mardi 25 mars 2008

Super Fou!

Saturday: Louis-Henri came back into town to see the family for Easter! He’s my new French buddy! We all had lunch together and then I went to the gym.

I hope you sitting down mom when you read this! When I got to the gym it was leg day so I went to work out my calve muscles. I found two weights and an aerobic step so that I could hold the weights and stand on the edge of the step to do calve raises. When I went to step up on the step it wasn’t as sturdy as I thought it would be. Needless to say, it went flying under me (breaking in the process) and I fell flat on my face letting the weights hit the ground with MUCH force and noise! I felt like an idiot! My new friend from the day before was there to enjoy this little escapade. As soon as I bit the dust, the lady from the front desk ran to the stairs to say “IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT UP THERE?!?!” I wanted to hide under a rock! I even told everyone in the gym that I wanted to hide under a rock! I was SO embarrassed! Imagine falling on your face and then having to explain, in a foreign, to the lady at the front desk why you broke the aerobic step! She was very nice! She told me that she was more concerned that I was alright! God bless her! Her name is Véronique. She is very kind!

After my nice little adventure I went home for dinner and then out with Rachel and Lyse! YAY! We went to a café and then to another café and then tried to go to a Reggae concert. The concert had been moved to a place far away from Centre Ville, so we went to a night club instead. It was hot and loud, but we ordered some Coca-Cola™ and danced a bit. It was fun. Lyse was very nice. After our soirée we all walked Rachel home and then I walked Lyse home. She lives nearby, so it wasn’t that long for me to have to walk.

Sunday: GREAT DAY! This was one of the greatest Easters ever! I went to church with Rachel and Linden and then to church with Yves-Marie, Yves, and Louis-Henri. When we got home there were a bunch of family members waiting in the living room! It was SO exciting! We all had lunch together and chatted! That night I went to the movies with all of the cousins. One of the cousins, Arthur, was very enthralled with the fact that I am American. He asked me if we really had ceiling fans like in the movies. When I said yes, I thought he was going to faint! It was hilarious!

Monday: Sorry, I have to write quickly because the café is closing! I spent all day talking with Louis-Henri and watching movies! This April when I have some free time I’m going to go visit him in Bordeaux! If I will devote a future post entirely to Louis-Henri, but now I have to hurry! Good-bye for now!

C'est Fou Aussi!

Ironic! It’s the same word in French (except that in French it is spelled with a “que” and not “c”). I say ironic because what you are reading is in english, but you know that I don’t want to speak nor write in english. That’s why you don’t receive these posts when they happen. Each night when I go home I recount my stories in French and then go to the Lounge Café later on to translate them. Crazy? Not really. I want to practice my French writing and I can practice my translating skills at the same time. It works very well that way!

Thursday: Carnaval! Religious holiday? Maybe in your county, but in France that is hardly the case! I started my day with my literature class and then I went home to take a nap. After the nap I went to the university for my civilization course that was supposed to start at 16h00; however, when I arrived there was only my friends Amanda, Sarah, and me. We waited for a few minutes for the professor, but he never came. Finally I said, “Well, because we are the only ones here, if we leave before he comes in late there will be no class and we can go to Carnaval with the other students!” That wasn’t quite the case. We left and went to Carnaval, but there was class. Apparently the professor was on the ground floor while we were waiting for him on the 4th floor. Our class is always on the 4th floor; therefore, I don’t understand why he was on the ground floor. He found two other Chinese students from our class and decided to have class in another building. I don’t know why! Oh well! I went to Carnaval with my friends and the other students from the university and it turned out to be much more cultural than a civilization course!

At Carnaval there was a huge parade! It wasn’t like Baylor’s Homecoming parade! It was thousands of students dressed up walking in through the streets of Caen. Everyone was drunk and everyone smoked. There was a guy that approached me and asked (in english) if I was looking for pot. I used the universal word “NO!” To help you imagine this a little better, please understand that I was actually in the parade! I was walking with the other drunken students while they were smoking. It was one of the funniest things that I have ever seen in my life! I was sad that I had left my camera at home! Qu’est qu’on va faire?

After Carnaval I went to the gym and then went out with Rachel. While trying to decide where we wanted to go, I sent a text message to our new friend Guillaume that works at the Lounge Café to ask him if he wanted to go out with us. After I sent the text message I received a call. It was him and he wanted us to meet him in a café next to the university where he was working. I was VERY happy! When we got there a band was playing very loudly. Guillaume was very happy to see us and gave us free drinks! He said “It’s a gift!” Thanks Guillaume! He also said that one night he wanted to invite us to his place for a soirée that would make us remember France (I don’t know what that means, but I guess we’ll have to see!)

Friday : I went to the university as usual and then went home to do laundry. I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR! OUI! After that I went to the gym where I met a man that I see there all of the time. When he saw me he said, “You’re American right?” “Yes” I responded. Then he asked me from where in the United States I was from and when I said Texas someone else said, “San Antonio Spurs!”. We then had a conversation about American sports and Texas teams. The guys knew all of the teams of Texas! How? That is a great question !

After the gym I went home to eat with Yves-Marie. The others had things to do for the evening and I had to eat early because of church. After I ate I went to church where I had a great time! Rachel and I were invited to go to the apartment of one of our French friends (Romain) after church, but when we got to the tram stop the tram was VERY late and we had to walk. Rachel sent Romain a text message and then called him. He was very nice and insisted that we come to see him anyway. When we got to his apartment he was very welcoming. He offered us something to drink and spoke with us for an hour and a half. He then took us home in his car.

C'est Fou!

Bonjour! I am in my favorite café again listening to French music! Mais Oui! I am very tired so please forgive me if you can’t understand what I am writing. Today I had my favorite class in the world; Simulation Globale! The professor is very nice and the class is very fun! It’s the class where I do a role play for the entire semester.

class I had lunch with Marie, Amanda, Helena, and Julia. I spoke in French like usual and everyone did the same. There were a few times when someone would say something in english and I would say, “excuse-me? I don’t understand. I don’t speak english!” Maybe that wasn’t very nice, but if I want to speak French, I have to make an effort! After lunch I went to my media class for a test. During the test someone pulled the fire alarm. Everyone had to leave the classroom for fifteen minutes. During the pause I saw Rachel and we saw one of our friends from Church (Pascal; I have spoken a bit about her before). After the pause I finished my test and went to the gym. After the gym I went home for dinner. We had crêpes with beef and crêpes with Nutella™! Ok, I was the only one that ate crêpes with Nutella™.

Before I leave this café I have to tell you a story that I forgot to post yesterday. It makes me cry a little bit. RACHEL! The girl that Rachel and I met last week wanted to go for café with Rachel last Monday. Rachel sent her a text message to see if I would be able to join them. The girl thought that Rachel asked her if she (the girl) was coming with any friends and responded by saying, “no, I and coming alone, but you can bring a friend if you would like.” I don’t know why, but Rachel thought that meant that she wasn’t allowed to bring me along. After the café Rachel called me and I asked her to read the text message to me. When she read it to me I said, “RACHEL! She didn’t say that you couldn’t bring anyone, but that she was coming alone and that you were welcomed to bring anyone you would like!” I’m going to kill her! Oh well! It’s not the pain of death. We’re going to go out with this girl (Lyse) Saturday night.