Hi everybody, 

Here in France we've been in vacation for 2 weeks. A little break from school that is getting tougher every week since september... So I thought, if I want to do anything special I should do it now since I don't too much homework for these vacations. So I took 7 days to go visit Tabea in Berlin, my german friend I met in Canada at Seaton. It has been simply awesome to see her again ! We did so much in such a small time, sightseeing in Berlin, 2 days at the Boric sea, biking, eating tons of good stuff... I'm not going to write everything.

The one thing I was a little scare about before leaving was to know if I was going to be able to talk with the family, and thankfully yes, they did talk a good english, better I think that what Tabea had told me. It made a lot of things way cooler than if it hasn't been the case. I couldn't imagine not having conversations with the people I'm living with, even if it's a week. So I talked english and realized I missed it!

Now we are planning to see each other next summer, and this time Tabea would come over. Hopefully it will work! We figured out that it would be hard for her to come at my house (it is so lost in the country side, she would have tons of connections and without talking french that could be too hard to do), so my parents were thinking maybe spending a week in Paris... That would be just perfect. Only it is just too early to say if it is going to happen or not. So we are crossing fingers ! 

Here some pictures:

Easy to guess that the weather was pretty cold ! 

Bye bye, hopefully I'll post another article before a month has passed. ;-)

Hi everybody! So here is what my school schedule looks like. I'm pretty happy about it, I start at 9am on the monday morning (it means I'll be able to take the train on the mondays and not on the sunday evenings), then I have the whole afternoon free on the wednesday and I finish quite early the friday (I won't be back home late, yeah!!) . Then I've got my own bedroom, I share only the bathroom with my "room-neighbourg" whom is very nice. Everything is quite perfect so far except I miss my friends from the previous years badly. I keep in touch with them, one just moved in Paris, another one in Lyon, Toulouse, Nevers... They are everywhere in France.  My new class is really nice though, it's just a bit weird for now but I think I'll be just fine after a little while. 

 I spend few hours a week with Rebecca, the american girl. She's not in the same class as me and we have a schedule quite different so it's not always easy to eat lunch together or just meet each other during a spare time. However, we still get along very well. She improves her french so fast, it's amazing. She seems to be doing very well in her new life, which is awesome for somebody who has never been to school in her country (she's a home school student). 

I talk about Canada everyday and the best is that people don't seem to be annoyed by me. Actually, they seem to be really interested in what I'm talking about, which I'm feeling very grateful for! I miss my Canadian life everyday, the school theatre, the anouncements (so much better than a horrible bell that rings everysingle hour), the people, even going to the rotary meetings !! My english teacher doesn't even sound like what I used to hear in Canada, she's one of those rare teacher that's got a perfect british accent. 

I've started my art classes (17hours a week) and I can already tell it's going to be intense ! I feel motivated, hopefully I'll feel the same until the end of the year ! We've started by doing an analyse of a chair called "sushi" made by two brazilians designers (that looks a bite silly):

I'll show you pictures of what an analyse looks like soon, hope everybody's well ! Bye bye

One thing's for sure : it's good to have everybody back home !

Even more since we have Maria (also called Belu) from argentina and now Martin from Germany. Unfortunately Maria is going to move soon in a different family, it's been a month and a half she 's with us and we are all going to miss her; when we get used to people it's hard to let them go. We can't keep her any longer though, even if we would have liked to, her school is in Clermont-Ferrand and we live too far away (school starts the 2nd of September). 

Talking about school, nobody is really excited about starting again, me included. Getting used to the French school system after the easy going Canadian one is going to be tough, I can already tell ! I'm looking forward to know my school schedule, hoping it will not be too bad. A lot of things depend on it, like when I have to leave home (sunday night or monday morning), when am I going to get home the Friday evening and of course what amount of free time am I going to get the Wednesday afternoon. All that is the part a bite paintful of the baording school... 

This weekend I'm going to a Rotary event, I'm invited as a "Rebound" (snif, I'm not an inbound anymore, it feels weird!) to talk about my canadian experience to the new inbounds who just arrived in France. Soon I'll have to do a presentation to my club as well as to my school. It should be easy, I don't have to do it in English ;-)

Hopefully see you soon in a new article!

Juggling Bloopers:

Those last months were probably the busiest months I ever had in Canada. So busy that I've even been taught how to be really organised, which was completly new for me since I had never needed to do so in my french life, clocked most of the time by the boarding school. I felt kind of weird when, after a forgotten meeting with a rotarian, my host dad gave me a calendar, a basic one, in which he wrote everysingle thing I was supposed to do that week and realized how handy that little piece of paper could be. And also realized I didn't have much free time left before I leave. But my days were truely full of exiting kind of events like graduation (THE day I worked for the whole year!!) with of course all the grad things going with like grad rehearsal, grad party, (also including to finish to sew the grad dress), then a trip to Vancouver absolutly awesome (Cirque du Soleil show, visits, shopping, etc...) and a trip in the Rockies during which we did a fantastic hike to the Burgess Shale, a place full of fossils of trilobites and other really old bugs, and a visit of Banff and Lake Louise.

