oh la

Lots of stuff

So Wednessday the 11th was Armistice day. The Anniversary of the end of WWI. It’s a national holiday, so instead of going to school, I helped my local Rotary.They were doing their annual tree cutting. On a member's land we cut trees to provide fire wood for the winter. Afterwords they sell the wood and give the profit to charity(i think) . After cutting logs we had a lunch with most people in my Rotary club. The lunch was pretty good but dessert was amazing. To my surprise, they brought out a huge Tarte Tropezine with candles, along with a letter chain saying “Joyeux Anniversaire’. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t stop smiling. it was so awesome. They sang 'joyeux anniversaire' and gave me gifts: a hoodie and a scarf. It made me feel at home and it made me more in love with France.

Friday was my eighteenth birthday! School was good, everybody told me happy birthday. After school was good(sorry for the lack of variety in my descriptive words), I got some packages from my ( real )family, which was great.My host family is really wonderful. We had a special birthday dinner, with cake(with candles) and cream anglais(which is amazing) for dessert , and they gave me two awesome sweaters, it’s really good, because when packing, I kinda thought it would be pretty warm all year round, and compared to Missouri, it is, but I definitely had a lack of warmer clothing. My birthday was one of the most difficult days so far. It was really hard to ‘be here’ and not think about home and family.

Saturday started off great! I got candy in the mail! Not only one package of American candy…but two! How lucky I am!Saturday after noon Yzabel's sister(my host aunt...?) arrived. She was very nice, and very similar to Yzabel,which is a good thing.Saturday night my second host family came over. Yzabel (my mom) made an amazing meal and it was nice to meet my next family. We decided that I would move the 5th of December(Saturday). They live in a nearby town , but I’ll go to the same school. It makes me sad to think about moving and changing families, but I'm looking forward to getting to know this new family. I feel so lucky to have had such wonderful people as my first host family. They really made me feel like their house was my house.

Sunday afternoon Claude, Yzabel, Cannelle, Colette(Yzabel's sister), a family friend and I , climbed a mountain (probably not technically a mountain...) in Roquebrune, the town where my énd family lives. It was really amazing. Pictures to come.

The next Saturday I took the train to Cannes and saw 2012 with Vanessa(from Chicago) and Amanda(from Nebraska). It was a great day. I don't know about you, but any day involving Cannes, friends, a disaster movie, and nutella ice cream is a success in my eyes. That evening when I got home, Mamie, Jillian, Canelle, and I went to a very popular pizza place. I had one with nearly raw egg, sounds gross, tasted delicious.

Sunday I helped my local Rotary club with their 'Loto' (Bingo) . It was a really fun day. In the morning my counselor picked me up, and we went to the banquet hall they had it in. I helped with setting up, then we had a snack. The snack consisted of about 5 different types of pate/mouse. One was really fancy(apparently), foie gras. While putting some onto my bread, a Rotarian informed me that it was banned in the US....not because of health of humans, but because of the way the ducks are treated. I guess they force feed the duck so its liver gets really big and full of fat. I felt a little guilty eating it, but I must admit, it was delicious. Here's a wiki page on it. ....Anyway, that night was the actual Loto. At the entrance you could buy bingo cards if you wanted to, but entrance was free. There were several long tables with piles of corn on them( for marking your card), and a stage with tons of prizes. If I understand correctly , lotos very popular here, 300ish people came. Some of the prizes they gave away were, ham legs, a tv, wine, dvd players, food baskets,and a payed 2 week trip to somewhere I've forgotten. I think that they raised 1000€,which is something like 1500$ for charity. It was a really fun night, I enjoyed it a lot.

Monday we celebrated Yzabel's birthday a day early so Claude's mom could be there.We had cake and candles,it was really nice.

