So what is Handball?

So i finally found a good video explaining the sport that I currently play for my school and for a club, called Handball. I always thought handball was like racquetball but with a hard-ish glove instead of a racket. Turns out, it is...for Americans. What the French call handball is what americans call Team Handball. Here is a video that explains all about the game. Hopefully it will help to clear up some of the confusion.

USA Team Handball Introductory Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6RcTHNlxto

Just copy and paste the link into your browser.

It's Vacation Time #3

Well, here we go for my third vacation here in France. This afternoon as I walked the 100 steps home from school, I made a rather startling revelation. I spent these three vacations with three different families. While on one hand it is a bit sad that I didn’t get the chance to celebrate all of these vacations and share traditions with just one family, on the other hand I think it is kind of cool. I’m getting to experience different styles of vacation, different activities, and different traditions. I think out of all of the vacations so far, I’m most excited about this one. For one, it has been 8 long weeks since my last vacation so I am totally ready for this one. And for two, we have a great line-up for these tow weeks. We have day trips planned to Paris an Brussels, plus a full week of skiing in the Alps. The skiing trip is really a dream coming true for me, and I absolutely cannot wait.

So, what happened in this eventful week leading up to vacation, during which my friends back home were gallivanting around and celebrating their week of vacation(President’s week)? When I explained the concept of President’s Week and the fact that we celebrate certain president’s birthdays in the US, I got some funny looks from my classmates. Apparently that is taking patriotism a little too far, just like hanging a flag in front of your house.

So, this week I had two practice bacs for French and a math DS. My French written test was Monday morning and I wrote for 4 hours about 1. why man can have trouble communicating and 2. whether a comic or joking tone can effectively be used to discuss a serious or grave topic(using examples from fables and movies, as well as the literature provided. I was very sorely tempted to use the Pirate’s of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland as an example, but I thought that the most-likely stingy correctors in Paris would think I was off-subject and taking the liberty of using other forms of art as an example too far.) Overall, I would say that this, my 4th written french test, was the best of them all. I understood almost all of the text and I managed to write 6.5 pages, so I think that’s not too shabby. I’m excited to see what grade I will get because this will be the first time that I get graded by someone who doesn’t know that I am American. My second bac blanc was my oral on Tuesday afternoon. I was so worried about this one it was ridiculous. I mean, back home, my weakest subject for the AP test was the speaking and I had enough trouble talking for 1.5 minutes about a simple picture story, so how on earth was I going to do a 10 minute exposé about French literature and then answer 10 minutes of questions? All in all, it went really well. I came in to the room when it was my turn and the corrector guy gave me my question. And then I had 30 minutes to prepare. Then he called me over and I sat down in front of him to present my text. I spoke for exactly 10 minutes, like you are supposed to, so that part went well. I was trying to focus on so many things at once that my grammar and pronunciation probably went out the window for the benefit of my attempts at presenting examples and creating transitions between sections. I realized about five minutes in that I wasn’t using sentences whatsoever. I was just linking phrases with “because... because... because...” Plus, I would start a sentence with a phrase, link my example with a “because”, and then say the exact same phrase that I had started with. However, I was really proud of myself because during the 30 minutes of preparation, I had had time to write out a full introduction and conclusion so those were both pretty good. Even the interview went pretty well and I was able to answer the questions, even if I didn’t really expand enough. The grades were posted on the wall today, and I got 14/20! Even though it doesn’t look like it to American standards, that is actually a really good score. It was better that a lot of people in my class. I will get the grades on my other bac blancs back after vacation and I will get the chance to see if I would have passed the bac had this been the real one.

I also had my math DS today. How cruel is that, putting a 2 hour math test as the last 2 hours of class before vacation? Like the other math tests, it was pretty easy given that I have already done almost everything we have studied this year back home. So, I ended the week knowing I did well, and happily “skipped”(well not literally, I kept my skipping to myself) out the doors of the school and home to pick up my guitar for my lesson.

