Life In Pau

The French keyboards are way different here. Right now I am typing on a computer at school and the keyboard is so different that it is quite a slow process. The period and numbers are secondary. (the shift key is needed to use them) My host family has been wonderful to me so far. I basically have my own apartment separated from the rest of the house with a kitchen, bathroom, shower and bedroom. It is very nice. There are three kids in the faily that I stay with: Juliet 5, Felix 8 and Martin 12.

My room here

My first dinner that I cooked here with Jessica

The cafeteria here serves very interesting food. I tried lamb for the first time the other day and today they served kangaroo. I didn't try it, but maybe next time. It is different from home in that you pay for each meal by the item, but it isn't too pricy. I get a salade, mousse; bread; two sides and an entree for 3 Euro.

Last weekend I spent a lot of time with my host family. On Saturday morning we went to a farm where you pick all of the vegetables yourself and that way it is fresh and cheaper. The apples that we picked were some of the best that I have ever eaten!! So yummy!! Then we went to the library and I got a library card. Since I already bought Harry Potter 3 and 4 in French and 2 of the Naria books in French as well, I rented the series Friends (In French of course) and La Vie En Rose which is a film I watched in high school. I figured since I've seen both of them, I should be able to follow it in a foreign language easier!! I've played some soccer with Martin and Felix which is a lot of fun! I enjoy learning the soccer vocabulary. The more French I speak the harder it is to spell in English!!! haha

On Sunday we went on a hike in the Pyrenees. It was a little over an hour drive. We started hiking at 10 and hiked to a pretty lake where we had a picnic. It's not that uncommon for a french person to buy a whole bagette and eat it all at once!! After lunch we hiked up to see a big waterfall and then turned around to hike back. It wasn't too difficult of a climb although it was very rocky.

The clouds roll in, during the afternoon

My host family

One thing that I found amusing was that they had cows roaming free and also people sheperding herds on the mountain side, so I'd be hiking and then have to wait for a cow to cross the road. Our final destination was called Pont D'Espagnol which is an old stone bridge with a large waterfall behind it, super pretty!!

Dowtown Pau is very picturesque. There is a castle onto which they project light patterns at night, lots of waterfountains, statues, stores and cafes. I went to one were we ordered lemonade and a type of fruity syrup and then proceeded to mix our own drinks while sitting outside enjoying the sun! It was wonderful!

A couple of nights ago, my friend Courtney and I made an American dinner for her host family. We made sphaghetti with a homemade family recipe sauce, a cucumber salade, garlic bread and homemade brownies from scratch!! It was fun to share our culture, but it was annoying to convert all the units!! I brought some brownies home for my family and they had brownies for breakfast!

I am co-teaching a class for little 4 and 5 year old kids who are starting to learn English! We taught them the Thank you song, Simon says (Jacques a dit) for the body part names, played with balloons for color names and other things like that. It is fun, but a lot of work.