It's Vacation Time...sort of

So, like the title suggests, this post will be about the fact that it is sort of vacation time for me again.  I'm sure you must be asking "Wait, how is this possible? She's only been back in school 2 weeks." And that's right, I have been back in school two weeks, and I now have another week off. This week off is just for the juniors at my school. In fact, as a junior(in science track), you take 3 different parts of your bac(the big huge test that you have to pass to graduate high school.) You take the other parts at the end of your senior year. Junior year you take bac francais, bac history-geography(but only if you are in science track, and this is actually the first year) and TPE. TPE is a group project that we have been working on since the beginning of October, with 2 hours per week to work. This week coming up is the week of the final presentations. All of the juniors at my school have the week off, and the only days we have to come to school are the 30 minutes for our graded presentation, and 4 hours on friday morning to take a french test. Besides that, we are free. Some people have the TPE on monday, so then they really do have time to chill. Others, like me, do their presentation on thursday afternoon, so will be stressed all week. Since my grade on the bac doesn't count at all, I don't really care, but it will be interesting to see what the real situation is like. But, it's not totally a week off. For example, all of our teachers bogged us down with lots of homework because they said "You're not on vacation. this is a week of work."

So, my apologies for not writing for 2 weeks. I'm sure you must all be dying to know if everything is ok, I mean, why didn't I write last week? Well, 2 reasons. For one, I really had nothing exciting to write about. I had had a week of school, and that was it. and For two, I got sick last weekend and spent most of saturday rolling around the house, half dead with a headache and a fever. So, I decided that the blog could wait.

Sunday I went to an AFS activity, a board games afternoon. There were several women who brought bags and bags of games, but most of the the time we exchange students were most comfortable playing our card games. We tried to play a round of Time's up! which is like Taboo or catch phrase, but there were too many people trying to play and the words were too hard. We were 18 people on teams of three, and I was at one end of the table and could never hear what was going on. And, the words were all actors or musicians that not very many people and certainly almost none of us exchange students knew. We also had a big snack(since almost every family brought some food) so that was cool. I made chocolate chip muffins, which actually turned out dry and disappointing. Some of my favorites were the mini donuts, the sugar tart, and the cookies. 

My chocolate chip muffins.

I also made some muffins for my host family. These are more like muffin tops without the muffin. We didn't have enough molds but wanted to cook lots at a time, so we used mini tart molds, which turned out these muffin tops.

Then it was back to school for another week. Monday was the last 2 hours of TPE, meaning that from now on, I will finish on monday at 330 instead of 530.

Tuesday, we didn't get to do a lab in my science classes because my teachers are in the period of what are called "Conseils de classe." Since my physics teacher had a class counsel that night, we had physics all together and then SVT all together, instead of splitting into 1/2 groups. So, conseils de classe are when all of the teachers of a certain class(like the math teacher, the physics teacher, the english teacher, ect of one particular group of 30 kids) the student delegates of that class(2 students that are elected by the class to serve as the link between the kids and the teachers) the principal of the school and 2 parents of kids in the class all come together one night to discuss the trimester. There is a conseil de classe for each class at the end of each trimester. They all talk about each student(for example, their progress, if they seem to be having troubles, if they cause problems in class, ect.) They talk about the class in general(like the grades are too low, or the class is too talkative or ...) The student delegates present any student requests for the trimester to come(like maybe they think a certain teacher gives too much homework ect.) And it just sort of finishes off the trimester and gets ready for the next trimester. I think it is a good idea, but it puts some extra strain on the teachers when they have to work all day and then they have to do the conseil from 630 until 8 or 900pm. And some teachers, like my spanish teacher, have 7 classes, so that is quite a bit of time extra when they could be grading.

We also had our last section of step aerobics in PE before we will move on to swimming for next time. We got to make up our own routines and to finish off, Laure and I did forward rolls off of the steps and into our final pose. It was pretty fun, and I'm sad that step is over.

On Thursday, my class was very noisy and my teacher gave us a pop quiz to punish us. He collected the quiz and the class was dead silent. He said that if we continued to be noisy he would grade it, if we were quiet he wouldn't. Needless to say, the entire rest of the hour passed in silence. That silence even lasted to Friday morning when we had 2 hours of math. We were finished with everything the teacher had planned with a full 20 minutes to spare today. Our teacher was pretty happy. He put some equations on the board and asked us to solve them. I finished quickly and the rest of the class was very confused. My neighbors started begging for help, so I turned around and said that I would help them out. At which point, my teacher, who has a very good level of english, told me that i was allowed to help them but that i had to speak in english. So i said ok, and started. Pretty soon, everyone was desperately trying to listen to me explain rather than trying on their own, so my teacher sent me to the chalk board and told me to explain, but again, in english. It was so weird to try to force myself to keep speaking english when my classmates kept shooting questions at me in french and i could sense that it would be so much easier if i just explained in french. I kept switching to french and my teacher kept saying "that's not english, in english." And he kept laughing at my and my awkwardly constructed english sentences as i tried to simultaneously speak simple english and explain rather complicated math. at times i would stick in random numbers in french as i was saying the equation, or other silly things.

