la famille

I know I have mentioned my family, but I don't think i every really described my family. I live with Véronique, who is a psychiatrist and she sees patients at the house. Christian is a consultant for artists, performers, musicians, etc. and he travels a lot for work to Paris or around France. So a lot of times he is not here. He has been everywhere in the world almost! They traveled a lot together before they had kids - Veronique worked as a "hostesse de l'air" or a flight attendant for an Italian airline before going back to school.

I have three French sibs: Manon, Charles, and Eve. Manon is super smart, she's 15. She loves Bob Marley and playing guitar! Usually I wake up/go to sleep to Bob...Luke and Manon should go out! She's single and she's really pretty Luke! She loves basketball too :) But she's chatty so I don't know if that will work. JE RIGOLE!

Charles and Eve are two peas in a pod. They fight horribly but they cannot be separated and they adore each other. The whole family is very animated; they love singing and dancing and being goofy. So I obviously fit right in! I wish I spent more time with them - everyone is so busy, the only time we are together is for dinner during the week. On Thursday and Friday morning I get to have breakfast with the babies because I have early class, I love it! We somehow always have the best discussions over breakfast. For example, who knew that Véronique was on a French game show, where she was tested on general knowledge against French stars. She won three times, bringing home a TV, a phone, and a vacation. And Christian's grandparents started UDF, Union pour un Democratie Francais, a recently retired political party. Cool, huh?

Tonight we had my favorite dinner yet! Everyday there are fresh, delicious vegetables and fruits for sale in the city. This equates to DELICIOUS! meals chez moi. Last night Christian made sushi! I really want to learn how to make that when we get home. The kids helped him make it because they each have their favorite kind. Anyway, tonight we had salad first, with this delicious spicy asian sauce and little tiny tiny shrimps in it! Then we had this gratin with cheese and some mystery vegetable that I don't know the word for in english. Apparently it belongs to the onion family, but the only thing I could think of was shallots. They were very dark green, so I don't know if it was exactly the same kind of shallot that we have in the US. With the gratin Véronique got jambon italien, prosciutto! I love prosciutto. Then we had steamed potatoes, but I have never eaten this kind before; they were brown on the outside and yellow on the inside, and almost sweet tasting. And for dessert delicious oranges. yumm :) Hopefully I can recreate some of this back in the US!

Side note to Julia and all other lovers of the Melting Pot: Eve got a fondue set and the other night we had some fruit kind of like grapefruit but more sweet and less bitter and oranges in dark chocolate. We MUST have a fondue party this summer!

Donc, je mange très bien ici. In conclusion, I eat very well here!

Here is are some photos of me and Eve goofing around. We both love to dance - she is a very good actress. They were taken by another American student who lives in my house, Lilli! Lilli is awesome, she's from Arkansas and super nice. She's also a very talented photographer. I'm lucky to have such a great homestay.

commenting

I think I just changed my blog so that anyone can comment on my posts, if you have an account or not. You just have to pass this little safety test (so I don't get any spam) Hopefully this works! Let me know :) Vous me manquez ! I miss you all!

la fete des chandeliers

Le lundi soir Charles n’était pas la – il est parti avec son école sur un jour de camping. C’était génial ! On peut discuter avec les adultes sans être interrompu. Veronique est vraiment fort : elle est psychologue, et elle voudrait dire ce qu’elle pense tout le temps. Moi, je ne trouve pas ça vraiment moche : elle pense que si tu restes silents tu n’es pas ton vrai soi. Je ne sais pas si c’est vraiment correct en français mais…ok. Je t’ai dit que de temps en temps c’est la politesse qui peut vraiment m’arrêter de dire ce que je pense. Elle, elle n’avait pas un problème de dire que le pape est un Nazi ! Bien qu’il j’ai dit que je suis catholique. Hehe…les différences entres les cultures.

De plus, j’ai rencontré une jeune fille française hier soir qui aussi étudie la psychologie. Mais elle me demandait « est-ce que tu es Aixoise ? » le meilleur complément du monde. YAY !!!!

