Of literature, letters, and my lack de l'argent

I am feeling rather guilty now that I haven't posted anything for the beginning of December. I've just been so busy with the official arrival of the Christmas season as well as my recent changing of families this past weekend of the 8th and 9th. 

But instead of throwing a pity party and inviting all of my readers to come to this event acknowledging the lack of a recent blog entry, I chose, instead, to write a blog entry.
Just to show everyone that I am still alive, and I am thinking of everyone, with all the other things and people I am already thinking about.
Take this gift I gave my first host family, for example. Because I have no money to buy them an expensive bottle of fancy wine or anything of the sort, I chose instead to buy a picture frame (only 8 euros thankyouverymuch) and frame this drawing I did of them and me. I do believe they like it. It was displayed in the living room on the fireplace last I saw it.

Anyway! In case you didn't already know, most kids who do Rotary exchange get multiple host families. Here in France, the normal number is three, but I only have two. I stayed with the Edwiges from September 1st to December 8th, and now here I am at the Courroux' after having packed up all my stuff on Saturday, and unpacking it again in my new house down the street.

I am sorry if the amount of bags I ended up filling bothers you, mom. 

It has been mentioned in previous entries that I am a city girl, and here I am placed in a town situated so isolated in the countryside that no trains run through it. Well another thing to know about me is that one day I dream of living in a modern house, and here I am living in a house that was built in the 1800s. I am not even joking. That is what my host mom told me.
HOW COOL IS THAT?

peering down from the top

It has three floors, and my room is located within another room on the third floor. The room that leads to my room is unoccupied, so essentially the third floor is my corner of the house. I could easily fit 5 people comfortably for a sleepover one of these days. It also has a guitar that used to belong to one of my older host sisters, so I figure I might as well teach myself a tune here and there while I have it at my disposal.

the landing between the second and third floors

All over the place are shelves and shelves of books. A lot of old books, too; for some reason my family has a collection of Montaigne's essays written in 1625. That's a big deal. I HAVE TOUCHED THIS BOOK.
Along with the books, there is the old furniture. My grandma's room has this 200-year-old armoire hand carved in the Normandy region of France, as well as this book shelf from the 1920s that her father used to mark the height growth of her and her siblings (the marks still being there, of course).
Then there is the piano room, which I absolutely adore. For one thing, there is the piano; for another, it reminds me of my piano teacher in Oregon's house, and of course it has all the shelves of old books too. And the sheet music. I am learning a polonaise using sheet music that's about a hundred years old. There is also this old writing desk, among various other antique-like decor.

with Christmas flair!

the piano room (though the piano can't be seen)

the writing desk

this bookshelf goes from floor to ceiling

I live in a bookworm's paradise

one of the smaller bookshelves

Another thing one can find all over the house are old pictures of family members. They're just so fascinating, I don't even know what to say about them other than that. Needless to say, I am going to have a splendid 7 months here. And in that time I probably won't even discover all the knowledge and secrets and mysteries and ooh-romanticism that this house has to offer.
So what did I do my first weekend here?
Okay you probably weren't asking yourself that question, and I just posed it rhetorically assuming you would be interested to know. If you are, great, if you aren't, je m'en fiche.
Christmas is my favorite time of the year, and it just makes me so happy with all the festivities and celebration and joyful atmosphere. I have not felt homesick spending Christmas here, which is unusual. Perhaps it's because I have already spent Christmas away from where I spent it as a child. Perhaps it's because I can't believe I am spending Christmas in magnificent Europe, and everything just has this glow to it. Either way, who knows when I'll get a Christmas like this again? A Christmas in France! I am not letting feelings of homesickness spoil the wonder this season brings.
One thing that has kept me occupied is the writing of Christmas letters to friends around the world. Like I mentioned earlier, I am too poor to buy those pretty Christmas cards at the store, so instead I just cut out envelope-sized pieces of drawing paper and customized each card depending on its recipient. I had heaps of fun doing it. Here are some samples...