And while we're on the topic of language, let me just say how weird it is for me to be taking spanish here. Today we had a test and for one, I was really happy with myself for having understood the questions. Then i started to try to respond, but my spanish is still horrible. I realized after a few minutes that I was writing long, complicated phrases in french in my head and then trying to put them in spanish. I wasn't thinking in english at all. and really, going from french to spanish was easier than english to spanish, since i was already thinking about conjugation and a lot of the words are more similar from spanish to french than english.

And to finish off, I want to send a  big thank you to my friends for the care package that I got in the mail.   

It was so wonderful to open the box that showed up and have the smell of peanut butter wash right over me. I had such a fun time looking through all of the thoughtful gifts from back home. It reminded me of summer camp when I used to get care packages, except that I always knew exactly what was in them and what day they would arrive. This one was so nicely full of surprises and just made me feel so cared about.

So, that's it for the update. Plans for the weekend: My school's open house where I will be doing guided visits and be getting a free t-shirt and performing my step routine(my teacher's idea of showing off which sports are offered in PE), Saturday afternoon a handball game and an uninterrupted viewing of this week's The Voice. And Sunday, chilling out around the house, maybe cooking up something yummy, and eating chocolate, since Sunday doesn't count as lent.

Skiing in The French Alps

So, a quick update before I move on the 2nd week of vacation. My meal for my host family went really well. I made Caesar Salad, baked Macaroni and Cheese, and Apple Pie. For the Macaroni, I used big tube noodles, so that when you took a bite, a big burst of cheese rushed into your mouth. I used cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and Comté(my favorite French cheese.) My apple pie also turned out really well, which I was proud of since it was the first time I had ever made an apple pie all by myself. For the crust, I even used the old-fashioned technique of using two knives to cut in the butter, afraid to break my host mom’s equipment with the frozen butter. She tried to convince me to soften it first, but I have made enough pie crusts with my aunt Lisa that I knew what I was doing and knew I had to cut and freeze my butter and have ice water with ice cubes in it for when I mixing.

The baked macaroni and cheese, and the caesar salad.

My apple pie

Ok, on to the skiing...

Well, I’m back from a great week of skiing in the French Alps, which was an incredible adventure. We left Saturday morning around 8:30 am and got back Saturday morning around 7:00 pm. Coming from Sacramento, where I can get to Heavenly and all of the other Lake Tahoe resorts in less than 2 hours, it was very weird for me to get in the car at 8:30 am and not get to the ski area until about 6:00 pm that evening. It was a fair amount of traveling to the ski area where we stayed, but it was totally worth it.

We drove to Lille where we would catch the TGV(high-speed train) all the way to Bourg St. Maurice, at the base of the Alps. Our train stopped at a lot of different places, picking up lots of other people who, like us, were headed off for a week of skiing. We all know the story of the Polar Express, right? All of the kids in their bathrobes and fuzzy slippers who are drinking hot chocolate while zooming to meet Santa Claus at the North Pole. Well, I like to think that I was on the “Ski Express.” Everyone on that train was heading off to go skiing(North Pole), they were all wearing their ski coats and snow boots(bathrobes and fuzzy slippers), and they were all eating sandwiches for lunch as the train sped across the countryside(not quite as cool at hot chocolate, but still.) Since we had assigned seats, we weren’t fighting for seats; we were fighting for space to put our huge ski suitcases. My host family had put all of the ski stuff(gloves, hats, goggles, jackets, ski pants, ect) into two huge sacks, and every family had at least the equivalent, so space in the luggage racks was tight.

Once we got to the Alps, the train stopped multiple times right after another to let people off at each of the ski areas, but the majority of people rode the train to the end of the line, like us. Once we got off the train at Bourg St. Maurice, we took the funicular to get to Arcs 1600. The funicular is like a monorail that climbs right up the side of the mountain. The floor was slanted so that as we climbed, it felt flat. Once we got to Arcs 1600, we took the free shuttle up to Arcs 1950. The whole area is called Arcs, and there are multiple villages around the mountain, named by their altitude. There is Arcs 1600, Arcs 1800, Arcs 1950, and Arcs 2000.

