Week 7

Patience, almost to Italy!

Wednesday: Thankfully I can report that today was a normal day. I woke up, had breakfast, got to see Guilhem before he went off on a big bird-watching adventure in the mountains (he's already on his 2 WEEK vacation), and Lionel took me to class. We had a nice class today and my teacher asked me again if I had changed my inscription to the B1 instead of the A2. :)
I had lunch with Roshanna and Erin (a ham and cheese baguette) and then we went to the second half of our class with our other teacher, Isabelle. To kick off the class, she went around the room doing an oral test. I feel like I did okay; at least, I did well enough that I left class in a really good mood. After class, I went upstairs to Cécile's office to practice English with Lucille and Emile. They were already on vacation too so they got to spend part of the day in their mom's office; something they were really excited about because it has a white board. At least we were able to use the space to our advantage- they brought a board game that we were able to sprawl across the desk, and Lucille took the liberty of drawing pictures and writing out sentences in English on the white board. Emile mostly just scribbled. Hey, whatever keeps them entertained for the hour and 15 minutes that I have them is fine by me. Afterwards, I headed to Chantalle's room in the dorms to meet up with most of our group to book hostels in Italy. We got a lot done- actually we had every night except for the last two booked within an hour! I took the bus home after this and had a little time to blog before dinner. While I was blogging, Lionel installed the family's brand new flat-screen TV, and it was huge. Christine chuckled at it after it was put up because it was balanced on a table that was an 1/8th the size of it. She said something like, "I think the size is a little huge, don't you?" And Guilhem replied back, "I think it's the perfect size for me." Spoken like a true teenager. While Lionel was installing the TV, I gave Guilhem permission to go through my iTunes and put any music he found interesting on his USB. A very simple interaction but this one made me grin from ear to ear. Guilhem was so excited that I had things like Enya, the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks, the Phantom of the Opera, etc. It made me so happy to share with him. :)
Dinner tonight started with a zucchini, garlic, and cream soup. After that we shared a light dinner of salad, slices of ham, tiny pickles, stuffed grape leaves, and piccalilli sauce. For dessert: a vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in chocolate. :)

Thursday: I woke myself up 20 minutes early today in the hopes that I would be able to finish my shipping paperwork after hanging my laundry. I was wrong. I was able to get all of my laundry hung but after eating breakfast and getting ready and whatnot, there just wasn't the time for my family's package. I was hoping to have the dang thing in the mail two days ago but I guess it will have to happen tomorrow. The same routine followed: Lionel took me to school, we had a pretty normal class, I ate lunch with Rosie, Erin, and a guy from our class named Steve, we finished our classes and then I went back to Cécile's office for our french lesson. We did a lot of talking and going over worksheets from my class, and actually ended up spending an extra half hour chatting (she thinks she owes me an hour for the day I was sick). Eventually, though, I had to cut her off because I was still determined to figure out the paperwork for my package and I needed to do more laundry/preparations for Italy. After all, I was leaving the next day!
Once at the house I got right to my blog, trying desperately to get the thing caught up before my trip. You, of course, know how this ends.... as I'm writing to you about a day that happened two weeks ago. haha For dinner we had the rest of the yummy zucchini soup and then enjoyed a really incredible crab tarte. Picture a soft, warm, flaky, eggy quiche with lots of herbs and Gruyère cheese inside and then throw in a little shredded crab... OMG! I didn't know that I liked crab so much before I ate this. With this we had an apple and endive salad and topped the evening off with very dense brownies made by our wonderful chef Guilhem. We each were given two but Christine "saved" her second one for breakfast the next day. Personally, I think she threw it away. They were filled with pan-melted dark chocolate and you could crunch little sugar granules every other bite. In a way, they were divine. Also in a way, they were so made by a thirteen-year old. No offense Sabrina. ;)
After this, I showered early, did my homework, and got the rest of my laundry in the washer. I was feeling really good about how the evening was going and was thinking there was no way I wouldn't get my box handled tomorrow when things took an interesting turn.... I was in my room upstairs (with the door closed, mind you) when I heard a scream/yell, rustling, and a dining chair being shaken back and forth across the floor downstairs. Guilhem was obviously throwing a fit but it quickly escalated into something I hadn't yet experienced from him- a real fight with Christine. I could hear Lionel using his man-of-the-house-voice to get Guilhem to calm down but he just wouldn't. He was yelling so loud about something that he could have been shouting right in my ear. As it always happens, this argument or fight eventually turned to Christine; and let me tell you, the two of them went at it like dogs. Christine raises her voice with Guilhem when he truly crosses lines or boundaries with her, but she NEVER uses the same yelling tone as him... until tonight. I cannot possibly tell you what they were saying but they were nearly shaking the walls with their shouting. Guilhem was screaming at her like she had just killed his best friend, told him it was fair, and then ordered him to go to his room without supper. And Christine was close behind him all the way up the stairs dishing it right back. They eventually ended up in his room just down the hall from me, and the volume of the yelling at that point actually made me a little nervous (another first here). Guilhem screamed at her to the point that I thought I heard him crying at one point, and Christine wouldn't budge from her position for anything. Things eventually calmed down just enough that I thought it was safe to exist and I crept quietly downstairs. When I got there, Lionel was sitting serene-faced at the dining table doing something on the computer. I'm sure he could tell by my expression that I was a little put-off by what just happened because he began to explain: "Nous avons eu un grand catastrophe dans la maison. Guilhem est presque mort. Christine lui a dit qu'il n'a pu pas avoir son DS." Translation: "We have a had a great catastrophe in the house. Guilhem is nearly dead. Christine told him that he could not have his Nintendo DS."   -_-