"Merry Christmas from France to India," with a letter for Shank written in the back

Merry Christmas in French, Romanian, and Arabic, going to my Romanian friend Adela and Egyptian friend Klare! 

I got lazy with trying to figure out a drawing design so I just cut out letters on wrapping paper (this is going to my counselor in the Tualatin Rotary Club, Barbara)

There are 7 more that I intend to send, and no two are exactly alike. (Okay, except the other Christmas paper card going to Steve my country officer, but instead of "JOYEUX NOEL" it says, "Joyeux Noel!" Yeah, there is totally a difference.)
By the way, did you know that December 5th was my 100th day in France?
By the way, did you know that I have my next Rotary weekend this weekend and I can barely stand the wait?
I'll have so much to say about it on the 19th. Until then!

The end of the beginning.

I had been told prior to parting that the first three months, the beginning, are the hardest part of exchange.
Judging by everything I've felt and gone through these first three months, I can conclude that this statement is as true as the fact that French cheese is the best in the world.
Know what that means?
Since today, November 28, the beginning of this journey, for all the exchange students who arrived on August 28 in Paris, is over.
Nous y sommes arrivés. We made it.
I'm not only proud of myself, I am proud of my fellow exchange students. The nice thing about France is that we all celebrate the three month anniversary together, having had to arrive together as well. So if you're an exchange student in France like me, congratulations!!
From this point on, I only have more excitement to look forward to. I can also breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the eye of the storm has passed.
Anyway, here's a brief update. These are noteworthy things I have done that you might find interesting.
I didn't mention this on the entry on the 19th because I had other things to say, but on November 17 (I keep a daily journal), I ate frog legs for the first time. My host mom cooked them a particular way with lots of seasoning and garlic, and while I couldn't believe what I was putting in my mouth, they were actually pretty tasty.

Speaking of weird food, an option in my school lunch yesterday was something called rognons de porc. Because I thought it looked tasty, I had some. I almost regretted it afterwards considering how weird the texture of the meat I was eating was. I learned later that I had eaten pork kidneys. Ohhh... well, the cream puff that was offered for dessert washed them down properly!
As of yesterday, all the members of my family in Oregon are officially United States citizens.
I don't know if you knew, but I'm an immigrant from the Philippines who came to the USA in 2007. To become a citizen, you must live in the country as permanent residents for five years. We hit the five-year mark a month before I left for France, and the official process went by quickly. My parents took the test and the oath, and now I can finally proudly (and legally) call myself an American citizen.

Here's a picture of the flag I took last time I was in San Francisco.
Because becoming a US citizen while living in the USA, is too mainstream. ;)
On Friday the 23rd, the Banque Alimentaire (France's food pantry) was holding a collection event at the local supermarket. Members of the Rotary Club of Parthenay served as volunteers organizing the products and greeting customers, and my school's outbound Matthieu and I helped out as well.

It felt really good to be helping out listening to the Christmas music playing in the background! I just can't wait for the holiday season to arrive, it's my favorite.
I'm going to speak a bit about my progress in school now mainly because I know my grandma would like to hear it. So if you don't feel like reading tedious stuff about grades, go ahead and stop reading here, I don't blame you. Till the next time!
If you're going to continue reading like I know my grandma is, here is a photo of my notebook for my economics and social sciences class.

If taking notes like this for 6 hours a week isn't going to make me fluent in writing French, I don't know what is.
At this point, I have experienced getting higher scores than the average class score on certain tests. While it doesn't happen often, it happens nonetheless. Like on the last social sciences test we took (we had to analyze documents and rely on our knowledge to compose this synthesis paper in two hours, in FRENCH may I add), I got a 12,5 when the class average was an 11,4. I don't really know how. It must have been a fluke. So yeah this is what it looked like.

And on the last math test, I got a 14,5 when the class average was approximately 8.
That's all I feel like saying for now. A la prochaine fois!

