marCH...marching on...

March…

Monday : After school I met up with Lea at this cafe where her photography is being shown for a drink ! Then, Monday was awesome. It was a “repas partage” at my volunteer group. All of us made a meal together and then got to eat together. It was this really yummy stir fry over rice with salad. I brought a fruit salad and my banana bread to share…both were eagerly welcomed. There were again about 15 refugees and about 7 volunteers and I ended up staying until about 9:30pm. My new friend Adele (who is the woman who I met the first time who fled the Republic of Congo in the middle of the day and still doesn’t know where her kids are) and I got to talk more. After dinner I walked to Lea’s house and we did homework together (and I helped her with her English homework).

Tuesday: My favorite Middle East class twice, more class, more class, then conversation club. After conversation club I went again to my favorite creperie with Audrey, one of my French friends who I met at conversation club, and we shared a lovely dinner!

Wednesday: Class, study, class, class, home for dinner and then FOUR HOURS OF READING THE LOVELY world of Harry Potter!!!

Thursday: No tennis today because the strike continues and they had a meeting this morning for the strike and it was in the tennis courts so no tennis. But, I did have my French conversation with the lady whose kids I teach English to. We talked in French for an hour over a cup of tea! Then, after class, I went again to the Christian youth group, AGAPE (which I figured out is part of the same thing as Campus Crusades for Christ). It was wonderful, again, to be in Christian fellowship, sing in French, pray in French, and listen to testimonies in French. When I got home late on Thursday night I snuggled into my bed and finished the third Harry Potter (in French)…I am onto #4! Thursday was a hard day because it was Karina’s 21st bday back in the States and I wanted to be there SO badly with her.

Friday: Friday too was a day of homesickness because it was Mama’s birthday back in the states, and again, I just wanted to be there celebrating with her! But, after getting our grammar midterms back in the morning and doing better than I expected, I went on to an all afternoon photo shoot with Lea! The life of a model is tiring I learned, and as much fun as it is with Lea, I learned that I really don’t think that I will drop out of school anytime soon to work on my modeling career. But, it was fun for the afternoon (and lots of changing!). After my tiring afternoon (hahaha!) Lea and I kicked off a wonderful, tiring, and fun soiree! We shared a delicious meal of tofu ravioli lasagna, salad, and French bread with her parents that her wonderful mother, Catherine, prepared. We had delicious food and even better conversation. Her dad even had the idea that we should all go to Spain together so we are going to take a weekend trip to the north of Spain the last weekend in April. Oh, and we cannot forget to include the apple crumble that her mom made. The funny thing is that they don’t call it crumble, but they call it a miette, which is literally the French word for “crumble”-the morsel of food. After dinner, Lea and I kicked off our evening at LU-Lieu Unique where we had drinks with her brother’s girlfriend and all of her friends because she was visiting from Montreal. They were all super nice. After a couple of hours there, we went to the apartment of another one of her friend’s for a little pre-party before we went to the Club O at the Hanger Banane which is the place to “sortir”-go out. We had to be dressed appropriately because it was this really chic night club. I wear boots, black leggings, a black dress and pearls! I was let in…It was a French experience and I was there until about 2am and took a taxi home (which was 20 euros…and will never do again!) It was definitely an experience!

SATURDAY: After another morning at the Saturday market, I had a delightful almost 4 hour afternoon in the suburbs of Nantes. Friends of the French professor at Whitman live in Nantes and invited us four Whitman girls who are studying here to their house for a terrific afternoon of apple pound cake and endless cups of coffee. We talked education, world politics, the economic crisis, their visits to the U.S., life in France, everything. It was so fun to be able to visit with such a nice, welcoming couple. They told us if our parents want to come visit they have an extra bedroom and are welcome to stay. They were great (because I didn’t return home until 6pm!). Then, Saturday night Lea and I went to the cinema! We saw MILK and it was FABULOUS, and in version original. Then, Lea and I ate dinner at her house just us too, and began a French film, but fell asleep…

SUNDAY: Well, this was supposed to be the day of the farm visit with my volunteer group, but I am testing my flexibility muscle big time. I got an email on Saturday night that it was cancelled. I was SUPER disappointed because I was really excited for it, but I am learning to be flexible, and to relax, thus I took the free day to sleep, lie in bed and do nothing, read Harry Potter, run along the river, and then I went to Lea’s house where we sat side by side on her couch, drinking tea and eating biscuits and doing homework/facebook!