So, not much has really happened in the last week. I went to lunch with some friends on Wednesday which was fun, then I walked home... it took 50 minutes. On Friday, I saw a movie in the theatre with my French class, but it was a German movie with French subtitles. I didn't really understand anything but I'll see if I can find an English version just so I know what they will be talking about in French class. Also on Friday, I spent my spare block in a free wheelchair lesson. (I was the best in the group!) I now know how to properly manuver a wheelchair. I've watched a lot of Pretty Little Liars and plan to continue this. I've also eaten my weight in sugar this weekend... I'm going to have to slow down on desserts for awhile I think! Last night I ate so much, I thought I could be sick! Haha ~ not good! Oh! And I realized my French really is slowly improving! I can now hear the difference between most words and I'm starting to pick out words or phrases that I recognize in conversation, although usually if I recognize something, the sentence has moved on before I have time to translate it. I really need to hold off on English at school too. It's slowing me down, with the language and with friends.
There's a party on Saturday I have permission to go to! Sandrine is going to call Christophe (Lais' host father and my future host father) to sort out sleeping arrangements. I need a gift idea for my friend... he's turning 19... if anyone has any good birthday present ideas for a 19 year old boy, please let me know!
Lastly, I'd just like to say... I used to like France a lot! But now, I love France. I don't know what happened, but sometime this weekend, I fell in love with the country. Everyone should come to France and live here for a little bit at least once in their life. It's aboslutely amazing. <3
Sunday 30 September 2012
Tuesday 25 September 2012
So I promised I'd write more!
Saturday night, as I said before, we went to a family friend's house to play games. It was lots of fun! There was this game where we had to slide these wooden hockey puck things down a runway looking thing and through holes into 4 boxes at the edge of the board. The goal of the game was to get the same number of pucks in each box and then multiply that number by 20 to get your score and any extra pucks in the boxes was added to the score as lonely extra points.
Then we played this card game where when you all took turns putting down a card and when you had the same colour or picture (or number) as another person, you had to grab this thing in the middle of the table. We got a little excited during the game...
...and broke the table.
Dinner that night was good! We ate tacos! Tasted like home :) and I got to talk with the kids of the family too. The whole family was lovely, but I spoke a lot with the son, Kvin, and his sister, Madleen. Kvin was very interested in learning English (which is awesome!) and Madleen was so so sweet! I also spoke with the father (I forget his name) but he spoke some English too. Other people who were there included the other younger sister (forget her name), the mother (forget her name), and Kvin's girlfriend, Manon (she was really sweet too, but I didn't get to speak with her too much).
>>I keep forgetting names... all the time. It's awful...
^this is me
^this is me too
^all the time
Sunday we had a rainstorm... woke up to what sounding like a stampede on the roof of my house and thunder. Looked out my window to see more rain coming down at once than I have ever seen before in my life. So I stayed under a blanket on the couch all day and watched Pretty Little Liars!
Monday was a windstorm... got blown over into the fence (literally) while walking from the bus stop to school. Bad hair day definitely...
But Monday wasn't a very good day. We had 2 tests that, yes, I knew about, but no, I didn't know how to write. I expected it to be similar to my last test in French where I wasn't expected to do anything. In music, (which I did study for but only in English because it was a test on Pink Floyd and I can't memorize information in French yet), I looked at the paper... knew how to answer some of the questions but not all of them. So I did my best and then looked around the class and realized people were writing paragraphs and pages of information. What?! After looking over my very pathetic, barely finished test and the questions... I decided I honestly didn't know what more I could write based on the information I knew in French. Sure... If I could have done the test in English, it would have been a lot easier. So I sat there for about half an hour, not doing anything before the teacher got mad and told me to come to the front of the class all on my own. I got the "Oh you're in so much trouble!" and "I'm so sorry/I feel bad for you." stares and sat down in front of my teacher. She looked at my test, made a couple "tut tut" noises and then got mad at me in front of the class for not studying for the test and how awful I'd done on it. Excuse me? But I don't speak French. I have no idea what to do. For about 10 minutes the teacher stood with me trying to make me do work that I honestly didn't know how to do. Now you have to understand me... I'm a perfectionist and I really hate not knowing what to do for my work... especially when in comes to something as easy as music or Pink Floyd. I was angry, sad, frustrated and I honestly felt like I was very unwelcome in that class. At the end of the test, I handed my paper to the teacher, apologized for not speaking French and therefore failing, and I left. In my history exam, it was a little easier because it was on what I had learned in Socials last year... but I'm sure I still failed because the French version of something is always different from the Canadian version and I only answered 4/8 questions... Couldn't and probably didn't get them all right but at least I tried.
Today, my music teacher assigned me and Lais tables at the front of the classroom with another girl who's really good at music for the rest of the year. This girl's name is Marine... she's really nice! Marine was also assigned to be our music tutor and we were informed that we did too badly on our tests for the teacher to even be able to mark them (thanks again for making me feel stupid in front of everyone -_- ) but at least she cares and wants us to succeed in her class and honestly, if there's any class I'm going to do well in, it will be English and Music.. because seriously... it's Music, not Math. Also today I had art and even though I'm not as creative as my teacher would like me to be, my art friends are creative and I'm artistic and I really like the class. Lais was thinking about dropping it but I'm going to stay... I really like the atmosphere and it's not like I'm ever going to take another art course.
~Oh, funny story: So in art today, we had to do an in class assignment and my friends and I were discussing what to do and while one girl was trying to translate the assignment to me in English, I saw this guy standing close to us listening to our conversation as though he was waiting for a minute to jump in and be part of the group... then he suddenly helped out with the translation and spoke perfect English with a British accent... I decided he was an average guy (for France standards which means in Canada standards he'd be cute) before the accent but after the accent, I was like... oh hey! Who are you? Very briefly, he told me he spoke English because he lived in England for a bit and asked me where I was from and why I was here. Then my French friend asked him what grade he was in and he replied: I'm a teacher. OOPS! Wrong guy to think is cute... We all laughed and then went on with our project but I'm sure if he was a teacher... he was new at it because he was laughing with us and following us around all class and that is NOT the right attitude for a teacher here... but of course... that's just my luck.
