Let the Festivities Begin!

This past week was Thanksgiving! In France, people don't usually celebrate this holiday. However, this year I brought Thanksgiving to France! My host family was really excited to celebrate this holiday with me that they started planning it a month in advance! I had my mom in Hawaii send me boxes of stuffing mix because stuffing doesn't exist here! Crazy, I know! When Thanksgiving day arrived, my host family was anxious all day to eat an "american meal"! My host mom even came home early from work and put the turkey in the oven. When I got home from school, I made the stuffing and helped with the rest. We prepared mashed potatoes, peas, stuffing, my families special apple sauce, the turkey, and american apple pie! Before eating, we all went around the table saying what were thankful for, and of course I said, "I'm thankful for having such an amazing host family!" I feel so lucky to get to spend my year with them. After giving thanks, it was time to dig in! It was surprisingly amazing! And, my cooking didn't poison anybody. I was so proud! Along with the exciting meal, it was the first day it snowed in France! I was so excited I had to go outside and throw snowballs with my sister.




This blog is in memory of my grandpa, Charles Weisman. He will be greatly missed in my life and in the lives of many others. I love you.

A Roller Coaster Ride

This month has been full of ups and downs! I'll start with October to November vacation! In France, at the end of every six weeks of school, we get two weeks of vacation. For October vacation, my host family took me to l'ile d'oleron. It's a small island off the west coast of France. My host family has a house there, and spend all their summers there. However, since I'm not going to be here for summer they decided to take me there in October. It reminded me of how I would picture Greece, with lots of boats docked and little stores and restaurants by the sea. During our stay, we went to see the chateau de l'ile d'oleron and went to the beach. However, it was way to cold to go swimming and it was very windy. We also saw a lot of light houses, very normal for an island!


After visiting l'ile d'oleron, we went to the cutest town ever, La Rochelle! It was surrounded by castle ruins and had the best but most expensive shopping! Also, there were these ducks that looked cute and innocent but were so loud and obnoxious and were very feisty! It was very funny.




Also, during vacation, we went to the Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley! It was the most amazing chateau I've ever seen from the outside! It was so intricately designed. However, inside the Chateau, there wasn't a lot of furniture and decoration. Chambord is known for the design of the staircases. It kind of reminded me of Harry Potter!




Okay, so the next thing that was exciting during vacation was Halloween! A lot of people don't celebrate Halloween here in France except for the little kids that dress up and go trick-or-treating. However, I only saw about 5 kids doing that. So, for halloween my friend from school invited me to stay at her house and go to a nightclub with her and her family. It was so much fun to get out and go dancing with my friends!


When we got back from our trips, I had a couple days left of vacation. So, I went to Paris a couple times with friends and also did homework. School here is hard, but I'm slowly adapting to it. My hardest class is French Literature, but my teacher helps me a lot! The English class here is bizarre! The teacher says some words I don't even think exist in the english dictionary!
This month overall has been a roller coaster, but I don't want to get off. It's been filled of happiness and sadness and all sorts of feelings you would never think you would have. I feel like i got so lucky to have been placed with such and amazing host family who is always wanting to help me succeed. This week is Thanksgiving, and my host family is so excited to try new things and help me prepare the meal! I promise I will post again soon with new information and experiences.
á bientot!
Natalia

The Adventures of Yaya..

I know I haven't written in a long time, and that's because I've been so busy! And believe it or not, it's really hard to write in English after just one month fully immersed in the French language and culture! So I will start off by talking about the first AFS weekend! I was held during the first weekend in October in a town outside of Paris called Poissy. We were staying at the prettiest house/ hotel which was right on the Seine River!

The weekend was pretty amazing! It was so great to see all of the AFSers in my region, Ile-de-France. We spent the two days talking about our first month, and also doing activities and "energizers". There was one activity that pushed all of us to trust each other and work together. We had to lay on the ground in a line and carry one person at a time above us to the end of the line. This really showed me that everyone may not be comfortable with everything, but to get through it you have to trust everyone around you.

So at the end of the weekend, all the host families came and we had lunch together then all went our separate ways back to our french lives. It was hard to leave all of my friends, because they've practically become my family and support system, but it was also nice to get back home. Here are some pictures from the weekend:




So within this past month, I have really started to realize the differences between France and Hawaii!
First, everything here is so fast paced. I will be walking down the street and 10 people will pass me!
Second, I've never kissed so many people on the cheeks before! Every morning, or every time you see someone you know you go up to them and say hello by giving them kisses on each cheek, "faire les bises".
Third, a lot of girls wear heels to school! I don't know how there feet don't fall off by the end of the days!
Forth, the French love to go on strike! I've had many days where I don't have class because the teacher doesn't show up! I love it!
Lastly, the kids in lycée go on strike too! They block the school so no one can enter, which means no classes. This has happened recently because of the huge strike going on right now.
So, this is my last week of school before October break! I can't wait! My host family is taking me to L'ile d'Oleron and the Loire Valley. It will be nice to get away and see another part of France.
Some other things I forgot, was that the weather is changing and it is starting to get really cold, and the leaves are falling and changing colors! It's beautiful!
But, that is all for now, because I have to get ready for my dance class! Here are some pictures of my recent adventures...
ps. Yaya is my nickname my parents in Hawaii call me if you were wondering why the name of this post is, "The Adventures of Yaya".

This is me, my host mom, and my host sister at the brocante, garage sale in english! It was a huge event where lots of people came to sell old unwanted stuff including my family! And believe it or not I helped with selling items!

We're coming back to Paris! The myth is that if you touch the star, you will come back to Paris!



This is me and some friends from AFS in front of the chateau de vincennes!

Okay I promise I will write more often! But for now, au revoir!