Au Canada!

Note how I did that: Au Revoir...Oh Canada. I combined them to say Au Canada. Pretty sneaky :P

So this is a super quick blog. Just to inform all that I am returning tomorrow! Words do not describe...
After a wonderful trip to Italy with Rachel (we visited Rome, Sorrento, Florence, Naples, Milan, and the Cinque Terre) I returned to France to get my bags.
Instead of staying with the Genots I decided it would just be easier if I took all my stuff and slept at Hannah's for 2 nights. She picked me up from the airport after Italy and is driving me tonight...at 3am. It's gonna be a long travel day. Thank goodness for movies.
Random thing: I prebooked my seat 3 weeks ago for the 8 hour flight and checked online yesterday. But when I looked online today MY SEAT WAS GONE. So I got stuck with a crappier seat which makes me mad. But my friend reminded me that it doesn't matter where I sit because I'M COMING HOME!
Then about 3 days later I'm off to the cottage for 2 weeks.

God is continually good and faithful. I plan on posting one last blog about France and my thoughts/memories, but it won't be for a while as life will be busy or I will have no internet.

I took a picture like this the day before I left to France so I wanted to take one the day before I leave.

love.

This and That

I walked to the post office to mail a letter. Along the way I realized these two sentences:
"I'm up for that."
"I'm down for that."
THEY MEAN THE SAME THING. So in this scenario, up and down are technically the SAME thing. Complete opposites mean the same thing. WHOA.
And then I got thinking about the French word "encore." And out of all the French words, this one annoys me the most because
Encore = yet/again/still
It just bothers me. One word shouldn't be the same as three very different words in another language. I know it's common to happen but it bothers me.

Instead of organizing my things and getting things done like I've been meaning to for the past week, I'm writing this blog. And just before writing this blog, I read an article on "How to organize yourself and get things done." Clearly it was not very effective.

I have 4 complete days left here, then I sleep, then I'm off to Italy! However, I must ask everyone for their prayers because Rachel sprained her ankle. Which is weird because ever since I knew I was going to Italy, I've had this feeling about sprained ankles; I KNEW something would happen and i took my ankle brace. I've mentioned this feeling to multiple people. It's bizarre. But please pray for speedy healing of Rachel's ankle/body in general.

I'm just keeping busy procrastinating. Saving screen shots like this:

why i love my siblings

and saving pictures on my computer like this:

So I think I'll stop procrastinating (hopefully) and clean my room and update my scrapbook. For the next few days, I'm just meeting up with people to say my last goodbyes. Kinda sad, but exciting at the same time!

love.

1 - 2 = Home

1 month - 2 days = I WILL BE HOME IN CANADA.

But to make it even less, I only have 8 days left here in France...then ITALY! YAYYY! Truly, I'm more excited to see my sister Rachel than Italy at the moment :P

So a general and quick update:
I've been going out almost every night to Toulouse which is good and keeping me distracted. However, I have nothing to do in the mornings and just sleep till 11ish. I know it sounds bad but this way I'm not thinking about the fact that I'm doing nothing. And I've been blessed with having time like that so I'm going to make the best out of my "do-nothing-at-all" time.
As always, the weather. They haven't had such a cold and wet spring/summer in over 200 years. So I feel like I have a legitimate reason to complain. But oh well. I'll be in Italy soon where I'm sure I'll scorch to death.
I just bought new deodorant in case anyone cares (which nobody does).
I'm going to the Young Adults BBQ tonight which will be fun...super excited about it!
Today is the last of my French classes meaning I just take an exam. Which will give me a useless piece of paper. But hey! It's an official looking piece of paper! I am so happy to be done these courses...I did skip half of them because they were terrible. But I learned to NOT spend my money so rapidly on things like that.
I realize everyday how blessed I am to have such amazing friends and family.
I paid for my university last week making it OFFICIAL: I am going to school for Nursing in September!
The days feel soooo long because I want them to be over so I can be in Italy with Rachel already.
God always provides. And there must be a consistent effort to make time for Him. 

And just one random truth about life:

And just one thing to make you laugh:

love.

Nothing's Happening

Saturday night I went to a reggae concert called Rio Loco in Toulouse with two friends from church. The weather was gorgeous and I was just wearing shorts and a tanktop. Such a fun night!

me, brad, katie

crazy lights and it was still light at 1015!

