A long drive, a good ski and a bonne soiree

So here I am. In the snow. Middle of December. In France. In the Alpes.
I still can't quite believe it myself.

Saturday:
Alarm set for 7am. Departure at 9. Lunch at 2. Arrived at 7. Slept a little in the car. Listened to my ipod. Looked out the window. Stopped at France's best Nougat place. Took us 30mins to put on the chains and 5mins to drive up the hill that needed them. Left the chain box behind. Not much else to tell.

Sunday:
First day of skiing! Woke up at 8ish I think...took our time eating breaky. Went to hire skis. Were on the slopes at 11. Weather was beautiful! Though very VERY cold. Sunday morning it was -25 DEGREES! CAN YOU BELIVE IT! I couldn't. I would have bet my life that the lady who told us was joking. BUT LUCKY I DIDN'T CAUSE SHE WAS DEAD SERIOUS! We had a picnic lunch on the top of a mountain. Then we went into a bar to get a hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. After that we continued to ski till 4.30. We did much of the same runs because not many are open, Valmorel is lacking snow in the best parts. But I didn't mind. How can I complain when I'm skiing in the French Alpes? Oh and I saw Mont. Blanc.

Monday:
Another day of skiing. Left the house late again because we slept in. Although no need to rush out early when it's that cold :P There weren't any more runs open today than yesterday, but because we were getting bored, we decided to be rebels and go down the CLOSED RUNS. Was so much fun :D I love cutting through fresh snow and making my own tracks. Took some risks today, hence my 5 falls. We all body parts still intact. (But it is only Monday). Picnic for lunch again, but it wasn't so cold/we had more clothes on. Still got a hot choc all the same :P Practiced pronouncing my Rs in the bar.
Tonight we went to a restaurant with Annick and Jean-Paul, the family's Aunty & Uncle / Sister & Brother in law, who own the apartement we are staying in. But they have two, so they are staying in the other one :P Went to a nice cosy little place. Had a fondue for main meal (bowl of 3 cheeses melted together, then you get potatos and bread to dip into it) and a coupe marmite (a whole lot of yumminess in a bowl - possible meringue, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, ice cream...).
When we had finished the girls and I went outside to take some photos in the snow. Three Belsh boys who had drunk a little too much came to crash the photos. Invited us to a bar. I played my 'Sorry don't speak French' card. The most sober then said 'Oh ok, we speak Dutch but English as well.' Then I had to politely decline and admit we were here with parents. He took it well and stumbled off with a wave. The whole way home we had a snow fight. When we got into the apartement I wasn't sure if I was cold from the snow inside my clothes or hot from all the running and ducking.

That's it for now. Will update soon.

Spinning

I love it here.

I never want to leave.

I wanna stay forever.

I wanna go home.

I miss my family.

I miss my friends.

I miss my room.

I miss my junk.

I miss Summer.

I'm excited for Christmas.

I'm excited to ski.

I'm excited for last week of school.

I'm excited for the flights back home.

I'm excited to be back in my own bed.

I'm excited to start my new school.

I'm excited to wear a uniform and do homework again.

I'm excited for a longer sleep in on weekdays and earlier finish in the afternoons.

I'm dreading packing my bags.

I'm dreading putting on my bikini when I'm back in Summertime.

I'm gonna miss Wednesdays.

I'm gonna miss the food.

I'm gonna miss the language.

I'm gonna miss the landscape.

I'm gonna miss my host family.

I'm gonna miss my double bed.

I wanna buy everything.

I wanna be rich.

I wanna see more France.

I wanna see the world.

I wanna quit school and be a tourist.

I wanna learn French fluently NOW.

I wanna talk to my mum.

I wanna hug my dad.

I wanna giggle with my brother.

I wanna play with my dog.

I wanna swim in my pool.

I wanna sleep in.

I wanna get up and go!

I want a summer holiday.

I feel so young and free.

I feel so old and behind.

I'm anxious.

I'm nervous.

I'm frustrated.

I'm tired.

I'm lazy.

I'm happy.

I'm grateful.

I'm living.

So much time and so little to do.

So little time and so much to do.

My eyes are heavy.

I can't fall asleep.

