....I can't really think of a title

coucou!
This week went by fast...I went to soccer all 3 times, and I hopefully sucessfully registered for it. On Monday we had to read Guy Môquet's letter from 1941 that he wrote to his family just before the French police killed him for being a Communist, on October 22. It was required that all classes all over France read it, as ordered by le President de la République, Sarkozy. It was kind of big deal, not really about the letter, just that he could order something like that, and why was it necessary for 6 year olds to hear it too. And why this letter?, as it was kind of morbid, a 17 year old saying that he's going to die. Wednesday I felt all grown-up because I opened a bank account all by myself, in French. There are banks everywhere, literally every corner, so I just picked BNP Parabis because it's by my school and it was open and looked friendly. This way I can have a Carte Bleue, a french debit card, b/c some machines only accept them. On thursday our english teachers weren't there, so we didn't have school between 10 and 3, so Liza and I went swimming. We got weird looks when we told our classmates later in the day, b/c noone really does sports (ok except the girls on my soccer team). Everyone is super skinny, smokes, eats tons of chocolate and cheese, and doesn't do sports. We haven't had PE for 3 weeks b/c the teacher had a meeting Wednesday mornings. Soccer this week was the biggest full body workout of my life. I was put with the 1st and 2nd teams because my team had a tournament this weekend, and I can't play in it b/c I'm not registered. So Friday was an hour of conditiong and sprints, and Thursday was a French version of the beep test, except you run in a circle. I finished (as in I felt like I was going to throw up and couldn't breathe) after 12 minutes, and 5th out of 10, so I was satisfied. Friday was slightly insane, I counted I swiped my metro card 13 times. I went to school, then rotary meeting, then home, then english class with 2 very hyperactive 12 year olds, then soccer, then home. I couldn't go to band bc I would have been really late. A family friend lost his vision in one eye too, so my host parents were kind of stressed out about that. Amoury and Matthieu, my oh-so-eager-to-be-there 7th graders were already on vacation in their minds, so my english class was kind of all over the place. It's tough on Fridays, plus this class was their mother's idea, not their's. But I thought I should update a little before I go to Nice for a week. We are staying with some friends, the ones that visited 3 weeks ago. None fo their kids will be there, so hopefully I will be good. This week I got an awesome package from my mom, halloween candy, a halloween beanie baby and keychain, halloween stickers and hair clips too. I gave canday at school yesterday and that was fun. She also sent me a little kit for carving a pumpkin, and Nadine bought and nice and big pumpkin to carve and take with us to Nice. I also attempted to make an apple pie on Wednesday, it tasted good, but didn't really resemble an american apple pie, more just like baked apples with tons of sugar and cinnamon on a crust. Tomorrow I am helping with the marathon, unfortunately I can't run b/c you have to be 19 (STUPID), but all the rotary clubs are supplying volunteers for the aid stations and handing out water etc. We are driving to Nice tomorrow afternoon and staying the whole week. Then school starts the following Thursday.
No picture highlights this week, it's all getting normal. Except my brain is switching to French, I think, because now everything is half and half. Some things that I want to say I can't think in either French or English. Or when I want to speak french I speak english and vice versa. No speaking english this whole week haha, I won't see Liza and Sarah everyday :( . Today we dropped off U2 at a doggie hotel, it was so cute.
Later,
Liz

cinémawww, théâtre, rugby et le foot

So it's Sunday........today was a relaxing day. Last Sunday I went to the Pyrenées with Sarah and her host parents. We drove up to ski town on La Mongie, then took a cable car ride up to the highest point in the French Pyrenées, Pic du Midi. It is an observatory, with astronomers and physicists that stay up there for a week at a time to do their research on the sun. The elevation was a little under 10,000 ft...so you can tell the difference between these mountains and the Rocky Mountains...yay for Leadville, CO at 10,000 ft!! It used to be only an observatory, but then in 2000 they built the cable car and made it t tourist attraction because they didn't have enough money for all the science equipment. Coincidentally it was science day, only happens twice the whole summer and fall, so we got a free tour of the gigantic telescope and we met the scientists and stuff. It was so beautiful at the top...I love mountains!!! Then I thought...hmm I did get accepted into 2 colleges in Colorado, and I could easily be a freshman at one of them right now....but I'm happy here!!!

