The (Almost) Final AFS Activity

I know I'm behind on my blog pots, having missed Friday's, but I'm back on track and ready to tell you guys all about my vacation. Since it is in multiple parts, I'll be doing separate blog posts as well. So, this post is all about my second-to-last AFS activity, and my final AFS activity in the North. I still have one more AFS orientation: the night I spend in Paris debriefing the year before we head to the airport to go home. But this one still felt like the last because it was the last time I would see a lot of AFS volunteers and host families from my region.

The activity was a sort of scavenger hunt in Lille, the big city and "Capitol of the North." It is a very pretty city with some cool monuments, so this activity was designed to help us discover some of its "hidden treasures." We arrived in the morning, around 11, and split into groups. We were then given a paper and sent on our way, following the directions to find certain monuments and statues. The questions were far from easy, we had to resort to pulling out the iphones a fair number of times when we had scoured the outside walls of the buildings without finding the answer. But, it was still fun to walk around the very pedestrian friendly city.

This is Lille's Palace/Museum of Fine Arts

This is one of the many buildings around Lille's main square. Our questions was to find the symbol of Louis 14 on two different buildings and say which buildings it was on. So, since Louis 14 had organized all of France to revolve around him, he was called the "Sun King" and his symbol was his face inside a sun. Apparently, the day began not with the rising of the sun but with Louis 14 getting up, and ended when he went to bed.

This is another side of the main square.

This is the "Porte de Paris." Basically, when the city was older, there were "doors" like these on all sides of the city, and the only way into the city was by passing through the doors. There is a drawbridge on the other side, so in the case of any unwelcome visitors, they could raise the drawbridge to keep them out. It is called the "Door of Paris" because it is on the road that you would take to go to Paris. There is another one in a different part of the city called "Porte de Valenciennes" which would let people coming on the road from Valenciennes come in.

The scavenger hunt started at 11:00, and we were supposed to be at the lunch spot by 1:00. Well, that didn't happen, and my group arrived around 2:00pm. But, we weren't even the last ones. There were indeed a few groups ahead of us, but a few groups behind us as well. One group, a group of AFSers and some young volunteers, claimed to have been waiting for ages...it turned out that their scavenger hunt was missing a page, so they had skipped a few places, explaining why they got back so early.

Once everyone had arrived, we started the "apéritif" which consisted of sangrilla and pretzels and peanuts. The answers and the winners were then announced(my group came in 4th with 35 points, the winners had 38, but we had gotten a 2 point question right and they had marked it wrong.) There was a whole table of "AFS Prizes" like AFS pins or pencil pouches or t-shirts, all completely covered with the AFS logo.

Finally, around 2:45, we got to eat lunch. It was a sort of sandwich bar but wasn't really meant to be sandwiches. There were all kinds of meats to choose from, as well as some vegetables, and we each took a chunk of bread. And there was also rice salad, pasta salad, and couscous salad. I, being American, made a sandwich with my bread and meat, and then ate my pasta salad on the side. But the "French" way to eat it would have been to use a fork and knife to cut up the meat as I was eating it, and to tear off little chunks of bread as I needed them. Once finished, I would also have used the rest of my bread to wipe my plate clean. But, I wanted a sandwich, so I ate it as a sandwich. And I certainly wasn't the only one that chose the sandwich route.

After a leisurely lunch, it was finally time for dessert: petits fours. Apparently we were only supposed to take one each for the first round, but some people didn't get the memo. It didn't end up mattering because at the end, the volunteers were walking around with the plates of petits fours asking if we wanted seconds and then thirds and then fourths. The ones I tasted were all very good, but my favorite was the mini chocolate cake, which even though about the size of a postage stamp, was complete with 3 tiny layers of chocolate cake, a creamy filling between each, and a chocolate ganache topping. You can see the row of tiny chocolate cakes in the platter on the right; they are in the bottom right hand corner. The others were mini chocolate and mini coffee éclairs, mini chocolate tart, mini raspberry tart, mini chocolate cupcakes, and all kinds of other things.

Two of the numerous platters of petit fours.

My Malaysian friend with her plate of mini cakes.

It was weird leaving that activity, knowing it was my final time seeing a lot of the volunteers from the north. I have spent this whole year having an activity with these volunteers around once per month. And that was it. I walked out of those doors and knew it was just another of many goodbyes storming my way as this year comes to an end. I know I still have one day to be annoyed by wasting my time with some of the AFS activities while in Paris when we will be "Debriefing" our year in France before partying into the night and then stepping on the plane int he morning, but while it is true that some of my AFS orientations drove me crazy, I do have to say that I really did enjoy seeing my AFS friends and doing fun activities throughout the year.

Well, I guess that's it for this post. I got on the train to Marseille on Monday morning following that Sunday activity, so a post will be coming soon about my time under France's southern sun.

Only 2 Weeks: From the Other End

So, I clearly remember how I felt when Sunday rolled around and I realized that in exactly two weeks, I would be stepping back onto American soil. It was just such a weird feeling. I mean, I remember my blog post ever so long ago in September when I wrote "Only 2 weeks?" and those two weeks had felt like an eternity. I felt like I had learned and done and seen so much in those two weeks. But they had also been very difficult, and I looked at the calendar thinking "How am I ever going to make it through 10 MONTHS!!!!" But, here I am, with just two weeks left, and right now, two weeks feels like absolutely nothing. I just have two weeks left of speaking French all of the time, just two weeks left of living in Europe, just two short, miniscule weeks to squeeze in as much as possible. It feels like just 2 minutes.

