Five months feels so long with a freshly packed backpack strapped to your back. When you think about the fact that your little sister is going to be growing up while you are away and your friends and family will all be living their lives without you. When you think about spending the holidays away from home and getting sick without mum their to bring you a blanket as you cuddle up on the couch. Five months. That's almost half a year. I will be almost 17 when I get home which is just mind-blowing because I just got my license a few weeks ago! Five months... I will be able to speak fluently after that! I will have friends! I will be ready to get back to work.
Four months later and you have no idea how short one month is. Three weekends. Twenty days of school. Eight class periods to work on Sudokus with Sophie and four Wednesdays left to go swimming or shopping with Marina. Then I am gone.
The idea is kinda terrifying. I have just started to really consider Charlotte, Sophie and Caroline to be real friends that I can communicate with and I really don't want to loose them. My french is good, but not fluent and I still have this stupid accent. And in the last month or so my apartement has started to feel... like home. I will come back and see them again someday, but I don't think it will ever be the same as right now.
That and the thought of LASA is not really encouraging. Seriously, I had forgotten what it felt like to love learning before I came here.
With that said though.... oh my gosh. My little sister has grown 5 months older without me. Is she taller? Happier? Sadder? What does she think about? She doesn't email me much and skype just doesn't work as well as having her in the front seat of the car with me and Elaina I miss you so so so so so much. I miss working out with daddy in the mornings and being sick without your real mum to baby you is no fun at all (though really, Malika takes good care of me). It is hard to have a philisophical conversation here- first you have to find someone interested then they have to be willing to listen to you make mistakes and it is not a daily thing here. Lunch group: I miss you.
So as I reflect about going home we have two lists here: what I am looking forward to and what I am going to miss....
What I am looking forward to:
1)Elaina's play... really actually just Elaina. But plays are good too.
2)Mum.
3)Dad.
4)Hugs... here they do kisses which is so cute but hugs feel warmer to me.
5)Visits to grandparents.... weirdest feeling when I think “oh I can't wait to go visit Gran and papaw in a few weeks, or till Lala and Scott come” and then you realize “ohhh right... that will be in a few months not a few weeks”
6)A real bed that is all mine!
7)Good Austin rainstorms... preferably thunder storms.
8)My car :) driving around all day with Anna just because we can. And now... she has one too! I'm psyched. Wanna pick me up from the air port in that? :D
9)Forests... I love living in the middle of a city but I really need my fill of trees actually.
10)Silence... it is right now but only because I am the only one awake. Normally it does not exist in this household.
11)Writing papers in English.
12)There is no crowd of people smoking as soon as you walk out of the front doors of highschool. Awful European habit.
13)Austin music scene.
14)Showers standing up.... ours is weird. Some combination of a bath and a shower. It works fine but....
15)Toilet seats: they don't exist in public (like school) bathrooms. Ever.
What I am going to miss like crazy:
1)My family. I am the luckiest lucky person on the face of the earth to be here with them. There do not exist kinder more welcoming people anywhere.
2)Malika... actually mum she made me look at what you do for us all the time differently too. I don't know if there is a harder job than being a mother, and my mum and Malika are both pretty good at it. Malika also happens to be one of my favorite people on the planet.
3)Sara.... my sister in a totally different way than Elaina. Can't even put this one in to words. Actually... none of them really fit into words as I would like.
4)Ilyess hopefully will come stay in Austin for the summer so you will see what I mean then. Very friendly, very fun, and never shuts up he can make anyone feel at ease.
5)Reduoane- I am pretty sure he is actually another kid in disguise sometimes... kidding. But honestly there don't exist very many people nicer than him.
6)Ok... I need to stop listing people or else this will never end. Rayanne and Ayoub... Ayoub is hilarious and Rayanne is really sweet if quieter around me. Now I swear just two more categories of people.
7)Charlotte and Sophie and Caroline... What could I even say? Finding friends when you dont speak the language is hard so I am lucky they found me.
8)Marina... ok so she didn't help me with french much :P but it was so so so nice to have her to explore France with me and I really hope to see her again.
9)The french language. Hard, but beautiful. I have started journaling lately (its exciting to be able to do stream of consciousness in french) and I am going to keep this up at home
10)My economics class... coolest teacher ever, and my science class- also a very very very kind teacher. And Italian which is just interesting. Maybe I can make Maria teach me at home.
11)Cold weather. I can not explain how much I will miss cold weather. Aunt Julie can I please go live with you during the winter months? Mum, Dad, can we move? Austin summers.... really now. Acutally Austin year round. I would like winter in Austin to be what the weather is like in early fall....
12)Sleeping in Sara's room
13)Crowding everyone around the too-small table
14)The constant action. I feel like Harry at the Weasley's here and it is so much fun.
15)Walking to school... walking everywhere really. I so dread having to get in the car for everything...
16)French chocolate
17)Watching Malika cook
18)Sleeping in Sara's room.
19)French culture.... I think I will do a blog post on this.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Natation et la piscine
Pardon my french but MERDE! I was almost finished with this post before the stupid internet dropped and crazy technology ghosts cursed me... and I lost the post.
I hate technology.
The first time I went to a pool was towards the end of my second month here, an aquatic center on the edge of town with Sara and Ilyess. Sara was the one that suggested it, but I think she regretted it immediately afterward. She doesn't especially like water. Especially if it is cold. Ilyess on the other hand loves the water and was very enthusiastic about the idea. So we took the tram way out to the outskirts of Lyon, took a few wrong busses and finally wound up at the aquatic center. Actually, it was a very nice pool. A very large lap pool in one room with a diving pool behind it that was closed while we were there, in the other room was a shallow pool with a a very tiny lazy river and wave pool inside it, and a jacuzzi, presumably for the parents watching their kids play. We spent quite a lot of time here playing hide and seek and tag. One of their favorite games is competing to see who can hold their breath the longest- it drove Ilyess nuts that I always won and the lifeguard yelled at us for that, and flipping off the side of the pool, and jumping off each others shoulders... I apparently get them into alot of trouble :).
I didn't swim many laps, but being back in the water felt so good, and I have been to the pool 3 days a week ever since.
In the two pools I normally swim at they just have one large (smallish actually in comparison to pools back home) lap pool, half of which is divided into three swim lanes, the other half is for free swim and usually includes lots of little kids learning how to swim.
The first time that I went to the pool I was convinced that the lanes were reserved for a swim club, and tried to swim laps in the free swim area... don't ever try it. I ran into so many squealing kids and old ladies kicking lethargically across the pool for "exercise" and had to stop at least once a lap and tred water for a moment in order to find a way through the crowd. So good if you are looking for more of a water arobics thing, awful if you are going to try to get any real swimming done.
Luckily the next time- okay okay! It was more like the 4th or 5th time that I went to the pool... but the point is that I finally noticed the nice little signs that say the lanes are reserved for swimming... for anyone. It is actually a pretty good idea, the way that they organize the pool. One lane is reserved for swimming with materials (buoys, fins, paddles, ect.), one is for breaststroke, and one is for freestyle and
backstoke.
Great concept. If I weren't the only one that followed the rules. And I promise I am the only one that can swim breaststroke anywhere near fast enough for the freestyle lane. It. Drives. Me. Nuts.
Just to be clear: I don't have anyproblem with slow people, AS LONG AS THEY STAY OUT OF MY WAY! For god's sake, I am in awful swim shape right now, I never swim sprints, and I often have to pass the same person every single lap. Backstrokers are the absolute worst... they could not actually go anywhere while on their backs if their life depended upon it.
Only good thing to come out of all this... my stroke might improve. Anyone that knows my swimming knows that I am pretty awful about not kicking (Mark, you still win this), but I have started kicking really hard whenever I pass someone in hopes that they will try to breath and water will go in their mouth so that they can literally eat my bubbles!
I am not really that mean... I'm kidding.
Kinda.
Other funny things about the pool:
I realized what guarding has done to me when, as I see kids hanging on the lanes as I swim by, I wonder how to say "no hanging on the lane-lines!" in french before I remember that is not my job anymore..
At Garibaldi you have to go up 2 sets of stairs to get to the dressing rooms, then back down another set of stairs to get to the showers, then to the pool. I have been
to this pool every Wednesday for almost two months and I always go down the wrong set of stairs and they have to tell me to go down the other stairs.
That stereotype about French guys and tiny speedos: true. ESPECIALLY for fat old men.
A la prochaine fois!
Bisous!
I hate technology.
The first time I went to a pool was towards the end of my second month here, an aquatic center on the edge of town with Sara and Ilyess. Sara was the one that suggested it, but I think she regretted it immediately afterward. She doesn't especially like water. Especially if it is cold. Ilyess on the other hand loves the water and was very enthusiastic about the idea. So we took the tram way out to the outskirts of Lyon, took a few wrong busses and finally wound up at the aquatic center. Actually, it was a very nice pool. A very large lap pool in one room with a diving pool behind it that was closed while we were there, in the other room was a shallow pool with a a very tiny lazy river and wave pool inside it, and a jacuzzi, presumably for the parents watching their kids play. We spent quite a lot of time here playing hide and seek and tag. One of their favorite games is competing to see who can hold their breath the longest- it drove Ilyess nuts that I always won and the lifeguard yelled at us for that, and flipping off the side of the pool, and jumping off each others shoulders... I apparently get them into alot of trouble :).
I didn't swim many laps, but being back in the water felt so good, and I have been to the pool 3 days a week ever since.
In the two pools I normally swim at they just have one large (smallish actually in comparison to pools back home) lap pool, half of which is divided into three swim lanes, the other half is for free swim and usually includes lots of little kids learning how to swim.
The first time that I went to the pool I was convinced that the lanes were reserved for a swim club, and tried to swim laps in the free swim area... don't ever try it. I ran into so many squealing kids and old ladies kicking lethargically across the pool for "exercise" and had to stop at least once a lap and tred water for a moment in order to find a way through the crowd. So good if you are looking for more of a water arobics thing, awful if you are going to try to get any real swimming done.
Luckily the next time- okay okay! It was more like the 4th or 5th time that I went to the pool... but the point is that I finally noticed the nice little signs that say the lanes are reserved for swimming... for anyone. It is actually a pretty good idea, the way that they organize the pool. One lane is reserved for swimming with materials (buoys, fins, paddles, ect.), one is for breaststroke, and one is for freestyle and
backstoke.
Great concept. If I weren't the only one that followed the rules. And I promise I am the only one that can swim breaststroke anywhere near fast enough for the freestyle lane. It. Drives. Me. Nuts.
Just to be clear: I don't have anyproblem with slow people, AS LONG AS THEY STAY OUT OF MY WAY! For god's sake, I am in awful swim shape right now, I never swim sprints, and I often have to pass the same person every single lap. Backstrokers are the absolute worst... they could not actually go anywhere while on their backs if their life depended upon it.
Only good thing to come out of all this... my stroke might improve. Anyone that knows my swimming knows that I am pretty awful about not kicking (Mark, you still win this), but I have started kicking really hard whenever I pass someone in hopes that they will try to breath and water will go in their mouth so that they can literally eat my bubbles!
I am not really that mean... I'm kidding.
Kinda.
Other funny things about the pool:
I realized what guarding has done to me when, as I see kids hanging on the lanes as I swim by, I wonder how to say "no hanging on the lane-lines!" in french before I remember that is not my job anymore..
At Garibaldi you have to go up 2 sets of stairs to get to the dressing rooms, then back down another set of stairs to get to the showers, then to the pool. I have been
to this pool every Wednesday for almost two months and I always go down the wrong set of stairs and they have to tell me to go down the other stairs.
That stereotype about French guys and tiny speedos: true. ESPECIALLY for fat old men.
A la prochaine fois!
Bisous!
Monday, November 1, 2010
I am completely inept with all things technology... here is why:
I gave Malika my cell phone because it has a touch screen which is apparently akin to being god here. She is going to give it back to me though because its too complicated to use because I can't figure out how to change the language from english to french.
After having this blog for almost 5 months, using it regularly for 2 I JUST figured out that people have been posting comments, and how to view them. Dear me.
After having this blog for almost 5 months, using it regularly for 2 I JUST figured out that people have been posting comments, and how to view them. Dear me.
Pancakes
There are several foods that are automatically associated with the United States. Hamburgers are one of them, sandwiches are another (sliced bread always has "American Sandwich" written on the package). Cupcakes and doughnuts are very American and sold in Starbucks in order to assert its "American-ness." And pancakes.
Which is why my family asked me to make them, because apparently they are in pretty much every film in existence. I have made pancakes a million times before (Elaina loves them) so I told them I would, just that I would go to the store with them tomorrow to buy a few things.
LES MOTS DU JOUR:
levure- baking powder. I looked this up and promptly forgot it 4 times within the 10 minutes before I left for the store before I finally just wrote it on my palm.
sirup eirab- maple syrup- story on this one in just a second.
So Malika, Redouane, Rayanne, Ayoub and I all got into the car and drove to the store. Too many groceries to carry home unfortunately as that was probably the third time I have been in a car since I got to France and have not missed the sensation at all.