I wanna laugh.

I wanna cry.

I wanna smile.

I'm running out of time.

I'm up late.

I'm gonna be tired tomorrow.

I better go to sleep.

I'm saying goodnight.

Sunday in St. Pee

The Bajoits are awesome.

This weekend I spent a day and night chez la famille Bajoit. It was suuu-perrrrr!
So where to begin....?

Saturday afternoon bowling with the girls for Sophie. Sophie is one of the girls at school who has the best of both worlds. She lives in France for the most part of the school year, except in December and January when it's too cold so she goes back to her other home in America and is home schooled there until the weather warms up where she comes back to France to finish the school year. Then she spends summer in the USA and it starts all over again. What a life huh?

So Sophie is leaving on Sunday for America for 3 months, so the girls decided to organise a game at bowling for everyone to hang out with Sophie for the last time. There were 13 of us in total, so we played with 6 and 7. We all sucked. The best of us was Carly who got just over 100 in the end. I came in about 3rd with 80-something. Some girls had 12, 8, 4. Mon Dieu! It was hilarious. They were asking us 'Have you ever bowled before? How do you do it? Like this? [palm facing the lane and smooth under-arm motion] Or like this? [back hand facing the lane and a flick of the wrist motion]' Oh la la! But it was quite fun and after we all went and got an ice cream at "Magdoes" (Maccas).

Afterwards I went home with Carly and Marie for a sleepover :) Fun Fun Fun. I had been to the house before but had never seen past the front entrance. As we pulled into the driveway and stared in awe at the property before me. I had never seen it in daylight. It. Was. Huge. And I couldn't even see all of it cause the house [mansion] was in the way! I got the full tour of the house once we got inside. Each of the 5 kids has their own bedroom. Plus bathroom. There are...5ish living areas. All large rooms. Carly practically has her own apartment downstairs with her bedroom. And they just installed a 'home cinema'. So cool.

So...that night we hung a bit with the kids. Gaultier, the youngest at 5 years old, is ADORABLE! I spend ages playing with him, just wanted to wrap him up and take him home! He did his Micheal Jackson impersonation for me :) Brigette showed us the gigantic jar of Nutella she bought! I had never seen anything like it in my life! It was HUGE! And heavy! And even more surprising...it was totally real and edible! It would have had to have been larger than my head... See for yourself:

We ate dinner (mmmm chicken wings! T'was funny actually, just the day before Mum had asked me what food I miss and I said chicken wings! L'hasard! And then...we spent the night on Skype talking to Carly's parents (Hi Natasha if you're reading this!) who gave us a lovely tour of their home in California :) Also met some of Carly's friends via Skype. Had to demonstrate my 'funny Australian accent' a couple of times :P We stayed up till about 2am and then crashed. That was better than the previous week at my house, which was 5.30am.

The next day we got up, had breakfast, watched Star Wars on the big screen. I had a bit of a snooze, leaning against Carly's knees as I must admit, Star Wars isn't really my cup of tea, especially in French. Then I heard one of the girls whisper 'Regarde Maddy! Elle dort!' and I opened my eyes and said 'Aha! No I'm not!'. That really didn't add much to my story so I'll move on...

So we had lunch. The meat we ate would have to have been to BEST I have tasted DANS MA VIE! And we tried this interesting Belsh vegetable, (Belsh? Is that what we call someone from Belgium?) which was good also. AND THEN! For desert they brought out this huge ceramic bowl full of what looked like custard until they said 'take a spoonful and taste!'. Oh and when I did it was like heaven in a mouthful...it was sort of like pancake mix. But better. It was the mix for some kind of waffle thing...and it was SO SO GOOD. It was thick and sweet and YUMMY. Probably added an extra kilo to my thighs just in one swallow but it was worth it :)

Then Carly and I went for a walk with Brigette, Carly's host mum. The views were amazing of course. Very relaxing and refreshing :) Brigette told us some things about France and her life etc. And we came across a heard of sheep!

