41. Back On Board

ok, so now that i've semi-mastered this french keyboard, i will start blogging again...

but firstly, i'd like to apologize. i promise, i do think of this blog everyday but school is so hectic that i have minimal time. & seeing as it takes up most of my life at the moment, i've decided to make it my "first" post.

my routine is this...
Monday, Tuesday & Friday: alarm (6:35); class (8:00-5:30); home (6:00); dinner (8:30-9:30); bed (11:00)
Wednesday: alarm (6:35); exams (8:00-12:00); class (1:30-3:30); home (4:00); dinner (8:30-9:30); bed (11:00)
Thursday: alarm (7:35); class (9:00-5:30); home (6:00); dinner (8:30-9:30); bed (11:00)
Saturday: alarm (6:35); class (8:00-11:15 OR 12:15 depending week A OR B); home (1:15); dinner (8:30-9:30); bed (11:00)
"Weekend": Saturday afternoon to Sunday night...sure..

so yup, if you'd like, do the math otherwise i'll just tell you that i've got no time but at least i like school & i've always got something to do. BUT, my point is that i shall make blogging a priority again' which shouldn't be too difficult since i've got an endless list of blog topics ;)

let's start easy...we'll go through my courses for this post & do my best to not bore anyone. :)

before i begin, i'd like to discuss french teenagers & lycée life in general, me being a rather observant person...

a) it's true they all smoke. ok, not all cause there's a good number who don't. it's viewed as "cool" but not a good thing. most ppl started a while ago so by this age, it's more embarrassing & "i was foolish". many are occasional puffers but i know a pack-per-two-dayer. mostly though, i think smoking is a fashion. it's part of 3 main styles (as in the way they dress):
-the british style (navy stripes, oxfords, ray bans)
-the delinquint style (leather jacket, wtv attitude, clean look)
-the rugged on-the-road-musician/singer-can't-afford-much style (checked shirts, skinny jeans, tuque)

b) it's true style is big here. whether you're all-out rugged or all-out punk or all out sassy, you go with you style all the way. it's awesome cause more than ever, you can wear whatever you want. & that includes heels, dresses, leather jackets, sweats, boots etc. my point is, i guess that no one looks at you funny if you're feeling dressy one day & want to put on a nice dress to go to school. but then again, it's probably cause i'm going to school with older ppl.

c) it's true that french ppl pronounce "th" with a z-sound. either that or their accent is british.

d) it's true that they eat good food. everyday, my lunch is 3.40 euros. that's water, an appetizer (une entrée), a main dish of meat (chicken, fish, pork etc.) & side of starch (rice, couscous, potatoes, etc.) or vegetable (haricots, broccoli, veg mix etc.), a dessert (changes every day), cheeses & all the bread you want. yum.

e) but it's NOT true that they eat slow. i've taken to racing the ppl i eat with & i haven't won once yet & they aren't even aware that i'm racing them. it's crazy! i'm usually quite when i eat cause 1. i prefer just listening 2. i'm racing! but they down their food so fast while chatting amongst them. but then again, i'm probably the one that eats EVERYTHING i take. i've even tried taking less food, but i always lose...

f) it's NOT true their all snobby. at least with what i've experienced in the last two weeks...there are catty girls but i don't affiliate with them so that's no bother. you have the same ppl in every class & i like my class so it's all good. :)

quickly now cause it's already 8:00 & all i've done since i got home is eat yogurt (with maple syrup...hehe) & blog. homework!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (probably the only cool thing about a french keyboard is that you don't have to hold down shift for an exclamation point!!!)

-physics/chemistry: sound waves, light waves & such. can't understand a lot of terms but i'm trying. i've got to catch up on what they did last year. love/hate the teacher. typical science guy. glasses, lab coat, very smart, clear in explaning but lazy in explaning. i hate that cause he goes fast & skips steps. hate him cause he doesn't like me. he never wants to help me or answer my questions cause he's too lazy. typical. he knows i can barely understand & makes me ask my friends for help. sry but they're nice & all but they get a lot of stuff wrong...&&&&&&& he flirst with these 5 girls in class. & one sits with her boyfriend in the class. stupid, rude, annoying man.

-math: ha. ha. my teacher is one of those typical skinny cold-looking old ladies, who is also too quick in the brain to slow down & give me a private lesson (not even). but she's AMAZING cause if "math anatomy" existed, she wrote it. her brain moves at light speed (3.00 x 10^8). she walks around the class & she tells you where you went wrong as she strolls by onto the next person. it's crazy! math is also my worst subject cause 1. i don't understand the math terms in french. (say greater than or equal to in french...ha) 2. i didn't do what they did last year. we're doing series, which requires limits & derivitives, which i didn't do. plus division euclidienne. no idea.