Tomorrow, school lets out at 12:00 and at 3:30 I'm going into town with a friend who speaks English really well because he is going to show me around so that I don't get lost if I ever want to go into town with Lais without a guide. *I promise I will not only bond to English speakers. I have many French speaking friends with whom I speak French with and my French is improving! I just don't want to get lost because I misunderstood French directions!*
haha okay I think I've been anti-social enough for one night... Off to watch The Mentalist in French! :D This is the 4th week in a row I've watched this and, just like all the other French TV shows... I still have no idea what this show is about.
Oh.. and this is Ian Harding. I love him <3 He's from Pretty Little Liars.
I really apologize for my immature, hormone crazy, 14-year-old self coming back temporarily - but I just can't help it. I mean, look at him. He's adorable.
Saturday night, as I said before, we went to a family friend's house to play games. It was lots of fun! There was this game where we had to slide these wooden hockey puck things down a runway looking thing and through holes into 4 boxes at the edge of the board. The goal of the game was to get the same number of pucks in each box and then multiply that number by 20 to get your score and any extra pucks in the boxes was added to the score as lonely extra points.
Then we played this card game where when you all took turns putting down a card and when you had the same colour or picture (or number) as another person, you had to grab this thing in the middle of the table. We got a little excited during the game...
...and broke the table.
Dinner that night was good! We ate tacos! Tasted like home :) and I got to talk with the kids of the family too. The whole family was lovely, but I spoke a lot with the son, Kvin, and his sister, Madleen. Kvin was very interested in learning English (which is awesome!) and Madleen was so so sweet! I also spoke with the father (I forget his name) but he spoke some English too. Other people who were there included the other younger sister (forget her name), the mother (forget her name), and Kvin's girlfriend, Manon (she was really sweet too, but I didn't get to speak with her too much).
>>I keep forgetting names... all the time. It's awful...
^this is me
^this is me too
^all the time
Sunday we had a rainstorm... woke up to what sounding like a stampede on the roof of my house and thunder. Looked out my window to see more rain coming down at once than I have ever seen before in my life. So I stayed under a blanket on the couch all day and watched Pretty Little Liars!
Monday was a windstorm... got blown over into the fence (literally) while walking from the bus stop to school. Bad hair day definitely...
But Monday wasn't a very good day. We had 2 tests that, yes, I knew about, but no, I didn't know how to write. I expected it to be similar to my last test in French where I wasn't expected to do anything. In music, (which I did study for but only in English because it was a test on Pink Floyd and I can't memorize information in French yet), I looked at the paper... knew how to answer some of the questions but not all of them. So I did my best and then looked around the class and realized people were writing paragraphs and pages of information. What?! After looking over my very pathetic, barely finished test and the questions... I decided I honestly didn't know what more I could write based on the information I knew in French. Sure... If I could have done the test in English, it would have been a lot easier. So I sat there for about half an hour, not doing anything before the teacher got mad and told me to come to the front of the class all on my own. I got the "Oh you're in so much trouble!" and "I'm so sorry/I feel bad for you." stares and sat down in front of my teacher. She looked at my test, made a couple "tut tut" noises and then got mad at me in front of the class for not studying for the test and how awful I'd done on it. Excuse me? But I don't speak French. I have no idea what to do. For about 10 minutes the teacher stood with me trying to make me do work that I honestly didn't know how to do. Now you have to understand me... I'm a perfectionist and I really hate not knowing what to do for my work... especially when in comes to something as easy as music or Pink Floyd. I was angry, sad, frustrated and I honestly felt like I was very unwelcome in that class. At the end of the test, I handed my paper to the teacher, apologized for not speaking French and therefore failing, and I left. In my history exam, it was a little easier because it was on what I had learned in Socials last year... but I'm sure I still failed because the French version of something is always different from the Canadian version and I only answered 4/8 questions... Couldn't and probably didn't get them all right but at least I tried.
Today, my music teacher assigned me and Lais tables at the front of the classroom with another girl who's really good at music for the rest of the year. This girl's name is Marine... she's really nice! Marine was also assigned to be our music tutor and we were informed that we did too badly on our tests for the teacher to even be able to mark them (thanks again for making me feel stupid in front of everyone -_- ) but at least she cares and wants us to succeed in her class and honestly, if there's any class I'm going to do well in, it will be English and Music.. because seriously... it's Music, not Math. Also today I had art and even though I'm not as creative as my teacher would like me to be, my art friends are creative and I'm artistic and I really like the class. Lais was thinking about dropping it but I'm going to stay... I really like the atmosphere and it's not like I'm ever going to take another art course.
~Oh, funny story: So in art today, we had to do an in class assignment and my friends and I were discussing what to do and while one girl was trying to translate the assignment to me in English, I saw this guy standing close to us listening to our conversation as though he was waiting for a minute to jump in and be part of the group... then he suddenly helped out with the translation and spoke perfect English with a British accent... I decided he was an average guy (for France standards which means in Canada standards he'd be cute) before the accent but after the accent, I was like... oh hey! Who are you? Very briefly, he told me he spoke English because he lived in England for a bit and asked me where I was from and why I was here. Then my French friend asked him what grade he was in and he replied: I'm a teacher. OOPS! Wrong guy to think is cute... We all laughed and then went on with our project but I'm sure if he was a teacher... he was new at it because he was laughing with us and following us around all class and that is NOT the right attitude for a teacher here... but of course... that's just my luck.
Tomorrow, school lets out at 12:00 and at 3:30 I'm going into town with a friend who speaks English really well because he is going to show me around so that I don't get lost if I ever want to go into town with Lais without a guide. *I promise I will not only bond to English speakers. I have many French speaking friends with whom I speak French with and my French is improving! I just don't want to get lost because I misunderstood French directions!*
haha okay I think I've been anti-social enough for one night... Off to watch The Mentalist in French! :D This is the 4th week in a row I've watched this and, just like all the other French TV shows... I still have no idea what this show is about.
Oh.. and this is Ian Harding. I love him <3 He's from Pretty Little Liars.
I really apologize for my immature, hormone crazy, 14-year-old self coming back temporarily - but I just can't help it. I mean, look at him. He's adorable.
Saturday 22 September 2012
So... I'd really like to post more because I think of things every day to post.. but the problem comes with time :( Although I am making a promise right here, right now to start posting at least once or twice weekly :) In fact.. now that I think of it... it's been almost two weeks without a post! Okay... not gonna happen that way anymore! :D
FIRST: I MADE AN AWFUL MISTAKE IN MY LAST POST... I'd just like to say that my family does shower every day and so do I and we are clean people and I am SO SO SO sorry to any French people I offended. That was not the case or the purpose or the intention. Please forgive me.
