I'm home!
Back to the city of mild weather, sitting here with the almost empty box of captain crunch and a glass of milk. I promised myself that when I got home I would start eating well again.. but more than forty eight hours of flight induced panic vaidated this slight sway from healthy eating...
I left for a flight to Barcelona from Casablanca late Monday morning. Unfortunqtly that flight was indefinatly delayed (what the hell does that even mean?? They couldn't just put cancelled?) Instead they put me on a very indirect flight to Paris, and then Paris to Barcelona. I stayed the night in the airport, caught another flight to London in the morning, and booked it to get to my flight to Vancouver. In Vancouver my bags did not make it on the same flight as me, so I got to wait before catching a flight to Vic.
Fortunatly for me, British Airlines treat their customers well, and I had two small bottles of wine (out of a total of four during the flight) in my bag to keep me company while my luggqge was being found.
I initially had plans (complete with a fake visa, health insurance, and flights) to go to cameroon for five months to volunteer. Unfortunatly I handed over more than a couple thousand dollars to a scammer.
The NGO that I was going to Cameroon with was a legit organisation..if you talk to the right people. Someone pretending to be with the organization, with ilegal access to their emails and website, duped me. or bamboozooled. Or whatever you call it when someone you trust takes your money and gives you a fake airline ticket and visa in return.
The day i figured out I had been duped goes a bit like this.
12 am- Pulling an all- nighter, so that I wont miss my 6:15 flight
3 am- Goodbye Morrocco (or so I thought). A 200 DH taxi ride to the airport out in the boonies.
3:30 am- Airport is tiny, not open, and deserted. taxi throws my bags out and drives away.
3:45 am - My new homeless friend gives me some cardboard to sit on.
4:00 am - All the other dumb foreigners start to show up.
5:00 am - The Airport opens
5:15 am - Stupid sleep-deprived me packed twelve metal kebab sticks in my carry-on. This calls for not just repacking but also search of all my bags.
5:30 am- I am told I am not in their systems, and I do not have a reservation. It finally clicks that I have been scammed.
5:31 am- No DH left, no ATM, stuck in the middle of nowhere with my obese bag.
5:32 am - Unrestrained hysterics
5:35 am - Shaking of fists and and profuse swearing
5:45 am - My homeless friend sees me, takes my bags, leads me to his taxi driver frind, who then takes me back to the hotel for free.
6:30 am - A few more hysterics, free chocolate, and a very long hot shower.
7:30 am - I read my moms email, who figured it all out before I did.
8:00 am- Aimless wandering about, no male botherings, must of had my bitch face on.
9:00 am - More chocolate, feeling better, if not a bit stupid.
9:30 am - bedtime.
Ironically, even if I had tickets to that flight to Paris, it was delayed because of the Air France strike, and I would have missed the connections. Paris is alot more expensive then Casablanca, and a lot less friendly.
The week after this little 'incident' I spent a good deal of time eating and shopoping with my dwindling supply of money. My month of extra time in Morrocco was not wasted, and I am actually happy I got to stay for longer. I made some really good friends, travelled to Rabat twice , and relaxed about with numerous books. My favorite bakery and cafe knew my name and order, I met other hotel dwellers, and I would be invited in for supper. Not only did I get to experience travelling Morocco, I also got to experience living it :)
i would definatly reccemond travelling there, and would like to do so again some day.
I still have not decided what I should do, juggling school in Jan, where to live, where to work etc. Despite the chqnge in plans, I am happy to be home. I am ready to spend time with my friends and family, get rid of my horrible farmers tan, and maybe plan Cameroon again for next year!
jeudi 5 août 2010
vendredi 30 juillet 2010
Swimming, shopping, and eating have loosly filling my days. I enjoy getting up late, trying to converse with the Arabic cleaning ladies, and going to the pastry shop accross the street who know me by name.Pretty damn chelaxed! This lull in my travels has given me enough time to remember all the other, good and bad, moments and memories of my travels.
- All the wanabee drug trafficers.. offering to add in a free bar of soap to a drug sale.
-Bad english.. Titi taxi (petite taxi..) 'Agood spice for your cokaine.' (cooking).. the list goes on
-eight person taxi rides
-Realizing that my five day no shower smell is roses among the general public.
-The intense shock to me having no definable religion.
- My beyond awesome t-shirt tan.
-Favorite purchase so far? My wool touques with camels on them
-Hammams are fun, but you come out more dirty then you went in.
-'Fun' no longer properly describes the Hammam experience after remembering the Muscular lady bath attendants. The torturous scrub they give you with (no joke)a pumice stone. They scubbed my bloody tan off!
-Three dollars saved on a hotel, check. Free cockroaches included.
- Tired of reading? Play a game! How many bugs can YOU squish ont he wall before the time is up? One downside.. Cleaning ladies don't like bugs smooshed into the wall
-Waterproof cameras are not always waterproof.. especially when you forget to close the battery door..
-Street preformers have an extra sense.. They know who is trying to take pictures on the sly//
-Berestein Bears exists in Morocco, in Arabic.. but not in England..
-I am noticiably canadian, not when I speak English, but when I speak French..
- I have also been guessed to be German, Danish, and Chinese
-I am guessing my clothes were of low qualtiy.. The scrub board has made some sustanisial holes in them.. Thank goodness for cheap shopping!
-Orange juice is cheaper than water.. I am surpirsed I havn't contracted watever is the opposite of scurvy..
-I Divorce you. I Divorce you. I Divorce you. Tada! You're divorced, simple as pie.
All this brings me to remember my fourth travelling rule:
Do not leave your clothes outside your shower stall.
Damp clothes beats running butt-naked to your room, when someone steals them.
- All the wanabee drug trafficers.. offering to add in a free bar of soap to a drug sale.
-Bad english.. Titi taxi (petite taxi..) 'Agood spice for your cokaine.' (cooking).. the list goes on
-eight person taxi rides
-Realizing that my five day no shower smell is roses among the general public.
-The intense shock to me having no definable religion.
- My beyond awesome t-shirt tan.
-Favorite purchase so far? My wool touques with camels on them
-Hammams are fun, but you come out more dirty then you went in.
-'Fun' no longer properly describes the Hammam experience after remembering the Muscular lady bath attendants. The torturous scrub they give you with (no joke)a pumice stone. They scubbed my bloody tan off!
-Three dollars saved on a hotel, check. Free cockroaches included.
- Tired of reading? Play a game! How many bugs can YOU squish ont he wall before the time is up? One downside.. Cleaning ladies don't like bugs smooshed into the wall
-Waterproof cameras are not always waterproof.. especially when you forget to close the battery door..
-Street preformers have an extra sense.. They know who is trying to take pictures on the sly//
-Berestein Bears exists in Morocco, in Arabic.. but not in England..
-I am noticiably canadian, not when I speak English, but when I speak French..
- I have also been guessed to be German, Danish, and Chinese
-I am guessing my clothes were of low qualtiy.. The scrub board has made some sustanisial holes in them.. Thank goodness for cheap shopping!
-Orange juice is cheaper than water.. I am surpirsed I havn't contracted watever is the opposite of scurvy..
-I Divorce you. I Divorce you. I Divorce you. Tada! You're divorced, simple as pie.
All this brings me to remember my fourth travelling rule:
Do not leave your clothes outside your shower stall.
Damp clothes beats running butt-naked to your room, when someone steals them.
lundi 19 juillet 2010
The Last of morocco
Agadir is where I left off last time, and where most of the entertaining english group left for home. The rest of us carried on (via a horror riden bus) to Essaouara. A relaxed seaside resort, wiht not much to do but laze around and gorge on food. From there we took another lovely bus ride to The Cascades d'Ouzoud. This ride was tolerable , because we saw the treeclimbing goats!
Litterally squealing with delight, we pointed out goat after goat scrambling around in the Aragan trees. As wierd as it was, its obvious why they climb up, because the tree leaves are the only green and edible thing around. Being probably the only tourists on the bus ( or the most obvious ones) we got some pretty crazy looks from the locals, old and young alike. But hey, its not every day you see a goat in a tree, and since I have now seen them, I dont have to go through the trouble of hoisting one up.
The Ouzoud waterfalls were gorgeous, away from the hustle and bustle of the major cities, it was quiet and enjoyable. We jumped off some crazy big cliffs into the river, and tried to stay in the water or in the shade. The sun was just too much for us, at 47 degrees, walking anywhere was painful. For the hike back up the mountain to a taxi back into town, we hired a donkey. Looking at the poor, drooping eared beasts, you wonder how anyone could make them work so hard.. well now I know.. That donkey carried my bag back up the hill, something I sure couldn't do. As sad as they look, It was better than having another human carry my bag up the hill, which was the other option.
Back in Marrakech, I was left by Emily and Gabe, and I took a first class (a whole dollar fifty more than second) train to Casablanca.
Expecting the usual dozens of loud mosques, and intricate doors, Casa was a real surpise. From the train to my hotel I passed no less than six bars, all bearing sheets or beads over their doors to ' hide' what goes on inside, but really just making them more obvious. My hotel turned out to be the most expensive I have stayed in ( to be fair, I have been sleeping on rooves). The smelliest I have stayed in, and it came with free bedbugs! Despite my five star hotel, casa was worth going to, if not for the sights, but for the people.
I spent a bit of time with a traveler i met earlier in my travels, Antony, we had drinks ( yes, booze!) in a restaurant overslooking the city. My drink cost more than my hotel, but the company was worth it.
In my bug filled palace I met another fellow hotel dweller, Youssef, who recently recieved his visa for Canada. We spent many nights over coffee debating and discussing our varying views on subjects. He is so genuinely good, and smart, that for the first time I felt compelled to actually listen and contemplate his views. He stumped me on a few, leaving me with no counter-argument. It was a relativly new thing for me, being at a loss of words, usually I don't budge an inch from my views. Then again, not very many people will keep up talking with me until I back down and call defeat:)
He never took me for ignorant ( I hope) and I asked every question in the book.
(You clean your feet five times a day? .... Wearing sandals, yes. Socks and shoes you just have to swipe your dry hands over them, and if you are travelling only every three days.)
In return he asked me questions about canada and myself, and I quized him with canadian trvia. ( touque, penny, nickle, dime..)
Even with my book full of answered questions, I still have trouble understanding regular, or standard behavior.
I spent ages trying to direct him to brush off a bread crumb from his hair, which he said I could have done myself . His friends and him will use each other as pillows at the beach, but saying goodbye between different sexes, a handshake is the norm. No hugs here!
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised , because we had already talked about female clothing, and how arms ( and practically everything else) is private. Knowing this, there was no way that when Youssef, his freinds, and I went to the beach I was wearing a bikini. Showing a bit more than arms might scanadilize them all!
At the beach, in my shorts and t shirt, we drowned ourselves in the sand filled monster waves, and played soccer on the beach. I had an automatic advantage, anytime anyone of them would bump into me they would stop and apologize,and I would make away with the ball! mUhaha. The poor gentlemen.
The guys have to go back to work for the week, so I am left here alone, to try and find a plane and get my visa organized. Being here an extra week has been fine, but what a bother trying to get things organized to fly out! My plane was grounded due to bad weather last Wed, but I am hoping to fly out of here this tuesday.
Fingers crossed!
Litterally squealing with delight, we pointed out goat after goat scrambling around in the Aragan trees. As wierd as it was, its obvious why they climb up, because the tree leaves are the only green and edible thing around. Being probably the only tourists on the bus ( or the most obvious ones) we got some pretty crazy looks from the locals, old and young alike. But hey, its not every day you see a goat in a tree, and since I have now seen them, I dont have to go through the trouble of hoisting one up.
The Ouzoud waterfalls were gorgeous, away from the hustle and bustle of the major cities, it was quiet and enjoyable. We jumped off some crazy big cliffs into the river, and tried to stay in the water or in the shade. The sun was just too much for us, at 47 degrees, walking anywhere was painful. For the hike back up the mountain to a taxi back into town, we hired a donkey. Looking at the poor, drooping eared beasts, you wonder how anyone could make them work so hard.. well now I know.. That donkey carried my bag back up the hill, something I sure couldn't do. As sad as they look, It was better than having another human carry my bag up the hill, which was the other option.
Back in Marrakech, I was left by Emily and Gabe, and I took a first class (a whole dollar fifty more than second) train to Casablanca.
Expecting the usual dozens of loud mosques, and intricate doors, Casa was a real surpise. From the train to my hotel I passed no less than six bars, all bearing sheets or beads over their doors to ' hide' what goes on inside, but really just making them more obvious. My hotel turned out to be the most expensive I have stayed in ( to be fair, I have been sleeping on rooves). The smelliest I have stayed in, and it came with free bedbugs! Despite my five star hotel, casa was worth going to, if not for the sights, but for the people.