Added to those activities was the friends part. I tryed to see everybody the most I could and quickly came the time (a bite painful) of organizing goodbyes. Of course not only for the friends but also for my rotary club and host families whom all together offered me an unforgettable year and whom I could never thank enough. I'm not really good at writting so I'm not going to say a lot, but still, there is one thing I want to share; discovering Canada has been a blast to me and a bite of my heart will stay there forever. I'm pretty sure I will go back, I simply don't know when...

Last week I went on an amazing bus trip with all the other rotary students, THE trip that we were all talking about since september.  We left from Yakima, right after the annual Rotary district 5060 conference which all of us had to attend to represent our country during a parade.

Here is the path we did, from Yakima to Kamloops with all the different stops:

For the five first nights we were hosted by Rotarians of the town we were staying in. It was great for meeting new peoples usually very interested in us and where we are from. We spent some evenings talking for hours ! There is one thing I got use to when I introduce myself  and where I am from "Marie from France",  it's the answer I get "Oh you know, I've been to Paris", pretty much everybody has been to Paris ! It's crazy !

We went rafting, swimming, tree climbing, visiting a dam... We also did an "Amazing race" in Penticton (the goal was to realize the most challenges we can and take pictures of us doing them), a paintball game, etc.... We had a very good time and I wish this week has been longer !

Here some pictures resuming the trip :

During the Conference with Zoe (Switzerland):

The Town of Yakima:

Before the paintball game in Revelstoke:

Visit of a Dam:

Some places where we slept (the houses in which we were hosted were most of the time gorgeous):

Before rafting:

Second last night:

Last night all together: talent show...

...Fun...

...and very few sleep !

The last day was then the "drop off" day of every one in his home town from Kamloops all the way down to Yakima, very emotional because we know that we are never going to be all together again... Lots of tears ! But we better be happy that this year happpened instead of being sad that it's already over. One thing for sure is that we are all going to keep lifetime memories !

~End~

Hopefully see you soon for another article

I was simply skiing with Keith when we saw this big airbag beside the village... "Would you like to try?" Well, at first I didn't really want to, but then we saw many little kids jumping and that seemed to be really easy, so I tryed. Of course I didn't do any amazing figures like some other guys, just a simple jump but that was fun !

Petit meassage : Desole pour cet article j'ai pas passe mon temps a ajouter les accents pour vous rendre la lecture plus agreable, car je n'est toujours pas trouve de moyen plus efficace que les copies/colles, ce qui me prend un temps fou. J'espere que ca genera pas trop. Enjoy !

Debut du voyage, apres 6h de route depuis Vernon on a embarque sur un Ferry direction Tofino, Vancouver Island pour rencontre tout le reste de la famille de Keith, grand-parents, cousins...

Une fois sur l'ile et apres une heure de route, on fait une pause dans une foret humide (Rain Forest), dont l'atmosphere fait vraiment penser a un film d'horreur avec tous les arbres couverts de mousse. Vous pouvez voir plus de photo de cette foret absolument geniale dans l'album present sur la colonne droite du blog.

Arrive a Tofino. On passe deux jours avec toute la famille de Keith a marcher sur les differentes plages du coin, Middle Beach et surtout Long Beach qui fait des kilometres. Les cousins et cousines sont adorables. Durant ces deux journees on a eu tres peu de beau temps. Chaque fois qu'on sortait on revenait avec les pantalons trempes, mais on a quand meme passe de tres bon moments.

Middle beach:

Avec les cousins et la cousine:

Long Beach:

Allez tout droit et vous arrivez au Japon :

Cires de marins a la disposition des visiteurs. Pour dire a quel point les gens sont habitues a la pluie! Au moins ceux-la sont vraiment impermeables, pas comme nos petits K-way a toile deperlante que la pluie finis toujours par traverser, surtout apres une heure passee sous des cordes. 

Apres ces deux jours, on a quitte la famille et on a pris un autre ferry direction Powell River. En attendant le bateau, on a profite d'un beau rayon de soleil en faisant une promenade sur une plage juste a cote (on avait 2heures a tuer), jusqu'a ce qu'on revienne a la voiture en courant comme des dingues, trempes comme des soupes (une fois de plus) sous la grele. Dommage cette fois on avait pas les supers cires jaunes. Mais la, on a decide qu'on avait eu notre dose et qu'on sortirait plus avant qu'il fasse un reel beau temps. Vous allez me dire en voyant les gros nuages noirs sur la photo ci-dessous, on aurait pu prevoir le coup. Le temps sur cette ile m'a vraiment fait penser a la Bretagne !

