Opera, Fish, Thanksgiving and Tarts

GRR...I had this halfway finished and my internet crashed! I'm so frustrated I almost don't want to retype all of this. Oh well, here it goes.

It's been a little bit and I've been letting my events pile up. So I'll go through them in order of the title.

Opera:

I had the chance to go to an opera last weekend. Mariette, les enfants et Moi bundled up and trekked two busses and three metro trains all the way up to Fourviere, the Catholic Basilica that sits up on the hill overlooking Lyon. It's magnificent! The US has nothing like it, it's really unlike anything I've ever seen. The opera was a snooze fest in all honesty. The acoustics were good inside the cathedral, and I even recognized some of the classical compositions (like the one that goes duh duh duh duh-uh dun dun duh dun dun).But it was warm and dark in there and I couldn't help but to take a nap. I hope no one saw me!

                                 



When I was about 8 or 9, my uncle gave me a Beta fish for my birthday. Ever since then I've pretty much always had a fish in my room. My apartment here is kind of lonely and I miss my fish back home (I miss you Perry!). I decided that I was going to buy a beta during my time here. I mentioned this to the family and last Saturday they took me to buy a fish! I wasn't expecting them to pay for it, but they did, and that was very nice. Meet my fish :)

 I took a long time picking him out and I choose him because he didn't shy away from my finger when I pressed it up against the glass. Instead he puffed himself up and challenged me. I liked that. We took him home and spent the rest of the evening thinking of names for him. We even took out the french baby name book and went through every single name. I wanted a french name, but nothing fit. So, I decided to sit on it. Finally, five days later (yesterday) as I was thinking about it before bed suddenly it came to me! Harrison! I don't know where it came from but it fit. That day (still yesterday) I decided that his bowl looked too empty. I took the bus back to the pet store and bought him some rocks and a plant. When I got back to my place I scooped him out and put him in a little tea cup so I could clean his bowl and add the rocks. The cleaner requires three hours to sit in the water to sit so I so I placed the cup next to the bowl and then settled down for a little nap. I woke up two hours later to find the tea cup empty. I found Harrison dried out on the floor. I KILLED MY FISH! You have to understand, this is very hard for me to write about. I feel very responsible. :/ I knew that the cup was too small but I didn't listen to myself when I thought about putting him into something bigger. It was only three hours after all. Needless to say, I was distraught and there was much sobbing. RIP Harrison, I am so very sorry.

Thanksgiving.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. How did I spend it? Taking a test at school, cleaning up my murdered/suicidal fish off the floor and babysitting. At the store I bought some mashed potatoes to eat because that's my favorite part of Thanksgiving, but they were the sorriest excuse for mashed potatoes I've ever eaten. The French don't celebrate Thanksgiving so really it was kind of a sucky day...moving on.

Tarts
I found a recipe for a chocolate tart in a children's cooking book. It looked yummy so I asked Mariette to help me make it. We made the crust from scratch and it was so much fun! I got to knead it with my hands. I am so going to make it again, as soon as I learn how to convert the measurments!! I don't think Mariette followed the recipe at all though, looking back now we used different ingredients and it looked nothing like the picture. Still, it was yummy and I made it all by myself! We had a lot of extra crust dough leftover so I showed them what my mom usually does with the crust. I rolled it out, spread some oil on it and then sprinkled some cinnamon sugar over top and baked it. They were a real hit. Even more so than my tart I think. Thanks mom! While she was helping me make that, she was also making our dinner, which was also a tart. I am considering writing a book much like Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" except it would be called "Purple Eggs and Leeks." Seriously, that's what it was. When she made the eggs, Mariette had this brilliant idea to put food coloring in them...food coloring?? Jonas choose the color and it turned out to be a purple/grey/blueish color. Pretty nasty really. Once she sauted the leeks (yeah, we eat leeks) she mixed the two, poured it onto the tart and baked it. It actually was pretty good, it just looked really strange! These were our finished products:

 











As a side note, I finally cleaned my room and vacuumed it too! Just thought I would share the proof, I am rather proud of it too. And I went grocery shopping...