The night before I watched France lose to England in the Capitole, after eating yummy Paella made by Antoine's mom, he's Spanish.
So this week...Tuesday night I went to the theatre, Théâtre Garonne, and saw "Derniers remords avant l'oubli" by Jean-Luc Lagarce. I'm not that experienced in contemporary theatre, but I really liked it and understood most of it. We talked about it the next day at school, so that was good. Wednesday Liza, Sarah and I saw "the assasination of Jesse James" after school, with Brad Pitt. In English, of course, and I really liked it. The music was all modern with a western movie, and I kept thinking that it would turn into a Moby song, haha, but it never did. It was good we saw it in the afternoon, because it's a long movie. Then Thursday was the strike against Sarkozy's new policies against functionaires, so 3 of my teachers were striking, so I only had school from 1-3pm. here are some pics from the manifestation. The trains and metros and buses weren't working, so only 11 people in my class were there. My host parents didn't strike, just because they didn't want to get behind in their classes, so we drove. Then after school, Fabien and I hung out because he was in the city during the day, then he could drive me to soccer. We didn't know what to do..so we went to the movies! I saw Michael Clayton, lots of thinking, but a good film. It's a little different than in champaign, because i live in a big city, so you just walk up to the movie theatre and see what are playing and go to whats convinient, no looking online or in the newspaper..i like it.

I'm officially on the TFC 3rd soccer team...my name Lise Geperlex...was on the wall. I know that that's me...but i guess they couldn't read my handwriting before because I wrote it when I was really out of breath lol. So that was exciting. I'll turn in my papers and stuff next practice, no hurry bc there's not a game for a while. Friday night I went to a soirée with my Rotary Club. It was a big dinner to finish their Ferrari fundraiser. In June they raised 15000€ for a children's hosptal by showcasing Ferarris, and selling tickets and rides etc. So yesterday, I did things around the house...then I went to the TFC vs St. Etienne football (soccer) match!! yeah!! It was so much fun. I went with Liza, Sarah, and Danielle, plus Liza's host dad and sister came with us. TFC lost 2-0, so it was fun screaming really loud. We experimented with the cool features on my camera, so thats why these pics look a little funny haha.


Then at night we went to Clementine and Emmylou's house for a dinner party, us "kids" didn't have to eat with the "adults" so we ate pizza and watched South Africa win the world cup! Congrats! And Sarkozy handed the cup over to the SA coach. It's funny, many people here wanted England to win bc they are from Europe...even tho they beat France and its, well, England. As for the divorce.... according to the opinions of the people sitting at my table at the Rotary soirée, that Cécilia is being seen kind of as a 21st century héroine because she stratagized and wisely played the divroce. They metioned Mme Bovary too. I guess their marriage was bad a while ago, so she purposely didn't vote at all in the elections, so her husband wouldn't get her vote. Then she waited until he was elected so she would be finacially stable when she divorced him. Now that he's president, she can get all those financial benfits when the divorce happens. Then they said she'll leave France and go to the US...so heads up for the tabloids! I guess she has a lover in Miami or something. Who knows. But many covers of newspaper say Deseperate Housewife...funny because EVERYONE here watches Desperate Houswives religiously.
But I have mastered the french dining course..I'm sure you don't care but here are my learnings:
1-apéro (cashew, cheese crackers, crackers etc. with champagne, marntini, pastis, liqueur etc)
2-everyone moves to the table for the entrée (soup, variety of veggies, fish, anything really)
3-plat principal (anything. today we ate confit de canard with mushrooms and baked pears)
4-cheese!! (always 3 types, a hard one like conte, a soft like brie, and a chèver or blue) w/salad
5-desert or fruit
6-café
These are the 6 steps. Everday weekday dinner omits step #1, but we have all the others. We usually eat fruit for desert, and I usually don't get coffee, sometimes a decaf. At the rotary dinner we even had 2 entrées..so 7 steps. On sat. night they started their apéro at 8:30pm and we left at 2am!! No joke! Lots of time is spent at the table in France. I'm sure you all needed that information. Today we had the 2 grandmas and the great grandma over for lunch. I noticed that Nadine adresses Rose (Antoines mom) by "vous", although they have known eachother since Nadine was 18, when my host parents met. This afternoon we went for a walk and I asked her about that. It's just a form of respect, even if you know them really well, like for 30 years! I like that in French, bc there are only a certain amount of people in your lives who get to be called "tu", apart from all kids and pets. So if you're a teacher you call your whole class "tu", well unless you are actually talking to the whole class, then its "vous", duh. It makes an intamacy that doesn't exist in english.
So yeah...enough for now. One week then vacation!! Going to Nice.
Lots of love, Liz

