C'est la vie according to me: Madge-ical Moment

Let me begin by reminding you of some extremely American childhood characters. There was Little Bunny Foo Foo who went hoppin’ through the forest. A little fellow who said, “They call me ‘Thumper’.” And of course Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny who always got themselves into Mr. McGregor’s garden and caused a fuss. Well, I’m getting prepared to eat Little Bunny Foo Foo for dinner. Yesterday while at the charcuterie (place where they specialize in selling meat) I saw – just know that I’m trying to be as sensitive to all of you bunny lovers out there while still providing you with the culture – a pile of skinned bunnies in the display case. Dissections at school never weirded me out, so I was perfectly fine; however, I started to laugh when I thought of telling you all about this: they’re just sleeping. Hey! They look like they’re in mid jump! In any case, my host mom bought a rabbit for me. I’m really excited. I think I’ll name it Cottontail.

I’m starting to wonder how many times I’ve said, “Madge rocks my socks,” and how many more times I will have to start off my stories about her like that. She’s the kind of person you just wonder how they were like as a little kid, later in life as a grandma, and while something serious is taking place. There was one day when she tried to get a rise out of us by swerving the bus on the “highway” and lurching the bus in front of everyone when we went through the central part of the town. People stared, Madge gave them a bro-nod. She got everyone to shout “two times around!” while going around the round-about twice (three times on one occasion) and some people put their arms up like they were on a roller coaster. Sometimes she gets a little Micky D’s and passes it down when she doesn’t want any more to the two guys who sit up front and chat with her. When we were at a stoplight, “Diamonds” by Rihanna came on so one of the guys reached over and tried to turn up the volume on the radio. Basically, Madge was a ninja and play-fought him off but not before he pulled her hair and made her yell.

This is where we get to my “Madge-ical Moment.” I TOTALLY TALKED TO MADGE! We had an entire fascinating conversation about how she was pissed that people couldn’t get their bus cards. It was intense.

Today was fantastic because my host mom brought me to a little village right along the coast to have lunch on the beach. We walked down to a cove with four other people, basked in the sun, and ate our baguette sandwiches and clementines (they still have the stems on them here, crazy, I know). After lunch, we hiked up a mountain for a few hours and saw the most amazing view. Simone laughed because the only thing that wasn’t great about today was that I left my camera at home. From our point of view up in the mountains we could see the layers of cities: two islands (one named St. Marguerite thank you very much), Cannes, Antibes, and then Nice.

Since my rabbit stew awaits and my USA dad thinks I need to pare things down in my posts ( XP ) I’m bullet listing this thing:

- Going on a walk with my host mom to find mushrooms and then stopping by her friend’s house to have some tea and pâte des coings (I think it’s made out of quince’s (?) but it’s very good)

- The big storm! There was a similar rainstorm two years ago that lasted an additional two days and I saw photos of the destruction. The supermarket I pass by every day to school had water halfway up the wall…

- Getting my haircut. Kiana described my previous hair best: “party in the back AND in the front.”

- One of my best friends in school moved to the neighboring town but I’ll still be able to see her, it’s just weird without her!

- Vincent’s Vivacious Vernacular encore: Vincent was singing all sorts of songs for me one day while we were waiting for lunch. One of the songs was something like “Celebration” and he was completely in his own little world jamming.

- I’ve been going over to my neighbor’s house (my friend, Clelia) on Fridays where we basically pull out guitars and sing, eat good food, and play with her guitar teacher’s daughter. Clelia speaks English really well so it’s easy to talk to her and hang out. While my host parents are in Senegal I will be staying with her and her family for two weeks! It’s going to be weird without my host parents, but Clelia’s family is absolutely wonderful.

- Tomorrow my friend, Hannah, from the USA will be coming to my house from Antibes (near Cannes) to spend a few days with me! On Saturday we are going to take the train to her house to see her town, host family, and another exchange student named Eamon from Canada. This is seriously going to be awesome and I can’t wait to see her!

- Tomorrow NIGHT I’m hosting a small Halloween party. We will be eating wild rice soup, candy, pumpkin spice cake, candy, and more candy.

- Last week I had the chance to see my oldest host sister, Lucie, for a few days and now Mary, the next oldest, is over for this week during vacation!

- We have crazy awesome cheese here. And it was delivered to our house. One thing you have to know about my area of France is that people are reserved about private information for the most part, yet very openly friendly and polite. This guy came to deliver our cheese and came right in J.

- My host dad and I were actually interrupted by the Cheese Man while we were playing Scrabble. In French. It was difficult – I ended up making up two words and almost succeeding in spelling a French swearword. It lacked an “e”.

- On Sunday all of the rotary exchange students in my district are having another rendezvous (see what I did there?) where we will be visiting the island of Porquerolle. Apparently a twelve-year-old boy went missing there just two days ago so it’s kind of bittersweet.

- I love seeing my host grandparents because they are so incredibly sweet! My host grandpa always gives me little gifts and my host grandma noted how much better my French is just the other day. I had my second batch of raw oysters because Papi eats them nearly every Sunday and this time I took a picture.

- I’ve been drawing, going on walks and runs, listening to a lot of music, watching the presidential debates, and reading Harry Potter, Leaves of Grass, the Curious Story of Benjamin Button in French, random works in ancient French as far as I’m concerned (for school… uggg…)

Last week I had the opportunity to explore Fréjus by myself for an hour and a half. I think I spent my time wisely: first I made a beeline for the nearest pastry shop to buy a little somethin’-somethin’, then went to the beach to dig my feet in the sand while reading “Leaves of Grass,” sketching, and journaling. It was perfect.

- I sent in my absentee ballot this past Monday! Hopefully it will arrive in time, but I VOTED!

There’s a lot more but they’re a little more detailed and it’s been too long, so I apologize that this isn’t like a normal blog. Honestly, though, what is a normal blog?!

Be prepared to read about my adventures of Halloween and having Hannah visit in my next post!

Bisous,

Maggie