Also, among the other mistakes I made, the facts about Pierre and Laurent were incorrect (my family laughed and said they would have Laurent re-explain the details to me but Laurent and Pierre are no family members), Baptiste's name is spelled like this, not as it was before, and my family does not drive quickly (only by French standards)!
I'd just like to point out of couple more differences between Canadian life and France life that I forgot before.
-The French love salt and put it on all of their vegetables.
-Potatoes are really common.
-The French don't like sports or exercise... here, I'm actually one of the good people at gym... fancy that.
-During the week... no one hangs out with friends. And it's not very common on the weekend either unless your friends live in your town because there are so many small towns (like Boundary Bay is to Tsawwassen... kind of.. and similar to what Ladner is to Tsawwassen) and as far as I know... no regular public transit, thus social engagements have to be planned ahead of time.
I have now been 3 weeks at school, and this upcoming Tuesday, one month in France! CRAZY! The two week point felt like forever.. and I was sitting in the living room thinking.. this is going to be SUCH a long year. And now I'm almost at one month and I'm thinking... Wow. That went by REALLY quickly.
I love my school. Even though its crazy long hours and super boring at times... the people are really nice, the boys are really cute, the food is delicious and I don't have to do anything in class. I'd say it's worth it! But I'm not going to begin to tell you all of my classes. My schedule is super confusing and different every day and I still don't know which classes I have on which day. I just, go with the flow! What I can tell you, is that I slept for 2 hours through a French test (literally slept with my head on the desk) and my Music teacher doesn't want me in her class (she thinks it's too difficult for me because I don't speak French and so she tried to convince me I'd have an easier time in math...
or English...
...Music it is!
After school I have to catch the bus home which normally wouldn't be much of a problem.. but you see, in France, every bus looks the same and there is no sign or spot or anything that makes the buses look different. So, at first I just stood in front of the buses waiting for someone to announce which buses was going where until I noticed that kids just magically knew which bus was there's and every time I asked them how they knew, or which bus was for Ploubzre, (my town), they just shrugged and said they didn't. WTF dude? Help me, I'm foreign! So then I went around asking each bus driver "Est-ce que c'est le bus pour Ploubezre?" >> "Is this the bus for Ploubezre?" Until I found the right bus. In fact, I did this every day until now I just look at the bus drivers and they just nod or shake their heads yes or no. After a couple days of this, I realized that it was the same bus driver each day, so on Wednesday, when we get out early at 12:00, I boarded the bus like a smarty pants thinking, "Oh, I know how this tricky French system works now." Only to have my bus driver stop me to tell me that she wasn't driving the bus to Ploubezre, but in fact, someone else was. WTF?!?!?! Why would they do that to me? I was the last one to board my bus and I had to practically run up to the bus before the doors were closed. Fabulous. Then, this past Wednesday, I forgot at which time the bus leaves and I missed my bus. So now I'm terrified to catch the bus on Wednesdays because I don't remember the driver's face or at what time my bus leaves. It's a pretty fun life I have here. I'll let you know how it goes this week.
Last weekend, my family surprised me and Lais with a trip to Mont Saint Michel! SO BEAUTIFUL! It was the first castle I have ever seen, let alone been in and I loved it. I took more than 400 pictures that day! Check Facebook for them haha because it takes too long and too much space to upload lots.
It was also nice because it was my host brother's birthday and so we stayed at the grandparent's house, (who are lovely, lovely people) and went digging on the beach for our clams for dinner (I think they were clams) and I got to meet some of the cousins and family and I got to see Margaree's family too.
I am currently getting over a cold that's been lingering since before Mont St Michel. It's always freezing, seriously freezing, in the mornings here and no matter how many layers I wear, I just can't keep warm. But then in the afternoon, its nice and sunny. I don't get it! It also didn't help when I was just about to get over the cold, I got off the bus in the morning and started walking to school and it started pouring, literally down pouring on me. I wasn't expecting rain and so I was wearing my non-waterproof jacket and was literally soaked through all my clothes and shoes by the time I reached school. Try trying your self off in a bathroom with only wet clothes. I had water dripping down my face and off my hair for a good couple of hours, and once again, I woke up the next morning sick. Right now, I'm fighting off a cough, a small running nose and I'm always freezing. Hopefully I will be better next week. I got persmission from my mother to buy a new warmer jacket :D I'm very happy about this.
The other day I saw Avenger's for the first time (finally) but it was in French, so I still have no idea what the movie's about.
Last night I watched Sherlock Holmes for the first time. I'd seen one of the movies before but it was never something I got into. But last night, I was shocked to discover how much I love it! Definitely going to be downloading some episodes to watch soon! Also, today I gave into peer pressure from a couple of my friends and started watching Pretty Little Liars because I had a lack of things to do... Love it so freaking much. Every girl should watch it! It's so good!
Today I Skyped my Great Aunt Shaun and Uncle Courtenay who live in Spain but have a chalet in Switzerland. They are so lovely and funny! They are so cute too! Hahaha. They were just like your classic married couple, jabbering to each other about this and that and how Courtenay has Facebook but "[he's] innocent because only Shaun uses the Facebook and she is brutally honest!" And at one point they started talking about how they don't like to edit pictures of people with red eyes because you can't ever get rid of the red eye and oh it was just lovely! They want me to visit them in either Madrid or Switzerland sometime this year! I think that would be nice but I haven't made any decisions yet.
Tonight, there is a party I've been invited to but I can't go due to some event including games with my family. I don't fully understand what's going on tonight but it will be fun. I think we are going to a friend's house for dinner.
Well that's all for now. Keep posted for more posts soon! Now here's a picture of a massive 5kg jar of Nutella I saw at Mont St Michel and a baby polar bear that almost killed me with it's cuteness. <3
Oh! And one last thing. My room is right beside the kitchen and so all the good smells from food in the kitchen go straight into my bedroom and no where else in the house and I don't know why but if I don't know what people are making for dinner... I just walk into my bedroom because it always smells so good!