The train at Bourg St Maurice, with the signs for the funicular. As you can see, it was easy to go straight from the train to the Funicular, especially since everyone was doing it so you could just follow.

Waiting for the shuttle and enjoying the stunning view of the mountains.

Arcs 1950 where we were was really cool. It was right smack in the middle of the mountain, with ski lifts above us, ski lifts below us, and even a ski run that went right through the village. Cars weren’t allowed, so we could walk or ski through the village with no worries. There were restaurants, a grocery store, a ski school and rental store, and a creperie right in the village. There were multiple buildings, connected to each other by “passerelles”(passages, usually on the 4th floor) since the ski run went between the building. There were even indoor/outdoor pools which were lots of fun.

The village

Me in the village

We had 6 great days of skiing, with snow for 2 days and great weather all of the rest of the time. The mountains were just stunning and the runs were so much fun. There was even one run that was 7 kilometers long, from the top of the mountain all of the way down to Arcs 1600. Every single chairlift had ski rests, even the old, slow 3-seaters, which was a shock for me coming from California where if a lift has ski rests and seats 6 it is a "flying couch." Here, there were lifts that seated 8, and even a lift called arcabulle which had a bubble you could pull down if it was cold and snowy or windy.

After finishing the really long black run full of moguls behind me. One of my favorite parts of the trip was that my host dad taught me how to ski moguls, and since he skied so much better than I do, I was really pushed to improve.

The Arcabulle chairlift

There was even a sled run that started at the top of the arcabulle chairlift and went to the bottom of it. I didn't get to do it, but it sure looked like fun as we saw the people under us sledding along.

After a long day of skiing, we would go get crêpes from the amazing creperie in the village. It was so convenient to put our skis in the ski locker in our hotel, put on our shoes, and then get warm crepes. Since it is lent, our choice was limited to butter sugar crepes, since we couldn’t have chocolate our nutella, but they were incredible.

Nights were low-key, with dinner, chilling out, some cards, and watching TV. We watched “N’oubliez pas les paroles”(Don’t forget the lyrics) and The Voice(a version of American Idol where the auditions are done blind.) I was usually so tired that I would be in bed sound asleep by 9:30, trying to have enough energy to be up at 7:45 for another day of skiing.

The meat grilling away. It only took about 2 minutes to cook each one, and with enough space on the grill for about 10 pieces, there was never much waiting but it was always great and hot.

It was funny to hear the English speaking tourists all around me. On the chairlifts or in lines, they would talk as if no one could understand them. At one point, there were two guys behind me in line complaining about the system of lift tickets here and how they were too easy to lose here, continuing on to talk about how, surprisingly, the resort had been really nice about helping them and that for once, the French people had proved to be friendly and helpful. Another time, I was in line for the bathroom and a man behind me asked “Speak English?” and I responded “Oui, I mean, Yes.” However, I still find it frustrating that my accent is so bad that people no right away that I’m American. Like when I was getting my skis and the man asked a question and I responded in French and his next question was “Would you prefer to speak English?” I guess that means I still have a long way to go with my pronunciation.

It was a super fun vacation and I am definitely less than thrilled about the prospect of going back to school again tomorrow. I really hope that someday I can go back to Arcs 1950 with my family to show them the incredible beauty that I got to experience during this week.

The amazing snow-covered mountains

The incredibly beautiful French Alps. The mountain you see in the background that kind of looks like Half Dome is the Mont Blanc, nicknamed the summit of Europe since it is the tallest mountain in Europe.

The Beginnings of Winter Break

So, the beginnings of my winter vacation. I have had a nice few days, including the movies, bowling, and a trip to Paris. And then Saturday, we head off for ski and I just can’t wait.  So, here’s some stories from the week.

One morning I built a tower out of Kapla, which are wooden sticks that are used for building, a bit like Lincoln logs.  I pulled out some of the pictures and built the tower of London, which was especially fun because I had walked across the very same bridge when I was in London with Nicole and her host family.

Me and my Tower of London, oh, and my new turquoise fuzzy sweater

You can see the resemblance between the two, right?

The tower of london

I went to see Star Wars in 3D.  Here, you own your own 3D glasses and bring them with you to the theater, rather than in the USA where we have the big bins of yellow glasses which we grab as we walk in and leave when we walk out. The movie was good, but it was very weird for me to hear Jar Jar Binks talking in his funny accent and to hear Yoda using inverse speech in French. I’m so used to “Judge me by my size, do you?” and “Me-sa thinks that you-sa...” so hearing the funny way of talking in French was just so weird. It was sort of like the time when I watched Parent Trap in french, and the parts that are in French in the American version were in Italian. Anyway, back to Star Wars, I wasn’t thrilled by the 3D effects, and it was very clear that the movie wasn’t filmed to be in 3D, but it was still a fun outing. We also saw a preview for the restored, 3D version of Titanic, and since I have never seen it, they have promised to take me.

