Shenanigans in 2010

I hope everyone celebrated a great New Years! I was at the ski station Chamrousse with Vivien, Cyriel, Yann, and eight other revellers. We arrived at 7:00 with sleds and plenty of wine. At first it was a little awkward because most people didn't know each other before, but we a dinner of potatoes, meat, and cheese got people mixing and with all the disguises it was hard not to find something to talk about. See pictures below for more details.

The food took so long to eat that we finished around 11 and then we didn't even realize that it was midnight. The music was going and people were talking, so when we started hearing fireworks, we all went on the balcony to shout to other people in the apartment building.

Pictures: me with a skier. I know what you're thinking...the hat is pretty awsome.

Yann with a friend. I'm not exactly sure what look he was going for at this point.

The cow. He actually went into a night club like this.

Me as a lumberjack

Vivien with a friend. Notice the collar I got him.

Cyriel as Mrs. Claus.

Around 2 am, someone had the bright idea to go sledding on the ski slopes. The first time I went down with someone, we ran into a group of people standing around and I now sport a huge bruise all down the side of my face. I'm blaming it on his steering skills. Because regular sledding wasn't dangerous enough, we decided to take down the huge pads that cover the ski lift polls and slide down on those. During most of the night there were at least 10 people on mats, flying down the slope at 40 miles an hour. During one of these runs I lost my hat, which was, sadly, never to be found again. Went to bed at 4:30 and woke up at 11 for breakfast. We left at 4:00 in about a foot of snow. Driving in chains is no fun at all so it took twice as long as usual to descend.

It just so happened that my dad's cousin was in Grenoble the 1st and 2nd so we got to catch up and go out to dinner. Tomorrow I leave for Morocco, so today is dedicated to deciding which things I want to cram into my backpack. Next (very long) post on the 14th when I come back!

Bisous a tous

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.