Oh and one last last thing... No French person can pronounce my name. When I say my name, they look at me like you would if an Asian person said his or her name to you. So they other day I tried pronouncing my name with a French accent to my friends. I accidentally said, "Hello, my name is Booger." And everyone laughed at me. I don't like my name anymore because it's too close to the word booger.
FIRST: I MADE AN AWFUL MISTAKE IN MY LAST POST... I'd just like to say that my family does shower every day and so do I and we are clean people and I am SO SO SO sorry to any French people I offended. That was not the case or the purpose or the intention. Please forgive me.
Also, among the other mistakes I made, the facts about Pierre and Laurent were incorrect (my family laughed and said they would have Laurent re-explain the details to me but Laurent and Pierre are no family members), Baptiste's name is spelled like this, not as it was before, and my family does not drive quickly (only by French standards)!
I'd just like to point out of couple more differences between Canadian life and France life that I forgot before.
-The French love salt and put it on all of their vegetables.
-Potatoes are really common.
-The French don't like sports or exercise... here, I'm actually one of the good people at gym... fancy that.
-During the week... no one hangs out with friends. And it's not very common on the weekend either unless your friends live in your town because there are so many small towns (like Boundary Bay is to Tsawwassen... kind of.. and similar to what Ladner is to Tsawwassen) and as far as I know... no regular public transit, thus social engagements have to be planned ahead of time.
I have now been 3 weeks at school, and this upcoming Tuesday, one month in France! CRAZY! The two week point felt like forever.. and I was sitting in the living room thinking.. this is going to be SUCH a long year. And now I'm almost at one month and I'm thinking... Wow. That went by REALLY quickly.
I love my school. Even though its crazy long hours and super boring at times... the people are really nice, the boys are really cute, the food is delicious and I don't have to do anything in class. I'd say it's worth it! But I'm not going to begin to tell you all of my classes. My schedule is super confusing and different every day and I still don't know which classes I have on which day. I just, go with the flow! What I can tell you, is that I slept for 2 hours through a French test (literally slept with my head on the desk) and my Music teacher doesn't want me in her class (she thinks it's too difficult for me because I don't speak French and so she tried to convince me I'd have an easier time in math...
or English...
...Music it is!
After school I have to catch the bus home which normally wouldn't be much of a problem.. but you see, in France, every bus looks the same and there is no sign or spot or anything that makes the buses look different. So, at first I just stood in front of the buses waiting for someone to announce which buses was going where until I noticed that kids just magically knew which bus was there's and every time I asked them how they knew, or which bus was for Ploubzre, (my town), they just shrugged and said they didn't. WTF dude? Help me, I'm foreign! So then I went around asking each bus driver "Est-ce que c'est le bus pour Ploubezre?" >> "Is this the bus for Ploubezre?" Until I found the right bus. In fact, I did this every day until now I just look at the bus drivers and they just nod or shake their heads yes or no. After a couple days of this, I realized that it was the same bus driver each day, so on Wednesday, when we get out early at 12:00, I boarded the bus like a smarty pants thinking, "Oh, I know how this tricky French system works now." Only to have my bus driver stop me to tell me that she wasn't driving the bus to Ploubezre, but in fact, someone else was. WTF?!?!?! Why would they do that to me? I was the last one to board my bus and I had to practically run up to the bus before the doors were closed. Fabulous. Then, this past Wednesday, I forgot at which time the bus leaves and I missed my bus. So now I'm terrified to catch the bus on Wednesdays because I don't remember the driver's face or at what time my bus leaves. It's a pretty fun life I have here. I'll let you know how it goes this week.
Last weekend, my family surprised me and Lais with a trip to Mont Saint Michel! SO BEAUTIFUL! It was the first castle I have ever seen, let alone been in and I loved it. I took more than 400 pictures that day! Check Facebook for them haha because it takes too long and too much space to upload lots.
It was also nice because it was my host brother's birthday and so we stayed at the grandparent's house, (who are lovely, lovely people) and went digging on the beach for our clams for dinner (I think they were clams) and I got to meet some of the cousins and family and I got to see Margaree's family too.
I am currently getting over a cold that's been lingering since before Mont St Michel. It's always freezing, seriously freezing, in the mornings here and no matter how many layers I wear, I just can't keep warm. But then in the afternoon, its nice and sunny. I don't get it! It also didn't help when I was just about to get over the cold, I got off the bus in the morning and started walking to school and it started pouring, literally down pouring on me. I wasn't expecting rain and so I was wearing my non-waterproof jacket and was literally soaked through all my clothes and shoes by the time I reached school. Try trying your self off in a bathroom with only wet clothes. I had water dripping down my face and off my hair for a good couple of hours, and once again, I woke up the next morning sick. Right now, I'm fighting off a cough, a small running nose and I'm always freezing. Hopefully I will be better next week. I got persmission from my mother to buy a new warmer jacket :D I'm very happy about this.
The other day I saw Avenger's for the first time (finally) but it was in French, so I still have no idea what the movie's about.
Last night I watched Sherlock Holmes for the first time. I'd seen one of the movies before but it was never something I got into. But last night, I was shocked to discover how much I love it! Definitely going to be downloading some episodes to watch soon! Also, today I gave into peer pressure from a couple of my friends and started watching Pretty Little Liars because I had a lack of things to do... Love it so freaking much. Every girl should watch it! It's so good!
Today I Skyped my Great Aunt Shaun and Uncle Courtenay who live in Spain but have a chalet in Switzerland. They are so lovely and funny! They are so cute too! Hahaha. They were just like your classic married couple, jabbering to each other about this and that and how Courtenay has Facebook but "[he's] innocent because only Shaun uses the Facebook and she is brutally honest!" And at one point they started talking about how they don't like to edit pictures of people with red eyes because you can't ever get rid of the red eye and oh it was just lovely! They want me to visit them in either Madrid or Switzerland sometime this year! I think that would be nice but I haven't made any decisions yet.
Tonight, there is a party I've been invited to but I can't go due to some event including games with my family. I don't fully understand what's going on tonight but it will be fun. I think we are going to a friend's house for dinner.
Well that's all for now. Keep posted for more posts soon! Now here's a picture of a massive 5kg jar of Nutella I saw at Mont St Michel and a baby polar bear that almost killed me with it's cuteness. <3
Oh! And one last thing. My room is right beside the kitchen and so all the good smells from food in the kitchen go straight into my bedroom and no where else in the house and I don't know why but if I don't know what people are making for dinner... I just walk into my bedroom because it always smells so good!
