: : Spring!!! [[ aka Pimple Season - -' ]] : :

Okay, so this is going to be a long one...In fact I think that the hour I have until lunch (hehe, oops, forgot the preparation time...so perhaps half an hour) won't be enough. Yay, two sessions of blog writing in one day...--' hehe

Luckily however, I kind of knew what position last week was gunna put me in in relation to my blog, so I wrote down all the things I could remember from Sunday to Wednesday : ) ...Now I just need to remember the rest : |

(Yes, and on Sunday when I was cleaning my room, I chucked it in the bin with a lot of apple cores and tea bags...Then went ahead and scavenged through my bin this morning...It's a tad stinky with A LOT of tea stains :S)

Okay, so here it goes.

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: : Sunday : :

Okay, so Sunday, nothing much happened. It was week two so we went to Mammie's house for lunch.

Before lunch and after my shower we received a phone call from MUMMY! Hehe - after much asking whether she could call or not as I hadn't really been contacting her all that much (my dad has msn, she doesn't).

We figured out all the flight details for Marine to come to Australia, it was all a little confusing trying to explain little details like what a travel agent was etc. But I think we got there in the end.

I told mum how school was going and began telling her about the night before (hehe, I skipped the part where Marine started and finished a whole packet of cookies...*cough cough* hehe, I'm pretty sure I left that out of the blog too...whoooops).

We were late getting to Mammie's house but we arrived all the same : ).

We played a game on a little piece of paper that my host-mum's English student had shown her the day before.

(Here it is in English)

1. Complete the Sequence: M T W _ _ _ _
2. Write a text at random
3. Add one line so that 5 + 5 + 5 = 550
4. Draw a rectangle with three lines

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: : Monday : :

Monday was extremely loooooong. We had lessons all day with only a one hour break for lunch - starting at 8am and finishing at 6pm.

During Spanish I was bored and did my maths homework...

We finished the day with a two hour French test where we had to analyse a poem by Bauldelaire. Luckily for me it was a poem that I had already studied for my shorted piece on Baudelaire. I didn't bother reading it again, as I knew that the French would confuse me as I knew the ENGLISH version, hehe.

After spending the first hour writing 2.5 pages in French (I can't even remember what I wrote about!).

For the second hour I took to graffitying the back of the criteria sheet, drawing an animal spinning with my pen writing "mort" and adding "tick tock" and the hands of the clock with my time of death and, "Operation: Commentaire abandoné"...

(I'll see if I can get a picture up...)

---

Once Marine had handed our sheets in with 15 minutes to go, we took to listening to music (with our backs turned to the teacher) and eating the apples we had brought with us to school in our bags.

The teacher had a bit of a go at the class a few times for the noise levels - no different to Aus...

When class had finished, Marine and Cindy tried to take pictures of the teacher with their phones...haha, no success there.

Marine then went to take the roll (she had to look after it the whole week...haha, and kept leaving it everywhere and losing it, it was quite funny) and the teacher started talking to us...She talked to us for about 5 minutes about...a lot. The different English accents and how Marine was going to Australia were the main two topics.

We began to worry a bit about where Marine's mum thought we were, so we said goodbye and made our way outside to the normal meeting spot...And just like magic, my host mum's car pulled in to the curb : ).

---

Tuesday we ATE EARLY! Whooooooo! Hehe...yes, it's always exciting when you're the first ones in line for the canteen (then you don't have to wait half an hour on an empty stomach!).

Apparently the food wasn't very good (it wasn't too bad, bue meh, that's just me : )), so when we were in line we kept distracting the canteen ladies and taking extra mini-baguettes and cookies and yoghurts when they weren't looking (muahahahahhaha!), which we stuffed under our plates, in our pockets and bags.

Let's just say that that day we ate a loooooooot, haha. Marine and Sawdatou even took the spoons from the canteen to eat the extra yoghurts outside.

After eating, we went to the games room and asked for bats and a ball for the ping pong tables outside. Marine gave the lady her canteen card in exchange for them, and when the lady asked whether we wanted two or four bats, and we replied, 'three' we got a rather interesting look, followed by a laugh, haha.

---

Ping pong was fuuuuuuuuun : ). We filmed the games and put my camera on an automatic timer before running 20 metres to nearby trees where we had the camer expertly (haha, if I say so myself :P) zoomed.

---

We then found a nice patch of grass where we layed out our left over canteen food on our ping pong bats (haha, didn't actually end up eating it - instead we stuck flowers from a nearby flower patch up our noses...yes we are a tad bizarre - and I suggest you don't try that one at home as it results in your nose producing A LOT of snot :S).

---

When we decided it was time to return all our bats and the balls, me being my clumsy self stood up and crushed the poor ball :S. We panicked a little and worried that the lady wouldn't give Marine's canteen card back :S.

We tried to fix the ball by crushing it a little until there was a hole, which I then stuck the end of the spoon into and pushed the ball back into form. Still not passable : | haha.

Sawdatou then decided she would try and prove that it was usable and continued to bash it with her bat in an effort to play one-person ping pong...haha, you can imagine that this only made it worse!

---

Soooo, we decided we would change the story and say that we lost the ball...So we proceeded to hold a funeral for it : ) hehe.

Kind ball-murderers we are :D

We went searching for a place to dig a hole...but instead we found a pre-dug perfectly sized hole for the ball : ).

We placed him in there, covered him with leaves and stuck three sticks in the ground to mark his grave.

The people watching us throughout the whole lunch time seriously thought we were mad! haha.

---

Anyway, turned out the ball wasn't a big deal at all - -', just our luck!

PHOTOS OF WEDNESDAY






---

That night my host-parents got a bit distracted and completely forgot about the potatoes for dinner...you know that vegetable that takes a long time to cook? Hehe - so we ended up eating at 9:30pm...ooooops.

---

: : Wednesday : :

Wednesday wasn't Marine's day to be honest...After receiving some bad news that morning, maths consisted of us being excused and me doing some conforting as we walked around the school for half an hour. It worked : ) she moved on from sadness to laughing and smiling at everything...it was interesting...but still a change for the better.

We returned home for lunch - where Marine's good mood came to a bit of an end. So I gathered up two blocks of chocolate and a packet of chocolate biscuits and made a smiley face out of chocolate with the cookies piled up in the middle so it was a Rudolph (haha, because we "forgot" to go to my trumpet lesson with Rudolph :O haha). I told her that whenever she got a wave of sadness, to look at the chocolate and smile.

Instead, 15 minutes later, she came into my room and laughed, saying, "Becky, I ate Rudolphe!". Haha.

---

There wasn't a singing lesson that night...instead I got to watch my host-dad prepare cow tongue pasta for dinner...

I don't think I'll ever think of it the same again. At first I had never actually seen it (just the pictures) so it was fine, but when he lifted the lid and showed me then bubbling away, being boiled??? Nup.

No thanks...