It's very weird how my concept of time has changed during this year. I remember packing for a 10 day vacation and having that seem really long. And then I was sitting in my room packing for a 2 week vacation to the south of France, and it felt so short. A while back, finishing school at 2:50 pm was a long day, and here in France, I was grateful for the days when I finished at 3:30. And a year, well 10 months, which once seemed like a lifetime, is now just one very full chapter in the book of my life. This year is a particularly thick chapter, with ups and down, highs and lows. It's a chapter full of adventures and lessons as I navigated my way through this year. Of course, anyone wanting to read the chapter will have to be careful, since the pages are most likely stained with chocolate from chocolate croissants and the linings filled with delicious bread crumbs. So yes, it is a full chapter, and two weeks is just a few pages, but it is only that: a single chapter in my life. So, the fact that I'm coming home soon doesn't mean the book of the adventure is really ending. It just means a page is turning. This year was not a book separate and apart, but a fully integrated chapter. That way, it continues to affect the chapters to come as I move toward the next steps and look beyond. Who knows? Another trip to France may appear, or some time volunteering to help other students pursuing the same adventure. Only time will tell. For the moment, I'm just trying to focus on what I have left: 2 weeks.

It's vacation time: the final chapter

Well, school is out for the high schoolers (but not for middle school or elementary school) but I'm the only one really on vacation. We finished classes on Tuesday at lunchtime, and the first part of the bac is monday. So, for all of the kids in première and terminale who have the bac, this week is very important revision time. But, since I'm not taking the bac, I have been chilling out. Well, I have been working too, doing summer homework for my two AP English classes, but when I don't feel like working, I don't have to. So, I'm relaxing around the house, trying to get started on my packing and cleaning up my bedroom. I emptied out my school binders and filled an entire bag with used paper to recycle. It is amazing how many pages of paper I used in this year, between taking all of the notes, doing homework assignments, and writing essay tests in every subject, even the science subjects. It felt good to clean it all out and really be able to appreciate all of the work I had done this year.

So, on Monday, we watched movies in 3 classes out of 6. In English, we watched a Michael Moore documentary about the gun problem in the USA. In DNL(history in English) we watched Black Book in original version, so in Dutch, with English subtitles. And in math, we watched Vegas 21. In the three other classes, we crammed since the bac is coming up: history and 2 hours of french. well, actually, only half the class had 2 hours of french and the other half had an hour of SVT. The french teacher offered that last hour as revision and last-minute question time for those interested, and the rest had SVT. Since I'm not taking the bac, I graciously decided not to take a spot in french and went to SVT. In SVT, we did an activity where we looked at documents and answered questions in groups of 2. My partner and I did the best, so we won a box of candy, which was super awesome. Remember when I talked about how Milky Way bars are called Mars bars here? Well, they also do have things called Milky Ways which are like a normal milky way but without the caramel. So it is just like chocolate covered nougat.

On Tuesday, we had physics, history, and PE. In physics/chemistry, we worked until the last second, doing a chapter of O-chem on the last day of school. In History, we spent the first 30 minutes listening to the teacher give some last advice for the bac. And then we watched a movie. And then in PE, we finally got to go bowling. It was supposed to be 6 to a lane, but at the end, there were 4 of us together without a lane so we got to play as just 4. But, it didn't help us finish any faster because it actually turned out that our lane had a problem. They stopped our game at the end of the 8th frame, and even after we asked 2 different staff people to help us, no one really did anything. We were not happy and wanted to play our final two frames(since we had paid 3.50 euros for the game.) We were still waiting once everyone else had finished and was off playing billiards or foosball. With just 10 minutes until it was time to go, the staff turned on two lanes for us, and we got to play a whole other game with just 2 in each lane. I ended up with a horrible 103 and came in 3rd, but I blame it on the fact that we had to play fast so I didn't have time to aim. I was winning the first game that got stopped. But it was still cool that we got to play a complete 2nd game.

At the bowling alley. We were the only ones there(just our 2 classes of PE) so it almost felt like a private bowling birthday party or something.

Friends in my class waiting for their turn to bowl.

The bowling balls were basically exactly the same as back home. The same colors for the same weights, same sized finger-holes, ect. Some of the boys tried to "show off their strength" by using the balls marked "13" saying "look, the ball is 13 kilos" but then the girls pointed it out that it was in pounds, not kilos, and the boys looked pretty silly.

So, after the end of class, I said a fair number of "Good-byes" to people I know I probably won't see again. It was weird, after a year with having them in every class to think that it really is coming to an end. Then, I went to a "BBQ" at my friend Laure's house. They have a huge bbq/grill in the backyard we had planned to use, but a few people ended up not being able to come at the last minute, so it wasn't really worth it for the 5 of us. So, we grilled sausages in a frying pan and called it a bbq, making hot dogs with fresh baguettes. We made "cocktails" with orange juice and a fruit smoothie-type drink.

After lunch, Laure asked us if we wanted ice cream, a proposition which we gladly accepted. She opened the freezer and started pulling out cartons, first 1 then a 2nd and a 3rd...and then an 8th and a 9th. I had never seen so many different flavors of ice cream in one personal freezer in my entire life. From left to right, top to bottom there was: apple-black current sherbert, double chocolate chocolate chip, chocolate hazelnut (ferrero rocher style), rum raisin, lemon sorbet, caramel dulce de leche, raspberry sorbet, vanilla bean, and caramel. There was also caramel sauce, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce to put on top. It was a real sundae bar, and lots of fun to build bowls with 3 or 4 flavors.