I spent a bit of time with a traveler i met earlier in my travels, Antony, we had drinks ( yes, booze!) in a restaurant overslooking the city. My drink cost more than my hotel, but the company was worth it.
In my bug filled palace I met another fellow hotel dweller, Youssef, who recently recieved his visa for Canada. We spent many nights over coffee debating and discussing our varying views on subjects. He is so genuinely good, and smart, that for the first time I felt compelled to actually listen and contemplate his views. He stumped me on a few, leaving me with no counter-argument. It was a relativly new thing for me, being at a loss of words, usually I don't budge an inch from my views. Then again, not very many people will keep up talking with me until I back down and call defeat:)
He never took me for ignorant ( I hope) and I asked every question in the book.
(You clean your feet five times a day? .... Wearing sandals, yes. Socks and shoes you just have to swipe your dry hands over them, and if you are travelling only every three days.)
In return he asked me questions about canada and myself, and I quized him with canadian trvia. ( touque, penny, nickle, dime..)
Even with my book full of answered questions, I still have trouble understanding regular, or standard behavior.
I spent ages trying to direct him to brush off a bread crumb from his hair, which he said I could have done myself . His friends and him will use each other as pillows at the beach, but saying goodbye between different sexes, a handshake is the norm. No hugs here!
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised , because we had already talked about female clothing, and how arms ( and practically everything else) is private. Knowing this, there was no way that when Youssef, his freinds, and I went to the beach I was wearing a bikini. Showing a bit more than arms might scanadilize them all!
At the beach, in my shorts and t shirt, we drowned ourselves in the sand filled monster waves, and played soccer on the beach. I had an automatic advantage, anytime anyone of them would bump into me they would stop and apologize,and I would make away with the ball! mUhaha. The poor gentlemen.
The guys have to go back to work for the week, so I am left here alone, to try and find a plane and get my visa organized. Being here an extra week has been fine, but what a bother trying to get things organized to fly out! My plane was grounded due to bad weather last Wed, but I am hoping to fly out of here this tuesday.
Fingers crossed!
samedi 3 juillet 2010
Fez, The Sahara and Marrakech
I wish I post all the things I do, but there just isn't enough time in the day! ( plus the keyboard is confusing سيشبسيبيسشبيسشب.. it starts ont he left and moves the the right, darn Arabic!)
After my sicky travelling to the nothing-town of Berkane, I went allt he way to the algerian border town of Oujda . On the way there I met a very nice woman, who spoke no french. She seemed keen on taking me home for tea, and ( using my seazt partner as a translator)we worked it out. It turns out this smiling freckled lady didnt want me for just tea, she wanted me to stay the night, and the next ngiht, and the next. I wasnt allowed to help, but her twenty somthing daughter and I had a riot trying to communicate. We all ate morocain style, went to a hammam, and I watched them pray five times a day. ( FIVE)
The end of my stay there was a little speedbump when she tried to marry me off to one of her sons.
But All is well, no hard feelings ( i hope) and I am still a happily not- married -veiled -housewife.
After being seen off by the whole family, I headed to fez, on another nine hour chicken skwacking filled ride.
I followed my first rule , and took a map of where my hotel was. Damn happy i did, my short trip to the post, which i could see from my room, ended up exceeding five hours, and called for a payed guide to get back.
The next day I lassooed myself two english lads, and happily got lost again. We went to the tanneries ( very smelly) and found our self a local dirty eatery. Apparently I am not sucha bother, they didnt try to lose me, and we planned a desert trip for the follwing day.
The desert being the sahara, and the transportation being CAMELS. OK, there was a *minibus to get us to the camels, but that wasnt nearly as exciting.
The trip was three days long, one day getting htere, one day camel trecking and sleeping int he dunes, and a full day to return back.
We stopped at some random places, I might talk about the m*later beause they were pretty cool, but they are currently being shadowed by the CAMELS ( incedently also what I had for supper today..)
I had two camels, Charlie and Humpfree. Charlie was a darling, escept that he lost one of my precious waters, but Humpfree was rather vicous. HF also had a abnormaly large hump , and I think I am still walking a bit funny..
The desert was amazing, it changed instantly from rocky plains to yellow waves.
We climbed a dune ( which is decievingly high) ate desert food, and sang berber music.
Most of us decided to sleep under the stars, stealing our carboard mattresses from the tent.
This brings me to my third travelling rule.
Sleep in a tent to avoid scorpions.
Two lovely scorpions were found under the mattresses. The girl who was'sick' the ngiht before? She was stung by one..
Again, all is A O K. We saw the girl later on, she was fine, and we all got to pile into our minibus for the long treck back.
I have also found myself in Marrakech, and Agadir, neither of which lived up to their positive reviews. I take that back, Agadir had spagetti.. whioch was an appreciated change from cous cous and tangines. M had pidgeon , camel and snails and unwelcome amount of people trying to drag you into their stalls.
Tomorrow to the waterfalls, and HOPEFULLY to see the tree climbing goats. ( or a goat, that i find and throw in the tree and take a picutre;;either work for me!)
After my sicky travelling to the nothing-town of Berkane, I went allt he way to the algerian border town of Oujda . On the way there I met a very nice woman, who spoke no french. She seemed keen on taking me home for tea, and ( using my seazt partner as a translator)we worked it out. It turns out this smiling freckled lady didnt want me for just tea, she wanted me to stay the night, and the next ngiht, and the next. I wasnt allowed to help, but her twenty somthing daughter and I had a riot trying to communicate. We all ate morocain style, went to a hammam, and I watched them pray five times a day. ( FIVE)
The end of my stay there was a little speedbump when she tried to marry me off to one of her sons.
But All is well, no hard feelings ( i hope) and I am still a happily not- married -veiled -housewife.
After being seen off by the whole family, I headed to fez, on another nine hour chicken skwacking filled ride.
I followed my first rule , and took a map of where my hotel was. Damn happy i did, my short trip to the post, which i could see from my room, ended up exceeding five hours, and called for a payed guide to get back.
The next day I lassooed myself two english lads, and happily got lost again. We went to the tanneries ( very smelly) and found our self a local dirty eatery. Apparently I am not sucha bother, they didnt try to lose me, and we planned a desert trip for the follwing day.
The desert being the sahara, and the transportation being CAMELS. OK, there was a *minibus to get us to the camels, but that wasnt nearly as exciting.
The trip was three days long, one day getting htere, one day camel trecking and sleeping int he dunes, and a full day to return back.
We stopped at some random places, I might talk about the m*later beause they were pretty cool, but they are currently being shadowed by the CAMELS ( incedently also what I had for supper today..)
I had two camels, Charlie and Humpfree. Charlie was a darling, escept that he lost one of my precious waters, but Humpfree was rather vicous. HF also had a abnormaly large hump , and I think I am still walking a bit funny..
The desert was amazing, it changed instantly from rocky plains to yellow waves.
We climbed a dune ( which is decievingly high) ate desert food, and sang berber music.
Most of us decided to sleep under the stars, stealing our carboard mattresses from the tent.
This brings me to my third travelling rule.
Sleep in a tent to avoid scorpions.
Two lovely scorpions were found under the mattresses. The girl who was'sick' the ngiht before? She was stung by one..
Again, all is A O K. We saw the girl later on, she was fine, and we all got to pile into our minibus for the long treck back.
I have also found myself in Marrakech, and Agadir, neither of which lived up to their positive reviews. I take that back, Agadir had spagetti.. whioch was an appreciated change from cous cous and tangines. M had pidgeon , camel and snails and unwelcome amount of people trying to drag you into their stalls.
Tomorrow to the waterfalls, and HOPEFULLY to see the tree climbing goats. ( or a goat, that i find and throw in the tree and take a picutre;;either work for me!)
dimanche 20 juin 2010
Kristins second travelling tip-
Make sure the king is no where nearby if you want to rent a room.. you may end up adding five hours to your bus trip.
but it all works out!
I have ended up in Nador, instead of Al Hoceima. the guide book says it is only a two hours difference, but they didnt account for how often we stopped for tea, or becuase the driver saw a friend.. or who knows what. Once again my sleeping schedule is messed up, arriving at six in the morning, and sleeping through the better half of the day.
Something i ate didnt agree with me, so I have spent the last day or so just snoozing in my room, or reading on terrace. Gives me time to people watch, which is always fun.
From my viewpoint on the roof, i counted six ladies out of fifty not wearing a headscarf. More than I expected. I am guesing there are more, but the women dont really frequent the streets very often, a little bit for markets and shopping, but not for gathering and having a coffee. The women rule the house, and the men the streets, or that is what I am told.
Since I mostly roam the streets, I tend to strike up conversations with the guys. They will not start talking, but if I gabber away they will happily join in. Although when I am with fellow travellers, the men address them before me, or even them for me..
Some ladies have tried to explain this, saying it is out of respect for you that they dont address you. I see it as respect for the man, and not talking to his 'property'. The principle I understand ( vaguely), but I dont think it actually plays out like that.
The men will ignore me, but then go to great lengths to help me. Walking down the streets I get lots of stares, but that is all they are, stares( even if by my standards they are rude). Once I said Shooma ( shame on you) to a guy who was follwoing a little to closly with his kissy noises. He dispappared mighty quick when the enarby people told him ( i am assuming) to get lost.
I guess this is what they call culture shock, I cant make heads or tails of it!
The men are a mystery to me, but the women are easy to label. Generous. They might speak only Arabic, but that doesnt stop them from inviting me in to their home, feeding me, stroking my hair ( a little odd), the list goes on. The children too always want to sit by me ( or on me), ecspecially on the bus. I think the women are just happy to get rid of them for a while :)
Make sure the king is no where nearby if you want to rent a room.. you may end up adding five hours to your bus trip.
but it all works out!
I have ended up in Nador, instead of Al Hoceima. the guide book says it is only a two hours difference, but they didnt account for how often we stopped for tea, or becuase the driver saw a friend.. or who knows what. Once again my sleeping schedule is messed up, arriving at six in the morning, and sleeping through the better half of the day.
Something i ate didnt agree with me, so I have spent the last day or so just snoozing in my room, or reading on terrace. Gives me time to people watch, which is always fun.
From my viewpoint on the roof, i counted six ladies out of fifty not wearing a headscarf. More than I expected. I am guesing there are more, but the women dont really frequent the streets very often, a little bit for markets and shopping, but not for gathering and having a coffee. The women rule the house, and the men the streets, or that is what I am told.
Since I mostly roam the streets, I tend to strike up conversations with the guys. They will not start talking, but if I gabber away they will happily join in. Although when I am with fellow travellers, the men address them before me, or even them for me..
Some ladies have tried to explain this, saying it is out of respect for you that they dont address you. I see it as respect for the man, and not talking to his 'property'. The principle I understand ( vaguely), but I dont think it actually plays out like that.
The men will ignore me, but then go to great lengths to help me. Walking down the streets I get lots of stares, but that is all they are, stares( even if by my standards they are rude). Once I said Shooma ( shame on you) to a guy who was follwoing a little to closly with his kissy noises. He dispappared mighty quick when the enarby people told him ( i am assuming) to get lost.
I guess this is what they call culture shock, I cant make heads or tails of it!
The men are a mystery to me, but the women are easy to label. Generous. They might speak only Arabic, but that doesnt stop them from inviting me in to their home, feeding me, stroking my hair ( a little odd), the list goes on. The children too always want to sit by me ( or on me), ecspecially on the bus. I think the women are just happy to get rid of them for a while :)
vendredi 18 juin 2010
Tangier- ChefChouen
First things first, half of my backpack has got to go.
Most of the cities Medinas, generally where my hostels are located are up hill. NOt just a liesurly incline, a huff and puff, I need to stop for a siesta incline. Full of missing cobblstones, and stairs that are definatly not to building code.
Other than the crazy climbs, all of the cities have been beautiful. Tanger was a bit intenese, full of faux guides and people litterally pulling you into their shops. Once I got the hang of just looking ahead with my head up high they tended notto bother me much. I guess I have mastered my ' dont mess with me ' look.
I taxied to the hercules cave the second day, and was a bit dispappointed at home touristy it was. Never the less, the view was gorgeous, and i Spent a good few hours reading in the sun. I shared a cab with three guys ont he way back, two of whom I spent the next few days. They both live in Casablance (totally stealing a couch when i get there) and teach English, but they are originally from The states and Ireland.
We bused to Tetaouan and toured around for a few hours, and then travelled to Chefchouen.