I went bowling one day, which was great. The bowling alley was “American themed” so the restaurant was a diner that looked a bit like a Mel’s drive-in, all of the cocktails were named after states(for example “The California” was strawberries and pineapple juice and some other random things) and the music was lots of 50’s american music. I came in second. The second game, I got 3 strikes and still didn’t manage to break 100, which is pretty sad. But, we do have to consider that it has been over a year since I last played bowling on something other than the wii. Even though we all had a fair number of gutter-balls, it was really fun.

Playing bowling with my host siblings(and not on the Wii) at the American themed bowling alley.

So, on to the trip to Paris. It was lots of fun to actually get to walk around Paris a bit instead of just seeing everything in a bus like when i first arrived with AFS. We went to the Saint-Chapel which, according to legend, used the hold the crown of thorns that jesus wore when crucified. The chapel was incredible, with all of the walls covered with Stained glass windows that tell the story of the whole bible, from Adam and Eve all the way to the Apocalypse. At first, my host siblings didn’t want to take the guided tour, but since it started right as we got there, we kind of started listening to it. Pretty soon, we were all totally hooked and hanging onto the guide’s every word. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. And I was so happy that even though I’m American, i wasn’t stuck with just reading the few signs that had been translated into English. i understood almost every word that the guide said, so I really got to experience the tour. So, here’s what I learned. 1. During the two world wars, the french knew that Paris was going to be bombed, so they took down all of the stained glass windows of the chapel and put them in the shelters under the bridges to protect them. 2. In almost all chapels in france with stained glass windows that tell the story of the bible, the Apocalypse is presented on the western wall. Why? Well, doesn’t it make sense that since the sun sets in the west, the lays rays of light would illuminate the last days of the world? and 3. I learned how to read stained glass windows. They tell a story, but you have to read it properly or you won’t understand. You start in the first window and read from left to right, then you jump up a line and read from left to right again. Why read from top to bottom? Reading stained glass windows is supposed to help you turn your soul toward heaven, so you read up toward heaven.  Before this method was adopted, the story used to zig zag up the windows, so you would read one line right to left, and then left to right and then right to left. But, later, they decided to make it a bit more logical and like a book, so left to right all of the way up. The guide showed us the story of Moses parting the Red Sea and of David and Goliath, so it was fun to practice.

Me inside the Saint-Chapel

Right in the middle, where you see the box, is where there used to be a chest covered with precious jewels and gold, which used to hold the crown of thorns, as well as some other relics. During the revolution, the box was melted for the money, and all but 3 of the relics were lost. the crown is now held at Notre Dame and can only be seen in public on the first friday of every month.

The apocalypse is presented inside the rose, on the Western wall of the chapel.

This is the one of the 3 roses in Notre Dame. As you can see, the style is very different. This is in the ray style, while the rose at the Saint-Chapel was in the leaf style. 

We also went to Notre Dame and walked around the inside, which was incredible. The line was to long to go up into the tower and pretend to be the hunchback, but we did walk all the way around the outside which was super cool, since you usually only see the front with the towers.

The back view of Notre Dame

We ate lunch at a little restaurant called Le Paradis du Fruit(fruit paradise.) 

After lunch, it was off to the Champs Elysées. The first stop was Abercrombie and Fitch, but since Abercrombie on the Champs is the only Abercrombie in France, the line is incredible, just to go inside. 

The super long line for Abercrombie and Fitch.

The Champs élysées, which go from La place de la Concorde to L'arc de Triomph. We didn't have time to see all of it, and someday I hope to come back and walk from one end to the other.

The ridiculously thick and delicious hot chocolate.

So thick it left tracks in the cup.

And then it was time to head home to watch France beat Germany 2-1 in soccer. 

And finally, I need to groan a bit about America. So, I did the shopping for my mac n cheese today, and the more time I spend here, the more I realize how dumb the American system is. I mean, who in their right mind would say “Use 2 cups of pasta.” First of all, would that be cooked or dry? Secondly, What size of noodles, because you can imagine that you can fit a lot more mini-macaronis in a cup than you can fit penne tubes. So consequently, the amount of pasta is different. And how am I supposed to know how much pasta to weigh out when the amount is given in cups? There is no real way to transfer from volume to weight. It is really stupid, and really annoying.