 
 

Goodnight tous le monde!

Abigail

I Am Miss America!

I am Miss America!

...Or at least that's what they call me anyway.

The second week I was here, Gilles and Mariette took me to kind of an outdoor market of sorts among friends. About 15 farmer friends gather and buy each others vegetables and bread and cheese. Since my family mostly eats only fresh/organic foods, they frequent this almost weekly. It also doubles as an open bar. Like everywhere in France, there is so much alcohol. Anyway, the second week I was here, they introduced me to the people at this little gathering. I was shy, stuck close to Mariette or les enfants and barely spoke a word, and definitely did not speak unless spoken to.

This week marks my 6th week in France. As I revisited this gathering, I found my experience was quite different. Jean-Luc, the "Chef" of this market, remembered me right as I walked in with Mariette, but he didn't remember my name.

"Miss America! Viens ici!"

 I smiled, greeted him with a kiss on both cheeks and asked how he was doing. After pleasantries he guided me over to the snack table, and started dishing me out a bowl of, ironically enough, French Onion Soup. I happily announced to the crowd what we call it. In french its just onion soup haha.

From then on, I was Miss America, and I let them call me that because I thought it was funny. As a side note, I've noticed that the French love the name Abigail. All the time I am getting complimented on it and they way they pronounce it with their accent makes it sound really beautiful. Thanks, Mom, you did good.

I felt very french tonight. I carried on conversations with multiple of people lasting several minutes. A few even mentioned how well I spoke french. I am continually amazed at the beauty of language. French isn't my mother tongue, and yet I can communicate with people who have spoken it their whole life. I can talk with les enfants and play imaginary games with them. I don't know, I can't quite put it into words yet, but I'll keep working on it. One day I'll be able to accurately describe how cool I think language is.

It has been snowing as of late! I wake up in the morning and the sky is gray and there is snow piled on top of the cars. Not much, but it's there. Usually it rains in the afternoon and washes it all away. Hurrah for no car, it's time to break out the boots, gloves, hat, earmuffs and snow jacket because I have to walk everywhere! Brr

We've been staying indoors the past couple of days. One day we tried our hand at origami. It turned out pretty well. We made elephants and little Picachu's. Pokemon is still popular here, I'm pretty sure that faded out in the US a long time ago. I still remember my 500+ cards though...Memories. Today we played Hot and Cold. One person hides and object while the other searches for it and if they get close you shout "HOT" and if they are not close to the hidden object you shout "COLD". It was a good way for les enfants to learn some more vocabulary. I have to work on Jonas though, he is stubborn and thinks English is "nul" (useless). 

  Well that's all for now.  :)  Love, Miss America.

The Show Must Go On

I hate being sick. Really, who doesn't? But being sick while alone is a different country is perhaps a little different in my opinion. I miss having someone to take care of me. I miss being able to sleep the whole day through have have orange juice and rice brought to me while in bed. I miss being able to call in sick. Yeah, yeah, I know: Welcome to the real world and all that. I get it.

 Luckily I landed a nice family who is sympathetic to my situation, but, that doesn't mean they are going to let me off easy. Wednesday, Gilles let me sleep in by bringing les enfants to their nanny until noon. The rest of the day passed bien and Gilles sent me home to "reposer" right after dinner. Thursday was some kind of strike day. They are trying to shorten school days next year and Thursday was the day that none of the students were supposed to go to school. Hurrah for me! Sick as a dog, I got up at 8am, put my sweats on and went next door. I was shakey, stuffy, nauseous, and I felt like my sinuses were taking a strike day too. I watched the kids from 8am to 8pm!  Quelle horror!! I was grumpy and tired and sick, and petit Jonas seemed to be on a mission to be the most annoying he could be. Hitting, yelling, jumping off the walls and all around not playing fair. When he is in a bad mood, he will not listen to anyone! It's amazing how a language barrier can make itself oh so present in that type of situation. I realized that the more frustrated I got, the less French I remembered. I kept my cool though and we managed to make it through the day.