Tuesday’s PE step class was a whole lot of fun. We started, like always with a warm-up/revision. Then we learned a few new steps and did a couple of short routines. And then we split into little groups and made up 2 blocs of 4 8-count steps. We had a certain amount of time to practice and then we had to perform for the other groups while being graded. My group decided to put the “feet” on the steps to make them higher, which gives automatically +1 point. And then we choses the fast music, “Beat It” giving us another extra point. We had a cool routine and did really well, so I think we got a good grade. The week after vacation, I think I’m going to bring my camera to make a little video during class that I can put on my blog. Since we were doing the fast music and doing lots of practices, we actually got a pretty good workout and were panting heavily by the end of the two hours.

I guess that’s it for the school week, so let’s do a little bit of “marche arrière”(reverse(as in an automobile)) back to last weekend, when Nicole came over. She took the bus after school on Friday and I met her in downtown(a nice easy 5 minute walk from the house.) We headed back to the house and chilled out for a while, eating my peppermint bark brownies and playing blocus. We played some wii and I played a bit of guitar for her. It was super lucky that my host mom had made quiche that night because Nicole had never eaten quiche before, even though she’s been here since September.  As usual, we stayed up late, playing with Photobooth and talking. I was really proud of this because we spoke completely in French the whole weekend(except a few sentences here and there of course.) Saturday morning, I forced her to get up early(9:00am) so that we could enjoy our time together. We went to the train station to pick up a Youth card(which earns from 25 to 60% off of all voyages so pays for itself quickly) and did some school supply/scrapbook shopping at the bookstore. We went to a great little italian restaurant in downtown for lunch and then headed back to the house. She caught the 515pm bus back home(after we had planned for the 415pm, gone to the wrong bus stop and seen her bus arrive and leave from the other stop) and then I headed off for my handball game where I scored my first goal. Sunday was a chill day at home doing homework and now we’ve come full circle back to Monday morning with my French bac blanc.

Well, that's it for the week, can't wait to tell you about my great vacation.

My amazing peppermint bark brownie cake!

We love Blocus!

Playing with Photobooth. All collage credit goes to Nicole.

Here's my bedroom. It's small but fantatsic and a space to call my own. My dream cather has done a good job of keeping the bad dreams away, and my most recent dreams have involved french fries and trying out for a soccer team with a broken ankle in a cast. Bizarre dreams for sure, but not bad dreams. You can always tell when I'm comfortable in a room because I get very messy very fast. If I'm too neat and tidy, it's a bad sign. Here, the clothes and books all over the place are a very good sign.

Rainy Days But Bright Smiles

Wow, I really cannot believe that another week has gone by. I feel like it was just yesterday that I had my computer out and was writing my blog. And here I am, an entire week later. Sometimes, it feels like every hour of the clock lasts an eternity, and other times I feel like the time I have left here is sliding away like the giant gallops of brownie batter that I spooned into the pan this afternoon.

So, some fun adventures this week. First of all, I’m sure you are all dying to know how my history-geography practice bac went, since I have been stressing about it for weeks now. Well, it was horrific. I literally spent the first hour looking at the 3 different exercises and going “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I know nothing, I have nothing to write about.” But, after an hour on the verge of tears, I sort of found a random train of thought and started writing. By the time the 4 hours were completed, I had written four pages about the different productive spaces of france and exploitation vs. preservation, 2.5 pages analyzing a document about the organization of the concentration camp system during world war 2, and completed a map of France about the networks and dynamics of metropolitan France(needless to say, I fudged my way through this one, especially when it came to marking the principal freeways all over France.) So yeah, it was very difficult and I will most likely not pass, but I do know that I really did do my best.

Now for the more structured stories from the week. Remember a few weeks ago when I talked about how Sunday lunch was a big deal and was full family time? How Sunday lunch meant a multiple course meal eaten in the dining room? Well, it is so true in my current host family. This Sunday, we had raclette, which may well be my new favorite food. It is so great. I have some photos, but basically, we melt slices of cheese and then pour them over the potatoes and ham and it is just so wonderfully satisfying. And it was even better on Sunday because it was cold and rainy outside and we were all inside around the table enjoying our family meal.