Oh and one last last thing... No French person can pronounce my name. When I say my name, they look at me like you would if an Asian person said his or her name to you. So they other day I tried pronouncing my name with a French accent to my friends. I accidentally said, "Hello, my name is Booger." And everyone laughed at me. I don't like my name anymore because it's too close to the word booger.
Sunday 9 September 2012
a very late update
Ahh... where to begin? Its been 11 days in France now! I've seen the sun, a little bit of rain and a lot of clouds but its surprisingly hot!
Well when I first arrived last week... I was absolutely exhausted! You see... I didn't sleep on the plane and when I arrived in Paris, we didn't have a chance to sleep until we boarded the bus at around 4:00pm... that's when most people dozed off, and I tried to for a little bit but I was more preoccupied by the scenery (which looked a lot like Australia and Canada meshed together -with the odd historic-looking building here and there). When we arrived in Rennes, most of the other students and I were picked up either by our counselors or families. The other girl going to my town (Lais, from Brazil), and I were met by our counselor and club president. We drove for a bit before stopping for dinner. I had a burger, the last one for awhile, I figured. Then we kept driving. (Though I tried, I still couldn't sleep due to nervous excitement in my belly). I didn't get to my host family's house until 12am France time, which is about 3pm Vancouver time (the day after I left). Because my family could speak no English, they had a friend who could speak English and was staying overnight, translate the basics for me. He gave me a tour of the house, and some basic information... none of which I remembered due to my extreme lack of sleep.. and told me a little bit about the family... once again, I can't remember exactly what. Then, I went to bed. But after lying in bed for 2 hours with no sleep despite being massively sleep deprived, I gave up, turned on the light and started unpacking. Most likely from being so tired and from my long journey, I did cry while unpacking. It hit me... this is my home now for 6 months, I won't see my home in Canada for one year, I won't get to see my dogs or my family or friends until next year, and I won't get to graduate with my friends! You could say I was a little homesick, but as soon as I had unpacked and could see my things around the room, I felt a little more at ease and I settled back into bed at 3:30am (6:30pm Vancouver time) and if you did the math, that is exactly 36 hours from the time I woke up in my bedroom to the time I fell asleep in France. I told my family it was 40hours (because it seriously felt like that) but that was the tired me speaking.
My host family is lovely!! There's Sandrine, the mother, Constance, my 14 year old sister, and Baptist, my 11 (almost 12) year old brother. They loved the Canada gifts I gave them! And Baptist loves peanut butter! Turns out there is no where to buy peanut butter in France. Its practically non-existent. It smelled too odd for Constance and Sandrine to try but Baptist loves it and has it with bread, toast, he tried it with bananas, he's licks it off the spoon and he keeps asking me if we eat it with crepes or pancakes or other things it certainly doesn't belong on! As far as maple syrup goes, I'm not sure if they are all that keen on trying it... it is very sweet. I like it though :) There are 2 friends of theirs that stay overnight every few days or so. The first is the man I mention from before, Laraunt, (or something... I always forget French names). And the second is his son, Pierre. He explained to me why they stay here sometimes when I first arrived, but naturally, I forgot the details. It has something to do with their work.
my host family :)
My house is on a hill with a view of the town, although you can't see all the old buildings, those are in a different direction- but still. It's gorgeous. Surrounding all the houses are bunches of bushy, green trees and what looks like a valley. I still haven't figured out my way around or how to get from my house to point B but I'm sure that will come. The view out the window at night is breathtaking.
the view
My first few days here, I didn't do much other than simply settle in. Upon waking up in the morning, it became very clear to me, I don't speak French. We learned to use Google Translate to have conversations. My family showed me the town of Lannion, which is beautiful! It's filled with old buildings and cobblestone, one lane roads (that cars drive on and people walk on), its full of shops (already I'm regretting bringing so many clothes), and it's exactly what I wanted. And then I saw my school (which is conveniently a 10 minutes walk down the road from town) and dun dun duhhhh..... The nerves set in for school which started a week after I arrived. I also saw the beach which is stunning! About a 15 minute drive from Lannion. I was shocked to see the same places at the beach that are in the pictures when you Google "Bretagne". We usually finished days either playing board games or watching TV in French.
Lannion
Lannion
Cobblestone
My host mum runs a daycare out of her house, and so last week, when I woke up in the mornings, there were always little kids running around. There's Raphel, age 2, Laurent, age 2, and Lou age 6 months! It was fun to play with them. I've also developed a new hobby to pass the time: painting my nails! I've never been all that interested in it before but when you're looking for something to do- paint your nails! I'm becoming obsessed with the colour of mine! Right now my favourite colours are a purple one I got for my birthday, and a bluey-turquoise I bought from the Dollar Store right before I left (surprisingly good quality too)!
Raphel
Laurent
Lou
I started school on Tuesday and it's awesome! I was so nervous for school! My heart was literally pounding when we arrived. Sandrine explained to me that normally I would take the bus but for the first bit she would drive me (basically ease me into taking the bus so I wouldn't get lost or have a panic attack or anything like that). Sandrine and I were to meet Lais (the Brazilian girl) and her host dad (my next host dad), Chrisophe, in front of the statue in front of the school. I was so nervous. The school has a population of about 3000 students and there were crowds of students in front of the school, most of them smoking (I've learned now that everyone goes in front of the school to smoke and that about half of the school smokes which is the equivalent to my whole school in Canada smoking). Also, everyone was attractive. Like everyone. I knew that people dressed up for school in France and that some people wore heels but I wore basically what a nice outfit in Canada is-new jeans, Keds, my "French" H&M striped shirt and my brown jacket with small pieces of jewelry and my hair down-and I couldn't have felt more under-dressed. When I saw Lais, also dressed rather simply, she came up to me and said in a nervous, anxious-voice "All the girls are so pretty!" So, therefore the next day at school, we both came "prepared" wearing lots of makeup, our nicest clothes and our hair all done "pretty" and instead, we see everyone is wearing Keds or converse, and has their hair in a bun or pony-tail and looks tired and simple. The best moment of the day was when Lais said, "I think people were prettier yesterday." Or something like that. Whatever it was, it was gold!