time moves too fast

9 days since my last post! crazyness...time just flies by. I'm home alone now sat. afternoon, my host is at her tennis lesson, and my host dad is out shopping for something. So this week...

Highlights:

This weekend was relaxing, and Saturday night was super fun. We had Nadine and Antoine's friends from Nice with us the whole weekend, and we are visiting them at the Toussaint vacation (2 weeks!). We just did things around the house, but Sat. night we went to place de la Capitole to watch the match of the quarter finals of the world cup between N-Z "All Blacks" and France. It was an indescribable feeling being in the center of thousands of people screaming the Marseilleise. France won. It was so awesome. Tomorrow they play England.....Liza met us there. Here is us watching the game, and with some guys that dressed up like Chebal, the French star player who has a long beard. The other pic is of my host parents and their friends.

Mondays fly by, but also go slowly. It's the only day I have class from 8-6, so by the time you get home, eat dinner, do some homework, then it's Tuesday. I went to a collegue of my dad's for dinner, since he lives in Toulouse. I met him and his family for the first time. I receieved my ski jacket and snowpants that my parents had given him in Lyon. Their daughter Lou is my age so hopefully we can do things together.

Tuesday soccer practice was alright...much running but ok. So much harder playing on synthetic grass. Wednesday night I went to the Orchestra de la Capitole, the professional orchestra in Toulouse. It was a special preview night for Rotary Clubs, since the regular season of it opened on Thursday. Rotaract clubs were invited too, so I went with Fabian. The theatre was amazing, a hexagon stage, with seats coming up in every direction, so everyone had the same awesome accoustic experience. Half of the stage was for the musicians, the other half for the audience. We were sitting right behind the french horns, so that was awesome. The music was exceptional, and it's cool to see a professional orchestra live, I guess they are one of the premiere ones in Europe. Fabian had never been to any sort of band/orchestra concert ever, so I told him all the names of the instruments. It was kind of funny b/c I didn't get home till really late b/c the peripherique was closed in one direction, so he had to drive all the way around Toulouse to take me home!

I won a TFC jersey at soccer on Thursday night! All 3 teams were combined, and we did a scavanger hunt run. It was really fun, and I got to know some new ppl, there were 7 teams of 6 or 7 girls, and 2 of the women on my team are on France's national soccer team! We got a map of the area and had to find things. They do clues and make a sentance, and come back and do a soccer drill to get the next one. 6 different challenges, and we ended up running nonstop for 1h30! Our team had the fastest time overall and got the sentance first, so we got last year's pro jerseys for free! This is good b/c I don't have my own yet, but I'm going to a TFC mens pro game next sat, 10€ for women! so now i have something purple and TFC to wear.

My host parents went to the Opera last night, so it was up to me to find a ride to band. Soccer was cancelled because there's no game this weekend, so that made things easier. After 4 different phone calls I got hold hold of the English women who plays clarinet, and she was able to take me there and home, that was so nice of her. Band is really fun, the songs are nice and jolly. The chef doesn't really talk to me during the practice, but last night while he was looking down at his score he said (as much as I caught and understood), wow this french horn is so wonderful, you don't realize how much the sound adds until you have one...then 30 pairs of eyes turned and looked at me, and some of the flutes continued to look at my while I was playing. The horn part in all the music is usualy backup stuff, so I hope they enjoyed watching me play long notes! I had my english lesson yesterday, it was harder than the first time. This time I had both boys, so they goofed off more together, and it was friday so they didn't really want to be in more school...but I learned my lesson, need to prepare lots of things to do!

