"Come on, Edgar. Last one upstairs is a nincompoop."

Well, here we go again.....

I have a bunch of useless pictures this time.... sorry. I don't really go that many places anymore... Excuses, excuses, I know..... Oh well. I hope you enjoy them all the same :).



This is me in Utah. I just always thought it was a funny picture. So there :).


Well, this week has been kind of a mess. So, here in France they have apparently raised the age to retire. So the old people now have to work more in their lifetime, and the young people lose job opportunities. Well, that is what they are complaining about anyway. There has been a strike EVERY DAY! And the dumb things screw everything up. Sometimes they fill up the whole street, so it stops trams and buses, etc. Well, I missed my piano lesson because there were no buses :). I tell you. These people can be so ridiculous. I don't think these strikes even do anything but give everyone an excuse to not work. Oh well......

These are pictures of the strike today. Usually there are more people. They have probably all decided it was too much work on their "vacation" :).

dumb......

ridiculous.......

Alright, now onto the week.... I will start off with Sunday. I am so sad I didn't take my camera! Me and Amelia missed ALL of the trams, so we walked all the way to the bus in the pouring rain! It was quite the experience I must say. We only had 1 little umbrella, and we were carrying a poster that Amelia made for Primary. It was hilarious! At the beginning we were trying to avoid the water, but after 15 minutes our shoes and hair and everything else was already sopping, so it really didn't matter anymore :). Amelia's poor poster was completely ruined even after all our our efforts.... So that was exciting.

Sunday night we went over to Veronique and Adeline's (two of Amelia's aunts) house for "Papa's" birthday party. He is 50 :). It was really fun. We had delicious food and cake :).

This is just a random building that I thought was cool. I love it when there are buildings that come to a point (I guess it's a point.... It's like a triangle, you know?)

This picture is for Benjamin. These are my new church shoes.... I got them because they reminded me of Audrey Hepburn :).

So, as I mentioned before, I missed piano lessons. Tuesday morning I was headed to the church to go practice. Well, I got to the bus stop but there were TONS of people there "striking," so I just sat down and was waiting. Well, Damien (I think that is how you spell it... he just BARELY came home from his mission) randomly showed up and told me that there would be no bus :). Sometimes me and Amelia take the tram to church, but it is a longer walk and I wasn't sure of the way, so of COURSE he had to come with me to show me the way :). I pretty much thought we were going to die in the tram. I have never seen it that packed before! When the tram would stop sharply, pretty much everyone just fell over..... it was ridiculous. I sometimes wonder if the tram driver ever does it for fun...... Well, anyway, I got there and practiced for a little while. The whole ordeal had taken longer than planned, so I didn't have that long to practice. Well, then I leave and go wait for the bus.... that wasn't coming! Dumb! So, after it takes forever for me to realize that I am a dummy, I start heading to the tram stop which is a ways away. When I got there, it said the tram was coming in 7 minutes. So, I waited, and it came, and I couldn't get in. The doors were barely closing. There was 0 space left. So, then I waited 12 minutes for the next one and forced my way in. It is funny, because when you are in the tram you are just smashed up against everybody. There is nothing you can even do. Just make sure your breath doesn't stink :). Ok, so anyway.... I was late for everything and I didn't make it. I was pretty grumpy so I decided to walk home to try to get over it :). Well, it didn't REALLY work, so I decided to stop off and get some chocolate.... 4 bars of it...... Chocolate always helps. Ok, that was a useless story.... sorry about that.

This book is going to be the death of me. I am absolutely sure of it. It broke my pinky. There is no better exercise book......

So, I was talking to my mom on Sunday and she was saying how I should sit out and draw places and things here. I had actually brought this journal for that purpose, but had forgotten about it since I got here! I actually got it from my friend Chubbs for my birthday a couple years ago. (Dear Chubbs, thanks a lot! I don't think you ever actually saw it... here it is. Isn't it beautiful??) Well, I was looking through it and decided to take these pictures of pictures.... I don't even know why...... Ok, fine! It is because I miss Dane!...... So, what? I wanted to send these to him...... and then I just decided you all may as well see them too :).

This is me and Mr. Darcy someday... it almost makes me cry every time!......

This is Dane..... hehehe. He is wearing a Batman Shirt, PJ pants, an awesome coat, and he is holding a pie, yes. Why is he so cool?!?!

This is me and Dane if we had been Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's neighbors...

Well, I told you that I would take a picture of the chocolate aisle. Here it is. I don't even know how I would pick if it weren't for the price differences...... There are so many!