Lycee (missing an accent on the second e)
School really isn't that bad. I have no idea what's going on in any of my classes (and at first, it took me awhile to figure out which class I was in) but that's okay because the teachers know I am foreign and that I don't speak French and all the English teachers are kind to Lais and me. We just sit in the class and doodle until there is something on the board to copy down or someone else gives us their notes to copy down. On the first day of school one teacher assigned a student in the class, a boy named Alexandre, to show us to our classes (because in French school, you only have one class of students that you change rooms with so you're with the same group of kids for the whole year which I think is awesome! So far I like everyone in my class!) He was really nice and he's always explaining to us what's going on in class and whats for homework and introducing us to his friends... although he has a lot of friends. Every few minutes, he sees someone he knows and he just *has* to stop and say hello with the bisous every time. Oh well, he's a nice guy and everyone seems to like him which is completely understandable.
The cafeteria at school is incredible. I swear, as soon as I walked in, it was like the gates to heaven open up and there were clouds and streams of lights and angels singing. Let me explain this to you. French food is good. All of it is good. Like all of it. And I was hungry. To get into the cafeteria, you have to swipe your food card (it looks like a purple credit card) in a machine that reads it, similar to a ATM. Then you walk past the ATM-swiper and a tray pops out of a machine (like the money would at an ATM). Then, you take your tray, and you take your knife, fork and spoon, and you walk into the main room. 2 salad bars in the centre of the room, and food surrounding the entire circumference of the room. Fruits, desserts, main courses, yogurt, you name it. And its the kind of thing where you can take as much as you want. At first Lais and I ran to the first section and grabbed pizza, then we continued down the line pretty much taking exactly what we wanted which was one of everything but before the line came to an end, we got distracted by the salad and ran to the salad bar, filled up on salad and then the rest of it is a blur of randomly cutting in line, taking a look at all the food and running in circles of excitement around the cafeteria until we had all the food we wanted and we went to go sit in the eating area. Also beautiful. At first we ate alone but one of my "host" sister's friends (my host sister, Camille, who is in India right now) came up and invited us to eat with her and her friends and so we did. After we ate, Lais and I went into the courtyard of the school and lay in the sun on the grass playing card games and tanning until the bell rang.
The next day at lunch was similar but very different at the same time. When I went into the cafeteria, I went in with the thought of Okay, yesterday you were the silly new girl who'd never seen a real cafeteria before and today you are experienced. But once again, I found myself running in circles to all the stations out of order because there was a new selection of food. I think I should just accept the fact that I'm never going to get used to this cafeteria. It's too amazing. Lais and I ate with some kids from our class and their friends and these people were awesome- so nice! One of them, a boy named Efflam (an old Breton name) was very interested in us and kept speaking English to us because his father is an English teacher and he wants to be a French teacher in Canada. All of the people were awesome- can't wait until I can actually speak French though!
Two nights ago, my host mum when out to Ikea to buy new furniture for the living room and her best friend Margaree (I think...) stayed in with Constance and I (Baptiste was at a friend's for the night). It was awesome! I loved it! We ate Chinese food in front of the TV watching the movie "Limitless" (in French... I couldn't understand anything but I had a basic idea of what was going on). So comfortable, fun. It was a good night!
Today I went to the beach for a potluck picnic with my family and their friends. It was lovely! Unfortunately, it was cloudy and windy but we tried flying a kite, collected seashells, and ate well. I counted everyone, and there were 10 kids and 8 adults (including myself). 4 families in total. It was great!
Some differences I have noticed between the French and the Canadians are:
- the French drive very fast... And I used to think the Canadians drove fast. But after driving 140 km/h down the highway, and speeding down a hill on a one-lane road inwhich cars travel both ways on, I have come the the conclusion (well, actually I came to it on my first day here), the French drive fast!
- The French eat bread at *every* meal. It isn't a French meal without bread. Often, we use the bread to clean the plate with. But other times, we just eat it plain or with butter. It's just always there. And it is so damn good. I don't think I can ever eat Canadian bread again.
- French meals are always delicious and no matter how fancy they look or taste, are always rather simple. Breakfast here, every morning, is bread dipped in a bowl (yes, a bowl) of hot chocolate (or if you're an adult, a bowl -yes, a bowl- of coffee). Then we drink the left overs. Lunch is usually like dinner. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes we eat leftovers- but it's always finished bread, sometimes cheese and/or a small cup of coffee or dessert. Dinner is usually a hot, sit down meal with lots of cheese (always cheese) and bread. At every meal we drink water, not milk and only sometimes juice (for breakfast).
- French food is the best food in the world. It really is. At every meal I mutter "tres bon" and I tell my family that I am in paradise with this food... It is always that good.
this came out of a yogurt container, believe it or not. so freaking good!
\
baby tomaoes and cheese
mhmm food :)
- The French are way more stylish than Canadians. Now that isn't to say that they all wear the same things, or Canadians don't look nice or anything like that. Its just simply this: When I say stylish, I mean, they tend to dress very chic and everyone seems to has his or her own style that's specific to that person. Whereas, in Canada, there is usually only 1 popular style that everyone has and as a result, everyone kind of looks the same. Here, what you wear is much more specific to an individual while still being clean and chic. However, you still do see a lot of leather jackets (black, grey, brown, tan), heels/boots/Keds, coloured jeans, etc
- Practically every French boy I have seen is attractive and dresses well. Like wow. Why can't the guys in Canada dress like the guys here? It's just not fair that Europe has all the well-dressed attractive guys. And this is a fact. There are so many attractive guys, I've actually developed a certain 'pickiness' about who I think is cute and who is not. But seriously... they are all cute! (If you're single, come to Europe!)
- They are much more conservative when it comes to energy and water... not a bad thing to learn at all. There are never any lights turned on unless someone is in that room and it's dark, they hang-dry most of the clothing, they don't shower every day if we don't need to, etc.
- They don't use conditioner! This was shocking to me as everyone uses conditioner back in Canada! Someone at the weekend orientation last week told me that only the "fancy" French people use conditioner. So when I asked my host mum to take me to the store to buy some... I guess that classified me as a "fancy" person? Either way, after only one week of only using shampoo to wash my hair, it was so dry and knotted and hopeless, I couldn't stand it any longer. My hair will always need conditioner and that's just a fact.