That afternoon we went to Beatrice's house for tea with Min, the new Australian and her host mother. It was very nice. We spoke in French and English equally and talked about the experience of coming to France blah blah blah. It's interesting seeing Min, and how little she can speak French in comparison to us. It's hard to believe that was us not too long ago and it is an eye-opener to how far we've come. Although it sounds awful to say this like we're satisfied by her suffering, it is rewarding when something shows us how much progress we have made in French because otherwise, we only ever think of what we can't say, and not what we can.

So overall the weekend was great :)

Until next post...

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partidge in a pear tree."

So it's the first of December and we've just spotted snow right at the top of the Pyrenees in the distance from our backyard. I can't belive I'm really going to have a white Christmas! It has been snowing much in the Alpes, but hopefully this will change in the next 3 weeks because we want lots of snow for when we go skiing! Fingers crossed.

So December means I'm officially into my 4th month here in France. It's quite cold. Things are getting busy preparing for Christmas. On Sunday we put up the Christmas decorations. I liked the family warm feeling of setting up the tree and putting on the decorations. And when I say warm, normally I would mean literally, but in this case, definitely not. It was a bit strange doing this routine in Slippers and a Jumper, but still nice all the same.

Christmas means lots of fun and food but also means family, so putting up the tree was a little saddening, however eating my first chocolate from my advent calendar did remind mean that when all of those little flaps are open, I will have less than a month till I am back at home again with the people I love the most.

In saying that, I also know it will be very hard to leave here because I have grown to love this family too. Monique is so motherly and loving. And although she will never take the place of my own mother, whom I love dearly (LOVE YOU MUM!), she does a pretty good job as a temporary replacement and I know this because she even does embarrassing things sometimes and I cringe along with the girls like any child does with their parents. She loves to show me things and take me places and we both share a keen interest in dancing, so we always look to each other when good music starts playing. Didier has become a very close friend, but in a fatherly way. We can spend hours just talking and I am totally comfortable telling him my thoughts and feelings (as best I can in French!) and he is patient when I can't quite get my words out. I feel very attatched to him espcially when he talks about me like I really am his 3rd daughter, and when he gives me advice and encouragement. Sometimes I just wanna give him a huge hug for no reason!

So at the moment I am missing me family, and my friends and am a little disappointed to think I want be spending Christmas and New Year and all the Summer holidays with them. But there are lots of exciting things ahead and the time is flying by so quickly now I know I need to cram in as much as possible before I'm on that plane once again! Won't be long now...

The Ups and Downs of living in Souraide

I love it here. I truly do. But that's not to say that every minute has been perfect. On the contrary, far from it. And when I say Ups and Downs, I mean literally - with the hills - and figuratively, like this:

UPS
My small village is charming, comforting and complaisant. The air smells like cow's waste but still tastes fresh in my mouth. It's quiet, calm, tranquil. But best of all, the views. The sight from my backyard still puts me into a state of awe.

DOWNS
Each narrow, winding road looks the same and seems to lead only deeper into the hills and not in the direction you want it to, i.e. back home.

Tips when walking in the hills:

• Wear decent running shoes, even when walking. Blisters are truly the most painful thing in the world.


• Look out for cow poop and pot holes on the roads.


• Don't do anything silly and embarrassing while walking cause even if the street is dead quiet, a car could come speeding round the corner any second and catch you in the act.


• Do not rely on remembering and recognising street names, they all look the same, especially in Basque; lots of As, Is and Gs.


• When you think you'll recognise where you are just at the top of the hill, remember how many tops-of-the-hills there are in Souraide. Also pay attention to how far away the top of the hill is, therefore removing the 'just' from the previous sentence.


• Leave with a watch, and fully charged ipod and phone.


• Take bread crumbs, or remember where you came from.


• Estimate the time you will be out for, then leave double that amount free afterwards, in the case of you walking for one hour thinking you'll soon arrive at a connecting road that heads back home, because it's possible you will have just been walking further and further away and end up walking back exactly the way you came, only slower due to tired legs, blistery feet, and the wind against you.


• When you find yourself lost, take comfort in the fact that you needn't worry about rapists and murders in a small village like Souraide.