Obligatory Post on the 19th: November

Well, for the 6th time, it's come to this point.
Sorry to have to bring war into a blog entry again, but the two world wars are kind of a big deal in France. I learned recently that every little commune in France has a memorial dedicated to its locals who died in the wars the country took part in. I must say though, learning about these wars in Europe brings an almost entirely new perspective into them, particularly with the existence of these monuments as physical proof of the wars' existence.
Anyway, in history class, the professor handed us photocopies of five letters. The story she told us was that her sister purchased a house somewhere in this department of France (Deux-Sèvres), and there was a lot of stuff that needed to be cleaned up. While organizing it, they found a box. They opened a box, and lo and behold, there lay five well-preserved yet delicate letters sent by a soldier in 1914.
I believe they also found his death certificate, because she passed around a copy of it for us to see.
When it reached my two friends and me, we saw that the last name was whited out, and what was left were his first and middle names: Firmin Julien. (Firmin, pronounced Feehr-mah, is an unusual name, none of us had heard it before.)
We couldn't help but be curious. After all, we had just read letters in his near-indecipherable handwriting, a rather cryptic activity. We wanted to know more.
We spent the first half of our research period embarking on a quest, scouring the internet to obtain more information on Monsieur Firmin. The beginning (like all real beginnings, I have learned) was frustrating; nothing in genealogy files turned up, nor were there any clear enough pictures of war memorials clear enough for us to be able to read the names. However, with enough persistence, we stumbled upon his full name (squealing at the discovery) in a list that included: date of birth, name, regiment, date of death, and place of death. One particularly chilling aspect to this incident is an excerpt of the last letter he wrote on October 13, 1914 that says: Il faut espérer que plus tard on se verra tous réunis, a sentence that translates to, "We must hope that later, we will see each other all reunited." Exactly two weeks later, he was killed in Belgium.
I dedicate this part of the entry to Firmin Julien Nambot (pronounced Nahm-bo), a brave man who died for his country.
This got me to thinking, sure, we know the names of the great war heroes; however, it's the ordinary people whose names are difficult to find on the internet, who come from obscure little villages, and who left initially mundane pieces of concrete evidence that somehow survived, that make the atrocity of war feel even more real.
On a less grave note, Thanksgiving is on Thursday! Here, I'd like to put some "thank you"s out there to certain things/people in this world I just can't thank enough.

Yes, I totally did just use the logo of "Merci" chocolate.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Rotary International.

Not only do they do humanitarian work around the world in order to alleviate some of the real problems in this world, they are also affiliated with something else equally important: the youth exchange program. Rotary clubs all over the world sponsor and host exchange students every year, opening minds and giving certain crazy teenagers the best, most eye-opening experience they could live through in their youth. This experience will affect us the rest of our lives. And as we grow up, I know that in the future, we will maintain the multi-national friendships we have made, thus helping to ensure peace among nations. After all, the only race that matters is the human race. Thank you, Rotary, for this opportunity, and for continuing to have done it for years and years. Despite my being a cynic, I believe that hope is one thing that should never cease to exist, and what Rotary gives me is immense hope for the future.
Next, I would like to thank RDS and SNCF.

Let me explain what these initials stand for. "RDS" stands for "Réseau des Deux-Sèvres (Network of the Deux-Sèvres)" and "SNCF" stands for "Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (French National Railways)". In all honesty, I get rather lonely sometimes without another Rotary kid in my town, and I have this perpetual wanderlust that occupies my being, so what better excuse to gallivant around the country than to see what other cities my friends are spending their exchanges in? RDS and SNCF make this possible. Public transportation here is so efficient and easy. I really do enjoy it.
As much as I would think my life would be better without them, I would like to thank all those awkward, lonely, isolated, disappointing, difficult moments that turn up more often than I would wish.
It's moments like those that make happiness even sweeter, and it's moments like those that help me learn more about myself and come up with all these epiphanies about this insane experience that serve as lessons for the rest of my life. And besides, in the words of a certain wise man...

Onwards to people.
I've already given special mention to my Rotary friends, host family, and school friends, so I'll save this one for my real family, who I love very much.
First of all, thank you to my younger sister Cara.

