France: Day One

I woke up on the morning of August 15 in Brussels, Belgium preparing myself for a long day of travel. I went to bed that night in the squishiest bed on the cutest farm in the south of France. I am officially a world traveler.

Oh my bloody bleep, France is BEAUTIFUL. There are fields and fields of "tourne de sol" (sunflowers) EVERYWHERE, and when the sun hits them just right the entire hillside lights up. It is indescribable. I could hardly tear myself away from the scenery long enough to eat dinner.

Which, by the way, was the most bizzare yet strangely scrumtious meal I have ever eaten. It started with a salad. Sounds fairly routine, right? WRONG. It was a strawberry, tomatoe, and basil salad. STRANGE. But, I was brave and gave it a try. It actually wasn't half bad. I don't think I would eat it again, but it wasn't horrible.

Then we had duck meat and rice with some kind of green sauce that made the meat look like poo. However, I have been taught to never judge a book by its cover so, again, I gave it a try. Man, oh man, am I glad I did! It was INCREDIBLE! I didn't leave a single bite behind, and even went back for seconds.

For dessert we had something chocolate and very creamy. I have no idea what it was, but it was like heaven on a spoon.

As much as I LOVE food, I think it's time you met the Tyriee family.

I know its not the greatest picture, but the one in the red shirt is Roman (french boy whose trash got kicked #1), sitting next to him is Alexi (french boy whose trash got kicked #2) , then Tyriee, Marie, Me, and that is the back of Jens head.

Again, not the greatest picture. In my defense, I was more focused on understanding what they were saying than taking pictures. That is Tyriee on the left and his wife Marie on the right.

My host Father, Marc, and my host Mommy Frederique.

This is Jen (the allusive back-of-the-head person)

This is my buddy, Frippo. At first he didn't like me much, but then I snuck him some of the liver (YUCK) that I was supposed to be eating. After that we were great friends.

This is Knick-Knack. He is a typical cat; always craving attention but refusing to admit it.

Well then, that is pretty much it. We drove for hours, we showed up, we ate, and then we slept.

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France- At a Glance

So to start off, I have to apologize. Apparently my absence from the blogging world has been too long to please certain people -- *Ahem Mother Ahem*. In my defense, I was spending a RELAXING, fun filled week on the cutest farm in the south of France. There was no computer, so no way to blog. That is my excuse, but I have to admit I honestly wouldn't have updated until now anyway. Once a week seems like PLENTY to me (sorry, Momma).

Anyway, on to the juicy stuff! Are you ready to hear about France? Well then I will tell you.

Now, you have to understand, we crammed A LOT of adventures into one short week. To dedicate just one short post to the experience would be nothing short of criminal. So then, this is how it is going to work: today I am going to give you an outline of the week. It will be just the tiniest slice of the pie. Don't worry though, you will get to taste the rest soon enough. Later (tomorrow maybe, but probably not. I don't know) I will give you a detailed look at the first day, then the second day, and so on.

Sound good?  Alright then, let us begin. :]

Day 1: My first sigting of the Eiffel Tower. It was just the tiniest peek through the window of the car as we passed through, but I was THRILLED.

Day 2: Played Water Polo with two French boys. Totally schooled 'em. They never saw it comin'. :]

Day 3: Horseback riding + fields of sunflowers in the south of France = PERFECTION

Day 4: Read for HOURS. Roman (cute French boy #1 who got his butt kicked by yours truly) did too. I discovered European people like to read. FOR FUN. I was born for this place

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Day 5: Went to the market in the itsy bitsy little town. Why hasn't America caught on to this brilliant plan?

Day 6: Had to say goodbye to my new French friends. It was very depressing. HOWEVER this introduced me to a wonderful French/Belgian tradition which made me a very happy camper. When you say goodbye to friends, do you know what you give them? Thats right, a kiss. SO little ol' me got a kiss on the cheek from little ol' cute French boy. Hehe :]

Day 7: Took the "Tour de Paris". Crossed off lotsa things on my Bucket list, but added SO many more.



How's that for different, eh?

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Un Tour De La Maison

Alright, so I realize you are all sitting on the edges of your seats, DIEING to hear about France. (Okay, maybe not, but still.) Just sit tight and I will tell you. . . Just not tonight.