Then I just happened to go downstairs and walk by the kitchen at the wrong time...Just as he had started cutting them up...: |

---

: : Thursday : :

Thursday, Marine and I were both really tired...after lunch, when we had three hours between lunch (which we ate early again!!!) and Communications, we took a place outside our Communications classroom where we listened to music...and both fell asleep. As in really, heavy sleeping.

One of the hall monitors with the annoying voice came up to us and called out, "AAAAY OOOOH!!!!!!!!!!". And then again...I opened my eyes the second time, but they were blurred and I was confused as I thought it must've been one of our friends...but no.

She then kicked Marine to wake her up. And told us that we couldn't even sit in the hallway...So we moved ourselves and found Sawdatou where we yet again played ping pong outside.

This time there was some wind and the ball went everywhere, but it was good fun all the same : )

---

During Communications I got really annoyed and frustrated with my lack of French understanding when it came to reading questions in French...

So I skipped a few questions and moved on the "create an original poster for a voyage from Soissons to London" question...which drew a lot of attention to my poster...unwanted attention...but meh, what can you do?

Then we had 15 minutes or so where I casually talked about Australia with the teacher and those students who wanted to listen, which was nice : ). Accidentally called the teacher, "tu" instead of "vous" though...oops...I think she understood : ).

---

: : Friday : :

Friday was the evaluation of ping pong in sport. HA! That was a bit of catastrophy for me, haha. Started at the last table, finished at the last table. Meh...the people at the last few tables just seemed to stop scoring and move wherever.

During the two hours of gestion before sport, Marine switched her phone onto "unidentified" we texted Yanis in English. Haha, he didn't understand and asked us to stop texting him in English, so we switched to Japanese and German. Haha, when he asked who it was, Marine texteed "Pistache" (Clement and Fabien's nickname for her) and when he received the message he shouted out, "PISTACHE!" haha. We also received a few paper balls with interesting drawings on them from Thomas and Yanis (hehe, I thought they were fish...but Marine convinced me otherwise).

The second hour was spent teaching Marine this song in Japanese that I've nad stuck in my head for the last few days now :S.

The teaching of the song, lasted all the way to sport, where I decided to show her the dance while simultaneously walking...HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! I scared a few people in the street, haha. And by the time we arrived at the sport venue (20 minutes walk :S), I was already huffing and puffing, having just finished the dance, haha.

---

During the 20 minutes it took to return back to school where my host-mum was picking us up, we took a retour to the town where I used my last few coins to buy Marine an apple pastry, which was quite nice : ).

With pastry in hand, we made our way down the street, where I was hit hard and heavily on my arm. I turned to see and woman wearing extremely high heels lying on the footpath beside me - at first I thought she had broken her ankle as it was twisted strangely, but she got up, with the help of the people she was with and some others in the street.

It turned out some boys had pushed her, hard. She turned around and strutted to where they were hiding around the corner, hands on hips. They denied it (duh! Especially being teenagers)...so she did nothing more.

---

: : Saturday : :

Saturday was Marine's singing competition.

After we had eaten lunch, we all braced ourselves for the hour long drive to a place north of Soissons. When we arrived the music was blaring, even though we were outside, in the parking area :S.

WE arrived at 2.30pm and Marine was at 4:00pm. We watching people of all ages sing before it was time for the modelling competition, which sported many rather interesing dresses...and just outfits in general which were bought or made by each competitor.

Once the parade was over and done with, it was time for Marine's group.

It was rather funny as Sandrine, my host-mum had started talking the poor girl next to her, haha, and didn't stop talking.

Marine was number one and the girl next to Sandrine was number two - they were both stressing, but luckily for them, the numbers were called at random, so they were both rather unlikely to be called.

Number two was called just before number one, however, Marine's CD didn't work, so she went later (she had told me that the year before she had to sing without the CD because it didn't work and that she bet it would happen again). However the second time, it worked and she was magnificent, with the little children and two women congradulating her when she was in the bathroom.

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: : Sunday : :

One word. Homework.

Oh, and MOVIE! WOw, that movie was traumatising. It was "Jen's Body" :S. OOOOOH, don't even go there! The rating for movies here is verrrrrry different :S.

---

: : Monday : :

Wow, Monday was a bit of a scare. Marine collapsed in the morning.

We went to school for the first hour before her dad took us all to the doctor. The doctor informed us that Marine wasn't eating or sleeping enough, so we're all taking care of her now : ).

We took the rest of the day off and watched a movie before sleeping...We said, "just until 5pm"...haha, we got up at 6:30pm...

---

Didn't sleep well last night at all!

---

Today we started at 2pm, missing the test in Droit in the morning.

Before leaving to catch the mini-bus we had a wild scavenge for money as I had used my last coins on Marine's pastry on Friday...We didn't find much, but decided to give it a chance and go with 2 euros, 25 centiems instead of 3 euros 40...hehe

The mini-bus was 15 minutes late!!! And we started to panick, thinking he had forgotten us :S.

---

We arrived at school just as the bell rang before climbing up 3 levels :S (that's SIX staircases, people!) to Communications, where we were handed the test for Droit :S. Wasn't expecting that one!

I made up most of the answers :S.

Just before I started, however, Thomas asked me if I had a "fooo-oyyy" (haha, due to my spelling mistake on Facebook, feuille, not fouille, oops).

---

We went to check whether I had Arts Plastiques afterwards, but there was note on the door saying the teacher would be back at 4pm. So I went to get Marine's passport with her mum and her and never returned to school for arts plastiques, hehe.

I tried to sleep after we did our maths...but again no luck...probably something to do with the massive THUNDERSTOOOORM : ). Hehe, I walked into Marine's room and looked out her window, then started to say something started with, "c'est..." and she screamed, haha, she didn't realise I was in her room...

Anyway, afterwards, I finished this...wow, two hours of blog writing :S.

Now I need to do some trumpeting, even though it's 7:13pm...Maybe just the fingering : ).

---

Phrase of the day::

Marine: AAAAH, it's weird! It's 7:00pm and it's still light here. What about in Australia? Is it dark at 7pm?

Becky: *looks at Marine strangely* You're crazy...

Marine: *Blank look*

Becky: In winter, it's dark at 6pm, here, right? *nods for Marine* And the other day, the time changed one hour, right?

Marine: Oh...It's the same everywhere?

Becky: *Nods slowly*

Marine: haha, oops...

Answers:
1. M T W T F S S
2. "a text at random"
3. 5 4 5 + 5 = 550 (a diagonal line was added to the + to make a 4)
4.
_____
[_|||_] (haha, that's my attempt at a rectangle with three lines drawn on the inside)

: : Yanis, the gloves, SDEs, us HOOLIGANS, the heat, the tests [[ and the Performance! ]] ...and the 5 Munchkins! : :

Wow - what a week!

Busy busy busy!

: : Monday : :

Mondaaaaaaaaay was the day of the Management test...haha, disaster, disaster, disaster! I didn't understand all that much and ended up getting 07/20 (...apparently that's good, all the same, for an Aussie)...