Even though we wouldn't always get along, and even though you can be hard to tolerate, you were an important, excuse me, ARE an important part of my life. Thank you for constantly critiquing the clothes I used to wear (I really did wear atrocious clothes before) and for helping me develop a France-worthy sense of style. Thank you for bothering and teasing me, because it has taught me patience and tolerance. Thanks for being eccentric and completely different from me and looks and personality, to show how diversity not only brings more liveliness into a family, but into the world as well. I know I have been rather hard to put up with to you, so I hope you're enjoying this well-deserved ten month long break from my presence ;)
Next, I'd like to give a special mention to my grandma.

Yes, this is my grandma, and also one of my idols! (The other one is Alexander the Great) Let me explain why. My grandma is very kind and caring, but she also knows how to be assertive and speak her mind. Like me, it was one of her dreams to be a doctor, and she had accomplished it. She now lives an active retirement full of cruises, traveling, and spoiling her grandkids. (Hahaha...) It is one of my goals to turn out just like her-a successful doctor who gets to travel a lot. Thank you, Lola Day! Thanks for sponsoring the trips I take here, and for always having supported me since I was born.
Last, but most certainly not the least, thank you to my parents.

I can't fathom what it must have been like for you, raising an ambitious, dramatic, go-getting, deep-thinking girl like me. It must have been a challenge to say the least. But you have never ceased to care for me as your daughter, no matter what kind of foolishness I have gotten into in my life. The reason I am who I am today is because of how you brought me up; I am glad for my childhood full of music, reading, and other such Renaissance-y experiences.
Anyway, thank you very, VERY much for allowing me to go off and live one of my dreams. Not any set of parents can do that. You guys are just as brave as me, if not braver. After having looked after me and having me in your household for all of my life, suddenly just letting me whisk myself off across the Atlantic to a continent I've never lived in before? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS. However, I hope you both realize how happy I am to have you as parents and have you support me in everything I choose to do. Because without that, I wouldn't be as accomplished as I am now. I know that because you will always be there for me, my future is brighter than I can imagine.
Maraming na maraming salamat!
Before I conclude this entry, I was at my second host family's house to play the piano, and I asked my host dad if he could find me a nice warm winter hat that I could use.
He presented several hats, one of which was a red beret.
I squealed with delight! I had left my notorious red beret back in Oregon, and I hoped to eventually find one here and buy it, but this came as a surprise.
I don't think I'll wear it to school, but I'm glad to have one again...

The beret is back in business, baby.

Frolicking around France : Toussaint period

The Toussaint vacations were more than welcome to arrive the week after my birthday week.
Every student up to the lycée (high school) level in France eagerly awaited the first two-week vacation of the school year, and I was no exception. To get an idea of what I did, have a look at this map.

See those pins? Those are cities I found myself in within this two-week period. Yup. So, in chronological order, let me recount my adventures to you, dear reader.

On Monday the 29th, I went to Angers to see my good friend Aurore. You may or may not remember me mentioning her in my first blog entry, but she is the girl who spent her exchange last year in my city in Oregon, Tualatin.

This time, it was me who went to see her in her home city. We were extremely happy to meet up again (I hadn't seen her since shortly before she left in early July), and I even got to meet her parents. We got to see the castle in her city Monday night. I spent the night at her house, then Tuesday morning we went to the art museum. Admission was free because we were students; it's like that in heritage sites in France. How cool is that? They really encourage appreciation of history and the arts here. It was great to catch up with Aurore, and it's pretty amazing to think that when I first met her, I didn't really imagine I would meet her again in her home city in France! I still fondly think of the moment when she went and picked me as an outbound to go to France on the February ski trip, the only moment in my life I have cried tears of joy...

On Wednesday the 31st, I welcomed to my home two of my best inbound friends, Aarohi from India and Brooke from Canada. For the afternoon, I showed them around Parthenay (the medieval quarter, the cute boutique quarter, and the little historical artifact museum that I didn't know existed), and then we went to the Hyper U and bought four bags of chips. We spent a part of the evening sitting in my room, pigging out on them, talking (just like what teenage girls do in movies, which is cliché # I've lost count).

