I'll go to my first trumpet lesson, and Marine, her fourth driving lesson before going to singing class.
Bonne Nuit : )
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
: : Lots of [[ Croft-Lord-Johnson-Hansen-Wlodarczyk LOVE ]]
Henry :: Henry oh Henry, you commented on how much you were mentioned in my blog, so just for you, I'm going to dedicate this whole entry to you :P Muahahaha...Nah, just kidding - don't want to give our family the wrong impression, eh? Haha.
TODAY I WOKE UP TO SNOW!!! Well, more to Marine coming in my room and telling me excitedly that it was snowing and that we might not have to go to school! Haha...well Patrice tested out the driving conditions on the road and they were fine so we ended up going. But there was more - if there were only four-ish people in the class, then we wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow (it's meant to snow again! YAY!) and could go home at 10am.
Well, the school day started with us walking up to the front doors, greeting Fabien and Flavien. Okay, so that was already two...We then proceded to see Clairmont, whom we greeted also, before running up to Ludmilla to wish her happy birthday, who was sitting with another girl in our class. That was seven.
By the time the bell had gone we had eight in the class. Then Yannis arrived...then Constance...and so it went. Yes, eighteen people, three absent in the end. Haha.
9am :: The first class today was yet again Gestion :O. Which I was nearly falling asleep in (not by choice...I had a bit of a headache and something in my eye which wouldn't go away) and the teacher saw this (luckily he's funny) and began to copy everything I did until I picked up my pen and started writing again, haha.
Then we had History...Which was spent with Yannis ramming his table into the back of my chair and asked whether I would be willing to go out with Favrien...Felt a bit mean about saying no. But I did anyway :| Haha, I believe there are a few sighs of relief from family members!
Then LUNCH! Which was apparently included mashed potato...which was interesting as it seemed a bit bouncy and baked...Kind of like mashed potato mouse that didn't tast like potatos at all...haha, ate it anyway, wasn't too bad.
After lunch was management. Marine and I were expecting to get our tests back...but sadly, no such luck. Haha, I'm interesting to see how I went with that one :S.
Then...was History again. Which again consisted of Yannis ramming his desk into my chair...this time with the added bonus of taking out my hair clip and redoing my hair for me. Why thank you Yannis :P. Haha - and a lot of trying to understand Yannis (Marine didn't either...something about a "verre").
We finished at 3pm which was nice : ). I went home and slept, haha. Then wokeup to Marine taking pictures of me sleeping to put on Facebook as revenge for last night when I sent Henry some really bad pictures of her :P Haha - nah, I didn't think they were that bad...just hilarious! Haha.
After I woke up I went downstairs to get some "bonbons" (or..."[3 mins after convo]...*snigger*...LOLLY!"s) to help wake me up : ). Took some for Marine too...and now, magically I am sitting in her room, writing this while she replies to Henry.
Lots of Croft-Lord-Johnson-Hansen-Wlodarczyk love to Henry and Marine, and all my family :D.
TODAY I WOKE UP TO SNOW!!! Well, more to Marine coming in my room and telling me excitedly that it was snowing and that we might not have to go to school! Haha...well Patrice tested out the driving conditions on the road and they were fine so we ended up going. But there was more - if there were only four-ish people in the class, then we wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow (it's meant to snow again! YAY!) and could go home at 10am.
Well, the school day started with us walking up to the front doors, greeting Fabien and Flavien. Okay, so that was already two...We then proceded to see Clairmont, whom we greeted also, before running up to Ludmilla to wish her happy birthday, who was sitting with another girl in our class. That was seven.
By the time the bell had gone we had eight in the class. Then Yannis arrived...then Constance...and so it went. Yes, eighteen people, three absent in the end. Haha.
9am :: The first class today was yet again Gestion :O. Which I was nearly falling asleep in (not by choice...I had a bit of a headache and something in my eye which wouldn't go away) and the teacher saw this (luckily he's funny) and began to copy everything I did until I picked up my pen and started writing again, haha.
Then we had History...Which was spent with Yannis ramming his table into the back of my chair and asked whether I would be willing to go out with Favrien...Felt a bit mean about saying no. But I did anyway :| Haha, I believe there are a few sighs of relief from family members!