 I did have a brilliant idea to let Jonas danse his restlessness out of his body. My idea of dancing my wiggles out was to put on some fast paced, beat dropping song and just break loose. Not these cultured children. No, instead, they donned their tutu's (Jonas included) and handed me a "Classical Music for Dummies" CD. They took turns dancing for me as I rested on the couch. All I had to do was keep my eyes open, and applaud when they finished. Here's a video of Lucile showing me her moves to some Brahms.

Friday I got the opportunity to attend Karaoke night at institute. Great, if I didn't want friends so bad, I would not be here! I showed up an hour late, but that seemed to be OK because it hadn't started yet. I'll tell you what. Nothing can make a crowded room go silent faster than a lost American walking into a small room of people who have known each other since they were born. The only person I did know, hadn't got there yet....Awkward....But, thankfully he told someone I would be coming and they showed me around. Everyone was really nice. One guy heard me speaking English and came over really excited. 

"You speak English?"

 "Yes, I do."

 "Oh, that's so cool,! Where did you learn English from?"

".....I'm American..." 

"OH YOUR AMERICAN! I LOVE AMERICA! I LOVE AMERICA!"

Turns out he is an investigator from Nigeria. He came here because he couldn't get a visa to the States. He doesn't speak French and like that fact that I speak both French and English. Now apparently going to be his tour guide to both Paris and America because he has always wanted to go but didn't speak any French....Yeah, we will see on that one... 

I managed to duck out of Karaoke all until the last song when they realized I was the only one who hadn't sung. Together I joined a group of girls and we sang every word (or at least I sang every word) to Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. When the verse lines got a little too long and a little too fast, all the Frenchies started slurring their words or just stopped altogether. Then there was me in the background singing away to every line...off key of course because this stupid cold has taken away my voice. 

Ready for some good Mormon fun

Good Mormon fun

Yeah, that's right. I text in French too. No help either

Saturday I still felt like crap. This cold is just doesn't know when it's over stayed it's welcome. I helped Mariette and Lucile make a cake (Ok, so I melted the chocolate.) and we left for a get together at a friends house. It was insane! Christoph, the owner of the house, let me help him make crepes. I flipped them like a pro! There were only about 8 adults there, but 6 kids running around made it a circus. Then when one tried speaking to me, everyone tried to join in and suddenly I had 8 different french voices coming at me at once! I probably looked so dumb, but it was so confusing I couldn't understand anything! Not to mention the fact that I was trying not to puke the whole time made the event rather tiring. The cake looks good though, no? the "acid" (sour strips) were Lucile's touch. 

Sunday was the best day of all I think. I was in a good mood. I woke up, late, but had just enough time to get dressed, hop the bus, then the metro and make it on time to church. The Elders saved me a seat in Sacrament and one Elder translated all the talks for me. I hope we weren't disturbing anyone, but I don't think anyone could hear us over the screaming child behind our row. Then all of a sudden there was a tap on my shoulder. It was a man who was until just recently, sitting next to the Bishop. 

"You're Abigail?" I nod.

"After the Stake President is done, you are going to get up, introduce yourself and bear your testimony, thank you." 

WHAT?!?!?!? I only nodded to him because my voice is all but silent! I don't know religious words in French! No way Jose!! But he walked away before I could decline, and I knew that whether I liked it or not, I was going up there. Elder Heck was kind enough to offer to translate for me. After the Stake President was finished, he said:

"We will now hear from Abigail Caporale, she's 19 and comes from the United States" 

Well, thank you, President, there goes half my introduction. Now what am I going to say?? 

