*HaLLoWeeN*

Wow……halloween is awesome here. At school everyone dressed up..well not everyone cos there are the people that think they are too cool for it and people who know they are too cool for it. There was a disco at school at luch and I have th bestest pics ever….some unfortunately I wont send to everyone (ie mum and dad, and probably Jamie or Hannah so they don’t show mum or dad…sorry) so ill email them out when I can. But that will be after I go out tonite to take more photos of all the decorations….some very cool suprises.
Hope I don’t freeze tonite tho because its now about 1 or 2 degrees during sunlight and 0 or –2 when its dark…..and the sun sets at 5pm…….fun times…

Funniest thing ever at school…in pe, we are playing handball. Randomest game ever (not the four square kind). The guys in my class are your typical 16 year olds that think they are the bees knees. So im never marked and no one ever passes my way…if on the off chance they do, I score, they call it a fluke (yes I know that word in French very well because of pe)…here’s the funny part…we had an exam. To throw a handball (about the size of a flipperball) 10 times at a tiny square on the wall about 10m away. This is where im going into detail cos its soo funny….my practice shots were crap. I kinda didn’t care. But when we had the real one the guys sucked. They got 5 or 6 out of 10. then my turn all the guys were right dicks about it. But thank god for my water polo training I got 10 out of 10. first few they called flukes but everyone knows you cant fluke the same thing 10 times in a row, unless you can do it for real. Being very ladylike, I smiled and pretended like it was nothing out of the ordinary. So now I get the ball a lot more, im marked, but the guys are scared shitless to try and attack me (its just like waterpolo out of the water with the only rule being no punches etc) and our team is winning :) but again…no girl handball teams.

So canadas still awesome……….

Sorry i havent been on the computer for a while. We had a long weekend and my host mum left the internet connected for 6 hours by accident. So I haven’t had access to a computer for a while…but ive got lots to say……

Friday wasa teachers only day, we have them every 4 weeks. I was home alone most of the day so I wanted to do homework, read my vic course guide and take photos…..knowing me well enough…all I did was take photos, sleep, and calculate how many calories are in everything. Friday night I went to see saw 2 (decadence trios in French) still scary and disgusting in another language. Is the movie nacho libre out yet in nz….cos its here on dvd and its sooo funny….

Saturday was kinda boring. Passed a billabong store and persuaded my host mum to stop so I could check it out (mostly to check price difference, but really to shop) same price in nz so it wasn’t that exciting. But I did manage to buy stuff.

Sunday was the best……it snowed…..i was sooo excited. It didn’t really snow where I live but we went to a different town to go shopping and it snowed there. When we finished in the mall our car was covered in snow…..but it was cold. Good thing I bought lots of clothes then :p

I think ive got a cold so that sucks :( but thanks to you mum ive got all my difflam etc to keep me healthy enough to not skip school
Im gonna take heaps of photos of all the Halloween stuff and email them out when I next get to the computer at home :)

i have the coolest thing ever.........an electronic translator...yeah so what if that classifies me as a geek...its awesome.

umm....fun-ish weekend. spent saturday with my host dad. we went to a craft store so i could get some watercoloured pencils (cos im always soooo bored), we had macdonalds...it was so funny...people would order in french but then you'd hear a fake american accent "big mac" or something like that. didnt do much for the rest of saturday but that night i had to go to dinner at my host mums sister house. it was crazy.....like 10 or 11 over 50s drinking soo much and talking sooo loudly. they were drinking like 14 year olds in the botanical gardens...everyone had like 4 or 5 beers before dinner...then we went through 9 bottles of beer for 11 people including 2 sober drivers. and had spirits with desert. drunk french people are very amusing, especially when they are attempting to talk english. considering that they can't talk it when they are sober, it was great trying to understand their drunken attempts. we didnt leave until about 12.30. so i spent a saturday night drinking with old people.....it was a good laugh and i think putting up with that night will get me out of going to the next few family dinners.

sunday was average...didnt do much. talked with my host mum about speaking more french around the house cos she only peaks english with me. her one condition of having a student was that they always spoke english with her. so it was a lil tricky to try and explain that i wanted to speak french more...especially cos she has limited english and only understands about half of what i say (apparently its because i have a bad accent but everyone else who talks english with me has no problems) managed to figure out something so now we talking french at dinner time. and i can always talk french with my host dad cos he cant spek any english.

yesterday i found out i can go skiing or snowboarding each weekend in winter from january to march. so thats cool. it snowed about 1 hour from where i am so itll start getting colder soon...and i might actually wake up and be able to look out the window at a white backyard :)

"If you don't allow yourself to feel emotions you're robbing yourself of life" -Nick Lachey (and not from one of his songs)

8 weeks! I can’t decide if time goes by fast or not.

Well I got 43% on my maths test. I think it was a good effort seeing as it was all word problems and I didn’t have my dictionary. I’ve got the real exam worth 370 credits (no idea what that means) next week. And I’ve got a history exam (have to write an essay too) coming up.
So thanks alex for telling me bout my English mark :) it masde me feel smart…er than I do here.

