Horseball

I watched my first ever horseball match today. Quite an interesting sport. Cavalaire has a nice sized equestrian center with several stables and trails and also courts for horseball. Horseball is a sport that is played on a relatively small field of sand. The players pass a soccer ball that has leather straps encompassing it (the ball looks as though it is in a cage) and try to score in the hoops at the end of each field. When the ball falls on the ground the players have to lean off the horse to pick it up. They must all have KILLER abs. From what I deduced players have a time limit for holding the ball. It was very exciting to watch. I'd never seen anything quite like it. The players would also really fight the other players for the ball, all while on horseback. It really made me want to go ride some trails. I haven't been on a horse in quite some time.

We had a half day at school Thursday thanks to the teachers' conference. Cara and I decided it would be fun to dye our hair; something we'd been talking about since almost the beginning of the year. She decided on chataigne (chestnut), and I went with the slightly redder tinted acajou (mahogany). After laughing and singing Wicked while trying not to stain the tiny European bathroom in dye, we both ended up with darker, slightly redder hair. I can happily say we used our half-day successfully.

Friday was a girls' night. Cara and I made her peanut butter-butterscotch chip cookies. Her mom brought rice crispies and butterscotch chips when they were here last week. Cara melted the butterscotch chips and peanut butter together on the stove; then we added in the rice crispies. After, we made spooned the dough onto trays that we put in the fridge. We waited until they chilled and hardened and then ate delicious cookies!! After our cookie making (and again belting out more Wicked) we decided to put the Veet leg hair removal cream to the test. We bought it with the hair dye to try out. Long story short, it doesn't work. We were mildly disappointed but had cookies to make up for it.

Lauren comes in 6 days!!

Avatar

This post is going to be much more than just a spilling of wonderful emotions that came after seeing Avatar, but I felt that the movie merited a blog title; it was just that incredible.

The second week of vacation went by way too fast (doesn't it always?). I did end up, finally, seeing Avatar and was quite impressed, even with the French dubbing. That film was just beautiful to watch, and I will openly admit that I wish I could live in Pandora. I'm not even ashamed to say that it would be awesome to be one of those people. I went to the larger movie theater in Sainte Maxime to see it with Paul and my host mom.

The second week of vacation was rather rainy. I was trapped inside for a few days which is not normal here. Everyone has said that we've been unlucky with the weather, but it's definitely not something I can complain about. I feel like it's barely been rainy or cold but mostly sunny and picture-perfect. My Spanish teacher today made a comment in class about how French southerners are just fragile when it's not perfectly sunny; nothing works if it rains, snows, or is windy. I've found this to be true.

Cara left with her family from Saturday to Saturday of the second week. I met her parents, two brothers, and grandmother the Saturday they got here. We all went and had coffee and apple tart at Paul's house (this was Cara's first host family). Paul and I went out to lunch with Cara and her family once they got back the following Saturday. It was nice to finally meet people I've heard so much about but also a bit bizarre to see Cara with her actual family. Two worlds collided but in a good way. Maybe it's better to say that the two worlds met. Soon, I will have my southern life from the States meet my southern life in France. Lauren comes in one week and two days, and Mom, Dad, and Lucie are following on the 11th. I am so very excited and can't wait to see everyone and do some traveling.

February has flown by. I can't believe that several weeks ago we were celebrating Paul's birthday, and now Lucie's (March 2nd) is approaching. I have officially spent six months in France. I told this to one of my friends this morning in class and she responded by saying that I know officially live in France. Technically you don't consider yourself a habitant of another place until you have lived their for sixth months. I can now fully say that I live in France. It still seems like such a distant concept to grasp. I still remember standing in the Memphis airport not letting myself cry to much while leaving Daddy and Mama. I can remember stepping off the plane into the hot, humid air of Nice and seeing my host parents with big smiles waiting for me while I hauled my suitcases out of baggage claim. I remember being so excited and adventurous while at the same time feeling completely overwhelmed, scared, and questioning my decision to live in a foreign country. I have no regrets and would not change one moment of this experience so far.