I actually did most of my little speech in French. I even asked them to forgive me because my voice was lost and I don't normally sound like this. For the testimony, Elder Heck helped me out. I was shaking so hard! I said that I was grateful for a church that is world wide. That the same spirit I felt back home was the same spirit that I could feel with me today. Then I said something that kind of took even me by surprise. I said that by the end of my time here, I will get back up and be able to do this without the help of Elder Heck. I would say it all in French and all on my own. Great Abby, what did you do? 

There was a Sister Missionary there who was from Eagle, Idaho. I was excited to find that out since she went to my rival high school and all. All of a sudden, I'm going to be attending a lot of missionary discussions with both the Elders and the Sisters. There's something about me being an American in France that automatically makes me an honorary missionary or something. I'm down though, even the Stake President invited me to have dinner with the Sisters on Wednesday. That's pretty cool if I do say so myself. 

After church I was in a very good mood. I went home and celebrated my good first day of church by taking a long nap. Then I went next door and had dinner with the family. Lucile and Jonas wanted to play Monopoly...Monopoly? Vrai? I don't even know how to play Monopoly! So, being the smart girl that I am, I googled how to play Monopoly the easy way, and we ended up having a lot of fun. I got to speak a lot of French and make up some of my own rules. 

All and all, Sunday was a good day. Mariette asked me if I would teach her how to French Braid (haha french!) Lucile's hair. I'm really good at doing my own hair, but every time I try to do it on some one else it never works out, so I showed her and hoped for the best. My mom is still way better at it than I am though. But, it worked! And here's proof! 

Not bad eh? 

Well that is that. Tomorrow school starts again and I must go. Bleh :P

Goodnight

Abby

Routine

Although the excitement of the fact that I live in FRANCE is never going to wear off, things here are starting to feel...normal? I'm settling into a routine I guess you could say.

0700 - Wake up
0745 - Really Abby, Wake up..
0810 - Quick piece of toast as I walk out the door with les enfants and Gilles
0840 - Jump on the Metro
0910 - Walk into class, late, but all the Au Pairs usually are
1200 - School gets out and I walk Rue De La Rebublique with some friends looking for food or some                       shopping. At some point, I will go home and do some laundry, dishes, or other household chores.                 Some days I'm able to fit in a nap somewhere in between too
1615 - Pick up les enfants from school. We have a snack of biscuits (crackers) and water with either lemon               strawberry flavoring (sirop)
1930 - Gilles or Mariette will come home and begin on dinner
2030 - Eat dinner. Appetizer, main course, cheese, fruit, dessert.
2100 - Les enfants go to bed

After that sometimes I stick around and play a game or watch a TV show/movie with Gilles or Mariette or sometimes I spend the evening alone in my apartment.

See? Normal.

This week though there has been some variables that have adjusted my normal schedule. For instance:

Since it was Veteran's Day on Monday, les enfants didn't have school. Instead we spent that day drinking hot chocolate (because it was FREEZING cold!), making cakes and home made macaroons! They actually turned out pretty good. Well, they looked good anyway. Mariette took some liberty with the recipe and it didn't quite turn out tasting the same as those yummy macaroons that I love so much. Tante pis. In the afternoon, Jonas came to my door and in English asked "Do you like lemon?" (He was there to tell me they were making a lemon cake). Bless his heart, with his little accent I could have sworn he said "Do you like little men?'  One of these days I will record them talking in English.

Because there was no school Monday, les enfants had school today, Wednesday. (C'est pas normal). But, Jonas' teacher was going to be absent so I guess she just cancelled class?? Can they do that? She sent a note home asking parents not to send their kids to school today, so Jonas and I got to hang out all day. Boy was he on a pill!! So much energy, he couldn't sit still and he seemed intent on doing anything he could to annoy Lucile. It would be easy to handle, but my french vocab is still limited. It was hard to find the words "sit down, shut up and knock it off!" in french. Nicely, of course... ;)

Tomorrow they don't have school for some reason...I have no idea why. So I get them from 0800 until 1800. I've decided to make homemade play doh and I've thought of some fun games we could play to help them improve their English. Lucile is really eager to learn, but Jonas seems to have no interest. I'm going to have to find a way to fix that.