And another fun fact: "Breton" is the old language of the area I'm in (Bretagne). But no one speaks it. It's probably the same as the Aboriginals' languages in Canada- very old and you see it written on the names of some signs but no one actually speaks it.
Well I know there was more that I wanted to write but I can't seem to remember it right now and this seems like a decent amount for everyone to read and catch up on! I will blog again soon! - I promise!
Well when I first arrived last week... I was absolutely exhausted! You see... I didn't sleep on the plane and when I arrived in Paris, we didn't have a chance to sleep until we boarded the bus at around 4:00pm... that's when most people dozed off, and I tried to for a little bit but I was more preoccupied by the scenery (which looked a lot like Australia and Canada meshed together -with the odd historic-looking building here and there). When we arrived in Rennes, most of the other students and I were picked up either by our counselors or families. The other girl going to my town (Lais, from Brazil), and I were met by our counselor and club president. We drove for a bit before stopping for dinner. I had a burger, the last one for awhile, I figured. Then we kept driving. (Though I tried, I still couldn't sleep due to nervous excitement in my belly). I didn't get to my host family's house until 12am France time, which is about 3pm Vancouver time (the day after I left). Because my family could speak no English, they had a friend who could speak English and was staying overnight, translate the basics for me. He gave me a tour of the house, and some basic information... none of which I remembered due to my extreme lack of sleep.. and told me a little bit about the family... once again, I can't remember exactly what. Then, I went to bed. But after lying in bed for 2 hours with no sleep despite being massively sleep deprived, I gave up, turned on the light and started unpacking. Most likely from being so tired and from my long journey, I did cry while unpacking. It hit me... this is my home now for 6 months, I won't see my home in Canada for one year, I won't get to see my dogs or my family or friends until next year, and I won't get to graduate with my friends! You could say I was a little homesick, but as soon as I had unpacked and could see my things around the room, I felt a little more at ease and I settled back into bed at 3:30am (6:30pm Vancouver time) and if you did the math, that is exactly 36 hours from the time I woke up in my bedroom to the time I fell asleep in France. I told my family it was 40hours (because it seriously felt like that) but that was the tired me speaking.
My host family is lovely!! There's Sandrine, the mother, Constance, my 14 year old sister, and Baptist, my 11 (almost 12) year old brother. They loved the Canada gifts I gave them! And Baptist loves peanut butter! Turns out there is no where to buy peanut butter in France. Its practically non-existent. It smelled too odd for Constance and Sandrine to try but Baptist loves it and has it with bread, toast, he tried it with bananas, he's licks it off the spoon and he keeps asking me if we eat it with crepes or pancakes or other things it certainly doesn't belong on! As far as maple syrup goes, I'm not sure if they are all that keen on trying it... it is very sweet. I like it though :) There are 2 friends of theirs that stay overnight every few days or so. The first is the man I mention from before, Laraunt, (or something... I always forget French names). And the second is his son, Pierre. He explained to me why they stay here sometimes when I first arrived, but naturally, I forgot the details. It has something to do with their work.
my host family :)
My house is on a hill with a view of the town, although you can't see all the old buildings, those are in a different direction- but still. It's gorgeous. Surrounding all the houses are bunches of bushy, green trees and what looks like a valley. I still haven't figured out my way around or how to get from my house to point B but I'm sure that will come. The view out the window at night is breathtaking.
My first few days here, I didn't do much other than simply settle in. Upon waking up in the morning, it became very clear to me, I don't speak French. We learned to use Google Translate to have conversations. My family showed me the town of Lannion, which is beautiful! It's filled with old buildings and cobblestone, one lane roads (that cars drive on and people walk on), its full of shops (already I'm regretting bringing so many clothes), and it's exactly what I wanted. And then I saw my school (which is conveniently a 10 minutes walk down the road from town) and dun dun duhhhh..... The nerves set in for school which started a week after I arrived. I also saw the beach which is stunning! About a 15 minute drive from Lannion. I was shocked to see the same places at the beach that are in the pictures when you Google "Bretagne". We usually finished days either playing board games or watching TV in French.
Lannion
Lannion
Cobblestone
My host mum runs a daycare out of her house, and so last week, when I woke up in the mornings, there were always little kids running around. There's Raphel, age 2, Laurent, age 2, and Lou age 6 months! It was fun to play with them. I've also developed a new hobby to pass the time: painting my nails! I've never been all that interested in it before but when you're looking for something to do- paint your nails! I'm becoming obsessed with the colour of mine! Right now my favourite colours are a purple one I got for my birthday, and a bluey-turquoise I bought from the Dollar Store right before I left (surprisingly good quality too)!
Raphel
Laurent
Lou
I started school on Tuesday and it's awesome! I was so nervous for school! My heart was literally pounding when we arrived. Sandrine explained to me that normally I would take the bus but for the first bit she would drive me (basically ease me into taking the bus so I wouldn't get lost or have a panic attack or anything like that). Sandrine and I were to meet Lais (the Brazilian girl) and her host dad (my next host dad), Chrisophe, in front of the statue in front of the school. I was so nervous. The school has a population of about 3000 students and there were crowds of students in front of the school, most of them smoking (I've learned now that everyone goes in front of the school to smoke and that about half of the school smokes which is the equivalent to my whole school in Canada smoking). Also, everyone was attractive. Like everyone. I knew that people dressed up for school in France and that some people wore heels but I wore basically what a nice outfit in Canada is-new jeans, Keds, my "French" H&M striped shirt and my brown jacket with small pieces of jewelry and my hair down-and I couldn't have felt more under-dressed. When I saw Lais, also dressed rather simply, she came up to me and said in a nervous, anxious-voice "All the girls are so pretty!" So, therefore the next day at school, we both came "prepared" wearing lots of makeup, our nicest clothes and our hair all done "pretty" and instead, we see everyone is wearing Keds or converse, and has their hair in a bun or pony-tail and looks tired and simple. The best moment of the day was when Lais said, "I think people were prettier yesterday." Or something like that. Whatever it was, it was gold!