A Wednesday Afternoon Adventure

Today Carly and I went to the gym. It was quite an adventure.
Being a typical Wednesday, we finished school at 12.15 and ate at the cafeteria after our last class. French fries as usual :) Mmmmm. So as part of our new get-into-shape regime, we were off to the gym for an afternoon workout. The plan was to catch a different bus than normal to Bayonne (Villa Pia if you want to be specific) and walk to the Gym. The bus left St. Jean de Luz (school) at 2.00pm and was due to stop at the Villa Pia at 2.40. Estimating the time to walk from the bus stop to the gym, we thought we'd be there around 3 to start exercising. We were wrong.
The first problem that arose was getting onto the bus. We had been waiting at the bus stop for about half an hour and were so deep in conversation, we didn't think to check we were all set to get on the bus. I had 2 euros and a 50 euro note. Carly had nothing. We had spent all our other change on lunch. We realised 2 euros wasn't enough for the both of us, and the bus driver couldn't change a 50. We didn't think our bus card would work either because we were going on a different line. Of course at first I thought 'somehow we'll get on'. Then it actually hit me that if the bus driver says no, we're either going to end up paying 50 euro for a bus trip or waiting another hour and a half for the next bus while we buy something and break the change! 'What'll we do?' we said, both freaking out in the que as everyone else got on the bus. 'We'll just explain the situation and hope he's nice. Or we'll play the dumb Innocent foreigners act. That should work.' So I stepped onto the bus first and not knowing what to say exactly..I just tried to buzz my card, buying myself some time to think of an excuse and start the plea to let us on. To my surprise, I heard the short, sharp beep of the machine and looked down to see the screen read BON VOYAGE. What? It worked. Sweet! That was lucky. We both got onto the bus, settled down comfortably in our seats and continued our previous conversation.
We were on our way and all was going well. I was checking the signs every minute, paranoid we would miss our stop. After watching the first 3 pass by, I said to myself 'Maddy just relax. You've got 40mins, you can start paying attention later.' So Carly continued her story and I continued to listen. We were laughing and joking and the time flew by. The next thing I knew, I was looking at my watch thinking 'oh we should be there soon, we're running a bit late.' I watched and waited to see what the next stop was, expecting ours to be soon. We drove and drove. I was starting to think we'd missed it, then thought 'no don't worry we're probably just running late.' Villa Pia was 3 stops from the last, Place des Basques. Finally we stopped again. We looked out the window and to our horror, the bus stop sign read PLACE DES BASQUES.
Shit crappidy shit. We missed our stop! How could we have? We were watching, watching, watching, (talking, talking, talking..). So we were at the end of the route, we had to get off. On the way out, I asked the bus driver how to get back to Villa Pia. He told us to wait here and get back on the bus at 3.30 to go back in the other direction. Luckily it was already 3 and Villa Pia was only 3 stops back. So we waited at Place des Basques for half an hour, half a bit frazzled in the worry of being lost, half amused by the fact that typical us missed our stop cause we were talking.
The time was going slow and at 3.20 when the bus driver was still having his smoking break we decided since I still had my 2 euros and there were shops just across the street, we'd go buy a snack. 'Maddy we better not miss this bus again or we'll really be screwed' Carly said. My reply was 'Don't worry, we've still got 10mins and its just across the street, and we'll see if it starts moving. We can run fast. Besides, the bus driver knows we want to get back on.' So we went to the tabac and bought ourselves a kitkat each. As we stepped out of the store we saw the break lights flashing on the bus. Evidently, our immediate reaction was RUN!!!!!!!!!! So run we did. We sprinted down the street, almost waving our arms frantically in fear of our lift back to Villa Pia would leave without us. Who knows how long we'd have to wait then.
Luckily, people hadn't even started to board. We were safe. 'That was close, I woulda killed you if we missed this bus over a kitkat Maddy.' Thanks Carly, I woulda bloody killed myself! We got back on the bus and almost didn't say a word, our eyes glued to the screen. The bus timetable said Place des Basques, St Leon, Lachepaillet, Villa Pia. We watched them pass by, some random ones in between also. As we approached Lachepaillet we searched for the button to push to notify the driver we wanted to descend the next stop. First we couldn't find it, and I was thinking we're gonna have to just yell STOP! Then when we did, we fought for a minute over who should press it. Finally I gave in and pressed it (had to reach over her head cause she was, in fact, closer but whatever Carly) and we both sat and waited for the bus to stop. When I saw the next bus stop in the distance, we started shuffling our things making it obvious we wanted to get off.
The bus didn't stop. We watched the VILLA PIA bus stop pass by us and turned to each other, mouths open in shock and worry. Why the hell didn't her stop? We pressed the button and everything! After passing the next stop after that and a 10 second freakout I pulled my head together and thought 'we gotta say something or we'll end up stranded in some random suburb. So I said 'Excusez-moi Monsieur, mais on a passe Villa Pia?'. 'Oui.' 'Uhh...pourquoi?'. He then told me how he doesn't stop at Villa Pia because normally no one gets on or off there. His next stop was La Glaciere, at the end of the next city and 6 more stops away.
Oh shit. We can't walk from there. We'll have to call someone to get us. We are literally lost now. We won't be able to get to the gym. We're going to have to admit that we missed our stop because we were talking, then missed it again the second time cause IT DIDN'T STOP and we'll have to disturb Didier and pull him away from work. Ahhh damn.
Luckily, the bus driver saw how frantic we were and pulled over at the next stop (even though he was supposed to). We thanked him profusely and got off the bus. 'Alright, so we're two stops away from where we should be, and it's still on this main road, so we can just walk back and then follow the map from there like we should have AN HOUR AGO. ' We began already long walk, which was now made longer, to the gym. At first I wasn't sure if we were even on the right side of the road, going in the right direction, after being thrown off by coming back from the other direction. Although at that point, I really didn't care if we were taking more time and going in the wrong direction. We had a phone if we really couldn't find our way and it was better being on solid ground and in control rather than stuck on a bus going far far away.
The walk was not exactly scenic but easier enough and we found once we relaxed and started to see the humour in the whole situation, we got there in no time. 4.00pm to be exact. An hour later than expected but we were then and in one piece, it was good enough for me! I felt like I had been around the world and I was exhausted from the walking and stressing so my French was all a bit mumble jumble when we signed in but we managed! And finally we were in and on the treadmill ready to shed some pounds. PHE-EW.