Then LUNCH! Which was apparently included mashed potato...which was interesting as it seemed a bit bouncy and baked...Kind of like mashed potato mouse that didn't tast like potatos at all...haha, ate it anyway, wasn't too bad.
After lunch was management. Marine and I were expecting to get our tests back...but sadly, no such luck. Haha, I'm interesting to see how I went with that one :S.
Then...was History again. Which again consisted of Yannis ramming his desk into my chair...this time with the added bonus of taking out my hair clip and redoing my hair for me. Why thank you Yannis :P. Haha - and a lot of trying to understand Yannis (Marine didn't either...something about a "verre").
We finished at 3pm which was nice : ). I went home and slept, haha. Then wokeup to Marine taking pictures of me sleeping to put on Facebook as revenge for last night when I sent Henry some really bad pictures of her :P Haha - nah, I didn't think they were that bad...just hilarious! Haha.
After I woke up I went downstairs to get some "bonbons" (or..."[3 mins after convo]...*snigger*...LOLLY!"s) to help wake me up : ). Took some for Marine too...and now, magically I am sitting in her room, writing this while she replies to Henry.
Lots of Croft-Lord-Johnson-Hansen-Wlodarczyk love to Henry and Marine, and all my family :D.
Monday, February 1, 2010
: : Conduite [[ et ROCK'n'ROLL ]] : :
Todaaaaaaaaay was another nothing day...again I slept in till 11am, ehe...Although this time I had an excuse. Well, not unless you count talking on MSN till 2am after My host mum's cousin's family left.
I think I scared the guests away with my crying at the dinner table while eating dessert (Marine did and said something really funny, which I promised I wouldn't write in my blog...haha, sorry :D)...
Anyway, for dinner we had boiled potatoes with a lot of meat from the charcuterie as well as this thing that was a bit like a toastie machine only you put cheese in these little pans and let them melt before tipping the cheese onto the potatoes.
---
Anyway, today after lunch I had a shower and Sandrine tested Marine on her French while I read (after the shower, obviously :P...which was cold, haha fun fun). After reading/doing French Marine and I cleaned our rooms and then started on our History homework which was really difficult (haha, being in French and all - but Marine found it hard too, so I guess that counts for something).
After, Marine and I started on the training program Henry had made for us...hehe, but only completed 5 minutes each of what was meant to be 30mins...oops? Haha, but we took pictures as proof, haha....And then proceded to eat jam doughnuts and coffee, haha.
Marine and I then took our History homework to Sandrine to look at (the questions we didn't understand)...which she ended up doing for us :D.
We just arrived back from the bakery (mmmm). After buying a caked for dessert, we drove to an empty parking area and Marine drove around for a bit (I think that scared Sandrine a bit, haha). Haha, we didn't tell my host dad about that until after, hehe.
So now, we're rewriting our History homework before dinner :D.
(Today was another crazy photo-taking day, haha).
I think I scared the guests away with my crying at the dinner table while eating dessert (Marine did and said something really funny, which I promised I wouldn't write in my blog...haha, sorry :D)...
Anyway, for dinner we had boiled potatoes with a lot of meat from the charcuterie as well as this thing that was a bit like a toastie machine only you put cheese in these little pans and let them melt before tipping the cheese onto the potatoes.
---
Anyway, today after lunch I had a shower and Sandrine tested Marine on her French while I read (after the shower, obviously :P...which was cold, haha fun fun). After reading/doing French Marine and I cleaned our rooms and then started on our History homework which was really difficult (haha, being in French and all - but Marine found it hard too, so I guess that counts for something).
After, Marine and I started on the training program Henry had made for us...hehe, but only completed 5 minutes each of what was meant to be 30mins...oops? Haha, but we took pictures as proof, haha....And then proceded to eat jam doughnuts and coffee, haha.
Marine and I then took our History homework to Sandrine to look at (the questions we didn't understand)...which she ended up doing for us :D.
We just arrived back from the bakery (mmmm). After buying a caked for dessert, we drove to an empty parking area and Marine drove around for a bit (I think that scared Sandrine a bit, haha). Haha, we didn't tell my host dad about that until after, hehe.
So now, we're rewriting our History homework before dinner :D.
(Today was another crazy photo-taking day, haha).
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