The next day, November 1, we went to Futuroscope!
Futuroscope is a theme park that is kind of hard to explain. To put it in one phrase, think of big screens, special effects, and futuristic style buildings that look way too modern and out of place to be in France. Some highlights were:
The 4D showing of a side story of The Little Prince. 4D means that the video was in 3D, but the floor moved in time with the animation, plus when the dragon (which was already in your face due to 3D) breathed, you felt it as a brief gust of air. Special effects like that.

While walking around the park, the three of us spotted these cool-looking contraptions from afar. We squealed and immediately rushed towards them wanting to try them out. Behold, the water bikes. Bet you can't say you've ridden a bike on water!

Here's the three of us looking pretty.

On Friday the 2nd, Aarohi left, but I took the return journey home with Brooke. We got dropped off at the Gare de Poitiers by my host dad. Our train was an hour late, so we had time to kill. We went to the gare restaurant and decided to order a burger. I was a bit skeptical at first, because coming from the United States I know what a good burger tastes like. I decided that mediocre burger was better than no burger, so I agreed to it. When the burger arrived, we split it, and it looked promising.
One bite, and it had me.

The burger was BEYOND HEAVENLY. With two nicely seasoned patties, no tomatoes (I do not like tomatoes), a bed of goat cheese, lettuce, and authentic dijon mustard, it was the best burger Brooke and I had ever tasted. We could have cried out of how delicious it was. It was extremely easy and clean to eat, without anything dripping from it (which added class because this is France). Definitely worth the 14 euros it cost...hahaha.
We had quite the adventure rushing through the gare at St. Pierre des Corps after our late train arrived, messing up our original plans. However, I was able to get things together by talking to the one of the gare attendants and planning the rest of our journey, in French. We ran to the next train to Tours and barely made it on time.
Getting off that train, I was greeted by the magnificent sight of the Tours gare. I think it's safe to say I'm a bit obsessed with it. I mean, just look at it! This is the classic image of an old French train station.

From there, we took a train to Château du Loir, where Brooke's host dad picked us up.
On Saturday the 3rd, we went to Le Mans to hang out with our Brazilian friend Leo. Leo is one of my ukulele buddies. That afternoon, we had drinks and desserts at this very chic café.

Leo showed us his city a bit. We saw this small cathedral, then sat on a bench near it. Since I brought my ukulele, Leo and I took turns playing it. Living the Bohemian life!

On Sunday the 4th, I made the return trip back to Parthenay by myself. I was happy that one of my stops was the Tours gare!
Here's what a train looks like inside, and what I like to do on train trips by myself.

The following week, the only foreign people I saw were Australians.
On Monday the 5th, the Taylors, longtime family friends, stopped by my house in Parthenay because they were on vacation in France. We drove around looking for a place to eat, but finding no place open in the random villages we drove to, we ended up eating at McDonald's.
The Taylors first became acquainted with my family about ten years ago in the Philippines, when my mom was head of a company called Australian Business Volunteers. Since then, we have seen them in Australia and in the United States. Now here they were in France. Who knows where in the world I will see them next?

On Wednesday the 7th, I went bowling in Bressuire. The bowling alley was the classiest I have ever seen. There was nice ambient lighting, comfy furniture, and instead of a concession stand, there was a bar. It was all modern and a nice place to hang out. (Pictures are from their website, http://bowling-bressuire.fr)

On Thursday the 8th, I took the bus to Niort to hang out with Aussie Joe. It was International Hug an Exchange Student Day, so we were glad to hug each other several times that day (us being the only people we got a hug from). If you hugged an exchange student on that day, good for you and thank you! I'm sure they appreciated it. If you didn't, then keep the date November 8 (hey that rhymes!) in mind for next year. Exchange students (especially the ones in France where hugging isn't that common) are always happy to receive real hugs.

I am now approaching the end of the vacations and will be back in school on Monday the 12th. After six full weeks of school, I will have my next two-week break, Christmas break. I'm quite looking forward to it. More time to travel and spend with Rotary exchange students, yahoo!
See you all on the post on the 19th.

