Where does the time go?

Honestly, I mean to post more often but the time flies by so fast that it seems like I post and then a week goes by in a couple hours. I can't believe that have been in France for 5 and a half weeks!

Anyway, since the last time I posted, I played volleyball for the first time in the university club. It was fun but the girls were not too friendly. There were nine of us altogether; 7 French, one Italian, and me. The Italian girl and I got along really well and bonded over the fact that we had no idea what was going on in the drills. The others got really frustrated with us and basically ignored us the whole time. I talked to Vivi about this and she said that French girls who participate in sports are almost always really intense and that they would warm up once we got to know them better. We shall see, but it is fun to play and there are about 30 guys play at the same time, so I can't complain! Afterward, when we were in the locker room changing back into our clothes (because French women never go outside in gym clothes!) I had just finished dressing and then this stream of 30 guys walked into the girls' locker room. I was and still am very confused about that.

In addition to playing volleyball, I decided to join the "choir" that Vivi is in on Thursdays. It consists of 17 or so people and then 10 or so musicians. We are practicing now for the concert that is in May and I'm excited. Not only is it helping with my French accent, but it's a big deal, everyone has parts and we make costumes for it. There's a website with pictures that a photographer takes each week so I'll post the address when I know it.

Last weekend was really fun. I want to be travelling and seeing things outside of Grenoble but I really, really enjoy spending time with the family and getting to know French culture better. I have seriously been considering staying here forever and asking them to adopt me (kidding... kind of). Friday I saw a French film called Le Coach with Vivien and another Albion girl. For the most part, I understood what was going on, but there were still some things that I didn't catch until the end.

Saturday I went bikeriding with Vivianne to downtown Grenoble. It was about 30 kilometers both ways, which wouldn't have been bad but the bike I was riding was about 20 years old. The seat was about half a foot too short and the brakes did not work at all, but we got there in one piece. On the way back, we had to stop at the grocery store so I had a baguette and some meat stuffed in my backpack and Vivi had some flowers and cheese in hers so we were a sight to be seen I'm sure. About halfway back, these black clouds rolled in and it started to sprinkle so we raced to the house and got there literally in the nick of time because when we opened the door it started to downpour.

Sunday we visited Jean-Pierre's family. I knew they lived on the mountain but I thought it would be like us, kind of close to the bottom, but it took us an hour to get to the mountain and then another hour and a half driving uphill to get there. It honestly looked like something from Heidi. The mountain people have a special type of house that they live in where the animals live in the house with them duirng the winter so the houses are absolutely enormous to accomodate all the cows and pigs. We were greeted by one of Jean-Pierre's brothers who yelled "Kiss me! I love American girls!" I found it hilarious and kind of disturbing that every single house within sight housed a family that was related in some way to the family next door, and down the road, and on the next turn, and so on. Of the nine children in Jean-Pierre's family, eight of them live within a 1/4 mile of his mother. There is a ski run that goes literally in their backyard-amazing!

Another adventure in food. This weekend we picked up some boudin at the butcher's. They wouldn't tell me what it was until I tasted it which made me really nervous. I should've taken a picture, but it looked like really dark sausage. Turns out it was coagulated pig blood mixed with milk and spices. They said that one of their former exchange students pucked after hearing that, but it didn't bother me that much.

Oh, I forgot to post last weekend that I went to a broquante (huge village garage sale) with the mom of Vivi. It was amazing-there were probably 300 booths or more. I got a French dictionary for 50 cents, a pair of shoes for a Euro, a congugation book for 50 cents and a scarf for 50 cents. Mami, Vivi's mom, goes garage sale shopping every weekend so she considers herself a pro. If there is a price listed, you always bicker with the vendor. For example, the dictionary was 1.50 Euro and she said to the lady selling it, "1.50, really? I can't believe you're asking that-I wouldn't pay more than 25 cents for that piece of shit." Then they went back and forth until they settled on 50 cents. It was like that for everything-the hands always went in the air and sometimes we would leave and then come back 10 minutes later and remark that the thing still hadn't sold and offer an even lower price. I'm not very good at barganing yet, but she said I was getting there (the ultimate compliment of a French person).

Today I'm not feeling very well so I stayed at the house and cleaned my room, which was much needed, and caught up on homework, which was even more needed. I'm not exactly sure yet, but I think I will be going to Munich this weeked for Ocktoberfest-so I need to figure everything out.

For future reference: floss is super expensive here and it's really bad quality. Being the daughter of a dentist though, I bit the bullet and spent 5 dollars on FLOSS! Therefore, if you plan on spending time in Europe bring floss with you or prepare to pay!