Carrefour, the equivalent of Randalls or HEB here, is in le centre comercial, Part Dieu, aka the mall. Don't ask why. While it is true there is a different shop (there is even a store for all the frozen food, like those two isles taken out of the grocery store to be its own store) for pretty much every aspect of a meal, for the most part, boulangeries are only for baguettes, and each of the others is the same- traditional french food only. For milk (which is weird, and I don't believe it is really milk and plan on never drinking it again), yogurt (desert- not a breakfast food), American sandwich bread, cooking ingredients like flour, candy, ect. are all bought exclusively at Carefour. Being as space in a mall in downtown lyon is limited I guess, the store is 2 stories tall. It has enormous elevators to the parking garage below that you can push your overloaded grocery basket into and still fit a dozen people. When you enter to shop you have to put a Euro into the basket in order to insure you will return it after you are finished shopping, and when you need to travel between the floors there is a giant moving sidewalk style escalator and when you roll the cart onto it the wheels cling to the belt so that it does not roll backwards on its way up. We wandered through the store as we did our shopping- math practice as they always calculate the best deal for each item they have to buy (I am only exaggerating a little bit). I had gotten everything I needed except the syrup. I looked everywhere. It was not with the carmel and chocolate syrups used in baking and on ice cream. Nor with the enormous assortment of jellies and jams (apricot is my new favorite, does that even exist in the US?) nor with baking supplies, the extensive collection of olive oils (really? how different can they be?), the honey, or the bread. They even have a section of one row, top to bottom and 3 or 4 feet across filled with Nutella (really, I don't know what the French would do without it. Worse than America's addiction to peanut butter). At the house I had looked up for the word for syrup on the internet, just in case. So I asked one of the employees. "Excusez-moi, mais ou est le sirup?" "Quoi?" "le sirup! Pour les pancakes?" "Ohhh le sirup eirab! En face de le cafe" "Ah... merci." (Excuse me, but where is the syrup? What? They Syrup! For pancakes? Oh... syrup. Across from the coffee. Thank you.) Except eirab sounds like arab (the way the french say it). Which really shouldn't be too surprising- there is a large Arabic population here, and used a bit like Chinese or Mexican is in food names back home. "But really, it comes from Canada! Why would they call it Arab syrup?" Was what I was thinking as I hurried back to the coffee isle. "Across from the coffee... ok... he had no idea what he was talking about. Tea is across from coffee.." I looked more. Finally, behind a post was syrup. Pretty easy to miss. In the US syrup is like nutella, or olive oil or something here. Lots of different brands, different sizes, low fat, sugar free, ect. Nope. There is one kind of syrup here. It comes in a small glass container, with a Canadian flag on the label. It is about 3xs more expensive than in the US, and, as I have already mentioned, smaller. But it was the only one, and as pancakes are pretty much useless without syrup... we bought the stupid thing.
During the week Malika is always the first one up. I am always second. By several hours. Turns out, normal teenagers sleep till noon here too. Too bad I simply can't, but it is nice because that is the only time it is remotely quiet around here. Which is nice, occasionally. Malika had already eaten by the time I got up, and by the time I had finished my now-ritual morning tea the first few kids that she takes care of had already arrived, but she was happy to help me get out bowls and the one and only measuring cup in the house (I have never once seen her measure with something other than her hands... I am not that good). So I set about making pancakes. Unfortunately, the recipe I was using was an American recipe. And I don't have a measuring cup here... liters and grams. So there went 15 minutes converting all that. Also, it is impossible to measure less than 100 grams of something... so I just kinda randomly pored sugar in. And the baking soda. And the salt. So it wasn't really my fault that the pancakes did not turn out nearly as fluffy as I would have liked.
I told my family that typically they are eaten with maple syrup which I pronounced as "sirup arab" and then wen on to say that the name makes no sense because the syrup comes from maple trees in Canada and the northern United States and so really it isn't arab at all. Redouane laughed. "C'est eirab, pas arab."
Oh. Right. I turned back to making my pancakes and shut up after that.
The recipe says it makes 8 servings. I guess that means for girls, or little kids or something, because there are seven of us and I ate one very small pancake and by the time Ilyess finally woke up there were no pancakes left. He was very disappointed. And called Sara a pig. So I promised I would make them again.
The next morning, Malika had left and it was just Reduoane and I in the morning. With nothing else to do I decided to make pancakes again, as I had told Ilyess I would. I found all the supplies myself this morning, and aside from needing help with the stove (I can not, for the life of me, work a lighter for a gas stove) it went fine. Still not as fluffy as I would like, but I left them all on a plate and went back to doing my own thing. By the time I cleared the table from breakfast with Sara around noon they were all gone.
That night at dinner Sara asked Ilyess if he had liked the pancakes.
He stared at her for a minute then burst out. "PUTAIN!!" (cuss word- you can look it up yourself but it is, as far as I can tell, one of the most important words in the french language along with the verbs avoir and etre, and as natural to them as the word maman).
Apparently he had not realized there were pancakes, and didn't get any for the second day in a row. He was, to say the least, very annoyed and did not shut up about it for the rest of dinner, cussing under his breath. I promised him that pancakes are very easy for me to make and I would gladly do it again soon.
Normally, he gets up sometime between 11 and noon, but the next morning he came stumbling into the kitchen around 10. I couldn't decipher his sleepy muttering, but apparently he had woken up just for pancakes- which I had not made. So I did. I will have you know that I am much much faster at it now, and don't even have to look up the recipe anymore. By adding more flower they were a bit fluffier, as I like. I think Ilyess ate half and Ayoub ate another third, Sara ate the rest.
Either way, next time I swear I will remember to double the recipe.
Bisous!
Which is why my family asked me to make them, because apparently they are in pretty much every film in existence. I have made pancakes a million times before (Elaina loves them) so I told them I would, just that I would go to the store with them tomorrow to buy a few things.
LES MOTS DU JOUR:
levure- baking powder. I looked this up and promptly forgot it 4 times within the 10 minutes before I left for the store before I finally just wrote it on my palm.
sirup eirab- maple syrup- story on this one in just a second.
So Malika, Redouane, Rayanne, Ayoub and I all got into the car and drove to the store. Too many groceries to carry home unfortunately as that was probably the third time I have been in a car since I got to France and have not missed the sensation at all.
Carrefour, the equivalent of Randalls or HEB here, is in le centre comercial, Part Dieu, aka the mall. Don't ask why. While it is true there is a different shop (there is even a store for all the frozen food, like those two isles taken out of the grocery store to be its own store) for pretty much every aspect of a meal, for the most part, boulangeries are only for baguettes, and each of the others is the same- traditional french food only. For milk (which is weird, and I don't believe it is really milk and plan on never drinking it again), yogurt (desert- not a breakfast food), American sandwich bread, cooking ingredients like flour, candy, ect. are all bought exclusively at Carefour. Being as space in a mall in downtown lyon is limited I guess, the store is 2 stories tall. It has enormous elevators to the parking garage below that you can push your overloaded grocery basket into and still fit a dozen people. When you enter to shop you have to put a Euro into the basket in order to insure you will return it after you are finished shopping, and when you need to travel between the floors there is a giant moving sidewalk style escalator and when you roll the cart onto it the wheels cling to the belt so that it does not roll backwards on its way up. We wandered through the store as we did our shopping- math practice as they always calculate the best deal for each item they have to buy (I am only exaggerating a little bit). I had gotten everything I needed except the syrup. I looked everywhere. It was not with the carmel and chocolate syrups used in baking and on ice cream. Nor with the enormous assortment of jellies and jams (apricot is my new favorite, does that even exist in the US?) nor with baking supplies, the extensive collection of olive oils (really? how different can they be?), the honey, or the bread. They even have a section of one row, top to bottom and 3 or 4 feet across filled with Nutella (really, I don't know what the French would do without it. Worse than America's addiction to peanut butter). At the house I had looked up for the word for syrup on the internet, just in case. So I asked one of the employees. "Excusez-moi, mais ou est le sirup?" "Quoi?" "le sirup! Pour les pancakes?" "Ohhh le sirup eirab! En face de le cafe" "Ah... merci." (Excuse me, but where is the syrup? What? They Syrup! For pancakes? Oh... syrup. Across from the coffee. Thank you.) Except eirab sounds like arab (the way the french say it). Which really shouldn't be too surprising- there is a large Arabic population here, and used a bit like Chinese or Mexican is in food names back home. "But really, it comes from Canada! Why would they call it Arab syrup?" Was what I was thinking as I hurried back to the coffee isle. "Across from the coffee... ok... he had no idea what he was talking about. Tea is across from coffee.." I looked more. Finally, behind a post was syrup. Pretty easy to miss. In the US syrup is like nutella, or olive oil or something here. Lots of different brands, different sizes, low fat, sugar free, ect. Nope. There is one kind of syrup here. It comes in a small glass container, with a Canadian flag on the label. It is about 3xs more expensive than in the US, and, as I have already mentioned, smaller. But it was the only one, and as pancakes are pretty much useless without syrup... we bought the stupid thing.
During the week Malika is always the first one up. I am always second. By several hours. Turns out, normal teenagers sleep till noon here too. Too bad I simply can't, but it is nice because that is the only time it is remotely quiet around here. Which is nice, occasionally. Malika had already eaten by the time I got up, and by the time I had finished my now-ritual morning tea the first few kids that she takes care of had already arrived, but she was happy to help me get out bowls and the one and only measuring cup in the house (I have never once seen her measure with something other than her hands... I am not that good). So I set about making pancakes. Unfortunately, the recipe I was using was an American recipe. And I don't have a measuring cup here... liters and grams. So there went 15 minutes converting all that. Also, it is impossible to measure less than 100 grams of something... so I just kinda randomly pored sugar in. And the baking soda. And the salt. So it wasn't really my fault that the pancakes did not turn out nearly as fluffy as I would have liked.
I told my family that typically they are eaten with maple syrup which I pronounced as "sirup arab" and then wen on to say that the name makes no sense because the syrup comes from maple trees in Canada and the northern United States and so really it isn't arab at all. Redouane laughed. "C'est eirab, pas arab."
Oh. Right. I turned back to making my pancakes and shut up after that.
The recipe says it makes 8 servings. I guess that means for girls, or little kids or something, because there are seven of us and I ate one very small pancake and by the time Ilyess finally woke up there were no pancakes left. He was very disappointed. And called Sara a pig. So I promised I would make them again.
The next morning, Malika had left and it was just Reduoane and I in the morning. With nothing else to do I decided to make pancakes again, as I had told Ilyess I would. I found all the supplies myself this morning, and aside from needing help with the stove (I can not, for the life of me, work a lighter for a gas stove) it went fine. Still not as fluffy as I would like, but I left them all on a plate and went back to doing my own thing. By the time I cleared the table from breakfast with Sara around noon they were all gone.
That night at dinner Sara asked Ilyess if he had liked the pancakes.
He stared at her for a minute then burst out. "PUTAIN!!" (cuss word- you can look it up yourself but it is, as far as I can tell, one of the most important words in the french language along with the verbs avoir and etre, and as natural to them as the word maman).
Apparently he had not realized there were pancakes, and didn't get any for the second day in a row. He was, to say the least, very annoyed and did not shut up about it for the rest of dinner, cussing under his breath. I promised him that pancakes are very easy for me to make and I would gladly do it again soon.
Normally, he gets up sometime between 11 and noon, but the next morning he came stumbling into the kitchen around 10. I couldn't decipher his sleepy muttering, but apparently he had woken up just for pancakes- which I had not made. So I did. I will have you know that I am much much faster at it now, and don't even have to look up the recipe anymore. By adding more flower they were a bit fluffier, as I like. I think Ilyess ate half and Ayoub ate another third, Sara ate the rest.
Either way, next time I swear I will remember to double the recipe.
Bisous!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
So..
I got tired of step by step what I did each day. It was really really boring to write, very tedious. So from now on I am just writing about things that I find funny, or just teh differences because it is more intresting both for me to write and you to read. By the time I go back to school next Wednesday I promise to have both the post on the riots that I have been working on (and procrastinating) and one on pancakes.
Thats all!
Love and miss you all... bisous!
Thats all!
Love and miss you all... bisous!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
STRIKE... well this is more than 3
(The last blog entry was really rushed because this is the one I really wanted to write.)
I once told Anna that my teachers were on strike and she told me she had stopped caring why- they didn't need a reason, they were French!
She has a point.
In the United States, strikes are something you read about in history books. Or pass in the streets and wonder what the hell they are shouting about, because aren't they supposed to be working or something right now?
Not so in France. There is a strike about something, so far, about every other week since I have been here. At first I had no idea what the were about (they explained, I just didn't understand, had something to do with bad teachers not getting fired at one point) and right now it is because they want to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.
In the US, when there is a strike, you drive right on past it. In France, the world comes to a screeching halt for a few days. The buses do not run, or not on the same schedule and so many people just walk and have to leave earlier in order to get anywhere on time. Malika has to pick up and drop of ALL of the kids for lunch because the cafeterias are closed. About half of the teachers are gone, which means we don't have class. Really it is kind-of fun.
But before yesterday I hadn't SEEN a strike. Experienced the effects, yes, but not seen one, and apparently, french teens really know how to throw a strike.
When workers go on strike, its called un greve. When students strike- un bloqueuse. Why? Anatomy of the word... bloq... sounds a little like block, right? Right. And that is why. Because in a strike they don't do anything, and in a bloqueuse they block the entry-way physically and insure that no-one enters. Including poor confused exchange students (unless you put on a very good helpless face :) and speak very bad french to them). So really, you can still get in its just a pain.
I really don't know how they are organized, but everyone knows about it before-hand. I think it has something to do with the marvels of facebook, but I am not sure. There were several around town last week, but the first at Lacasagne was this Monday. Actually it was scheduled for Tuesday, but like anything that involves skipping class to chat with friends and yell randomly, why wait? So at first mostly everyone just stood around asking "is there un bloqueuse today?" Finally a few people started standing in the doorway (the gate is broken, so there is just one door we all have to go through making it much easier to block). I was really rather lucky that my first class was at 8 that day, they weren't very organized yet and so it was easier to get through. I just had one class that morning, an hour of Italian, and my other class was canceled. So at 9 o'clock I stood at the door to the building with the rest of my class. The principals of the school stood at the door, watching outside. The crowd had swelled and while I am really really bad at estimating numbers, I am going to guess that there were 50 students all crowded outside in the cold. The trashcans were lined up in front of the school doors and people were on the steps, sidewalk and spilling out onto the street. One girl had a whistle and every time she blew it everyone would yell. Someone threw a small firecracker (or something of the sort) near the steps, after that the principal opened the door and what was left of my class snaked out, laughing. My only other class that day was at 2 and by that point the crowd had dissipated, some went home, some I think to Bellecour. Either way, the 5 of us that had actually come to class finished in peace.
Clips on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG8Y0GX9pAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-sVQcZ3sz0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koz9EpzvPSA
Tuesday: the real date of the bloquese. I just happened to see Marina on my way to school and so we walked the rest of the way there together. Paul, a friend of the family just randomly came up "Salut."
I just kind of looked at him for a second. Surprise! First of all, he does not go to the same school and as far as I know, his school is no where nearby. Second of all he was in shorts (French guys also wear shorter shorts than American guys) and a tee-shirt. You have to understand that it was in the 40s, I, for one, was wearing jeans, boots, a long sleeved-shirt, a sweater, a jacket, and a very warm scarf, and was still a little cold. Stupid wind.
"Qu'est-ce que tu fais ici?"
He was a part of the bloquese, apparently people from other schools all gather at Lacassagne, and he was not wearing warm clothes in protest though I fail to see how that helped.