I got my first graded test back, 16,75/20 on the math test...3rd highest in the class! I told that to my host parents, so now they now I wasn't lying when I said I knew what to do for it. The scoring system is always out of 20, yet it's not the same numeric system as in the US, no I did not get 83%, it's more subjective, with noone getting a 20/20, even if you did get all the problems right...there's always something you did wrong. So I think my score is more like an A-.

Differences I've noticed in school..they want to participate more, and the teachers ask for the students opinion more, class time is more orientated on expressing your opinions and thoughts, than just covering the material. This depends on the class of course (this doesn't happen in science), but in English class WHY is asked more, so they can practice expressing themselves in another language, even if it is simple things. We started discussing the novel in French, and everyone just couldn't stop talking about the characters and everything....although I am in the Littéraire section, so my observations might be biased. We haven't written one in-class essay in french class, but many lenghthy outlines, I guess this shows that the teachers are trying to show them how to organize their thoughts, so they essay will be good. In the Civics class that is only held every 2 weeks, we are working on in groups a big project that is due in January, but as far as I can tell, we don't actually write a research paper, we just write the outline for it, then we will have a debate. My group is doing it over laws getting out of prison..or something like that.

I have not written about bisous on here...that is a big cultural thing, kiss everyone on each cheek when you meet them, before school, at night, for the first time (mostly me), basically anytime you see anyone. You are not obliged to stay and chat, it's just saying you acknowledge eachother's prescence and that you know them..like I see my neighbor on the bus home a lot, we give bisous, but I don't really talk to him. But other than that I've noticed that French ppl don't really casually touch eachother, like high 5s or pats on the back or anything. I really noticed it when I was with Anna Victoria from Mexico b/c she couldn't stop jus grabbing my arm or putting her hand on my back. When I was really happy one time I really wanted to hug someone so I said that to Nadine and we had this awkward like kiss/hug thing, but then I explained and we had a good conversation about things like that.

Also everyone here is skinny! All the girls at school would be considered skinny or really skinny in the US, and we heard that a French girl exchange student was sent home from Australia because she was anorexic. Liza and I deduced that the French's bones are just smaller b/c noone really does any sports, plus everyone smokes. I think its funny how half my class smokes a cigarette while waiting for the bus to PE. It's just weird, everyone has smaller hips, and the biggest size in most stores is equivalent to US size 10 (for women). Guys are all really skinny too, and you can pick the ones out that have played soccer or rugby out b/c they are more built up. Everyone eats, and a substantial part of the diet is white bread...so I don't know how it works. I do know that I've gained weight b/c I was weighed at soccer on Thursday. They weight all the players every month to keep track, a hint that I might actually be on the team since they made a point of me doing it.

I got 3 pieces of mail this week...yay! A card from my granparents, and 2 things from Marci!! Thanks! Gum and letter, then a cool word search puzzle with all our memories. The picture below is Liza playing with Sarah's crutches at school, with the guys laughing at us in the background. Sarah was on crutches for her ankle, now shes not, but we got to know the elevator and how the school is not all the way connected all the way around. Notice that the crutches are a different kind than in the US...weird.

Tonight France plays England for the Rugby World Cup semi-finals!! Allez les Bleus!! I'm going to watch it in the Capitole with Sarah and Franziska, a german girl who's on my soccer team and is an exchange student in a different program. We speak french together so it's slightly funny since we are still searching for many words. But I think my French has reached a new level, I now speak with out really stopping that much, and I even found myself mumbling...not good. And while I was writing this I had to delete french words, without realizing I had written them, bizarre.

bye for now

Love,

Lize (how they spelled my name at soccer)

fun weekend/ package

Bonjour!

