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.