So much better than Tanger. Not too much hassle, lots to look at, and gorgeous. The whoole city is painted different shades of blue,making it dreamlike ( or smurf like) to walk through, unlesss you get lost. We spent to better part of two days walking around, doing a small hike, and drinking mint tea.
Anthony is fly paper for husslers, Anyone near by and they just gravitate to him. Usuaully he just brushes them off and we continue on, but a few times we got hereded into shops, once a carpet shop.
Something you need to do in Morocco I guess, is listen to a Moroccan try to sell you carpets for an hour while drinking the customary tea. This guy spoke pretty good english, but with a few funn things that he would say over and over again.
My favorite saying was that he hass a 'symbolioc and democratic price...' or an 'interesting price.. 'all of which didnt make me want to buy the carpets more.
Other husslers would say funny things too, the best being the mountain 'farmers'.
They want to show us their Marijuana fields int he mountain, which is a pretty funny thing to be offered.
Besides the crazies, there were times I would get invited in by ladies to drink tea with them ( a plus about being a girl) or we would come across a concert, or even a funeral procession. The singing here is pretty hit or miss for me. I dont like it with instruments, but a choir , or random singers sounds pretty good.
The prayer call hasnt bothered me at all, I havnt heard it yet while sleeping. I still dress very conservativly, more so now that I konw that the 'normaally dressed' ladies in the bars were hookers.. can you imagine!
On to Casa, and then the desert, after i chill here for a bit more.
Ma' Alsalam
Most of the cities Medinas, generally where my hostels are located are up hill. NOt just a liesurly incline, a huff and puff, I need to stop for a siesta incline. Full of missing cobblstones, and stairs that are definatly not to building code.
Other than the crazy climbs, all of the cities have been beautiful. Tanger was a bit intenese, full of faux guides and people litterally pulling you into their shops. Once I got the hang of just looking ahead with my head up high they tended notto bother me much. I guess I have mastered my ' dont mess with me ' look.
I taxied to the hercules cave the second day, and was a bit dispappointed at home touristy it was. Never the less, the view was gorgeous, and i Spent a good few hours reading in the sun. I shared a cab with three guys ont he way back, two of whom I spent the next few days. They both live in Casablance (totally stealing a couch when i get there) and teach English, but they are originally from The states and Ireland.
We bused to Tetaouan and toured around for a few hours, and then travelled to Chefchouen.
So much better than Tanger. Not too much hassle, lots to look at, and gorgeous. The whoole city is painted different shades of blue,making it dreamlike ( or smurf like) to walk through, unlesss you get lost. We spent to better part of two days walking around, doing a small hike, and drinking mint tea.
Anthony is fly paper for husslers, Anyone near by and they just gravitate to him. Usuaully he just brushes them off and we continue on, but a few times we got hereded into shops, once a carpet shop.
Something you need to do in Morocco I guess, is listen to a Moroccan try to sell you carpets for an hour while drinking the customary tea. This guy spoke pretty good english, but with a few funn things that he would say over and over again.
My favorite saying was that he hass a 'symbolioc and democratic price...' or an 'interesting price.. 'all of which didnt make me want to buy the carpets more.
Other husslers would say funny things too, the best being the mountain 'farmers'.
They want to show us their Marijuana fields int he mountain, which is a pretty funny thing to be offered.
Besides the crazies, there were times I would get invited in by ladies to drink tea with them ( a plus about being a girl) or we would come across a concert, or even a funeral procession. The singing here is pretty hit or miss for me. I dont like it with instruments, but a choir , or random singers sounds pretty good.
The prayer call hasnt bothered me at all, I havnt heard it yet while sleeping. I still dress very conservativly, more so now that I konw that the 'normaally dressed' ladies in the bars were hookers.. can you imagine!
On to Casa, and then the desert, after i chill here for a bit more.
Ma' Alsalam
mardi 15 juin 2010
Dancing band
This was fairly early one morning// After this the giant blowup royalties came; and the crowds!
lundi 14 juin 2010
Made it.
After two trains to Barcelona, three trains a bus and a ferry to Morrocco, I am finally here. I have made it to the land of heat ( there might be a better description later, but with sweat dripping down my face, thats all I got/)
My stay in Barcelona was pretty packed with fun stuff to do, so packed in fact that it replaced sleep.
I met some people on the train there, and ended up following them to their hostel. We went out together the first time, and stayed up until the unimpressive elderly time of three... well- I thought it was ok, but apparently thats not how they do it here!
So the next night we tried , and succeeded by starting the night with some supper at eleveinish, and stumbming out of the club at closing time. Closing time being at seven, middle of rush hour for the normal people with a normal sleep schedule.
Arriving in the fresh morning air, not looking or feeling so fresh wasnt the worst part, or even remotly the end of my night.
I have learned my first major lesson of the trip.
Know where you are staying.
I could add to that.. have a key.. know the name of the street it is on..
Ramone, my roomate, had the key ( and the all importnant hostel name] and we got sperated half way through the night. With so many people, and the mental awareneess of a coconut, finding eachoterh was rather impossible.
La Rambla, the only street name I could think of, turns out to be THE shopping boulevard, a good two KM of similar stores,with no dobvious reference points.
Apprently luck was kinda with me, and i followed the sounds of construction right to my hostel. The same jackhammer sounds managed to keep me awake.. but no complaining§
After one night like that we kept it pretty chill, as chill as you get with dancing drum bands playing out side your window..naked bikeriders going by, or Giant blow up royalties floating through( we tried to figure out the reason behind it, to no avail). Prety much the hostel was right dab in the middle of everything, and we never had to go far to find something entertaining.
Two of the days I spent with Julia, who luckily was passing through the same time as me. The first night we spent ages on the metro, and made it to the magic foutain. Lameo name, but totally worth it. It is a foutain with incrdeble jets spraying water to the sound of music, with different lights being filtered in. The second day we went to a " village" made to represent all the areas of spain, for the eighty two expo ( guessing.. maybe Jullia can be more clear!) It eneded up being halarious, full of lots of silly pictures and a good array of resonably priced souvenirs. I ended up getting a large bottle of delicccous sangria for my mommy, which Julia was goign to cart back home for me..
But we drank it... Its the thought that counts! ( we replaced it with a smaller version, much better for Jluias poor back ..)
I am currently in Tangier, only due to the help of two qdorqble qrqbic women, who fed me their lunch and inisisted I come with them. There was four passport checks, and lots of queus involved to get here, but I did make it!
Walking around loking for my Hostel, I have quickly picked up on what they mean by guys trying to get your attention..
Its a good thing I dont understand Arabic , becquse I am pretty sure they werent calling out telling me how beautiful the day is. Regardless, I am pretty good at ignoring people, and found my hostel without too much trouble.
A little too much new for me today, I am going to have Dominos for supper, maybe try something new tomorrow.
I will try to post pictures too tomorrow, and maybe try harder to not suck so much on the arabic keyboard!
samedi 5 juin 2010
Hide and seek..
It seems all my belongings have legs, and are very good at finding hiding spots.
I have tried to keep all the things in one spot ( namely my bedroom) but somehow they got tossed around with all the other things in the house. I am very lucky the family is laidback, in a comforatble leave your stuff in a tidy mess kind of way. Along with finding all my stuff, comes the realization that it is not, in this world or the next, going to fit in my backpack( or two or three backpacks).. Trying to decide between clothes, when I don`t really know what to expect is difficult. I will have been around for all four seasons, thankfully wih the bulkiest one behind me. I was planning on sending the items that didn`t make the final cut home, but after paying 70 EUROS for the first package, I have decided to cut my losses, and go shopping when I get home instead!
The hardest thing for me to leave behind ( besides the family of coures) is all my french books. I am proud to say I can happily read a novel. Happily being the key word. Before I could read, with the aid of a dictionary, but the movie part in my head was pretty lame, missing key descriptive words, kinda like a stickman story. Now I read for pleasure, and my "movie" is complete with the hollywood special effects and gorgeous men :)
I have accumulated the entire twilight series ( including the new life of Bree one, which is not so great.), The last Harry Potter, a few Orwell books, and some popular french novels books I snagged from Laurence.
This week I went and got the rest of my vaccinations, and met a few very nice french gentlemen; One who volunteered to gas up my car for me, and one who hopped in the car and directed me to the clinic. It almost made going to get four shots worth it!
As you may of heard, I was also little Bo peep this week. Complete with the curvy stick and bonnet (ok...no bonnet..). And, I did lose my sheep, err, one sheep. We spent a good ten minutes running around trying to herd an energetic youngster. The herding would not have been possible without the magic sheep dogs... I am not a city girl, but when I saw Babe, I was sure that dogs didn`t actually herd like that, it was pretty cool to see them in action. Danais ( dan I E) would talk to her dog, full sentences.. and the flipping dog would undertand.
D- you forgot one!
Dog would circle back and get behind the lost sheep, pushing it with his nose.
D-slow them down in front!
Dog would cirlce around and run in front of them, stopping the mass of clueless wool
It looked like a pretty cool job to me, relax, out in the sun, until one of the sheep got tired and we had to drag it the rest of the way.. A few lambs needed a lift too, so they got stuffed in sacs, or slung over our shoulders .
After dragging the now not-so-white sheep to the new pasture, we tended to the bees!
Tierry ( tea Air E), the owner, has over 20 hives around Gresse, one of them being mighty close to his house. One of the hives had lost their queen, so we went through all the frames looking for a new one. Unfortunatly, there is no other Mother bee, so the hive will eventually stop functioning. More male bees will continue to be born, but no female ( aka worker) bees. Soon the hive will be just males, squabbling and getting nothing done..
I have tried to keep all the things in one spot ( namely my bedroom) but somehow they got tossed around with all the other things in the house. I am very lucky the family is laidback, in a comforatble leave your stuff in a tidy mess kind of way. Along with finding all my stuff, comes the realization that it is not, in this world or the next, going to fit in my backpack( or two or three backpacks).. Trying to decide between clothes, when I don`t really know what to expect is difficult. I will have been around for all four seasons, thankfully wih the bulkiest one behind me. I was planning on sending the items that didn`t make the final cut home, but after paying 70 EUROS for the first package, I have decided to cut my losses, and go shopping when I get home instead!
The hardest thing for me to leave behind ( besides the family of coures) is all my french books. I am proud to say I can happily read a novel. Happily being the key word. Before I could read, with the aid of a dictionary, but the movie part in my head was pretty lame, missing key descriptive words, kinda like a stickman story. Now I read for pleasure, and my "movie" is complete with the hollywood special effects and gorgeous men :)
I have accumulated the entire twilight series ( including the new life of Bree one, which is not so great.), The last Harry Potter, a few Orwell books, and some popular french novels books I snagged from Laurence.
This week I went and got the rest of my vaccinations, and met a few very nice french gentlemen; One who volunteered to gas up my car for me, and one who hopped in the car and directed me to the clinic. It almost made going to get four shots worth it!
As you may of heard, I was also little Bo peep this week. Complete with the curvy stick and bonnet (ok...no bonnet..). And, I did lose my sheep, err, one sheep. We spent a good ten minutes running around trying to herd an energetic youngster. The herding would not have been possible without the magic sheep dogs... I am not a city girl, but when I saw Babe, I was sure that dogs didn`t actually herd like that, it was pretty cool to see them in action. Danais ( dan I E) would talk to her dog, full sentences.. and the flipping dog would undertand.
D- you forgot one!
Dog would circle back and get behind the lost sheep, pushing it with his nose.
D-slow them down in front!
Dog would cirlce around and run in front of them, stopping the mass of clueless wool
It looked like a pretty cool job to me, relax, out in the sun, until one of the sheep got tired and we had to drag it the rest of the way.. A few lambs needed a lift too, so they got stuffed in sacs, or slung over our shoulders .
After dragging the now not-so-white sheep to the new pasture, we tended to the bees!
Tierry ( tea Air E), the owner, has over 20 hives around Gresse, one of them being mighty close to his house. One of the hives had lost their queen, so we went through all the frames looking for a new one. Unfortunatly, there is no other Mother bee, so the hive will eventually stop functioning. More male bees will continue to be born, but no female ( aka worker) bees. Soon the hive will be just males, squabbling and getting nothing done..
vendredi 28 mai 2010
dimanche 16 mai 2010
Birthday snow!
I swear its fall.
The flowers look like they are dying, there are leaves on the ground, the trees are bare, and we get early morning frost.