Also... this (^) is my favorite place ever! I could just stare at it all day! I feel like a little kid every time! It really is so magical! It is my equivalent to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory..... It has cookies and candies..... Yes! I love it! I don't know how everyone doesn't just stop and stare. I did the first time. It stopped me in my tracks. For reals.....

So me and Amelia went shopping last night. On the way home we took these pictures. I know I have tried to describe how amazing it is here at night, but I really can't even tell you! There is no way but to experience it! I could spend all night out there. I love it! And I am not the only one. Amelia feels the exact same way. It is a whole other world.

Ok, yes, I know it is ridiculous! It is supposed to be though :). In the other ones, I was popping my foot :). They ended up super blurry, otherwise I would have put them up :).

Alright, here we go again..... :) I don't even know how this happened. Please just enjoy these.

Meditating.... This is how she likes to end the day.

And again. This time it actually worked because she put Indian pants on :).

Pretending to be dead. She sometimes likes to try to look dead. She hasn't ever quite got it right.... Also, sometimes she tries to walk like a guy. It is hilarious!

Again, pretending to be dead........ I am totally serious.

Sleeping Beauty..... her prince never actually came, poor thing.

Well, there is no more time to waste. I am headed off to Institute again. I hope you are all doing perfectly. The only advice I can give you all is to eat more yogurt....

Peace.

"Have you seen these toilets? They're GINORMOUS!"

Bonjour!

So, most recent news..... I am now Spiderman. I would much rather be Batman, but I realize that there is one already. At least I can be a good sidekick now...... :) I will be Robin but with Spiderman's powers, which is better anyways :). Great.

So, I thought I would take pictures of my beautiful practicing spot. I absolutely LOVE practicing here! The time passes so fast and so well. It is wonderful. I go almost every day for a few hours. And the wonderful geneology lady is there every day. It is so great. Sometimes she gives me some of her lunch because she says she thinks I don't eat. Hahahaha...... so cool.

This is our church building in Talance. It is wonderful :). We share a building with the Talance ward because apparently the Eysine Ward's chapel burnt down a few years ago! Crazy. I think they have just started building it again.

So, I have included here a few random pictures of things. This first one is very close to my heart.... :P No, but really....... dog poop all over. You have to watch everywhere you walk. Sometimes it is dog poop, other times it is puke... Oh France, how fragrant you are!

I took these pictures because for some reason I think of my family every time I see these. I had to show them, but I thought you could all see as well. I think these door-knocker things are so cool! Also, I love looking at all the doors! They are all different colors and designs and most importantly, old! So cool. Why don't we do this in America?! I have no idea.......

So, I was talking to my cousin the other day about how it is so great here because of all the walking that is necessary to go ANYWHERE! I can't believe what it is doing to me! I get ravenous now.... really. Caitlyn once called me a "ravenous wolf" :) ...... well, now I feel like that is true. I am hungry all the time! Last night, 1/2 and hour after dinner I was hungry again! Starving! I eat at 11:30 at night and I wake up starving. It is so weird. Plus, I really am losing weight. How great of a deal is this?! It is a great deal. Also, these are the stairs to get up to our apartment. I mean really.... how can you not get exercise here?

Alright...... I am sure you will all look at these pictures and wonder if we are 5 year olds.... well, I wonder that myself a lot of the time. So go ahead and wonder. But please laugh as well! I was definitely peeing my pants the whole time :).

This game is called "Where's Amelia?" (You know.... like "Where's Waldo?") So go find her!

Please also notice the mess....... :)

Pretty tough, I know :). Hahaha, really though.... you should have seen us taking these last night. Ridiculous..... :)

Alright, onto other things :).

First matter of business.... I would like to announce that I am not THAT short. Here I am average! Believe it :). I noticed the other day while standing up in the tram that I am actually as tall as a lot of guys here :). Sad for them I know..... but awesome for me! I don't even feel short anymore! How great......

Also, I would like to share this. So, at the tram stops they have these glass covering things.... if you know what I am talking about. It is glass that goes behind and over you that you can lean against/stand under for when it rains or whatever. Well, yesterday I was standing at one and I looked at the one across from me, and there I see "DANE" scratched into the glass in big letters! What?! I was so excited! I thought I must be missing a letter or something, but nope. There is was. Dane. I was asking Amelia about it later, just to see if it was a common name or if it meant something in French, and she said no :). It is a sign. Me and Amelia decided it must have been an Angel. A vandalizing angel :). But really.... I have been missing Dane SO much lately, and talking about him ALL the time, so I thought it was funny that I should see that :).