Halloween is soon. Its huge here. Very exciting cos all the houses are decorated for it. They have the whole pumpkin thing and also scarecrows and skeletons on their lawn, with pretty orange lights around the windows . A house close to mine has a ghost sitting in a tree, there are some ropes with it so I hope that they do some crazy thing and make it fly. I will take photos on the night of everyone in costumes and houses all lit up. So exciting.
More photos coming soon. Ill send them to the same people unless anyone else wants some. Just email me :p

after the homesick day at school i came home to find that my mum had sent me a cute card with some newspaper clippings and a necklace she had made me. this necklace is special. i found a picture on the net of a necklace i really wanted before i left nz. i forgot all about it until my mum sent me a necklace looking similar that she had made. it was the best thing ever and i smiled so much cos its sooo pretty and it reminded me that i still have people in nz, even if im alone here :)

school was good. in p.e we won the final (with the help of my amazing touchdown) im in love with american football! im trying to get photos but ill have to wait until proper season starts up and the school team is playing officially. cos at the moment its just weird games at lunch time, and its now too cold to sit and watch them.

its getting very cold and its just mid october. its about 4 degrees at 7pm at night, its still dark and about 2 degrees when i catch my school bus at 7.55am. its due to snow between 27th october and 2nd November. only cos there isnt a specific weather reading for my city cos were in the middle of quebec and montreal.

tonight were going to Nick's house cos its lil cedrics first birthday. ive got a cute buzzy bee to give him.

:)

Kinda homesick at the moment. Its not like I miss a particular thing or person….its having people you know care for you there. And im starting to have that with my friends and family, which is good. But I knew one of the hardest things for me would be the idea of being “alone”. Im not alone cos im always with other people. I guess its best described like this……the one person I enjoy tlaktin to the most is the other kiwi girl, not cos shes a good friend (in fact shes the opposite to the kind of person im normally with) its cos I can talk freely with her. Like if I have a problem with a teacher or my host family I can talk with her. Ive always been able to solve problems best by talking. And I can only talk with my host family to a certain extent- in my host mums limited English. I can talk to my new friends here about school problems, but this nz girl is still the best. Maybe cos we come form the same cultural background etc…..like we have the same social moral ideas etc….and shes the same with me….and I now I have people in nz I can talk to but its not the same as face to face. If I need to talk about something or tell someone something then email an phone is always good, but ive had one hug in the past 7 weeks (not counting a 2 nd a 4 yr old). And that was from the Italian exchange student. We have heasp in common and shes really cool. So that’s good.
I think one of the best things ill learn from this exchange is how to cope when im on my own. But still know ive got people that look out for me

ive finally figured out how to semd photos. no its not because im dumb with computers...its cos its all in french. so some you have been sent photos. but my computer decided to not send the m to some people (?) if you didnt get photos and you want some just email or leave a comment. and maria i am trying to figure out how to make it so anyone can comment, its in french so im really trying and i think ive got that sorted.

we won touch football in p.e. it was really good cos i even got a touchdown. i will try and get some photos of when the school team plays the real sport with tackles, so that i can share how hilariously huge the protection is.

last night i was home alone so i got to watch american television....umm....yeah desperate housewives is awesome! im so tempted to share everything thats happening, but then some of you won't talk to me again. and greys anatomy is realllllllly good. i think you guys have reruns atm (?) well we're into the next season and its way better....if it could get any better. now im rambling about american tv shows....im sorry.

hope mocks went well for onslow ppl :)

exciting weekend...not
had my afs cultural day. where all the exchange students in montreal central (about 115) came together to share our culture. we decided to be really friendly and do the haka. that was the most embarassing thing i have ever done. there were 4 other nzers there....and i was suprised to find out im the only one that speaks french. so i was translating most of the night. but i kept thinking what it must be like for them not to be able to make friends concentrate at school...etc. and 2 of them have changed familys already. one cos she was fed really badly and the other cos she didn`t like her family (?). i found out my host family thinks om messy (cos i dont make my bed), so i have to be good and keep it clean. i had a bit of a scare when i thought they were saying they didnt like me using my cellphone and talking to ppl in nz. but no it was just a weird communication problem and i feel stupid for thinking otherwise. so a good day.

today i went shopping for winter stuff. got mittens (how cool am i???) a very funky-i-want-to-say-vest-but-youll-think-im-unfashionable- vest like garment, a thick hoody and a scarf to match my mittens....maybe i am a nerdy unfashionable foreigner?? oh well im having fun.

and we went to the tanning salon. yeah uv skin cancer blah blah blah..but i dont wanna be white for my cruise in 2 months. kinda got freaked when the sunbed kept creaking and i kept thinking final destianation 3....so that defeated the whole relax while you tan feel to the place.

and tonite im home alone reheating chicken pie for dinner yum..............

im able to use the school computers alot. which is good, otherwise i wouldnt blog or email...as much.