This weekend and week went by way too fast but I also can't believe that it's Thursday! Saturday I went wakeboarding with Laure (my counselor), Sarah and Anna Victoria. I was quite cold but we got wetsuits (I got a cool cammo one) and I made it up every time. We only had an hour, and because I fell each time on the 2nd turn, which is the exact opposite side of the lake, I only got to start 3 times. After you fall I had to swim to the side, climb out, and walk all the way back.

Sunday I went on my first outing with my Rotary Club; we biked along the Canal du Midi and had lunch, and came back. 12Km each way, but the wind was so strong that it took twice the time to get there than it did to go back! There were only 4 of us that biked, 2 rollarbladed and everyone else (like 30) people just drove to the restaurant. We ate in a greenhouse and it was like an organic restaurant, and everything we ate came from there. So an interesting twist on French food....gaspacho with strawberries and foie gras inbetween gingerbread....my club is on the older side, and I saw a lot of plates being handed back with a lot of food left on them... Here's a picture of one of the many locks along the canal.

This week has gone by so fast!!! And after complaining that I wouldn't find any activites to do...now I'm busy! Monday is the only day I have school till 6pm, which is good b/c its the only day I haven't done anything at night. Tues/Thurs I had soccer, and Wed afternoon I gave my english lesson to twelve year old Amoury, and then went to a Rotaract meeting with Fabien. With Amoury I had him read and answer the 20 questions I made on a little worksheet about Henry the soccer player and then we read some dialogues and did his homework...the 1.5 hours flew by and I got 20€! yay! Soccer is good, the beginnings of the practices are super hard, but then we just do drills the rest of the time so that's alright. Everyone is pretty nice, but it's so disciplined that there isn't really much time to chat. If you talk, you go home! There's a canadian on the team, I think she has lived in Toulouse for most of her life though, so she has a more french friendliness, but it's nice to speak english with her. I've experienced the weirdest looks at soccer...I guess that's what happens when you speak french when you're really out of breath..haha. It turns out that there's soccer friday nights too, and tomorrow they return to the Stadium, so this will be a little complicated with band...ahhh but I want to do both! Christophe, the coach said that they would probably take me in the club, which is exciting, since so far it's been kind of like a try-out.

Today in History, we spent the 2 hours of class time going on a tour of the 19th century history of Toulouse, learning about why and how all the building fit the bourgouisie lifestyle, all the streets and boulevards in toulouse were expanded and modeled after those in Paris, at the same time. Its so awesome to learn about history and then see it!! kind of crazy. In Anglais Renforcé we watched parts of Bowling for Columbine and then we had to describe what we saw. The students were just supposed the practice speaking with out having anything written down. Then we analyzed the American culture and why this happened in the US, and what were the causes and how this couldn't happen really in France. It made me a little uncomfortable because the teacher asked me so many questions and just assumed that my family owned a gun (NO) and everything because the statistics for the US and guns are so much higher. They asked me about violence at my school and I said there were video cameras, fights and a police officer there, so now I think they are all scared of me because my school doesn't sound very nice! But it is! On a more cultural note, people here have to restraint in asking your political views. I have been asked coutless times whether I am a dem. or rep., something you would never ask anyone in the US! But there's no shame here, it's like an icebreaker. I was kind of disgouraged when a girl in my class asked me who I voted for in 2004, and whether I was going to vote for Bush or Kerry this year....hello....I was 15 in 2004, and Bush cannot run for pres, idk about kerry, and the election is next year!! Also noone has heard of Obama! Only Hillary, because everyone likes Bill Clinton here. So that's kind of weird too. Also my host dad always grills me on American things and then seems upset when I don't know the anwser to specific laws, and all the rules of american football....I don't know how long a game is? A couple hours? Today I got my first mail from Champaign! yay! Andrea sent me a Parkland tshirt, Oreos, and a long letter. Thank you so much! I was so surprised and happy!

Bisous for now...it's late now...need to go to sleep.
Tomorrow will be rather hectic, trying to do soccer and band.
Later,
Lise
ps- here's an added photo....my mom has her own neighboorhood (and street that's right by it) in Toulouse! She really needs to come visit soon to see it :)