LiddleMadi

The longer I stay here, the more I realize how diverse the world must be. Example: Here, the isn't an Easter Bunny. They were even perplexed by the idea like, why would there be an Easter Bunny? How does an bunny get ahold of eggs? What they have instead is church bells.... The church bells fly away for the weekend and when they return, as they fly over your house and they lose eggs along the way. And that's only one different country. Imagine all the different traditions other countries follow, which compared to us, seem completely ridiculous. Some things are similar though, and somethings scarily similar, Like the hierarchy of teenagers is exactly there same; the way people react to others from different social standings. Another that is really similar would be the profile of ... read more

One Way Roads You know how in Canada, when you want to get on the bus somewhere, you wait for the people getting off to disembark first? Yeah, that's not a thing here. It's took me a while to describe that in Canada, even if someone bumps into you first, you apologize as well, because you we were there to be bumped into in the first place, so technically it is your fault too... Right? But, they don't have that logic here. I say logic because for me, it is common sense, but here if you were to excuse yourself, you would be degrading yourself. I guess Canadians aren't afraid to admit their own defeat. Here, Streets are confused by signs that allow only one direction. Sometimes, I don’t even see the signs, and then I ... read more

My first experience of a French dinner party was last night; It would be better described as a marathon of consumption. It started of fairly late. Around 8pm, all the guests arrived: The farmer couple who lives down the road, their daughter, their son and his fiancé. They all lined up inside the door and the uncomfortable long sharade of cheek kissing unfolded. I'm was told that in the north of France, the custom is 4 kisses. Here, the custom is two, starting on the right. And in Paris, it's also two but they start on the left... See how that might be troubling? Anyway! Two kisses is still a lot when its on someone you've never met before and you're trying the explain who you are and all that jazz in between the two cheek ... read more

Cheese, Bread, Cream. 5ever. I quickly learned that Normandy is known for its cream. Valerie made a veggie soup with a scoop of Creme Fraiche (which is has the constancy of sour cream), which made it so rich, my god, I feel like I might start perspiring cream sauce. It hurts so good. And the Cheese! After lunch and dinner, like clockwork, slices of cheese are passed around and accompanied by chunks of bread. I've tried 5 new cheeses now, and they're all so good! It's hard to distinguish my favourite, but Im sure I'll be bringing back a variety. My mom would die; the pile of crumbs that end up on the table after dinner could feed the poor. For some reason, (I haven't asked yet but anyway) they don't cut their bread on their ... read more

As we arrived at Alison's house, I realized how remote it was. It's a little farm property, something you might see behind elk lake. She has a few chickens and geese and three goats. Her backyard is half Christmas tree farm, half paddocks for the 4 horses: 2 ponies and 1 rescue that is just boarding with her, and her own mare. Apparently, I'll be able to ride eventually, which should be interesting :) I didn't really understand when Alison told me she was preparing my room for me. I thought maybe she was cleaning it or something, which would have been amazing, but, I realize now that she was actually renovating part of the house where I would be staying. So, my room is beautiful! It's all newly painted, and accented with lilac colours. Just ... read more