After the bbq, I took the bus back with my other friends to downtown and said some more "good-byes." Then it was home to start sorting clothes and beginning to pack. I got my letter with my train ticket and Paris orientation info and everything is just getting more and more real. It is like the month leading up to my departure all over again. I find it hard to believe that July 7th is just around the corner, but more and more things are coming along to make it real. So, I've spent a relaxing week, working on summer reading and packing, planning my trips to the south and my summer back home.

However, I haven't let myself be too holed up in the house, making sure to get outside a bit each day. I went to play tennis with a friend from school on Thursday(well, it was more like get slaughtered by said friend. But, I hadn't played since one little informal game in October, and he has played competitively for more than 9 years. So, I was just glad for a fun chance to get out and move around.)

I'll let you guess which score was which.

I also made dinner for my host family on Thursday. As my host siblings came into the kitchen and asked what was for dinner, they quickly realized that if I was making dinner, that could only mean one thing: baked macaroni and cheese. My macaroni turned out just as wonderful as usual(if I do say so myself) and even though there were only 7 of us instead of 8 eating it, every last noodle was polished off. I'm getting pretty good at the macaroni now, and I can't wait to make it back home too, both to share with my friends and to alleviate my mom from always having to do the cooking. The other thing I'm getting good at making now(besides chocolate chip cookies) is log cakes. Everyone seems to say that making them is hard and that they often crack, but with the right technique, anyone can make a good one. The hardest part is getting it to roll without cracking, and the important part is to roll it while it is still hot. Once it comes out of the oven, flip it immediately onto a damp hand towel that has been dusted with powdered sugar and roll it(towel and all) right away. Leave it rolled in the towel 30-60 seconds, then unroll it and frost it/fill it, and then reroll it on itself, and you have your roll cake. But, be careful, because the filling may melt. If you are going to fill it with ice cream or something meltable, leave it rolled in the towel until it is cooled. It will be a bit humid, but the filling will take care of that. I didn't take any pictures of the nutella ones I made this week, but here's an old picture of the one I made with my first host family where I learned the towel technique:

Here is a recipe for log cake, if anyone is interested. They are really simple and easy to make, and lots of fun:
4 eggs
120 g(1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp)sugar
A pinch of salt
140 g(1 1/3 cup)flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Filling(jelly, nutella, whipped cream and strawberries, ice cream...it's all up to you)

Line a pan/cookie sheet (preferably with sides) with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 355 degrees F.
Separate the eggs and whisk the yellows and the sugar together until the mixture turns almost white.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not too dry.
Add the flour and baking powder to the sugar and yellows and mix, but not too much. Gently add in the egg whites.
Spread your batter evenly onto your prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes. The cake should be lightly golden when done.
Flip your baked cake onto a moist hand towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar and immediately roll it, towel and all. Depending on your filling, either let it stay in the towel until cool, fill it, and then reroll it. Or, let it stay in the towel 30-60 seconds, then fill it and reroll it. You can either freeze it, refrigerate it, or let it stay at room temperature until you are ready to serve it.

Enjoy!

I also had my last guitar lesson on Friday afternoon. It was great, and I am really glad to have had the opportunity to take lessons during these months, since it gave me something to do when I was bored, a project to work on.

Well, that's it for the update. I leave for my vacation in Marseille on Monday morning, so lots of adventures are in store. Stay tuned!

Exactly One Month Left

Wow, I absolutely cannot believe that I am exactly one month away from stepping off an airplane  onto American soil for the first time in more than 10 months. It feels so unreal. I really can’t say that the year passed quickly, but at the same time, I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that it is actually coming to an end. It’s weird. My return from France has sort of been the farthest thing I could see on my horizon for months now as I did my best to live in the moment. But now, with just one month left, I am starting to look past that horizon to the one beyond, but everything seems so different. I almost feel like I won’t be coming home to a new country but to a new life. I know this sounds really weird, but I feel like everything left in my time is France is tinted one color, and then I look at the things planned once I am home and they are a completely different color. I wouldn’t say one color is more attractive than the other, but it is just completely different and a bit overwhelming.

So, moving on. I have to say, this was a pretty great but very different final full week of school. I’m used to USA final weeks which mean taking finals and then signing yearbooks all the time. Here, I haven’t taken a test in the last few weeks and finals don’t exist. The teachers must figure that the kids are going to study for the bac, so it is better to maximize class-time to help them review and answer last minute questions. In other classes besides French and History, the classes with the bac, we have sort of stopped working. In math today, we finished our last chapter, did some final exercises, and then I taught some girls how to play egyptian war while the teacher chatted with some of the other kids. In other classes we watch movies or talk about the French open tennis results. And we even had a party/snack in our last SVT class today. I mean peanut butter blossoms, and even my friends who claimed they don’t like peanut butter said they were incredible. I mean, peanut butter blossoms are one of my specialties, but I was still a bit worried given the general French aversion to peanut butter. And, since they don’t have Hershey kisses here, I was stuck using just pieces of chocolate broken from candy bars. Actually, an interesting thing to note: here in France, they call them squares of chocolate, even though they are actually rectangles. Like in a chocolate bar, there are 4 rows of 4 rectangles, so when you take a few, you actually say “Do you want a few squares of chocolate?” Funny, huh?(Well not really, but for a nerd like me obsessed with French, I think it is. But it’s kind of like the way we call Football football when it is a game we play with out hands. Oh, and speaking of football, I saw 4 guys at the local park playing American football today. It was super funny to see a football for the first time in ages. They weren’t very good, and the guy playing quarterback couldn’t throw a consistent spiral, but they looked like they were having fun.) Anyway, back to the snack. There were lots of super yummy things, like homemade brownies and chocolate cakes. And store bought candy and marble cakes and drinks. And my friend Laure made a caramel version of rice krispy treats where she melted caramels, marshmallows, and butter, and then added the cereal. They were super good, but two bites and you felt like you had just gained three pounds. But my favorite treat was a sort of brioche with a chocolate swirl through it. It was freshly made and still warm, since the girls that brought it go home for lunch so wrapped it in foil at lunch and brought it for our snack right after lunch. It was just amazing.