: : Tuesday : :

Tuesday Marine and I were both really tired : |. We ended up sleeping in between classes in the Salles d'etudes. Haha, we had three hours for lunch, before finishing with an hour of French : |.

Marine and I found a nice SDE for sleeping...a nice EMPTY one...which, may I add, is very rare to come across! Anyway, we shut the door, turned on our iPods and slept for half an hour before one of the teachers decided that no. We could not shut the door. We did again anyway...and then the teacher came again...and a third time before deciding to tell us off.

We were then joined by Sawdatou and Sandy...and later by Yanis and Constance.

Marine was yet again hungry so Yanis pulled out to Pain au chocolats from his bag...which had been severely squashed, haha, but Marine and him ate them anyway...

Yanis then found two gloves on the floor, put them on his shoes and zoomed around the tables with it, haha - while Constance taped it...haha. Good times : )!

(Haha, the videos are now on Facebook : ))

---

Marine was still hungry at a quater to 4pm...15 mins before French. So we made a last minute decision to go to the little milkbar near the school to buy something to eat.

Sawdatou and Marine didn't have much money between then and we were running out of time (which was spent trying to find the cheapest food) so I offered to pay...

We speed walked back to school to French...where no one had done the homework for...I seriously think that the teacher dreamt up the homework she gave us :S. She was prepared to give us all a detention. And when she came to me I put on my best innocent exchange student face and said, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I truly did not understand the homework! And Marine...Marine TRIED to help me - but I truly did not undersand, I'm so sorry Madame - It's hard for me..." and then I was the only person without a detention, haha. But she told the class - because no one had done the homework - that if we worked well within the hour, no one will have a detention...so that's what we did : ).

---

Afterschool Marine and I walked to the ear doctor where we were meeting her mum. I was so tired that I nearly fell asleep in the chair! While we waited, Marine and I ate the remaining four cookies between the two of us (Sawdatou made us give her the other 12 cookies as apparently that was a fair share...hm, funny that I was the one who paid...but meh).

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: : Wednesday : :

Marine woke up in a crazy mood that morning! Haha, she was giggling and smiling as she got ready and even skipped out of the house, stopped, bust into a fit of giggles and looked at her shoes...which she had put on the wrong feet...oooooh Marine : | haha.

Wednesday we only had two lessons - Maths and Communications.

During Communications, we got our 2nd Trimestre results. I got an average of 12.19 overall : ). Which, I am proud to say, was higher than the majority of the class :D. Marine got 12.35 which was 4th best : )

---

On the way home, with Natacha and me in the back and my host-mum and Marine in the front - we realised that the 5 pills that the doctor had prescribed for my host mum the day before really did make you crazy! Haha - she had all these weird/funny songs blaring with the windows down (haha, REALLY unlike her!) and we even stopped on the side of the road and made animal sounds to attract two donkeys and a horse! Haha - Marine then got out of the car and began dancing, blowing kisses and singing to the animals! One of the best times!




---

After lunch I had my trumpet lesson, which was rather disastrous after my two consecutive colds and then my coldsore :S haha. But Rudolph (the teacher) was nice about it and said, "bien, bien" everytime I made a mistake...hm...haha.

After the trumpet lesson we went into the town for a bit (I'm in desperate need of some summer clothing! It's heating up here and I just have long-sleeve tops :S) before speed-walking to Marine's driving lesson. She had a nice teacher this time (phew...the last few have been...interesting...).

After her driving lesson, Marine's mum took us home for an hour before we headed out again for the Billy Jean rehearsal.

On the way there, my host-mum and Marine were both still crazy and yet again, the music was blaring! And we ended up screaming (this time with Aurore in the car) at passer-bys, "SALUUUUUUT!" "BONJOUUUUUUR MONSIEUR!" "CA VAAAAAAA?" "WE LOVE YOUUUUU!"...Haha, got some weird looks...

I stayed back and filmed this time, although Alexis did put on his best begging face and Marine, her best sad face, haha...was interesting.

The rehearsal was a bit catastrophic...all in all, haha, But funny : ).

We spent the rest of the rehearsal talking to Alexis and Natacha and laughing at Marine in the pictures we had taken earlier with her and the animals.

---

Marine, Natacha and I said goodbye to Alexis. Stood there next to him. Then had him ask, "where's your mum?" and having us reply, "hm, we don't know". Haha, I think we said goodbye a total of three times...false alarms :S.

When Aurore and my host-mum did rock up, however, Aurore was doing her freaky witch laugh. I exchanged a worried look with Marine and Alexis before getting into the car and having my host-mum yet again turn on the music - this time rock! haha.

Marine decided it would be funny if we drove by Alexis again, as we had told him about our earlier experience in the car, witht he music, haha, I think he was a bit unbelieving!

You should have seen his face when we drove around screaming in the car with the windows down, dancing to the rock music! I honestly have never seen someone's mouth open so wide.

Once we had turned the corner again, we realised that we were behind Alexis' dad's car and Marine made my host-mum drive around again, haha, I think we embarrassed Alexis as he took one frightened look at us and ran into his car, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good times, good times!

Our hooliganism lasted all the way home and we even did some round trips of our suburb screaming to the people in the streets and had a few wave at us. Haha, and when we dropped Natacha off at her house we stayed out the front for a while making a racket and singing to the music!




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: : Thursday : :

Thursday was our hunger day : |. We finished our classes at 12pm for lunch but we had arranged to wait for Myrium who finished at 1pm :O.

Marine and I took a seat outside where we complained to eachother about hom hungry we were, haha.

At a quarter to one we made our way up the stairs (took a lot of non-existant energy...due to our hunger :S) and waited outside Myriam's classroom. Her friend spotted us and told Myriam we were there, but she didn't believe her...haha, her face when she realised that she was telling the truth...and, that we were dancing like loonatics, was priceless : ). Annnnd then she indicated to us that the class could all hear the music Marine had playing on her phone. Hehe, we got some funny looks : ) and the people in the corridors further down were laughing at us.

When the bell finally went, Marine and I speed-walked to the cantine with Myriam calling after us to slow down...food never tasted so gooooood : ) haha.

Although because we had eaten so late and Myriam was a slow eater, we had the teachers on our backs telling us to hurry up :S.

When I went to put my tray away, Marine stole my cantine card...I seem to have developed an second sense where I can tell she's done something...hehe...it seems to annoy her that she can't get away with anything when I'm around, aahahaha.

Anyway, after giving in, she gave me my card back : ). Although when she left to put her tray away, I stole hers...PAYBACK! WHOO! haha.

It was funny that she believed I hadn't taken it and she turned to Myriam and kept demanding her for it, haha. Myriam found it quite funny too! Although neither of us gave in and Marine began to think that it was truly lost.

When we were outside and Myriam had Marine distracted, I slipped the card into a plastic pocket in one of her folders...

Later on, she was really beginning to worry and I kept telling her to take another look in her back...