On a ensuite passe deux autres jours a Powell River, durant lesquels on a fait pas mal de jardinage dans le jardin de Keith et Judy (cette fois sous le soleil!). Ils sont proprietaire d'une petite maison sur le bord de l'ocean qu'ils ont passe tous l'ete dernier a renover, et vont probablement y passer l'ete a venir aussi, pour pouvoir plus tard y passer leur retraite. Un petit paradis eloigne de tout. Powell River n'est pas sur une ile, mais c'est tout comme car pour y venir on est oblige de prendre le ferry. C'est tellement entoure d'eau et de montagne que construire une route couterait une fortune.

Vu depuis le jardin :

Sur un chemin :

Puis on pris une fois de plus le ferry pour se rendre a Vancouver ou on a ete heberge par de la famille. Pendant presque trois jours on a passe notre temps dans le centre ville s'arretant a droite a gauche comme de vrai touristes, notamment dans une grosse boutique de tissus ou un magasin vendant du materiel de musique pour Brent et Craig. On a visite la galerie d'art (of course!) ou j'ai decouvert quelques artistes canadiens (Emily Carr et le Group of Seven) et le musee de l'anthropologie base sur l'art des Indiens (aussi appeles First Nations People). Bref j'ai adore Vancouver, entoure de montagnes (qu'on peut meme parfois voir depuis le centre ville entre deux buildings) et entoure d'eau. Le port est vraiment impressionant. Parcontre rien d'historique, tout est neuf.

Sculture representative de l'importance de l'eau a Vancouver. Vous comprendrez que la pluie est souvent au RDV :

Le port :

Musee de L'anthropology:

Partie sur les "First Nation People"

Ce que j'ai prefere dans le partie asiatique sont les broderie en or...

Puis on a finis le sejour par une promenade dans Boundary Bay (tres pres des USA) :

End of the trip !

Voici ce a quoi ressemble la scene pour le Musical "Allaboard" a present. La construction du decor avance rapidement mais il reste encore beaucoup a faire. On a ici que la structure d'un pond style indutriel, il va encore falloir soigner tous les details et faire la partie peinture. Desole pour la terrible qualite des photos prisent avec mon portable.

Et voici la partie costume. J'ai ete acheter cet apres-midi avec ma prof tous les tissus qui vont nous etre necessaire pour coudre les costumes. Il nous faut 23 jupes; 6 longues, 17 mi-courtes, toutes doublees car elles doivent etre reversible, on en a donc eu facilement pour plus de 100metres de tissus (seulement un quart sont present sur la photo)... Ca va etre genial !! Je suis chargee de faire au moins deux jupes, une longue une courte, pendant les vacances qui commence ce weekend, pour pouvoir montrer un example et apprendre au groupe "couture" comment faire a la rentree. Pression !

Et voici ce a quoi les costumes sont censes ressembler :

Et demain ...Depart pour vancouver ! See you in one week for lots of news !!

Weekend dernier Brent, Craig et leur band "Amistad", ainsi que leur ami violonist Eli, ont donné un concert a Sovereign Lake pour soutenir un programme qui permet aux jeunes enfants dont les parents n'ont pas les moyens de faire du ski de fond. Ils ont joué pendant 1heure dans le froid, les doigts gelés ! Leur musique resonnait dans la foret qui formait une sorte de cuvette autour de la station, c'était assez genial, mais pas grand monde s'arretait pour les ecouter, trop pressés d'aller faire du ski.

Last weekend, Brent, Craig, their band "Amistad" and their friend Eli, gave a concert at Sovereign Lake. They were fundraising for a program that gives the opportunity to crosscountry ski for children that have parents who cannot afford this activitie. They played for 1hour, the fingers almost frozen afterwards. The sound was really good, with an echo in the forest, but nobody stoped for listen to them, to busy crosscountry skiing. They had lots of fun anyway !

Brent...

Do you see who is hidden ? (Est-ce que vous voyez qui se cache ?)

Voici Vernon en hiver, vu depuis Silver Star : en-dessous une mer de nuage !

Ski de fond avec Givonna (ma conseillere):

Je suis toujours dans la meme famille, je vais certainement changer fin Mars mais encore rien n'est sur. Les vacances scolaire commence le 14, et ma famille prevoit de passer quelques jours a Toffino (Vancouver Island), Powell River et Vancouver. Je vous promez un long article comme vous n'en avez pas eu depuis un moment ! Sinon le lycee se passe toujours bien, la preparation d'un second "fashion show" est en cour, et sera a la fois un "talent show" pour lequel on attend de moi de jongler ! Youhou ! Mes cours ne sont pas trop durs. Seulement l'anglais niveau terminale, avec tout ce qui analyse de poemes et paragraphe argumente ce n'est pas toujours evident. Mais jusqu'a present je m'en sort.

Je continue de voir regulierement ma premiere famille d'acceuil. Les revoir est toujours un super moment durant lequel je papote, je papote, tellement que la derniere fois j'en ai eu les machoires qui me font mal.

A bientot !