Even though I didn’t have a yearbook to sign, I still found a way to have my friends and classmates write me notes. I got a plain t-shirt with the school’s logo on it when I volunteered at the open house. So, I went to the local bookstore and bought special marker/paint pens specially designed to write on cards and fabric. I brought them to school and meant just to have people sign the shirt, but they were all very enthusiastic and wrote really long, nice notes. It was so touching and I am just so lucky to have had such a great class all throughout the year. I know I will keep my shirt and my class photo for a long time as a souvenir of the great year.

Now for some highlights from the week:

Let’s start with last weekend and the recap of the bicycle camping trip I promised. The trip was lots of fun, even though it rained and we didn’t get to do the challenge course. We met up and the old train station and rode about 25 km along an old railroad track that had been transformed into a bike path(if you know about rails to trails in the states, it’s the same idea.) Then, we turned off the path and biked to the campsite just a little ways from the trail. Our sagwagons arrived with our luggage and tents and we quickly set up the sleeping area. I ended up pitching three tents because I knew what I was doing thanks to years of summer camp and girl scouts. It was cool to help my friends out and teach them something new. After the tents were pitched and we had run through the showers, we piled into the cars to go out to dinner. We had originally planned to go to dinner on the bikes, but everyone was really tired so we decided to go in the cars. It was a good idea because we spent so long talking and hanging out at dinner that it was pretty dark by the time we got back. We went to dinner in Belgium at a friterie(fries restaurant.) There were 30 of us between students, host siblings, host parents, and AFS volunteers, so we practically took over the whole restaurant. We had a great time telling jokes and sharing stories as we ate. After dinner, it was back to the campsite and crashing into bed to be ready for the next day. In the morning, it was pouring rain so we quickly ate breakfast(freshly bought bread and coffee) and then packed up the tents. We decided to just start our trek back instead of staying at the campsite and doing paddleboats or any of the other activities. We took a different route on the way back, rolling along tiny trails with branches whipping our faces and mud splattering our legs, but it was more adventurous and lots of fun. We were a bit worried about lunch since it was still pouring, but we managed to call the town hall of a little town we passed through and they opened a public room for us so we had a dry place to eat. It was one of the girl’s little host brother’s 11th birthday, so his family brought us chocolate cake in the sagwagon. After lunch, it was back to the trail and headed home where our host families were waiting for us. Overall, it was a great trip with only a few minor bike problems: one flat tire, two broken sets of brakes, and one lost pedal.

Getting ready for the camping trip. We had nice weather on Saturday, but lots of rain on Sunday.

Pitching the tents

Doing what AFSers do best: taking photos. This one is in the friterie. This is America, Chile, France, and Malaysia.

Another restaurant photo: Italy France America

 

Here, if the video works, is a video of all of us singing "Happy Birthday" in our native language for Sylwia's host brother.

This was our meal: Fries and a sausage. Here, the joke is that everyone knows what is in the sausage but no one says it, just like Americans with Coca Cola.

Monday was a normal day of school with a movie in both my English class and my DNL class. In English, we are watching a Micheal Moore movie about guns in America, and in DNL, we are watching a movie about WW2 in V.O.(version originale) so it is actually in Dutch with french subtitles.

On Tuesday, I had 3 hours of class from 9-12: math and 2 hours of PE. In PE, we went to the pool for the last time, but since we had already been graded, we could do what we wanted. We used the water slide and the boys did flips from the blocks. We got out the water polo balls and played monkey in the middle. And 7 of the boys in my class threw both of the PE teachers into the pool, which was hilariously funny. After PE, I went out to lunch with my friends. We went to the pasta bar and actually got a table(something really rare since there aren’t very many and we normally just take it to go) so once we had finished eating, we stayed and talked for a long time afterwards. We didn’t have to rush back to class so we just hung out, and it was really nice to just be the three of us and be able to talk and really listen to each other.

I went to the bakery the other day on impulse. I think I was really beginning to realize that my time here is ticking down, so I needed to make sure I got one last palmier before I left. Actually, I was really disappointed. Not with the palmier, but with the fact that after the large number I have ordered here, you would think I would be able to order them correctly. But no, the baker still had to ask me to repeat my order, which frustrated me that my accent is still so bad.

We lost the nice weather I was so excited about last week. It has been raining off an on all week. We are in a period of 5 minute storms, so we will go from blue sky to pouring rain to blue sky in the span of 7 minutes. And I think the weather has decided it doesn’t like me and wants to make sure I get my fill of Northern france’s rain before I leave. The day I went to the grocery store to buy the peanut butter for my cookies, it was sunny when I decided to go and went to get my coat. As I stepped outside, it started to sprinkle, and as I left the store with my bag of groceries, I felt like I was under a cold shower. And as soon as I got back home and started to bake, the sun came  back out. And the exact same thing happened today as I got ready to walk to guitar. It was just sprinkling as I got ready to go, so I grabbed an umbrella. And as I walked back outside again, the shower came again. And once I was back home, no more rain. It just doesn’t seem fair.

