A Foggy Day

Joyeux Anniversaire!: Happy Birthday!

As I'm sure most of you who read this know that my birthday just recently passed on Monday so I figured I would take the time to reflect on the things that I was lucky enough to do while I was here..

On the Saturday before my birthday, I woke up early enough to take the train into Paris to spend the day with Dimitri, Manon, and Alex. Unfortunately, Manon had a lot of work to do for school so I had to take the train to Paris alone - except for when I got the train station and when I went to validate my ticket, I had seen someone sitting on the bench and as I got closer..sure enough if it was my friend Stacy [another American from Arkansas] who just happened to be going to Paris as well! So we jumped on the train and took the metro together and then she parted ways because she was going to Musée d'Orsay and I kept on making my way to Dimitri's place. Once I got there, I dropped my bags off and we headed out for a day of.....shopping! It's been becoming super cold over the past couple of weeks and the poor Californian kid has no real "winter clothes". So we began at 11:00am and we headed to the "shopping district" of Paris where there are all the really big named stores and what not.

Just before the shopping commenced!

 So we picked some things out and we both liked [and if anyone knows anything about me - it's that I can't shop so I was blessed to have Dimitri with me to make all the executive decisions] but we were a bit pressed for time because we were meeting Camille, Dimitri's sister, for lunch in a different area of Paris.

St. Amboise church that was just down the street from where we ate lunch

After lunch, Dimitri and I went back to do some more shopping and after some time, Manon finally joined up with us to help give the final approval on the things we picked out. Finally after around 5 or 6pm we finished and went back to the apartment. There, Dimitri and Alex cooked a great dinner for the four of us. For dessert, they picked out a pastry for us all and sang happy birthday to me..!

After we finished dinner, we all went out to meet some of their friends at a little bar for a while then came back home because we were so tired from shopping - at least I was! The next morning Dimitri, Manon, and I took the train back to Orleans and later that night I saw Twilight with Manon and her mom.
I did want to have a party with the rest of my friends here in Orleans, so I planned a little party for Thursday night to spend with my friends. But before that, on Monday - the day of my actual birthday - it unfortunately was a school day so there wasn't a lot to be done. But nonetheless, I went to school and my friend Stacy was nice enough to make me sugar cookies for my birthday. They were absolutely delicious. So declicious, in fact, that I had to make a rule that I would only eat one cookie at the beginning and end of each class so I would make sure they lasted me all day. Within 10 minutes of making that rule I had already broken it. So after school finished I went home and had lots of homework to do, and then I had dinner with my host mom and brother. When they called me down for dinner, just as I was about to come off the last step they turned the lights off and started singing happy birthday to me with a big chocolate cake and candles which turned out to be the trick kind! They were even kind enough to get me a nice little present, so I gave them both a big hug and said thank you for everything.
Finally when Thursday rolled around, I was so excited. This was a busy day however. I had a basketball game, and this was the first time we played at home so it was nice in the sense that I didn't have to miss a lot of classes or anything like that. I thought for sure we were going to win the game but we ended up losing by 6 points. So after the match, I went back home to shower and get ready. Then I headed to the bar where I reserved a place for all of us to enjoy the night together. Nearly everyone I invited showed up so I was happy about that and we stayed until closing time and it was really just a nice, easy-going, evening where everyone got a chance to meet people and talk with everyone; just how I wanted it! But one thing in France is that turning 21 isn't a huge deal because they can already drink, so I made sure that I had my friend ask me to see my drivers license to check my age, so it was just like being back home!

Then Friday consisted of school, but afterwards I met Dimitri at the train station since he was in town for the weekend and then he went home and I went to the school of Manon's mom because she had invited to come to one of their English lessons. It was absolutely one of the cutest things and I couldn't help but smile the whole time. When I walked in the classroom they all said "hello" and than sang happy birthday to me. Then they all introduced themselves and asked me questions like "What's your favorite color?", "Do you like sports", "Do you like France". Then I showed them where I live on a map and afterwards they asked if I would like to play Hangman with them. So I had them guess the word "California" but apparently I went to easy because they solved it in nearly 4 tries.

After class was finished, I was invited to go to another basketball game but this time it was in one of the bigger arenas in Orleans so there were a lot more people and it was lots of fun. The funniest part about it though was that I didn't know exactly what time the game started but as soon as I left the school I went straight there [this was around 5pm] but the gates weren't open yet - and they weren't going to open until some time around 7:30pm. So I didn't really feel like taking the tram to go back home so I chose to just go hang out in Auchan [which is sort of like France's Walmart] that was across the street and look at the TV's and DVD's and Video Games and Refrigerators and Books and - oh sorry I got excited remembering all the things I looked at - just until it was time to go back to the arena. We won again this time as well by almost 30 points so it was a fun night.

