Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Chez Barnabé, Crazy Boy, and Vegemite

Today was très très bien. I only had class until ten, because my history teacher's wife had their fifth son last week, so he'll be staying home for the next two weeks- leaving us with a research paper to do in our spare time. Yeay. Mine is on sports in the 1850s, and I'm doing it with the other American in my class. We though sports'd be simple, but we didn't think about how easy it is to find information on sports in the 19th Century in France (its not). Anyway, I made plans to meet up with a few of the other exchange students from Annecy this afternoon.

I was going to go with Tannia (Mexico) to Lycée Faure down the street to pick up Eric (Canada) and Maite (Argentina) at their school, we would then continue to the Gare (train station) to pick up Molly (USA), and then Zara (Australia) would meet us when her bus got to town. Things never, ever, work as planned. First off, Tannia wasn't at school. So I headed down to Lycée Faure to meet Eric and Maite by myself. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to find them in the throng of thousands of kids that were certainly waiting outside the schhol, but I noticed Maite right away. She informed me that Eric told her he had to sign up for something, and he'd be out in five minutes, so we waited five minutes, then fifteen, then twenty. And after a half an hour I called his cell phone and left a message saying we were leaving. By the time we reached the Gare Molly was long gone. The two of us met up with Zara and grabbed lunch at the best place EVER, Chez Barnabé and ate it in the park by Bonlieu. While we were eating and chatting at Bonlieu a boy came up and sat down with us, completing our circle. Each of us thought the other people knew him at first, but it soon became obvious that he was a total stranger. He sat with us for a few minutes, asking where we were from, and then held up a small ball of paper and told us he was going to "shove it on one of us and then we'ed have to make a unnuhhh and he'ed leave". We agreed, wanting to get rid of him. So he asked which of us we wanted him to do it to. None of us volunteered, so he chose Zara. He stood up, threw it at her, and had her make a little grunt and left. We burst into laughter afterwards of course, he had mentioned it was a dare, which made it make a little more sense, but it was still really random. Later Zara went home to do work and we met up with Eric and went to a cafe and talked. On the way to the cafe we say the boy with his friends again- he called after us so we all started to run. He didn't follow far though. Later we took the bus to Zaras, looked at pictures and tried Vegemite. It wasn't too bad- I had no idea that it is yeast and salt. The taste grows on you. The three of them were going to some Rotary dinner (Im not in their club) and they dropped me off home on the way. It was a really good way to spend my afternoon and we'll do it agian next week. I actually speak out more in French with them because I don't need to be scared of making mistakes, its a good way to learn. Bonne Nuit et Gros Bisous!

Monday, September 27, 2004

I had my first Rotary weekend this weekend and had an fantastic time! It was so nice to meet all the other exchange students in my district. This is the current makeup of the exchange students in my district:
37 students
31 girls
6 boys
19 Americans (2 boys)
5 Canadians (1 boy)
4 Mexicans (1 boy)
4 Australians (1 boy)
1 Argentinian girl
1 Finnish girl
1 Bermudan girl
1 Russian boy
1 South African girl
In January the Australians and South African will leave and one Australian boy, one kid from New Zealand, and two South Africans will come for the next year. So in January we'll be up to 39 kids in the district.

The main part of our weekend took place at the Eurovillage in Sevrier, a hostel. We started off with an extremely boring meeting. In was in French then translated into English. The main language of the weekend was English, because all the students there spoke it fluently. At one point I was daydreaming and then I heard my name called out. Apparently we were supposed to go to the front of the room and introduce mourselves, and I was first on the list. It was quite awkward because I wasn't paying attention and didn't know what to say. Once I started to talk I said "My name is Anna Rae and I'm from Seattle, Wa" when I realized I wasn't in the US and quickly said "Je m'appelle Anna Rae, Je suis de Seattle aux les Etas-Unis." I was kind of embarrassed for screwing up and talking in English, but some other kids didn't know how to introduce themselves in French at all. The meeting was a disaster because none of the kids were paying attention, and all the parents were ready to go home. All us kids were very eager to just meet each other and get everyones pins and cards. See, when you are a Rotary Exchange student you have to get a blazer and bring pins from your country to trade with all the other kids you meet on your exchange. By the end people have blazers covered with pins from all over the world. When my friends and I first saw people with blazers jammed with pins we thought- ewww, thats so tacky, I'm not going to do that to mine. But you quickly learn that you look much more rediculous wearing a blazer with nothing on it- and its really cool to have pins from exotic places. Also, my Rotary District in Seattle gave us about 30 pins each- not at all enough for all the people we'll meet.