The Raclette machine, plus the potatoes, which we keep on top to keep warm. The ham, salami, and sausage that we eat with the warm raclette is served cold.

Sunday afternoon was a handball match and I finally got the chance to take a few pictures. I got to play for almost half of the game, and once again, I almost scored. I got a breakaway and as I was jumping to shoot, the defender shoved me, so my team got a penalty, and I ended up with a nicely bruised knee. In general, I don’t think my offensive play has gotten much better, but I think I’m improving on defense.

A long awaited handball picture. We are the purple team(but don't bother looking for me, I'm not in the picture.) We are on defense her. The blue zone is the goalkeeper-only zone. The blue team tries to pass the ball around to find an opening so that they can get close enough to shoot. We defend as a curtain and slide to try not to let them get through and to make them shoot from farther away. It's like basketball in that you can dribble and take 3 steps. What isn't like basketball is that once the girl in front of you has the ball, you bear hug her/ pin her arms to her sides to stop her from shooting.

In SVT, we have moved onto genetics, and we started out with mitosis. We had a graded “lab”(more like an activity) where we used microscopes to look at slides of cells in mitosis and we had to draw the different stages and then do a simplified diagram of the chromosomes during the process. Having studied a little bit of mitosis in 7th grade, I had a leg up on my French classmates, and it was fun to be able to answer their questions and help my neighbors throughout the activity.

In English class, we have moved on to studying the segregation, Jim Crow laws, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the United States. I’m a bit disappointed, actually. I liked it when we were doing unites about Ireland and Great Britain because I learned some cultural things that I didn’t know before. In doing the United States, we will just be talking about things that I studied in 3rd grade, 5th grade, and 8th grade during United States History.

Thursday night we made Croque-Monsieurs(the fancy name for grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.) Except that we made them in the oven, which was cool. We used my current favorite kind of cheese(besides raclette) which is called Comté, plus really good ham. 

Well, I guess that’s it. This might be a good time to explain the title of this post. The part about the rain is pretty self-explanatory (ie: it rained a lot this week.) The second part is more interesting. I smiled so much this week and in general, I was very happy. I got a funny look from my math teacher today because I was laughing and had a huge smile on my face during his lecture. It wasn’t because I was jumping for joy about the probabilities. It was more about the fact that I had just explained to my friends in front of me how I always think the symbol "sigma" look like a girl with a ponytail flying in the wind while riding a bicycle. I drew a picture on my paper and we were all laughing about it. I manage to make jokes in class and talk to my neighbors. I still find it hard to multitask in French so I tend to fall behind on taking the dictated notes when I’m talking to my neighbors, but that’s ok. And then, I’m also very excited about 2 things. #1: Nicole is coming this weekend to spend the night and we have some great plans, like wandering around downtown(the joys of living a 2 minute walk from downtown) plus going out to lunch and working on our scrapbooks.  And #2: We are just one week away from my 2 week long February break and I have some amazing plans. My host family and I are going skiing for a full week in the French Alps. We also have plans to go to Paris and Bruxelles for a day each. It is going to be so incredible.

So, that’s the update. For all of my friends at Rio who are now on vacation, have a good week off.
 
And here are a few pictures to finish off the post.

Last weekend's brownies, complete with hazelnuts and caramels. Today's brownies are peppermint bark brownies.

Isn't it nice to come home and find a basket of croissants waiting?

1 Weekend: 2 Birthday Parties!

Alright, well, another school week completed and just two more weeks until winter break(february vacation) and just 3 more weeks until we head of 2 ski in the Alps for 6 days. I can’t wait. And I even have a sleepover planned for next weekend, so the horizon is very bright. But, I also have a few scary clouds on the horizon as well. Next week, we have a 4 hour bac blanc(practice bac) in history, and considering that we have been doing a lot of geography in the last month, I’m a bit worried. I already have enough trouble remembering the names of the states and the capitals in the USA, names which I’ve been hearing since I was born. And now I’m supposed to be learning the names and number of inhabitants and decreases in number of jobs and I don’t even know what else about at least 20 french cities. Not to mention knowing where the wine production is, as compared to the grain growing and the livestock raising. So, I’m more than a bit worried. But, oh well, I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  And then the next week I have a bac blanc in french and my french oral. So, I’ll be busy, but then it’s vacation and time for relaxation.

