Talking sanwhiches - XMAS Eve France 2010

I went to Christmas mass for the first time (?) in my life, or at least the first one that I can remember. It was beautiful and I watched a 1000 year old church come alive. I went alone because my other friends were digging someone out of the snow.

And yes... there is still so much snow here I can't believe it!! There's a solid 6 inches here at the moment and it's -6 degrees in celsius well below freezing... and I have no idea what that temperature is in farenheit. Okay, so I looked it up and I learned TWO things 1) farenheit is actually spelled fahrenheit and 2) -6° degrees celsius = 20° degrees fahrenheit.

How I spend my time when I have nothing to do:

a) Read dictionaries
So I've been off work for a week. I've been in Chateau all by myself. What have I been doing to fill my time??? Well, you asked and as long as you promise to not make fun of me for it, I'll give you the scoop: I've been reading my dictionary for several hours everyday. So here's what's happening, I'll think of some new word I want to learn, and then ofcourse I want to know another word and another and another and so on. And then, ofcourse, I want to read the explanations about the grammar... And then sometimes the explanations are wrong (you can never trust a dictionary 100%). Sooo, on average I've spent two hours a day reading a dictionary, and on Xmas Eve 2010 I spent 4 straight hours reading my dictionary.

b) Read about psycho killers in French
There's this guy Dexter. I'm basically obsessed with him. He's a serial killer and he only kills bad people. He's a fictional character and the books have now been made into a successful American TV series. Strange thing is, the series is way more popular here in France than in the USA. Here though, Dexter is available on the free channels and back home (if I'm right) Dexter is only available on the pay channels.

c)Exercise
It's cold outside and the snow reminds me of this huge gaping hole in my heart because this is the first year in my entire life that I don't get to ski!!! (Yeah, I know, it's a rough life but someone's gotta live it right??) So, even though I miss my first love very much, I'm on the rebound with my secondary love running. It's so beautiful here... the countryside and farmlands, I just love the way the miles unfold one after the other after the other.

d) Watch the weather
So my Mom's flight comes in on Sunday (tomorrow!!!), and I've been vigilantly watching the news and weather reports for the latest info. I never miss a weather update. It's as if being glued to boob tube is somehow going to control weather her flight gets

e) Not reading Mange Prie Aime
So this paragraph goes out to my girl KELSEY JANES. Because we have this book club going and I'm supposed to be reading a very wonderful book and in a very lazy week I have made absolutely no progress... I've spent too much time reading Dexter...

f) Watching One Tree Hill
This is an American TV series. It's basically a soap opera with kids my age. And every single episode has a life lesson that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

g) Dreams with talking sandwhiches
I've had some strange vivid dreams lately, most likely because my imagination is going wild and I just have too much time on my hands. Last night, it was a dream about a talking sandwhich. And to be clear, it was a ham and cheese sandwhich on sliced wheat bread and no mayo. Try to decode that one!

Today is Christmas! Right now it is 2 AM and in a few hours I am taking a train into Paris. I will spend XMAS day in downtown Paris and go ice skating and then I will go to my hostel and bright and early Sunday morning (hopefully if flight isn't delayed !!) I will see my Mom for the first time in 3+ months!

I hope everyone back home is having a truly magical XMAS season this year. Being away from home during the holidays just makes me realize how important my family is to me. Everyone is in my thoughts!! I've even had a few dreams about seeing people once I get back home in summer. Well, I love you guys and wish you all the best in the coming 2011 year.

How American am I?

So, there we were, and the occasion called for a Christmas song. And I couldn't remember a single one. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way... what comes after that? Frosty the snowman... duh da duh da duh I don't know any words after the first line.

How about good old Rudolph? I almost got all the way through... but then I got stuck at the part "And how the reindeer loved him..." Just three lines short! (In case you're wondering and your mind is drawing a blank like mine was, the last three lines are "as they shouted out with glee, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history!")

And so that was the day I learned I didn't know one single Christmas jingle by heart, and like everyone else, I had to go online to look up the lyrics.

Maybe I'm not so American after all?

P.S. It's been decided Meaghan is much more American than I am. She knows plenty of Christmas songs, all by heart.

A blizzard and spending my holidays in Chateau

Walking in a winter wonder land.... 6 inches of snow and counting !!
Some things about this country are really mystifying to me. Like why cancel school transportation but not classes? This is how many students I saw today:

Class 1: 5
Class 2: 2
Class 3: 1
Class 4: 2

It was a lot of fun and with all of the classes I just improvised and we didn't do what I had planned to do. Also, all the kids who did came were extra happy because I brought candy for all my classes (this is the last time I will see these groups before the holidays) and since hardly anyone showed up everyone got lots of candy.

But really, the idea of keeping school open when there are no students is completely new to me.

I built a snowman family last night. One is 8 feet tall. Me and Zynthia went down to the river and sang Christmas songs in Spanish because we didn't know any French christmas carols and we checked out all the Christmas sights here. It's already the weekend for me again. I never knew time could fly by so fast. Tonight is awesome because the only thing I am doing is reading my dictionary and practicing my pronunciation. And Saturday, I get to visit sweet sweet Paris again.

Middle of the week

Tonight I had the opportunity to go running/training with some seriously intense true-blood-down-to-the-core athletes. Every muscle in my body is so happy.

I can't get enough of life here. That is all for now :)