After the game Dimitri and Manon came to pick me up and we went back to his house for dinner where he said there wasn't really anything to eat...until he pulled out a huge plate of SUSHI! Not only was it sushi but it was good sushi, and not only was it good sushi it was home-made-hand-rolled-Dimitri-served good sushi! I was super impressed that he made each one of them!

  Finally, today after doing a little but of shopping and what not, Dimitri and I went to his aunt's house where she invited us to have lunch with her and Justine and Enzo. Again, everyone sang happy birthday to me and Justine had bought some little sweets and put a candle in them for me. So overall, I would have to say that this has been one amazing birthday week thanks to everyone!

On a side note: I find things in this town that remind me a bit of Bakersfield from time to time - but obviously not a whole lot but nonetheless..recently we've had a number of days with heavy fog so it really made me think of being back home..!

From the Clouds

"Qui a le chapeau?" : "Who has the hat?"

Friday was Armistice Day so we didn't have school, so it was only necessary to take advantage of this! My friends Manon, Dimitri, and Alex were driving down to the south of France for a friend's wedding, but the cool part is I have two other friends studying there at the moment, Fabienne and Jovanni. So they know I've been wanting to make my way down there ever since I've been here, and although this has been my fourth time in France I've actually never really been to the south. So they kindly asked if I wanted to ride down there with them and of course I was more than happy to take them up on the offer..!

So to back-track a little bit, Thursday was my first basketball game. We played against the University of Poitiers, and unfortunately, we only had seven guys show up for the game, so this meant that we were going to be dead at the end! Especially since the other team had a full roster and was able to sub in and out to keep everyone fresh. But because this was our first match playing together we still have a lot to work on, but we ended up losing the match, however, there's still plenty to come! We finally got back to Orléans around 8pm and I went straight home to pack my things and as soon as I was finished, Dimitri came to pick me up so I could stay at his house since we were leaving so early in the morning on Friday.

The only hard part is by car, it's a 7 or 8 hour drive, so we had to wake up early and get the car loaded up and get on the road. The early morning was really foggy but after about an hour or two the sky opened up to sunshine and blue skies. Seeing the country side of France like that is amazing. It simply reminds you how beautiful the world can be. But even more, how diverse one country can be. One point it was all rolling green hills and then at another point it was forests that looked like it never ended, and then rocky mountains at the next area. It was absolutely beautiful. During the car ride, I figured I would make an attempt to translate a riddle I learned back in high school during one of my business class trips. It's a very simple game yet complicated that it takes a while to catch on. The idea is you can take any object (not physically, but rather this is the object you say) you want - I like to use a hat and it works by saying something like "If I give my hat to Dimitri; who has the hat?" then the first person who respons/or talks..has the hat! So for example each time I asked the question after making up a story about who has the hat, Alex would respond but he never understood why it was always him even if I finished the story with "I threw the hat out the window; who has the hat?" But it's such a fun game to play because you get to watch people get so frustrated! We finally reached Aix-en-Provence, which was where we were staying for the weeked, around nearly 4pm. The others dropped their stuff off in the hotel and then they took me to Fabienne's place where she so graciously hosted me for the weekend. After I dropped my bags off in her place, Dimitri, Alex, and Manon went off to search for some gifts because they were going to a wedding on Saturday while I stayed and visited the city with Fabienne and Jovanni. So Fabienne and I went and walked around the city and she showed me a bit then we went to the grocery store so we would have some breakfast and dinner to eat for the weekend and afterwards we grabbed a pizza to go and went to the house of Fabienne's friend Pauline. We went there to watch the football [Yes, that's right. Football. Not soccer.] match with France vs. United States. It was a great game and France won but of course I was glued to the TV and occasionally letting out a few yells but it was lots of fun. After the game was over the three of us met up again with other three when they had finished with the rehearsal dinner [or at least I think it was this that they went to] and we grabbed a drink and stayed and talked for a while. Once we were all tired, we split our ways and crashed for the night.