Haha, when she found it she burst out laughing (phew!) and attempted to kill me, hehe.

---

We had three hours of Communications : ) hehe. I liked those three hours! Haha.

We had to create an original logo. I stressed out a bit when Marine said that we could just take one from Google and change the name - as that was what everyone else was doing and the teacher seemed fine with it. I did mine from scratch anyway.

It was rather difficult as I couldn't find anything with the program as it was all in French but it seemed to work anyway. Haha, while I had moved on form my logo, Marine was having trouble with hers - haha, she did it twice and still wasn't happy, but moved on anyway.

On Word, again I couldn't find my way around - but I found some cool little tricks by just randomly clicking places and everything seemed to come easily. Haha - Marine was stressing out because nothing she did went right! Haha, she began to think I was some sort of computer wizz and then realised that even if I was, it wouldn't havee helped me as it was all in French.

Hm...and then the Excel...haha, that was when Marine lost it and I was all smiles...good times, ahahahahahahhahaha!

---

: : Fridaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay : :

We had a test Gestion and spent two hours of our lunch time studying...sadly it didn't help. Although it was good to know that we got the four Vrai ou Faux questions right! Whoo! 04/20! hehe...the rest was a bit of a train-wreck...although it was for the rest of the class too, so I felt a bit better knowing that : ).

The second hour of Gestion had things heating up a bit...

The room was really hot and the students were restless so the teacher moved nearly all the boys to the front of the classroom. Lenny was seated right in front of the teacher and he said, "Awwww, Miss - you've got some sort of Charm up this close!" haha - that set the class off a bit : ).

I then started being interrogated by Thomas and Yanis...one word..."Boys."...and then Flavien : |. Although he just joined in with the laughing.

I think that may have been the first time that my rude-finger came in handy...I never thought that it would...apart from that time mum got my sister and I to use it on a guy in his car when we were little, haha.

---

We got out of sport in the afternoon with the excuse of the Spectacle that night : ).

There was a bit of a mix up with the times, so we ended up eating in less than five minutes and catching a ride with Natacha and her dad to the venue.

We waited...and waited...and waited some more for Alexis to arrive...but he took his time. When Sandra arrived she freaked out thinking he wasn't going to show up...but he made it...and we all had a bit of a sigh of relief.

Karine (the singing teacher) opened the show (this time it was in a big hall : )) - wow. She was amazing! With all the other teachers playing their instruments (gotta love the percussion teacher! WOW!).

Billy Jean was 3rd. Oh. And I sang this time - couldn't resist my four little (okay...maybe one doesn;t exactly classify as little...) munchkins! Yes, well I sang with a microphone...first time :O...Strange...haha.

At the end of Billy Jean, Marine chucked her hat (okay, it was actually my mum's hat) into the audience, haha, they weren't expecting that and it was funny seeing a girl jump back in her seat and put her feet on her chair, hehe.

After Billy Jean Natacha, Marine and I went outside (11*C and short-sleeves...amazingly pleasant :D) with our packet of cookies. 12 per packet...One each for Natacha and me...hm, let's see... that left 10 for Marine, haha - she's told me she'll never eat another cookie in her life again...well we'll see how that goes!

On our way into one of the smaller rooms for drinks, Alexis poked me in the back and told me he couldn't hear me in Billy Jean...It turns out that he too, could only hear Marine...and Natacha too...haha - I think we stuffed up the Microphone order a bit...whooooops.

Marine then turned to me and told me that she wanted a beer. Okaaaaay Marine. Alexis and I exchanged worried looks...she then proceeded to call her mum and demand a beer. HAHAHAHAHAHA! She was a bit crazy I think. We then joined up with her parents and Natacha, as Alexis wanted to say hello and Marine wanted that beer. Haha, and VOILA, my host-mum handed Marine a...a....a....COKE! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Funny funny funny : )

After gathering in a little circle and talking to three of the munchkins, we all witnessed a little boy wham himself into the floor : ( not nice...

It was then time to go, although we didn't want to...but Marine's parents were tired and had some early morning grocery shopping to do...

: : Les profs ici sont [[ cool! ]] : :

FRIDAY!

Aha, probably one of the most interesting days here yet!

So we started at 8am; however we arrived at school 20 minutes early...so we had a bit of waiting to do just outside the classroom for Droit.

We were joined by Jennifer and Sandy after a while before hearing some commotion outside...So we went to investigate through the window...and oddly enough there were the LOTE teachers on strike!!! Hahahahahahaha.

There were only seven people in class for Droit (a lot of teachers were absent, so a lot of students decided to not show up, understandably). We were EXTREMELY productive that lesson, haha - two sentences was all that we got out of it ; )

The rest of the class was spent with the teacher telling us funny stories and listening to the teachers singing and blowing horns while banging on pots and pans outside, haha. That was around the time when I wrote on my page, "Les profs ici sont COOL!" for Marine, haha, she found that rather amusing ; )

---

After Droit we had nothing until 10am when we had French. Although we filled in that time by marching with the parade of students and teachers through the school - haha, yes, the protest was brought inside the school...an apparent first : ).

The teachers then gathered in a circle at the inside entrance to the school and began singing and banging again...with a lot of students gathering with their cameras and phones, filming and just documenting in general what was happening.

WE all then marched outside where there was the NEWS camera crew and everything! We stayed out there for a while before the teachers and students began marching into the town! Although Marine and I had to go to French, so we couldn't go : (

---

French was rather interesting, haha.

Marine began to hear music half way through class and turned around to Clement and said, "Wow, your headphones are really loud!". He replied by saying, "euh, what headphones?"...

Haha, that was when she started prodding me and saying, "Oh no! I forgot to turn off your iPod!!!"...Wow, that was a difficult thing to do...turn off an iPod...you wouldn't think so...but Marine ended up turning it off and on several times in the pocket of her jacket.

Five minutes past and I was yet again being urgently prodded..."Becky!!! My phone's going to ring in 5 minutes for a wake-up call!"..."Euh...why?"..."I accidentally clicked something!"...so we worked out how many minutes we had left and began bracing ourselves fot 10:40am...

And surely enough, "Angels" by Robbie Williams began - haha, Marine let out a really loud gasp to cover it...don't know how she did it, but the teacher didn't realise at all!

Then..."Oh, no...It's going to happen again for every 5 minutes!!!"

Five minutes later...a very loud gasp and a, "Oh! Excusez-moi MONSIEUR! Mais..."...Hm, too bad the teacher's a FEMALE! HAHAH! I had silent fits of laughter and ended up crying.

Then Marine informed me that she had accidentally changed to "wake-up" music to some really loud French rap song!

Five minutes passed.

"EXUSEZ-MOI MADAME!"

Too bad she heard it that time ; )...But it was fine, Marine was excused...didn't stop me from crying all over my page however :O.

---

After French we had Maths. Clement decided he wasn't going to go so it turned out to be a class full of girls...

We played hangman! Haha - and the girls wanted me to do some English words, haha.