Everyone was on the steps. Trashcans lined up in-front. I saw Charlotte on the steps and went to talk to her.
"Are you going in?"
"No way, are you?"
"I think I have to, for my program I can't skip class"
"Don't worry about it! There probably isn't even class anyways."
I looked at her doubtfully.
"Look" she took my arm "no one will be in class, I won't, Sophie isn't even coming today... and everyone else is out here, protesting" she pointed out our classmates in the crowd, one by one. "Even if you did go in, chances are the teacher is on strike too."
Eventually, I just took her word for it. Smart, smart, Charlotte... from what I heard later no one went in that morning.
In the meantime, everything was barely controlled chaos. People were chanting with signs, yelling, and because they are french, smoking. A small fight broke out, but was over almost as quickly as it had started.
Really it was quite interesting for me and, being me, I really wanted to follow everyone to Bellecour but I can't say that would have been very safe so I heeded my better judgment and decided to go back home. At this point many of the less enthusiastic protesters were trickling out of the crowd to go back home, and many of those more dedicated to the cause were marching off to continue in Bellecour. Marina and I decided to leave by a back ally so that we didn't have to make our way back through the crowd, just as we started to walk away there were shouts and a few high-pitched squeals followed by a crunch. We spun around just in time to see a group of guys over-turn a car on the other side of the street. The driver's side window crushed glass littered on the ground as it teetered for a minute and then stood still, balanced on its right side. The boys all looked at each other, grinning with the adrenalin and laughing. Is it weird that my first thought was not "what the are they doing?" or "the poor owner of that car!" but "damn, of all the days to leave my camera at home!"
Don't worry, the other thoughts followed shortly after, but I am very upset not to have that picture.
Marina and I went way out of our way to avoid the destruction, got a little lost for a few minutes, and took a while getting home. I sat around and worked and memorizing all the irregular verbs and their conjugations in the present tense, as I have long since forgotten them and they are kinda important, if not boring. After lunch I went back to class for the afternoon, as boring as it was as there were maybe 6, 7 people in my class.
The next 2 mornings followed the same pattern. Walk to school, blocquese. Go to class. Do nothing. Go home. Laugh about the french with my Moroccan family. The administration, that had done nothing at all the first two days seemed upset by how out-of hand things had gotten on Tuesday so they started to maintain some sort of order- protesting was still allowed. There were never again as many people as Tuesday, and so we did nothing in class. Seriously, we watched the Titanic in History. We read a really good poem by Victor Hugo in French and talked about how hard it was for people like me to learn French because the language has so many exceptions and contradictions, and written is not always anything like the spoken language. In math the teacher basically did their homework for them. My economics teacher explained the basics of this issue.. why they are trying to raise the retirement age and the arguments for and against it. Basically its not going to solve the problem but they have to do something. We actually did something in Science at the end of the week- took a test. It was written and I made tons of mistakes with grammar (protein is feminin, in case you were wondering) but stil did rather well on the test. By Friday they had already voted on the issue, but as the following week was fall break and they had already skipped an entire week most people continued protesting, just so they didn't have to go to class.
Apparently after the protests were over the skin heads came into town from the countryside, looking for a fight for revenge for all the havoc. Of course that is just an excuse, and basically, we stayed inside that weekend.
Malika rolled her eyes at me once. "The French are always protesting. Always unhappy about something." I laughed and agreed. Its kind-of a pain sometimes. Tons of damage that the state now has to waste more money on in fixing. None of the normal services are offered- bus schedules are messed up and school cafeterias close. They over-react, and I don't agree with what they are fighting for. 2 extra years of work? They have it really good already, they don't need to complain.
And yet, where is that line where they should complain? This aspect of their culture is part of why they have all that they do today. They don't accept anything less, they have high standards and expectations. They are not going to let anyone walk over them. If they did, they wouldn't really be French.
I once told Anna that my teachers were on strike and she told me she had stopped caring why- they didn't need a reason, they were French!
She has a point.
In the United States, strikes are something you read about in history books. Or pass in the streets and wonder what the hell they are shouting about, because aren't they supposed to be working or something right now?
Not so in France. There is a strike about something, so far, about every other week since I have been here. At first I had no idea what the were about (they explained, I just didn't understand, had something to do with bad teachers not getting fired at one point) and right now it is because they want to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.
In the US, when there is a strike, you drive right on past it. In France, the world comes to a screeching halt for a few days. The buses do not run, or not on the same schedule and so many people just walk and have to leave earlier in order to get anywhere on time. Malika has to pick up and drop of ALL of the kids for lunch because the cafeterias are closed. About half of the teachers are gone, which means we don't have class. Really it is kind-of fun.
But before yesterday I hadn't SEEN a strike. Experienced the effects, yes, but not seen one, and apparently, french teens really know how to throw a strike.
When workers go on strike, its called un greve. When students strike- un bloqueuse. Why? Anatomy of the word... bloq... sounds a little like block, right? Right. And that is why. Because in a strike they don't do anything, and in a bloqueuse they block the entry-way physically and insure that no-one enters. Including poor confused exchange students (unless you put on a very good helpless face :) and speak very bad french to them). So really, you can still get in its just a pain.
I really don't know how they are organized, but everyone knows about it before-hand. I think it has something to do with the marvels of facebook, but I am not sure. There were several around town last week, but the first at Lacasagne was this Monday. Actually it was scheduled for Tuesday, but like anything that involves skipping class to chat with friends and yell randomly, why wait? So at first mostly everyone just stood around asking "is there un bloqueuse today?" Finally a few people started standing in the doorway (the gate is broken, so there is just one door we all have to go through making it much easier to block). I was really rather lucky that my first class was at 8 that day, they weren't very organized yet and so it was easier to get through. I just had one class that morning, an hour of Italian, and my other class was canceled. So at 9 o'clock I stood at the door to the building with the rest of my class. The principals of the school stood at the door, watching outside. The crowd had swelled and while I am really really bad at estimating numbers, I am going to guess that there were 50 students all crowded outside in the cold. The trashcans were lined up in front of the school doors and people were on the steps, sidewalk and spilling out onto the street. One girl had a whistle and every time she blew it everyone would yell. Someone threw a small firecracker (or something of the sort) near the steps, after that the principal opened the door and what was left of my class snaked out, laughing. My only other class that day was at 2 and by that point the crowd had dissipated, some went home, some I think to Bellecour. Either way, the 5 of us that had actually come to class finished in peace.
Clips on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG8Y0GX9pAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-sVQcZ3sz0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koz9EpzvPSA
Tuesday: the real date of the bloquese. I just happened to see Marina on my way to school and so we walked the rest of the way there together. Paul, a friend of the family just randomly came up "Salut."
I just kind of looked at him for a second. Surprise! First of all, he does not go to the same school and as far as I know, his school is no where nearby. Second of all he was in shorts (French guys also wear shorter shorts than American guys) and a tee-shirt. You have to understand that it was in the 40s, I, for one, was wearing jeans, boots, a long sleeved-shirt, a sweater, a jacket, and a very warm scarf, and was still a little cold. Stupid wind.
"Qu'est-ce que tu fais ici?"
He was a part of the bloquese, apparently people from other schools all gather at Lacassagne, and he was not wearing warm clothes in protest though I fail to see how that helped.
Everyone was on the steps. Trashcans lined up in-front. I saw Charlotte on the steps and went to talk to her.
"Are you going in?"
"No way, are you?"
"I think I have to, for my program I can't skip class"
"Don't worry about it! There probably isn't even class anyways."
I looked at her doubtfully.
"Look" she took my arm "no one will be in class, I won't, Sophie isn't even coming today... and everyone else is out here, protesting" she pointed out our classmates in the crowd, one by one. "Even if you did go in, chances are the teacher is on strike too."
Eventually, I just took her word for it. Smart, smart, Charlotte... from what I heard later no one went in that morning.
In the meantime, everything was barely controlled chaos. People were chanting with signs, yelling, and because they are french, smoking. A small fight broke out, but was over almost as quickly as it had started.
Really it was quite interesting for me and, being me, I really wanted to follow everyone to Bellecour but I can't say that would have been very safe so I heeded my better judgment and decided to go back home. At this point many of the less enthusiastic protesters were trickling out of the crowd to go back home, and many of those more dedicated to the cause were marching off to continue in Bellecour. Marina and I decided to leave by a back ally so that we didn't have to make our way back through the crowd, just as we started to walk away there were shouts and a few high-pitched squeals followed by a crunch. We spun around just in time to see a group of guys over-turn a car on the other side of the street. The driver's side window crushed glass littered on the ground as it teetered for a minute and then stood still, balanced on its right side. The boys all looked at each other, grinning with the adrenalin and laughing. Is it weird that my first thought was not "what the are they doing?" or "the poor owner of that car!" but "damn, of all the days to leave my camera at home!"
Don't worry, the other thoughts followed shortly after, but I am very upset not to have that picture.
Marina and I went way out of our way to avoid the destruction, got a little lost for a few minutes, and took a while getting home. I sat around and worked and memorizing all the irregular verbs and their conjugations in the present tense, as I have long since forgotten them and they are kinda important, if not boring. After lunch I went back to class for the afternoon, as boring as it was as there were maybe 6, 7 people in my class.
The next 2 mornings followed the same pattern. Walk to school, blocquese. Go to class. Do nothing. Go home. Laugh about the french with my Moroccan family. The administration, that had done nothing at all the first two days seemed upset by how out-of hand things had gotten on Tuesday so they started to maintain some sort of order- protesting was still allowed. There were never again as many people as Tuesday, and so we did nothing in class. Seriously, we watched the Titanic in History. We read a really good poem by Victor Hugo in French and talked about how hard it was for people like me to learn French because the language has so many exceptions and contradictions, and written is not always anything like the spoken language. In math the teacher basically did their homework for them. My economics teacher explained the basics of this issue.. why they are trying to raise the retirement age and the arguments for and against it. Basically its not going to solve the problem but they have to do something. We actually did something in Science at the end of the week- took a test. It was written and I made tons of mistakes with grammar (protein is feminin, in case you were wondering) but stil did rather well on the test. By Friday they had already voted on the issue, but as the following week was fall break and they had already skipped an entire week most people continued protesting, just so they didn't have to go to class.
Apparently after the protests were over the skin heads came into town from the countryside, looking for a fight for revenge for all the havoc. Of course that is just an excuse, and basically, we stayed inside that weekend.
Malika rolled her eyes at me once. "The French are always protesting. Always unhappy about something." I laughed and agreed. Its kind-of a pain sometimes. Tons of damage that the state now has to waste more money on in fixing. None of the normal services are offered- bus schedules are messed up and school cafeterias close. They over-react, and I don't agree with what they are fighting for. 2 extra years of work? They have it really good already, they don't need to complain.
And yet, where is that line where they should complain? This aspect of their culture is part of why they have all that they do today. They don't accept anything less, they have high standards and expectations. They are not going to let anyone walk over them. If they did, they wouldn't really be French.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Le week-end
Heyyyyy
yea. About last week. I am not posting on it. I don't remember it...
Oh! Except for one very very important thing! Running! Because I found my way to le Parc de la Tete d'or (look up pictures, it is really very very pretty) and I have started jogging there. Its much harder because its 3-4km away from my apartment, which makes it (with stopping to wait for cars and all that stupid stuff) about a 20min jog there, and 20 min back, so I really don't actually get to jog there very much. Still, leaves are changing color and falling IN THE FALL as opposed to maybe in January in Austin and its one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. If it wasn't obvious before I got to France, it is set in stone now- I will be living somewhere cold when I leave. Its just way too beautiful to walk outside in mid October and see my breath in the air, it makes me want to spin in circles or run or spin cartwheels....
So, this weekend. Saturday morning I went jogging a le parc, where I ran into Emily (other exchange student from CT.) and we jogged around and talked a bit. I got back to the house, took a shower and ate some lunch and went to meet a bunch of AFS friends a la garre part dieu. Krista (Latvia), Carolina (Czech Repbulic), Daniela (Mexico), Nina (Australia), Andre (Bolivia?) all drove/took a train into Lyon and met up with Marina (Brazil), Emily and I (because we all live in Lyon) to hang out for the day. Not the best day for it, as it was rainy, and even though there weren't that many people there were just enough that we couldn't get anything done because someone was always lagging behind to take a picture and no one could really come up with anything to do so we just kind-of wandered. Next time, fewer people or a set agenda is definitely required. However, it was nice to get to see my friends. I left early and walked home and hung out for an hour or so before walking back to the train station with Redouane, Sara et Ayoub. Ayoub was going to le part dieu to buy his phone, but walking through the station (short-cut to the mall) we saw some of Sara's friends from AFS (french kids going to the US for 2 weeks) and stopped to talk to some of them for a while. Sara is really short, and some of the guys were super tall and it looked really funny to have her stand between them, her head several inches shorter than their shoulders... just had to say that. We walked home and went out to dinner at Malika's friend's house for a traditional Moroccan meal... Moroccan food is gooooood. I highly suggest finding someone that can make you real couscous. Maybe I will get Malika to teach me for next time. Anyway, in Morocco you serve everything in a giant shallow bowl in the middle of the table, piled with a mountain of couscous, meat, and VEGETABLES (they were so delicious. I think I ate half of them) and everyone eats out of the same bowl. I told Emily who was weirded out because maybe someone is sick but really, it works pretty well. They don't believe that I am a real American because I don't like soda. Ilyess eventually left to go hang out with friends and their son walked Sara and I home (it was very late and they are convinced girls can't go out alone) because we were both exhausted and ready for bed. As a note- that was close to midnight. We got there around oh... probably somewhere before 9. The further south you live the later you eat, and Redouane told me that in Morocco, he often does not eat dinner until 1 in the morning.
Sunday, I went running again, called both my dad (in China right now) and my mom, sister, grandmother and grandfather (they were visiting). As well as getting a little bit of homework done.
Love you all
bisous!
yea. About last week. I am not posting on it. I don't remember it...
Oh! Except for one very very important thing! Running! Because I found my way to le Parc de la Tete d'or (look up pictures, it is really very very pretty) and I have started jogging there. Its much harder because its 3-4km away from my apartment, which makes it (with stopping to wait for cars and all that stupid stuff) about a 20min jog there, and 20 min back, so I really don't actually get to jog there very much. Still, leaves are changing color and falling IN THE FALL as opposed to maybe in January in Austin and its one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. If it wasn't obvious before I got to France, it is set in stone now- I will be living somewhere cold when I leave. Its just way too beautiful to walk outside in mid October and see my breath in the air, it makes me want to spin in circles or run or spin cartwheels....