I can handle it though, becuase I am an adult, an almost over the hill 20 year old, who can feel the rain in her bones. For my birthday I got some very nice cards and a garden full of the fluffy white stuff ( really, it was slushy and muddy, but no one is counting specifics.) I ended up going out with a friend of a friend, and we had a pretty decent time. We played some pool, and went to a few bars. One of which where our server lived in victoria for a few years, and knew more hiking and biking trails than I did, small world? One of hte other bars had sand for a floor. Not just any old sand , pearly white tropical island sand! And the crazy part is that it was immaculate, there were a handful of drunken dirty dancing girls who must of sloshed their drink on the floor at some point.. Do they change it every night? Ship it in from Hawaii?
My birthday present to myself was a pair of new sandals and a silk sleeping liner, all from my nex favorite store- Decathalon. Same thing as MEC , but cheaper, and bigger. It is a good thing i went there with a list. If not I might have convinced myself I needed some hip waders and a kite board.
The rest of the days have been loosly filled with rendezvous. The doctor for the yellow fever shot, The train station for some tickets, the grocery store for random ingredients....
I made cinnamon buns the other day ( which were heavenly), with a yogurt icing. I couldnt find any cream cheese, and the yogurt gave it the tangy flavour. I deceided cin buns was one of my staple foods that they needed to try, and I think I have cinvinced them to add it to a favorites list.
My Itinerary is finally set. I leave for Spain on the eighth of June, and I will be staying in Barcelona for two days visiting with julia, then i train tto Malaga, and take the ferry across to Morocco. I have about a month and a half in Morocco, and I leave out of Rabat into Douala, Cameroon for late July. i am staying in cameroon, volunteering and travelling for a litle over four months, and then i fly into England, short stay there, and then back home for early December!
dimanche 2 mai 2010
Rain really is a good preventative medicine.
From doing anything that is.. When it is raining cats and dogs I really don`t feel so bad sitting inside watching 3 movies in a day.
I have chosen to look at it as a good thing. I have finished ALL the episodes of Monk, watched all of M Moores documentaries, and I am caught up on all the recent movies. This will also balalnce out the close-to-zero amount of computer time I am sure to get in the near future.
To break up the weekdays I go to gymnastics, and do things that would usually not even cross my mind..
Like Gardening. Who knew it could be a stress reliever (not that I have any..)? You tug and tug at this ugly old weed, and then zinnng, it comes sailing out, roots and all. Despite being covered in a layer of dirt, and not knowing if it actually WAS a weed, it makes you feel pretty accomplished. The accomplishment dimishes a bit when you discover it was a tulip, but you carry on!
Ironing. Was entertaining for about 5 min. Then I realzied it is one of the most useless things to do in the world. I am just going to sleep on the sheet, who cares if it starts out wrinkle-less or not?
Weekends are pretty fun. We go down to the lake, and have picnics. A dozen people stay over after they go for a scenic motorbike tour, and we go to Accrobranche!!
When I am rich, I am going to have one. It is a big kid playground high in the trees, comlete with ziplines, tarzan ropes and spider nets,tightrope walking and barrel jumping. It was MADE for me.
The place has a dozen or so runs, with at least twenty different things to do. There are really easy, and special forces freaking hard. You have two carabiner lines,so when you change lines you are always attatched, and one pulley for the zip line.
JM and I did the two hardest ones. You have to ask for permission, because if you get stuck; they have to come get you :)
I thought I was going to be stuck in a tree for ever. Most of the activities are slightly up hill, so if you slip , or miss a jump, you get to slide all the way back to the beginning. I fixed this problem by cheating and clinging to trees when I needed a rest. After a while my grip was shot, and I would grab on using the inside of my elbow or knees instead. The capri pants were not such a great idea either. I have some pretty rad bruises.
Who is going to volunteer to be my favorite person and make this for my birthday? Pretty Pretty please!
Pictures- Climbling uphill on a rope, zipline!, and just letting go of a rope swing and grabbing a net.
mardi 27 avril 2010
From Paris with Love!
After a week of tanning in the sun (who am I kidding? Burning. ) we dropped off the boat and made our way to Paris. The trip was long and whinding ( that would be a mix between the whining kid beside me, and the stomach turning winding road).
We stayed at Laurences sisters place, complete with a pool, enough computers for all the visitors, and a adequate amount of chocolate. They are all very nice people, and good at breaking the ice. If i could ( L has forbade me ) I would put up the `just Dance `video of the family.`A Wii game that everyone must have.
The following day we took the train downtown and started our tour of all the main sights.
I`m not one to admire art, and to know good from bad. I have a really hard time seperating the kindergarten masterpiece from the abstract masterpiece. However, no one can really blame me becquse Penticton isn`t really teeming with spectacular art exhibits. Unless you count Frank, the Baggage handler.
Frank is one of the few nude sculptures I have seen. Not that I saw much. Frank, at the time, lived in the middle of the only roundabout in Penticton.He was frequently sporting a bikini or diaper, with perhaps a toilet placed behind him and a lay around his head. I never really fully appreciated the art, choosing to focus more on his amusing accessories.
So on the train, I decided to try and stay openminded, and try to appreciate the art.
verdict-
I Appreciate It.
If only realy men looked like this!
North America should place some of these sculpures strategiclly around cities. Its sort of uplifting..
Walking along after a long day of work, sweating in the evening heat, the .. sculpted sculptures help you continue on, lift your depression; and realise there is good in the world.
Ok, so thats a bunch of bull, but I really did enjoy all the art in France. We did see the Eiffel tower (hard to miss), Chateau de versailles, and went into the arc de triomph and the Notre Dame.
The Arc de Tromph is home to the tomb of the `unkown soldier`. It is meant to commemerate all the soldiers lost in the war and every ngiht they hold a small serice around it. All around the tomb are inscriptions in the pavement about the wars that France has fought in. I spent a good chunk of time reading ( and trying not to step on) the information, with my trusty dictionary (AKA Laurence) by my side.
After visiting all these famous landmarks, I am a bit embarassed to say we went to minature land. It is a hundred times bigger and better than the victoria one, but still pretty lame. It was 116 minature monuments, placed outside in grounds shaped France. The detail was pretty impressive, but everthing is all blurred together, I`m not really good at remebering over a hundrred different stories.
We stayed in Paris for a week, which, with all the crowdswas enough for me. Overall, the Parisians were very welcoming (no snobbyness encounterd!) the restaurants were WAY over priced ( no worry to me, I didn't pay..) and there was a serious lack of berets.
lundi 19 avril 2010
All last week I spent on the canal de midi in a private cruise liner.
OK, it wasn`t quite that big, but big enough by my standards, and any other reasonable person. Three bedroom, three bathroom, floating mansion. Complete with a kitchen, inside and outside tables and three lovely laydown lawnchairs (not to mention the cupbards full of nutella; chocolate , and a interesting array of flavours in chips) . Despite all these luxuries there were some drawbacks..
My shower/sink/toilet was in a four foot long box. The toilet way too high and the shower so low I had to lean down to be in the path of the water. My first shower I succeeded in drenching my weeks worth of toilet paper. The second shower I slipped and managed to knock the handle off of the door. I, impressingly, managed to lock myself in, and L had to come to my rescue. I can only imagine the wake of distruction if I was a whole 5`5...
The only other drawback (not really the boats fault..sound proof walls I don`t think are very sea worthy..) was the noise. Pellet gun for my birthday please? The flipping ducks almost drove me mad. The feathered demons would finally shut-up, and then a church bell wold ring.. which would set them off again.
We floated from Carcasonne to the meditarinien and back, managing to get through about fifty locks without major catostrophy. The canal was started in 1666, iintended as a shortcut betzeen the Qtlqntic and Med. They added locks to it a little later. to deliver things up and down stream.
The first lock we went through was a bit of a bumper boat. JM not being experienced at steering, and Lauarence and I not so great at the throwing and catching of the ropes. After the boat was secured, the gates shut and the water went down (and up,depending on the way were going). The gates then openned and we either steered into the next lock (the most in a row that we did was three, but there is one that is seven) or back onto the canal. Seeing other `crews`work together was really when we shon the most. Some people should just keep to solid ground, and maybe a tricylce with a shiny helmet and sturdy knee pads. The sufferening that the poor boats go through:.. One boat came in full speed , with two other boats already secured and in. After smashing around for a while, they managed to get it in roughly the right spot, on the right side. Then they throw up the ropes to secure. Not to the side that they can touch, but to the other side of the lock,20 feet away. Perhaps (hopefully) they were a tad drunk...
Every evening we stopped and tied up the boat to a few trees, and went for bike ride to the nearest village. We usually had ice cream and supper, and visited a few little shops. One shop sold every kind of jam imanginable, they hqd coconut and cinnamon, and pinapple. They also had pickled duck, which is apparently a specialty of the region. I saw one that said `squirrel`.. and assumed it was another, slightly revolting , specialty. Laurence laughed at me and pointed out it was actually different types of nuts, the `squirrel mixture`.
Language translation errors happen to me just as much as they happen to L or JM, or to random signs we manage to see. L has trouble with Jam and Ham, and often tells me to put jam with our tomato and lettuce sandwhiches and JM says McDonalds in a way that makes it sound like an exotic high class restaurant. Boat names like little Winky, and my favorite, the courthouse being called the `Palace of Justice`.
I have finallly bought my ticket, I am going to cameroon in mid august until mid november after i travel spain and Morocco. I am going to be volunteering at a school and orphanage there, as well as doing some travelling. Hopefully the planes zill be flying by that time, or I may have to endure the hardships here longer... :)
lundi 5 avril 2010
Snow.
Warmth and picnics
Rain.
Sunshine Lollipops and rainbows everywhere..
Hail.
This weather has me on my toes (not to mention back, bottom and knees.. ice is no good for the clumsy). I keep going to put my snowboots away, and the next day I have to dig them out again as the weather turns from one thing to another.
Despite the weather, I consider myself a safe driver ( looking past the reverse incedent), in snow and rain I feel comfortable driving windy mountain roads. Emma and I usually have the music turned up, singing to music we can both agree to. Green Day is the middle road for us, I refuse to listen to Lady gaga, and she doesn't want to listen to Queen (Bohemian rapsody anyone?) The last week has been a bit of a change in the routine. Laurneces mother is visiting for a week, and she does not like our music.. or any at all in the car. The fifteen minute drive turns magically into hours. She sits ridgid in her seat, teeth clenched with a firm grip of the roof handle. My first impression of her was not an A+..
Later (when we finally made it to town..) a truck was blocking my way for a turn. I waited a while, but with a few blasts of horns from the people I was blocking I went to continue and find a different way. No way was Mamie having this. She told me to sit tight. Don't move. She pulled her little five foot self out of the car and went to give the truck driver a piece of her mind. Letter grade change. I like this lady!
She is an ironing maniac, Laurence ( who does not iron) has been creating a big pile of linens and such for the last week, and Mamie does a few hours every day. She likes to tell me why the Africans are lazy , how I must enjoy the heat here because it is so different from "back home", and she cheats at scrabble, but she is a halarious and a hoot to talk too.
The music in the car has been turned off, but the music in the house is roaring, with the great music of Hawaii. The sweet tunes of the ukuele haunt me in my sleep. Hawaiian music is the favorite of JM's dad, and I have had the great oppertunity to listen to it , every waking moment for the last few days.
Amid the screechy music ,Laurence managed to arrange a egg hunt in the house for Emma..
and me!
With the median ages of the house exceeding 50, I was put into the kid catergory for this one.. which was totally ok with me.. I got a giant kinder egg surpirse.. which I was pretty stoked about.. so stoked I already ate it ( and put it together without looking at the instructions..future engineer perhaps? :) )
The rest of the Easter weekend was very relaxed, besides the village wide easter egg hunt.
People volunteer (?) to get up very early to hide easter eggs around the town. We all hunted around finding eggs, and drinking hot cholocolate with Baileys. The kids all got prizes and there was a egg decoarting competition. This kind of thing happens alot, bingo, ski races, carnival. A really neat place to have a family ( and a really boring place after the age of about 11..)
One family we know is going on a trip to Reunion ( translation mix up- I thought they were crazy going to a month long "family" reunion, turns out it is the island name..) I have happily voluneeted to take there adorable dog on walks. Something that will hopefully get me out of the house, and away from the chocolate..
Next week we have rented a boat to float a channel for five days, and then make our way to Paris.. I will make sure I have found a good book before we make that long trip in close quarters.. but it should be good!
Warmth and picnics
Rain.
Sunshine Lollipops and rainbows everywhere..
Hail.
This weather has me on my toes (not to mention back, bottom and knees.. ice is no good for the clumsy). I keep going to put my snowboots away, and the next day I have to dig them out again as the weather turns from one thing to another.