Platypus

Gingerbread man

Lamington

Turns out none of them knew any of them and were grateful that I taught them a few new words...and even more grateful that two of them were Australian!

---

After eating lunch, Marine called her dad to come and pick us up as there was no point continuing classes with only five people there.

He was only able to pick us up at 2.30 so we had a while until then. We went into the town and I bought my things that I would normally buy at Cora so that I could sleep in Saturday morning : ). We also went in search for a credit top-up for Marine's phone and a copy of French Vogue. Marine had never heard of it! :O I was rather shocked!

But yes, we found it and I'm rather happy to say that I own a true French copy of Vogue : )

---

That night we were desperately hoping that we would see the protests on the news...It was there, just not for our school...However we did find it online later and it turns out it was just on another channel : )

Here it is :D : :

http://jt.france3.fr/player/regions/?jt=20100312&id=c80a_1214part1

---

We didn't really do much Saturday, but Floriane came over for dinner with her family : ).

Half an hour before she arrived, we spoke to her on msn and it didn't take us long to realise that she had taken her time to get ready, whereas we were in tracksuits and daggy clothing...So within 10 minutes we were made-up (rather horribly...haha) and dressed for the night.

Flo's family arrived baring...A PYRAMID OF MACAROONS! WHOO! Haha, I liked that!

After eating apparitifs, we went upstairs and I drew a mini charactature of Flo before we ate Lasagna : ).

After dinner, we went back upstairs and blocked the door so that Aurore couldn't come it. It was all rather fun trying to get the chair to block the movement of the handle and Flo repeating, "but it works in the movies!" Haha.

In the end we had the coffee table and the giant toy crate there...

When Aurore came we screamed (haha, was a bit of a shock!) and we were all begging that the crate wouldn't fall (seriously, if probably weighed over 45kg!)...but sure enough...BOOM!

Aurore got really annoyed at us, but the adults understood our intentions, as sometimes she can be a bit much...

---

Afterwards we ate apple tart - I shared with Marine as I was already quite full.

With Flo, Marine and I sang songs off youtube as Karaoke, which was nice as they could both sing really well : ) and then we spoke to some people on msn and played, "Miss de la Soiree"...Flo won, haha.

---

Slept quite late that night, so this morning I woke up at 11am.

Today was really a nothing day, which was nice and relaxing. We didn't even do our homework, deciding it could wait...

---

After dinner, my host mum sent up my underwear with a little napkin on top that said, "Precious <3 Just for Becky" which I thought was really nice : )

And then five minutes later, a napkin with a berry macaroon - this time the napkin said, "Just to please me Beck!" (because I didn't want any dessert, haha) and a little drawing of me with a speech bubble that said "I'm hungry!". Hehe, cute : )

Gunna keep them in a special place : ).

---

Tomorrow we start at 11am!!! YAY!

---

---

---

Fell asleep on Marine's shoulder while studying for our Management test somewhere between lunch and dinner as she wasn't feeling too great...another one of those moments that you'll never forget : )

[[ Je suis là pour vous toujours...Je vous aiderai quand vous êtes entrain de compter les petits dolphins rose, ou quand vous êtes entrain de pleurer, la cause d'une chanson qui reconte l'histoire de vos vies...Je vous aime : ) ]]

: : La Salle d'Art [[ mmm... ]] : :

Sooo, Saturday night we went to Laure's house for dinner. She lived thirty minutes away but we were all welcoming the warmth of the crammed car.

The entrance where she lived was strange...At first I thought we were entering a factory, but in reality it was just what seemed like a mimick-building which acted as a gate into a cluster of houses.

Laure and her boyfriend had a mini-table to themselves at the end of the main table. Marine had warned me that when the two are together it's like no one else exists and she pretty much ignores us...and sure enough, that's what happened; however her boyfriend, who I had already met at school, was somewhat more sociable.

The nght started with the adults pouring me a glass of Malibu with tropical juice and berry cordial syrup...Very strong :S and dehydrating, so Marine ended up drinking the rest of mine and I stuck to water...Oh and Marine and I were seated directly in front of the heater! : ) Mmmmm...

We ate...hm...A LOT that night, haha. Apperitifs times two, then this pate filled pastry with carrot salad for the entree (I thought it was the main...ooops), then pasta with meat and green beans. Then ice cream, then heart shaped muffins. Was rather stuffed after all that, to say the least :S. But luckily, Laure's mum is a good cook :D.

---

Laure's dad and my host-dad got rather tipsy and I ended up being interrogated by Laure's dad :S. My host-mum kept telling me not to respond and just ignore him because he was being stupid and kept laughing at my lack of comprehension : (. Not the best thing when you're tired...

---

Marine and I were practically falling asleep on the table...although perhaps that had something to do with all the adults egging her on to scull a glass of white wine...which I filmed.

---

At the end of the night, Marine and I were crazy tired and laughing while we said our goodbyes.

When we got out into the street, it was completely black! No street lamps whatsoever, so we ended up using our phones as guides and tripping...a lot.

---

Slept late that night :S.

---

Sunday, as usual we went to Mammie's house...and proceded to not do much else afterwards apart from our history homework.

However, at Mammie's house we rose the topic of Marine coming to Australia...At first the outlook was completely negative...buuuuuuut...

---

Monday was rather long : | Starting with two long hours of Droit...And wishing, all day long that Marine's dad would give her the okay to come to Australia.


---

After school, Marine and I were stressing more than ever. I kept telling her to remain positive...but she was sure that the answer was going to be a no.

---

During dinner we all got talking...and talking...and talking...And suddenly Marine's dad said that his answer was "okay"!!!

We were both so happy, and unbelieving!

When we were in the kitchen alone we did a little happy dance, jumped up and down and hugged eachother : ).

After doing the dishes we went upstairs and went to tell Alexis the good news. We tried Facebook between calling him a total of 25 times (yes, we really were excited!!!)...No such luck, haha, but he found out via Facebook in the morning.

---

Tuesday was smiles all around! With a lot of people already knowing about Marine going to Australia because of her Facebook status. Sawdatou couldn't believe the news and Myriam decided that we would all eat lunch together to celebrate : ).

We got maths tests back...11/20 (yes yes, you all probably think that's horrible, but apparently it's wonderful :P).

Marine had her driving lesson at four which left an hour between the time she finished (3pm) while I was in Arts Plastiques so we asked the teacher if she could stay for a while : ). He said yes.

I took to designing a costume, but when Marine left for driving, I changed to drawing my eye (haha, had my camera handy : )). Afterwards, Marine came and joined me again for the final hour before we walked to buy some chips (she was hungry, haha) and got picked up her mum.

---

As usual, the shortness of Wednesday seemed to drag on and on : |...

We were picked up at 12 before eating at 1 and leaving for Marine's passport photos at 2...and Afterwards, he driving lesson at 3.

I joined her in the car and ended up falling asleep, haha, that's gotta mean something, eh?

