41 Days

Wow, have I got a lot to write in a half hour. I really want to get to bed by 10 since I have school tomorrow and I'm exhausteddd! To catch you up quickly-
Saturday, I ended up going to Italian class from 10-12 with Camille and Sabrina. We didn't make the appointment for my senior pictures because I forgot to figure out a date with my host mom. So I will hopefully accomplish that early on this week. Italian was great! It was at the other high school across the street, and they were reviewing things from the very beginning. I copied down the months, numbers 1-20, regular verb conjugasions, and the irregular verbs or "être," "faire," and "avoir" in Italian. I honestly feel like I understood more in that class than Latin, and I've never taken an Italian class before in my life. I got invited back next week, too, so I think I will continue taking Italian. :)! But after that was over, I took the bus home and helped Pierre get things together for his party. We went to the store and bought a bunch of food and stuff, and then came back and got it all together. People started showing up around 3. The first to arrive was a friend from Pierre's class (Robin) and his family. He has a host sister named Nist who is from Thailand. I met her once before, but I don't know if you guys remember. She's friends with Marina (the Brazilian) and they're both in the same class at the Lycée in Béthune. Anyway, she invited me to Calais with her, Marina, and some other friends from school on Monday since it's a holiday (Pentecôte). Her host parents suggested that I spend the night with them Sunday in Béthune so that I don't have to get up insanely early and drive there. As we were talking, other people arrived. Nist stayed, but the parents left after working things out with my host mom. I helped Pierre distribute all the animal masks we made for this big event, and then he played some French Lion King music and we all danced. Well, not all of us danced.. I didn't really, and nor did Nist, Robin, or Romane. Benoît did a little, and Pierre-Antoine got pretty into it, but other than that, it was mainly just Pierre. We played a game in the backyard and took a bunch of pictures. Then my host mom called that to a stop, and we had cake and opened gifts. Afterwards, Pierre-Antoine, Antoine, Nist and I went to the Mairie to see the "Under 18 Town Coucil" meeting. Just as we got to the door, the kids came out; the meeting was over. haha, what timing. Christelle explained what the kids did, a little, and what I got was that any kids under 18 in the town who want to change something or have a suggestion to better the community can attend the meeting. It's a way to give the younger people a voice, too. I thought that was a neat idea. We picked on Arlette a little, who was outside gardening, and then returned back to the party. Nist's host parents were there, so she and Robin headed out. Then Benoît left with his dad. After a little talking, Pierre-Antoine and Antoine headed out, too.

Saturday night was also Marius's first birthday party, so we went over to Simon and Claire's house for a bbq. We were kind of late arriving, but still got there before dinner, so no biggie. lol. Marius has gotten sooo big since I've seen him last! He's got tons of hair, too! He is just finishing up getting over the chicken pox, so there were a few scabs left on his face and scalp. I've never had those, and now that I'm more than 9 years old, I hope I never do. It kind of worried me a little to go to his house, but we were outside 90% of the time, so I think I'm safe. Pierre got a Wii for his birthday from the family, so we went to set that up. We played Wii Sports until dinner, and then afterwards Romane and Pierre played some Mario Kart. I spent majority of the time talking with the other people outside. There was Annick (who will nottt leave me alone about my being sick and being homesick and everythinggg! And that is really getting to me.), Thomas & Anne and their kids, and a couple friends of Simon & Claire and their two boys. It wasn't a large crowd, but we had a good time. I was reallyyy tired by the end. Originally, I was going to go to a discotheque with some people from town, but I postponed that to a later time because there was no way I'd have made it. I was nearly falling asleep at 9:00, and I doubt I would have even made it to 11 if I'd've gone out. So then, after a nice, long bbq, we headed home.

Sunday, I got up kind of late. Pierre had already left with Thomas to drop their dad off at the trainstation. I got ready for the day, and then came downstairs to find Claire, Simon, Lola, and Marius already here for lunch. My host mom had run out for a bit, so I set the table and got things ready as best I could. Then I talked with them for a while. Annick came a little later, followed by Anne & Thomas, Romane, Lou-Marie, and Lilian. We all ate lunch together and then I got my stuff ready to go. My host mom drove Pierre and I to Robin & Nist's house near Béthune. We went swimming in their pool with their brother, William, their cousin, Benoît(not the same one from the party), and Marina. We had chocolate chip cookies, raspberry smoothies, apple pie, and sparkling soda for snack later on. Then my host mom and Pierre took off and I stayed with Nist and Marina. Benoît left shortly after for work. William, Robin, Marina, Nist, and I played a few card games. Then we ate dinner and played another card game with the whole family. Then we played a round of Scrabble before heading up to bed.

This morning, I got up at 7:45 to start getting ready. I did nott feel very well. In fact, I feel more like I have bronchitis now than I did a week ago. And it shows up the day after I finished my meds, too! Anyway, we left an hour later for the train station, where we met up with Marina and the other girls who were going to Calais with us. There was Julie, Elise, Madeline, and Lili (I don't remember her real name, but that's what everyone calls her). When our train arrived in Calais, we walked around for a while and took a bunch of pictures. We went past the Beffoi, a bunch of memorial statues, and the beach. Supposedly, on a nice, clear day you can see the cost of England accross the Channel. I didn't see it today, though. Then we spent nearly two hours trying to find transportation to Cité Europe ('the biggest shopping center in Northern France'). Since it was a holiday, nothing was available. We found a tourist building and the lady hooked us up with twoo taxis. Unfortunately, the maximum number of people a taxi can take is 6 people, and since we had 7, we needed two. At the mall, we ate lunch at McDonalds. Then we hit a few shops (NafNaf, H&M, Promod, and a fancy dress store). I got a pair of sandals at H&M, because I am really sick of not having any to wear. I was told that the French do not wear flipflops, so I didn't bring any, but they actually do- just not as often as Americans. After our time was up, we took the taxis back to the train station and caught our train back. I stayed on the train after everyone else got off at Béthune and continued on to Arras. My host mom and Pierre came to get me there, and we came back and had dinner. Then I got on the computer and voilà!

Monthly Progress Report: This month has for sure felt the longest. After I got sick, I kind of lost it. I did try and work on my pronouns and learning the gender of the nouns better, but I don't feel like I did a very good job with that. I've noticed my English is getting really bad, though! My sentences are formulated really weird when I talk, and I have trouble getting out what I need to say comprehensively. I gave 2 people directions and asked another lady (who was English)for directions in English, today in Calais, and wowww was that weird. It's turned into a natural thing to speak French all the time, and after trying to actually communicate with people who speak English, it felt really strange. You're all going to have so much fun mocking my terrible English when I get back. lol. My writing on here even kind of sucks compared to what it used to be. Next month, I basically just want to make it through healthy and happy. I want to enjoy it as much as I can before I have to leave. This is my last full month here, and I've gotta make the best of it and do anything I haven't done yet that I wanted to do.

à demain!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: le manche = the Channel.