Ok, so this time it's not all due to me coming down with a severe case of the lazy bones (although let's be honest, that's a huge part of it, blogging is time con-su-ming and thought re-qui-ring) but I'll admit there have been some other contributing factors to this equation as well, like the rather major issue of having no wifi, of course.
The past two weeks have been the holidays here in France. Spring break I guess you'd call it, although that's an extremely americanised term I can't imagine myself ever seriously using, and while it kills me to say it, the recent weather really doesn't seem to fit with the word 'Spring' in any case. I feel I talk about weather a lot on this blog, which I suppose might only interest very few and also may be ever so slightly confusing for others, as the sky seems to be changing its mind every few minutes... Although it really is a huge thing for me because the cold really does limit what I can do with my spare time. However, I'm pretty sure I'm boring even myself with the constant banter about clouds and rain, so all I'm going to say now is that le temps is very temperamental at this point in time, I kid you not. It's sunny and 25 degrees one minute, and then there's a full on storm, complete with thunder and lightning, and then an hour later the sun decides to steal the show again. In other words, it's a bit of a nightmare when getting dressed in the morning because you have no idea what tricks the weather man (again, not the one on la télé) has up his sleeve... Actually, there's a French proverb my host mum taught me which is "En avril ne te découvre pas d’un fil, en mai fais ce qu’il te plaît." The rough translation for this is "In April, don't remove a thread of your clothing, but in May, do as you please." which is, of course, no where near as romantic or wise sounding as its French twin right there (sorry, that would be my translating skills) but I must admit, whoever came up with this knows their France, because you never know when you might need that jacket you decided to leave at home...
Alors, where was I before I went against my word and had a total rant about the weather? Right, a little place I like to call La Roche-sur-Foron (actually everyone calls it that, probably because that's the town's actual name...) or more appropriately and my personal favourite, the-slightly-prettier-definitely-more-historic-but-sort-of-similar-in-a-way, Masterton of France.
So, now that I've got your attention, I'll now let you know that this was my home for the whole first week of the holidays and the best word I can think of to describe it would be interesting. That's a both genuinely fascinating, and somewhat strange, type of 'interesting' too, and here are my reasons behind this...
While La Roche-sur-Foron is a very small town (population of 11,000), I was staying in an even smaller village just outside of it, called Reigner-Esery (population of 6,900), with a couple in their 60s. Firstly, I'd just like to say that this couple, Zou-Zou and Lou-Lou, are extremely lovely people and I truly appreciate their hospitality and generosity in letting me stay, but I think you can all see where this is heading... Whenever I told a friend my plans for the holidays, I'd always get the same wide eyed expression, the initial shock I guess, followed by a bit of a pitiful smile, and often ending in a small laugh. At first I was confused, and then I discovered the reputation of this very small town, which is just that I suppose, a very small town, and people were just confused as I was that an exchange student was being sent there to discover its wonders.
I had high hopes however, because I was assured that I would have plenty to do as the woman, Zou-Zou, that I was staying with loves art and creative projects, enjoys a good talk, and has had many exchange students before. All in all, this sounded promising, and I thought it might get my hands dirty with paint or food or something... alas, this was not to be the case.
It's true, I'll admit, Zou-Zou does like her art, but I suppose she prefers to do it alone, as I was often left to do my own thing while she traipsed down into her little basement-come-studio to get creative. I suppose this is as good of a time than ever to mention the fact that this couple didn't have a tv, or wifi, much to my dismay, and to make matters worse, it rained practically the whole time I was there, give or take 1 or 2 days.
Pretty much, this means I found myself devouring some books in English she had from another Kiwi who had stayed with her (I thank you silently, stranger, for your slightly above average taste in literature) and writing my own book, which I really shouldn't complain about, except that by the third day I was a bit sick of having not much else to do.
We did go on occasional outings of course, a brief and swift march around 'town' (I think there was one clothes shop, not worth mentioning, but more importantly lots of pretty buildings), a visit to her son's house bus (felt very stealthy as I successfully snapped some sneaky photos), a herky-jerky drive up a mountain to see the view of Geneva (this was a warm day thankfully, and the view was amazing) and finally a saunter around an organic farm open-day (absolutely freezing unfortunately, but I did pat two adorable puppies).
I also managed to take some pretty flattering photos of the place, so here are an elite few, handpicked for your viewing delight...
So I suppose that concluded the week. In all its interestingness, both good and not so good, I'm sure it's a trip I'll remember for a long time, even if mostly from the comedic aspect of it all. If anything, it really did wonders with making me appreciate the home I have here in Annecy even more than I already do, so I suppose it was all worth it in the end. Anyway, now I'll know that if there's a next time, I can either politely decline a week-long stay in exchange for a weekend, perhaps, or at the very least remember to buy a sufficient amount of 3G for my phone, instead of doing the pathetic little 'turn off, turn on' thing I had going on, in order to ration it... Oh what I do for my people in little old New Zealand.
Anyway, I spent the next week back in Annecy which was a lovely little breath of fresh air. I even stayed the night with my English friend Lola, and met her family who are both hilarious and lovely, not to mention speak a language I can fully understand! It was amazing to sit at the dinner table and understand everything, and even make a few jokes here and there, an art I haven't exactly been able to master in le francais.
I started back at school on Monday, and not a lot has changed for me. I'm still finding school really difficult, although I'm definitely understanding French a lot more (the language, not the subject, god forbid I actually understood la reine) and am finding it easier to talk, although I'm still pretty shy, unfortunately.
On a much brighter note, tomorrow, bright and early at 5:30am to be exact, my host parents and another couple are heading to... Italy! I don't think I've ever actually mentioned this on the blog before, but I can barely contain my excitement! 4 days and 3 nights of absolute bliss, eating far too much pasta carbornara and a hell of a lot of walking... I can't wait!
However, more about that later, right now I should probably head to sleep considering I have to wake up in just under 6 hours... I feel like I haven't written anything very interesting, but I really wanted to make a post before Italy, otherwise all of this would become irrelevant (can you really compare les cinq terres and la roche-sur-foron?) I also fear that my quality of writing is steadily decreasing, but unfortunately it is what it is, and it's also almost midnight so I can't be too hard on myself...
For now, my bed awaits... Ciao!
Yours truly,
me, Eloise x