Thursday and Friday; Venice

If I was to recount the last 24 hours to you there would be problem after problem after problem... But as we were talking and laughing about the days journey around our pizza, we realized that we remember all the difficulties we have and the good stories to go with them better than if everything went according to plan.

Before I begin don't think I'm focusing on all the negatives of the trip, they are just the exciting part.

All of our flights worked out pretty well except for mum, dad, and Erin having to sit for two hours on the tarmack, and Alandra and I sleeping at the airport. The problems started arising when they were waiting for the motor home. Mum and dad thought they had been scammed and ripped off while Jan was calling the only contact number he had, me. In the busy loud bus we are trying to figure out how to get a hold of dad in a foreign country to tell him they were on their way. We were minutes away from having the airport call their names out, when dad had decided to get some wifi to make some other arrangements. As soon as he turned on his phone he got every email we had tried to send him.

The next morning, while mum dad and Erin were sleeping off some jet lag, alandra and I were trying to get to the campsite. We had accidently gotten off at the wrong bus stop, and were walking past a gas station when a old man calls out to us, "ciao!".

"Um.. Ciao! Parlate (French mumbling) inglese?"

"Yes!"

Great, after figuring we were a kilometre and a half away from our destination, we started walking until the guy called us back to tell us he was heading in that direction. Yes, we got a ride from a complete stranger in a foreign country, but you gotta do what ya gotta do. He was so nice and talkative, and even gave us a map when he found out this was our first time here. 

He dropped us off at the entrance and wished us a buona vacanze. We headed in to search for the the rest of the gang. Seeing first some familiar looking feet and then the familiar hair of Erin, I started running towards her yelling HEY!!!! Before comprehending that it was me, she started screaming loud enough that everyone stopped what they were doing to watch us impact in a hug. Upon hearing the cry from Erin, mum and dad came running out to see what was happening and were surprised to see me there so early.

Family reunion

Somehow I missed the memo that we were going to have everybody and their cat over for the weekend. Sonia's parents came up from Italy on Tuesday, non parlano francese.... Perfect...

Thankfully, immersion let's you soak up more then you realize. I was able to introduce myself, io sono Ashley, io sono canadian, parlo inglese e francese, no italiano. When in doubt i just speak in French but add a little Italian flourish haha we understand each other well enough and if not the girls jump in and translate. 

I swear that the best way to learn a language is to just throw yourself in it. I came here with high school French (which anyone who has gone abroad will let you know that that does not help much) and not even a word of Italian. Now my French is, not to brag, but it's pretty darn good. And I'm able to understand Italian and say simple sentences.

Today the Sonia's brother came over from china, thankfully, he speaks French and a bit of English. But you should hear us all at the dinner table around the pizza, translations are being thrown every which way, in any of the three languages. 

I am not homesick

Only 90 days left!!

But who is counting right? Just for the record, I am not homesick even though my excitement to come home suggests otherwise. Let me explain.

First of all, I love Paris and France and my friends here, and my host family especially my girls, and I will be a mess when I have to leave all of the above. However, you can grow tired of any place if you've been there long enough. Though I still catch my breath whenever the Eiffel Tower comes into view, and it still amazes me that I am actually living here. I am ready for the next chapter in my life, especially now that I know what I am going to do come September. Plus, looking after other people's children all the time gets really tiring and old. I'm ready to be a normal college student, to rent my own place, to be able to hang out on the couch in my pyjamas, to not have to leave the house to be with friends.

So I am not homesick, I'm just ready to come home.

Improvisation

So usually I have more photos than words, but today I went to a two hour improv class. Yes it was all in French. No I wasn't the only non native French speaker. In fact, there were just 3 others girls, 2 Swedish and 1 Italian. All were au pairs. The teacher, Sebastian, was very funny. At first it was nerve racking. And I was really confused as to why I signed up for it in the first place, but I missed theater and acting. Plus, it was free! I knew it would challenge my French, but how do you expect to get anywhere if you don't challenge yourself.

It was nice because we didn't jump straight into speaking. He gave us time to get use to each other and him. He let us walk around the room and pick up props, familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. Then he would clap and we would have to freeze as if we were doing an action like playing a sport and someone would have to come and finish the action with us.

Next was "ah, j'ai compris, je vais" someone does an action (without speaking) and the first person to figure out what they are doing would jump up and do it with them. One time I pretended to plant a tree, so I started digging, some one comes and helps me dig and I hand them an invisible tree and we plant it together. 

After that we started adding speaking lines. Making up scenes and plots with only 2 minutes to prepare. Quite funny. We played a game where the point was to get the other person to say oui or non. 

Another group of girls came and joined us after that, they were the singing group. Then they chose our theme, and we got only 1 minute to make something up and we did it for them. It was called "The Gun and Love." I had a super beau gun which I adored so much and my femme got annoyed with me because I was always admiring my gun. Everyone wanted my gun it was so magnifique. So she left and ended up getting kidnapped. And when I went to find her they stole my gun and I had to chose between the fun and my wife. Of course I chose mon amour, c'est évidement. You had to be there, lots of improv going on since we only had time to get a rough plot line in place, had to make up lines just like that (it was very good for my French). 

We changed it up a bit and the girls from the singing group would be our voices, as we acted out, and make the sound effects. Very fun and interesting! I would do it again.

Selfies!

Went to see la belle et la bête musical production!

In jardin des plantes.

Last Saturday! This is our lives

Daisy chains and summer time

Bzz bzz

"Allo?"

"Bonjour Ashley! Ça va?" Sœur gerad 

"Euh... Oui, ça va, et vous?

"Ça va, merci, est ce que tu viens avec nous ce matin?"

"Ah, non avec Karl. Il vas m'amener."

"Ah! Mais oui, d'accord d'accord. Je vais te voir a l'église!"

"Oui à toute à l'heure."

What time is it anyway... 7am?! Are you telling me I had that whole exchange in French before I was even fully awake?

 Literally my conversation the other week