After the meeting we got settled into rooms- I shared with an Argentinian girl who also lives in Annecy and is sponsored by the same club as me. Then we sat around, moved from room to room talking like crazy about our experiences and getting all the pins we could possibly get. Its so great to be able to talk to people going through the exact same thing as you. I'm the only kid in my district from the Western US- the next closest girl is from Wyoming, but I was extremely happy to discover that two of the Canadians are from B.C.- Vancouver and Victoria, and both of them live near Annecy, so we'll be able to get together. It was good to have all 8 of us Annecy exchange students together too- on Wednesday afternoon we're all planning on meeting in town.

Later we went up for our dinner. The first course was a pasterie crust box filled with mussels- it was actually pretty good. The main course was a vegetables and some sort of bird. Then came the cheese platter, and finally dessert- a pasterie with peaches on top and chocolate drizzled on it. On every table was two bottles of wine, and apparently the Rotarians didn't notice until halfway through when they had the waiters pull all the red wine off the tables- they let us drink the other bottle though.

After dinner we went back down to our assembly hall and had a talent show. Some kids played instruments or sang in their native languages, and pretty much all the countries had all their kids go up and sing their national anthem- which is what I did. After this we had a dance, which was a little weird. There were only 5 boys there- three of which were willing to dance. Most of the girls danced, but a few just went to bed. So in the end there were about 30 kids dancing, which isn't really enough. But we had a great time anyway, the music was weird at points, but it was still fun. At about one this ended and we went down to our rooms, grouped up, and talked for hours. I went from room to room for a while, talking to everyone possible. I was exhausted, but still stayed up till four- I know that there aren't many nights I'll be able to talk to these kids so I took advantage of my time.

We ate breakfast at eight the next morning- I could barely keep my eyes open after four hours of sleep. After breakfast we got on a bus to go the ten minutes to Annecy, where we stashed our bags in a boat house and then went on a walking tour of the old town (which I walk through every day). They let us loose for about a half an hour, which wasn't enough time. Most of the good shops were closed because it was Sunday morning, but the streets were JAMMED with people at the market that is set up there on Sundays selling bread, cheese, vegetables, sausage, and lots of other food. We looked around a bit and hurried back to the boathouse to eat lunch. Lunch was couscous, vegetables, sausage and lamb. I hated the lamb- it had lots of fat still stuck to it, but the rest of the food was great. After lunch we boarded a boat for a two and a half hour tour of the lake, which was fun. It gave me more time to talk to all the people I met. I spent a long time talking with the South African girl, who came to France knowing nothing eight months ago- and by nothing I mean that she learned "bonjour" in the airport. I spent most of my time this weekend with the kids who aren't from the US- I see enough Americans at home. The Australian girls were all very sweet and very fun. All three of them are blond and gorgeous. They've been here eight months and so we discussed the gaining weight issue. One of them gained around eight kilos, but just lost two, another gained ten kilos, and the other gained nothing at all- she's clearly the anomaly. I've never seen the area from the water, except for swimming, it was a beautiful ride.

When we got back we all ran an bought icecream- spreading our among the ten or so ice cream shops in the first few blocks of the old town. Zara and I along with a Canadian girl walked a little further- we know the area well. We were looking for a shop no one had been to yet when we ran into Hagen Daas. Zara has lived here eight months and never been in (neither have I) because its twice as expensive as all the other places, but we decided to go in as a treat- it was worth it.