So, now that you know all about my weeks to come, I’m sure you’re super curious about how this last week went. Well, the suspense is over and here comes the news flash...

First of all, I’ve noticed that my moral is pretty high right now. As I was walking back to school after lunch, I noticed that I was smiling slightly for no reason at all. It’s nice to shake myself out of my thoughts and realize that I’m walking along smiling like an idiot rather than shaking myself out of a trance and realizing that I’m walking along with my head down and a frown on my face.  In general, things are rolling along at a nice constant up, a nice change from some of the tougher times of the experience.

So, on to the week. The funny things about consistently writing my blog on Fridays is that when I tell you guys about my week, it always starts with stories from the weekend, which is a bit of an oxymoron. But anyways...

Let's start with some food photos:

A 4 year old's birthday cake.

The French version of starbursts, called kremas. They are quite good, but have a more creamy and less fruity flavor than starbursts.

Saturday night, I had a handball game. I almost scored my first club goal, but not quite. I had a breakaway and caught the perfect pass from the goalkeeper, took my 3 steps and shot. My shot slammed into the crossbar and another teammate picked up the ball and was fouled while shooting, resulting in a penalty which another teammate scored. So, I guess from a certain chain of events, I might be able to say that my breakaway eventually resulted in a goal, but I’m not sure. I have a game this weekend too, so maybe I’ll finally score this time. My team ended up winning 22-30, so that was cool.

Then, Sunday was the 18th birthday of Federica, and she had a party at her house, inviting foreign and French friends alike. It was loads of fun, including such great activities as eating(lots) french snack foods, dancing, and playing games. We played wink tag, and I got to be the assassin once, but Nicole quickly caught me in the act. We also played a really fun version of 20 questions. One person leaves the room and the rest of the group decides what the object of person is. Then we write it on a piece of paper. The person comes back into the room and then holds the paper on their forehead without looking at it. They then have to pose questions about who or what they are. We danced to some Italian music, some Mexican music, and some French music, as well as the ever popular American music which I just can't escape.

The whole group at Federica's party. 6 french girls and 8 foreign girls, and lots of good laughs.

Taking silly photos at Federica's birthday party. Ling, Tita, Fede, Fabiana, Nicole, Ragnhild, and me.

Opening the sparkling apple cider to do the toast for Federica's birthday. You can also see the table loaded with all of the fantastic snack food.

Federica's flaming birthday cake. In the photo you can see one of her french friends and her Finnish friend.

Playing the 20 questions game. Here, she is trying to figure out that she is a pizza.

Our representation of the European Union. We have Italy and France on the sides, trying to pull Switzerland and Norway into joining the EU.

It snowed one day and since it has been so cold here (more than a week with never higher than 0 degrees celcius) the snow has stayed on the ground. We loved the color of the sky so headed outside to take pictures. Of course, I was about to freeze my teeth off because I hadn't put on my coat. But, it was worth it to capture that gorgeous sky.

On to the school week...Monday was the usual Monday, too many hours of school(starting at 8:00 and ending at 5:30) as well as TPE for the last 2 hours. We only have 4 weeks left until the TPE presentation, and my group still has lots of work to do, but I’m sure it will work out.

Tuesday was also a normal Tuesday, with again too many hours of class. But, in sport, we started STEP. I always used to laugh when people talk about taking STEP aerobics classes, I mean, how can it be fun to step onto a board and then step off. But actually, it was really fun. We learned the steps and the corresponding hand motions, and then the teacher put on popular music(like Katy Perry) and we did the routine a few times, before putting us into groups and then letting us make our own routines using the steps we had learned.   

