Link

Here is the link for the photos I just put up. Hope it works.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66898&id=708148762&l=e649d

Paris and Budapest

Hello. Long time no talk. And I have no excuses. It's just that when I jump on the computer I end up being lazy and watch a movie or something.
Two weeks off of school in feb, and as you all know, I spent my time in Paris and Budapest, and it was soooo much fun!
Esther, Noemie and I were off to Paris for about 5 days. We stayed with Esther's brother Serge and his family in their apartment. They were super nice. We managed to do a lot of things: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Champs-Elysees, and even stuff I hadn't seen before like La Defense. I also got to do a little shopping in the Chanel store. ;)
Then I was off to Budapest. Thank you so much Mary!!!!!!!! I stayed in the apartment with her and Michele and Mara. It was nice to see family, and speak English again. I ate lots of yummy food and I looooove Dobos Torte, which Mom says she's made before even though I can't remember.... We went somewhere everyday and I learned so much. There was skating, a cogwheel ride, museums, markets, operas, dances, classical music, restaurants, everything! I found that the city was quite pretty. Nice squares everywhere with trees and statues in the middle.
I took tons of pictures and videos which I have to upload. They are in my computer as I type. And I'm sorry to announce that some would not transfer onto the computer even though I tried twice, and one of those videos is.... THE LANGOSCH!!! It's still in my camera so thankfully it has not been erased from the planet, but I have to figure out some way to put it up. I know how many people wanted to see me make a fool of myself. :D :P
Back in Nimes, back in school. Got a big presentation Friday, but after that I can breathe.
I should probably go for supper now, but I'll try to post those photos. Probably on Facebook, and then I'll paste the public link here.
Bye for now!!!

Some updates...

Hewwo.
So I enjoyed the holidays. I went to a friend;s house for New Years. There were 8 of us, and we watched movies like "Victor Victoria" (yes!) and played games like Trivial Pursuit, Disney Edition. Lots of laughs. Lots of fun.
Oh, and I did end up going skating next to the Maison Carre. It was fun. Skating is definitely not one of my strong points, but I didn't fall once! So I was kinda proud. The other day we had lots of snow. Well, not lots at all, but because people here aren't used to it, everything shuts down, including the buses. So I didn't go to school Thursday or Friday. Pretty funny to think about, considering the snow you have been getting.
My friends have to do a presentation in English class, and I am helping by correcting it so that it sounds better when they read it aloud. They put it through the Google translator, which came up with some really funny phrases. The topic is about the TV show, Scrubs. Here is the best part: "The series features a narrative in the first person, very talkative characters, secondary plots intersect, waterfalls, and surreal scenes that represent the dreams of the characters awake." Gotta love that part about waterfalls. ;P
Here's something pretty neat. The President will be in Nimes tomorrow. At the Carre d'Art, the library. I don't think my class is going. Apparently it will be heated because of this school reform thing, the root of all the protests. The President has been hearing lots of bad things while going around the country. He and Darcos are not very popular right now, at all!
So yeah. I'm not very political, but if I got a chance to go, I think it would be pretty neat.
S'all for now!

Holidays

So I have had lots of fun this past week, but I'm also really tired. Especially since it's almost 2 in the morning and I just won a contest against Noemie to see who could stay up the longest.
So last saturday all of Esther's family came over. We were about 30. They sang songs and made lots of noise. It was nice to see everyone gathered. Apparently the last guests to leave, left at 5 in the morning. Yikes.
Christmas eve and day we went to Esther's mom's house and there were about 12. We ate lots of food. There was a yummy shrimpy type of soup that I loved. Rice, chicken, and lots of appetizers. Including a weird balloon like, bean shaped food, with pig and blood inside. Apparently you just suck the insides right out of the rubbery casing. I'll be honest. I didn't try it.
They don't open presents the same way my family does. Everyone grabs their things form under the tree and opens it at the same time. I recieved very nice things from my host family. A necklace of France, a Mr bean DVD, Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatre DVD, perfume, chocolates, and a Nintendo DS game.
Every year, a skating rink is built right next to the maison carre. We went on friday but it was completely filled up, so we will try again tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. I do not do much skating, and I think it will be neat to try it right next to an ancient roman building.
I am sorry that I don't have photos or videos right now, but I will be posting them soon. Especially since there was quite a bit of signing and dancing.
That's it for now. My brain is asleep, so now I am going to bed.