One night is way too short for this type of weekend! My host sister, Marion, has told me that in the US they always had two night trips and even they seemed too short. But since some of our schools here have school on Saturdays ours aren't even that long. I had so much fun and I can't wait to see everyone again. I forgot my camera, but hopefully people will email me pics to put up.


Friday, September 24, 2004

Lunch... yum

The food at my school is absolutely disgusting. I have an hour and a half for lunch and my host parents will give me the equivalent of a school lunch ticket in money so I can go out and buy my lunch, but still, day after day, I eat at school- because my friends eat there, and I'd be a complete loser to go out and eat lunch by myself. This is the average lunchtime experience for me:

As soon as class ends I follow a few girls down to their lockers and then outside where they sit and smoke for a few minutes, then we get in line for lunch. The line is really a mass of people smushed into the side of the school by a iron barracade/fence thing. If we're lucky they spot someone they know and we either work our way up to them in line from the back or jump over the fence (its not very tall). Then we wait forever. 20 minutes, a half an hour, longer. When we finally get to the front of the throng we hold out our tickets to the guy standing at the front and he lets us into the lunchroom- where we wait for another ten minutes until we getup to the point where we can grab trays,utensils and bread. Bread is the one unlimited thing. I try to take at least two peices in case the food is disgusting. Then we get to appetizers. There is a range of appetizers- often I grab a bowl of lettuce, but there are also little platters with chunks of egg, tomatoes, and lettuce on them. Sometimes they have little plates of Salami and pickels. There is pretty much always this weird dish I don't understand. It sits on a peice of lettuce and looks like a slice of bread. The crust (?) is on three side and the center is a chunk of pink. I'm not sure if its meat or not. The final side is sealed off with what looks like clear Jello. Its gross, I haven't eaten it, but I know it is. Then we move on to the next set of shelves where we select our dairy product. There is always yogurt (I'm happy when they have Danone, the other brand, Le Petit Laitier is bad) and often chunks of cheese, sometimes they have little packs of Laughing Cow cheese to spread on the slices of bread. The next shelves are dessert. There are apples and oranges and some sort of cake or pasterie- it varies by day, sometimes there is also flan and pudding. Then we hit the lunch ladies with the main course. There are always two parts of the main course 1)a vegetable, pasta, or rice and 2)the meat/fish/unknown. I usually can't tell what the vegetable is. Its somtimes a big pile of green glop. I have never been able to tell what the meat is, ever. Usually the French girls I ask don't know either. I heard that one day there was French fries, but I got out of school early that day. So usually for lunch I eat bread, yogurt, lettuce, an apple, and a little bit (if its a good day) of the entrée. Its good they give us so many starters or I would starve.

I had my first test today. It was in Spanish and came as a complete shock to me. Apparently she had told us earlier that week, but I apparently didn't hear her/understand. Spanish is difficult for me- they are a few years ahead of me and it is all Spanish to French, no English involved.Its also Castillian Spanish, not the Latin American Spanish I've been taught. In class I sit with the Mexican girls who help me tons, but they couldn't exactly help me on the test. Luckily the teacher noticed my panic and explained that she wasn't going to grade mine, I just should try and do it for practice. I can't even explain my relief. The first part was translating French sentences to Spanish. I translated them all to English easially (I can read most French now well enough to get a (very) basic understanding, and these were easy) but I didn't know all the Spanish vocab to translate them into that, so I just did what I could. The second half had this picture we had been discussing in class and told us to write a response describing and analyzing it. I managed two sentences. One saying it was a grandmother washing her dishes after her birthday party and the other saying that the author was using black humor. Thank God this dosen't count.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Cookies

At the beginning of science class today a boy in my class walked up to my desk and placed a stack of six oreos on it, said "a present" and hurried to his desk. Everyone was watching and murmuring so I put the cookies in my backpack. At first I was confused, wondering what was so exciting- then I remembered they don't HAVE oreos in France. And then I wondered who they could be from- I hadn't said more than five words to the boy who gave them to me, and I was certain he was just a messenger. And then I realized they must be from my friend Sophie, who had told me the day before that she was going to bring me a surprise, and we had been discussing things I missed and I mentioned the food and we talked about how there weren't Oreos in France. After class she came up to me and asked if I got it and told me that a friend of hers went to Mexico and brought her back Oreos, which is where they came from. It was so sweet of her to think of me.

