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
Sounds like a blast Missy :)
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