So, this weekend. Saturday morning I went jogging a le parc, where I ran into Emily (other exchange student from CT.) and we jogged around and talked a bit. I got back to the house, took a shower and ate some lunch and went to meet a bunch of AFS friends a la garre part dieu. Krista (Latvia), Carolina (Czech Repbulic), Daniela (Mexico), Nina (Australia), Andre (Bolivia?) all drove/took a train into Lyon and met up with Marina (Brazil), Emily and I (because we all live in Lyon) to hang out for the day. Not the best day for it, as it was rainy, and even though there weren't that many people there were just enough that we couldn't get anything done because someone was always lagging behind to take a picture and no one could really come up with anything to do so we just kind-of wandered. Next time, fewer people or a set agenda is definitely required. However, it was nice to get to see my friends. I left early and walked home and hung out for an hour or so before walking back to the train station with Redouane, Sara et Ayoub. Ayoub was going to le part dieu to buy his phone, but walking through the station (short-cut to the mall) we saw some of Sara's friends from AFS (french kids going to the US for 2 weeks) and stopped to talk to some of them for a while. Sara is really short, and some of the guys were super tall and it looked really funny to have her stand between them, her head several inches shorter than their shoulders... just had to say that. We walked home and went out to dinner at Malika's friend's house for a traditional Moroccan meal... Moroccan food is gooooood. I highly suggest finding someone that can make you real couscous. Maybe I will get Malika to teach me for next time. Anyway, in Morocco you serve everything in a giant shallow bowl in the middle of the table, piled with a mountain of couscous, meat, and VEGETABLES (they were so delicious. I think I ate half of them) and everyone eats out of the same bowl. I told Emily who was weirded out because maybe someone is sick but really, it works pretty well. They don't believe that I am a real American because I don't like soda. Ilyess eventually left to go hang out with friends and their son walked Sara and I home (it was very late and they are convinced girls can't go out alone) because we were both exhausted and ready for bed. As a note- that was close to midnight. We got there around oh... probably somewhere before 9. The further south you live the later you eat, and Redouane told me that in Morocco, he often does not eat dinner until 1 in the morning.
Sunday, I went running again, called both my dad (in China right now) and my mom, sister, grandmother and grandfather (they were visiting). As well as getting a little bit of homework done.
Love you all
bisous!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wow. Last week might as well have been last month for all I remember about it. Lets see... Monday, english lessons, didn't go so well because he was not paying any attention. My french is slowly getting better. I got a 12 on my french paper, which is considered to be pretty decent here, she definitely grades me on a totally different scale. My history teacher didn't even give me a grade, just told me he was glad I tried... I am still mostly hanging out with Charlotte, Sophie, Caroline and Marina... they are super sweet. It is really fun to have Marina as a friend- we explore the city together, Sophie especially reminds me of some of my friends back home although I couldn't tell you why, and all of them have helped me so so much in class. Actually everyone has.
I may need tons of help, and I would have trouble passing my classes, but at the same time I am finding them exceedingly easy. I am reminded how fast-paced LASA really is because they spend so much more time explaining a subject here...so my understanding of everything is pretty good but communicating what I understand... is another matter entirely.
This weekend we went to Paris, which was fun but I am exhausted. I couldn't even tell you all that we did it went so quickly, and for much of it I was falling in and out of sleep (like whenever we got in the car or sat down). We stayed with family/friends (the relation is way too complicated to try and explain) who came from Senegal... either people in France are very welcoming or people that come from french-speaking Africa are very welcoming... because they were all very very kind. Sunday Sara and I met up with one of her old friends from Lyon who had moved to Paris, and we walked around the champs de lise... its really sad that here, their STORES are prettier than anything we have (Galarie Lafayette). We drove back Sunday afternoon/evening/night and got back to the house around 11:30, after which I still had to take a shower and poor Sara had hwk (I just did mine today in-between and during class).
Alright, so I realized the other day that I have been here for a month already. Which is mind-blowing. Of course I havent been here for a month, I've only been here a week or so. Or was it half a year already... anyway, in honor of a month here, just a few things about France:
-Who needs houses? We can fit 3 times as many in half the space of my house... if that.
-Just because they call it a shower doesn't always mean what you think it does.
-Tacos... there are different interpretations of them all around the world.
-Moroccan tea kills French tea
-French breakfasts are good- Moroccan breakfasts are better.
-The farther south you live, the later you eat dinner. In my house it is always by at least 9:30, but apparently in Morocco they often don't eat dinner until midnight, or early in the morning.
-French students kill American students in the language studies department.
-Shorts in PE? Are you crazy? Pants!
-Scarves... they wear them.
-Toilet seats are a luxury, not a necessity, and don't exist in most public bathrooms.
-Door knobs are in the middle of the door, not the side. Esthetics over physics... somehow that is very very French
-That 300 year old church? Oh yea, its ok. There is another just a few blocks away.
So that's it for today! Love and miss all of you.
Bisous.
I may need tons of help, and I would have trouble passing my classes, but at the same time I am finding them exceedingly easy. I am reminded how fast-paced LASA really is because they spend so much more time explaining a subject here...so my understanding of everything is pretty good but communicating what I understand... is another matter entirely.
This weekend we went to Paris, which was fun but I am exhausted. I couldn't even tell you all that we did it went so quickly, and for much of it I was falling in and out of sleep (like whenever we got in the car or sat down). We stayed with family/friends (the relation is way too complicated to try and explain) who came from Senegal... either people in France are very welcoming or people that come from french-speaking Africa are very welcoming... because they were all very very kind. Sunday Sara and I met up with one of her old friends from Lyon who had moved to Paris, and we walked around the champs de lise... its really sad that here, their STORES are prettier than anything we have (Galarie Lafayette). We drove back Sunday afternoon/evening/night and got back to the house around 11:30, after which I still had to take a shower and poor Sara had hwk (I just did mine today in-between and during class).
Alright, so I realized the other day that I have been here for a month already. Which is mind-blowing. Of course I havent been here for a month, I've only been here a week or so. Or was it half a year already... anyway, in honor of a month here, just a few things about France:
-Who needs houses? We can fit 3 times as many in half the space of my house... if that.
-Just because they call it a shower doesn't always mean what you think it does.
-Tacos... there are different interpretations of them all around the world.
-Moroccan tea kills French tea
-French breakfasts are good- Moroccan breakfasts are better.
-The farther south you live, the later you eat dinner. In my house it is always by at least 9:30, but apparently in Morocco they often don't eat dinner until midnight, or early in the morning.
-French students kill American students in the language studies department.
-Shorts in PE? Are you crazy? Pants!
-Scarves... they wear them.
-Toilet seats are a luxury, not a necessity, and don't exist in most public bathrooms.
-Door knobs are in the middle of the door, not the side. Esthetics over physics... somehow that is very very French
-That 300 year old church? Oh yea, its ok. There is another just a few blocks away.
So that's it for today! Love and miss all of you.
Bisous.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
I am not going to do a post for this past week at school. I am sorry, it is just too much. Mostly, Monday might as well have been a year ago. I don't really remember it. Sorry!
So on to this past weekend...
AFS weekend! Saturday afternoon Ilyess walked me to the train station at Part Dieu (10-15 min away walking)where I met up with Emily and Marina, the other AFS girls from Lyon, and quite a few other AFSers that had taken a train to Lyon in order to catch the train to Anjou. On the way down I sat with Yuka, a really cute Japanese girl who speaks a very little English and even less French. We had fun though... she is very very sweet. We didn't do very much that afternoon, we went into groups with people that speak the same language, I was with the other two Americans, two girls from Finland and a guy from Denmark... we were supposed to do written activities about what we liked and didn't like about France and what we expected, but mostly we drove the volunteers crazy and talked. We had a very good dinner after which I could hardly move and then the Student Ambassadors (french kids going to the US for 2 weeks) "organized" activities. Musical chairs! I almost won... it was really funny to see everyone fall on the floor when they missed a chair though. After that we talked a little bit and then a bunch of us went up on the roof and listened to music until a volunteer came up and yelled at us that some people were trying to sleep and being on the roof at night was dangerous and blah blah blah. Either way, that ended that.
We woke up the next morning and ate breakfast- really yummy yogurt, bread and jam. Apparently you drink tea and hot chocolate out of bowls here, and Moroccan tea kills French tea in a bag. Just not the same. After that we played really really stupid games for a while (Leeettt me see your funky monkey!) Which I think mostly exist to make you feel as awkward as humanly possible so that you get used to the feeling for when you do stupid things with your french friends and family. That and so that they can take really silly pictures of 50 teenagers pretending to be monkeys. We went back into our groups, ore writing stuff... this time though we wrote a letter to our future self that they will give us as we leave, which is actually a pretty good idea. After that we just wandered around for a while, then ate lunch. All of the families brought something, and they prepared a few salads, and by the end of it none of us wanted to move. People here are really addicted to anything chocolate by the way.
After lunch we walked up the hill/mountain (this was no small hill, ok?) to an old castle. On the way up Marshall and I found a small cave filled with brush that would have been really cool to explore otherwise, wild blackberries that can not compare with east Texas berries from the farm, and some grapes growing over a fence that were... wow. One of the most delicious things I have ever had, but they didn't taste much like a grape. Very very good. At the castle you had the most beautiful view of the valley and I cursed myself for forgetting my camera, and the wind was blowing really really hard.
Not much happened after that... we went back down and left with our families. Malika's husband, Sara's stepfather had arrived from Morocco by the time I came back and I met him for the first time... he seems very nice. Otherwise that is about it.
Away from the timeline though: It was so so so much fun. At one point I was sitting at a table where I was speaking french with someone across from me, on my left two guys and a girl were speaking spanish and on my right some girls were speaking English, at the table there were two people from Paraguay, another two from Bolivia, one from Peru, one from Mexico, one from Latvia, one from Finland and me, from the Untied States. It was like that all weekend, a mixture of languages (often half in English, half in French) and a mixture of countries... there was someone from every continent except Antarctica. It is so cool to see how similar, and different, each culture is, and to be able to say I have friends from all over the world now. It makes Austin feel very distant, but in a really good way. It is liberating and amazing and... wow. I really wish I could describe it for you guys back home...
Love and miss you all.
Les Mots:
renifler- to sniff
respirer- to breathe (I can't right now)
tousser- to have a cough
all of these terms relate to the fact that I am pretty sure someone gave me a cold this weekend. Darn.
So on to this past weekend...
AFS weekend! Saturday afternoon Ilyess walked me to the train station at Part Dieu (10-15 min away walking)where I met up with Emily and Marina, the other AFS girls from Lyon, and quite a few other AFSers that had taken a train to Lyon in order to catch the train to Anjou. On the way down I sat with Yuka, a really cute Japanese girl who speaks a very little English and even less French. We had fun though... she is very very sweet. We didn't do very much that afternoon, we went into groups with people that speak the same language, I was with the other two Americans, two girls from Finland and a guy from Denmark... we were supposed to do written activities about what we liked and didn't like about France and what we expected, but mostly we drove the volunteers crazy and talked. We had a very good dinner after which I could hardly move and then the Student Ambassadors (french kids going to the US for 2 weeks) "organized" activities. Musical chairs! I almost won... it was really funny to see everyone fall on the floor when they missed a chair though. After that we talked a little bit and then a bunch of us went up on the roof and listened to music until a volunteer came up and yelled at us that some people were trying to sleep and being on the roof at night was dangerous and blah blah blah. Either way, that ended that.
We woke up the next morning and ate breakfast- really yummy yogurt, bread and jam. Apparently you drink tea and hot chocolate out of bowls here, and Moroccan tea kills French tea in a bag. Just not the same. After that we played really really stupid games for a while (Leeettt me see your funky monkey!) Which I think mostly exist to make you feel as awkward as humanly possible so that you get used to the feeling for when you do stupid things with your french friends and family. That and so that they can take really silly pictures of 50 teenagers pretending to be monkeys. We went back into our groups, ore writing stuff... this time though we wrote a letter to our future self that they will give us as we leave, which is actually a pretty good idea. After that we just wandered around for a while, then ate lunch. All of the families brought something, and they prepared a few salads, and by the end of it none of us wanted to move. People here are really addicted to anything chocolate by the way.
After lunch we walked up the hill/mountain (this was no small hill, ok?) to an old castle. On the way up Marshall and I found a small cave filled with brush that would have been really cool to explore otherwise, wild blackberries that can not compare with east Texas berries from the farm, and some grapes growing over a fence that were... wow. One of the most delicious things I have ever had, but they didn't taste much like a grape. Very very good. At the castle you had the most beautiful view of the valley and I cursed myself for forgetting my camera, and the wind was blowing really really hard.
Not much happened after that... we went back down and left with our families. Malika's husband, Sara's stepfather had arrived from Morocco by the time I came back and I met him for the first time... he seems very nice. Otherwise that is about it.
Away from the timeline though: It was so so so much fun. At one point I was sitting at a table where I was speaking french with someone across from me, on my left two guys and a girl were speaking spanish and on my right some girls were speaking English, at the table there were two people from Paraguay, another two from Bolivia, one from Peru, one from Mexico, one from Latvia, one from Finland and me, from the Untied States. It was like that all weekend, a mixture of languages (often half in English, half in French) and a mixture of countries... there was someone from every continent except Antarctica. It is so cool to see how similar, and different, each culture is, and to be able to say I have friends from all over the world now. It makes Austin feel very distant, but in a really good way. It is liberating and amazing and... wow. I really wish I could describe it for you guys back home...
Love and miss you all.
Les Mots:
renifler- to sniff
respirer- to breathe (I can't right now)
tousser- to have a cough
all of these terms relate to the fact that I am pretty sure someone gave me a cold this weekend. Darn.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
3eme semain de lycee
Lundi:
I love Mondays- very little school. Today though wasn't actually that much fun because my math teacher yelled at the class for ages, then was mad at me because I hadn't done the assigned homework because I didn't have the right book... she suggested I call someone. Pray tell, who am I supposed to call? That afternoon I had my first lesson teaching English to the little boy down the street, it was fairly easy. I went for a walk, a run, and then sat and watched as Malika made crepes for dinner with some kind of cheese inside I think. It was very good.