The driving teacher let Marine drive us to the Music school where she had her group lesson of singing.

Alexis and another girl were already there, followed by Natacha, and after a while, the rest of the crew.

After getting through Alexis, Marine, Natacha and the other girl's performances it was 5pm and we had an hour to spare before the Billy Jean rehearsal.

Marine, Natacha and I went outside...Orignally we were planning on going into town but instead sat and talked with Natacha before being joined by Alexis and talking about life in Australia...Some odd questions by both him and Marine there...Like, whether the hairdressers are expensive, or whether there's a beauty salon...Or whether a computer would fit in the suitcase (and no, not talking about a laptop..., haha).

We got rather cold, so Marine, Alexis and I went into the art room and found some biscuits...which were very old and probably FOR art...:S. We ended up spitting them in the sink : |.

Afterwards, Natacha joined up with us again and we took our places on the stage for Billy Jean. Sandra didn't show up so it was just the four of us with the band...fun, but a tad catastropic, haha. Looks like there is still a bit of a language barrier, because when Alexis asked me if there was "Canaki" (???) in Australia, and mimicked a crab and asked him if it was that...oops, apparently not. Hehe, turns out that it's the equivilent of twiggy-sticks...I think...But we had a good laugh about it and did a few crab-dances to Billy Jean...The three of us in unison, as Natacha looked on...no doubt thinking we were absolute nut heads :S haha.

---

Today we didn't go to school due to Marine not feeling well. It was nice to have the sleep in, so I'm not complaining : ).

We watched a few episodes of Project Runway on Youtube on my bed for a while - but I spent most of the rest of the day reading : )...IN ENGLISH! Haha.

---

Tomorrow we're going to school...although there are a lot of people who aren't due to A LOT of teachers being absent as it's Curriculum Day...well the equivilent...

So we had one hour of class at 8am and then two hours of sport at 4pm...Not too sure what we're going to be doing in between...but we'll see : ).

: : Australie... [[ here they come! ]] : :

: : Mecredi : :

Despite Wednesday being short, the two hours we were at school seemed to drag on endlessly...

We started with Maths - I understood everything...I just didn't understand why anyone would need to know what we were learning or for what it was used for :S.

Then was Communications...Again the teacher decided to make me answer questions, haha. Haven't been able to control my redness when the whole class turns aruond to listen to my accents :S haha.

We stopped by at the bakery on the way home for two baguettes. My host-mum bought a giant chocolate mocaroon each for Marine and I too ; ) Mmmmm.

Afterwards we went back home for lunch before leaving again at 2.30 for Marine to do her "code" which she had missed last Saturday.

She was late so the women gave her the DVD and we had to go to a small room upstairs where we ATTEMPTED to work the television...Haha, no such luck. The lady must've heard us because she called out, "Marine? Ca va?", before making her way up the stairs when Marine replied, "non, ca va pas du tout...".

While Marine did her code for 45 minutes I read my English book (haha, which I've been dragging out painfully, haha. I only have two here...so this one has lasted me nearly two months already...3/4 of the way through, haha...I only read it when Marinee's at her Code).

5 mistakes this time : ) I thought it was pretty good, but apparently on the real test they draw the line at 5. If you make 6 mistakes, you fail.

Harsh.

Anyway, afterwards we had a while before Marine's singing group started (5pm...haha), so we went into the town to buy Marine some more foundation. It was really windy and cold so we stayed in each shop for as long as possible. But we spotted Yanis with a group of friends and had fun calling out "Yaaaaaa-niiiiissss!" haha.

Once we had bought the foundation and we making our way down the street, Marine spotted Sawdatou who was with her younger sister, so we went and joined up with them.

That was when Marine and I remembered that we had forgotten to go see Rudolph, the trumpet teacher. Looked like we had to get to the Music School a little earlier than planned...

Marine and Sawdatou spotted the ChiChi cart (mm, I like Chichi's!) and began scavaging for money. We were 10 centiemes short, but the man allowed it ; ).

We then took photos with our nice HOT (it was cold, okay!) ChiChis : ). Yum yum.

At 4.15 we arrived at the Music School and went to the trumpet room. Rudolph told me that I would start my lessons in 15 days : ). That leaves me some time to practice, haha.

---

We then went and waited for the other singers to arrive. When we were outside we suddenly remembered that normally Marine's mum takes Natacha as well and that she had no way of getting to singing, haha, was quite funny. But not to worry, Marine called her and she was already on her way with her mum.

When Natacha arrived we went through the songs that each had chosen to perform (they were both in English, so I helped with the pronunciation a bit : )).

The singing group was rather good (as usual) - each person performed their song...Marine wasn't too happy with how she went, but it's normal to stuff up a bit the first time you perform on stage with music etc. I thought it was great, anyhow :D.

---

After singing we continued home.

---

: : Jeudi : :

We got ready as if we were obliged to be at school at 8am Thursday morning. And at 7:30, my host-mum drove Marine and I to school.

Maybe I should explain a little before I continue, to avoid confusion. Thursday we went on an excursion for history : ).

When we arrived we made our way into town as we still had a while till it was 8:30am. However we met up with Ludmilla on our way and she told us that we had to go to the first lesson for the day for only half an hour...SO back to school we went. Then she apologised and told us that no, we didn't have our first lesson afterall. So back to the town for us!

We stopped at a little cafe and drank tea and hot chocolate while eating the biscuits that my host-mum had given us before returning back to school.

The doors were closed so had to stay out in the cold for a while. Flavien joined us and Marine began to think of an excuse to tell the teacher so we could go inside. Flavien thought the "we have an excursion today and I need to go to the toilet" excuse wouldn't work so he stayed behind...but sure enough, it did. Haha, Flavien :P.

Once in the warmth of the school, we slowly made our way to the toilet, haha...we were quite aware that that teacher was watching us ; ).

---

At 8:45 we made our way to the bus. Marine had received a phone call from Sawdatou telling her that her bus was late :S. Not good. But she got there in the end, with seconds to spare :O.

Half an hour went rather quickly and before we knew it, we were making our way to the original battlefield of WWI :O.

It was amazing!

There were little bits of German bombshells everywhere and everything!

Haha, we were made to climb this really steep hill too (as in, climbing with HANDS and FEET...). It was rather funny as everyone found it really hard, whereas when I reached the top I wasn't even tired. Thank you school camp! And 6 hour hike up Staircase Spur to the summit of Mt Bogong!

We ate lunch quite late and we were all really hungry and cold after walking for two hours outside.

Marine and I ate all our 3 tuna sandwiches, apple and food we were given from the cantine (because we're "demi-pensionnaires").

After lunch is was back in the bus. Next stop was a museum where we watched a 20 minute movie about WWI before stopping at the grave yard where all the soldiers were buried. Marine made me take pictures of all the grave stones labeled "Henry".

---

In the bus we found some hidden singing talents. I was absolutely blown away by Nafissa's voice! :O and Claire's too!