Despite the weather, I consider myself a safe driver ( looking past the reverse incedent), in snow and rain I feel comfortable driving windy mountain roads. Emma and I usually have the music turned up, singing to music we can both agree to. Green Day is the middle road for us, I refuse to listen to Lady gaga, and she doesn't want to listen to Queen (Bohemian rapsody anyone?) The last week has been a bit of a change in the routine. Laurneces mother is visiting for a week, and she does not like our music.. or any at all in the car. The fifteen minute drive turns magically into hours. She sits ridgid in her seat, teeth clenched with a firm grip of the roof handle. My first impression of her was not an A+..
Later (when we finally made it to town..) a truck was blocking my way for a turn. I waited a while, but with a few blasts of horns from the people I was blocking I went to continue and find a different way. No way was Mamie having this. She told me to sit tight. Don't move. She pulled her little five foot self out of the car and went to give the truck driver a piece of her mind. Letter grade change. I like this lady!
She is an ironing maniac, Laurence ( who does not iron) has been creating a big pile of linens and such for the last week, and Mamie does a few hours every day. She likes to tell me why the Africans are lazy , how I must enjoy the heat here because it is so different from "back home", and she cheats at scrabble, but she is a halarious and a hoot to talk too.
The music in the car has been turned off, but the music in the house is roaring, with the great music of Hawaii. The sweet tunes of the ukuele haunt me in my sleep. Hawaiian music is the favorite of JM's dad, and I have had the great oppertunity to listen to it , every waking moment for the last few days.
Amid the screechy music ,Laurence managed to arrange a egg hunt in the house for Emma..
and me!
With the median ages of the house exceeding 50, I was put into the kid catergory for this one.. which was totally ok with me.. I got a giant kinder egg surpirse.. which I was pretty stoked about.. so stoked I already ate it ( and put it together without looking at the instructions..future engineer perhaps? :) )
The rest of the Easter weekend was very relaxed, besides the village wide easter egg hunt.
People volunteer (?) to get up very early to hide easter eggs around the town. We all hunted around finding eggs, and drinking hot cholocolate with Baileys. The kids all got prizes and there was a egg decoarting competition. This kind of thing happens alot, bingo, ski races, carnival. A really neat place to have a family ( and a really boring place after the age of about 11..)
One family we know is going on a trip to Reunion ( translation mix up- I thought they were crazy going to a month long "family" reunion, turns out it is the island name..) I have happily voluneeted to take there adorable dog on walks. Something that will hopefully get me out of the house, and away from the chocolate..
Next week we have rented a boat to float a channel for five days, and then make our way to Paris.. I will make sure I have found a good book before we make that long trip in close quarters.. but it should be good!
jeudi 25 mars 2010
Mud is not my friend.
The days have been flying by, I have been more active outside with the nice weather. I have also been more active inside witht he nice weather. Mop. Mop MOP> stupid kiddies and their muddy boots come in, mudify everything and then leave me in their wake.. Ah well.. now I dont feel so guilty for not doing anything around the house..
I have gone to gymnastics three times now.. Everytime managing to get lost on the way there and back and everytime wishing I had put a better CD in. ( Emma has her CD full of Lady Gaga, and other terrible englsih trash), The gymnasts are really entertaining, and ready to include me, the coach is a different story. She is a very large lady, who spends her day "coaching" from a chair. I have a realllly hard time holding my tongue ( not something I am ecspecially good at..).
She lets the other kids spot each other, which is no biggy when you are sixteen and kinda know what you are doing.. but when you are six... They really don't understand how the body bends. Two of these cute pigtail kids trying to help another do a backwalkover. The poor kid falls on her head as the other two "spotters" pull her legs from under her.
They have two trampolines, one above ground and one in ground. Usually the rule is one at a time. Apparently not here. I cringed as I watched the four or five kidergarteners gaily jumping on the above ground tramp. I had visions of them flying off and landing on the cement below .( Did I mention, no mats under or around the tramp?!)
Putting aside the useless coach, gymnastics is fantastic! I ripped both of my palms, rolled my ankle, and am so sore that my arms are not happy anywhere above my head. A few very successful days.
My english lessons are also fairly successful. Emma can now do negatives (Knowing the dif between neg with " to be " and other verbs) and she knows present, continuous present, past and future. When she is working on her english, I usually steal her verb book from school and do a few lessons. I think she enjoys pointing out the mistakes I make, she does it by laughing crazily and saying something along the lines of "stupid". The kid doesn't have much tact, but it is all meant to be joking, in the odd impolite french joking way.
Sometimes I say things that realllly makes her laugh. The other day I asked for her to get the "Copote de pomme", trying to say apple sauce. She laughed and laughed at me, so I started to get a little annoyed, "the copote s'il vous plait!". She delicatly explained to me what I was saying.
"when two people don't want to make a baby, they use it."
I had been telling her to get the condom. get the condom!
I know from now on.. it is CoMpote. Compote, compote...
I have gone to gymnastics three times now.. Everytime managing to get lost on the way there and back and everytime wishing I had put a better CD in. ( Emma has her CD full of Lady Gaga, and other terrible englsih trash), The gymnasts are really entertaining, and ready to include me, the coach is a different story. She is a very large lady, who spends her day "coaching" from a chair. I have a realllly hard time holding my tongue ( not something I am ecspecially good at..).
She lets the other kids spot each other, which is no biggy when you are sixteen and kinda know what you are doing.. but when you are six... They really don't understand how the body bends. Two of these cute pigtail kids trying to help another do a backwalkover. The poor kid falls on her head as the other two "spotters" pull her legs from under her.
They have two trampolines, one above ground and one in ground. Usually the rule is one at a time. Apparently not here. I cringed as I watched the four or five kidergarteners gaily jumping on the above ground tramp. I had visions of them flying off and landing on the cement below .( Did I mention, no mats under or around the tramp?!)
Putting aside the useless coach, gymnastics is fantastic! I ripped both of my palms, rolled my ankle, and am so sore that my arms are not happy anywhere above my head. A few very successful days.
My english lessons are also fairly successful. Emma can now do negatives (Knowing the dif between neg with " to be " and other verbs) and she knows present, continuous present, past and future. When she is working on her english, I usually steal her verb book from school and do a few lessons. I think she enjoys pointing out the mistakes I make, she does it by laughing crazily and saying something along the lines of "stupid". The kid doesn't have much tact, but it is all meant to be joking, in the odd impolite french joking way.
Sometimes I say things that realllly makes her laugh. The other day I asked for her to get the "Copote de pomme", trying to say apple sauce. She laughed and laughed at me, so I started to get a little annoyed, "the copote s'il vous plait!". She delicatly explained to me what I was saying.
"when two people don't want to make a baby, they use it."
I had been telling her to get the condom. get the condom!
I know from now on.. it is CoMpote. Compote, compote...
dimanche 21 mars 2010
Spring has (almost) sprung
rain. rain . rain
The end of the ski season was yesteday, complete with a lameo concert and torch skiing at night. I am sad to see the snow go.. it was a good source of entertainment. But now, between the rain storms I have been doing some hiking in the hills, having exhausted (within the first day or two) the walks within the little village.
Despite the mud, the walks are lovely. no worries about hungry bears or wildcats, or snakes. They killed all those off a long while ago. I did come across a pig skeleton of sorts the other day..which could be worrisome...
I went to gymnastics in Grenoble the other day, just getting there was too much effort. It took about an hour to drive to the stupid place, only to find out that google maps has directed me to a Judo club. I walked around in my snowboots, sweating and swearing and asking for directions. I even borrowed a guys phone once. He only handed it over to me after some intense questioning about where I was calling, how long.. I really picked the wrong guy. I planned to get there a few hours early so that i could grab something to eat, and read, i did get there early, but I found the gym right on time.
Turns out i have signed up for competitive girls gymnastics! Fourteen, fifteen years old.. and then me. i was happy to see that a 22 year old girl arrived a little late, and we ended up hanging out the whole time. It was a really nice gym, with two types of foam pits, two tramps, but surprisingly relaxed. I asked what they needed me to sign, and pay, but they waved me off and said later.
They had rythmic gymnastics at the same time, and they were pretty decent. Very very bendy, complete with a ball or hoolahoop and a sparkly costume. Even though its Not gymnastics, I enjoyed watching it..
The end of the ski season was yesteday, complete with a lameo concert and torch skiing at night. I am sad to see the snow go.. it was a good source of entertainment. But now, between the rain storms I have been doing some hiking in the hills, having exhausted (within the first day or two) the walks within the little village.
Despite the mud, the walks are lovely. no worries about hungry bears or wildcats, or snakes. They killed all those off a long while ago. I did come across a pig skeleton of sorts the other day..which could be worrisome...
I went to gymnastics in Grenoble the other day, just getting there was too much effort. It took about an hour to drive to the stupid place, only to find out that google maps has directed me to a Judo club. I walked around in my snowboots, sweating and swearing and asking for directions. I even borrowed a guys phone once. He only handed it over to me after some intense questioning about where I was calling, how long.. I really picked the wrong guy. I planned to get there a few hours early so that i could grab something to eat, and read, i did get there early, but I found the gym right on time.
Turns out i have signed up for competitive girls gymnastics! Fourteen, fifteen years old.. and then me. i was happy to see that a 22 year old girl arrived a little late, and we ended up hanging out the whole time. It was a really nice gym, with two types of foam pits, two tramps, but surprisingly relaxed. I asked what they needed me to sign, and pay, but they waved me off and said later.
They had rythmic gymnastics at the same time, and they were pretty decent. Very very bendy, complete with a ball or hoolahoop and a sparkly costume. Even though its Not gymnastics, I enjoyed watching it..
jeudi 18 mars 2010
La Grave mountain ( AKA death mountain)
Whistler mountain=1,530 m (20 lifts)
Apex mountain=610 m (4 lifts)
Ten minutie ride up, five min board ride down. I like this ratio.. ski some, rest some, ski some rest some.
Death Mountain=3,200 m (2 lifts)
I really should have googled this one before agreeing to go. Laurnece had some sense, she stayted home with some warm cocoa watching tv. Unfortunatly she did not share her sense with me.
I was led there like a cow to the slaughter house. Emma and her friends raving about how great the mountain was, how great the snow was, how I will just love it. I was pretty stoked.
The Gondla ride takes about 45 min ( unually only 30.. but it was windy, so we had to sit tight while they stopped the chair waiting for the wind to die down) just enough time for our guide to inform me of the dangers of the mountain..
-Expert only ( lovely)
-No groomed runs. rocks, trees, and cliffs everywhere.
-No warning signs ( you could be skiing down a lovely corridor.. only to find out that it ends with a cliff and you must hike back up to get out)
-Crevasses
When she got to the danger of crevasses, I stopped her mid sentence.
"Crevasses? In ice? Glacier?" I said. She gave me a wierd look and told me that this mountain was a glacier mountain..
Thanks for telling me guys. Really appreciate the heads up.
We finished our first run in about an hour and a half. I looked like a uncoorodinated snowman, with the kids whizzing around me , taking jumps and of course waiting for me to catch up.
Lunch we had on the hill. It was hell to get to ( a long tree traverse that I had to do entirely on my toes) but worth it to sit outsidein the sunshine with a nice hot meal. While eating one of the employees brings out a megaphone and stands on a table. He tells yells at some skiers that we can see on the the peak across from us. They were on one of those runs that finish.. abruptly.. They wern't finished climpbing back up by the time we left.. poor suckers.
By the end of the second run, I wasn't turning- I just went for it. Fell, went for it again, fell... It was much less effort then acutally trying (a little chillier though)
These people are crazy trusting. Jean-Michel gave me the car to go back to the house, while they stayed at the ski hill.
I have never driven his car before.. I couldn't even remember where we parked the car. Finding the car, I couldn't remember the name of the village we were staying at. I DID know that Grenoble was in the oppoisite direction.. so i just asked which way to go to Grenoble, and did the opposite.
I did make it back to the house, and spent the rest of the day lounging in the sunshine.
jeudi 11 mars 2010
Snow Snow come once more.. throw the 20 below out the door.
I currently have on ; pJs , a sweater, long underwearm ,socks ( might I add that they are merino wool) , and my lovely grandma made slippers . All cocooned in my sleeping blanket. Yet it is all O K. Soon I will be entering my tropical chamber, where I can shed all my layers, and bathe in the radiating warmth. I love having my own heater.
Lets do another list.. a list of things I love
I love..
-my snowpants.
-and my gloves ( which I forgot luging today.. my fingers are still a bit tingly..)
-my personal milk ( We get normal milk for me Hoorah! No warm milk with an seemingly everlasting duedate for me!)
-my dwindling supply of english books
-my blackout curtains
-my animal friends.. and I supose my human friends too.
Which I have more of, due to one entertaining night.