Mardi:
More school today... not too bad. I had a few hours of school in the morning, came home from lunch and charged my camera to which I finally got the memory card. I left the house early to go back to school so I walked the long route to school, picked up a lemon tart from the bakery and ate it in the park. I took pictures of the surrounding area on the way to school after that.
In the afternoon I had 2h of sport at the end of the day (it amuses me that we are studying badminton for the rest of the trimester). Today was full of crazy gossip and drama that I won't even bother posting online, but suffice to say teenagers are equally silly here and it is only more tiring in French. Oh! they have sort of pick-up line that goes something like.. well I could not tell you the french if I wanted to because it has lots of slang words and they had to say it 3 times (kinda looses its effect then, no?) and then break it down bit by bit and translate it to english before I had any idea what they were saying. General idea is excuse me, girl with straight hair, but can I have your number? Except it all ryhmes... Excuse-moi, -(slang word for girl)-, avec de cheveaux glis, -- -- ton "06" (all phone numbers here in Lyon start with 06 apparently). Something like that. I was SOOO confused. Then very glad that I didn't even have a phone number to give which made the whole situation pointless. Malika had to take Rayanne to the doctor/hospital (about his arm) that evening and so I made pasta, which is like the go-to meal in this house, that finished just as Malika and Rayanne got home and so we all had dinner.
Mercredi-
Two. Hours. Of. English. In Euro (advanced English) they are studying a Bruce Springsteen song which is ok if I get to listen to it, and was ok the first day we did that but this is the second day and its getting boring! Regular English is even worse- they are analyzing a Calvin and Hobbes comic which was really funny for me to read the first time, but just as a joke is only funny the first time you say it, humor should never be analyzed. They don't get the joke at all and then make up sentences about it like "Calvin must not be used to cleaning his room" and by now I would love to tear a Calvin and Hobbes book to pieces for ever existing. After that though was SES (economy) which is by far my favorite class because for some reason I understand it just as well or better than the other students in the class, which is fun, and this stuff is interesting. Analyzing how different aspects of the economy fit together? Who needs science anyway? (I had to choose between Lit, economics and science). Now though we have a project which is really hard for me to do because we have to come up with examples for different kinds of taxes. Pray tell, how am I supposed to do that? Wikipedia. That's how. :D
This afternoon I helped Malika peel apples for applesause and a tarte au pommes which is essentially applesause with apple slices on top baked in the oven on a bit of dough. One of my new favorite deserts, for sure.
Thursday:
Teachers were on strike again today. I love it when they do that. I got up for class at 8, but my Italian teacher ended up not being there so I walked back home for a two hour break before having 2h of French at 10. We got a new reading today that I need to start work on, one of Jean de la Fontaine's fables describing the king as a stomach if I understood what the teacher was saying correctly. Not bad. Came home for a 2h lunch then had 1h of Specialty economics which no one in my class really wanted to go to... the feeling is infections and I just did my best not to fall asleep as we were doing rather boring exercises. I came home, did my homework. A good day, but not really exciting.
Friday:
So My SES (economics) class had a field trip (I am suddenly imagining Ms. Frizzle here)to a movie theater in vieux Lyon today. Marina and I had agreed to meet at the bus station at part dieu to take a bus up there together... if only the part dieu station wasn't quite so big. I got there early and was quite glad I did because I spent about 20 min wandering around trying to figure out where I was supposed to be before some nice man told me my bus stop. On the way there I saw Marina walking across the street so all turned out well. It was rainy and cool bordering on cold for an Austinite (in the 60s I think). I had forgotten an umbrella and Marina's had broken so we were slightly damp by the time we got there. The movie was a on a trial that tried to hold wall street accountable for damage caused by foreclosed homes in Chicago, it was in a combination of French and English which is the very hardest thing for me to do. It was good, but not especially informational- more based on the stories of people whose homes had been foreclosed. It managed to make me hate big business more than I already did, but that is about it. (You should have seen the smug lawyer representing the big banks. I hope he rots in hell for all the sympathy he had for people.)
We finished around 11 and no one had class until 3, so most of us went back to our houses. I decided just to walk home as it was only about 3k and I don't really like buses. Or moving vehicles in which there is no air conditioning. Plus it was fun, it was rainy and cold and absolutely beautiful- so I took lots of pictures that you can see on my awful, yet infinitely useful facebook... if you cant see them either friend me on fb or email me and I will send them to you. Walking home I got lost once or twice and by the time I was there I was very hungry, my feet hurt and I was soaking wet. Funny thing is, that sounds like I am complaining but it was one of my favorite things I have done here, or ever. It was wonderful. On the way home a guy asked me for directions to the Moroccan consulate and though I didn't know where that was, I did know the street I needed (near my house) and so I was able to help him get there which made me feel very accomplished.
I had three hours at the house before I had to go back to school for 1h of math and 2h of science. In math we had a test I wasn't expecting but it was easy. I didn't finish the last problem because we were short on time and it required massive amounts of arithmetic and I was the only one without a calculator... but several other people didn't finish anyway so I guess its ok? I don't really understand this school system yet. I failed an English quiz the other day apparently and I was far from the only one, but I am the American! However its harder than a french quiz because she gives you the word in french and you have to get the word in English. I didn't know the french vocab. Second, and much bigger problem, you have to know the exact word, like a dictionary. In quizzes at home, you know the meaning. Here, you know the word. So there were several where I put a word that meant the same basic thing, but it was wrong because it wasn't the word she was thinking of. And they think supposer is a word in English. In biology they were studying proteins today which gets so boring so quickly because I already know all of this and the teacher doesn't want me to say it. I drew a very pretty swirly tree on my notes. The teacher talked to me though and said she thinks that I should be in the S track because I already know so much science and it would be a shame to loose it all, that and she likes that I am interested in it. I am not sure what I think of this yet... I kinda like the idea of trying to learn some physics before I get back, and I like biology and math. At the same time though, I have really enjoyed my SES economics class so far and don't want to leave that. Maybe I can be in S and just go to one or two SES classes during breaks (or English)? We will see, she is going to talk to the administration to see if that is even possible.
This evening Ilyess got back, from school, Sarah was babysitting and Malika made really yummy pizza for dinner.
Discoveries of the week:
I can not eat a runny (not fully cooked) egg plain. In pasta? that kind of runny egg is less runny and you can mix it in with the pasta till you don't taste it. Plain? I tried, I really did, I even managed 2 bites (miniscule, and only with massive amounts of bread) but I just can't do it. That is a first for me, here I have eaten everything she has given me including honeydew, orange juice, dark chocolate, and meat (I don't even ask what it is because its easier) and found that most of it, to varying degrees of good or tolerable, is not as bad as I thought, but runny eggs I apparently just cant do.
Rain is amazing. Best thing ever. But we already knew that :D
Les mots:
internat- boarding school
le politique/la politique/les politiques- there is a difference. I will tell you as soon as I understand it.
I love Mondays- very little school. Today though wasn't actually that much fun because my math teacher yelled at the class for ages, then was mad at me because I hadn't done the assigned homework because I didn't have the right book... she suggested I call someone. Pray tell, who am I supposed to call? That afternoon I had my first lesson teaching English to the little boy down the street, it was fairly easy. I went for a walk, a run, and then sat and watched as Malika made crepes for dinner with some kind of cheese inside I think. It was very good.
Mardi:
More school today... not too bad. I had a few hours of school in the morning, came home from lunch and charged my camera to which I finally got the memory card. I left the house early to go back to school so I walked the long route to school, picked up a lemon tart from the bakery and ate it in the park. I took pictures of the surrounding area on the way to school after that.
In the afternoon I had 2h of sport at the end of the day (it amuses me that we are studying badminton for the rest of the trimester). Today was full of crazy gossip and drama that I won't even bother posting online, but suffice to say teenagers are equally silly here and it is only more tiring in French. Oh! they have sort of pick-up line that goes something like.. well I could not tell you the french if I wanted to because it has lots of slang words and they had to say it 3 times (kinda looses its effect then, no?) and then break it down bit by bit and translate it to english before I had any idea what they were saying. General idea is excuse me, girl with straight hair, but can I have your number? Except it all ryhmes... Excuse-moi, -(slang word for girl)-, avec de cheveaux glis, -- -- ton "06" (all phone numbers here in Lyon start with 06 apparently). Something like that. I was SOOO confused. Then very glad that I didn't even have a phone number to give which made the whole situation pointless. Malika had to take Rayanne to the doctor/hospital (about his arm) that evening and so I made pasta, which is like the go-to meal in this house, that finished just as Malika and Rayanne got home and so we all had dinner.
Mercredi-
Two. Hours. Of. English. In Euro (advanced English) they are studying a Bruce Springsteen song which is ok if I get to listen to it, and was ok the first day we did that but this is the second day and its getting boring! Regular English is even worse- they are analyzing a Calvin and Hobbes comic which was really funny for me to read the first time, but just as a joke is only funny the first time you say it, humor should never be analyzed. They don't get the joke at all and then make up sentences about it like "Calvin must not be used to cleaning his room" and by now I would love to tear a Calvin and Hobbes book to pieces for ever existing. After that though was SES (economy) which is by far my favorite class because for some reason I understand it just as well or better than the other students in the class, which is fun, and this stuff is interesting. Analyzing how different aspects of the economy fit together? Who needs science anyway? (I had to choose between Lit, economics and science). Now though we have a project which is really hard for me to do because we have to come up with examples for different kinds of taxes. Pray tell, how am I supposed to do that? Wikipedia. That's how. :D
This afternoon I helped Malika peel apples for applesause and a tarte au pommes which is essentially applesause with apple slices on top baked in the oven on a bit of dough. One of my new favorite deserts, for sure.
Thursday:
Teachers were on strike again today. I love it when they do that. I got up for class at 8, but my Italian teacher ended up not being there so I walked back home for a two hour break before having 2h of French at 10. We got a new reading today that I need to start work on, one of Jean de la Fontaine's fables describing the king as a stomach if I understood what the teacher was saying correctly. Not bad. Came home for a 2h lunch then had 1h of Specialty economics which no one in my class really wanted to go to... the feeling is infections and I just did my best not to fall asleep as we were doing rather boring exercises. I came home, did my homework. A good day, but not really exciting.
Friday:
So My SES (economics) class had a field trip (I am suddenly imagining Ms. Frizzle here)to a movie theater in vieux Lyon today. Marina and I had agreed to meet at the bus station at part dieu to take a bus up there together... if only the part dieu station wasn't quite so big. I got there early and was quite glad I did because I spent about 20 min wandering around trying to figure out where I was supposed to be before some nice man told me my bus stop. On the way there I saw Marina walking across the street so all turned out well. It was rainy and cool bordering on cold for an Austinite (in the 60s I think). I had forgotten an umbrella and Marina's had broken so we were slightly damp by the time we got there. The movie was a on a trial that tried to hold wall street accountable for damage caused by foreclosed homes in Chicago, it was in a combination of French and English which is the very hardest thing for me to do. It was good, but not especially informational- more based on the stories of people whose homes had been foreclosed. It managed to make me hate big business more than I already did, but that is about it. (You should have seen the smug lawyer representing the big banks. I hope he rots in hell for all the sympathy he had for people.)
We finished around 11 and no one had class until 3, so most of us went back to our houses. I decided just to walk home as it was only about 3k and I don't really like buses. Or moving vehicles in which there is no air conditioning. Plus it was fun, it was rainy and cold and absolutely beautiful- so I took lots of pictures that you can see on my awful, yet infinitely useful facebook... if you cant see them either friend me on fb or email me and I will send them to you. Walking home I got lost once or twice and by the time I was there I was very hungry, my feet hurt and I was soaking wet. Funny thing is, that sounds like I am complaining but it was one of my favorite things I have done here, or ever. It was wonderful. On the way home a guy asked me for directions to the Moroccan consulate and though I didn't know where that was, I did know the street I needed (near my house) and so I was able to help him get there which made me feel very accomplished.
I had three hours at the house before I had to go back to school for 1h of math and 2h of science. In math we had a test I wasn't expecting but it was easy. I didn't finish the last problem because we were short on time and it required massive amounts of arithmetic and I was the only one without a calculator... but several other people didn't finish anyway so I guess its ok? I don't really understand this school system yet. I failed an English quiz the other day apparently and I was far from the only one, but I am the American! However its harder than a french quiz because she gives you the word in french and you have to get the word in English. I didn't know the french vocab. Second, and much bigger problem, you have to know the exact word, like a dictionary. In quizzes at home, you know the meaning. Here, you know the word. So there were several where I put a word that meant the same basic thing, but it was wrong because it wasn't the word she was thinking of. And they think supposer is a word in English. In biology they were studying proteins today which gets so boring so quickly because I already know all of this and the teacher doesn't want me to say it. I drew a very pretty swirly tree on my notes. The teacher talked to me though and said she thinks that I should be in the S track because I already know so much science and it would be a shame to loose it all, that and she likes that I am interested in it. I am not sure what I think of this yet... I kinda like the idea of trying to learn some physics before I get back, and I like biology and math. At the same time though, I have really enjoyed my SES economics class so far and don't want to leave that. Maybe I can be in S and just go to one or two SES classes during breaks (or English)? We will see, she is going to talk to the administration to see if that is even possible.
This evening Ilyess got back, from school, Sarah was babysitting and Malika made really yummy pizza for dinner.
Discoveries of the week:
I can not eat a runny (not fully cooked) egg plain. In pasta? that kind of runny egg is less runny and you can mix it in with the pasta till you don't taste it. Plain? I tried, I really did, I even managed 2 bites (miniscule, and only with massive amounts of bread) but I just can't do it. That is a first for me, here I have eaten everything she has given me including honeydew, orange juice, dark chocolate, and meat (I don't even ask what it is because its easier) and found that most of it, to varying degrees of good or tolerable, is not as bad as I thought, but runny eggs I apparently just cant do.
Rain is amazing. Best thing ever. But we already knew that :D
Les mots:
internat- boarding school
le politique/la politique/les politiques- there is a difference. I will tell you as soon as I understand it.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Le 2eme week-end
Saturday:
I was sick this morning. I woke up 3 times in the early morning/night and finally got back to sleep around 10. I woke up at noon with Sara and if I wasn't well, I felt much much better. Which was a huge relief.
Being sick away from home sucks and more than anything else it makes you homesick. You are never homesick when happy- only when you are frustrated, exhausted, scared... that's when you really start missing home.