Oh, and I'm SICK!! Dang head cold or something (is that even a phrase in English? I can't remember what you call it, maybe you can help me out). Headache, sore throat, bodyache, chills, slight fever, backed up sinuses, fatigue, cough, weak limbs...Anyone? It was really bad yesterday, Gilles sent me home right after dinner to sleep. Gladly! I'm coming around though, it seems to be going away.

Yesterday, I met up with some LDS Missionaries at Saxe-Gambetta and they showed me where the Lyon Institute building was. Inside we met up with a "Jia" (Jeune Adulte) named Rock. He spoke a little English and together with les missionaires we had a nice conversation. One missionaire is from Utah and went to a satellite USU campus (I went to the main campus of USU last year). The other graduated from Texas A&M, which is a school with a huge Army program so I had fun talking about that. Les missionaires taught me sort of how to pray in French. I know how to start - "Notre Pere celeste" and how to end - "Au nom de Jesus Christ, amen." They said that they are probably going to ask me to pray in church!! No!! They told me that I am always welcome at the Institute, and it will become my safe haven as I'm in Lyon. They also told me that I can call them at any time if I happen to get into a situation where I feel unsafe. Either they would come help, or they would send someone who could" It was really comforting to know that they were looking out for me and really cared. I could hear it in their voice when they spoke. I am so grateful to have found a ward here. I can't wait to go to church and be around people who share my same standards. After meeting at the institute, I came to realize that the Lord's Spirit really is the same around the world.

I had a good chat with Rock as well. I asked how many people came to the institute and he said about thirty. In turn, he asked how big my institute was. I kind of chuckled as I told him that the Institute at Utah State University was the biggest in the world. He was impressed "so like three or four hundred people?" Oh, Rock...If only you knew... you should of seen his eyes when I said it was more like three or four thousand, and I'm pretty sure his eyes were about to explode when I told him that USU as 87% LDS...Welcome to Mormonville...

On Sunday, my French family got to meet my American family via Facebook. It was kinda fun because I got the chance to play translator for a bit. I wasn't perfect lol but I had fun showing off my French to my parents, and my English to my host family. Neither of them get to hear me speak in a different language very often. I can't wait until my French gets really good and my friends and family back home get blown away :) My mom asked if there was anything my host family wanted from America. Peanut butter and maple syrup seemed to be there consensus. They also promised to send my American family some European chocolate in return. Mariette told me later, that since European chocolate is held in such high regard, it would be unacceptable to send my family some chocolate that wasn't up to par. To make sure that didn't happen, it is imperative that we try all of it before we ship off! Now that is my idea of a good time!!

We played Just Dance 2 and Mario Kart as a family yesterday as well. It was so fun to see even the parents involved and getting competitive. I hate Mario Kart, but I managed to come in 1st three times in a row! I was terrible at Just Dance as well, but I do love to get up there and shake what God gave me ;)

I braved going to a Carrefour again (French version of a King Soopers or Albertsons) and this time it didn't go so bad. I knew what I needed this time and didn't look lost, wandering aimlessly around the store wondering what was what. I managed to come home with; Milk, Cookie Crisp, chocolate ice cream, chocolate biscuits, hot chocolate, bread, and my very own French cheese! It's called Costeron and I believe its from a cow. It's very mild and I could eat it all day!

I can already tell that my french is coming along nicely. My speaking is getting more fluent and I am becoming more confident in the words that I say. I find that I am ending my sentences with a period instead of a question mark more and more. Les enfants are helping me a lot too. They always correct me when I say something wrong or mix up my masculine and feminine pronouns and what not. I'm also picking up on little things they say that are tricks. For instance

Where are you? = Tu es ou? But just like one would say "you're" they combine tu and es and turn it into "T'es ou?" Roughly translated, I think its a lot the same as saying "you are a pain" and "your a pain." ("T'es penible").