I watched “Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis” the other day, the number 2 most successful film in French cinemas behind “Titanic.” It is about a man who gets sent to the North of France to work as a punishment for bad behavior. And it is all about the stereotypes and the images that people of the South have of Northern France. Like that it rains all the time, or that they talk weirdly. It was really cool for me because I actually understood the jokes after having lived in the North for this whole year. I was proud when I even understood when the characters were speaking Ch’ti, which is the “dialect” here in the North and is slightly different from normal French.

Well, I guess that’s it for the update. I have 1.5 days of school left, which is just incredible. I just can’t believe this is all coming to an end.

We're in Rolland Garros Mode

So, here we are at the end of another week. Just one week of school and 2 days left. I can't believe it. I was hanging out at school during break and just thinking, "Wow, in just a few short days, I will never go to high school in France ever again." It's kind of like my high school graduation is coming early. Every single day brings a flood of emotions. I yearn to be back home surrounded by family and friends, back in the places I know doing things I love. But at the same time, I'm overwhelmed by the fact that I am going to be leaving France and will probably never see a lot of the people I have met this year again. So, as the time ticks down, I'm just trying to do my best to take advantage of everything I can. While it is true that I miss my home and family, I know that the time for me to step onto the airplane will be here before I know it. I can do nothing to make that clock go faster or slower, so I know I just need to make the most of the rest of my time here. We really are coming to the final phases of an amazing adventure. I think back to October when I flipped through my planner and looked at the final days, wondering when they would finally arrive. And, here we are. It seems like my time in France has been an eternity, but at the same time, I think back to things I did months ago which feel like just yesterday. It's weird but wonderful, all at the same time.

Ok, so now let's talk about the week.

So, last weekend was our three-day weekend. We didn't really do much with the days off except just chill out and enjoy the weather.

Tuesday was our last day of school ending at 5:30. Although we still have 2 Tuesdays left in the school year, we finish at lunchtime for both. This coming Tuesday is the official lab tests for the seniors passing the scientific bac(among them my host sister) so the labs are taken and the teachers can't take us for class. Since Tuesdays are our crazy science days, we only have 3 hours of class this day without science: math and 2 hours of PE. Then the next Tuesday is the last day of school and we finish at lunchtime. Actually, since we have PE for our last 2 hours of the year, we are probably going to go to the bowling alley to celebrate. So, although this last Tuesday was long and difficult like all the other Tuesdays of the year, it was the last one, and also, my last classes of physics for the year. It makes me sad as I realize each time...."this is my last class of Physique-chimie. This is my last class with the spanish assistant."

Wednesday was a typical Wednesday with our 2 hours of French in the morning. We did our last "Lecture Analytique." I don't know if I have already talked about these, but they are the texts that we study in French class which will show up in the oral portion of the bac. For example, we read an entire murder mystery, but we only did 3 "Lecture Analytiques." This was the last one of the year, and it was our third poem of Victor Hugo. Normally when we do these, our teacher gives us almost all of the answers and we just have to find the examples in the text. But this time, we did it in groups of three and our teacher was there to help us but wouldn't do it for us. I worked with my friend Laure and Ophélie, and it was actually kind of fun. Once they had helped me to understand the poem, I was really able to help find examples and things they had missed. I understood what was going on and as a group, we were really able to do a good analysis. It was nice to really feel like a contributing member of the group, and it was a more enjoyable two hours of French class than normal because I was involved and hanging out with my friends instead of just taking notes as the teacher dictated.

Thursday was another normal Thursday, meaning three hours of study hall. Since my time is winding down here and my summer homework load is building up, I decided to try to get a bit of a head start so I worked on the load of APUSH work during my study hall. Although I did feel a bit guilty working in English, I really didn't have other work to do and I figure my French is at a pretty good level by now. If I want to really enjoy my summer when I get home, I figure I need to get some stuff done now.

So, Friday was our usual Friday morning with 2 hours of math, spanish, and geography. But the afternoon had a special twist: the inspector. My SVT teacher was getting inspected to try to get a special level or a raise or something. Everyone was super stressed since he came during our class(luckily, we were warned so we brought our materials and knew to be quiet.) The inspector was not very nice, in my opinion, but at the same time, he is an inspector. My teacher was supposed to teach normally, but we could tell she was so stressed she could barely put her sentences together. The inspector sat in the back at first and let her teach, but then he started walking around and asking us really hard questions about what we were learning. We then started an activity to calculate the speed and direction of the tectonic plates. It was complicated to get started and hard to understand, and my teacher wasn't really able to help us because if the inspector was near, she didn't want to make it look like we couldn't do it ourselves. He looked over our shoulders, looking for mistakes and posing nit-picky questions about the thing we were learning right there, not things we had already learned. I managed to answer the question he asked me about the graphs, but I made a horrible culture mistake, one I have been making the whole year. I said "Attends" instead of "Attendez" when trying to think and buy time to answer the question. For those who don't understand, this means that I used the informal Tutoiement instead of the more respectful vousvoiement. This has been a real problem for me from the beginning of the year. When I am going to ask I question, I remember to think and say "Vous" but when I'm trying to think fast, the words just jump out and I mess up. So, hopefully Mr. The Inspector doesn't take it personally. So, the inspector spent the whole hour asking individual people questions and stressing everyone out as we all hoped it wasn't going to fall on us to answer his question. The thing that bugged me most was that he signaled people out. Once I had managed to answer his question exactly right, he didn't come back to me. However, the girl who hadn't known how to answer his 1st question was retested at least 4 or 5 times. So, it didn't seem very fair. At the end of class, I went up to the front to wait for my friend who was cleaning up her stuff and talking to my teacher, and the inspector came over. He asked me "So, how do you like SVT this year." And I said it was great and he was all "oh yeah, I'm sure you're just saying that to help your teacher." And before I could respond to say that "No, really, it was so cool to get to dissect mice and pig eyes" he cut me off and recommenced his questioning. He asked me about the fault lines in California(since my teacher has told him I was American) and it was the thing we had studied on Tuesday. I knew what I was saying, but I could not remember the official name. And he kept pushing and pushing the question, and I could see my teacher practically praying, trying to send me the answer through telepathy, but I just couldn't come up with the name. I felt guilty, like I was letting my teacher down when we had studied it. But, I still think I helped her out on the whole because I helped the 6 people around me do the graph activity(meaning she didn't have to help us) and I did answer some of his questions. It was a very interesting experience to be there for the inspector, and I'm glad I got to see it. Actually, it reminded me of a scene in "Le Petit Nicolas" when the inspector comes and asks the worst student which river runs through Paris and he manages to respond and the whole class cheers. Here, we weren't cheering out load, but when the people around us got questions right, we were happy. Since I'm not sure this type of inspection exists in the states, it was a really cool experience, even if it was a stressful hour.