After lunch today I went with Sara to the library... we walked there and just stayed for a while reading in the kids section. Well.. Sara brought books down from the political section and I read kids books. Artemis Fowl in french guys is slooww. It was fun though... they have a really big multi-story library that is very pretty. That and I was not feeling up to anything more active.
This evening I went to meet someone Sara used to work for- they found me a job teaching English to their son once a week... 18h15-19h15, 10 euros an hour. I love making money... it makes me happy.
We ate dinner this evening and I helped Sara with math and english hwk, I collapsed into bed pretty early.
Sunday:
First one up, which is fairly common. I answered a few emails before Malika got up, and then I watched her fix breakfast. Which is a much longer process than in the US... and very different and very yummy. She made bread... but she flattened it and the cooked it on the skillet. Then you cut it open in the middle, put olive oil in it and boiled eggs which you cut up just a little bit. Iless and Rayanne put olives in it as well but I skipped that. It sounds really bizarre but it was very very good. Then I ate another half of one with some sort of home-made jelly, which was also yummy.
I took a long walk today just to wander around Lyon. I set off looking for le parc de la tete d'or with some vague instructions from Sara, but turned around without having found it. We ate lunch "dans le salon" and it was American Hamburgers. Which, like most food here, maybe looks American if you are lucky and certainly doesn't taste it- its better. Some yummy tart thing that Malika had made for lunch.
This evening I went for a run, and we had pasta for dinner (thats really common). I helped Ilyess with his math homework and went to bed.
Les mots:
arnaquer- swindler. Talking about someone they had worked with before who will apparently really work to get the most possible out of you while paying as little as they can.
I was sick this morning. I woke up 3 times in the early morning/night and finally got back to sleep around 10. I woke up at noon with Sara and if I wasn't well, I felt much much better. Which was a huge relief.
Being sick away from home sucks and more than anything else it makes you homesick. You are never homesick when happy- only when you are frustrated, exhausted, scared... that's when you really start missing home.
After lunch today I went with Sara to the library... we walked there and just stayed for a while reading in the kids section. Well.. Sara brought books down from the political section and I read kids books. Artemis Fowl in french guys is slooww. It was fun though... they have a really big multi-story library that is very pretty. That and I was not feeling up to anything more active.
This evening I went to meet someone Sara used to work for- they found me a job teaching English to their son once a week... 18h15-19h15, 10 euros an hour. I love making money... it makes me happy.
We ate dinner this evening and I helped Sara with math and english hwk, I collapsed into bed pretty early.
Sunday:
First one up, which is fairly common. I answered a few emails before Malika got up, and then I watched her fix breakfast. Which is a much longer process than in the US... and very different and very yummy. She made bread... but she flattened it and the cooked it on the skillet. Then you cut it open in the middle, put olive oil in it and boiled eggs which you cut up just a little bit. Iless and Rayanne put olives in it as well but I skipped that. It sounds really bizarre but it was very very good. Then I ate another half of one with some sort of home-made jelly, which was also yummy.
I took a long walk today just to wander around Lyon. I set off looking for le parc de la tete d'or with some vague instructions from Sara, but turned around without having found it. We ate lunch "dans le salon" and it was American Hamburgers. Which, like most food here, maybe looks American if you are lucky and certainly doesn't taste it- its better. Some yummy tart thing that Malika had made for lunch.
This evening I went for a run, and we had pasta for dinner (thats really common). I helped Ilyess with his math homework and went to bed.
Les mots:
arnaquer- swindler. Talking about someone they had worked with before who will apparently really work to get the most possible out of you while paying as little as they can.
Apres le 2eme semaine d'ecole.
Wow... It feels longer than just a week. Monday is AGES ago but le weekend is the best time for me to update so... wow.
Alright- lundi (monday) is by far my favorite day of the week because I have practically no school. 4 hours of it. Granted, Wednesday is the same situation but its somehow gratifying to be the only one that doesnt really have school on Mondays, plus, on Wednesdays I have 2 hours of English- boring! Much prefer Italian.
Speaking of which, I will remain in my 4th year Italian class- my very kind teacher has just decided to give me different work. Which really, I am very excited about. This is one of my favorite classes now, actually the class is boring but I really like learning Italian.
Really there isn't much interesting about this week. I was on time every day, I occasionally see Emily (other American) before school in the mornings and we talk (in French). I tag along with a group of girls including Charlotte, Caroline, Sophie and another exchange student, from Brazil, called Marina. All of them are very sweet. I generally walk half-way home with either Sophie (who is walking to the bus stop) or Marina, and Friday Marina and I stopped by a bakery, picked up pastries, and sat and ate them and talked in a little park.
I got a package from home on Thursday, and I think the jacket has not come too soon as it is starting to get cold here... in the mid-60s the last few days and if averages hold up I may not see another day in the 70's until I get back to Austin. YAYAYAYAYAY! COLD WEATHER IS EXCITING!
I started jogging this week- it feels awesome and there is a little path that runs along the tram that goes to the airport. close, and fairly nice. Unfortunately I may just have to forfeit my search for a swim team... its very difficult.
Realizations of the week:
There is no job more difficult than that of a mother and Malika constantly amazes me- she does that times 10. So to everyone who raised me- thank you.. I am finally seeing how difficult that is.
Yogurt is a desert. Apparently.
Omelets are for lunch.
Everyone smokes something, except, so far, my family for which I am very grateful.
I really got lucky with my family... they are awesome.
Le mot de la semaine:
argot- slang. I keep trying to help with English homework and such but it is more difficult than you would think. Especially when it comes to British slang.
Alright- lundi (monday) is by far my favorite day of the week because I have practically no school. 4 hours of it. Granted, Wednesday is the same situation but its somehow gratifying to be the only one that doesnt really have school on Mondays, plus, on Wednesdays I have 2 hours of English- boring! Much prefer Italian.
Speaking of which, I will remain in my 4th year Italian class- my very kind teacher has just decided to give me different work. Which really, I am very excited about. This is one of my favorite classes now, actually the class is boring but I really like learning Italian.
Really there isn't much interesting about this week. I was on time every day, I occasionally see Emily (other American) before school in the mornings and we talk (in French). I tag along with a group of girls including Charlotte, Caroline, Sophie and another exchange student, from Brazil, called Marina. All of them are very sweet. I generally walk half-way home with either Sophie (who is walking to the bus stop) or Marina, and Friday Marina and I stopped by a bakery, picked up pastries, and sat and ate them and talked in a little park.
I got a package from home on Thursday, and I think the jacket has not come too soon as it is starting to get cold here... in the mid-60s the last few days and if averages hold up I may not see another day in the 70's until I get back to Austin. YAYAYAYAYAY! COLD WEATHER IS EXCITING!
I started jogging this week- it feels awesome and there is a little path that runs along the tram that goes to the airport. close, and fairly nice. Unfortunately I may just have to forfeit my search for a swim team... its very difficult.
Realizations of the week:
There is no job more difficult than that of a mother and Malika constantly amazes me- she does that times 10. So to everyone who raised me- thank you.. I am finally seeing how difficult that is.
Yogurt is a desert. Apparently.
Omelets are for lunch.
Everyone smokes something, except, so far, my family for which I am very grateful.
I really got lucky with my family... they are awesome.
Le mot de la semaine:
argot- slang. I keep trying to help with English homework and such but it is more difficult than you would think. Especially when it comes to British slang.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Le week-end
Samedi/Saturday: Mornings around here are pretty mellow. Everyone just kinda gets up when they want and does their own thing, its kinda nice. After we had lunch though, Sarah took me on one or two errands and then we just walked around downtown so that I could see everything. I went in the library which was very nice, and Sarah told me that if I wanted to get anything I could use her card. I went in one of the beautiful churches of which they have many around here which is in itself a religious experience when you think about how many steps have sounded in there, how many problems examined, tears cried, words whispered... it is awe-inspiring like no church that exists in the United States. We also just walked around and lots and lots of shops. Sarah kinda pointed out which shops were the most expensive/cheaper (everything here is expensive, especially brands- Converse are 50-80 euros) and we stopped to watch several people out on the street- a band (they don't have school bands like in America), a group break-dancing, and an artist that had beautiful paintings out of spray-paint. There is so much to see.
Dimanche/Sunday: I spent several hours looking up swim teams and trying to email coaches this morning... I will let you know if it comes to anything. I went with Malika and her friend to le marche (the market) late this morning. It is kind-of amazing, there are many stands selling clothes of all kinds, shoes, kitchen supplies... then of course all the food. I saw a fig for the first time- I never have before, and in general I just love farmer's markets- so much food all together is really pretty. Except for fish with eyes.
Went home for a few hours to eat lunch, and Sara did a little homework before Sara and I took the bus back to vieux lyon where we watched a sort of parade. They called it something like a fashion show, but in reality it looked more like a halloween parade with people dressed in bizarre costumes and floats driving along blasting crazy music which the models danced/walked along to. I liked it, but it was definitely weird.
Then Sara and I walked to a little bakery where we each bought a pastry (lemon tart for me) and walked back across the river and sat on the steps above the Rhone eating french pastries and talking. It really was as fun and picturesque as it sounds :)
All in all... a good day!
Les mots:
Manege: merry go round or carousel, there was one in a small square downtown.
Aubergine: eggplant... there were some at the market today? I don't have much to say about this one.
Dimanche/Sunday: I spent several hours looking up swim teams and trying to email coaches this morning... I will let you know if it comes to anything. I went with Malika and her friend to le marche (the market) late this morning. It is kind-of amazing, there are many stands selling clothes of all kinds, shoes, kitchen supplies... then of course all the food. I saw a fig for the first time- I never have before, and in general I just love farmer's markets- so much food all together is really pretty. Except for fish with eyes.
Went home for a few hours to eat lunch, and Sara did a little homework before Sara and I took the bus back to vieux lyon where we watched a sort of parade. They called it something like a fashion show, but in reality it looked more like a halloween parade with people dressed in bizarre costumes and floats driving along blasting crazy music which the models danced/walked along to. I liked it, but it was definitely weird.
Then Sara and I walked to a little bakery where we each bought a pastry (lemon tart for me) and walked back across the river and sat on the steps above the Rhone eating french pastries and talking. It really was as fun and picturesque as it sounds :)
All in all... a good day!
Les mots:
Manege: merry go round or carousel, there was one in a small square downtown.
Aubergine: eggplant... there were some at the market today? I don't have much to say about this one.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
After 1 Week of School
Wednesday: Classes end at noon today, and it was an easy day today. First class is Euro, which is just an advanced English class where I think that we will talk about world events in English. I say I think because, like most English classes here, at least half of the class is conducted in French. The professor also went on this whole thing about how he learned English from Americans so he has an American accent, but he will try to speak in a British accent because he thinks that is better for them to learn. Its hilarious because he does not have an American OR a British accent- he has a very strong FRENCH accent. We all had to introduce ourselves and said I was an exchange student from America... you should have heard him, and only worse when I had to say I was from Texas, which he associates with big oil, so I don't think he likes me very much. The next class was normal Anglais (English) which was conducted almost exclusively in French except for a few vocab words on the board. The class is all over the place, some have fairly good English while others hardly speak a word of it. Then I had 2h of Economics and Social- which I really like. It is like a social studies class that examines everything in terms of how it applies to government and economics.
I came back to the house for a few hours and ate lunch before leaving with Sarah. I took the bus and the metro for the first time, and feel like a little kid as she keeps having to tell me which way we are going, and how to get on and of the bus and train and everything. Anyways, we mostly just went to see a soccer field where she talked to a coach and then went back home- it was an errand she had to run and I just came along to see everything.
When we got back to the house I called Maggie, who apparently finished work early today, and she came by. I have not been terribly homesick yet, but it was the kind of thing that when I saw her coming up the stairs I almost cried and it was a relief to speak a little bit of English. She met my family and then took me out to see old Lyon. It is so so beautiful, very old, cobblestone streets and big beautiful churches. We went and ate at Nord, which was very good. The whole evening was wonderful.
Thursday: Longest day of school. Ever. I started at 8, went till noon when I had to walk back to the house for lunch, then walk back again in time for English at 1 and I finished at 17h (5). Throughout the whole thing I was very very tired because I had been up a bit later the night before (and I am just generally exhausted right now) and I very nearly fell asleep in class- a class I liked even. I had Italian first thing, which unlike English IS conducted mostly in Italian, and found that, because the French all have to take 2 and even 3 foreign languages I had been put in a 4th year Italian class. I talked with the teacher and she said she would speak with the administration and try to get me out of taking it, and if not she would just give me other materials. It is funny though, because it didn't feel that different from French class. I don't know italian, but it is similar to French and she used lots of gestures and so I could kind-of understand what she was talking about, less than French, but still more than I expected. Math is easy- they are doing quadrilaterals, which is good because I don't think I could learn calc in French. I am now Economics Specialty and so I have extra economics classes with a very nice older man who talked my ear off when he found I was an exchange student to the extent that I was almost late to my next class.
Friday: I managed to be late to every single one of my morning classes. Everyone was really nice about it though. I had three hours for lunch, then another three hours of class after that, the last two hours of which are my one and only science class. It is biology! Not just biology but genetics and evolution! I am so excited because I thought it was going to be earth science. Now I only have one science, no chemistry, no earth science, only the interesting part of biology (no plants or cell division) and so I won't be bored! When I got home this evening I went with Sarah to deliver cookies/cake to an old couple that lives in an apartment nearby. He is, if I understood correctly he is in his 90s, but he is an amazing artist. He has really really beautiful paintings about which he talked to me at length, it was very very interesting. He and his wife were very kind, and I hope I get the chance to go back.
Le mots:
Les talons: heels, I am getting really good at it (granted they are very small)
Love and miss you all!
I came back to the house for a few hours and ate lunch before leaving with Sarah. I took the bus and the metro for the first time, and feel like a little kid as she keeps having to tell me which way we are going, and how to get on and of the bus and train and everything. Anyways, we mostly just went to see a soccer field where she talked to a coach and then went back home- it was an errand she had to run and I just came along to see everything.
When we got back to the house I called Maggie, who apparently finished work early today, and she came by. I have not been terribly homesick yet, but it was the kind of thing that when I saw her coming up the stairs I almost cried and it was a relief to speak a little bit of English. She met my family and then took me out to see old Lyon. It is so so beautiful, very old, cobblestone streets and big beautiful churches. We went and ate at Nord, which was very good. The whole evening was wonderful.
