Yesterday I stayed home sick. I left handball practice early because I wasn't feeling well. I immediately went to sleep when I arrived home and woke up at 5 pm the next day (Wednesday). It was annoying being sick but I was able to watch the movie "The Perks of being a Wallflower" on the internet (in English!). It was kinda nice taking a break from having to think in French. If you haven't seen this movie, you should! While I was on an English streak, I started to read to the book "The Fault in our Stars" by John Green. It was the only book that brought with me to France (besides "Dirty French" which contains every swear word imaginable and the all slang you need to know :) ). I also recently found out while Skyping with Graham Giesting that the only book I brought happens to not be mine, but his book. Whoops. Well, now it's being read on the other side of the planet (Graham- I promise that I'll return it as soon as I'm done.) The reason I mention this book is that A) It's really good! I occasionally read books for fun, but every book I've read by John Green I can't put down. This book is by far the best. B) As I was reading this book I realized how much English I've forgotten. Then that made me realize that everyone can probably see my English slowly deteriorating on my blog. I went back and read of the posts and they sound like they've been written by a 6th grader. (I'm so sorry in advance for the further deterioration of my English.) Then I realized that I should stop feeling sorry for myself and that I should be happy because it shows that I'm really immersed in the language and making progress with French.
Ok, so today. Today was...magnifique!!!! I had three hours of school. I normally have class until 17h00 and today I ended at noon. Woohoo! The prof wasn't there for Économiques and so I had a one hour break in the morning and since I had only her classes in the afternoon I ended at noon. For the one hour that I didn't have class I went to the post office in centre-ville. Then with twenty minutes to spare I went to the "salle de dodo" (basically a nap-time room). At our school there's a room with mats, pillows, and blankets in it. Students can sleep (or meditate I guess...) in the room if they have a break between classes. It's fairly popular for its size. There is usually at least one person sleeping in there. I discovered this room the November, but I hadn't been it until today. I have a feeling that I will be a regular in the future. :) After lunch, I returned home and watched Les Misérables (again, on the internet and in english, whoopsies!). The movie hasn't come the local cinéma here yet and I've been dying to see it. It was SO good. It was kinda fun to be in France and watch Les Misérables. It's not like the movie took place in Châtellerault, but I think I had a different perspective being in France. I know the play, no less the movie, is totally historically accurate. However, it was cool to know that it was based on the true events of the history of France. All in all, I thought the movie was super well done and lived up to the play. Later in the afternoon, my family told me that there was a little bit of snow left on a neighbors car. I was so excited to finally see snow. I nearly cried. (Actually though, I thought I was going to start crying as I looking at the 2 centimeters of snow on the roof of some neighbor's car.) I've miss(ed) snow so much! There hasn't been a snowflake in Châtellerault so far this year. Winter here feels like a San Francisco summer. I wrapped up my high productive day with handball. I am so thankful that I am making progress with French, because my handball skills are a disaster. (You know this is true when your host dad agrees with you on this matter.) I am definitely the worst on my community team. Which in all honestly is fine with me. I have such a good time at being bad at handball. Really, I do. :) Hopefully, with some time my handball skills will come. Let's just hope that this time is before July.
-Becca