My Hist-Geo teacher didn't show up, so I only really had class until 10am. I spent the hour after that in étude (study hall) writing letters and the next hour sitting with a group of my friends. I do a LOT of sitting around with people outside the school.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Rotary Plans

This weekend I'm having my first Rotary Weekend- and I'm getting excited. In the Rotary weekends all the exchange students in my district (1780) get together somewhere and talk, do activities, etc. This time the weekend is here, on Lac d'Annecy, which is quite convenient for me! We will tour the Old Town, which I know like the back of my hand already- I walk through it everyday. But to all the kids in little backwards towns its going to be really cool. Then we get to take a boat tour around the lake, which will be amazing, I can't wait for that.

I've also heard that in the Spring we have a big celebration. All the Rotary Exchange Students in France get to go to Paris for three days to celebrate Rotary's 100th Birthday. We get to have a big meeting under the Eiffel Tower. Doesn't that sound amazing? When I hear about things like that I have to pinch myself and see if I'm really here and that what I'm really going to be doing. Another thought comes to mind: where will they put all of us?? There have to be hundreds of Rotary kids in France, where will we all stay?

Sunday, September 19, 2004

La Clusaz

La Clusaz, France Posted by Hello



This afternoon we went on a trip to La Clusaz, a ski town about 25 minutes from our house. In the winter we'll go here every Sunday to go skiing/snowboarding, but for now they just wanted to show me more of the countryside. We went shopping too, whenever you shop in a resort area, things are bound to be EXTREMELY expensive, but Marion and I both bought shirts. Mine was on sale for 15€, so I'm quite proud of myself. We went to a Creperie and ate crepes after shopping, they were delicious- covered in sugar and butter. This isn't a very good picture of the town, but it gives you a general idea. School tomorrow! I'm either done at 11:30am or 5:30pm, I'm not sure yet.

Saturday, September 18, 2004


My host sister walking down the road to the town of Menthon Posted by Hello

Rotary kids on the cool train in Detroit Posted by Hello

The Thiou, the river that runs from the lake in Annecy Posted by Hello

Me at the fountain in the Jardins de l'Europe Posted by Hello

The Chateau de Menthon St Bernard Posted by Hello

Kid riding in a cute horsie cart in Annecy Posted by Hello

Menthon, my neighborhood Posted by Hello

The Sculpture park at the Fondation Giannada Posted by Hello

The Barrage d'Emossen Posted by Hello

Inside the Barrage d'Emosson Posted by Hello

Veiw of Mt Blanc from the Barrage d'Emosson Posted by Hello

Rooftops in Annecy Posted by Hello

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Fitting In

I'm finally back. The computer here completely broke and had to be taken in to a shop for over a WEEK. I really don't know how I am still alive. And so much has happened in the last week and a half that it seems impossible to know where to begin.
On the Monday after school started Premère L (my class) and Première ES1 went on a day trip to Switzerland. It was amazing. We went way high up the Alps to a dam- barrage d'Emosson, and got to walk inside it and take pictures of the gorgeous veiw. We had a picnic lunch and then went to the Fondation Pierre Giannada where we saw amazingly famous artwork by Renoir, Monet, Cèzzanne, Picasso, Matisse and many, many others. They also had a great sculpture garden and a fantastic collection of antique cars. And they had an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks- so I got to see that drawing of the perfectly proportioned man and everything. We were stuck in deadly Geneva traffic on the way home, but managed to get home in time.

