Updates

Hello all,

Since I've been absent for the whole month of December, I thought I would do a little backtracking. The second week of December was filled with exams. The first of which happened to be on a Saturday morning at 8 am. Despite having set my alarm for 6:30, I woke up at approximately 7:15. The bus that I HAD to take left at 7:25 and it takes 10 minutes to get to the bus stop. Needless to say, I sprinted my little heart out to get there at exactly 7:24. The next four exams were uneventful. I wrote an essay on Napoleon and spouted out useless numbers such as the percentage of French people who go to Church. Not many, let me tell you.

After exams were done, we had a little party at the house of the director of our program. Since she didn't have a Christmas tree, the three of us Albion girls said we would buy her one for her apartment. We were a sight to be seen; two of us carrying a 7 foot tree with the third carrying our purses through downtown Grenoble. There were many stares, but we kept trudging and finally got it up the stairs to the third floor.

My birthday was the 19th as many of you know, but I celebrated it on the 18th with my host family. The fam got me a ski jacket, which is great and Vivi made chicken especially for me because they don't eat it in France but they know that I like it. Vivien got my a gift too, but because I want to keep this blog G-rated, I will not show a picture. It was a pack of playing cards with nude men on them--very classy. We all had a laugh over that one, especially Viviane, who showed a deep interest in the pics. I also celebrated with my friend in the Christmas market. She made me a cake and we got some hot wine. We got some strange looks for that too, but it was memorable.

This week was also memorable. Christmas Eve we ate escargot, in the shell this time. The family was laughing at me because I didn't know how to work the pincers to hold the shells. It was very Pretty Womanesque. Christmas Day dinner started at 1:30 and we finished the five courses at about 5:30. I can't remember it all because I had a foodcoma but it included fois gras, smoked salmon, lobster, steak, lots of dessert, and, of course, champagne and wine.

I got a pretty good haul for Christmas, including jewery, lotion, a calendar, and last but not least a tree ornament of France made by Charlotte. Viviane's sister got the family a Wii and it was the best idea ever. We stayed up till 12:30 last night playing it. It is a sure-all way to get kids out of your hair, which I'm sure J-P and Vivi greatly enjoy.

Do I regret not coming home over Christmas break? No, not at all. I am so happy that I decided to stay here for Christmas break, despite the departure of all my friends to their respective homes over the holidays. First reason: I have gotten closer to all the kids in two weeks time then I have in all the three months combined. J-P's three oldest are gone during the school year, so this is the first time that I've had a long amount of time to bond and I've always been closer to Vivi's kids but it's been cemented during the past two weeks. It's hard to say with Charlotte because she's only 10, but the other day I taught her how to play BS and Spoons and that's all she wants to do now. After playig spoons for the ten thousandth time in a row, it gets a little old, but I do like spending time with her. Second reason: I am going to Morocco on Jan. 4 for ten days. Third reason: I am going to a New Year's Eve party with Vivien and Cyriel. The theme is cuir (leather) so as revenge for my birthday present I got Vivien a spiked leather collar to wear to the party as his Christmas present. That got a lot of laughs too. Reason four: Cyriel has lots of time on her hands so she has been doing my hair and makeup for fun everyday. I don't know what I'm going to do without my hair and make up artist!

Here's me modelling her work

Christmas market at night (i.e. 5:00 pm)

Above: Grenoble all lit up with Christmas market

Below: pile of bottles at our house after Christmas. I'm kidding... it was the pile of bottles outside of our favorite bar, O'Callaghan's (the best Irish pub in Grenoble!)

Since I have more time on my hands now, I will blog more often. Sorry for my abscence!

Chaio

P.S. some of you may be wondering if I did the traditional 21st birthday where you drink until you pass out, and the answer is no. This birthdy had to more significance than any other since I was "of age" the moment I got here.