Settling In

Well I've been here three and a half days and I think I'm beginning to really settle into the rhythm here. I absolutely love it - I'm so happy to be here. I'm not quite sure what I explained in the last entry since I was pretty tired so I'm sorry if I repeat something.

As I've said, I'm staying with a French family - the mother: Marie-Suzanne, the father: Thierry, the little brother(almost 20): Bastien, and the sister: Laurie (they have an older brother who lives with his girlfriend in Paris whom I haven't met yet). Bastien took me to a mall the first day to buy a cell phone. I now have a very small pay-as-you-go phone but it's pretty expensive not to have a contract. Incoming calls are free which is nice but I really don't know many people in France who would call anyways! The next day I looked for apartments all day long (on the internet) and Marie-Suzanne helped me write inquiries to those that interested me (kids in pre-school don't have school Wed. afternoons so she spent the afternoon at home). I had one response that I'm still pursuing and another that I'm going to go see tomorrow. They aren't perfect - each one has their good points but it's hard to find somewhere that I can afford the apartment and the bills. We'll just have to wait and see... Today I woke up late and then had lunch with the family - Bastien is looking for a job right now so he's home and Marie-Suzanne comes home for lunch everyday...Thierry and Laurie come when they can. Afterward, Bastien and I walked to an area with a lot of banks so I could ask to open an account. I had to get an appointment to see a banker so I'll be opening my account next Thursday (as long as I don't have to work at the same time!). It was fun to get out of the appartment even though I love just being there and Bastien and I got to talk about politics and the differences between young people and France and America. Tonight, Marie-Suzanne and Thierry went to Thierry's parent's house for the weekend and Laurie invited over three friends and Bastien had one friend over. We had a "crepe soiree". They have what looks like a griddle and it's divided into 6 small circles. One person pours the batter in the circles (there is a different batter for "salty" crepes with meat and cheese and "sugary" crepes with nutella and butter/sugar) and the other flip them and put on toppings. It was really good and really fun. I couldn't really converse to much because they still speak very fast and I still don't have the best speaking skills but they make sure to include me and explain things. I know I'm improving and it's only been a few days!

The weirdest thing is learning new manners. Every time someone comes home (whether it's a family member or someone I've never met) you should stand up and "faire la bise" that is kiss on each cheek. Bastien had a friend over and he did "la bise" when he got there and when he left. It's pretty weird at first but I'm getting really used to it and even had a dream that I was doing in American last night! Also, at the table they leave their napkins on the table, they keep their hands out of their laps, they eat every last bit of food off their plates including all remnants of sauce with a baguette. I cannot do that yet. I never realized that I always left food on my plate! Also, they don't change hands from cutting to eating (they eat with the left hand) and I really focused on doing that tonight with the crepes and I did really well. I'll have to make that a habit!

I have to mention the food - it is sooo good here! I had a veal casserole with rice that was awesome and au gratin potatoes from scratch and a steak for lunch with pasta and freshly grated cheese. Meals are so important here and we never eat outside of meals at the table. I'm trying to pick up on their dishes and how they make them. Oh, and every meal is followed by a dairy course (cheese or yogurt with cream and sugar) and then a fruit course...which of course I love.

I almost forgot - Wednesday night Laurie took me to a skating practice that ended up being a senior synchro practice. I learned their program and it was really fun to skate again. At the end the coach asked me for my info and gave me a schedule - so I guess I'm on the team! It's really cheap compared to the US so I'm going to do it as long as my schedule allows it. We have an exhibition in Nice in about a month that I don't know if I'll make but it would be really fun.

Well, tomorrow we're going to sleep in and then go see an appartment (the owners speak English so it shouldn't be too difficult) then we're going to walk around the city a little bit. All the American assistants are meeting up but I don't think I'm going to go - it's too easy to use that as a crutch and get around immersing myself in French. Then I think Laurie is having another "soiree" here at the appartment - a "soiree americain"! They gave eachother fake American names and try to act american - it's pretty "rigolo"(funny)!

Well, I've written a ton and now it's 1:30. I've got to go but next time I'll try to figure out how to put some pictures up!

A plus!
BISOUS!

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