La Premiere Fois

It is la premiere fois I'm writing in my brand new, very own blog. Before I intiate the blabbing that will be my blog from now on, I'm sure you're trying to figure out the meaning of la premiere fois. It's not too difficult if you think about it, and not a problem at all if you speak French like I am trying to. But if you are an anglophone and and anglophone only, you will not know the translation of la premiere fois. I'm sure it's safe to say that we all know the meaning of the word 'la' don't we? If you don't I am truly embarassed for you. Premier is also a bit of a giveaway I think... But fois. Can you guess? Are you searching around in your brain, trying to scratch up every last bit of French you have ever heard in your life, and attempting to pull some significance from it? You may have recovered the phrase 'foie gras', the ever so applauded and elegant delicacy of the French. However I am sorry to say that this has no relevance to the phrase la premiere fois.
La Premiere Fois is, in fact, 'the first time' in the beautiful and extruciately frustrating and complex language, French. And so here I write in my blog for the first time. For those who can stand my rambling and will continue to read after this first post, be prepared for more French words and phrases. Why will I do this? Well there are several reasons. #1. French words sound pretty. Well, most do. #2. To make these large paragraphs of nothingness seem a little more interesting. #3. I'd like to teach you some new words and share with you the pleasure I have each time I learn a new word. ... Alright let's be honest? I really just want to show off how I can use French, and most people I know will not understand what I'm saying. But who knows, after reading my posts maybe you'll become as good at French as I am?
Assuming anybody reading this already knows my present situation, there should be no need for me to explain that I am currently on a 5 month exchange program in France. But in case you didn't, now you know. Therefore my posts will include, but are not limited to, short recounts and stories of the good times (and possibly the bad and the ugly too) I'm having in France. The following Monday being the 23rd will mean I have exactly 2 months left here in this amazing country. I had never thought of creating a blog until now, after seeing my friend's blog, so 3 months of my time in France will not be included in this blog. However what is to come will be, so for those of you who can bare it, continue reading and enjoy.