Wednesday, I didn’t have English so I started at 10:00 am, meaning time to sleep in. In Spanish, I voluntarily participated for the first time, saying one simple phrase in the form of “it is a...because...” but I was proud of myself for trying.

Thursday morning meant three hours of pounding my brains out doing physics and chemistry for my test. And, the words of advice from the teacher for all of us were “make sure to really write out and explain the responses” meaning I had to explain complicated chemistry concepts in French, so I ran a bit short on time. It’s a good thing I’ve already taken 2 years of chemistry back home, because if I was trying to learn these concepts for the first time in french, I would be so lost.

And today, Friday, was a nice normal Friday, 8:00 am to 3:30, a nice-length day, with 2 hours of math, so at least one subject I’m always sure to understand, and then an afternoon guitar lesson. I can now officially play “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Greenday, although without the playback it isn’t very interesting and quite repetitive. We had an SVT test this afternoon which I was a bit worried about, but I think it went ok. I ran out of time, normal considering that I’m trying to write pages and pages explaining the causes and consequences of mucoviscidosis, and doing it all in a foreign language. Although, at this point, I can easily switch between French and English without much trouble. Actually, it’s weirder to talk in English than in French. The French just keeps getting easier and easier.

I know the stereotypical image of the French is that they walk around with a baguette in their hand and a beret on their hand, and we always say there is more to it than that. But it’s true, even when it is -6 degrees celcius, you can still be sure you will see plenty of people strolling down the street in their coat, bonnet, and gloves, holding a freshly bought baguette. Not even the weather will stop them from having their fresh bread, and especially in downtown, where we can easily walk to at least 15 bakeries(and I’m not even exaggerating here.) And, I think one of the reasons why they need a fresh baguette every day, or at the very least every two days, is because after 2 days, that nice bakery bought bread is hard enough that you could knock a nail into the wall with it. I’m guessing the reason is it so good is because they aren’t many preservatives in it, but that means it gets very hard very fast.

So, there you have it, another very detailed look at the week of an exchange student. I’m going to finish with an observation that I guess I made a while ago but which I didn’t really realize until now. I think the French in general have a hard time with spice. Rather than being spicy, food tends to be rich and creamy. I have been told multiple times before eating something, “Oh, be careful, that’s super spicy,” and then I don’t find it very spicy at all. And I’m not a spice queen, by any means. I have a hard time with some “Mild” salsa back home, so I can just imagine my French friends trying to eat medium enchilada sauce at my favorite mexican restaurants back home. For example, pepperoni on pizza is considered very very spicy. The most “normal” pizza, the way pepperoni could be considered “normal” in the USA, is pizza with little pieces of ham on top, and the ham is about as un-spicy as you can get. So, there you go. I guess my advice would be, if you are ever going to have a French family over for dinner, that would not be the best time to pull out your recipe for Grandma’s spicy enchilada casserole.

Half-full or Half-empty?

So, we often talk about someone's attitude by asking them if the glass if half-full or half-empty. For an exchange student at the half-way point of their experience, the question translates to: "phew, halfway-finished, just 5 months left" or "darn, half of my time here is already gone, only five months left." Yep, that's right, I'm officially at the halfway point. I got here the 1st of September, and I leave the 7th of July, which equals 10 months and a few days. And today, the 3rd of February, I have been here for 5 months and a few days, and I still have 5 months and a few days. So, my response to the half-full/half-empty question: both. I'm relieved to have made it this far and glad that I only have 5 months left, but at the same time, I'm sad to think that in 5 months I'll be going home and there will be so many things I will miss. I guess the lesson to learn is to take the most out of every minute that I do have here.

Here's a most of the group photo from the AFS meeting last weekend. I think it's so cool that we are like our own little world all gathered here in the chilly but friendly North of France. From left to right top: Italy, USA, Brazil, Switzerland, Italy. From left to right bottom: Japan, Mexico, Chile, Malaysia. Not in the picture but still part of the group: Poland, Malaysia, and USA. And, all girls. I guess the boys don't have the guts to spend a year abroad. Just kidding, there just aren't any boys in our chapter.