Or to make something negative in French, one must surround a verb with "ne pas." But just like us, the French get lazy with their words too and when speaking, they commonly leave out the "ne." So, like would say "I dunno," they would say "Je sais pas." But, to be proper, it's supposed to be "Je ne sais pas." I hear it a lot when people say "C'est pas posible" (It's not possible), and "C'est pas juste!" (That's not fair!).

I've also picked up on some phrases that they use a lot, but I haven't quite figured out what they mean yet, or how to use them in sentences. "Il faut," "par conte," and "on fait." I'll have to get back to you guys on that one.

As always though, everyday I am loving that language more and more.

In one of my chocolates for dessert at dinner the other night, I got a fortune. I was happy that I could actually read it, no Google Translate necessary!

"Notre plus grande gloire n'est pas de ne jamais tomber, mais de nous relever chaque fois."

In English: "Our highest glory is not that we never fall, but that we get back up every time."

Cool right??

Abby

                    

 

In Military News

Congratulations to my dear sweet best friend. Yesterday he graduated Basic Training for the US Army. I couldn't be more proud.

After 74 days of nothing but rigorous training, long nights and early mornings and a lot of "DS BS" as he calls it, (Drill Sergeant bull sh*t - (pardon) - ), Connor is now one of the newest soldiers in the US Army! Doesn't he look great??

It was a tough two months for both him and me, but we made it through and have been texting as much as possible ever since. We have so much to catch up on.

I am so proud of Connor and all that he has accomplished. As I type this, he is on a bus on his way to Ft Sam Houston for 52 weeks of training to earn his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) which is 68 Kilo, Medical Laboratory Specialist. Unfortunately for me, he is so dang smart that he scored a 95 on his ASVAB and chose the MOS with the second to longest training time. But, that aside, I know he is going to be learning so much that will put him on track to Med school and on to his dream of becoming a doctor.

Phase one complete (as we call it), onto phase two: AIT

 

 


On another Military note, My best friend got engaged to her boyfriend in the Marines. Just thought I would add my congrats the them as well and express how happy and excited I am for them! I love you Harmony!!

Abby

Je Suis en Charge

So, I'm not sure if this title is in French, or I just French-ized it.

Anyway, today I had a great day!

It was nice out today and I didn't have to wear my snow coat and use an umbrella, so that already was a plus. My day started out with a "goodnight" text from my Boyfriend (who is in a different time zone, so it was goodnight for him) and that made me SOOOO happy!! I haven't received one of those in 75 days while he was in Basic Training so it was a nice surprise. He's finished now, but more about that later.

I made it to school semi on time after dropping the kids off at their school, taking a bus, walking a bit, taking the metro, and then walking a bit more. There was a new professor today (I swear we have a new one every week!!) and after only a few minutes in the class I had already decided that he was the best so far. He was easy to understand, very positive and helpful. His exercises were very entertaining, thought provoking and I really felt like I learned something. We did a question game in which he asked questions like "Vrai ou faux: La Corse et L'ile de France" and  "nommez trois acteurs francais". There were 12 questions and together my 'equipe' (team) and I were able to answer 10 out of the 12! Not to brag or anything, but it was mostly me answering them....

After class I went with Karin (from Mexico) and Lucy (from England) to a Patisserie and I bought my weekly baguette and then treated myself to something I've never tried before. I bought what is called a Praddel and I don't know how I've lived without these things before. It..Was..Amazing..

When it came time to pick up the kiddos from school, it was so nice out, so I put on some happy music and walked my way to school with a skip in my step.