I went out to the party (with a guy I met at the tourist office. I go there so often to ask for help that he took pity on me) in the town. I say the party, because there is only one. There is sufficent people for one (1) party. Therefor, everyone, anywhere around my age was there, sometime during the night. I didn't bring anything to drink, but TADA, no such thing as BYOB here- the lovely host supplies it all, and not all of it was wine! Needless to say I got a little tooo over excited about the different beverages.
The poor fishy was the first to go.. I accidently knocked him over, and then rescued him by putting him in a nearby gin and tonic (honest mistake! It looks like water..) My coordination was off a bit, but my french got rolling! I had fun ( besides the first bit) and got a ride home at a respectable time. I woke up feeling pretty ok, except for the fact that I still had my snowpants on.. which turned out to not be my snowpants..
We did a little exchange, snowpants for my forgotten camera, and everything is Honky-dory!
Off to some other ski mountain for the weekend-
i will post pictures when i get back, if someone will tell me how?
Lets do another list.. a list of things I love
I love..
-my snowpants.
-and my gloves ( which I forgot luging today.. my fingers are still a bit tingly..)
-my personal milk ( We get normal milk for me Hoorah! No warm milk with an seemingly everlasting duedate for me!)
-my dwindling supply of english books
-my blackout curtains
-my animal friends.. and I supose my human friends too.
Which I have more of, due to one entertaining night.
I went out to the party (with a guy I met at the tourist office. I go there so often to ask for help that he took pity on me) in the town. I say the party, because there is only one. There is sufficent people for one (1) party. Therefor, everyone, anywhere around my age was there, sometime during the night. I didn't bring anything to drink, but TADA, no such thing as BYOB here- the lovely host supplies it all, and not all of it was wine! Needless to say I got a little tooo over excited about the different beverages.
The poor fishy was the first to go.. I accidently knocked him over, and then rescued him by putting him in a nearby gin and tonic (honest mistake! It looks like water..) My coordination was off a bit, but my french got rolling! I had fun ( besides the first bit) and got a ride home at a respectable time. I woke up feeling pretty ok, except for the fact that I still had my snowpants on.. which turned out to not be my snowpants..
We did a little exchange, snowpants for my forgotten camera, and everything is Honky-dory!
Off to some other ski mountain for the weekend-
i will post pictures when i get back, if someone will tell me how?
lundi 8 mars 2010
BAHHHHHHHH
We went for dinner yesterday to Natashas families house. It's a big sheep farm, and you can smell it a mile away. Putting the stink aside ( which was very hard to do..) it is a cute log home, with a huge stable next to it. I looked longingly at the house ( with its smoking chimney.. and almost visible heat rays) as I was led to the stable ( with its visible stink rays?). We all sat down and a very confusing game of werewolf and villagers. After the game was over , we ate dinner, all fresh foods from the farm. Fresh mutton patte is now one of my favorite snacks, of course smeared on some crunchy french bread.
After the crepe dessert ( LOVE this place.) I went to check out the sheep. If "sheep" pluralized had an 's" on the end then I would most definatly say sheepsssssssss-because there was a whole shitload of them! More than two hundred I think, two hundred heads trying to get to the feeding trough. I was contemplating crowd surfing them, when i saw the lambs.
oh MY goodness. about the cutest things in the world. Maybe 30 or 40 of them..
I then proceeded to sit down ( i am assuming in manure..) and let them all crowd around me , while giggling like a three year old. I think I almost had Laurnce convinced to take one home.. I will work on it.
A few of the moms died, so they have to bottle feed more than a dozen of them. I am sure they would love to have some help!!
After the crepe dessert ( LOVE this place.) I went to check out the sheep. If "sheep" pluralized had an 's" on the end then I would most definatly say sheepsssssssss-because there was a whole shitload of them! More than two hundred I think, two hundred heads trying to get to the feeding trough. I was contemplating crowd surfing them, when i saw the lambs.
oh MY goodness. about the cutest things in the world. Maybe 30 or 40 of them..
I then proceeded to sit down ( i am assuming in manure..) and let them all crowd around me , while giggling like a three year old. I think I almost had Laurnce convinced to take one home.. I will work on it.
A few of the moms died, so they have to bottle feed more than a dozen of them. I am sure they would love to have some help!!
dimanche 7 mars 2010
I Give up.. some day during my week... more than a few weeks in
The masks are great. They only pulled out a few eyebrow hairs, and are currently still intact. Emma and Natasha both did one on each other, which they found very amusing. I was a lttile worried when Emma ( who went first) was running around the house screaming , sometimes her "fun" scream and her "pain" scream sound awfully close. She complained of it " suctiononing" her face as it was drying. I don't think it caused too much damage, her face has retained its normal oval shape, although I do recall it being a bit of a wierd feeling as it hardened on your face.
After school sometimes we pack a snack and head to the hill, not for skiing, but for "luge". We are hardened athletes, to be participating in such a crazy sport. Falling off your areodynamic, olympic worthy sled is not a lauging matter. Not only that, but I have to borrow my sled, one that is made for a much narrower bottom. My sled gave a valliant effort, but was forced to break in half, forcing me to finish my slide with no protection.
Calling sledding "luge" really makes it feel more age appropriate. I love the french language!
Since sledding is not my forté, I tried my luck on a giant slalom course. Thats right, I entered a competition, a ski competition, On a snowboard. Needless to say I blew away the competition, and got awarded a Gold . A big ass trophy for being first and last in my own catergory. Having no one to compete against is the best! I was the only boarder, I fell once, missed a door,ran over another one- but I finished.
...and I got a bloody trophy!
The only crappy part, was that when accepting my trophy, they thought it would be funny to give me the microphone to "say a few things". hahaha.
Thankyou?... very much?
mercredi 3 mars 2010
Troisieme semaine...Je pense..
With Emma in school, I have been boarding every day until about lunch time. The weather is beautiful, sunny and warm. I love it. The snow.. not so much. It is icy and hard, simply turning is difficult because you can't catch an edge, its like boarding on a downhill icerink.
Emma comes home for lunch, at 1130 and goes back to school for 130 until 430. We have been playing a sickening amount of old maid, which she finds very amusing. The old maid has different animals and pharses on them, that she says whenever she gets a pair.. so despite my boredom,, it really is good to play.
I have made suppers every day this week, we have had omlettes, and spaghetti and stirfry .. none of which i ended up eating. Eating a big meal at 7 or 8 is just too late. When Emma has her after school snack, I usually eat supper :)
Gymnastics!! yay! Laurence phoned the gymnastics gym in Grenoble ( I tried, but the dumb lady wasn't understanding any of my marvelous french, so I hung up) and they are willing to let me come a few times for drop-in. I am pretty stoked about that.
Chelan (one of my former best friends.. :D ) has hooked me up with some of her friends near by. Apparently she thought my positive qualties would not be enticing enough for them to want to hang out, so she told them I was a loner, with no friends, and needed someone my own age to hang out with. It worked, they are happy to meet me, but really- loner? Thanks for the confidence boost chelan, you are a real doll.
(xoxoxo)
Wednesday today, and we are in the middle of making plaster masks. I hear squeals from the kitchen, which makes me a little nervous. Hopefully we put enough vaseline on the eyebrows...
Emma comes home for lunch, at 1130 and goes back to school for 130 until 430. We have been playing a sickening amount of old maid, which she finds very amusing. The old maid has different animals and pharses on them, that she says whenever she gets a pair.. so despite my boredom,, it really is good to play.
I have made suppers every day this week, we have had omlettes, and spaghetti and stirfry .. none of which i ended up eating. Eating a big meal at 7 or 8 is just too late. When Emma has her after school snack, I usually eat supper :)
Gymnastics!! yay! Laurence phoned the gymnastics gym in Grenoble ( I tried, but the dumb lady wasn't understanding any of my marvelous french, so I hung up) and they are willing to let me come a few times for drop-in. I am pretty stoked about that.
Chelan (one of my former best friends.. :D ) has hooked me up with some of her friends near by. Apparently she thought my positive qualties would not be enticing enough for them to want to hang out, so she told them I was a loner, with no friends, and needed someone my own age to hang out with. It worked, they are happy to meet me, but really- loner? Thanks for the confidence boost chelan, you are a real doll.
(xoxoxo)
Wednesday today, and we are in the middle of making plaster masks. I hear squeals from the kitchen, which makes me a little nervous. Hopefully we put enough vaseline on the eyebrows...
vendredi 26 février 2010
seizième jour
Waking up today was as peacefull as ever..
Emma snuck up with the supper horn (thats right. I get called to supper with a horn :) ) and blasted me with its soothing sound bright and early this morning. I was equally as nice, by grabbing a ruler and chasing her with it. I landed a few goods smacks.
All my mornings this week have been a little off.. I woke up to a mysterious lady downstairs, who for some reason couldn't understand anything i was saying ( I started in french. Notta clue.. so i tried english.. then i just said some wierd words.. same look.) Turns out she is the cleaning lady, who has been on holiday and I havn't seen. I am told shes also not so bright.. which reassured me. My french actaully IS getting better, despite the "retard" looks the lady was shooting at me.
Emma and I were playing "guess who" , using simple phrases in english. Laurence played one round with me, where I asked if her person had freckles. Fuck holes she says, what are those? No joke. exactly fuckholes.. she knew what she said too. So we had a good laughm and she tried again. Fuckholes..then fuckholes fuckholes.. that word is just not happening for her, much to my amusment.
Snowboarding every other day is pretty easy, I think I could do it the rest of my life.. For lunch Emma and I usually pack pickles, cheese bread and a juice box. the kid will eat anything...Its great. We go through a crazy amount of pickles tho..
BINGO. thats right. I got to not just play, help organise it... TWICE. Both nights were slowwwww. I probably gave kisses to the whole down ( no exageration), but now that I think about it, really is no problem... No joke, every guy here from 20 on is good looking. And not just average, like turn your head damn gorgeous..
I have dropped Emma off at three friends houses, all who were coincidently answered by men.
I have also voluneeted to pick Emma up on all possible occasions....
lundi 22 février 2010
Douzième Jour
I think you must need to grow up here to become accustomed to the huge amounts of wine and cheese consumed.
I don't think I am going to be doing any skiing today..
Last night we went over to a friends house, they all went to school together some how, and have a great many stories to share. I think I should be glad that as the night went on they talked a little too fast for me, and I didn't understand. Everyone was very funny.. they all knew about the Canadian ice hockey game, and how we lost.. and kept giving me pats on the back.. unfortunatly I didn't even understand this. I havn't been keeping up with what is happening at the olympics, ecspecially not with hockey.
We started with some really strong red wine, and then some more, and then some white wine then some champagne.. The champagne is much better then my accustomed baby duck.. but still mkaes me feel the same in the morning. I was trying to prevent this, by saying "seulment un gout" only a taste... they replied by filling my glass to the rim.
I did make apple crisp.. but the kids found it on the table before we got to it, and they ate it. I was thinking when I was making it that I wouldn't get much of it.. so Emma and I made two . We ate one at our house, and brought the other to share.
Over the weekend we watched some jumpers, boarders and skiiers. Most of them were pretty good.. getting in some double twists, and a few back flips. I however was more entertained by the music. Most of the raido music is in English, and usually from a few years back. When a popular song comes on lots of the younger people would sing to them. Or try to at least. The best song was "the roof is on fire" Everyone had the hand actionhs going on.. but the singing was just not there. Everyone was competing to be the loudest. the loudest at groaning or screeching.. or I'm not sure. .. but it was funny. The chorus of the song is very well articulated. Its not difficult.. but somehow they all got an extra dozen sylables in there. I willde finatly bring my camera next time to record it.
I don't think I am going to be doing any skiing today..
Last night we went over to a friends house, they all went to school together some how, and have a great many stories to share. I think I should be glad that as the night went on they talked a little too fast for me, and I didn't understand. Everyone was very funny.. they all knew about the Canadian ice hockey game, and how we lost.. and kept giving me pats on the back.. unfortunatly I didn't even understand this. I havn't been keeping up with what is happening at the olympics, ecspecially not with hockey.
We started with some really strong red wine, and then some more, and then some white wine then some champagne.. The champagne is much better then my accustomed baby duck.. but still mkaes me feel the same in the morning. I was trying to prevent this, by saying "seulment un gout" only a taste... they replied by filling my glass to the rim.
I did make apple crisp.. but the kids found it on the table before we got to it, and they ate it. I was thinking when I was making it that I wouldn't get much of it.. so Emma and I made two . We ate one at our house, and brought the other to share.
