march

Hey all.

I thought I should write some, give some updates about these last 2 weeks. Time seems to fly by faster now without doing much.
- not in Terminale, still in my première class. I went for the first day and everything, got a call at lunch from the vice principal saying that I didn't have the right to stay in T. The class is too big. I didn't really catch all of it, but oh well. I can still go to soccer this way. We saw a cool version of Alice in Wonderland last week with our class, at the national theatre in Toulouse. Hard to describe in words, but it was esentially a white box and then the whole time there were projections from all around, to create the scenery. And only one actor: Alice. It was awesome. Last week was also cinéma week, so 3 mornings we went to the movie theatre right by the school and saw Danton (French/Polish) , Land and Freedom (English), and April Captains (a Portugese film). The theme was revolution. The second two were very good. Watch them if you can. Then in french and history class we discussed the history behind te films and it was all very interesting. I liked it. Land and Freedom was the same time as Pan's Labrynth, and it was cool to see a movie from the otherside's point of view.
- Last weekend was the distict conference in Perpignan. Fun exchange student times. Woot. We spent all day listening to Rotariens give speechs about how great Rotary is etc. This district is the largest in France, yet we only have 11 ex. students. Then we had to hold our flag and say our name, age, where we came from, and who out host club was. I made the US go last, and Sarah held the flag. I only mildly tripped while walking up on stage. The whole day was all professional etc. and the lunch was delic. I have a lot of work to do in being assertive, so my sister and I didn't get to stay alone on Sat. night. I didn't quite understand why, but I'm also so freaking passive that I didn't really ask why. So Natalie and I stayed with my counselor at a rotaract member's apartment Sat. night, and tagged along with them to a restaurant and to a club. I don't think very many ex. students can say that they went out with their counselor. I guess I'm special because she's young and I'm over 18. I'm so glad I am, Rotary rules are so strict for minors, it's so nice to go out and do things, less Rotary rules. I realize that she kind of exaggerates everything, she said that they were all really excited that we were coming out with them. Ummm, nooone talked to us besides a girl that lived in the US last year. She was friendly. At the club, noone was talking to one of the members, so I just asked him what he did for a living, to start conversation....it sounded like noone had really chatted with him in a while, he went on and on, pretty interesting guy though. Romanian and business owner at 26, just got French nationality because of his high income, something like that. But it was alright, Natalie and I discussed french cultury things, why noone talked to us. There was a English guy, he was nice. I guess we were a little unit.
- French doesn't seem like a foreign language anymore, but now sometimes I realize that I can just ignore it, like it's just noise. And I think I know why. My host family's favorite pastime in arguing, every night, well every day, all the time. Just about silly things, how much the phone rings and who's gonna do what chore's etc, but it's a lot of yelling, so now I can just ignore it. I relaized this tonight at soccer because people were actually talking to me but I didn't hear them, although they were right next to me. I guess I don't try to understand and translate everything I hear anymore. Practice today was alright. I got to play some center mid so that was fun. But I got kicked in the nose and rolled my ankle too. But when I arrived at the stadium on my bike it wasn't completely dark like usual, so that made me excited for spring and changes. Also the trees around the fields had little leaves on them! The place actually really changes when it's not dark.
-Sister is here! Yay! She came last week and is in Switzerland now, and then on Thursday we are gonna meet in Montpellier and take a little trip to Marseille together. Last week we visited tons of museums and walked around Toulouse a lot. We had dinner with my counselor one night and my first host parents another night. That was fun. I'm so glad she's here, nice break from everydayness.
The rest of the year has many things planned, mostly end of April and like all of May. I basically won't be at school in May. Then June not so much planned, and then leaving July 8. Let's not think about it.
Chloé and I made chocolate cake, it was good. I also made it through a tough text messaging inquiry with her. Things sound so much meaner in French! She switched to English at the end and she sounded so much nicer! She accused me of something that wasn't really my fault. But things are good now. Still friends. She's just the kind of person that doesn't hide her feelings or what she thinks about you at all. Unlike me. I never would have asked my host sister about something like this. Maybe I should work on that for future scenarios in life.

here are some pics. Sarah's a genious and forgot to wear her blazer for the weekend. I'm proud of mine! It's all full and pretty. Tons of stuff on it! The flag patch is good too, there were some other Americans there doing the Group Study Exchange program, it's part of Rotary. They were from Houston and their leader saw my patch and came over to say hi. Wow. Only speaking to Sarah and Liza this year had made my ears only open to our accents. This guy's Texas accent was so thick I could barely understand him. But he was super nice. When he had to speak French it sounded real funny. But the effort is all that counts. So bravo.