Had a scare today.

Yesterday, (wednes) we could hear some noises and apparently it was some students protesting some law. But it calmed down and I didn't see them. TODAY I went to school and there was a huge amount of people outside the gate (schools here are always fenced off in some type of way). There were talking amongst themselves and I went through the gate. I went to the club room where my friends and I hang out, and I asked what all the people were doing out there. They said that it was the protest. Apparently they did it last year and didn't let anyone into the school. They also said it's a nation-wide thing. So that was fine. Some of my friends went to take the bus to some climbing wall for gym class, but I didn't have class yet so I stayed in the club. Another girl from the club came in and said that the high school "Mistral" was coming and they were going to cause a wreck because Phillipe Lamour (my school) was one of the few schools left that hadn't shut down due to the protests. I was a little scared and decided not to walk to gym class, because most people wouldn't be there, and I didn't feel safe going outside. My friends came back and said that the classes were closed. So then I called Esther but she couldn't pick me up right away and I said that was fine, I was in the club. Then someone pointed out the window and we looked out. A mass of teenagers were crossing the street, and a bunch of Lamour protesters were rushing to greet them. I was getting really scared. Then someone said that Mistral (apparently an aggressive place) was going to cause trouble for the people that weren't protesting. That includes me, cause I'm not going to cause trouble when I don't even know what the heck I would be protesting for, and I'm not even a French citizen. My friends weren't protesting either because they did last year and it didn't do anything, and they thought that it was a bit out of hand today. Anyway, someone went to ask a staff member what we should do. Turns out the best thing was to go outside the gate and show the idiots that we weren't in class. That wasn't safe, but safer. I was near tears because I have never witnessed anything like this before, and the aggressive school hadn't even reached us yet. Sophie and Margot and I quickly walked off school grounds. And I called Esther again. She was going to try and hurry but there was something important going on. Sophie's dad was going to pick up her and Margot. It was while waiting with them that I found out the scariest part. I'd thought that fists were going to be involved, but apparently they were planning on bringing knives and stuff (I don't know whether or not they did, because I'm at the house now, but Noemie says they didn't.) I was so scared. Margot and Sophie took me with them, because they didn't want to leave me alone. Sophie's dad is, I guess, a truck driving teacher because we got into this huge semi, with a student driver behind the wheel. Her dad was really nice, but they could only drop me off at a far entrance of Bouillargues, because the truck was too big. I said it was fine. And I planned to call Esther but the road looked familiar, as Jocelyn had once driven me around Bouillargues (which is bigger than I imagined). Thankfully it was the right road, and I also managed to find my way thanks to the cross on the top of the Church which is in the centre of the village. (Thank God, literally). It took about 20 minutes to walk back to the house. Anyway. Some people are saying that there wasn't actually any violence, but we shall see. The protests are supposed to happen again tomorrow, but I don't know if school will stayed closed or not. I'm still really scared and I'll talk to Jocelyn, thank goodness he's a cop.
Above is a picture I took of people joining the others at our school. (This is a small fraction of the people.)
Oh. Jocelyn just got home and I asked him, and he says he's heard something about guns or violence so he's glad we came home.
I am safe, just a little shaken. And I know the Laurettas won't let me do anything dangerous.

Did you know?

that French schools have the usual few weeks off (Christmas, etc...) but rarely have single days off?

Cool thing happened..