Thursday: Longest day of school. Ever. I started at 8, went till noon when I had to walk back to the house for lunch, then walk back again in time for English at 1 and I finished at 17h (5). Throughout the whole thing I was very very tired because I had been up a bit later the night before (and I am just generally exhausted right now) and I very nearly fell asleep in class- a class I liked even. I had Italian first thing, which unlike English IS conducted mostly in Italian, and found that, because the French all have to take 2 and even 3 foreign languages I had been put in a 4th year Italian class. I talked with the teacher and she said she would speak with the administration and try to get me out of taking it, and if not she would just give me other materials. It is funny though, because it didn't feel that different from French class. I don't know italian, but it is similar to French and she used lots of gestures and so I could kind-of understand what she was talking about, less than French, but still more than I expected. Math is easy- they are doing quadrilaterals, which is good because I don't think I could learn calc in French. I am now Economics Specialty and so I have extra economics classes with a very nice older man who talked my ear off when he found I was an exchange student to the extent that I was almost late to my next class.
Friday: I managed to be late to every single one of my morning classes. Everyone was really nice about it though. I had three hours for lunch, then another three hours of class after that, the last two hours of which are my one and only science class. It is biology! Not just biology but genetics and evolution! I am so excited because I thought it was going to be earth science. Now I only have one science, no chemistry, no earth science, only the interesting part of biology (no plants or cell division) and so I won't be bored! When I got home this evening I went with Sarah to deliver cookies/cake to an old couple that lives in an apartment nearby. He is, if I understood correctly he is in his 90s, but he is an amazing artist. He has really really beautiful paintings about which he talked to me at length, it was very very interesting. He and his wife were very kind, and I hope I get the chance to go back.
Le mots:
Les talons: heels, I am getting really good at it (granted they are very small)
Love and miss you all!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Au debut: It has come to my attention that my spelling on here is... less than stellar. I apologize but I can't say it is going to get much better. All my mental energy is focused on learning to think in French, and as such English is not very important. I have not been editing my posts at all so please excuse my English.
Ma premier jour du lycee. First day of school. I am entered in Premier (the equivelent to 11th grade) and ES (economics) so I have to take some French, Math, History, English and Italian (I chose that one, maybe Jennifer and Maria can talk with me when I get home?) and lots of economics and social studies. Two dreaded hours of biology (can you imagine all that crazy naming in French?) but...pas de chemie! Yaaay. That was why I chose ES because while I like math, I really really don't want to struggle through science in French.
Beacoup des profs font la grève maintenant. (Many of the teachers are on strike right now) and so even though we had finnished enrolling me by... somewhere between 9 and 10 (in the US there are clocks everywhere, here, there is one in the house and I am yet to find one in the school) my teachers were not there and so I didn't have to go to school before 2 because here there are no substitutes, if the teacher is not there you don't have to go to class. I am in P3, so I have all my classes with another group of ES students. Here, you have all your classes with the same group of students which is really really helpful for getting around and I have found several people who will help me with my school work. There is another exchange student from Brazil in P3 who speaks English well but can not speak any French. Two girls, Iness and Juliette I think, found me just before French class started and introduced me to their friend Sophien (sp?) and they all helped me throughout French class. When I was totally lost on my way to gym (they were talking to friends) I met Sophie, Charlotte and the other exchange student, they helped me figure out what was going on. I love friendly helpful people. We didn't really do much in PE and it ended an hour early and I walked home in the lovely weather (lots and lots of rain).
Love you all!
Mots de le Jour:
Roman- a story or novel, my French class was very hard to understand before I asked someone what it meant.
Mouille- wet, like the bottoms of my jeans when I walked in the house today and my laundry that Malika did for me (I keep trying to do things and she refuses to let me). I have had to ask her the word 3 times already.
Un eclair- a flash of lighting and Tonnerre- thunder, both of which I have seen in the last few minutes and looked up, but it is not nearly as beautiful or loud as a summer storm in Texas.
Ma premier jour du lycee. First day of school. I am entered in Premier (the equivelent to 11th grade) and ES (economics) so I have to take some French, Math, History, English and Italian (I chose that one, maybe Jennifer and Maria can talk with me when I get home?) and lots of economics and social studies. Two dreaded hours of biology (can you imagine all that crazy naming in French?) but...pas de chemie! Yaaay. That was why I chose ES because while I like math, I really really don't want to struggle through science in French.
Beacoup des profs font la grève maintenant. (Many of the teachers are on strike right now) and so even though we had finnished enrolling me by... somewhere between 9 and 10 (in the US there are clocks everywhere, here, there is one in the house and I am yet to find one in the school) my teachers were not there and so I didn't have to go to school before 2 because here there are no substitutes, if the teacher is not there you don't have to go to class. I am in P3, so I have all my classes with another group of ES students. Here, you have all your classes with the same group of students which is really really helpful for getting around and I have found several people who will help me with my school work. There is another exchange student from Brazil in P3 who speaks English well but can not speak any French. Two girls, Iness and Juliette I think, found me just before French class started and introduced me to their friend Sophien (sp?) and they all helped me throughout French class. When I was totally lost on my way to gym (they were talking to friends) I met Sophie, Charlotte and the other exchange student, they helped me figure out what was going on. I love friendly helpful people. We didn't really do much in PE and it ended an hour early and I walked home in the lovely weather (lots and lots of rain).
Love you all!
Mots de le Jour:
Roman- a story or novel, my French class was very hard to understand before I asked someone what it meant.
Mouille- wet, like the bottoms of my jeans when I walked in the house today and my laundry that Malika did for me (I keep trying to do things and she refuses to let me). I have had to ask her the word 3 times already.
Un eclair- a flash of lighting and Tonnerre- thunder, both of which I have seen in the last few minutes and looked up, but it is not nearly as beautiful or loud as a summer storm in Texas.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
So yesterday was my first full day here, and a very crazy day for everyone but me. It was the first day of school, although I did not go. Mostly I followed Malika around all day.
She cares for children, think motherhood times 5. I don't know how she does it, she almost always has 2 babies in the house, the toddlers and young children come and go. In the morning two young children whose names I have already forgotten (he wore a shirt with the cowboy guy from Toy Story on it and she had short hair) were dropped off by their parents and we walked them to school. Millie (I think) is 11mo. and was dropped off by her parents, as was a little boy of 9 months who cries more than any child I have ever met. She put both in a stroller and we walked to my school where she tried to enroll me only to find we did not have the right documents. We returned to the apartment and later went to pick Thomas (4) up from his school around noon. Teachers are on strike right now, so Rayanne and Sara were hanging around the house when we got back. Another woman, a friend of Malika's I think, came by the house to care for the children while she took Ilyess to school. When she got back, several hours later, we went to pick up Oceane (sp?) (7) from school. While we were waiting for her Thomas talked to me for the first time (he is normally shy) and I talked with Malika. Earlier I had told her that everything she had cooked for me was delicious, but she gave me too much food, and now she said something to me about how French have this idea that Americans eat more food. I told her some do, but not so much where we live, and that part of it is the quality of food. It amused me a little though. Oceane was fun to have around the house because she speaks loudly, clearly, and simply. I can understand her! So I colored pictures with her for a while and she taught me clapping games.
This week I am in Ilyess' room because he is away at school.
I went to bed around 9 because despite doing nothing, I am so tired. Speaking and hearing and understanding French all day takes much more mental energy than I was really prepared for.
Le mot de jour:
trottinette: scooter. In the United States, it is a child's toy, here, a method of transportation. Many little kids ride them to and from school each day and I even saw a grown man in a business suit proudly pushing himself along the street sur un trottinette!
She cares for children, think motherhood times 5. I don't know how she does it, she almost always has 2 babies in the house, the toddlers and young children come and go. In the morning two young children whose names I have already forgotten (he wore a shirt with the cowboy guy from Toy Story on it and she had short hair) were dropped off by their parents and we walked them to school. Millie (I think) is 11mo. and was dropped off by her parents, as was a little boy of 9 months who cries more than any child I have ever met. She put both in a stroller and we walked to my school where she tried to enroll me only to find we did not have the right documents. We returned to the apartment and later went to pick Thomas (4) up from his school around noon. Teachers are on strike right now, so Rayanne and Sara were hanging around the house when we got back. Another woman, a friend of Malika's I think, came by the house to care for the children while she took Ilyess to school. When she got back, several hours later, we went to pick up Oceane (sp?) (7) from school. While we were waiting for her Thomas talked to me for the first time (he is normally shy) and I talked with Malika. Earlier I had told her that everything she had cooked for me was delicious, but she gave me too much food, and now she said something to me about how French have this idea that Americans eat more food. I told her some do, but not so much where we live, and that part of it is the quality of food. It amused me a little though. Oceane was fun to have around the house because she speaks loudly, clearly, and simply. I can understand her! So I colored pictures with her for a while and she taught me clapping games.
This week I am in Ilyess' room because he is away at school.
I went to bed around 9 because despite doing nothing, I am so tired. Speaking and hearing and understanding French all day takes much more mental energy than I was really prepared for.
Le mot de jour:
trottinette: scooter. In the United States, it is a child's toy, here, a method of transportation. Many little kids ride them to and from school each day and I even saw a grown man in a business suit proudly pushing himself along the street sur un trottinette!
I am sorry, yet again, for the lack of updates, I have both been very busy and not had internet. To summarize my orientation:
Orientation in NY was very very boring. It took forever and they told us nothing useful, we played lots of silly games and watched several movies all basically telling us that "things will be different there, just try and you can do it and at the end of it all you will finally understand." Thanks, I kinda got that the first time you said it, but you know, no harm.
We took, I think, the biggest plane in the world to Paris. It was very very cool. There were about a 150 of us on the plane, and we had all been laughing that the plane would be dominated by yellow. Not the case! If I remember correctly, it held something like 1,200 people, maybe more. They had TVs on the back of each seat from which we could watch the plane take off and land from cameras in the nose and tail of the plane, and during the flight we could watch TV, a large assortment of movies, or listen to music from the TV (thank god for Pink Floyd, oh and Kira? They also had Mika) I slept for a few hours, but not much and many of my friends didn't sleep at all. It was 8 o'clock in the morning when we got to Paris.
We stayed in a hostel (I think) with the 150 Americans, the Australians, the groups from New Zealand and Germany, and a few people from Latvia, Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic (I tested out my very limited Czech on them Anna).
Everyone smokes. People from English-speaking countries (America, New Zealand and Australia) don't, but everyone else does as far as I can tell. It seems a little bizare for me, but my friend Krista said it was just a part of the culture in Latvia. Also, drinking age is very different- here the legal age is 18 now (though nobody cares) and some girls from Switzerland were complaining because they were very happy that they had been able to legally walk into a store and buy beer back home (at age 16) so all the rules are much more lax for that. However, I was talking with an AFS volunteer and he says that they think it is better this way because everyone learns to drink in moderation and to control themselves whereas in America people get wasted and then still try to drive. Interesting conversation- he talked alot about the differences between our culture and theirs, for instance, here you can go to college for no more than 400 Euros.
I said good-bye to many of my friends Tuesday night, and the rest Wednesday morning. Everyone was very excited to see their families. My group left just after 10, and I never really saw a clock but I think, stops included, it took us 6 hours by bus to get to Anjou, a beautiful town that is very typical of what you think of for Provincial French towns. Sarah and her mother Malika were there to greet me with Rayanne in the car, and we all left very quickly. We got a little lost on the way home, but made it.
They/we live in an apartment in the middle of Lyon. It is very different from what I have seen in America, but very nice- I love it here. I don't think they have air conditioning, and I am yet to see fans, but you don't need it. They leave the windows open (they don't have screens either) and I find it more comfortable even than my house. It isn't as cold but I am rarely uncomfortable and I love to be able to lean out the window, here the cars pass by and look out over the rooftops.
I am slow to understand things, Sarah is the easiest for me to understand so far, and often when I don't understand something they will gesture to Sara who will explain it to me slower than they had said it. Everyone though is very kind.
I am no longer vegetarian, by the way, but it doesn't bother me here so much. I don't especially like it but Malika fixes everything herself and everything is very good although she gives me too much food.
Love and miss you all.
Orientation in NY was very very boring. It took forever and they told us nothing useful, we played lots of silly games and watched several movies all basically telling us that "things will be different there, just try and you can do it and at the end of it all you will finally understand." Thanks, I kinda got that the first time you said it, but you know, no harm.
We took, I think, the biggest plane in the world to Paris. It was very very cool. There were about a 150 of us on the plane, and we had all been laughing that the plane would be dominated by yellow. Not the case! If I remember correctly, it held something like 1,200 people, maybe more. They had TVs on the back of each seat from which we could watch the plane take off and land from cameras in the nose and tail of the plane, and during the flight we could watch TV, a large assortment of movies, or listen to music from the TV (thank god for Pink Floyd, oh and Kira? They also had Mika) I slept for a few hours, but not much and many of my friends didn't sleep at all. It was 8 o'clock in the morning when we got to Paris.
We stayed in a hostel (I think) with the 150 Americans, the Australians, the groups from New Zealand and Germany, and a few people from Latvia, Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic (I tested out my very limited Czech on them Anna).
Everyone smokes. People from English-speaking countries (America, New Zealand and Australia) don't, but everyone else does as far as I can tell. It seems a little bizare for me, but my friend Krista said it was just a part of the culture in Latvia. Also, drinking age is very different- here the legal age is 18 now (though nobody cares) and some girls from Switzerland were complaining because they were very happy that they had been able to legally walk into a store and buy beer back home (at age 16) so all the rules are much more lax for that. However, I was talking with an AFS volunteer and he says that they think it is better this way because everyone learns to drink in moderation and to control themselves whereas in America people get wasted and then still try to drive. Interesting conversation- he talked alot about the differences between our culture and theirs, for instance, here you can go to college for no more than 400 Euros.
I said good-bye to many of my friends Tuesday night, and the rest Wednesday morning. Everyone was very excited to see their families. My group left just after 10, and I never really saw a clock but I think, stops included, it took us 6 hours by bus to get to Anjou, a beautiful town that is very typical of what you think of for Provincial French towns. Sarah and her mother Malika were there to greet me with Rayanne in the car, and we all left very quickly. We got a little lost on the way home, but made it.