---

We arrived back at school at 4:50pm. We waited 10 minutes with Sandy and Cindy before my host-dad arrived with Aurore and some Easter chocolates : ).

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: : Vendredi : :

Friday we started at 8am :S and finished at 6pm with two hours for lunch and finishing with three hours of sport :S. Not fun.

We started the day with : :

Droit (got my test back - 04/20, go me! I thought I was going to get 01/20, so I was quite happy that I understood anything at all. The teacher was nice to me and told me he would only start grading me properly once I had a better understanding of the language as Legal Studies is difficult without that extra challenge...I like that teacher :D)

English (the teacher insisted that you MAKE an experiment...not DO it...hm...)

French (got my mark for the poetry analysis - 12/20 hehe, was happy with that!)

Maths (maths test - I think I did alright considering I thought I knew nothing :S)

Lunch - Fish with potatos...

After lunch we went into the town and bought some lollies and some biscuits. We ate the lollies and saved the biscuits for later ; )

Gestion - two hours :S (during the second hour, Marine and I were a bit naughty and amused ourselves by flicking our caligraphy pens so the the ink squirted at Clement, haha - served him right :P)

Sport. Hm, yet again I ended at the last table for ping pong. Well, this time I started at the last table, so I guess that's something ; ). I think I truly am the worst ping ponger in the class :S.

---

We ate so much for dinner that night, it wasn't funny.

I thought that it was just the cheesy pasta. But then the vegies and giant piece of duck joined it on my plate. Haha, don't know how I managed to go on and eat two pieces of multi-grain baguette with cheese as well : |.

---

Woke up at 9.15 this morning which was bizarre considering that I went to bed at 12.15am last night...

After eating breakfast I went and showered. Nice hot water : ).

Afterwards I joined Marine upstairs and we waited for lunch. The usual Saturday soup : ). I like Saturdays :D.

After lunch I finished my drawing of Marine's eye that I started last Friday when I was at home sick...

After a while of Facebooking and drawing while Marine was at Code...I started my blog. Haha - been busy lately.

---

OH! GOOD NEWS!!!

Friday night I received an email from my mum saying that it's possible for Marine to study at my school for free if she's there for less than a term...and if she come to Australia during the summer holidays in France she won't miss out on much school, and her vital BAC preparation time! I then told Alexis about this and he's got the okay from his parents to come to Australia too! Over the moon :D. Hopefully that'll be further reason for Marine's parents to say yes : )

The three of us have all our fingers, toes and limbs crossed!

: : Mes Enfants [[ and the "Wild Yanis Chase" ]]03.03.10 : :

I'm sorry family, but I have some news to break to you all...

I have three children. Daughters. 16 years old, 3 years old and 2.5 years old.

---

Yes, well I think I might start with today as opposed to yesterday today...

We started at 8am this morning which meant a 6am wakeup. Whoopie. After eating breakfast I went and had a shower and all that jazz before Marine and I walked up the street to Natacha's house (it was her mum's turn to take us to school).

The morning started with Droit...A test, to be more precise. A test that I had not studied for (I'm starting to think that maybe I should've started with yesterday as there is a lot of background info...:S)...Very difficult. But honestly, I don't think it would've changed anything if I had studied (I've tried before...Epic fail).

My paper turned out to be a rather blank sheet with me trying my hardest, filling in what I could and writing little notes and my reasoning to the teacher (haha, he likes my little smileys :D hehe...Hopefully that will get me somewhere!).

After Droit was Maths. Marine and I were really productive!!! Hehe, we finished before everyone else so had no homework! Whoo! On a downer, we had another test Friday : ( Sad stuff...

Marine took to taking photos of the class - haha, no cameras allowed at school so we had to be careful and quickly take pictures when the teacher wasn't looking.

After Maths was Spanish. Another test for Marine, but not for me as I just sit in during the lessons and catch up on homework or whatever. This time I worked on my piece for Arts Plastiques.

We didn't have a class after Spanish, and still had one hour till lunch, so Sawdatou, Marine and I went into the town and looked in a jewelers for something for Marine's and Sawadatou's cheris ; ) haha. Then we went to a bakery and bought a giant "pain au chocolat" to share. Yummy : ). Normally I'm not a very big fan of them, but this time I was hungry :P.

We arrived back at school at 12:00pm for lunch where we met up with Myriam. The line was looking rather glum as it extended off onto the stairs. But then a guy came up to Myriam and told her that because she was a priority (vegetarian) she could cut the line :D and we got to go with her! Whoo! Hehe.

Lunch was rather good (haha, I think I was the only one who thought that :P...not my fault pasta salad isn't well known in France!). ALthough I didn't get any dessert after that pain au chocolat earlier...so for once I finished the entree AND the main meal :D and ate half of my giant baguette : ). (Only just got hungry now...so that lasted for 5 hours and 38 minutes :D).

During lunch we were all really thirsty and Myriam, Sawatou and Marine were arguing (nicely, don't worry)over who was going to get the water. Marine then pulled out her nearly empty drink bottle and said, "HA! I have the solution!" and then poured us each a few drops of water. Then it started again, haha, and Marine said, "well, I thought of a solution before, so I'm not obliged to go get the water :P". Haha, I think they thought I couldn't understand the conversation, because when I stood up and said, "fine, I'll go", Marine asked me where. Haha. Then Myriam and Sawdatou began chanting, loudly, "BECKY! BECKY! BECKY!"...And started again when I returned with the water.

That's where mes enfants come in...Due to their childish behaviour earlier on, I poured myself a full glass of water, and then Myriam, Sawdatou and Marine, a few drops. Haha, it was rather funny when Sawdatou was serious when she said, "Becky. They have more than me." Haha. I guess she didn't learn her lesson.

The childish-ness lasted all through the time the four of us returned to the town. Haha, Marine and Sawdatou sang "I'm a Barbie Girl" really loudly, haha. And when we went to the supermarket to buy some lollies and biscuits (don't worry family, I listened to my full stomache and only ate two lollies :P) and the arguments over which lollies to buy started again, haha. So I called them back and said, "children, who likes which lollies?".

---

When we returned to school (Myriam was late...oops...) it was 2:15pm. We met up with Ludmilla and went outside. Oh! Today was actually hot! I think it may have gotten up into the 20s : ) (and when I got come today, the work-out machine that had been in the sun read 29*C!). Anyway, outside we were joined by Alain who was rather keen to practice his English with me and kept joking about his height (seriously, that guy is short! Haha)

Next was Communications...I was hoping that MAYBE the teacher would give us our tests back...but no. Apparently she's not so quick with marking...

Anywaaay, during Communications, Myriam texted Marine telling her that I didn't have Arts Plastiques that night...A nice surprise as I was rather tired...Although I did miss it a bit :(.

---

After Communications (the teacher made me answer questions again :S haha, with my horrible accent), my host-mum was rather surprised to see me approaching the car. I think she thought I was trying to skip it again (shh! Haha, no, just kidding).