Monday night my host brother Charles wasn't here - he went on an educational camping trip with school. It was great! We could talk with the adults without his interruptions hehe. Veronique is very smart and strong-minded. She is a psychiatrist, and she says what she thinks all the time. I don't think that particular philosophy is very flattering; she thinks that if you are silent and don't speak your mind you are not being your true self. I told her that from time to time your manners may keep you from speaking your mind. She may take it a little too far because she tried to tell me that the pope was a Nazi in his youth...hint hint ***that is when you use your manners Veronique !

In other news I met a French girl last night after church (it was la fete de chandeliers last night, the 2nd of feb when everyone takes down their Xmas trees and eats crepes? No frenchie can really explain to me the significance of it). She gave me the BEST COMPLIMENT IN THE WORLD! She said "are you an Aixoise?" meaning do you live here in Aix? WOOO! It was loud so she couldn't really hear me speak my bad french but hey at least my outfits are working! a bientot....

Marseille (2)

Marseille

Le samedi j’ai renconté Nathalie à Aix ! ouai c’était vraiment bizarre de se voir ici ! Mais j’ai passé une très bonne journée avec elle et ses amis qui viennent d’Allemande. Le dimanche je suis allée à Marseille avec Emily, Cari, et Arielle ! J’aimais très bien Marseille ! Il y avait beaucoup du monde la, et c’était vraiment différent qu’Aix. C’etait vraiment une ville très grande, mais avec les gens gentils et la nourriture excellent. C’était beaucoup plus divers qu’ici. Aix semble quelquefois dans un autre univers, un univers de boots et café et l’élégance. J’ai vu plein de choses merveilleuses. Le Vieux Port était charmant, et L’Hôtel de Ville très jolie. On a visité aussi la Charité Musée, qui était un cadre pour les pauvres en 1674. Maintenant c’est un musée. J’ai beaucoup aimait aussi le Cathédrale de la Nouvelle Major. Ca, c’était mon favori parce que l’église était crée pour faire connaissance a la fait que Marseille reçoit des choses de la Moyen Orient. Alors, l’église a la décoration Byzantine. J’ai jamais vu une église chrétienne comme ça ! C’était génial.

On Sunday I went to Marseille with some of my friends in the program. I really loved the city! There are tons of diverse people here, and it was nice to get out of the bubble of sophistication and snootiness that is Aix. I saw tons of cool stuff in Marseille! We walked all around the old Port which was really charming. My favorite thing was la Cathédrale de la Nouvelle Major. The cathedral was created to represent the importance of Marseille as a port city. It therefore tried to incorporate art and architechture from the Middle East in a Christian church. It was so beautiful!

bon apetit

Le vendredi, j’ai des cours qui commencent à 8h et finissent à 15h sans pause ! Alors après les cours j’étais vraiment fatiguée, et j’avais vraiment faim. Alors il y a une petite boulangerie qui s’appelle Paul très bon, et j’achetais un sandwich avec la tomate et la mozzarella. J’étais en train de rentrer le cours à mon école, mais j’avais tellement faim que j’ai mordu un petit morceau dans la rue. Un mec très beau m’a vu et il a dit « bon appétit mademoiselle ! » C’est bizarre, mais Vivienne me disait que c’est quel que chose que les gens disent aux étrangers quand même : le seul chose acceptable ! C’était vraiment un moment français.

On Friday I had class from 8-3 without a break. After class I was really tired and really hungry. I went to this really good chain bakery I love to get a yummy sandwich and I couldn't wait to get back to school to take a bite of it. This french guy saw me obviously drooling over my sandwich and he said "bon appetit mademoiselle!". Normally, I would be freaked out because you NEVER talk to strangers in France, not a hello on the street or anything. But one of my teachers told me that this was a normal thing to say when you see someone enjoying food! Strange huh? I really felt like a French person!

Santon

On Wednesday we visited a Santon factory. A santonnier is a person who makes these little Santons, which are very characteristic of Provence. A Santon is a little figurine used for the creche, or the Nativity scene for Christmas. Provencals don't use just the baby and the stable and the wise men  - they include the whole town in the image! One Santon that is famous is Le Coup de Mistral, which is an old Provencal man who is struggling to hold on to his hat and cloak while facing the terrible winds in Provence called the Mistral. 

It was really cool to see how they make these figures - they are all handmade! It takes weeks to make even the smallest one.