I Am a Migrant Farmworker, and Other Strange Facts You Probably Didn't Know

So, a lot of things have happened since last I wrote, which means I've got a lot of stuff to write about. However, I'm very cold, so I'm going to try to keep it short (which won't happen).



First off, Rotary Weekend at Nerac. This weekend was far better than the one at Royan for two reasons: the rooms were larger and heated. Besides that, both weekends so far have been awesome. Moving on, it was great to get together with all the exchange students again, and talk with them and compare experiences and chum around and sleep very little (or not at all, in some cases). Well, I slept very little, but I had to get sleep because I was coming down with a cold and literally could not keep my eyes open. Basically the weekend was amazing, from doing another high ropes course to chumming around with friends to, in my case, speaking in French with people from all over the world. Unfortunately, the generally excepted language at get-togethers is English, since everyone speaks it to a varying degree, and usually better than French, but this weekend, unlike the last, also saw an increase in French conversation.



Secondly, I am now a migrant farm worker. Not quite sure exactly how it happened. It was kind of weird at first when my host dad told my Mathilde was going to harvest kiwis over the vacation for a job, since in the US harvesting fruit has a sort of, "Oh, that's the Mexican immigrants' job" stigma to it. But in France it's the job of the high schoolers, which means that today I went out to a farm and picked kiwis all day. It was actually really nice. The work, though not too hard, was satisfying. And I've also seen what farmwork can be: friendly, welcoming, even a desirable job and a safe working environment for teens. Definitely a much better alternative than the slave-labor-evolved-into-immigrant-exploitation that is so common in the US. But that's all for now, really. Oh my goodness, I kept it short.

Le Bac Blanc

So yesterday was the Bac Blanc, which, for everyone who's not familiar with the education system on France, is like a mandatory SAT at the end of high school. Yesterday I took two hour tests on the subjucts of History, French, and Physics/Chemistry. And it was ridiculously hard. I managed to get a page and a half written in analysis of the historical document (without the use of my dictionary!) and the teachers were really impressed when I handed it in. As for the French and Physics, however, I'm pretty sure I did really poorly. I didn't even finish the Physics test. My brain quit when I had ten minutes left to go, and was only halfway through. I'm really curious to see whether I did worse on French or Physics.

I am however making progress in my schoolwork. I got a score of 10 on my latest essay for French class, which was actually the same score of several of my classmates.

Today I'm skipping school because I've got a train in a few hours, and I'm heading of to Nerac for the weekend for a get-together with all the other Rotary kids. Hooray!

Holy Heffalumps!

That is how you spell heffalumps, yeah? My spelling's a little shaky when it comes to nonsense words.

So so. Life in France continues to be Frenchtastic. I've been watching a lot of the Simpsons in French. It's like a knew lunchtime tradition. Oh yeah, my school has a television in the break room for students. And let me tell you, with French dubs, the Simpsons are just not the same. Bart and Homer's voices are pretty much the same, but Marge's voice made me burst into giggles the first five or six times I tried to watch "Les Simpsons." Also, I end up catching a lot of references that my French friends don't. Like the room full of monkeys that typed up Hamlet for Mr. Burns. I had trouble explaining that I was laughing so hard because it was from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Also, by some weird turn of events, I was told a Yo Mama joke in French by a German friend. Then, some French friends wanted me to translate it into English because they insisted it was better. So I thought you might want to hear my French/German Yo Mama joke in English too:

Yo mama's so fat her blood type's Nutella.

Toodles for now!

Parle a Ma Main!

Sort of like the Kelly videos that are such huge hits on YouTube, only far better. Enjoy.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4FamibkUH4

French Stereotypes Revealed

So, as I've been living in France for a little over a month, now, I've discovered how terribly incorrect some stereotypes are, and how correct others are. So now, courtesy of "Les Aventures de Vicki" is a new feature I like to call "French Stereotypes Revealed":

French Women Don't Shave: Definitely a false one, because they do shave. Impeccably. And more often than I do. Either that or they just don't have body hair at all.

French People Stink: Also false. They smell rather nice, and, being in France, they not only smell good naturally, but know how to use parfume without putting on too much and reeking. Occassionally, someone will smell mildly unpleasant, but that happens in the States, too. It's not like Americans are super adept at avoiding all perspiration.

French People Love Wine and Cheese: Yeah, this one's definitely true. Food in general, actually, but wine, cheese, and of course bread, are by far the most important. There are three meals a day, and not much snacking in between (but the meals are so big, who needs to snack?) and at special occassions wine is of course served. At first I was unsure as to whether I should drink wine or not, but my host club has been very insistent that I should try their drinks, as in champagne, and all sorts of French wines.

French People Smoke All the Time: Yes and no. Certainly they don't have a smoking age, and there are kids at my school who are sixteen years old who step outside for a smoke during the breaks, but not everyone likes smoking, and it's not acceptable everywhere either, like in stores or most restaurants. Still, it was definitely weird at first to see students just casually standing by the doors of the school smoking.

Multimedia Blogging!

So, my camera was broken when I visited the Dune Pyla, the LARGEST DUNE IN EUROPE, but other people not only had working cameras, but my friend Rémi actually videotaped the descent of the dune, which can be found at http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=wWxpmZ9m_L8&eurl=http://www.new.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=51604719096&mbox_pos=0

Check it out, and please try to ignore my very bad accent...

Rotary Weekend in pictures

Yeah, my camera may be broken, but that's the magic of the internet: other people take pictures, and I can steal them. So here, for your viewing pleasure, are some photos of the first get together of Rotary exchange students in my district.

Right, so this is a photo of all the students District 1690 is hosting this year, except for a Brazilian boy who accidentally napped through our trip to Le Jardin du Monde. I'm in the middle left. Look for my bangs.
Yeah, Equipe Bleu! At Royan, where the get together was held, we were divided into teams to participate in relay races. Our team sucked athletically, but we're still awesome.

That's me in the background with another American girl and a boy from Sweden. The lady's face just kind of amused me.

Four of the five Americans in District 1690, representing the US and singing the national anthem. We also danced the Soulja Boy.

This is my buddy the prawn head. I found him in my food, which was rice and seashells. Oh, and a boy from Taiwan. Yay.