Exchange is 20% completed: 2 months in

It doesn't seem like that long ago I posted my one-month anniversary entry.
It doesn't seem like that long ago I stepped off the plane, confused and deliriously excited, in Charles de Gaulle Airport.
At the same time, it seems like so much has happened in the span of two months, it feels like more than two months.
In these two months, I have probably felt more emotions than I have in two years of high school. I have probably learned more about myself and about life, too. That's exchange, though. Being confused, being proud, being depressed, being in awe, feeling all of these emotions and emotions you don't know the name of with a higher intensity than normal. But that is how we grow; sometimes, we have to be uncomfortable with who we are or what is going on around us in order to learn how to truly be ourselves. Nothing can compare to exchange. Nothing can replace the lessons I have learned, nothing can replace the experiences I have shared with some of the most interesting people I have ever met. France isn't anywhere near perfect, but I love it all the same. I'm not going to say I never want to leave (there is too much of the world I need to still see), but for this moment, for this year, it is where I am meant to be.
Since I probably have to report on my progress with the language, I will do it here. I still can't express myself fluently and say everything I want to say, but I do have thoughts that are in French. For the most part, I understand what the teachers are saying (though not necessarily the meaning of the content). The important thing though, is I can feel in French. The words people say don't just go to my head, they go to my heart as well. It's like when my parents back in Oregon reprimand me in Tagalog; it goes straight to mon coeur/yung puso ko. French isn't so much just a beautiful language to listen to anymore, but it has become a language that my emotions comprehend.
Brushing all that philosophical, non-tangible stuff aside, I turned 17 on October 25 (the excuse I used to justify my excessive spending this month)!
And on the same day, my host grandma turned 90. HOW COOL IS THAT.
Because I adore her, I'd like to write about her a bit.
At the age of 90, she is still a peppy, cheerful lady. She's smaller than me, and if you know me, I am only 5 feet/152 cm tall, which is short for a 17-year-old. She goes up and down the stairs everyday, no problem. She talks A LOT. She used to be a doctor. She tells me that at her age, music and flowers are what make living pleasant. Her name is Madeleine, and here is a picture of the two of us on our birthday.

I would really like to be like her when I'm 90!
My host family surprised me with a homemade chocolate cake with sparklers on the night of my birthday. It was scrumptious!

Another thing I did for my birthday was go to McDonald's with some friends. I had a McBaguette. Yes, that is a thing here. I love clichés.

One of the things I have come to realize is how important the piano is to my life. I knew that I would appreciate it better after having gone a few weeks without it, but I didn't realize how much it would help me get through tough days. I've been playing since I was 4, so it has been there for as long as I can remember. It was there during my childhood in the Philippines. It was there when my life changed after I moved to the United States with my family. And now once again, my life has drastically changed, and everything is strange and different, but wherever there is a piano, I can feel at home. Sitting on the bench, listening to the sounds my fingers create, the process of it being the same no matter where in the world I am. The process having always been the same for as long as my living memory persists. Some things never change, and that is one essential part of life.
You may or may not know that Chopin is one of my favorite composers, and some of my favorite pieces are the Polonaises. A little thing about Chopin - he was Polish, and was extremely patriotic with a strong passion for his country, hence the Polonaises. However, he came to France, and he never went back to Poland. Posthumously, his heart was taken to Warsaw, by his request. Until this week, I had never met any Polish people, nor did I ever hear Polish being spoken. But my class welcomed some Polish high schoolers for the week, and I made a good Polish friend. She loves foreign languages as much as I do! She taught me phrases in Polish, and I in turn taught her phrases in Tagalog, all with a basis of French. Now that I have met someone from Poland, I love Chopin and the Polonaises even more. In April, it is my class who will visit Poland; I can't wait. I can't even imagine the emotions I will have and how much more appreciation I will have for the piano, Chopin, and the Polonaises. This is Natalia, my friend in Poland.

These past two months have been full of learning, appreciation, memories, and heightened emotions for me. I can't anticipate what'll happen the next few months, but that's part of it. Stay tuned for more updates later!