J'aime bien the windows here

I think that the windows here are genius, much like I think that the toilets here are genius.
Elliot's room faces apartments, so you don't really want the whole world staring in at you. On the contrary, you do want sunlight right? Right... Well the solution is to frost parts of the window. Not all of the windows are like this. Only a couple of the bedroom windows that are so close to their neighbors. Another thing is that the windows, as you can voir, open in multiple fashions. They are so much fun. I want one for my bedroom at home.

Ma chambre...

It is late right now in Lyon but due to all of the new information my head has been processing I cannot sleep. Every time I almost fall asleep I think of a word that I've been meaning to look up in the dictionary. Sometime we just have to accept defeat and embrace it. Right now I am going to embrace it by showing and telling about my/Eliot's bedroom. There are three bedrooms upstairs. One has a blue door, the other a red door, and mine is yellow.






Bienvenue to the Yellow room. It is filled with the bold and beautiful art of my friend Elliot and some pictures of Elliot also. In case you were wishing to know a little bit more about Elliot I can give you a quick run down.
1. Eliiot eats everything and is usually getting scorned for doing so. Today he dumped half a bouttle of sprinkles on his dessert crepe. Maman Jouaret was not happy.
2. If he's not eating then he is playing basketball in the back yard with himself. He is "fou" about basketball. Fou=crazy.
3. Elliot loves this cartoon movie called Les Triplettes de Belleville. From what I gather it is about these three old women who are poor and they used to be artists and they rescue a kidnapped Tour de France cyclist. My comprehension may be incorrect, I'm not sure. The film did show the Statue of Liberty as a fat woman eating a hamburger. He told me, that it's a blague, a joke. I guess so, it made me giggle.
4. Elliot and I were the first ones awake this morning and he served me breakfast. He encouraged me to add chocolate to to my milk. I told him I was lactose intolerant and then he got really confused and told me to eat bread.

It is an honor to dormir in the chambre d'Elliot.

Happy Mother's Day again.

Today is Mother's Day in France so on that note, I love you MOM!
This morning I walked around the corner of our street to the quartier (same as a block in America). We went to the Boulangerie (like a bakery only better) and bought lots of treats for Mother's day. My favorite one was a little pastry that looked like a pig. It was filled with cake and almond paste. Parfait for a girl who is lactose intolerant.

Home sweet Lyon

Well friends, after an exhausting day of traveling I am nestled up her in Elliot Jouaret's lit (bed) about to go to sleep. In case you are curious Elliot is my 10 year old host brother who kindly gave his room over to me for the time being. Elliot had a bad day today because he lost his basketball tournament, or at least this is what I think they were trying to tell me. I have been speaking a lot and understanding little. I am great family entrainment.
Travel went relatively well, besides the hour delay on our first flight, all was splendid.
The cultural transition I took was really neat. With each new mode of transportation I got onto, the more Frenchy things became. I think I really started to notice this on my second flight; the one from Newark to Paris. I sat next to a couple who squabbled the whole ride about their finances. The woman was obviously French and the man was American. They were going to visit her family in Paris. Why am I blogging about this?
Anyhow the important part is that I took a picture of the clouds on my first plane ride for Kimmy. Unfortunately my squabbling friends on the second flight weren't into windows so I didn't see anything. But please, admire the clouds.
CDG airport reminded me of a giant hamster cage. There were tunnels everywhere in the center with moving walkways.
From CDG I got onto the TGV (they aren't kidding when they say it is a train of great speed) and rode to Lyon. There was lots of beautiful countryside and many quaint villages. These villages usually consisted of one steepled church in the middle with about 15 or so stone houses around it. And cows, but not just cow, white cows. Every single cow that I spotted was white, except for two, and they had brown dots.
And then the moment of truth came. I got off the train at the gare (train station) Part Dieu, and who did I find when I descended down the stairs?
My host Mom, Martine, holding my picture and a sign that said "JENNY."
She kissed me, I was surprisingly calm, and we went on our way.
We drove all around Lyon, she honked at about 6 people (not an exaggeration) and kept saying "aye aye aye".
I was in awe at the splendor and beauty of Lyon, I had no idea who wonderfully magnificent it really is. We met Prof Sipe for coffee where I drank carbonated water out of a wine glass and said "oui, oui,oui" to everything because I understood only words and not whole sentences, and then I came home to meet the family!
I met Elliot first. He said bonjour and then ran away,
Next came Leo. Leo kissed my cheeks. He is 16 and since I am not accustomed to doing this in Missouri I felt like it was strange and wrong, but not to worry, Leo doesn't love me because at dinner his dad was making fun of him for being out too late and making out with his girlfriend.
Soon after I met Mr. Fred Jouaret. Fred helped me plug in my computer and he then asked me to tell him the time. It was really something.
Lastly was Axel. Nobody introduced me to Axel because Axel was competing in a singing competition. I caught him looking at me through the door and then his Dad introduced us and things got really awkward really quickly because then I said "Enchantee" and he said "merci" and then just kept staring. And I don't know enough French to begin a conversation therefore we stared for a long time before his Dad asked him to go do something else.
At dinner we ate North African sausage, a salad, bread on the table, cheese, and rose wine. I told them that my sister worked at a winery and they were fascinated. Also I kept giving my cheese scraps to Leo (You are supposed to cut off the top of the cheese when you eat it) and he kept eating them. I do not know if he was being polite or if he really enjoyed it. Nonetheless I know nothing about French table manners so Elliot kept laughing at me and Mr. Jouaret told me to however I want.
Also the family discovered my lactose intolerance. They are now very concerned and insisted on buying me soy milk so that I can have it for breakfast. I told them they didn't need to but they insisted, "Ca c'est normal." I could ramble on for days about the events of my first day with the family but I fear that this is dreadfully boring. Hopefully one day soon I will take pictures of their house because it is awesome in every way. That's all for now folks!

Je partirai aujourd'hui...

I have been scrambling around my home this morning trying to decide whether or not I have everything I need for France. Chances are, I am forgetting about 5 important things. The good news is that France does have stores. Perhaps my forgetfulness will give me an excuse to use my Euros to Exlpore Lyon.

Yesterday my French host family e-mailed me in French and then translated it to English. They told me that they will be holding a sign that says "JENNY" so that we can locate each other. YES! I am so thrilled that they have taken the liberty of nicknaming me Jenny. Anyhow, I em-ailed them back with this photo of myself.
i told them to search for the purple shirt and the purple glasses. Is that too much? Probably. They'll get used to it.