A Happy Week

Hi everyone!

This week was the best week ever for two reasons: First, my grandma got to stay. She brought us lots of candy. She gave lots of hugs and I haven't seen her for a long time, so it was nice of her to come. We went on lots of walks and she read me stories. Sometimes she came with my mom to pick me up from school.

One of the bad things this week was when I hurt my arm doing a one-handed cartwheel. I bent my arm back the wrong way. I cried for a long time. My grandma comforted me and read me a story. She said that Sour Patch Kids were medicine if you were hurt.

The other awesome thing was I started a dance class. It was the best dance class ever. I haven't had so much fun in ages in a dance class. I do a Zumba/modern dance class. My teacher is really nice. Sometimes she can be really funny too. I haven't made friends with any of the other kids yet, but they seem nice. I can't wait to go again next Tuesday.

The rest of my family started activities too. Sophie started swim, my brother started BMX, Anna went climbing and my mom started Zumba and Piloxing. My dad goes to work, but at least he has time to spend with us on the weekend.

In France you have to go to the doctor to get a medical certificate that allows you to do a sport. We all went to the doctor this week to get ours. When the doctor filled out mine she asked me if I was doing rugby. She uses that joke on everyone. In America you don't have to go to the doctor for sport so... you're lucky.

On Wednesday my friend "Squid"got to sleep at our house because her mom was having eye surgery.  We ate apple pie and played outside for a little bit. We got eaten by mosquitos. When it was time to sleep, we snuggled into Sophie's big bed. We would have slept better if J hadn't been in the same room keeping us awake, but mom sent him to the couch anyway, and then we slept great.

Saturday grandma left really early in the morning. That morning, I went into her room to wake her up but she wasn't there. It made me sad. I can't wait until she comes again.

Later that day my mom and I had a game night. It was so fun because we got to play the wii, we got to watch a show and read stories because everyone else went to a youth activity in Marseille. It was awesome because it was just us and we got to eat Macaroni and Cheese and Oreos. It was soooo good.

That's the week.

Love,

E

New Additions and New Beginnings

This past week we have had a new addition to our home. My friend Victoria moved in with us. She and I are sharing a tiny room in the upper floor of our house. It has been hard sharing everything I have but I'm glad we could help her out. Our room is cluttered and close quarters for two teenage girls but we have had fun doing homework together and going to bed at nine thirty on the dot every day. She attends seminary on the phone with us--although we aren't sure the teacher is aware. 

We don't have much time to spend time doing recreational activities because this school year is high pressure and high work load. I feel like a homework machine, except for when I have a pleasure reading book, then I'm a reading machine. I can't help it. 

We finally made it through the first full week of school. I just can't wait for vacation. 

Love, Anna

The Final Countdown and Birthday Cake for Breakfast

This week marked the beginning of the end--of the summer that is. After spending two care-free weeks in Spain we returned to real life and tried to enjoy our last week of freedom. However, school preparations soon began niggling our conscience so off we went to gather the dreaded "fournitures," better known to you as school supplies.

In France, the school supply lists are intense. They include a massive quantity of incredibly specific items. For example a red A4 notebook with 96 pages and 5x5 squares. Everything must be covered in new plastic to keep it from deteriorating. Instead of pages being threaded into binders with holes in the page, everything is placed inside a plastic sheet protector known as a plastic pocket. Needless to say we usually end up with stacks of paper and the pockets to put them in. Our first year here, someone was kind enough to walk us through the supplies. Now, on our third year, we have our system down.

Armed with our lists, four sacks and a scanner we began our game of school-supply hide-n-seek. I nobly waited by the cart while each child found things they needed so I could scan the item and place it in the correct bag. I received more than a few odd looks as I waited--a family our size is unusual. I just smiled. We finished in less than an hour. Hopefully, we won't need anything else.

Tuesday afternoon the girls and I headed to the coiffuse for a bit of pampering. Four haircuts later and looking fabulous, we headed into the centre ville to pick up our school-bus passes at the town hall. Unfortunately, I neglected to bring individual mugshots to put on the passes. I laughed when the woman sitting in the office told me, "It's the same as last year." Frankly, I'm lucky I understood what she was saying then, let alone the procedure from last year. Sometimes it's hard to always appear less than intelligent. But again, I just smile.

Ellie finished her run at the village vacation school with an African dance class. They painted her face red with a big black eye on her forehead. This is her scary face.

Friday I took a hike in the hills in our village with J & E and some other friends. There are several marked trails, so we thought it would be no problem. It was super hot. Despite us following a map, we ended up on a farming plateau with nothing but a signpost pointing to other destinations instead of the chateau we were aiming for. Our exhaustion and dwindling water supply convinced us to turn around instead of continue. We never made it to the castle, but we did get granitas (slushies).

The most important thing by far we did this week was celebrate Anna's birthday. We started with breakfast in bed--crepes with peaches and whipped cream. This was followed by a chaser of birthday Rice Crispy treats (her birthday cake of choice).  We spent the day at Lac d'Esparron peddling around on a pedalo (a paddle boat with a slide). We jumped off some low cliffs, had a picnic and swam while soaking up the sun.












Anna finished the day with a trip to Aix-en-Provence where her dad helped her pick out her birthday present--a guitar. (She has played non-stop every since.) It was a great day and a great week.

Fingers crossed the first week of school will be as good.

Meredith