Well, I feel like I'm starting to run out of things to talk about. Everything feels so normal now. It’s not that my days are boring, quite the contrary actually, but I just don’t have earth-shattering observations to make. I’ve got a rhythm going now, and I usually know what to expect from one day to the next. It’s really nice that things are finally clicking into place and I have a stable schedule that I enjoy. Well, I still wouldn’t mind going without the two days a week when I finish at 5:30 pm. At least it isn’t pitch black outside at that hour anymore, because that really depressed me, finishing school and walking outside to find that it was nighttime. But, the days are getting longer and the school days are feeling shorter, so all is well.

However, just because we’re moving out of January and away from the darkest days of winter doesn’t mean it’s getting any warmer. In fact, winter is finally arriving here, with an entire week of negative temperatures and snow projected for Sunday and Monday. Today’s high was -4 Celcius, and the low was -11. On Monday, it snowed, but just a little bit and not enough to cover the ground or anything. It was just swirling flakes that landed on my coat and in my friend’s hair. The little pond next to my school has a layer of ice on the top. And when I step outside and feel the blast of freezing air hit my face, I think of my one week each year of skiing in Tahoe. It takes me a moment each time to realize that I got all bundled up just to walk to school, rather than to hit the ski slopes.

I love the fact that even though my days are nice and structured, predictable and stable, lots of little things can happen to turn a normal day into a good day. It might be getting a history test back and seeing that I got 14/20(better than the class average and the best grade was 16.) Or it could be coming home for lunch and seeing that we were going to have my favorite kind of bread with the cheese. Or having crêpes with ham and cheese or butter and sugar for dinner. Or understanding a joke that my classmates make. The list goes on and on, so each day has it’s little ups. Of course there are the downs too, but that’s life. It’s like every day makes a roller coaster, but that’s what keeps life interesting. Who wants to go through the world on a flat train at 5 mph when you could ride the roller coaster every day.

So, a little story concerning those specific crêpes that I ate on Thursday night. Back home, the few times I have tried to make crêpes, I used my mom’s upside-down crêpe pan, which worked just fine, but my crêpes always turned out very small and thin. I asked my host brother yesterday if he could teach me how to make the crêpes like they do here, and he was like “oh yeah, sure.” But instead of really teaching me, he just said “So, you put some butter in the pan, it will melt right away, then you put the batter in, let it cook a few moments but not too long, then turn it over. If you have any problems, I’m in the living room.” It seemed to me that he practically skipped out of the room, incredibly happy to be freed of his job of making the crêpes. So, I was left standing there in front of the pan and trying to copy what he had done. At first, I was having some major difficulties. My crêpes has holes and tails and were thicker in some areas than others. But, by the time I had made a few, I was consistently getting nicely rounded golden-brown crêpes, and succeeding in flipping them in the air, rather than with a spatula, which made me very happy.

Handball is going well, I guess, although I have the feeling that I’m not really getting much better. The school team won 30-3 on Wednesday, but considering that the other team was one player less for the entire game...I wouldn’t call it a super intense victory.  The club team is much more intense. The games are usually within a margin of one or two goals, and there is a whistle practically every 30 seconds, either for a foul or a goal or an out-of-bounds. It’s fun to watch, but it’s a bit stressful for me when I play because I’m always worried I will do something really stupid and let the other team score.

I got a 20/20 on a French class activity that I did with two of my friends. We were analyzing a film that related to our unit about the murder mystery novel we read. I understood the film well enough to really participate as we did our group assignment, even contributing key examples to add. It is so nice that I’m finally becoming capable of helping my groups in class, instead of just being a free-loader.

Well, I guess that’s it. With my french oral and a 3 hour physics test coming up soon, I should probably go do some homework. I have a busy weekend ahead, with a handball game saturday night, and a birthday party I’m going to on Sunday afternoon.