Over the weekend we watched some jumpers, boarders and skiiers. Most of them were pretty good.. getting in some double twists, and a few back flips. I however was more entertained by the music. Most of the raido music is in English, and usually from a few years back. When a popular song comes on lots of the younger people would sing to them. Or try to at least. The best song was "the roof is on fire" Everyone had the hand actionhs going on.. but the singing was just not there. Everyone was competing to be the loudest. the loudest at groaning or screeching.. or I'm not sure. .. but it was funny. The chorus of the song is very well articulated. Its not difficult.. but somehow they all got an extra dozen sylables in there. I willde finatly bring my camera next time to record it.
samedi 20 février 2010
dixième joour
Things have been flying by around here!
The last few days have been Emmas ski competitions. She does Slalom and ..super giant Slalam! And yes , that is the name.. I would like to be part of such an aweomse sport name.
She did pretty good (I think), and I thought they were going pretty fast. We watched olympic coverage of it though and it made them look like turtles.
I made supper the other night- Terriaki chicken, rice , steamed vegtables, and apple crumble for desert. It all went over rather well with only one minor setback. The crumble turned out delicous, except for the fact that you could break teeth on it (way better the next day, it softened up). No one told me that the stove was in Farenheit and not Celcius...
My recent trip to the ski hills washroom facilities has solidfied my thoughts on never going to the bathroom outside your house. I know most of you have been through it, but really.. a squat hole? Do you face the wall or out? i have no flipping idea.. And who came up with the bringht idea of lights on a timer? I am trying not to pee on my shoes, and the damn light goes out. Each stall is completely closed off from the main room so it was pitch black. So I fumbled for the light button, which brings me to my next vexation. Who the hell puts slippery linoleum in ski resort bathrooms? Everyone is wet and dripping from the snow, creating a slip-and-slide foor amidst the already unsavory circumstances.
Years of gymnastics, and my balance had to fail me now.. ew ew ewwwwww.
I did eventually break out of the hell hole, but i'm pretty sure I must have scared some poor child out of the bathroom with my steady stream of swears. I won't apologize for them this time though, because they were very well fucking waranted.
Condittions OUTside this week have been lovely, I don't look like a snowman anymore, but just a very happy santa claus. Having less layers on also improves my boarding.. I can move without so much effot:) There is always a negative side though, my falling hurts much more.
I love Laurence. I was appologizing for eating all the chocolate the other day, I have no self control. It is sooo delicous! One little piece.. and then another.. and then you realize the whole damn bar is gone. She laughed at me, adn then asked me if I had realized that the nutella we bought yesterday was gone. She does the same thing , but with a spoon.
We had a big long conversation about her living in Africa, she has been and done some pretty wicked stuff. She lived in Nigeria, and Benin for two years, with the french version of peace corps.
mercredi 17 février 2010
septième jour
All day it rained and rained.. So we were stuck inside most of day. I did go get Natasha, and I am happy that was the only time I had to spend outdoors! The two girls play really well together, so well in fact it leaves me with nothing to do. So I enticed them into some baking, we made cookies from one of their cook books, complete with the cookie cuttouts and sprinkles.
laurence has previously told me where to find the sprinkles, and tried to explain what they were before she found them. They are called "vermicelles" in french, and as she explained it, |ver| is worm, they are like little worms you put on your cookies. I asked if they were made of worms, still oblivious to what we are talking about. Yes they are made of wormsm she replied.
I was kind of of excited to be doing some baking, but now I was not sure. Fortunatly she pulled them out and tried to tell me again that they just "look" like worms,,, which is way better than being made of them.
Another funny baking name is for the sugar, the brown sugar is called auburn- and I have no idea why.
After cookies and lunch ( cous cous lemon tomatoes and chicken) we practiced some english. I had the girls study and read out loud all the english names of the body parts. Then we put the timer for five minutes and had to draw a person and identify as many parts of the body as we could. My drawing was in french, while theirs was in English. Is was pretty funny looking at each others drawings afterm and filling in ones we missed. The whole thing went over really well, and I would like to find some other fun ideas of how to teach vocabm or verbs...or just english! Any ideas anyone?
laurence has previously told me where to find the sprinkles, and tried to explain what they were before she found them. They are called "vermicelles" in french, and as she explained it, |ver| is worm, they are like little worms you put on your cookies. I asked if they were made of worms, still oblivious to what we are talking about. Yes they are made of wormsm she replied.
I was kind of of excited to be doing some baking, but now I was not sure. Fortunatly she pulled them out and tried to tell me again that they just "look" like worms,,, which is way better than being made of them.
Another funny baking name is for the sugar, the brown sugar is called auburn- and I have no idea why.
After cookies and lunch ( cous cous lemon tomatoes and chicken) we practiced some english. I had the girls study and read out loud all the english names of the body parts. Then we put the timer for five minutes and had to draw a person and identify as many parts of the body as we could. My drawing was in french, while theirs was in English. Is was pretty funny looking at each others drawings afterm and filling in ones we missed. The whole thing went over really well, and I would like to find some other fun ideas of how to teach vocabm or verbs...or just english! Any ideas anyone?
sixième jour
Today was a quiet day, and by quiet I mean that I watched three movies and went to bed by eight. The day didn't start so quiet though, I accidently woke everyone up around five. I was tiptoeing to the living room, and passed the bathroom when someone came out. Thinking no one was up, I decided to let everyone know of the intruder in the house by letting out a piercing scream and crumpling to the ground. Fortunatly it was not an intruder, it was Laurence, and a great way for me to get everyone up to eat breki with me!
I really need to work on not having such a loud reaction to being startled.
Another unfortunate reaction to being scared is to yell profanity. I would have preferred it here where they don't understand than in other incidents though..Such as in front of a group of kindergarten aged kids and their parents..
Watching movies in french, to my surprise, is fairly easy. I usually get the just of it and some of the jokes. Most of them are hollywood films in french . It is harder if it is a french movie with french humour. Harder for me to understand and harder for me to judge if it is approrpiate for Emma. I started watching a movie with Emma, and about five minutes later I was ready to shut it off. Full frontal fat man nudity , is not something I would like to see , nevermind see with a ten year old.
Then to my horror L arrives from work and sits down. I think I tried to sink into the couch. She comes up during the male waxing scene. Just my luck. To my surprise she laughs, and grabs a pillow to be more comfortable. We watched the whole movie together, every fake boob,butt shaking moment of it. And thus, I don't understand french humour, nor do I think I want to.
here is a trailer to the lovely movie.. for your viewing pleasure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwFWLniWk28
I really need to work on not having such a loud reaction to being startled.
Another unfortunate reaction to being scared is to yell profanity. I would have preferred it here where they don't understand than in other incidents though..Such as in front of a group of kindergarten aged kids and their parents..
Watching movies in french, to my surprise, is fairly easy. I usually get the just of it and some of the jokes. Most of them are hollywood films in french . It is harder if it is a french movie with french humour. Harder for me to understand and harder for me to judge if it is approrpiate for Emma. I started watching a movie with Emma, and about five minutes later I was ready to shut it off. Full frontal fat man nudity , is not something I would like to see , nevermind see with a ten year old.
Then to my horror L arrives from work and sits down. I think I tried to sink into the couch. She comes up during the male waxing scene. Just my luck. To my surprise she laughs, and grabs a pillow to be more comfortable. We watched the whole movie together, every fake boob,butt shaking moment of it. And thus, I don't understand french humour, nor do I think I want to.
here is a trailer to the lovely movie.. for your viewing pleasure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwFWLniWk28
mardi 16 février 2010
cinqième jour
Ok. Today i have come to the realization of how grave my situation really is.
They have no cinnamon, no good cereals and ( drumroll please) i don't like their milk.
They have milk that can sit in the cupboard until you open it.. I don't think I am alone in saying that puts me off a bit. So we have ten not opened milk jugs sitting on the shelf in the pantry. I took my first taste of it, and have since decided that it is only good with three or four large tablespoons of nesquick (which is DARK chocolate- how cool is that!).
Their cereal has chocolate in it, which as cool as it sounds, is kind of a waste of your 'daily chocolate intake".
And no cinnamon. We will get some when we go to grenoble because the store here and Natasha and Emmas house don't have it. As far as I understand ( Emma, Natasha and I have a bit of a language gap) they have never had a cinnamon bun,, it seems crazy- perhaps they are thinking of something else? I will ask Laurence to make sure.
I made supper today, something with canned green beans ground beef and tomatos ..the whole time being directed by Emma, we ended up with something that was fairly decent with lots of salt but not what I was suposed to make .. oops!
I have succeeded and drove the standard. We were planning on taking the bus but we read the schedule wrong and had no way to get there ...Except for my car sitting in the driveway. So, with Emma in her ski helmet ( her and Alaina are so alike) we drove and parked no incedents to speak of!
And then we had to leave... Which required backing up..
I couldn't get the car in reverse so I ended up asking the guy in the car next to me to reverse for me. HAHAHA. he looked very baffled when i tried to explain to him what i needed . Sadly I was lacking the word "reverse" in french, and had to demonstrate charades-like. Complete with the putt putt sound of the car and it switching gears. The poor guy didn't look so happy when I got in the car and shuttered off after he backed it up. I supose he was scared at the thought of sharing the road with me. I really don't blame him.
It turn out that you need to lift up a piece of the stick to get it into reverse...seomething that would have been usefull to know.The girls find this very amusing, and still wear their helmets.
I am not sure if I would rather the girls tell me where to go or for me to learn by myself, either way we have problems. I was on my way back home after picking something up from the store, when I made a wrong turn. Not that I knew I made a wrong turn. The girls started singing 'we are going to Grenoooobble grenooooble..." Sadly there are no places to turn around after that..
And then they try to navigate. It makes things just as hard. Tout droit means straight, and droite means right-but when they say it sounds pretty damn similar.
Every turn goes soemthing like this
Me- Here or here ? with hand motions
Girls- DROITE blahblah droiteahabhahah
I turn,,
Girls- laughing, DROITE DROITE
illegal uturn...
They have no cinnamon, no good cereals and ( drumroll please) i don't like their milk.
They have milk that can sit in the cupboard until you open it.. I don't think I am alone in saying that puts me off a bit. So we have ten not opened milk jugs sitting on the shelf in the pantry. I took my first taste of it, and have since decided that it is only good with three or four large tablespoons of nesquick (which is DARK chocolate- how cool is that!).
Their cereal has chocolate in it, which as cool as it sounds, is kind of a waste of your 'daily chocolate intake".
And no cinnamon. We will get some when we go to grenoble because the store here and Natasha and Emmas house don't have it. As far as I understand ( Emma, Natasha and I have a bit of a language gap) they have never had a cinnamon bun,, it seems crazy- perhaps they are thinking of something else? I will ask Laurence to make sure.
I made supper today, something with canned green beans ground beef and tomatos ..the whole time being directed by Emma, we ended up with something that was fairly decent with lots of salt but not what I was suposed to make .. oops!
I have succeeded and drove the standard. We were planning on taking the bus but we read the schedule wrong and had no way to get there ...Except for my car sitting in the driveway. So, with Emma in her ski helmet ( her and Alaina are so alike) we drove and parked no incedents to speak of!
And then we had to leave... Which required backing up..
I couldn't get the car in reverse so I ended up asking the guy in the car next to me to reverse for me. HAHAHA. he looked very baffled when i tried to explain to him what i needed . Sadly I was lacking the word "reverse" in french, and had to demonstrate charades-like. Complete with the putt putt sound of the car and it switching gears. The poor guy didn't look so happy when I got in the car and shuttered off after he backed it up. I supose he was scared at the thought of sharing the road with me. I really don't blame him.
It turn out that you need to lift up a piece of the stick to get it into reverse...seomething that would have been usefull to know.The girls find this very amusing, and still wear their helmets.
I am not sure if I would rather the girls tell me where to go or for me to learn by myself, either way we have problems. I was on my way back home after picking something up from the store, when I made a wrong turn. Not that I knew I made a wrong turn. The girls started singing 'we are going to Grenoooobble grenooooble..." Sadly there are no places to turn around after that..
And then they try to navigate. It makes things just as hard. Tout droit means straight, and droite means right-but when they say it sounds pretty damn similar.
Every turn goes soemthing like this
Me- Here or here ? with hand motions
Girls- DROITE blahblah droiteahabhahah
I turn,,
Girls- laughing, DROITE DROITE
illegal uturn...
dimanche 14 février 2010
quatrième jour!
After last nights supper and wine (lots of wine..) most of the friends, which are officials for the race, stayed over. My body still isn't used to the time, and likes to wake me up at 3 in the morning , every morning for a pee. That means stepping over 6 or so guys on the way to the bathroom. Mostly over, sometimes on, it was dark!
Did I mention some of them were cute?