Jocelyn was supposed to work from 4 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon today, but he had to stay at work even longer. He was supposed to pick me up at five because I had to stay at school late, but then I got out early and found out he was still working. He ended up picking me up in a cop car (one of the cop cars that doesn't say police and looks normal) and it was really cool! He was still on duty and was wearing his uniform.
I felt bad that he came and picked me up while on duty and apologized over and over again but he said it was fine. Anyway, we still had to get to the house quickly cause he had to get back and take some carjackers to the Montpellier prison, so he put the blue light on!!!!!!! It was a little scary driving so fast, but it was really neat seeing the other cars move out of the way. :P

So I guess today I talk about Esther. She is a hairdresser. She works Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, so the hours are a little weird.
She is nice, and she's been having me write some english phrases in this book, and she practices them. Everyday type things like "Would you like some more?" Or "How was your day?"

Missing you guys!

Did you know?

that the French have great sandwiches called "kebab". It''s a baguette with steak and french fries in it!

So before I talk about the next member of the family....

.... I've GOT to tell you what just happened at dinner!!!!
Everyone else was done (quenelles, mom), and Esther was out, Jocelyn was upstairs, and Noemie was cleaning up, while I was finishing. I don't know what the heck I was doing, or what I was thinking, but I just started laughing. Before I knew it, there were tears rolling down my face. Noemie gave me a weird look and she called up to her dad that she thought there was alchohol in my dinner. That made it worse. I went to the bathroom to keep laughing and put some water on my face, though I don't know how that would help.
When I came back to the table, I started up again with my laughing fit. The whole time I could here Jocelyn telling Noemie to give me "la tarte", and Noemie was saying that I was laughing all by myself. That was no help, made me laugh even harder. So, Jocelyn started to come down the stairs, where he continued to suggest "la tarte", and I hid myself in my jacket. My laughs were eventually reduced to giggles. Afterwards, Noemie put her english to practice and said "You're crazy. Katy is crazy". Fortunately, it didn't start up again. :P
Then afterwards, I came upstairs to go on my laptop. I said I didn't know what came over me, and Jocelyn said he'd have to take me to the doctor, and that I've been drinking some rum.
Ah man. I love laughing. But I am so confused about how it started. :D

Anyway. So the Lauretta I will talk about today is Noemie. She is 15, and has started high school this year. She's not in my school, but a private one. But in France, I don't really think private schools are very private at all.
Noemie is super nice, and always has my back. Which is funny, because I'm two years her senior. But it's nice having her watching out for me. Especially since I'm a little Canadian on a continent other than North America.
We watch TV and movies together. Our favorite, of course, being Desperate Housewives. But we also watch NCIS, Smallville, Star Academy, stuff like that....
She's really good with Alia, the baby. And is always giving her, her bottle, changing her, cuddling her... . They're so cute together!
Anyway. Noemie is totally awesome, and she's a great host sister.

Miss you guys!

Did you know?

that Tim Burton has A LOT of fans in France?

So let's talk about...

each member of my host family. Today I'll talk about my host dad, Jocelyn.
He used to work for the marines, and traveled the world. Now he is a police officer, which I think is really neat. I'd want to be a cop if it weren't so dangerous. Usually, Jocelyn works from 4 in the morning to mid day, or from mid day to 9 at night. So his hours are definitely different!
He's really funny and really nice. We have an inside called "la tarte". Whenever I ask a question or anything, he makes a joke by saying something like, "wouldn't you rather have la tarte?" and he makes a karate chop motion. So yeah, it's like he's threating to hit me. But it's so hilarious, and makes everyone laugh, because it's like I'm trained now. He'll joke that somebody has to do something or else..... and that's when I reply "la tarte!"
So it's a term used a lot these days. And sometimes I'll even threaten him with it!
There are always other funny comments, but "la tarte" is definitely the most important!
As you know, his family visited, and they were just like him.

So. That's it for now.
Miss you guys!

Did you know?

That pharmacies are marked with a big green, neon sign in the shape of a cross?

Family Gathering.