Les enfants et moi stopped at a local park on the way home and spent some time playing there. This signs says "For the security of each child, it is recommended that only children from the ages of 4-14 play on the playground. Oops...well I've always been told I look between 14 and 16 years lol so I jumped on and played with them until the playground got too crowded.

Unfortunately, it gets dark around 6 here, so we left for home about 5:30. My lovely mother sent me some flashcards to help teach the kids English, and they ended up being really awesome and fun. I started teaching them their colors and I LOVE to hear their accents. 

I got the chance to make dinner tonight.  I was kind of nervous, what do I make?? The family mostly eats really fresh things, which is great, but I really only know how to make Kraft Mac n Cheese.... I found some potatoes and chopped them up, doused them in oil and microwaved them. Then I cut up some tomatoes and made a special french sauce to go with. Then, because their kitchen is SO small, as I was moving around, I accidentally knocked a glass off the counter. Great...First time cooking and I'm already breaking their dishes. 

Nice one.

Anyway that was my day. I got to talk to my family tonight too, (Hi mom!!) I miss you guys. 

Abby

My Wednesdays.

Yesterday I spent the evening with some of the girls in my class. We went to a local pub in Lyon and sat and talked for a few hours. Everyone smoked and drank and we had a lovely merry time. Not me though, I don't drink or smoke. I did learn, though, that most of the people here roll their own cigarettes. It's cheaper I guess. Honestly it looks like people are smoking weed all over the place. That's probably why we don't have that in the US, because it looks too much like pot. Not that I would know lol, I don't smoke pot either.

The three lovely girls I hung out were from Brazil, Mexico and Hungary. Last night was one of the reasons why I LOVE language so much. Because even though we all speak different languages, we all share a common language in which we were able to hold a constant conversation the whole two hours. We talked about class, Harry Potter, Twilight, boys, why I'm not smoking or drinking, and lots of other stuff. It wasn't until we all left that I found out that these women were all in their late 20's!

Wednesdays in France, children don't have school. I don't know why, but it's kind of cool. I would have loved to have a day off in the middle of the week! I think it has to do with the fact that they have longer school days than in the US, I don't know. So I'm the Au Paire right? My job is to take care of the children while the parents work? Well this morning I got up at 7am as usual and went over for breakfast at 8am. Turns out Gilles was taking Jonas to their nanny across the street, and taking Lucile to Violin himself. I wasn't needed until 1pm to pick Jonas up from his nanny and bring him to dance....So what did I do? I went back to bed!! Slept straight until noon and then got re-ready for the day. 

After that was Lucile's Cirque classes. Yes, circus. With the huge tent and trapize and juggling and everything. When it was time to pick her up, I walked right into the tent and sat down on the bleachers to wait because I was a few minutes early. Aparently that isn't allowed and I got ushered out in French and the door flap shut on me. So I wasn't able to take any pictures of Lucile practicing but I did manage to get these:

 

My view on the way to cirque

In the mail today I got a piece of paper stating I had a package waiting for me at the post office (eek!!) So after dance and circus, I went in search of the post office. Turns out there is a post office a block from my apartment and I had been taking the metro all the way into town to send letters. Stupid Google. I got a lovely care package from my Mommy!! In it were some clothes I had realized I needed, scissors, tweezers, flashcards so les enfants can learn English, my favorite Bath and Body Works soap, my Go Army backpack from Connor, some mail, a letter from my dad with $3 in it (Don't know why...I can't use US dollars here lol), and LOTS and LOTS of chocolate :) Just in time too! I was out of the bag of Hershey's Hugs I brought with me and almost out of the Kinder chocolate bars I had to go buy. My mommy loves me :) 

In the evening, I played "pate a modele" with les enfants (Play-Doh). There was some clay in the box too and I made this: 

This My friends is a French "bonhomme de neige" (literally translated, its "good man of snow." I made a french snowman. Can you see his beret? Sigh, I am so proud of myself. 

So that was my Wednesday. 

-Abs.