New Family, New Town, New Experences

 Several weeks ago I moved from Les Arcs to Roquebrune-sur-Argens. Although I haven't explored my new town much, my host dad claims that it's the best town in the world, it is indeed beautiful, but i don't know, best town in the world??I'm pretty sure that he meant to say, second best to Fayette.

So I now live with the Fernaund Family, Fabrice, Chantal,(my 'parents') and Maife(my 'sister'). My Brother is going to school in Marseille(marr*French 'r' here*-say-ugh), so i don't know him really well, but he seams nice.. My host dad Fabrice is a pretty funny guy. Everybody in town knows him through the many things he does. Most people have either been in his sport ...classes/teams(?) when they were kids, or have kids/grand kids in his current classes. Some of the kids in his sports now, are the children of people that he once taught. He also works f or the mayor, and is a volunteer fire fighter.He's really nice, and has been really helpful. Chantal works at a preschool of sorts, during the day, and is usually home by the time I'm done with school. She generally makes dinner, and is pretty darn good at it. Maife, my awesome host sister, is in her last year of lycee. It's been cool to have a sibling my age in the house. I've hung out with her and her friends a couple times, one time we went to the boit/discotheque which was pretty cool.
My new host fam and I have done lots of things.One day,after getting out of school at noon,(it was a Wednesday) , Fabrice took me on a motorcycle ride. It was pretty intense. We drove along the coast and stopped by some WWII relics /other awesome stuff, like seeing  Île d'Or, which was cool.  Then, on the way back we drove through Frejus. Randomly Fabrice saw some friends driving on a moto too. We basically chased them down .He finally got their attention and they pulled over. Turns out that one of them was a past Rotary Youth Exchange Student 30 ish(maybe, I think...I forgot when exactly) years ago!! From France to Canada!Pretty much the coolest thing that happened that week!

My host dads a firefighter, so one night before Christmas we went to the equivalent to the fireman's' ball . It was pretty nifty. Good food, good friends,... so so music!

Durring vacance I was able to hang out with my exchange friends a bit too. I went to Toulon with Tracy from one of the Dakotas,and Nice with Oneza(from Bombay) and Vanessa (from Chicago). For New Years,Oneza and I went to Katelyn's house in St.Cyr. We ate with her 'family' and family friends. The dad's close friend was from Italy he told some good stories which was cool. One was about different gestures in France( he once thought a girl was asking him to go skiing...she wasn't). It was also nice because his girlfriend had spent time in the UK, so we were able to discuss accents and what not.

And now the portion where I show you the keys on a French key board that don't exist on a American keyboard!!!!!!!!!!: § µ ù ¤ £ € ² é è ç à °
Pretty intense, right? On top of that some of the keys are mixed up. So lots of time when switching between my laptop and school computer, my hands get confused. Major difference is that , to press the numbers at the top of the keyboard you have to first hold down the shift button. So, for example, if I tried to write the number 1,234,567,890 US style it would come out   "   as&é"'(-è_çà   "  ... weird, no? While we're on the subject of numbers, I get confused in math sometimes. One big difference is that instead of decimals, they use commas. So five million, two hundred and sixty three thousand, seven hundred and twenty point seven six two (5,263,720.762) would be written 5263720,762 It kinda annoyed me when i first got here, not so much anymore, but I still think the US system (Apparently Indian too, because my friend from Bombay also talked about it) is a bit better. Another thing in math is that when multiplying , they don't always use the dot. ie: 5 times 4 written in the US (usually after you've taken your first algebra class) as: 5 (insert dot here) 4, would be written as 5 X 6 in France which confuses me when we're using variables, because if you have 4X times 5 =100 ,solve for X,it gets kinda crazy...4X(dot)5 =100 in the US might be 4X X 5 =100 in France.

 In English we've been learning about the US civil rights movement. I made a powerpoint on it because the teacher asked. I gave it on MLK day and I'm not sure the class understood everything, but it's all good.

Haiti (hi-ey-tea): Every one in France is really touched by the earthquake in Haiti. Although less, they still talk about the current situation, which, in case you've been ....I can't really think of a place where you wouldn't have heard about it... like on the ocean floor,  with no communication ...or something....anyway it's the worst natural disaster in a long time. The other night there was a telethon with a lot a famous French people, and there has been lots and lots of money donated.Haiti came up during a dinner conversation last week.  I've been thinking a lot about the rescue and we had a lively discussion about how countries prioritize rescuing their own citizens before others.  I got kind of defensive for a minute, I  said 'Of course a country will rescue their own citizens first.' . I don't know... What does it seem like from your prospective? Anyway,point is, if you haven't already donated...or if you want to donate more money, you should definitely click on the link on the right.

Burkas: The issue of the Burkas is a very hot topic these days.   I've kind of been  challenged in observing the debate and participating in one-on-one conversations. Yesterday I had a long conversation about the law in the works. Sarkozy along with lots of other people want to ban full cover burkas in public places. When I heard, I was rather amazed. How can the government be allowed to control what people wear? I understand that it's a really complicated issue, but I can't bring myself to think it's a good thing to do. People for the ban say that the women who wear them don't choose to. I sort of feel that it's the result of some people's fear of immigration and fear of Muslims in general, someone even told me that some people think that if they don't do something now, in a couple years, everybody in France would be Muslim and wearing burkas. That's seems rather extreme  if you ask me... I mean ...it would make it so, if a person wearing one walked on to a bus the driver would ask her to take it off, or she couldn't ride...that's discrimination, right? It's just really weird to me... I guess everyone has an opinion! I just feel like the burka ban would be forcing some people's opinions on to other people.  So ...I don't know all the facets of this issue, and might have some things wrong, so tell me what you think!

Well. I guess that's about it for now. I'll try to write again soon!

I hope everything is great with you!! Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, you should definitely send them, and I'll put them in. Don't be afraid to comment either!

a plus!(later)

P.S. Yesterday, me and France celebrated our 5 month anniversary.