Also, hilarious. Amelia's dad! He is so funny! So, he makes bread. It seems to be a very regular thing for him to do, but he has no idea how to do it! I don't even know how to do it, but I have been teaching him things! So funny. His bread is different every time :). Also, he puts sugar in everything! You may think I am kidding, but please believe me:). The other day he made a salad with oil and sugar as a dressing..... :). So funny! So, there is obviously extra sugar in the bread :). It is more of a dessert than anything :). But, I do have to say, it is getting much better. I actually really like it :). Even when the crust chips a tooth :). It is just a new adventure every day :). Another thing that is so funny! So, today there will be some members coming over to watch The Sound of Music.... :). Well, he just LOVES that movie! He has watched it twice in the past couple days, and we will watch it again today :). He tells me every time about how "that movie is inspired," and "very well done." He watched all of the bonus features last night :). He is so cool..... :). Also, tomorrow is his birthday. Happy Birthday!!!! We are going to have a party at his sisters' house. Great.
Great news! Celine, my piano teacher, has asked me to babysit her kids every Wednesday! I will be able to make money!!! Yes! I am so excited! I mean really.... how perfect? So perfect. Huge blessing there!!!

So, I think this is so funny. I love it. While riding the bus I have noticed that bus drivers HAVE to wave to any other bus driver that comes along. It is so funny! It must be part of the job description or something. It is so cool. It is really impossible for them to just pass by without waving. Also, drivers here are so polite! They will stop traffic to let you cross the street. Yesterday I was walking home from practicing, and I was crossing the street. Well, I was waiting for the crossing man to turn green/cars to stop coming when this lady just stopped for me! There were cars waiting behind her and everything! I'm serious, they stop for you almost every time. It is so cool. But, I do have to say that there are CRAZY drivers here! I feel like I am going to die every time I get in a car :). Everyone seems to be so used to driving crazy that everyone survives :).

So, something else I love. Everybody has a different style! It seemed to me that in America it was a lot of Hollister/American Eagle/anything else popular that everyone else was wearing. Well, here, it is honestly whatever you want! I love it! It is so cool.

Well, Amelia and I made German Pancakes for breakfast this morning! Saturday is our make-a-real-breakfast day :). They were delicious. Not as good as my mom's but..... that is no surprise. And honestly I prefer the baguette anyway, so.... why do we even make anything?............ Oh well.... good practice.

So is time going by SO fast for everyone else? It is going by SO fast for me! I have already been here almost a month and a half! What in the world?! How did that even happen?! I am afraid that it will be time for me to leave and I won't have done ANYTHING (namely, learn the language)! Oh well. I am just trying to enjoy it while I can :). Like I said last time, we are still trying to get me a residency permit. I will let you know as soon as I know anything :). I am praying so hard that I will be able to stay!!! I love it here! I'm not ready to leave yet :).

Well, that is all the nonsense that I have for you today. Have the best week!

Oh! For any of you who are interested, these are the songs I am learning at the moment. I am supposed to get new ones next week. We'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9UmpGRh8R0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofi4hAQWpIw

Ciao!

"Tut-tut, it looks like rain."

Well, hello again.

This week I have decided to write down the things that happened so that I could remember them and tell you about them. :) Great idea. Of course they really aren't THAT interesting, but at least it will be better than my previous ramblings.
Well, it just started pouring. That is exciting. It apparently rains all the time here, but so far I have only seen it a few times. It isn't Oregon, but it does try to be :). Good luck. Luckily for me, I don't mind the rain. Of course, we will see if I am still saying that once it really gets going :). For now, I think it is lovely.

Oh. So this picture underneath is a picture of this awesome/completely random Crocodile statue that for some reason somebody thought was a good idea to build. It is dark, I know, but hopefully you can still see it. (And yes, that is a pink and purple cow in front of it.) It is just a big head sticking out of the ground. There is apparently SOME meaning behind it, but I don't really care that much. I think it is so funny.

So....... now onto the week. Last post I was headed off to Institute. Well, it was good. I didn't understand everything, but I really tried to stay concentrated the whole time, so I got a little bit out of it :). The teacher is really awesome. I like him a lot. There are a lot of friends there too, so that is awesome. I think it is pretty awesome because the two wards here are so small, so everyone knows eachother. EVERYONE is friends. It is great. I thought I knew everyone, but apparently not :). That is great though. The more the merrier. And I still haven't met one that isn't super awesome......

Well, on Saturday, Amelia and I slept in :). We woke up and the Elders and Sister Missionaries were here. They had just had pancakes and it turns out that they had eatten all of them! The Elder had said that, but I thought he was joking...... So, we made some more. LOTS of them just for us. And with white flour :).

