Best Week Ever

Okay, maybe that’s an overstatement, but I did have a pretty great week.

I got put in some new classes with the Premieres (Junior year) which I like a lot. I have two more hours of history/geography on Mondays with the teacher I really like, but last Monday we only ended up having one hour. This was because my teacher went to a union meeting about a strike that took place today during the second hour of class, which was ironic because we spent the first hour debating the pros/cons of striking. Oooh the French…

The weekdays went by without much drama or incident, which was relieving. Friday was a great end to the week, as me, Victor and Gabriel went to a pub, had a pint, and saw Casino Royale. In the last couple weeks I’ve really been feeling my spoken French improve a lot, as it becomes easier to speak with ease without concentrating on each word I want to say. I then went to a party for an hour or so at this guy’s apartment from my church, wasn’t too exciting and I was tired so I left.

A sound I’ve learned to detest woke me up Saturday morning to remind me that I had to play handball for two hours. My abs and legs still hurt. That night there was a White Elephant gift exchange with the church (well not exactly white elephant, as the gifts were between 10-15 Euros). As I’m accustomed to White Elephant=Useless gifts, I made the solid purchase of a Czech-French dictionary as my present, and started to feel bad for whoever was going to get my present as presents were unwrapped such as coffee cups, automatic wine openers, etc. But all turned out well in the end, as I was not stabbed or wounded for bringing said gift, and I came home with Martini, so I think I came out ahead in the end.

I finally stopped putting off visiting the Eiffel tower on Sunday. I took a nice walk and some fun artsy pictures. Also, there was this big market right below the tower that was selling produce from regions all over France, so I took advantage (profiter as the French say) of many free samples of wine, beer, and cheese. I parted with 2 bottles of wine headed for an extremely enjoyable home group, where we all pitched in and cooked scrumptious Jamie Oliver Risotto (I was on chopping mozzarella/celery duty, along with figuring out how to properly cut chicken and feeling like an inadequate human being) and had a predictably amazing conversation.

Today many (but unfortunately not all) French teachers were on strike, so I only had school from 10-12. After my 2 hours of math that felt more like 3, some friends and I ate and then went to a movie.

Life is good. Christmas vacation starts Saturday. Therefore 2 weeks of goodness (although I’m not going with Rick on the “supervacation” because his Rotary won’t let him). My math teacher was talking today about how we’re basically halfway through the school year, which makes me happy and sad because A) school gets annoying but B) I am just starting to really enjoy myself here. But nevertheless, 2 weeks of vacation, then a month and a half of school, then my first bus trip in France/Spain for a week. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. I’m so glad I did this and so glad I didn’t get sent home. I’ve already experienced so much that many people never get to do, and still have many more adventures to come.

I love you all. Thanks so much for your support and prayers.

Bisous,

Brent