To destress a bit after the SVT, half of us finished off the day with spanish with the assistant. Some of the girls who take German came, too, just for fun. We played Scategories and talked about summer plans. And laughed a lot, so it was nice. As the last days wind down, I really relish every moment when I feel just like a normal member of my class. It is so cool to feel 100% integrated into my class, and I'm really thankful to everyone in my class that helped me out and welcomed me through the year. I bought the class photo, and I know it is going to be one of the very best souvenirs I can bring home from the year.

Well, that's it for the rundown of the week. This weekend is going to be great. I'm going bicycle camping with AFS, and it should be great. We'll be playing games, going out to dinner, and then in the morning, we're going to a challenge course before heading back home. I can't wait to tell you all about it.

So. That's it. If we start a countdown, I'm at 35 days until I get back onto a plane to the USA. I can't believe it. Like I said before, so many emotions are filling me up. I know that right now(as I watch the final of Koh Lanta) I am soaking up every moment of my limited time left here. 

It finally feels like May

Well, we're done with another week, and we're on to a nice three-day weekend. I know, my three-day weekend isn't super exciting since it is Memorial Day for everyone in the states, but that's not what have the day off for. We had our "End of war/honor those who lost their lives in war" day here a few weeks ago, when we had Tuesday May 8th off for the end of WWII. This Monday off is the "Recuperation day" of the weekend of the Pentecost. It's like the Monday we had off after Easter to recuperate, except not many people(or really, no one) actually celebrates the Pentecost. But hey, we're not about to complain about an extra day off from school.

We finally got some nice weather here. This whole month of May has felt like November with cold winds and rain and fog. But this week, the sun finally broke through, and I was able to go to school from morning to afternoon without even bringing a sweatshirt as a precaution. Everyone around me complains about how it is too hot, but I'm just so happy to finally be freed from lugging my huge coat everywhere that I don't care. And besides, I think my body has lost the ability to say "I'm hot" because I have spent the entire year practically shivering. Boy am I going to get a shock when I head back to 100 degree California in just a few weeks. Luckily I'll be escaping to the mountains and the ocean for the first few weeks back as I go to summer camp.

We have all been enjoying the nice weather(partially from fear that it won't last) in eating outside for lunch and dinner, as well as working and doing homework under the sun. Also, since we are farther north than back home, the sun goes down really late. Last night, it was practically 10pm and it felt like 7:30pm.

Something cultural I learned the other day: You know how in the USA we say "If you bring the umbrella, then it won't rain, but if you leave it at home it will"? Here, they are the opposite. They say that "if you bring the umbrella, it will encourage the rain and it is better to leave it at home." Interesting, huh?

So, a rundown of the week. With just 2 weeks of school left, classes are starting to wind down as teachers count how many hours of class they have left. For example, since we only have Spanish 2 times per week, we only have 4 hours of class left, so the teacher doesn't want to start too much. In one class, we have so little time left that we are just going to watch a movie for our last few hours. Other teachers, however, are pushing harder than ever, determined to finish all of the material. In history and in French, we are moving at lightning speed and being assigned classwork as homework because those teachers don't have a choice: the material will be on the Bac whether they finish teaching it or not. In history today, we did in one hour what we normally would have done in 3 hours!

So, Monday was a normal school day, with a test in my "History in English class." In the afternoon, after class, I went to the track to try to get back in soccer shape, especially since handball is done. Oh man, I did not realize I was so badly out of shape. I mean, I had been jogging in the park at least 2 or 3 times a week and playing handball, so I thought I'd be ok. I tried to do some of the normal stuff we do for soccer conditioning, and I thought I was going to fall apart. I couldn't finish half of what I used to do. Oh well, I guess that's a small price to pay for this year.

