Happy Easter!

     Yet another exciting week here in France, with lots of updates to report! Also, my Flickr limit has reset, so MOAR PHOTOS! Also, I think I got gifs to work... Watch out.

     Let's see, on Monday I wrote my first real French test (actually, there was two), one in math and the other in French, though math proved to be a little hard without a calculator! French was okay, because I've been studying the four forms of the subjunctive, but another component asked that I answer some questions about poetry. No way man, that's hard enough as it is in English. (I tried, Mom.)
      On Tuesday I proved myself by showing the Grade 9 girls how we do wrestling in Canada. I may have permanently terrified my opponent, but hey, no one's gonna shove me into a French locker now! I was surprised that the teacher gave them basically no instruction whatsoever, she just told us to go at it, so there were some pretty unorthodox moves going on. Thankfully WO had me well-prepared so I could do some throw-down.

Pretty much how girl-wrestling works.

     Wednesday proved to be an adventure, Natalka and I decided to eat at the school's cafeteria for the first time (during school hours). After copying a bunch of other students ahead of us, we finally admitted to the lunch ladies that we were Canadian and didn't know what was going. They were nice and offered us chicken nuggets, which were the highlight of the meal. (And the chocolate mousse definitely wasn't as good as Marie's). We also rushed into town afterwards to catch a movie, but "40 ans: Mode D'emploi" had stopped playing the previous day. Argh!
     Gym came around again on Thursday, with the return of the dreaded hurdles. After two hours my legs were like overcooked spaghetti, but somehow the teacher was impressed. She even asked "Tu es tres sportive?" HAHAHA. I also talked to my classmates by bonding over our shared pain. Now that I can handle a conversation, they're more willing to talk to me on a regular basis! Hooray, I'm not the lonely, weird kid in the corner anymore! (I'm just weird :) ) After school, I helped Juliette with an English project, and taught her the word "awe".....she's working on it, just like I'm still practicing my pronunciation of "réfrigérateur". (Go ahead, try it!)

Me, every time.

     Friday was a pretty fun day. Philippe returned after a week in Paris, and we celebrated that night with "pain perdue", or French toast! (Just a stereotype, huh?) We also cracked open a bottle of maple syrup, which turned up great results!
      During the day, Juliette's school was hosting the event "Bol De Riz", which basically meant if you ordered a plate of rice in the cafeteria, it would ensure that a child in Africa got food for a year, so of course we all did it. And by all, I mean ALL. I swear the whole school turned up for it, but then again I hadn't seen the cafeteria on a normal day. (Wednesday finishes at lunch, and the second half of the day is free for sports, so everyone had gone home). It was a madhouse trying to get in, everyone was pushing ad jostling, and there were umbrellas sticking every direction (darn French weather). I had planned on meeting up with Juliette to eat, but turns out she'd been one of the first to get inside. Natalka and I waited about 40 minutes outside the caf doors while the teachers acted as bouncers and only let select people in. Finally, we shoved our way to the front for our rice. (I hope the kids in Africa get better meals than we did!)
      After lunch, Natalka and I sat in on Juliette's English class to listen to presentations about what it feels like to be a European citizen. Mostly we were transfixed by the fact that most of the students have a British accent in English! (Try imagining a French/British accent at the same time, it's amazing!!) Juliette was lucky and escaped class without presenting, but it just means we have more time to practice this week! (Juliette really loves having a handy Canadian in the house).
      On Saturday Juliette, Caroline, Juliette's friend Sixtine and I went downtown to do some shopping, but we didn't end up buying anything. (Is that possible?) Juliette also taught Caroline and me the "Cup Song" from Pitch Perfect! We haven't perfected it yet though, so you'll have to wait for the big unveiling at a later date.

Now for the good stuff... EASTER!

     The Easter weekend started off well. I attempted to re-create my mother's pancake recipe, and was pretty pleased with the results (despite some rather shoddy conversions... math is hard, okay?) I was also feeling particularly gallant, so I crafted a rather sorry-looking rabbit pancake. Before we sat down to eat them, however, we put them in the oven to stay warm, and ventured into the garden for a little Easter-egg hunt! The bunny was pretty generous this year, by leaving us three girls 47 eggs to locate and consume. (We only lost 2, so we did a pretty decent job.) Also note, should you ever find yourself between Juliette and chocolate... Be prepared for the consequences ;)

Tasty!

     After celebrating our egg-victory, we realized too late that my pancakes were still in the oven. I was disappointed, but we looked on the bright side. For breakfast we had "pancake-crackers" with syrup and caramel, fruit salad, and scrambled eggs, followed by artistic chocolate sculptures, provided by Philippe!

Merci indeed!

     Afterwards, we attempted to walk off all that chocolate by going on a scenic 10km walk in Port Pornic! The sea was at relatively low-tide all day, and it warmed up to the point that I was shedding clothing like a mad person. Pictures are available on Flickr! (Of the beach, not me removing clothing... Get your mind out of the gutter.) It was a beautiful day to be out and about, what a wonderful way to spend Easter!
     After we'd completed our trek, we wandered into town to buy chichis (Is this gonna be a regular thing? I can deal with that... ;) ), then headed back to Nantes for a relaxing evening.

We're so cahoot.

     The Easterstravaganza was completed today by a triathalon tour of one of Nantes' most scenic rivers. Juliette and I rode our bikes, while Marie and Philippe rode their scooter/Vespa contraption to the riverside. Juliette, Marie and Philippe shed their modes of transportation to go for a run, while I stayed on my bike. I also crafted a handy way to store my camera in a handy place, by tying it to my hoodie strings! We proceeded to follow the river down for about 5km, me following the joggers on my bike. I also encountered several nasty car-stopping obstacles, which weren't very bike friendly either. What I saw of the view was beautiful, when I wasn't looking down directly ahead of me for trail pot-holes! (River pics are also available on Flickr.)
     Finally we approached a very tall bridge, and I learned we were supposed to go up and over it to reach the other side of the river and turn around. We managed to get up and down 5 flights of stairs with my bike, when we realized there was an easier alternative that we'd missed completely. (Ain't that life.) At least we burned off all that chocolate!
      Juliette and I finished off the day by biking mostly uphill to get home, which proved to be more difficult than the entire 10km I'd biked beforehand! We got home to veg out and eat lunch, just what the doctor ordered! I also attempted to play an April Fool's joke on Juliette, which in France is "Poisson D'avril". Children try to stick paper fish on each other's backs without the other noticing. All was going well until my sticky fish fell off, and Marie had to step on it to keep Juliette from seeing it. I managed to stick it on her again, but I don't know what happened after that. (I guess I'll find out after I finish this blog post!)

     Yup, a great week in total. I can't believe it's almost the 2-month mark! I miss everyone so much! Also, UPDATE: I'm going to Paris April 29th-May 5th! Look forward to me clogging your newsfeeds!

Bisous, Lia

PS. I also want to make a shout-out to my lil' bro, who turned 14 yesterday! (We serenaded him with an organized choir singing via Skype.) Enjoy your weapons of mass-paintstruction, mon frere!