They/we live in an apartment in the middle of Lyon. It is very different from what I have seen in America, but very nice- I love it here. I don't think they have air conditioning, and I am yet to see fans, but you don't need it. They leave the windows open (they don't have screens either) and I find it more comfortable even than my house. It isn't as cold but I am rarely uncomfortable and I love to be able to lean out the window, here the cars pass by and look out over the rooftops.
I am slow to understand things, Sarah is the easiest for me to understand so far, and often when I don't understand something they will gesture to Sara who will explain it to me slower than they had said it. Everyone though is very kind.
I am no longer vegetarian, by the way, but it doesn't bother me here so much. I don't especially like it but Malika fixes everything herself and everything is very good although she gives me too much food.
Love and miss you all.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Last Day in NY
Sorry this is late again... I finally get free internet. So here was yesterday's:
I am exhausted. We woke up, late again, but at a more reasonable hour than before. I went down to the gym for a while and mum got breakfast (Whole Foods again). We got a day pass for the subway and took it down all the way to Wall Street, then walked to the ticket booth where we bought tickets for an off Broadway (I think?) play called the perfect murder. Ate lunch on the docks, walked back (I saw the bull statue from the Sorcerers Apprentice) and eventually made our way over to the World Trade Center... nothing to see. We went to NYU's campus, if they actually had one. It is more a splattered group of buildings in lower Manhattan than an actual campus. It did not make a favorable impression as the website was not easily understandable so we did not even get a tour. Ehh... oh well. We had to buy me a pair of pajama pants (they are lovely... old ones were a torn disaster.)
We got to go back to the hotel for about an hour before we left for the play, this one was in a very small theater and we had front row so we were within a few feet of the actors. Very different from Mary Poppins it had little tech (in comparison) and only 5 actors but still was very good, I enjoyed it.
Off to bed with me. Love you all, and hope all is well.
I am exhausted. We woke up, late again, but at a more reasonable hour than before. I went down to the gym for a while and mum got breakfast (Whole Foods again). We got a day pass for the subway and took it down all the way to Wall Street, then walked to the ticket booth where we bought tickets for an off Broadway (I think?) play called the perfect murder. Ate lunch on the docks, walked back (I saw the bull statue from the Sorcerers Apprentice) and eventually made our way over to the World Trade Center... nothing to see. We went to NYU's campus, if they actually had one. It is more a splattered group of buildings in lower Manhattan than an actual campus. It did not make a favorable impression as the website was not easily understandable so we did not even get a tour. Ehh... oh well. We had to buy me a pair of pajama pants (they are lovely... old ones were a torn disaster.)
We got to go back to the hotel for about an hour before we left for the play, this one was in a very small theater and we had front row so we were within a few feet of the actors. Very different from Mary Poppins it had little tech (in comparison) and only 5 actors but still was very good, I enjoyed it.
Off to bed with me. Love you all, and hope all is well.
Monday, August 30, 2010
New York 2/3
Hello again. Two days worth of updating now:
Sunday:
Whole foods for breakfast, so far all but one meal has been there. We couldn't find much we wanted to do so, having read that you don't need an appointment, we took the subway up to Columbia which has a beautiful campus... but also had their day welcoming new students. Good timing. We wandered around for a while before heading back home and spending a pretty low-key afternoon reading in our hotel's beautiful balcony. Aaannd, my first work-out in three days! I missed it, and I fear I may not be able to much in the upcoming week.... :(. That evening my mum and I decided we wanted to eat dinner in Greenwich village because she had heard about it all her life.. so we went to ask the concierge for restaurant suggestions. Apparently all the best restaurants and nightlife are now in the Meatpacking district though (leading to a new saying: from now on instead of fish out of water you should use "vegetarians in the meatpacking district.")We wandered around for at least a half hour and asked half a dozen people before FINALLY finding our recommended restaurant: the Fatty Crab. Really? Yes, they named it THE FATTY CRAB. Its stupid. So we got in there, they stuck us at a table that we shared with other people and I couldn't get out of as I was in a booth with people on either side of me. It was dark, loud, and then they served us the menu. Quail's eggs were the only thing I could recognize.
If you know me at all, then you already know that we left.
So we wandered around the Meat district for another half hour before finally just deciding to go back and eat, again, at the whole foods a block from our hotel. So we got back on the subway (waste of $8) and got back on the C train to head back... at Broadway and 7th "Mother, I think we should get off" "No way, we are still several blocks away!" Next stop "Mother I'm not sure where we are... should we get off?" "No, we aren't at our stop" at 5th and something. "Mother get off now." We had managed to accidentally get on the C train, which goes up up up, then east east east. We are in the upper WEST side. I swear it does not say that on the maps. So we got to walk twice as far :)
We finally got dinner at some really nice Italian place near Times Square that had yummy berry tart.
Today (Monday):
We got up really really late this morning. Latest I have ever slept actually, which we were both a little miffed at. The time difference isn't really helping. We biked Central park today, which was beautiful (we forgot our camera!) and then went up to Columbia for a tour. The campus is still really pretty (and yet I forgot to take pictures) and if you manage to get in, their financial aid is fantastic. Mostly discussion based classes, which sounds really cool, and from what I can tell the only required classes sound cool (although after LASA I hate the idea of any required courses) like a course in western literature, one in philosophy, one in modern science... and they have an engineering school for the crazies that LIKE that kind of thing (kidding) and partnerships with lots of other schools (for instance, some take music classes at Julliard.)
We have spent the last hour or two at Starbucks, the only place I can get free internet to update this. I will try to post pictures soon, on facebook probably (So if you don't already have an account, I suggest one even though I hate it because it IS useful).
Love you all, and I hope everything is going well.
Sunday:
Whole foods for breakfast, so far all but one meal has been there. We couldn't find much we wanted to do so, having read that you don't need an appointment, we took the subway up to Columbia which has a beautiful campus... but also had their day welcoming new students. Good timing. We wandered around for a while before heading back home and spending a pretty low-key afternoon reading in our hotel's beautiful balcony. Aaannd, my first work-out in three days! I missed it, and I fear I may not be able to much in the upcoming week.... :(. That evening my mum and I decided we wanted to eat dinner in Greenwich village because she had heard about it all her life.. so we went to ask the concierge for restaurant suggestions. Apparently all the best restaurants and nightlife are now in the Meatpacking district though (leading to a new saying: from now on instead of fish out of water you should use "vegetarians in the meatpacking district.")We wandered around for at least a half hour and asked half a dozen people before FINALLY finding our recommended restaurant: the Fatty Crab. Really? Yes, they named it THE FATTY CRAB. Its stupid. So we got in there, they stuck us at a table that we shared with other people and I couldn't get out of as I was in a booth with people on either side of me. It was dark, loud, and then they served us the menu. Quail's eggs were the only thing I could recognize.
If you know me at all, then you already know that we left.
So we wandered around the Meat district for another half hour before finally just deciding to go back and eat, again, at the whole foods a block from our hotel. So we got back on the subway (waste of $8) and got back on the C train to head back... at Broadway and 7th "Mother, I think we should get off" "No way, we are still several blocks away!" Next stop "Mother I'm not sure where we are... should we get off?" "No, we aren't at our stop" at 5th and something. "Mother get off now." We had managed to accidentally get on the C train, which goes up up up, then east east east. We are in the upper WEST side. I swear it does not say that on the maps. So we got to walk twice as far :)
We finally got dinner at some really nice Italian place near Times Square that had yummy berry tart.
Today (Monday):
We got up really really late this morning. Latest I have ever slept actually, which we were both a little miffed at. The time difference isn't really helping. We biked Central park today, which was beautiful (we forgot our camera!) and then went up to Columbia for a tour. The campus is still really pretty (and yet I forgot to take pictures) and if you manage to get in, their financial aid is fantastic. Mostly discussion based classes, which sounds really cool, and from what I can tell the only required classes sound cool (although after LASA I hate the idea of any required courses) like a course in western literature, one in philosophy, one in modern science... and they have an engineering school for the crazies that LIKE that kind of thing (kidding) and partnerships with lots of other schools (for instance, some take music classes at Julliard.)
We have spent the last hour or two at Starbucks, the only place I can get free internet to update this. I will try to post pictures soon, on facebook probably (So if you don't already have an account, I suggest one even though I hate it because it IS useful).
Love you all, and I hope everything is going well.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Austin to New York
Starting yesterday morning, I will not be back in Austin for 5 months. Its a really hard concept to grasp, part of me keeps thinking I am still on vacation or something. My dad and my sister dropped my mom and I off at the airport, saying goodbye to my sister was really hard, she will change so much while I am away. I miss them both already, but I am ready to go.
And I am having a fantastic time in NY, this is the first time I have ever been and I love it. It is sooo big, Times square is a major sensory overload and people watching is fantastic. If I ever lived here I would most definitely need one day a week not to see anyone, but as it is this place is wonderful, I love just walking down the streets (I hate slow people that try to walk in front of me) and last night we went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway.... to my theater tech friends- you would have been amazed by their sets. The whole thing was very well done and always had me questioning “ how on earth did they do that!?” Today I think we are going to bike around Central Park which should be pretty cool. Our hotel is magnificent! The room is tiny, but everything is very modern in decoration, dark with cool lighting. I will try and figure out how to put pictures of it online.
Alrighty, I am off to bug the hotel staff to see if I can get the internet to work so I can post this and look up what to do today sur l'internet.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
To Clarify:
I have received several questions on this, so just to clarify: this will remain my blog throughout this experience. I plan on keeping anyone who wants to know updated on the process of getting there (AFS still has contacted my about nothing...its killing me because I am dying to know something) and all my adventures and escapades while abroad.
Additionally, in my free time I have been researching french customs and everything I should really know for trying to fit in over there (my goal is to go chameleon) and besides worrying about my possibly inadequate manners and lacking sense of fashion... if anyone has bits of culture to share with me I would appreciate if you would either post in in reply to my blogs (I think that is how you do it, right?) or email me at ash.marie.11@gmail.com.
Thank you again!
Additionally, in my free time I have been researching french customs and everything I should really know for trying to fit in over there (my goal is to go chameleon) and besides worrying about my possibly inadequate manners and lacking sense of fashion... if anyone has bits of culture to share with me I would appreciate if you would either post in in reply to my blogs (I think that is how you do it, right?) or email me at ash.marie.11@gmail.com.
Thank you again!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Ok, ok, REAL purpose
Alright, sorry its been so long. I promise I haven't just been slacking!
So just to expand on my rather hurried first post, I am Ashley Marie. When I was going into 6th grade I decided to switch to going by Marie- partially because it was french- and now it mostly confuses my friend's parents "Should I call you Ashley? Or Marie? Or Ashley Marie?" Whoops.
I am a sophomore at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. School is hectic, but I enjoy learning and the work is worth it- we have some of the best teachers there could possibly be. I love learning anything and everything I can, and this is my drive in going to France. I have grown up in the same house in the same city, and I have learned so many lessons here. By now though, I feel like I need a new challenge in order grow as a person. Isn't experience what makes old people wise? I feel that in order to understand the world one must experience it. How could I understand something I have never known? As such travel is my life goal, and France seems like as good a place as any to start. More importantly, it will open opportunities for more travel for me. It will solidify the language I have been working on for the past 6 years enabling me to travel more easily to many french-speaking countries and I will be able to understand what it feels like to insert yourself into a new culture.
Unfortunately, as already mentioned, this is far from free. I have been saving my whole life (that is my personality) and my grandparents have helped enormously, but I still have a few thousand to go. I am applying for a scholarship, trying to organize fund raising, and working every day in the summer after school but it isn't going to be enough. I appreciate anything and everything you guys can do to help.
So... to sponsor my blog entry please click the little chip in button.
Thank you!
So just to expand on my rather hurried first post, I am Ashley Marie. When I was going into 6th grade I decided to switch to going by Marie- partially because it was french- and now it mostly confuses my friend's parents "Should I call you Ashley? Or Marie? Or Ashley Marie?" Whoops.
I am a sophomore at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. School is hectic, but I enjoy learning and the work is worth it- we have some of the best teachers there could possibly be. I love learning anything and everything I can, and this is my drive in going to France. I have grown up in the same house in the same city, and I have learned so many lessons here. By now though, I feel like I need a new challenge in order grow as a person. Isn't experience what makes old people wise? I feel that in order to understand the world one must experience it. How could I understand something I have never known? As such travel is my life goal, and France seems like as good a place as any to start. More importantly, it will open opportunities for more travel for me. It will solidify the language I have been working on for the past 6 years enabling me to travel more easily to many french-speaking countries and I will be able to understand what it feels like to insert yourself into a new culture.
Unfortunately, as already mentioned, this is far from free. I have been saving my whole life (that is my personality) and my grandparents have helped enormously, but I still have a few thousand to go. I am applying for a scholarship, trying to organize fund raising, and working every day in the summer after school but it isn't going to be enough. I appreciate anything and everything you guys can do to help.
So... to sponsor my blog entry please click the little chip in button.
Thank you!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Purpose
Hello,
My name is Ashley Marie, though by now I mostly go by Marie.
I am a sophmore at Austin's Magnet high school, which essentially means I get three times the homework. Next year though, I am going for a semester abroad (September-January) in France. I am incredibly excited for this opportunity to really test myself, both in my language and just as an enormous social challenge.
Unfortunately for me, this experience is not free. Far from it, it is actually quite expensive. If anyone has any money to donate to help me realize my dreams, I can not express my thanks enough.
In future posts I will try to explain why traveling abroad (in highschool as an exchange student especially) is so important to me, how the process is going (I was officially accepted to the program over spring break), and hopefully notes of fundraisers I am trying to organize because guarding and babysitting aren't paying for all this (unfortunately).
Merci!
My name is Ashley Marie, though by now I mostly go by Marie.
I am a sophmore at Austin's Magnet high school, which essentially means I get three times the homework. Next year though, I am going for a semester abroad (September-January) in France. I am incredibly excited for this opportunity to really test myself, both in my language and just as an enormous social challenge.
Unfortunately for me, this experience is not free. Far from it, it is actually quite expensive. If anyone has any money to donate to help me realize my dreams, I can not express my thanks enough.
In future posts I will try to explain why traveling abroad (in highschool as an exchange student especially) is so important to me, how the process is going (I was officially accepted to the program over spring break), and hopefully notes of fundraisers I am trying to organize because guarding and babysitting aren't paying for all this (unfortunately).
Merci!
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