---

At 6pm, my host-dad dropped Marine and I off at the doctor where we joined Sandrine. The doctor checked up on all the vitals and then prescriped me with four different medications for my sinus'...All up that was 4 tablets twice a day with a squirt up the nose three times a day. (See Monday ;))

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MONDAY : :

Monday Monday Monday...

Monday was spent with a headache :S Which continued through most of the day which was rather unfortunate...

I don't really remember much of Monday, haha - thank you headache - apart from telling Marine, "j'ai mal dans ma tete" constantly thoughout the day.

---

We finished at 6pm Monday...And when we arrived home my host mum gave me something for my headache which did absolutely nothing. Whatsmore, we ate really late that night - I fell asleep in front of the tv waiting. So did Marine. It seemed the whole family was sick that night.

---

This meant that Marine and I didn't end up studying for our tests :S (she had Spanish too).

: : Tsunami [[ Storm ]] : :

Yesterday morning, I stayed home from the Cora trip yet again after giving my host mum a shopping list of what was needed for the meal Marine and I were going to prepare for the family that night.

PIZZA

Natural yoghurt
Flour
Tomato paste
Olives
Ham
Red capsicum
Baby spinich leaves
Mushrooms

MUFFINS

Eggs
Butter
Brown sugar
Flour
Raspberries
White chocolate chips


Marine didn't go to "Code" in the morning so it was the two of us.

When my host parents arrived back home with the shopping, I went and helped my host mum put everything away :D hehe, one of my weekly highlights.

For lunch we ate mushroom soup : ), and Marine, my host dad and I watched the French version of "Come Dine with Me" (again, becoming a bit of a routine) - which I love :D.

At about 2.30 a man came to consult my host-dad about his computer. This took up a lot of time and meant that Marine didn't have to go to "Code" at 3pm, hehe. We were up in my bedroom praying that the man would stay those extra few minutes :D (although she now has to go on Wednesday after-noon, haha).

Marine and I then found this game that she didn't know she had on her computer. It was really weird. It was in English with French subtitles and you were a girl who got kidnapped by the man and you had to find your way out of the place and find al; this information that the man had taken from your memory...Anyway, we apparently got really into it without knowing it because the next time we checked the clock it was five to four...haha, oops?

We then went downstairs and started on the "raspberry/white choc muffins". Although, the raspberries at Cora only came in giant frozen bags and there were no white-choc-chips...So instead we had a can on strawberries (didn't know that was possible...but apparently so...) and a block of white chocolate which we cut up.

Incident one : : but the butter in the microwave with it's MATTED-foil wrapping...hehe, nearly set the whole kitchen on fire...And yes, the butter was actually ON FIRE in the microwave, and making A LOT of sound...oops?

Incident two : : tried to explain "BAKING SODA" to Marine to make the muffins rise...didn't work, so I excepted the fact that this was just going to be a pancake recipe more than anything else...

After we had made the batter and had folded in our chocolate and strawberries, my host-dad came in and asked me what I was going to put the batter in. "A muffin tray". Well, apparently I was meant to write that on the shopping list...

So instead we put it in a large cake tin, and then, in the oven.

Once it was cooking...my host-dad asked me if I had put in the raising agent...AFTER it was in the over :S. "No". Then he got annoyed at Marine for not understanding my explanation...not her fault - but I think, judging by the amount of times he ducked in and out of the kitchen, he was stressed because usually it's him who does the cooking.

---

At quarter to five, we started making the pizza bases with my yoghurt recipe (my host-dad thought I was mad and kept looking over our shoulders...). We made eight, and thought that it would be enough for the five people we were serving.

We then started cutting all the cheese and getting the other ingredients ready. Although my host-dad had to make the paste for us because it was really expensive at Cora and apparently Baby Spinich Leaves don't exist in France, so we went without.

We had three different types of cheese...yum!

Incident three : : Stabbed (and cut) Marine with the sharp cheese knife when washing the dishes...SORRY!

Once we put the pizzas in the oven (nicely spread out on some baking paper : )), Mammie and another man arrived to eat apparatifs (not sure how to spell that one, but it's a French word for snacks - mostly nuts and chips and sometimes bits of baguette spread with diffent toppings or prawn cocktails). Marine and I joined them, often ducking out to check on our creations.

At about 6:30 the man left (after listening to Marine and Aurore sing and Marine play the piano), and Mammie stayed (later on Marine and I found it that she was staying for dinner...which was rather inconvenient, although her company was welcomed : ), with our carefully planned out number of pizzas...we ended up having to cut four of them in half...).

At 7pm we ate the first batch of pizzas and my host-dad and I transferred the second batch of four onto the baking tray (could've been a catastropy as they were top-heavy and on baking paper).

Incident four : : my host-dad and I smelt something burning and looking insided the oven to see that the baking paper was fully on fire...:S we had to put it out and then cut off the excess baking paper...Oopsie daisies!

The family really enjoyed the pizzas which was good :D. And we finished with one extra too! Which was rather surprising as we were stressing we wouldn't have enough :D. Everyone got really hot eating them right out the oven...Oh and I think my host-dad gained a little trust in my yoghurt pizza base recipe!

Marine and I then ducked into the kitchen to fix the dessert :D. The large pancake was really dense, but moist, which was okay. Haha, my host-mum didn't end up getting the cream, so Marine and I mixed the natural yoghurt with strawberry jam, and put a dollop on everyone's slice, drizzled the strawberry juice that we saved from the canned strawberries around the edges, and put a stawberry flavoured lolly on everyone's slice. It was all quite a work of art : ). Rather annoyed at myself for not taking a picture...but meh, what can you do?

Now my host-parents want us to cook every Saturday, and my host-mum keeps telling me that it was truly kind of my to that for the family : ). They've given me so much, so the least I can do is give them a meal that I enjoy eating with my own family in Australia, right?

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The night was quite an emotional one when we started talking to Henry on MSN. He told us about the tsunami that was certainly going to hit New Zealand, and then after I found out that Australia was in danger too...didn't help that my sister and mum were at my holiday house on the beach front :S - as my dad informed me when I began talking to him too.

The emotion died down in the end, which is good, and Henry sent us a text this morning telling us that he's alive and well.

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Woke up to the storm this morning - not allowed to go outside because there is a real chance that you'll be blown away (literally)...At first I thought this was my host-parents being funny...but nope. It's true.

While be ate lunch, we watched the news. Apparently the tsunami hit France too...Only badly. With people dead and all :S. I felt kind of idiotic after that, worrying for Australia and NZ and it not even occuring to me that perhaps France was in danger too :S.

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Anyway, after lunch I went upstairs and began searching for English translations of "Les Fleurs du Mal" for French...I found them...and I chose five poems. I'm hoping my teacher will let me off with five instead of ten...:S. And now I have to comment, in French, on them all and explain, in depth, why I chose the poem...For some reason, I don't think she'll let me off with the truth, "because it's short and I actually understand some of it : |".