Tuesday, there was a country wide teacher's strike, (they are usually for just one day here). Unfortunately for me, my first hour teacher was gone, but my last/2nd teacher wasn't. That means my friends and I had 4 hours of pause,your probably wondering , 'Why didn't you write your blog then Eli?'...I was wondering the same thing, guess we're one the same wavelength! Anyway, point is , that if the other prof would have striked too(due to the word check underlining 'striked' with an annoying red squiggle, I'm assuming that it's not a word...is it struck???...oh well), I wouldn't have had school.(Real cool, prof who didn't strike, real cool.) Apparently, there are 2 or 3 teacher strikes per year!That's really great, hopefully next time, I'll get out of scho..I mean , it's cool that the teachers are able to protest things they aren't happy with! (seriously, I think it's pretty cool, and not just because the whole "no class" thing).

Wednesday after school I took the train to Toulon and spent the afternoon with Katelyn. We ate lunch at 'Quick', the French version of McDonalds. It was pretty good, most French people prefer McDonalds, but it wasn't bad. In Toulon, we were trying to find a store and asked a young couple, who then walked us there , I think they were headed in that direction anyway, but it was pretty much one of the nicest things strangers have done for me. About 20 minutes before my train left, we realized we didn't know how to get back to the gare (train station). After asking about 26 different people , and running in the direction they told us each time, we got to the gare 10 minutes late and way out of breath. My train had already left, so I went to the counter to buy another ticket,(my current one was marked NO CHANGES OR REIMBURSEMENTS), I told the lady what had happened in my terrible American accent/bad grammar, and I think she felt sorry for me/she was just really nice, so she just scribled out the time written on the ticket with the new time.

Thanksgiving was ridiculously difficult. I did get to talk via video skype with my family but it (obviously) wasn't the same. I talked with my grandparents some which was really cool. My grandma talked about how she would have never believed that video calls from around the world would be posible in her lifetime. Skype is pretty amazing. Yzabel made chicken,(closest thing to turkey available).Friday night I made pumpkin pie(minus the pumpkin, plus sweet potatoes and carrots) for my family, which , if I do say so myself, was pretty good!

Tuesday was AIDS(SIDA in France) awareness day. Lots of people(including me) wore red. And there was a bake sale. I bought 2 euros worth and gave a five euro bill. They also threw in a preservatif ...which I felt awkward taking, but I think I would have felt more awkward handing it back, after I took it and realized what was in the box....


My host family's doctor told them not to get the H1N1 vaccine, and most people here are pretty worried about it, however, my doctor told me I should. You can get your vaccines at the school , so this week,(Tuesday) I went to the nurse with my friends and asked about it. She told me I needed my insurance info. The next day, when I brought it and she said to come back Thursday. Thursday she wasn't there. Friday, finally, I went to get it. When I got to the office, she informed me that I needed to call the embassy, so they can give permission...I called the embassy,( and I'm not gonna lie, I feel pretty cool saying that), and a lady said that I actually don't need their permission.... and that I made her day because I asked a new question.I guess I'll get the vaccine next Thursday.


Yesterday,(Friday), was the country wide telethon for several different disseses. At my school, at 2 PM , classes ended . The teachers and some students sold roses , food, and helium balloons with tags where you could right your name and then release it with everybody else...most people however just stood in circles , taking turns inhaling the helium, and laughing at each others funny voices. It made me laugh a little on the inside. ....*Randomish*...Wondering if this is bad for you, I just went to the International Balloon Association and they say "Helium Inhalation-it's no laughing matter"...get it , because, people laugh at the high voice that comes from helium....ha. In the evening there was a television program(that i think is a 24 hour event) to raise money. In 6ish hours they raised 7 millionish euros. My family is watching it now, and they've raised like 54 million. It's a yearly, countrywide event, which is cool.

So I've officially moved. Right now I'm sitting with my new parents, in my new house, watching tv. My new family is really nice. The house is really nice, and my new room rocks. The town seems really amazing too.

I'll be putting new pictures on picasa soon, so check them out CLICK HERE!!!


I really hope everything is going well!. If you have any questions be sure to email me! elitinkfort@gmail.com