Tuesday was our Scientific day, like every Tuesday. We had Bio, math, and swimming in the morning, and physics, physics lab, and bio lab in the afternoon. Tuesdays are very exhausting, but we learn a lot in those science classes. At the pool, it was the evaluation day, and they did it like how the kids are evaluated for the bac, except we only did 2 swims instead of 3. Basically, you swim 50 yards and get timed, and then you have to estimate an interval of 3 seconds, and if your time is within that three seconds, you get the self-evaluation point for that race. Then you have 10 minutes or recuperation where you have to swim constantly but not fast. And then you do it again. You have to do one lap with two strokes(changing at 25 meters), another lap with 2 strokes(at least one of which is different that your first lap) and a third lap where you can do what you want. Full points for boys is under 40 seconds for the average of the three laps and for girls in under 44 seconds, I think.

Wednesdays are language days, since we have English, 2 hours of french, history, and spanish/german. In french we continued our poetry analysis(which, as you can imagine, is not very easy for me) and in history we are studying colonization and decolonization, and they just skip right over what happened in the middle. I also had my French oral on Wednesday afternoon. It went well, but considering I got to choose the text I was tested on and the jury knew I was american and had fun asking me questions about America and my time in France rather than testing me on the documents, that is understandable. I mean, it is a 10 minute exposition where the jury(just some french teacher not from the school) gives a question, you have 30 minutes to prepare, and then you respond. Mine was "by what means does Voltaire critique his time?" and my supporting document was the beginning of The history of the travels of Scarmentado written by himself. Then there is a 10 minute interview where the jury is supposed to ask you about the complementary documents we studied in class. That was when she preferred to ask me about America, why I was in France, why I had had trouble with the theater section, why I had liked the mystery novel section, whether I read Murder mysteries in the USA, whether I watched them on TV, ect; so I only ended up talking about the documents for like 4 of the 10 minutes. The first oral, I was basically treated like all the other kids by the jury except that I had given a list of texts in advance. Here, it was much less formal and more fun, but I felt less like any other French kid. Speaking of being just like everyone else, we did get our anonymously corrected history tests back, and I got 13 out of 20, one of the better grades in the class(the average was about 11.7) I even got 1/1 for spelling and grammar, when there was a french kid who got 0!

Thursday was a normal Thursday except that we ended an hour early. Like I talked about before, when teachers are absent, there aren't substitutes(unless is is going to be a prolonged absence.) Class is just cancelled. On Thursday morning, the English teacher was absent, so our math class was moved to the English time, and we got to leave early. That is what is cool about the "One class of 30 kids with whom you have all of your classes" system, because had we all had other classes later, that wouldn't have worked. Friday, our SVT teacher was absent, so we got to finish at lunchtime, so her class was cancelled.

In Philosophy class, we finally actually did something logical and structured. Since the beginning of the year, that class had been complete chaos where the teacher just comes in and talks, half the kids don't listen, other kids shout out, he writes nothing on the board except a word or two, and in the whole year I had taken 5 pages of notes. One day he told us Descartes theory to prove the existence of God. One day we talked about the difference between a political regime and an ideology. One day we talked about the difference between the state and the nation. Well, we finally did something structured an logical: syllogisms. We learned the first four formulas of the 16 valid syllogisms, and I think we will probably continue that when we next have class. For those who don't know, the famous syllogism is the BARBARA, or the AAA, and an example is All men are mortal, all Greeks are men, therefore all Greeks are mortal.

So, to finish off this post, I was recently interviewed by someone at my school to put an article in the school paper. I was worried they would ask tricky questions, but it was easy stuff like my name and my decision to come here. I was also worried they'd use my responses word for word, but she promised to tweak them here and there to correct the language mistakes. And, she wanted me to come in and take a picture with friends from my class for the paper, so here you go. Have a good memorial day weekend.

The photo for the interview

A Very Busy Week

Well, here I am again, ready to report about yet another week of my life in France. If you're getting tired of these posts but read them anyway because you are my friend and/or feel obligated, don't worry. There are only about 7 weeks left to my 10 month adventure here. And, there are only three school weeks, so if you're tired of hearing about what I learn in SVT, don't fret. Now, with that being said, on to the discussion of my week(well, I guess it's more of a monologue than a discussion since no one ever comments on my posts, meaning that I'm probably just talking to myself. Anyway...)

As the title suggests, I had a very busy week. Monday morning was back to school and meant catching up on the missed tests after the handball tournament. We started Monday morning with 4 hours of French. This one was about poetry, and the question was "'Does a poet have to engage in his time and lead men to combat?' Answer the question in using poems you read in class, the poems provided(since first there were 5 poems to read and a quick question to answer) and poems you know. Also, be sure to explain your notion of the role of a poet during the essay." It was especially complicated for a few reasons. Firstly, I understood basically nothing in the poems, so using them was going to be difficult. Secondly, we hadn't studied any poetry yet this year except one little poem. And finally, I don't really like poetry much so I didn't have much background to use. But, in the end, I think my essay turned out pretty well. I know I've talked about it before, but the french format for a persuasive essay is Thesis(so yes) Antithesis(but no) and then Synthesis(the answer which combines yes and no.) So, I first said that poems could be an effective way to lead people to combat(using poems about starting a revolution, poems about reacting to genocide, and poems about the environment.) I followed with that not all poems are written to make us go to combat(haikus, Shakespearean sonnets, and other examples.) And at the end, I said that although not all poems are supposed to lead us to combat, they are supposed to make us think; the role of the poet is to make us think.

Anyway, Monday afternoon, I made up my 3 hour english test. Except, I finished in 2 hours, and since my teacher is nice, she let me go early. It was so nice to be able to crank out 500 words in about 10 minutes without any effort during the English test after working so hard for each sentence that morning with my french test.

