Spectacular Spectacles

Axel Jouaret is a star. He sings, he dances, he plays the guitar, he acts, he is 14, he shines, he plays the piano, he speaks English really well, he has great hair, he makes the girls go crazy, he wears white tennis shoes, like I said; Axel Jouaret is a star.
Since I've been here he has had 3 spectacles. I have never actually looked it up but I am almost positive that the meaning of the French word spectacle translates to something like show...or perhaps spectacular, or even the English meaning of the word which I think might mean that you draw attention to yourself. Either way it works.
The first spectacle I am sorry I missed out on while I was in Paris.
At this performance Axel was a singing Dolphin. Boy am I disappointed I missed out on that one, he had a costume and all.
The second specatacle was last weekend and it was a grand production with all kinds of people and it was a little more fancy. I got yelled at for taking pictures inside of the theatre before the show started, but I whipped my camera back out for the finale anyway. So glad I did too because even though we were all the way on the top row in the second balcony I still caught Axel trying to take off his shirt at the end of the show...he never disappoints. Oh Axel Jouaret, what will we do with you? Better question is, what will I do without you in my life? Pictured to his right is his blonde Girl Friend Charlotte. She is the one I ran into him with on the Point du Jour after school. They were kissing and things got really weird really fast. But I think weirder for me because I'm not accustomed to so much public making out in the US.Back to the spectacle, it was a learning experience for me, it was like nothing I'd ever witnessed before. After it was over gobs and mobs of middle school age children massed together to first run through the fountains and then second to have a screaming/jumping/twirling photo shoot that must have been at least an hour long. I have never been kissed by so many strangers in my life either. As I sat there like an idiot amongst the parents not understanding what was going on I was getting kissed by other people's Moms, sisters, Grandfathers, dogs, you name it, they were kissing me. I think for the most part people didn't know I was an exchange student and they just thought perhaps that I was Axel's special cousin or something and they didn't want to be rude. During all of this commotion Elliott was off by himself at the top of the steps like a lost puppy. I eventually joined him and he said to me, "You seem a little bit lost." and I said "Yes Elliott I am lost, I have no idea what's going on." And then Elliot said, "Don't worry, I don;t either, Axel's spectacles are always like this, they're a mess. I am really hungry." Which then spiraled into a conversation where Elliott and I occupied our time by naming off all of the food we love to eat thus making ourselves more hungry.
After the modeling session was over it was 10pm and everyone was a little bit grumpy hungry. The only problem was that there was only one place left open right near by and it was a salad place which was not tripping everyone's trigger. They weren't impresses, but I was. You got to pick your salad, your bread, a drink (there were an astounding number of drinks to choose from including wine which made me giggle. I guess I am in France, but still, we were eating at a very fast foody restaurant) and a dessert. I kind of wish that we had a place like that in Missouri, this was all for seven Euros. Not bad, eh? I chose Vitamin Water and didn't think anything of it but everyone else was very interested in it. Apparently it rarely exists in France and nobody had seen it before. It will take over soon I am sure, At dinner I sat with the adults who were all really interested in speaking English to me. Martine kept telling them to shut up and speak in French but it was useless because every five seconds I would hear things like, "CHAIR-EEEE, This is cherry. How you say box? This is box!" And every time my host family asked me a question in French someone was quick to translate it to English for me, as if I hadn't been responding to my family's questions in French for over a month now.
The best part is that afterwards we had a couple of the families over to out house for a soiree to celebrate the spectacle. While the parents were smoking, Leo and I were eating peanut butter out of the Jar together and ice cream out of the tub. That was very non-French of us but I think Leo secretly desires to be American. He enjoys my guilty American pleasures (AKA food) as much as I do and looks for opportunities to exploit them. When the families got ready to leave, Charlottes mom approached me to give me kisses on my cheeks, but Fred stopped her and said, "she is American and she likes hugs." So I got the biggest hug ever from Charlotte's drunk Mom who then said, "I love on this street in house twenty-free. Come visit the twenty-free." Then as she parted she waved to me six or seven times and exclaimed, "HELLO!" because she thought she was telling me Good-Bye. Fred and I kept laughing and she kept saying "Hello." I liked that.
The next spectacle was Tuesday night: Romeo and Juliet
From what I gathered Axel played the role of Romeo's cousin who wore creepy clown makeup. The play was completely acted out by people ranging from age 12-19 and Juliet looked like a total slut. I didn't take her picture because I felt really awkward doing so. In each of her outfits her boobs were hanging out and two of her dresses were transparent and her undies could be seen through them. I kind of spent the whole play thinking it was just me who was feeling uncomfortable by her scandal but as it turns out the first thing that was said when we all piled into the car was, (in English) "Juliet had huge tits!" Okay, alright, so it wasn't just me. Juliet really did have big bosoms and I wasn't the only pervert staring. We talked about Juliet the whole ride home. She was a little bit overbearing for a Juliet. I think that's the nicest way to put it.

After this show we had the Garnier family over. Conveniently enough the Garniers have three girls, all the same age as the Jouaret's three boys. Louise, the middle Garnier, was also in the play with Axel. The youngest one is Jeanne and the oldest is Marie. I love Marie because she is Leo's best friend and she is at the house often. I am deprived of female friends here on the Point du Jour since I live with three brothers. This soiree Leo, Marie and I passed the evening eating some kind of Fench equivalent to chex mix and watching all of the finest French Youtube videos. And then I introduces them to awkwardfamilyphotos.com because it only seemed right. And while we are on the subject of Axel, please have a look into his room. He has the room with the red door, oh yeah and the Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp posters. I do love my Axel.