My host dad, Jocelyn, had his sister visit from New Caledonia, and his brother (and his wife who is from Germany) from another part of France. A German, New Caledonian (hope that's right), a few French people, and a Canadian. We were quite the group.
Jocelyn's sister came on Friday, and she leaves tomorrow (Tuesday). The brother came on Saturday, and left Sunday. They are both super nice, and really funny. I went shopping with the sister, and we went to the maison carree, a very, very old building in the centre of Nimes, (my town) where we watched a 3D projection of "The Heroes of Nimes".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_Carr%C3%A9e

On Sunday, Noemie's cousin and aunt dropped by, to see their relatives too.
I liked meeting everyone. They are super nice people. Funny too.

In the picture, we have:
Jocelyn (host dad), me, Esther (host mom), Noemie (host sister), Jocelyn's aunt, a cousin, the brother, and an aunt.
I'm sorry, but I am really bad with names. :P

Did you know?

When a teacher is absent, they cancel class rather than call a sub.

Hope this works...

It's the link for my Facebook pictures. It says it's a public link, so here's hoping.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45154&l=37a21&id=708148762

Have been slow with updating AGAIN! So I guess I should talk about Halloween. It was very very rainy, so no kids came to the door, I think it's also because the French don't celebrate it as much. I didn't dress up, but I watched TV and waited to hear the doorbell ring. When Mr and Mrs were both out, Noemie and I got into the candy. It was good.
Been doing homework, internet, TV, shopping, that type of thing.... I'm really blanking right now. I should write something, but I really can't think about anything.
I do want to say good luck tomorrow (Monday) Grandad! I'll be thinking of you!
Will try and update when my mind wakes up! :P

Montpellier

Back from an amazing weekend.
It wasn't the type of film festival with stars, but some professionals (director of photography, music composers, etc...) talked with us.
Having a problem with the photos. But I will work on them later.


So, we left school early on Friday. About 1:30ish. My main cinema teacher drove me and three other students. It was funny, because to get to the hotel (which was directly in centre ville by the way :D ), we walked through a busy mall. My teacher had taken our bags for us and was walking through the mall with all sorts of luggage.
The hotel was really nice. There were 11 students. Two to a room, except for me. I bunked with my friends Chloe and Margot.
Our other cinema teacher was our supervisor, and she stayed at the hotel too.
It was an "Ibis" hotel.
The first day, we watched "The Young and Innocent" by Alfred Hitchcock. It was pretty good. That was for the high school students only. After the movie, we had someone discuss it with us, and we took notes about it. Music, story, symbols... that type of thing.
Then we were let loose to find dinner. My friends, Chloe, Alban, Margot, and I bought some sandwiches. Afterwards, at 8:30, we returned to the Corum theater, but we were in the room "Opera Berlioz". It was amazing! It's a huge opera house, and I've never seen a room that large before.
It was the opening of the festival, and there was a lot of people. I'm stupid for not using my camera that day, because the directors of the film were there. It was an Italian film, called "Il Divo." When the directors walked in, everyone cheered. I should have written their names, because I can't remember anymore.
The next day we watched "North by Northwest" by Hitchcock. And talked with Jean-Louis Bompoint: director of photography (if anyone has seen the Nspresso commercial with George Clooney, Bompoint worked on it), and Laurent Lafran: who works with sound.
They had a lot to say, and it was interesting to listen to.
At 9:30pm, it was back to the Berlizo room to watch "Psycho" by Hitchcock. Really good, I know you've all seen it before.
I was expecting the girl to be murdered in the shower, because it's such a famous scene, but when the "mother" jumped out and attacked the police officer, me and the theater jumped 10 feet in the air. The violence is cheesy, but it was the surprises and the jumping out, and the scary music that got me.
On Sunday Gilles Tinayre, a music composer talked with us. He discussed music in movies, then concentrated on the music we heard in "North by Northwest".
During lunch I had lots of fun with my class. We went on the roof of the theater and everyone goofed around. We took funny jumping photos, and photos of our shadows, and I found it really amusing.
Afterwards, we finished our trip with the projection of "Shadow of a Doubt" also by Hitchcock. It was good as well, and I came home at about 4:30.
All in all, a great festival. Had lots of fun.
I noticed that my french is improving too. During "Il Divo", the subtitles were french, while the language was italian. I got along just fine with the french subtitles. Well, I always fond political and mafia movies confusing, but you get the idea. I'm really glad I'm learning so much.
Everything else is going well
Miss you!