Les vacances ont commencé... encore (Vacation has begun... again)

I'm now on February vacation. Yes, I do actually go to school here, (for long, tedious hours I might add) but I am once again profiting from a two week vacation which started the 6th and ends, unfortunately, on the 22nd. I actually enjoy school now so I probably shouldn't add in that unfortunately.

Friday night started off the vacation. We (Paul, Cara, and I) planned on going to a little soirée at one of our friend's house. She lives right across from the high school; therefore, we planned on taking a bus out there-out there being a wee 20 minutes away. We were chatting away with my host parents at the pizzeria, a few meters from the bus stop, when we saw a bus go by. Surely our bus for 6:30 would not leave 15 minutes before it's scheduled time. Or would it? We now have enough knowledge of the French bus system to feel a bit anxious when we see buses passing without rhyme or reason at bizarre hours. We went to wait at the bus stop and much to our dismay, and that of the other girl waiting, we missed the bus. At least this time it was in Cavalaire and not a city an hour and a half away. That was definitely a plus. We did, however, miss the party and ended up coming back over to my house. It was a successful night all the same as Paul and I met Cara's friends, Cara and I met a friend of Paul's, and Cara and Paul talked to my sister and Anna (best friend) via skype.

Saturday night the three of us were invited to a Rotarian's apartment to eat. She's one of the few young Rotarians in the club and was kind enough to let us come over. Her apartment was very modern, decorated in reds and blacks. After l'apéritif we had une raclette. I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this meal in a later post. It's a little grill with slots beneath to melt cheese which you then put on potatoes or different types of meat or smoked salmon if that's your preference. Following the raclette was a raspberry flan accompanied with a pear sorbet and a rousing game of Pictionary. Pictionary brought about much laughter, as we're not the most artistic group when it comes to drawing out French nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

The start of the first week of vacation began, not lazily, but actively. We had planned to run and exercise everyday during the two week break, and we succeeded with that Monday. We were lucky enough to have really nice weather Monday afternoon, warm enough to wear a t-shirt and shorts. However, our luck ran out the next day with clouds and wind. The wind here can be intense, and it made it impossible to run on the Promenade de la Mer because sand was blowing up off the beach. Instead, we took a nice long walk in the vicious gusts that would have definitely flipped another sailboat and cut my other ear open if we had been on the water. Monday night, after our successful afternoon beach body preparation, Cara came back over to my house, and we made quesadillas. Immediately after we began learning Michael Jackson's Thriller dance, naturally. We're quite the experts now and could give any of those back-up dancers in This Is It a run for their money.

Wednesday we took a day trip to Toulon, except this time we added two more people to our group. One of our friends from school, who is originally from England but has lived in France for several years, and his step brother, who resides permanently in England and speaks very little French, joined us on our quest for fun. The five of us went to the center of Toulon, not the mall 30 minutes before. The bus ride was spent getting to know our new English friend who turned out to be, possibly the most amusing person I've ever met. By the end of the afternoon I was laughing so hard at all his little anecdotes from back over in Queen Elizabeth's country. His British accent added a bit to his humor too. We spent the day walking around, having sandwiches on baguettes, dressing one another up in bizarre outfits from Galeries Lafayette, and having an overpriced, tiny cup of coffee before hopping on the bus to head back home.

Thursday, our friend-whose soirée we missed-came to Cavalaire to have lunch. I haven't eaten out much in Cavalaire. In fact, I believe only once or twice, not counting the times I've eaten pizza from the pizzeria. We found a decently priced restaurant with some good looking food. I had an Ocean panini while everyone else got the American-some sandwich with meat, sorry I can't be more specific; I didn't pay too much attention. After staying at the restaurant and talking for a while, Paul went home and us girls went to find ourselves a crepe. We went to a creperie after walking around town for a bit. My crepe was cinnamon and apple. Cara had a crepe with sugar and lemon, and Agathe had the classic crepe with nutella. All good choices. Agathe caught the bus back to her house, while Cara and I began walking back up to her's. We spent the night couple of hours planning out all of her outfits for the trip that she's about to take with her family. That's right, her mom, dad, two brothers, and grandmother arrived in France today! I'm meeting them this afternoon and cannot wait. Cara is extremely excited. They're staying in France for a week and taking Cara with them to visit Paris and Normandy. We're all excited to meet them!!