My first attempt with my panoramic picture app on the iPhone

Saturday morning, Fabienne and I jumped on the train to go to Marseille. Marseille is one of the three largest cities in France. Once we got there, we just started making our way around and seeing things in the city. We spent most of our time in Vieux Port which is where they keep all the private boats and yachts. After we grabbed some lunch there we made our way up to the city's main cathedral, Notre Dame de la Garde. It was the best view of the whole city and the cathedral itself was beautiful.

We came back to town after grabbing some Starbucks and jumping on the train with 10 minutes to spare. We stopped by the grocery store again because we needed a few extra stuff and put it up then we went to try and see if it was possible to see a movie with Pauline and Jovanni before dinner but the whole town decided they wanted to go at the same time so there were no seats left, so we bought tickets for the next showing which started late enough to give us enough time to go back home and Fabienne cooked all of us a steak and potatoes dinner which was perfect. Like I always say, as long as there is cooked meat on the table; I'm game. I picked out some cookie dough ice cream that we found in the store for dessert, I was extremely excited for this..! Oddly enough, I've only eaten ice cream a number of times since I've been here but never have I found cookie dough, so this was gold that was found in the freezer aisle! After we finished dinner, we headed back to the movies and saw a french film called Intouchable. It was a really good movie and most certainly recommend it. When the movie finished, we all headed back home and went to bed for the night.

Sunday morning we woke up and Fabienne took me around this city again, this time in the daylight so I could take pictures of the city. In the middle of our little tour, we stopped by Jovanni's apartment so she could show me her cool place that's right next to a church and a couple schools. Then we walked around a bit more and stopped for a slice of pepperoni pizza which was to die for. I slathered it in hot sauce and finished it in probably three bites. But it's not normal to find something this spicy in France, so I had to get my fix in before I left. Then we topped it off with some Haagen-Dazs...where again...I found/got cookie dough ice cream.

Then Dimitri, Manon, and Alex came back to pick me up and then we headed on our way back home, and finally got home around 2am after leaving around like 5pm. But overall, a wonderful weekend and an even more exciting weekend to come!

What was I thinkin'..

This post is simply just a post of two things that I have forgotten to write about that I keep trying to remind myself every time I come to write, but can never seem to do it. I'll still have another post for you at the end of the week, of course!

The first thing that I forgot to mention was that before we started school, my host family asked if I would cook them an "American meal" but as most of you know, I do not cook much - but I was more than happy to show them what an American meal would be like. The hardest part was trying to figure out everyone's schedule to make sure all my brothers and sister would be home at the same time, but unfortunately even after I thought I had it figured out, my brother Adrien couldn't be there for it! The first thing that came to my mind was Mac & Cheese so now I just had to figure out how I was to do this..! Luckily, the day after my host mom had proposed this to me, I saw Kelsey (another American student here) on the tram going to school and I had mentioned this to her and she was so excited and asked if she could help. Of course there was no way I could say no..! So we finally got together and ended up making a great dish of Mac & Cheese with fish sticks on the side, and of course some home-made chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

The other thing that I wanted to mention was that it is really winter here now. But what was really cool was how much you could really see the change in weather. But it was absolutely beautiful because here, there are so many trees so it gives you a chance to visually see it..

Lastly, when I was going through my pictures, I did find the picture of my dessert that I made with Manon. For those that have been lucky enough to try it, you'll recognize it but otherwise this is what's known as: Sex in a Pan [Credit to Angie Williams for teaching me this dangerous piece of work] or also known in the "PC-World" as Chocolate Delight. I was nervous to do it because there isn't necessarily all the same products as there are in the US. For example, there are a number of cream cheese's here but each is a bit different and considering they're in a different language it makes it a bit more difficult to find what I need [not to mention I'm already illiterate in the kitchen] but also I wasn't able to find the right thickness in chocolate pudding that I wanted and Coolwhip doesn't really exist here so I had to make due with normal whip cream. But in the end it had nearly the same taste but just a bit different. Manon and her mom said they enjoyed it, so I'll just take their word and run..!

Go On

Just before vacation ended I wanted to take it easy but still take advantage of my time left..