My mom who is so wonderful, used to make mickey mouse shaped pancakes for us. Well, I decided I would try it out. Those ones definitely tasted the best :). ( Yes, you may have noticed that the pancakes look like paper. It was a bad recipe apparently. They were totally flat... Oh well, they still tasted good.) Also, they only have the real-deal maple syrup here. None of the Mrs. Butterworths stuff..... Mmmmmm. I love it.

So, after we finished breakfast (about 1:00, hehehe) Amelia's cousin called and asked us if we wanted to go shopping with her. So we went to St. Cathrine, the most hugest, ginormous shopping street ever. I don't even know where it ends. It goes on forever. Stores all over. So, that was fun. I was looking for the perfect dress for my sister (which I haven't found yet...), and the other two were looking at other stuff. So, Amelia and Estelle saw this sign in front of a Perfume shop. It was apparently hilarious. It means "Test on the English." :) Ok, but it really isn't THAT funny......

So, we were shopping and we stayed a little too long. We were hurrying home so we could make it to first session (for us) of General Conference. Well, there was this huge strike. There were so many people!!! Do you see this picture? This wasn't even anything.... it went on like this FOREVER. It was amazing. I don't even have any idea what the strike was about. So anyway, they were walking where the tram usually drives, so it turns out we had to walk all the way home! Which is not a short walk.... So we were definitely speed walking the whole way. Plus even after we got ready, we couldn't even make it to the bus because the trams weren't working. Well, we didn't know what we were going to do, but luckily Guillaume was coming over here anyway so he offered to pick us up. Awesome. So, we went and it was awesome, as I am sure all of you who listened to Conference know. Luckily, there was a room with it in English, so I actually understood what was going on! Saturday night we watched the Saturday Morning session. Sunday, we watched the General Relief Society meeting, and then the Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning session. I guess I will just read the Sunday Afternoon Session. They were showing it apparently, but it started at 10:00 pm and went until midnight..... "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. " I would have stayed, but we were all so tired. I wouldn't have lasted. But what I did see, I loved. I kind of missed just sitting on the couch in my PJ's, but it is a different feeling getting dressed up and going to the church. It feels more like a Sunday :). So, it was good. Afterward, Guillaume and Jonathan (a new friend... sort of....) came over and we ate Quiche, and drank herbal tea :). It was a lovely time, to say the least. Good Weekend. Guillaume is leaving to Virginia/Washington DC for almost 3 weeks, so that was kind of a goodbye-for-a-while party.

So, I have got to tell you about this dress. (Hannah, this isn't the one for you. Sorry. But just like everything else, we can share it when I get back. Don't worry. Plus, I am going to get you a better one anyway.) Well, while we were shopping Saturday Afternoon, I was walking around H&M (one of the really popular stores here) and I found it. I was looking for a dress for my sister, as I mentioned before. I hadn't had any luck, but right before we were leaving I found this cute dress. I had no choice but to buy it. Please look at the price tag. The red one. It wasn't even a joke either! I can't for the life of me understand why it wasn't sold already, but.... whatever. Lucky me :).

So, I have to say thank you a million times to my Mom. Can I just say, I HATE doing laundry? I HATE DOING LAUNDRY!!!!! It is definitely true that you come to appreciate your mommy once you are on your own. Basically I just wait until I run out of clothes, and then I do my laundry. Also, their dryer has this problem... this spot in it will fill with water, and then the electricity in the house shuts off :). Then you have to dry it out, and then you can turn the power on. It really is a huge pain! I HATE DOING LAUNDRY!!!!! Sorry.... Ok, I'm done. Thanks Mom! You are the best!

So, hopefully this week, Amelia's dad will help me get a residency permit. Also, good news!!!! The lady who is over the American.... section of the..... I don't even know. The point is.... she is somehow related to the Defranchi's and is friends with Amelia's dad! Yes!!!! We have connections!! Hopefully it will help :). Because if we are being honest, they probably shouldn't give it to me.....

Also, great news!!! I get to go to the Madrid, Spain temple in October! I am so excited!!!

Also, bad news..... I am already getting excited for Christmas. This happened last year too.... Darn it all Linday, grow up!..... No, but really.... Christmas in France!!! How cool!?!?!? I hear the lights are amazing :). Lots of pictures :).

Ok, fine. I am done. Better than the last one, yeah? :) Alright, now that your whole day is wasted, have the best night! As a great man once said, "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good-night!"