Soon I will be seeing my parents and little sister and now my big sister too!!! Lauren is coming to stay with me in Cavalaire for the week of her Spring Break. She'll be here for five days, and then the two of us will go up to Paris to meet my parents and Lucie. Lauren is going to fly back to the U.S. the day that Mom, Dad, Lucie, and I train down to Avignon where we'll see some of Provence. Words can not express my joy! She'll be here in three short weeks. Oh, I'm so excited!

Yesterday, I had escargot for the first time. It was yummy too. Mostly the flavor came from the butter, garlic, olive oil, and parsley that the snails were cooked with, but they did add some substance and texture to the garnishing. After this very French dish, my host mom and I made an American staple, donuts. It was the first time she had made donuts and my first time too. She found a recipe online and had already prepared the dough. We heated up some grease and got to cuttin and fryin. We didn't end up perfecting the size and thickness until this morning when we finished using the dough. The next time, they'll be perfect. They turned out to be quite good. Not the perfection of a hot glazed donut from Shipley's or the deliciouness held by a blueberry donut from Connie's, but it was definitely a start. Who knows what the next week of vacation will hold.

Joyeux Anniversaire Paul (Happy Birthday Paul)

The first day of February marked an important moment in the life of mon ami Paul; his 19th birthday! Paul, Cara, my first host mom (Laurence), and my new host grandparents all came over to eat chez moi with my host parents and me. It was my host mom's-Paul's previous host mother- idea to have a big American lunch with hamburgers and french fries. Everyone got to the house around 1:30. We started this meal, just like all the others in France, with un apéritif- a drink before the meal. After Paul began to cook the burgers, and one piece of tofu, and soon after we found ourselves, hamburger buns and all, at the table. It was my host grandparents' first time to ever eat a hamburger. A weird concept for those of us who hail from the U.S. of A. I can't speak for the carnivores, but my tofu burger was quite yummy as were the fries. We finished off the meal by singing Joyeux Anniversaire and eating a tarte tropezienne after Paul blew out his 19 candles.

Paul and Cara spent the night at mine that night. Paul gave Cara her Christmas present, a little overdue. Cara was a bit surprised when she unwrapped Paul's old advent calendar. He made a little scavenger hunt leading her to eventually find a USB jump drive with all the music she's wanted from him since the beginning of the year. Cute idea Paul! Cara and I gave him the best present!! Paul writes music and lyrics (he's going to major in guitar at college). So, Cara and I came up with the idea of giving him a notebook that he could keep all his music in. We cut out pictures and placed them randomly throughout with little thoughts and quotes from things that have happened so far throughout this year. We figured it would be a good way to inspire his musical thoughts. We waited until that night and gave it to him. It was absolutely perfect... I'm proud of our work. After several hours of talking and laughing, we all went to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday was spent lazily. It was a bit chilly, but the three of us had breakfast on the balcony anyway. I ate lunch at my host granddad's house. He lives right next door, and we eat over there every Sunday for lunch. We had coq au vin. I didn't eat the rooster, but I did have the sauce with pasta and it was quite delicious. I definitely cannot complain about French food. I literally like everything here (except oysters...)

Speaking of food (why is it that I can't go one post without talking about food?) yesterday was La Chandeleur or jour des crêpes. This is the day in France where everyone eats crepes... like we need an excuse to eat crepes. My host mom and I made some which we ate with my host dad before they went down to work. Nothing can beat a crepe with nutella. Perfection.