So that Saturday, I offered to help Dimitri's aunt move into her new apartment since I'm somewhat of a master of moving [considering how many times I've moved in my life]. So Dimitri came and picked up me and we drove over there and got to work. We had to put together an armoire for Justine, then while Dimitri was doing some of the stuff only one person could do, I helped carry the boxes upstairs. But after a while, we all left to go to Dimitri's grandparent's house to celebrate Justine's birthday. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot more of his family. One of his uncles that I met was the President of the professional basketball club here in Orleans, so after he found out that I loved basketball he invited me to come with everyone that evening to the game against Strasbourg! So after lunch, Dimitri and I headed back to the apartment to finish setting up his aunt's armoire as well. Then, it was just a quick walk over to the arena for the game. It was so great to be at a basketball game again since this will be the first year I don't get the chance to go to a Jam game. Before I had left Bakersfield, I knew that I wanted to at least come to one game, so I looked up the roster to see if I knew any of the players and sure enough, one of the players - Amara Sy - had played for the Bakersfield Jam a few seasons ago. So, it made it even cooler to have some sort of connection to the team. What made the night a little more exciting was the fact that this game was being televised by Canal + which is sort of like France's ESPN.

The amazing seats we got to sit in.

Overview of the arena

The TV commentators for the game.

But throughout the game, I think I was more of the excitement for Dimitri and his cousins because they hadn't seen how much I get into the game when I watch so every time something happened I could expect to hear a chuckle from behind me. After the game had finished, I got to go with Marie (Dimitri's cousin) and her boyfriend to the "VIP" area where they served an open bar and open food. The food of the night was scallops that were to die for. I think I went through 3 plates of them. But in the VIP area the players give a little speech after they're done changing and then the crowd gets to mingle with them a bit. Since I had mentioned to Dimitri's uncle that I sort of knew Amara, he brought me to him and introduced me in French but just as soon as he was finished I was just like, "Dude. I'm from Bakersfield" and Amara was like "What?! No way! What are you doing here??" So I explained to him that I was studying here and we talked a bit about playing in Bakersfield vs. France and then because we were talking in English another player, Cedrick Banks who played for Illinois, came up and with the same face I'm used to now: "Where are you from??" so it was a great night. To polish it off, Dimitri and his cousin and her boyfriend went out for some Sushi and later we called it a night. The next morning Dimitri and I went back to his aunts apartment to finish putting together her armoire and after we finished [sorta - not really haha] we left to go to Enzo's house to ride some quads.

When we had finished, we had drove out to his Grandparent's house that is in Sologne. It was a beautiful house that felt was in the middle of nowhere, just quiet with trees and a pond. While his grandma had cooked dinner, we all helped his grandpa level out the pool table then we walked around outside the house and at one point we had thought we heard a deer, but it turned out to just be their neighbor's fire haha. So we headed back and sat down at the table for a dinner that I was not prepared for..! The first thing his grandma brought out was a potato soup which was delicious! I had two bowls of it and was going for a third when Dimitri stopped me and told me I better hold off cause there is a lot more to come! So I finished, then she brought out the main course: duck [I think..!] and I had 3 pieces of this with half-side of my plate full of scalloped potatoes. I went through all of that and there was 1 piece of meat left so they insisted that I finished it, so of course I did but at this point I was ready to call it quits. However, the next part of the meal was salad so I had a plate of this and now I already knew what was coming after this, as it is very traditional....fromage! So..Dimitri and Enzo know that I'm not much a fan of cheese but his grandparents don't, and now is not a time to say "Je n'aime pas le fromage" [I do not like cheese] so Dimitri told me to try two that he thought would not be too bad, and they weren't. The only thing was, with the cheese I had eaten nearly 6 pieces of bread so I'm completely stuffed. But one last meal was to come; dessert. When she brought it out I said I would love some, but maybe a small piece. So she hands me the largest piece there was! So I took it with a smile and at the last bite was so glad that I could actually swallow it! Before we got up, his grandpa wanted us to have a "digestive" drink. So he pulled out a bottle of Armagnac and poured each of us a glass. The way he decided to know how much should be in each glass, after he poured he would turn the glass on it's side and let the drink level out and as long as it just touched the lip of the glass then that meant there was enough. Obviously he's had enough time and practice to master this so each glass was poured perfectly on the first try. After we were finished at the table, I just rolled over to the coach and plopped myself down and rested for a bit until we decided it was time to leave and go back home.
Then, of course, Monday was Halloween so it was somewhat strange that I didn't get to carve any pumpkins or decorate the house to scare people, but then again Halloween has never been my favorite holiday either. But we did get together with some friends at Dimitri's house and I did get to give candy to one group of kids who came to the door. In total, we only had 2 groups but that's because Halloween is really dying out fast in France and more and more kids aren't doing it anymore. Although from reading some people's Facebook, I saw that this seemed to be the case everywhere this year. Finally on Wednesday, I started school again and now I'm just on my normal schedule..

But as always, thanks for reading! I hope everyone enjoys it..!