Emma and i went skiing around 10. We waited for the cute shuttle bus that is bright pink with a cute old, crazy driver. Emma was nice and took me of a few little runs first, and was ok to wait for me when i took out my camera. Then she thought she would test me and take me on a hard one, that i had to walk to and then slide down.. I love lvoe love my snowpants. There are seven lifts, only one of which is a chair.. the others are the hip wrenching throbbling leg t bars.. verrrry long tbars. We had lunch in the lunch room ( L calls all lunch outside of the house a picnick, which i like) I made sandwhichessm but people were pulling out casseroles, jars of picklesm four or five loaves of bread, different salads, and of course wine.
Regardless, my sandwhich was very good. :)
We had pizza for supper tonight, very very delicous, and then a funny almond puree pie thing that wasn't so great. We usually play a game at the end of the night, or watch a movie. tonight it was , again, uno. Unfortunatly allt he other games are trivia qestions.. which i am not so great at...
Did I mention some of them were cute?
Emma and i went skiing around 10. We waited for the cute shuttle bus that is bright pink with a cute old, crazy driver. Emma was nice and took me of a few little runs first, and was ok to wait for me when i took out my camera. Then she thought she would test me and take me on a hard one, that i had to walk to and then slide down.. I love lvoe love my snowpants. There are seven lifts, only one of which is a chair.. the others are the hip wrenching throbbling leg t bars.. verrrry long tbars. We had lunch in the lunch room ( L calls all lunch outside of the house a picnick, which i like) I made sandwhichessm but people were pulling out casseroles, jars of picklesm four or five loaves of bread, different salads, and of course wine.
Regardless, my sandwhich was very good. :)
We had pizza for supper tonight, very very delicous, and then a funny almond puree pie thing that wasn't so great. We usually play a game at the end of the night, or watch a movie. tonight it was , again, uno. Unfortunatly allt he other games are trivia qestions.. which i am not so great at...
samedi 13 février 2010
Troisieme Jour
Saturday today!
The beginning of Emmas two week break, and a day before a ski competition that Jean Michael Organizes. To get out of the house and out of duties for organizing the competition Laurence and I went to Grenoble. (G R E noble Anna not the other one :) ) We toured around the middle of the town took the tram, and to Luarences obvious discomfort took tons of pictures of her and I.
Most of grenoble looks like it is ready to fall apart, very old ,once pretty, buildings with graffitti and missing bricks. Some crazy architect but nothing spectacular, and the poor section of grenoble is very clearly sepearted from the rich.
Driving with Laurence was quite something. She would point out corners that are dangerous (I will be driving Emma to Guitar which is about 30 min away) at the same time as cutting a blind corner , REALLY cutting a corner..
When we were stopped (ironically on a crosswalk) I asked her if pedestrians had the right of way She said that definatly yes, they do. We drove through probably five crosswalks during this converstaion, and waited for traffic on a few more.
She did give me a few very good rules that , even she said, were crazy. The main being that any street that intersects with yours on the right has the right of way. You can be on a main road with three lanes of traffic, and have a little dinky contry road intersect on the right, but if they don't have a traffic sign you must yield. Yes, this means you need to look for a sign on THEIR road. Apparently this is where lots of accidents occur...
After touring around Grenoble we went to get groceries . The store in gresse doesnt have anything really, so they do a big shop every few weeks, and shop one town over in he middle. Laurence is very sweet in trying to get me to find things that I usually eat,so we spent a while searching for peanut butter. We found it but it looks very pale, and funny.. If I dont like it we will see if it tastes good with a few cups of sugar in some cookies. We also got yogurt for me, their coconut yogurt doesnt really cut it.
Tonight we are having a big dinner with al the skiers, one of whom is a hunter. So we are eating Chamois-a deer like thing with horns, pretty cute actually. Laurence is pretty picky and has prepared something else for herself and I if we don't like it, which might be a good thing, as L says it comes with "strong" cheese.
Tommorrow we ski!
Ah- i forgot.
i guess not much happens in this town, or the region- a few of the towns have a newpaper together, with my picutre on thr front. HAHAHA
The beginning of Emmas two week break, and a day before a ski competition that Jean Michael Organizes. To get out of the house and out of duties for organizing the competition Laurence and I went to Grenoble. (G R E noble Anna not the other one :) ) We toured around the middle of the town took the tram, and to Luarences obvious discomfort took tons of pictures of her and I.
Most of grenoble looks like it is ready to fall apart, very old ,once pretty, buildings with graffitti and missing bricks. Some crazy architect but nothing spectacular, and the poor section of grenoble is very clearly sepearted from the rich.
Driving with Laurence was quite something. She would point out corners that are dangerous (I will be driving Emma to Guitar which is about 30 min away) at the same time as cutting a blind corner , REALLY cutting a corner..
When we were stopped (ironically on a crosswalk) I asked her if pedestrians had the right of way She said that definatly yes, they do. We drove through probably five crosswalks during this converstaion, and waited for traffic on a few more.
She did give me a few very good rules that , even she said, were crazy. The main being that any street that intersects with yours on the right has the right of way. You can be on a main road with three lanes of traffic, and have a little dinky contry road intersect on the right, but if they don't have a traffic sign you must yield. Yes, this means you need to look for a sign on THEIR road. Apparently this is where lots of accidents occur...
After touring around Grenoble we went to get groceries . The store in gresse doesnt have anything really, so they do a big shop every few weeks, and shop one town over in he middle. Laurence is very sweet in trying to get me to find things that I usually eat,so we spent a while searching for peanut butter. We found it but it looks very pale, and funny.. If I dont like it we will see if it tastes good with a few cups of sugar in some cookies. We also got yogurt for me, their coconut yogurt doesnt really cut it.
Tonight we are having a big dinner with al the skiers, one of whom is a hunter. So we are eating Chamois-a deer like thing with horns, pretty cute actually. Laurence is pretty picky and has prepared something else for herself and I if we don't like it, which might be a good thing, as L says it comes with "strong" cheese.
Tommorrow we ski!
Ah- i forgot.
i guess not much happens in this town, or the region- a few of the towns have a newpaper together, with my picutre on thr front. HAHAHA
vendredi 12 février 2010
Deuxième jour
We had crepes last night!!
That is all I needed on this trip, i am ready to come home, with a giant jar of nutella.
I didn't sleep last night until around three , and everyone was gone when i got up. They did however leave a note...
" Hello kristin
You have a key for you on the door. Lunch is beef peas
(there is natasha)
if having a problem call Laurence.
have a good day!"
haha- Emma and Natasha (her best friend) came home for lunch from school, We had beef and peas for lunch (no salt no anything, beef patties with peas from a jar)
they seemed satisfied with the lunch, so after they went back to school I put on my couple dozen layers and headed to the one "supermarket" in town ( two walls of food, moslty cheese and wine, figures.) and bought myself a chocoalte bar.
Despite being cold it was lovely and sunny so i took some pictures. I am my mommys girl- i kept seeing cool looking houses or fountains and would walk over and then another and anothers, until i had no idea where I was and got lost (Despite the town being teeny tiny it is easy to get lost-all the houses look the same, white, and there are no street name)
I eventually made my way home, and have been trying to figure out this stupid keyboard, which i have successfully turned english:)
Next thing on my to-do list is to find a recipe or idea for a supper- Laurence (the mom) is going to take me grocery shopping this weekend in grenoble. any ideas?
That is all I needed on this trip, i am ready to come home, with a giant jar of nutella.
I didn't sleep last night until around three , and everyone was gone when i got up. They did however leave a note...
" Hello kristin
You have a key for you on the door. Lunch is beef peas
(there is natasha)
if having a problem call Laurence.
have a good day!"
haha- Emma and Natasha (her best friend) came home for lunch from school, We had beef and peas for lunch (no salt no anything, beef patties with peas from a jar)
they seemed satisfied with the lunch, so after they went back to school I put on my couple dozen layers and headed to the one "supermarket" in town ( two walls of food, moslty cheese and wine, figures.) and bought myself a chocoalte bar.
Despite being cold it was lovely and sunny so i took some pictures. I am my mommys girl- i kept seeing cool looking houses or fountains and would walk over and then another and anothers, until i had no idea where I was and got lost (Despite the town being teeny tiny it is easy to get lost-all the houses look the same, white, and there are no street name)
I eventually made my way home, and have been trying to figure out this stupid keyboard, which i have successfully turned english:)
Next thing on my to-do list is to find a recipe or idea for a supper- Laurence (the mom) is going to take me grocery shopping this weekend in grenoble. any ideas?
Première jour
Victoria -> Vancouver-> Heathrow-> Lyon
I have successfully landed in Lyon but not without some minor speedbumps
1. Don't let anyone tell you that buying a ticket from an agency is easier and quicker. My agent didn't get the memo about the new baggage allowance for bristish Airways (or it was buried in the mess she called a desk) m so i had to pay 80 dollars for one of my bags. On the plus side to that, if I had been flying with AircanadaI would have had to pay 250 dollars..
2. thankyou to whoever told me to make sure I had ample time at the heathrow airport. five hours was just about right. For 2 oclock on a wednesday it was flipping packed! My carry on was a bit too much for their scanners, I got the bonus check, of pulling out all my belongings in front of a bitter old woman (plus side again- she had the most intriguing accent...) A forgotten bottle of eyeglass cleaner was the culprit, which she let me keep even though it was over 100ml. What is the point of rules if they don't enforce them?( This also means that i could have kept my perfume mom!)
3. At french customs, they didn't even stamp my passport or look at my visa! Darn visa was so hard to get I wanted to use it!
Jean-michael picked me up in Lyon and we drove to Gresse en vercors. This trip turned out to be two plus hours, because of all the SNOW. He thought it was very funny, my reaction when leaving the airport and heading outside. A good foot of snow at the airport and another foot at their house. He found it equally amusing when i told him that vancouver had virtually no snow and brought it up during the slow points of conversation.
"So," he would say. "you are from vancouver, in Canada hosting the Winter olympics and no snow ? " Following with a very long chuckle.
We arrived at their house at quarter to one in the morning , Laurence was up to say hi and then went to bed, and I was fed a giant cheese wheel with toasted bread.
The following morning I met Emma, and was shown around the town ( i hesitate to say town, there arn't even street name. "l'eglise" ( church) is on everyones address and then their name, everyone has the same number as well) I now have a snowboard and pass to the mountain, which i can walk too- and know that it is two kisses starting on the left!
My sleeping patterns are still a bit messed up. I played on the computer at about 3 this morning- then went to bed and missed everyone leaving. They did leave a very confusing note and I am not sure whether i am suposed to pick emma and her friend up from school, or if they will come here, I will pick them up just in case.
I have successfully landed in Lyon but not without some minor speedbumps
1. Don't let anyone tell you that buying a ticket from an agency is easier and quicker. My agent didn't get the memo about the new baggage allowance for bristish Airways (or it was buried in the mess she called a desk) m so i had to pay 80 dollars for one of my bags. On the plus side to that, if I had been flying with AircanadaI would have had to pay 250 dollars..
2. thankyou to whoever told me to make sure I had ample time at the heathrow airport. five hours was just about right. For 2 oclock on a wednesday it was flipping packed! My carry on was a bit too much for their scanners, I got the bonus check, of pulling out all my belongings in front of a bitter old woman (plus side again- she had the most intriguing accent...) A forgotten bottle of eyeglass cleaner was the culprit, which she let me keep even though it was over 100ml. What is the point of rules if they don't enforce them?( This also means that i could have kept my perfume mom!)
3. At french customs, they didn't even stamp my passport or look at my visa! Darn visa was so hard to get I wanted to use it!
Jean-michael picked me up in Lyon and we drove to Gresse en vercors. This trip turned out to be two plus hours, because of all the SNOW. He thought it was very funny, my reaction when leaving the airport and heading outside. A good foot of snow at the airport and another foot at their house. He found it equally amusing when i told him that vancouver had virtually no snow and brought it up during the slow points of conversation.
"So," he would say. "you are from vancouver, in Canada hosting the Winter olympics and no snow ? " Following with a very long chuckle.
We arrived at their house at quarter to one in the morning , Laurence was up to say hi and then went to bed, and I was fed a giant cheese wheel with toasted bread.
The following morning I met Emma, and was shown around the town ( i hesitate to say town, there arn't even street name. "l'eglise" ( church) is on everyones address and then their name, everyone has the same number as well) I now have a snowboard and pass to the mountain, which i can walk too- and know that it is two kisses starting on the left!
My sleeping patterns are still a bit messed up. I played on the computer at about 3 this morning- then went to bed and missed everyone leaving. They did leave a very confusing note and I am not sure whether i am suposed to pick emma and her friend up from school, or if they will come here, I will pick them up just in case.
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