Lycee (missing an accent on the second e)
School really isn't that bad. I have no idea what's going on in any of my classes (and at first, it took me awhile to figure out which class I was in) but that's okay because the teachers know I am foreign and that I don't speak French and all the English teachers are kind to Lais and me. We just sit in the class and doodle until there is something on the board to copy down or someone else gives us their notes to copy down. On the first day of school one teacher assigned a student in the class, a boy named Alexandre, to show us to our classes (because in French school, you only have one class of students that you change rooms with so you're with the same group of kids for the whole year which I think is awesome! So far I like everyone in my class!) He was really nice and he's always explaining to us what's going on in class and whats for homework and introducing us to his friends... although he has a lot of friends. Every few minutes, he sees someone he knows and he just *has* to stop and say hello with the bisous every time. Oh well, he's a nice guy and everyone seems to like him which is completely understandable.
The cafeteria at school is incredible. I swear, as soon as I walked in, it was like the gates to heaven open up and there were clouds and streams of lights and angels singing. Let me explain this to you. French food is good. All of it is good. Like all of it. And I was hungry. To get into the cafeteria, you have to swipe your food card (it looks like a purple credit card) in a machine that reads it, similar to a ATM. Then you walk past the ATM-swiper and a tray pops out of a machine (like the money would at an ATM). Then, you take your tray, and you take your knife, fork and spoon, and you walk into the main room. 2 salad bars in the centre of the room, and food surrounding the entire circumference of the room. Fruits, desserts, main courses, yogurt, you name it. And its the kind of thing where you can take as much as you want. At first Lais and I ran to the first section and grabbed pizza, then we continued down the line pretty much taking exactly what we wanted which was one of everything but before the line came to an end, we got distracted by the salad and ran to the salad bar, filled up on salad and then the rest of it is a blur of randomly cutting in line, taking a look at all the food and running in circles of excitement around the cafeteria until we had all the food we wanted and we went to go sit in the eating area. Also beautiful. At first we ate alone but one of my "host" sister's friends (my host sister, Camille, who is in India right now) came up and invited us to eat with her and her friends and so we did. After we ate, Lais and I went into the courtyard of the school and lay in the sun on the grass playing card games and tanning until the bell rang.
The next day at lunch was similar but very different at the same time. When I went into the cafeteria, I went in with the thought of Okay, yesterday you were the silly new girl who'd never seen a real cafeteria before and today you are experienced. But once again, I found myself running in circles to all the stations out of order because there was a new selection of food. I think I should just accept the fact that I'm never going to get used to this cafeteria. It's too amazing. Lais and I ate with some kids from our class and their friends and these people were awesome- so nice! One of them, a boy named Efflam (an old Breton name) was very interested in us and kept speaking English to us because his father is an English teacher and he wants to be a French teacher in Canada. All of the people were awesome- can't wait until I can actually speak French though!
Two nights ago, my host mum when out to Ikea to buy new furniture for the living room and her best friend Margaree (I think...) stayed in with Constance and I (Baptiste was at a friend's for the night). It was awesome! I loved it! We ate Chinese food in front of the TV watching the movie "Limitless" (in French... I couldn't understand anything but I had a basic idea of what was going on). So comfortable, fun. It was a good night!
Today I went to the beach for a potluck picnic with my family and their friends. It was lovely! Unfortunately, it was cloudy and windy but we tried flying a kite, collected seashells, and ate well. I counted everyone, and there were 10 kids and 8 adults (including myself). 4 families in total. It was great!
Some differences I have noticed between the French and the Canadians are:
- the French drive very fast... And I used to think the Canadians drove fast. But after driving 140 km/h down the highway, and speeding down a hill on a one-lane road inwhich cars travel both ways on, I have come the the conclusion (well, actually I came to it on my first day here), the French drive fast!
- The French eat bread at *every* meal. It isn't a French meal without bread. Often, we use the bread to clean the plate with. But other times, we just eat it plain or with butter. It's just always there. And it is so damn good. I don't think I can ever eat Canadian bread again.
- French meals are always delicious and no matter how fancy they look or taste, are always rather simple. Breakfast here, every morning, is bread dipped in a bowl (yes, a bowl) of hot chocolate (or if you're an adult, a bowl -yes, a bowl- of coffee). Then we drink the left overs. Lunch is usually like dinner. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes we eat leftovers- but it's always finished bread, sometimes cheese and/or a small cup of coffee or dessert. Dinner is usually a hot, sit down meal with lots of cheese (always cheese) and bread. At every meal we drink water, not milk and only sometimes juice (for breakfast).
- French food is the best food in the world. It really is. At every meal I mutter "tres bon" and I tell my family that I am in paradise with this food... It is always that good.
this came out of a yogurt container, believe it or not. so freaking good!
baby tomaoes and cheese
mhmm food :)
- The French are way more stylish than Canadians. Now that isn't to say that they all wear the same things, or Canadians don't look nice or anything like that. Its just simply this: When I say stylish, I mean, they tend to dress very chic and everyone seems to has his or her own style that's specific to that person. Whereas, in Canada, there is usually only 1 popular style that everyone has and as a result, everyone kind of looks the same. Here, what you wear is much more specific to an individual while still being clean and chic. However, you still do see a lot of leather jackets (black, grey, brown, tan), heels/boots/Keds, coloured jeans, etc
- Practically every French boy I have seen is attractive and dresses well. Like wow. Why can't the guys in Canada dress like the guys here? It's just not fair that Europe has all the well-dressed attractive guys. And this is a fact. There are so many attractive guys, I've actually developed a certain 'pickiness' about who I think is cute and who is not. But seriously... they are all cute! (If you're single, come to Europe!)
- They are much more conservative when it comes to energy and water... not a bad thing to learn at all. There are never any lights turned on unless someone is in that room and it's dark, they hang-dry most of the clothing, they don't shower every day if we don't need to, etc.
- They don't use conditioner! This was shocking to me as everyone uses conditioner back in Canada! Someone at the weekend orientation last week told me that only the "fancy" French people use conditioner. So when I asked my host mum to take me to the store to buy some... I guess that classified me as a "fancy" person? Either way, after only one week of only using shampoo to wash my hair, it was so dry and knotted and hopeless, I couldn't stand it any longer. My hair will always need conditioner and that's just a fact.
And another fun fact: "Breton" is the old language of the area I'm in (Bretagne). But no one speaks it. It's probably the same as the Aboriginals' languages in Canada- very old and you see it written on the names of some signs but no one actually speaks it.
Well I know there was more that I wanted to write but I can't seem to remember it right now and this seems like a decent amount for everyone to read and catch up on! I will blog again soon! - I promise!
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