I've spent the rest of the past two weeks fitting in, finding a place, and learning a little French. I usually eat lunch at school with a group of French kids, I'm trying not to depend on the other exchange students, while not being completely rude to them. My school has all the grades at it and over 1,200 students, so its spread over a pretty big area. There is a building on one side for the Lycée and part of the école as well as a gym, and on the other side there are more buildings, the rest of the classrooms (science and computer labs as well as a library are there as well) and the lunchrooms and a student lounge area. There is a covered bridge from one side of the street to the other. The best place to meet French kids is on the sidewalks of the street that divides the school. The school is surrounded by a low stone wall where all the kids go to smoke. Many kids in the Lycée smoke, so during breaks their friends stand with them and talk, so a majority of the highschool is out there. I don't smoke, and I can't stand the smell of it, but I'm getting used to the fact that its a normal thing here for kids to smoke. For every kid who smokes, there is at least one or two who doesn't, so there is never any pressure at all to conform- they sometimes offer me a cigarette to be polite, and don't care at all when I refuse. In order to stand out there I have to have someone to stand WITH, or else it'd look weird- but I've found a group of kids in my class who seem very nice to follow around, so its no longer an issue. To balance out the time I spend with the French kids, I still spend time with other exchange students. The three Mexican girls and I all don't take a third language, so whenever the third language classes (latin, spanish, or italian) are taking place, we walk around the city together and sit and talk. And I've also joined a gospel choir. Its mostly middle aged women, but there are a handful of teenagers. One is the Australian girl, Zara, I met a few weeks ago, and the other one I've been hanging out with during choir is a French girl named Sophie. Her mom is Canadian so she speaks great English. There are a few others I haven't really met yet, but I enjoy Zara and Sophie so much (and singing in English) that is well worth my time.

I still don't speak that much french, but I definetly understand more than I did before. Not a lot more, but more. I usually catch a few words but can't understand the main idea of what people are saying. I can get the general idea of written French (though not the literature we are given in French class) but even when I understand a question written on a worksheet, I lack the vocabulary skills to write an answer. Everyone is unbelievably helpful to me though. Everyone constantly wants to try out their english and try an explain things or translate words that confuse me. Also, a lot of them went on a class trip to Oregon and Seattle last year, so they feel some connection with where I am from. My class, in general, is great. I'm glad I was placed with them.

I have more to say, but Star Academy is on in 10 minutes. Bisous!

Friday, September 03, 2004

My Schedual

Lundi- 8-9 French Lit; 10-11 Espagnol; 13:30-17:30 Act Cult ou DS
Mardi- 8-9 Anglais; 9-11 French Lit; 11-12 Math; 13-14 Espagnol; 15:30-17:30 Travx Perso. Encadres
Mercredi- 8-9 Biologie or Physique-Chimie (alternates); 11-12 Hist/Geo
Jeudi- 8:30-10 Anglais; 10-12 Hist/Geo; 13:30-14:30 Anglais; 14:30-16:30 Math or French Lit (alternates); 16:30-17:30 Ed. Civiq. Juridiq. Soc. (every other week)
Vendredi- 8-9 Anglais; 9-11 French Lit; 11-12 Espagnol; 13:30-14:30 Hist/Geo
Samedi- 9-10 Anglais; 10-12 Ed. Phisique and Sport

School was good today! I met people, and everyone was nice. Everyone asks me tons of questions about the US. I still can't understand teachers, but people try and help me. I suppose I shouldn't expect complete comprehension after a week and a half! I got a package from home too, so, today was a very good day.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

First Day of School

This morning my host mom dropped me off at school at 10:10 where I joined all the other kids in Première for an assembly. The headmaster seated the exchange students up front and introduced us at the beginning. It was kinda embarrassing to have him try and repeat my name, people started laughing. No one can really say the "Rae" part. He gave the same speach to us as every principle gives out (do your best, turn your cell phones off, no smoking or drugs, you can do whatever you put your mind to, blahblahblah). I was dissapointed and comforted to find myself one of 6 exchange students. Three from Mexico, One from Germany, and two, including myself, from the US. The Mexican girls speak just as good of French as I do (which is nothing, really) and the other girls seem to speak in wonderfully. All of us are in the same class, which is what bothers me. I want to make French friends, not stick with the exchange student clique! Tomorrow I'll sit by a French kid, so I can try to start making friends. Its quite discouraging to have no friends here. But I can't really be expected to make a bunch in my first hour of class.

