At School!

Hello! Everything here is awesome!

On vendredi (Friday) I had my first day of school!! It was so exciting. When I arrived I was greeted by the Headmaster, Monsieur Perre. He is a very nice man. We have already been invited by Monsieur Perre to go and have 'aperitifs' with his family at his home! He then introduced me to my new class.

When I first walked in I knew it was going to be a fun group. I was happy to see that two of my friends from our street in the village were also in my class. The boys were all very sporty and friendly. I made 5 new friends and met many others. My school friends' names are Elly (he is a boy), Tom, Chibbo, Geoffrey,Dylan and Teddy.

My first lesson was French. My teacher was very nice and caring. I've heard that the teachers here can be very stern and strict! Some of my teachers are also like that.

After lessons we went to lunch. The whole school ran around the centre court yard that they have in the school. The school has no ovals that we were allowed to play on so we just ran around kicking tennis balls on the concrete pavement.

I eat at school with my friends, but no-one brings a lunch box. The way the cafeteria works was new to me! There is a lot of jostling going on to get in line. When you get inside and you are under the watchful eye of teachers, things are slightly more civilised. You collect your lunch on a tray, with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs and bread, a sponge cake with custard and a piece of fruit. I was starving. There is no morning or afternoon tea at school. We take our trays into a huge room with a lot of tables and chairs and choose where we sit and with whom. Once we have finished eating, the teacher excuses us and we go and play.

When lunch finished there was claustrophobic jostle of people trying to get back into the school buildings through one of two doors. My friends and I could not move at all. There was so much jostling that we were almost crushed by the big kids. The whole school was in the courtyard! The school has 1000 students.

My friends asked me if I preferred to read French or write French. I said I preferred to write French - since I can't read French. We lined up in the queue for writing French. We entered a big room where people were studying. We had barely sat down before a teacher came in and asked something in French and the next thing every-one shot up their hands. Elly and me were picked. We stood up and trekked across the school and into a recreation room. We then played ping pong and table soccer for an hour! It was great fun!

The day finished with geography and history. My teacher is a very old lady who was very nice.

As the day came to an end I had a huge headache from people asking me many questions. My personal space was totally invaded! But I am happy to say that my first day of school was a huge success.

Dad came to pick me up from school whilst Mum was at her French class. Dad and I continued on to soccer training with Serge and Raphael. We arrived at soccer to a healthy six laps of the field. We were definitely pooped by the time we finished. We all played a game of soccer against some boys who were fourteen years old. A couple of our goals were hilarious flukes. I played as a defender and saved lots of goals. We finished up with a gruelling warm down of four laps of the oval. This morning I woke up with a very sore body!

Au Revoir!

My second week in France

It was a beautiful day today in Provence. After the last week or so of bitter cold, we started the week with sun and blue skies.

Dad, Ivy and I went for a walk to Mormoiron lake. There was a lot of mud and snow, but it was good to get out of the house after a weekend of rain.

The next day was great! With Ivy at school, Dad and I went for a walk around town. Dad and I agreed that we weren't ready to tackle Mt Ventoux. Mt Ventoux is the local mountain. It is known to look snowcapped all year round. It is actually limestone because early settlers cut down all the trees on top of the mountain. So, on Wednesday Dad and I clambered up one of the local hills. It was a spectacular view!

On Friday evening Raphael and I went to soccer training. It was great to meet some boys my age. We then played a fantastic game of soccer together. I had great fun even though my pants were saturated with mud. I scored one goal! The training sessions here start at six PM and finish at 8 PM. I almost got frost bite near the end. Bbbbbrrrr! We then went to our friends' house to say good-bye to an Australian girl who did a 5 month exchange to Carpentras. We are all sad to see her go. While the adults had drinks we went upstairs and played on Raphael's PSP and listened to Elisa's iPod. (Elisa is Raphael's older sister) We then had a delicious 'Raclette' dinner. Raclette is where you put cheese in a small dish and melt it in a machine. You then mush potato and salami and mix it together. (See the photo above.) It is delicious! We all partied hard until one o'clock in the morning!

The next day we were extremely lazy and tired with yawns all around. In the morning we did nothing but in the afternoon we received a phone call from Serge, Raphael's dad. We were invited to come to tennis! Dad and I had great fun. So far everyone is loving France, the delicious foods and the fantastic people. That's it until next week!

Au Revoir!

My first week in France

Hello to who-ever is reading my blog at this moment in time! I hope you stick around to listen to my whole adventure. I have decided to add a blog every week so at the end of the year I will have 52 blogs.

Well, things have quickly changed for me! From the warm Sunshine Coast to freezing France, everything is a bit of a shock. All the French people are so friendly! I have already made 9 friends. This is great, as it is only my first week here. Now I'm going to tell you about my adventure so far.

We took off from our house on the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane airport. Yay, we were going to France! We went through Brisbane airport with ease, preparing for a long journey. The flights to Singapore, Paris and Marseilles went great as well. We were then greeted by our cheerful landlord at the airport and driven down to the house. We were given a swift tour of the house before a quick dinner. We hit the hay and finally fell asleep. We were all extremely tired from our 35 hour journey!

The day after we arrived was an extremely busy day with introductions from Pascal, the landlord to his partner Christine. We were thrown into a beautiful dinner with countless courses. After that dinner we felt very full and tired from a big day. That night we got a great sleep with our full tummies!

On Saturday we enjoyed a lazy day, forced by the rain. We were hoping to explore that day but the rain post-poned our plans. The next day was great experience for Ivy and I because we were introduced to the landlord's children Constance(13), Raphaelle(11) and Charlotte(9). We played on their huge trampoline for 4 hours in the cold! We all had great fun. The next day was lots of fun with an introduction to the girls' friends. Constance has a friend whose brother is the same age as me! Raphael and I get on very well. We all played Ping Pong and Playstation before it was time to go home. We were all sad to go but were happy that we would see each other again.

The next day we went to Pernes de Fontaines. It is supposed to mean town of Fountains? We went to the markets in the town for the day and explored the countless stalls. They ranged from groceries to delicious gourmet foods. The next day was a shopping day with a trip to Avignon for some clothes. There is a huge shopping centre just outside of Avignon in their Center Commercial.

With Ivy in her second day of school we went to Carpentras to inspect the tourist information centre. Can you believe that tree climbing is a sport? Yesterday we stayed in the house because of snow. Apparently Mormoiron doesn't have snow ploughs!?

Today it snowed all over France to Ivy's and my delight. This morning we went out and played until we were almost frozen solid!!! I can see that I am going to enjoy this country!!

Well that's it till next week
Au Revoir!!