Tonight I am going to show you around the place that I will call home for the next three months. I know, I know. France is a lot more exciting, but it is late and I am tired, so I am taking a rain check on this one.

The view from my window

This isn't a great picture, but this is my favorite part. Its a circle of really tall bushes. There is a little bench inside that is perfect for curling up with a good book.

And here is the bench I mentioned earlier

It rains so much here that they don't ever have to water the garden. Frederique was so shocked when I told her my garden at home would die if we didn't water it on a regular basis

This is my favorite chair

My room

Don't worry, momma. I cleaned up, and it hasn't been messy since ;]

This is the cute little teddy bear Frederique gave to me. Isn't he cute?

There are a LOT of stairs in this house, and my room is on the very top floor. I guess I don't have to worry about getting fat :]

 So there it is, my little home in Belgium. C'est tres joli, non?

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What a day

Oy vey. Can I just start by saying that I hate flying? NINE hours. That is how long I was cooped up inside that bloody machine, surrounded by cranky french speakers and the smell of plane food (which really shouldn't be called food at all. It's more like plastic props that have been nuked long enough to pass for a meal. Yuck.)

About three hours into the flight, my leg started to go numb, but I (of course) had the terrible luck of being seated right in the center of the isle. On one side of me, there was the saddest looking old French man. Honestly, this mans wrinkles had wrinkles! He was all hunched over, and when he walked it was actually more like a hobble. How was I supposed to ask this poor old man to get up just to stop my legs from falling off? I just didn't have the heart, so I turned to the woman on the other side of me. Lo and behold, what do I find her doing? Breast feeding her newborn child.

So on one side, I have a crippled old man blocking my path, and on the other an exhausted mother and her hungry child. It was like Karma was toying with me. For a good six hours I sat in that criminally uncomfortable seat and said my final goodbyes to my walking days. It was almost a terribly tragic moment, but soon enough the capitan came to my rescue.

When the announcement bell chimed, my heart skipped a beat. . . well, several beats really.

"Good morning, this is your Catitan speaking. We have less than twenty minutes until landing, so at this time I would ask that you please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened. Also, if you have any portable electronic devices I ask that you please turn them off now. Thank you, and welcome to Belgium."

Such a simple set of words, but they were enough to set my heart racing. This was it. I had finally made it. After months of endless paperwork, restless waiting, and frantic preparation, I was finally here. A title wave of thoughts and emotions crashed in on me at that moment, most of which were not at all what I was expecting to feel. I started to have doubts about this whole thing. I asked myself over and over again

"What the bloody bleep am I doing here? What was I thinking?"

and then I thought something that changed EVERYTHING.

"Why couldn't I have just stayed home and lived my life the way a normal teenager would?"

That is when I realized I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I don't want to be NORMAL. The very thought of it makes me want to scream long and loud into the nearest pillow. Me, normal? Icky. From then on, I promised myself to throw myself into this experience head first. It isn't going to be easy, but you know what? I don't need easy. I just need different.

So here's to being not-normal, in all its weirdly odd, strange glory, and my victory over that awful beast, normalcy.

Let the adventures begin.

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Ninjas

Long ago, in the far away land of Glover-ville there lived two epically awesome ninjas.

Ninja-Cheetah-Tiger

and little-ninja-dude.

For years they lived together in harmony. . . Until one day the evil ninjah-cheetah-tiger got uber greedy and decided to take the land of Gloverville for herself. They fought the most epically epic battle of all epicness.

Little ninja dude was a fierce warrior. The evil ninja-cheetah-tiger was no match for his awesomeness.

Victory for little ninja dude!

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To the Moon and Back

 

Every morning, this little man and I get into a fight over who loves who more. It goes a little something like this:

"I love you, Worthy"

"I love you more!"

"Well I love you most!"

"Oh yeah? Well I love YOU never-stop-counting!"

He thinks he wins, but there is no way he loves me more than I love him. It's simply not possible. Every day my exchange gets closer, and I wonder how I am going to survive without seeing his smiling face every day. So this one is for you, little man. I love you to the moon and back!

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