-biology: my teacher has the highest voice i've ever heard a person have. (topic: evolution)

-philosophy: i don't get the french enough to do the exams, which for this course are 4h long (wednesday mornings) but my teacher is great. she is a little different (she eats an apple skin, flesh, core & stem; when she was little, she wanted to give her parents more worms for the garden & with a knife, there were no worms etc.) i love her way of thinking & she fascinates me. & i love taking her notes cause they're literally just paragraphs; no formatting required like in math. i wish i could understand more than only 30% of what she says.

-history/geography: i have the same course in english & french, which is good cause i like history; i just can't remember it. it's basically the second half of the 20th century starting with WWII, & the cold war & such. my english hist. teacher is pure british & his cardigan he wore last class was definitely Zara material. my french hist. teacher has the worst reputation cause apparently she's biased. i've got her 3h straight tomorrow.

-english litterature: interesting. i'm getting into analyzing literary works so it's fun even though it was a summer read that i didn't read. it's "the white devil" by john webster; a play written in shakespearean. it's cool cause we really go deep & analyze every detail. the class is an extra for english-speakers so we're only 10. i've got to read "The God of Small Things" by mid-november but i don't have the book yet...my host mom ordered it. the only annoying thing is that my teacher (who's actually french) makes up "big words" that aren't real or don't make sense in context. she ALWAYS says "ironical" but i prefer "ironic". but it's annoying cause her ideas are all correct but her pronounciation is atrocious. "woeful" she said "who-ful" today. shame.

-spanish: another language teacher who's originally french. but i trust her a little more, at least to re-teach me the basics that i've forgotten. she says "hm?" at EVERY pause. quietly but every time! it's a french thing though.

-english: a joke & i was bored out of my mind. i've attended three classes & can't take anymore so i got myself exempt, hehe. it's only reading comprehension & i swear i have NEVER EVER been in such a quiet class. NOBODY talks or moves. it's louder during an examinations, when pencils are moving. it's so quiet your ears start to hurt & still, nobody says anything. the teacher is this guy from guatemala who has a really strong accent so last class, he was reading about a beach & said "bitch". then he corrected himself in trying to fake a british accent. plus, english from the islands/coasts tend to leave out the "s" for plurals & so he does that...how can he be teaching english???????????

-gym: boy is it serious stuff here. you're marked on EVERYTHING. you have to come up with strategies on how to beat your opponent & such as well as your performance, skill & EVERYTHING. & guess what? we're doing badminton-climbing-soccer. we've had one badminton class so far & each class is 2h so i'm sore. girls & guys are marked the same. in the intro class, i played my teacher for fun & he freaking SMASHED the birdie at me at a speed greater than or equal to a n00b smash (sry n00b). my point is, my teacher's a pro. en plus, our warm up was a 5-min. run, sit-ups, some shuffle/sprint stuff around the court & push-ups. oh là là.

TO END:
it's EXTREMELY old-fashioned here. you walk in a class & you wait for the teacher to give you the permission to sit (although i haven't remembered once yet cause they're not strict about it). the first thing you do is take out your stuff, mostly paper cause all you do in every class is take notes. my forearm muscles are so tight, you've no idea. the teacher literally talks at his/her desk & you write down what they say, word for word. personally, it's my favourite thing to do. i love writing (the action, not the process) & not having to think. love it. plus, i'm big on my various fonts, hehe.

anyway, secondly, everything you hand in is also done by hand on these papers that are NOT standard 7mm horizontal lines. instead, we get this stuff....




i hated it in the beginning but now i'm getting used to it. it took me ages to find lined paper i'm used to but only one store had it in pads of 8mm with 4 holes punched. oh yeah, that's the other thing: teachers don't hole punch anything so you have to put all handouts in plastic sleeves & if you do hole punch something, there's 4 holes, which is annoying cause you have to pull the rings twice to open the binders. there's no such thing as "pochettes". i've looked. all they have are these folders that are six-in-one held together by an elastic at each corner.

here, the kids all use fountain pens, which i like. i've got a few. they're awesome. they use other pens too but they all own at least one fountain pen. the kids here also don't know how to use computer programs cause they're so old-fashioned, hehe. word & excel are foreign to them. everything is by hand.

also, apparently they only sell one brand of school bags in this areq (or perhaps france) cause no joke, 90% of kids have the same eastpak backpack in various colours. 8% (girls) have shoulder purse-like bags & 2% have other. apparently also, there is only one kind of shoe for sale: good ol' chuck taylors owned by about 60% of the population.

overall, i'm a year behind. i'm hoping this will push my lazy bum to get my work ethics together.

thanks for reading. hope your eyes aren't too tired. :)

love love love

[bt]