school is good at the moment. mostly because unlike everyone in new zealand im not prepping for exams. but still have tests every week (its insane). so far ive got 85% in art 81% in history a whooping 66% in maths and an equivalent of good effort in french. oh and i have to boast about my 100% in p.e. so im doing really well in subjects that dont involve talking (art and sport) average in history where i just memorise the revision questions and answers cos its the same in the test, and passing maths, all word problems. im just stoked with sport and art. and english is soo easy its been deemed a waste of time and the principal pulled the exchange students out and now we have to tutor almost fluent 13 year olds (fun).

lunchtime is still my favourite at school. its an hour nd a half of eating and watching the guys play football, or skate, depends on whos doing what.

i have to go buy mittens on the weekend. and maybe some warmer clothes cos its getting colder. but im still not used to how everything has central heating so you wear jeans (some girls prefer skirts *cough*mean girls*cough*) and a tee shirt, but if you go outside you have to add a few more layers.

bored of writing now, i should probably get back to whatever subject im in pretending to be writing a report. :P

it was thanksgiving this weekend......we ordered in chinese food. so its not that big with my family.

i got lost in walmart. its huge. you can do your food shopping, buy a dog, get gym equipment, stuff for your car, clothes, toys...its huge. i had so much fun playing round with the makeup. its soo cheap here, its soo cool. and i managed to find a cosmopolitan in english! so happy to be able to read that. i havent decided if australian or american is better. american dont have sealed section, its just thrown in the middle of the magazine somewhere for you to stumble upon.
im very proud of myself i did my own nals, artificial nails. and i even have a lil flower design on my thumbs. im sorry i had a very girly weekend.

and i got to look after the boys again. but all three of them. im in love with the 11 month year old. (no michael im not getting clucky)

im trying to send photos but the computer is so slow it usually rejects them. so i mite set up a photo website or something rather than email.

:)

its 2 degrees!!!!!!
and its only fall (autumn)
the cars and school buses were iced up like they do in wellingotn in winter...this isnt winter!!!
its supposed to start snowing in a few weeks. the snow ploughs are all set up now though. im sooo excited about the morning i can look out my window and see snow (just like in the movies :P)

this weekend its thanksgiving. really its just a 3 day weekend. i dont know if my host family celebrate it or not. i guess ill find out.

im writing this in french class, were supposed to be writing a poem. im quite proud of my 7 lined poem that took me about 30 minutes to write. :) it was more trying to grasp the idea of french poetry than the grammar thing.

im bored. but thats not out of the ordinary for me.
and i want chocolate. maybe i should stop eating it and start doing the healthy thing like everyone else. maybe i could come home and look totally different. now im excited....too bad i like chocolate too much...

i realised i start most of my blogs with so...but not this time.....so......
not much to say really, i just have time on the computer and i want to make sure you know im alive and well.....alive yes...well, debatable
a lil problem with host parents, ill develop on that later when i know if its a big problem or just me blowing something out of proportion, as usual.

thanks giving this weekend...really its just a 3 day weekend...but i wont be sleeping seeing as we have the lil boys coming to visit.

i miss my cat and pineapple lumps

so i feel a bit geeky saying this but here goes...ive been investigating english grammar. Seeing as its not really taught in new zealand schools i didnt really know what indicatives, or subjunctives were. and i was getting to a point in my french where i cant really learn what the infinitive is until i know it in english. and also seeing as im most peoples english homework assistant its a lil embarassing if i cant help them with my own language. so i read some english grammar books, and then suddenly i understood heaps more french. it was really funny. so now i think that any new zealander attempting to learn a language should know the auxillary verbs first. and to prove my point i asked the other new zealand girl what she thought. she said it shouldnt matter isnt every language different any way....well she cant speak any french....

completely opposite to my geeky lecture.......

i played american football for the first time. (touch version so it wasnt that bad)...and it turns out im a bit of a natural. not to boast or anything (wait...isnt that what im best at doing) but i was really good. i felt ery proud when the guys were shocked. it was soo funny when i was defense and intercepting most of their passes. too bad there isnt a girls team. ill just have to stick to playing in p.e class

and remember all my peeps at onslow...good luck for mocks...im thinking bout you guys

so sorry i havent written on here for a week. its cos we ran out of internet at the end of the month and the only computer i could use was at the chool library. but i dont like the library ladys...they make me cry ...one event that happened this week....
I went to Quebec City!!!!! it was amazing. the drive was about an hour nd a quarter. it was interesting to see the countryside (maple trees) and the highway is different to nzs windy roads. the city itself was beautiful. tall trees turning orange, narrow streets with so many shops, although they were all souvenir stores.
other than that my week was the usual.......oh i got 80% in art. i was stoked seeing as ive never attempted to be the arty kind before. so now i find it heaps of fun and im doing really well.
i have photos!!!!
so if any of you want some just email me and i can send you some photos from around town, school, friends, *cough* boys *cough*, and family. i cant get the photos on the website cos its french and im not willing to put them all on if i ever figured out how.

found an amazing quote from Nelson Mandela `theres nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to see the ways in which you have altered` just a thought seeing as afs has drilled into us how we will change over the year

:)