After the assembly the kids in Première L (about 20, I think) met in our classroom to get scheduals. I can hardly understand mine. My classes end at 2:30 tomorrow, but there is no bus home until 4:30. There are a lot of odd breaks in the day where I'm not schedualed for a class, so I might have one or two classes, then several hours off for a study hall or to leave school, then another class, then lunch, then more classes. I don't really get it yet. My hour with my class was highly confusing, we're going on a feild trip to Switzerland on Monday, to go to Museums and stuff. I'm assuming they mean Geneva, because I can't think of any other Swiss cities with museums nearby. I wish they'd hold off on the field trips- I need some time to settle into my schedual.

At 12 my host sister and I went out for lunch and shopped. I bought a hair straightener for €30 (finally! I looked forever!!). I also found out that my cell phone that I've been given is working, which is another thing to rejoice about. Wish me luck on my first full day!

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

ecole just around the corner!

As schoolis quickly approaching, I'm filled with mixed emotions. I'm extremely nervous to meet the other kids in Première L, and I'm freaked out about being in classes where I understand nothing. Its just a scary thing, from both the social side and the educational side. But its also going to be a good thing because it will put a stop to my week and a half of waiting impatiently and getting consistantly bored. Going to school is where exchange students really begin to absorb the language (I've been told that over and over) and I'm sick of hearing gibberish- I want to absorb the language now!

Being the seventh exchange student my family has hosted, they know exactly what this week has been like for me. They know how boring it can get, and to counteract this they tried to plan something for me to do everyday. Inside I was just wanting a day to sit around and relax, like I do all the time in Seattle. I go online, read, watch TV, etc. Today I had nothing planned at all so I got my chance to sit around, and quickly realized that it is not at all as satisfying as sitting around at my real home. I have trouble understanding the TV, so I can't just zone out in front of it, I can't check email and none of my friends are online in the middle of the day in France- they are all asleep so I can't IM them. Sitting around just gave me a day to mope about, and if I had too many of these I'd get seriously homesick.

To break up the day I DID do things. In the morning I walked down to the village and sent a bunch of letters and postcards from the post office. I bought 10 stamps to the US and one to Italy, the grand total came up to €9,50. It ate up nearly all of my money frome babysitting. I've never really noticed just how EXPENSIVE sending letters can get! I'm swearing off sending letters now (for the most part) unless someone writes to me. Hopefully I can get down to two or three letters a week, which won't be that expensive. My host parents came home for lunch like always and we ate potatoes and lamb chops. After the two of them went back to work my host mother's father (my host grandpa?) came over to mow the lawn. He also burned all the clippings that had been made when my host father trimmed the hedge- I guess there is no burn ban here. After he left I walked down to the beach to see what it was like. It was fenced in because during the tourist months it costs money to get in (that ended yesterday) and was like a little park inside, there was a big lawn dotted with trees for shade, a playground, a wading pool, a snackbar, changing rooms, and out in the water a roped off swim area like most beaches. It also had a weird pool-like thing built into the side of the lake. I just put my foot in the lake and walked bake home, but I'd really love to go back and swim someday soon before the weather gets bad. Lac d'Annecy is the cleanest lake in Europe, by the way.

Hopefully the computer will be fixed tomorrow. For now please leave any comments at the LOWER comments link, I can't read the tops ones. Just post as annonymous and leave your name at the end. When its all fixed there will only be one option and you'll be able to post as yourself! And please do say something because I haven't heard from anyone in ages!

It All Works!

My email and comments work again! I'll post tomorrow after my first day of school. Wish me luck- I'm nervous!