Alors, WHY IS THE TIME GOING SO FAST !!!????!!! I never want to leave France and I am already thinking of ways and when I can return to Nantes. I just LOVE it here. (Picutres, only from the second photoshoot, I need to start taking photos...)
Ok, so ready for the weekly update? Oh, and the wonderful thing about this week was the weather!!! It was sunny and in the fifties everyday. It was LOVELY and wonderful and apparently this is NOT normal so we are quite lucky. I took advantage of it by wearing a skirt with leggings on Wednesday, but it wasn’t QUITE that warm.
MONDAY: Let’s see…After classes, Lea and I went shopping (or window shopping for me) and looked at all the fun spring clothes. See, the problem is that I really want to buy all those fun spring clothes, but when I am still wearing leggings UNDER my jeans, it is not quite practical…Then, at 5pm I had my first lesson with these French kids. I am an English prof now, apparently. No, not really, but once a week I am going to spend ½ hour each with a 7 year old girl and then her 10 year old brother teaching them English. They are SO cute and know hardly anything. The little girl, Elisabeth, and I practiced the colors and the numbers up through 12. In exchange, their mom is going to spend one hour each week with me working with me one-on-one with my French. It is a great opportunity! Then, after the English teaching I had my volunteering group again, which is called the Club of Solidarity. This time there were FIFTEEN refugees and 4 volunteers. It was super fun, again, and I got to meet some new and wonderful faces, and hear again new and harrowing stories. Almost all of them are waiting for visas here and have fled from French speaking African for some type of oppression or the other. The people are so refreshing and open and kind and I just cannot imagine their lives. This week after conversation and snacks we worked on teaching technology and talking about cheaper ways to call home (aka Skype) and things like that. Next Sunday we are going all day to a farm near Nantes. A former volunteer invited us all for the day for a big Sunday French luncheon followed by a farm visit and cow milking. I am quite excited. But tomorrow, the next club we have, is a “Shared Meal” so we are all going to cook and eat together!
TUESDAY: Mardi Gras, and I definitely did celebrate. I am the president of my IES group, so I planned a Mardi Gras party for all the students that was to take place after the conversation club with the French speakers that normally takes place 6:30-8 on Tuesdays. Well, it was realy fun, but SOOOOOOOOOO much work for me. I did all the prep work (shopping---100 euros worth of food!, preparing all the food, baking FOUR loaves of banana bread, carting 10 2-Liter gallons of soda to the center on foot and on bus from my house and falling in the street because of the weight of my huge backpacking backpacked filled with soda, finding the music, advertising, setting up, and clean up…). Anyway, about 70 French and American kids came, we had masks too, and it was a huge success. Not a morsel of food was left, but it really drained me and was tiring. I also invited Lea, but by the time she arrived most of the fete was ending and all the food was gone. She helped me clean up (along with the kindness of other students too!) and then we went to her house to watch a film with her parents. Needless to say, I fell asleep in the middle, I was SO tired.
WEDNESDAY: Another day of PHOTOSHOOTING! Unfortunately the lady who owned the hat store didn’t quite like the style of photos that we did on Saturday, thus, alors, we redid the photoshoot, and also got to do some fun stuff just Lea and I too…It was super fun, as I LOVE being photographed!!! Then, I had class, and class, and had dinner with my host family and studied some. (I had a BIG grammar test-midterm-on Friday!)
THURSDAY: I studied a lot of morning for my GRAMMAR MIDTERM and also did other homework because the GREVE (Strike) at the university is STILL continuing thus I didn’t have my tennis or my Thrusday university class. And, to substitute for our lack of work at the university, our IES teachers are truly piling on the work load. Then we had a meeting about the strike situation (our university teachers are going to email us homework…) and celebrated the February birthdays. Then I had phonetiques and then I went to AGAPE, the youth group. This time I went WITH the other girls so I found it ok and oh my goodness, it was amazing. I didn’t realize how much I missed REAL Christian fellowship and I found it here and I can’t wait to return every week. There are people from all parts of the world, but all worshipping (in French) together. It is pretty powerful to sing and pray all together, in French. It just shows the universality of God’s great power. We had to leave early though to STUDY GRAMMAR because of our Friday midterm.
FRIDAY: Midterm in the morning. It is over now though! Then, since it was 55 degrees and sunny I took advantage and went running along the river!!! I did a lot of homework so I can be FREE on Sunday for Lea’s day off and not do homework. Then, I went to the COIFFUER of Lea (haircutter). Ok, it was really relaxing and about 1.5 hours because there is a chair that you sit in massages you while you have your conditioner in and they do a wonderful head massage and the studio is really nice, BUT, I asked for a change. I really wanted a “French do” and have bangs that go across my face and layers, well, she basically JUST thinned my hair. That is all. I didn’t have the nerve to say anything, but Lea came over later tonight and she is going to take me back because you really can’t tell that anything changed…Then, I had herring potato salad for dinner with my host family (very DIFFERENT) and then my IES friends Ana and Madelyn came over and we talked in French for about two hours. We were going to watch Juno, and did eventually when Lea arrived around 10pm, but it was really fun to just talk together in French and be able to understand each other completely in a different language, and to feel like I have real friends here.
SATURDAY: Today was GORGEOUS. I am talking 60 degrees and sunny gorgeous! I went for a nice long run along the river again and ran into four other IES kids (separately) running. It was the day to take advantage of. Then, I went to the market alone and bought fresh fruit and dried fruit too! Then, all afternoon Andrea (another IES girl) and I sat in the Place Royale (the central square of the city) by the fountain and studied and talked all afternoon! It was fabulous and WARM! Then, I went up with Lea after her work and we walked all around the evening, then got drinks at a café and then went to my favorite creperie for a fabulous and delicious dinner!!! Then, we saw the a French film at the cinema at 10:30. And 1am, it was a night!
SUNDAY: A day for relaxing. After a long night’s sleep I passed a luxurious afternoon at Lea’s couch. Actually, on her couch. She helped me with my French homework, opened my world to French music (which she gave me via memory stuck) and we watched a really good French movie that was kind of like highschool musical—a movie musical about romance! I have a phonedate with my parents tonight! Can’t wait!
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