Wohoo!

There is an orange alert for rain today, so I have no school! Apparently this happens every year. There is flooding, and once some students had to sleep overnight in my school's library.
I do like school a lot, but I had the opportunity to sleep in this morning.
You may have noticed I posted a post underneath this one, titled "Did you know?". That was mom's idea, and I think it's a good one. So basically, every time I update the blog, I'll also add a little thing that I've learned about France.
I forgot to mention Alia in previous posts. She is a little baby. Almost one month old. She is the daughter of a niece or something, and it sounds like she will be staying here permanently. She is a cute kid, and fortunately, she is friendly and doesn't cry too much during the night. I'll post a pic one of these days.
I got my photos form school on Monday. I'm planning on scanning the class photo and putting it up here, because I think it looks nice, and it will allow you guys to see people in my class.
Last week I took 7 buses in one day. It was pretty crazy. Here is the rundown:
2 to get to school earlier than usual.
1 to get to the movie theater with my cinema class (we have to take public buses)
1 to get back to school.
3 to get home. It was wednesday, so it was my usual 3.
Speaking of cinema, I head to Montpellier the day after tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. I know it will be really interesting, and I'll be sure to bring my camera.
It'll also be nice to take a little break and spend the weekend with some of the friends I made.
Noemie and I have been getting along really well. We help each other out with homework. We joke around. We hang out. And Desperate Housewives is called "la programme de Noemie et Katy" around the house.
So, that's all I can really think of right now.
Miss you guys!

Did you know?

That two words the French use a lot, are not French at all. They are Spanish and Italian:
"Si", instead of "oui", and "Ciao" instead of "aurevoir".

Some pics

Now that my laptop has internet, I can upload some photos. I don't have very many so far, but here is me with Marion (gray tee shirt) and her friends Marine and Claire.
Just a warning- the photos are pretty big when you click on them.

Some little things...

The other day I went for a walk by myself in Bouillargues, the village where I live, to get a bus pass. It was sooooo nice. We live at the entrance of the village, so I had only been in the centre a couple of times. Going by myself was good. It gave me a chance to look around, (and buy myself a pain au chocolat). The village is nice and quiet. There is a small park too. It has tress, and a "mairie" that sits on the end. It also has these lanterns that make it very "Murdoch like". And for those of you who know me and my little obssesion well, it is now one of my favorite spots.

Mrs. Lauretta knows a woman who's granddaughter is Canadian. The grandaughter's name is Marie Claude. She was born in Quebec, and lives there now, but she has also lived in Newfoundland, PEI, and good ol' Alberta.
Marie Claude was visting her grandma here in Nimes so we had invited her for dinner. She was super nice! She asked if I wanted to talk in english, because she has been speaking it for 10 years, but I said it was alright. I noticed something too. When I talked ot other EF students, I was just enjoying the fact that I was speaking my language again, but talking to Marie Claude in french made me concentrate more on Canada. It was so great to talk about it. Talking about Canada is like a security blanket for me.
Because she lived in english speaking provinces, she knows exactly how I feel being immersed into a different language. She was saying how sometimes its good to have a break and that it was good I had brought my english movies with me, and all sorts of things. She really understands, and it was really great. Because she was Canadian, it also felt like we were long time friends and already had inside jokes.
Mrs; Lauretta said that she hoped we liked salmon, Marie Claude answered that we were Canadians so we had better.
Also, the Laurettas mentioned how we would try to eat earlier from now on. 7:30 (some nights we don't eat until 8:30 or 10), Marie Claude and I smiled, and mentioned that it was funny, because we eat 5:30 or 6 in our country. The Laurettas were schocked that people would eat that early.
So anyway, I was really happy to meet her. She is going back to Montreal today I believe, but she gave me a bunch of contact information.
Everything else is going okay.
Miss you all
Katy