To stretch my legs out after the whole day of sitting in a chair writing, I decided to go for a walk. There is a fair in town right now, so I strolled around to check it out. The fair is set up in two giant parking lots right in the middle of town. The lots seem so much bigger with all of the rides crammed into the space. It is just concession stands and rides, and apparently the fair just travels from town to town all year long. I guess it comes to Valenciennes about 2 or 3 times per year. The rides are your typical fair rides, thinks like bumper cars and lots of things that spin you around in lots of circles. The concession stands sell lots of fun and fatty things, lots of candy and churros and waffles and crepes.    

The traveling arcade that is part of the fair.

A form of merry go round. If you are wondering what the hanging minnie mouse is for, it is because they attach a pompom to it. Then, as the kids go round, the operator pulls up and down on the rope and the kids try to grab the pompom. Whoever gets it gets a free ride.

The giant chocolate stuffed donut that I got from the concession stand. It was a giant, plain donut, which the guy cut in half, filled with chocolate, and then microwaved. It was super yummy.

So, Tuesday I skipped school. I went to Lille to take a French test. It is an international test and if I pass, I will get a diploma that is valid for life that certifies that I have a certain level of competence in French. For example, if you have a C1, you can go to a French University without taking any language tests. And it is good to be able to put the test on a résumé if you are applying for a job with international relations.  I took the B2 level test, and I thought it was a bit too easy, and I should have taken a higher level. But, at least this way I feel like I am assured of passing, and after I continue taking French in college, I can think about taking the higher level. I will find out whether I passed at the end of the month. The test was similar to what I took as the AP test. We started with listening to a 3 minute recording twice, and then had a few minutes to answer some questions. Then we listened to a 2 minute recording once and answered other questions. Next was the reading comprehension, reading two texts and answering questions(multiple choice and free response.) And finally, we were supposed to write a 250 word persuasive essay about whether homeschooling was a good idea. I don't see how you can write a solid, organized essay in 250 words. I had finished my intro and one body paragraph with my 250 words, and ended up at about 600 words to get it all in. I hope they don't take off points for that. Wednesday, I had to come back to Lille to take the oral part of the test. I chose between two documents, had 30 minutes to prepare, then did a 10 minute presentation to a jury, then 10 minutes of question/response. I think it all went well, and I'm not that worried. Going to Lille those days, I felt so cool traveling independently. I was able to walk to the station myself, buy my own ticket, ride the train, catch the metro, and then walk to the university where the exam took place. It was nice to be autonomous.

Thursday was a day off, Ascension Day. To benefit from the holiday, my host family took us to Bruxelles.

 In the afternoon, we went for a walk in downtown Bruxelles. We strolled around the main square, up and down some of the pedestrian streets, and just did a big circle. Almost all of the stores were closed, but still did some window shopping. We also went to the galleries, which was fun because they are so unique with the ambiance of being outside but there being a roof. I particularly enjoyed the terraces of the cafes that were actually inside the gallery.

Wandering around the pedestrian streets, we saw typical Belgian cafes. Here, an accordion player was trying to earn a few euros by playing for these coffee drinking men.

This is the main city hall of Bruxelles.

The main square is 4 huge buildings that form a rectangular place in the middle.

The "outdoor cafes" inside the galleries.

We also went to see the famous statue of the little boy going pee pee. Apparently he is usually naked, but they dressed him up for the holiday. There was a huge crowd of people posing and taking pictures of this symbol of Bruxelles.

The famous statue

The street leading away from the peeing boy was basically chocolate stores and waffle stores.  Honestly, if I thought Brugges was a chocolate store on every corner, downtown Bruxelles was three times worse. Basically, one store out of two sold chocolate. Lots of the others sold waffles just like in the photos I had seen when I did a project on Belgian waffles in Eighth grade. They had all of the toppings lined up, and people walked around the streets desperately trying to eat the waffles without letting the chocolate sauce and the melted whipped cream run all over their hands(let's just say most people didn't succeed.) Although I didn't actually get a waffle, I think they are probably like the other waffles I have eaten in northern France. A lot of the specialties are the same in northern france and belgium. Personally, I have found that I don't like the waffles here because they are much too heavy and dense. I'm used to my mom's amazing light and fluffy waffles, so biting into a waffle here to get a mouthful of half-cooked dough is not super pleasant. Actually, I have seen how the waffle store in the mall of my town makes the waffles. They take a ball of dough, like bread dough, and put it into the waffle iron, rather than pouring in batter. The waffles are really, really dense. So, I'm planning to make waffles for my host family soon to share my family's tradition with them.

The 5 chocolate stores all squished into the corner next to the statue of the peeing boy had a giant chocolate version in the window. This store also had the waffle display in the window, too.

The super crowded chocolate and waffle alley that led from the statue to the main square.

The other sweet specialty of Belgium is speculoos, which are cinnamon flavored crunchy cookies. They are traditionally made in the form of St. Nicolas for the holiday at the beginning of January, but you can find them year round in the grocery store as just rectangular cookies. They are super yummy, and I'm hoping to bring some home with me. 

Today, I took my last of the grouped tests: SVT. It was 3 hours and 30 minutes long, and I ended up spending 45 minutes working on a certain exercise only to discover that it didn't change my answers at all. I was glad when it was over, because now all that is left is my french oral. It will be nice to finally be able to go to class next week without always being in catch-up mode.

Well, that's the update. I have my final handball match tomorrow, and then we are having a pizza party afterwards at our house. It should be cool. It is the first Saturday without "The Voice" in a long time, so it is good that we have something else to fill up our Saturday evening.