But then yesterday...we had a HUGE storm and it's 15 degrees night. The wind brought down branches. Lison and I watched for 10 minutes before as the storm approached; it was neat just seeing the lightning flashing and the sky get darker and darker. And then we had half-inch balls of hail fall. So the weather is absolute garbage.

it got seriously dark

BUT ON BETTER NEWS! I (well, my parents) HAVE PAID FOR UNIVERSITY! WHICH MAKES IT OFFICIAL THAT I AM GOING TO BE GOING TO SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER! YAYYY!

it's raining again. boo. boo.

AND IN LITERALLY 2 WEEKS RIGHT NOW I WILL BE WITH RACHEL IN ITALY! So no matter what, I've got a reason to smile. But I can't get over how stupid this weather is.

Lison took her first flight today. As in took, I mean she flew a little plane with an instructor all by herself. So proud. And last weekend she was in Aix-en-Provence for the national synchronized swimming competition in France. Her partner had broken her arm a while back so she couldn't compete in the duo. However, I found a video that pretty much sums up what she and her partner would've have done.

Click here for the link: Synchronized Swimming

I have actually come to the point right now that there is absolutely NOTHING for me to do. I'm researching for Italy, but besides that, there is nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. The weather is so bad we can't go for a walk or even go to Toulouse. But I'm going Friday because it's National Music day here in France. That should be fun!!!!

So, in general, stuff has happened, but right now nothing's happening. Life is kinda really boring. I feel tired all the time. I lack motivation. But it's all good.

Bordeaux and Bergerac

Firstly, the weather forecast:

Looks great right??? I mean, I'm not one to complain, but FINALLY. There should've been this weather a month and a half ago. They haven't had such miserable weather in over 40 years. But it's good now. It's spitting outside right now, but I got a sunburn on my stomach from laying in the sun yesterday.

I went to Bordeaux last weekend with Hannah. We stayed with a fellow au pair named Alana (a fellow Canadian from Vancouver) who just so happens to be the au pair who I replaced due to unhappy circumstances with the family. It was truly a fun weekend!
Whenever Hannah and I go somewhere, it rains. And in Bordeaux, it didn't just rain, it POURED. Quite horrible. And there really wasn't anything to do. Yes, it's beautiful, but if you want to do things other than shopping, you're kinda in a jam.

We drove back to Alana's and made an amazing English breakfast the next morning: toast, fried mushrooms, eggs, beans and sausages, bacon, and of course we ate Speculoos off a spoon :D

After that we decided to head to Bergerac, a small old French town which was, and is, really beautiful. As usual, it rained...but it eventually cleared up as you can see in the pictures. We kinda just walked around and did whatever. There wasn't much to do (again). But we bought delicious ice cream (I know I'm allergic to milk, but I haven't had it in over a year and wanted to treat myself. Mind you my stomach wasn't happy). After that, Alana and I rode a mechanical bull! Woot woot! And I bought some cotton candy.

All in all, it was a very fun weekend and I enjoyed myself immensely. So blessed to be here. And yet...3 weeks till I'm in Italy! TOOOOO EXCITED!

Lastly, if you want to see more photos of Bordeaux and Bergerac, here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151416418506277.1073741828.626916276&type=1&l=21ada2a126

love.

Birthday

I am now 19. And when Ontarians (?) think of 19, they think of legal drinking age. Or well, at least I do. So for my birthday I baked brownies and literally ate them all. 

That night Hannah and Jenny (both au pairs), Rorie (Hannah's British friend), and I went to Toulouse. I found a burger place--because I've been craving them--and ate the burgers on the steps of the museum with some beer. After we headed off to see 'The Great Gatsby.' A pretty good birthday. Although it was the first birthday I had where I didn't blow out candles :(

Deliciousness in a box.

Yesterday I went site-seeing to Toulouse. It's strange how complacent I've become. I forget to look around me and see how beautiful the city where I'm living is. Toulouse is, after all, the 3rd biggest city in France. And absolutely stunning. I do plan to put an album together, but not yet. Here are some pictures from yesterday though.

Just off to a random side-street

One of the churches

Inside the church. They have a mirror on the floor. (Me, Hannah, Rorie)

THE town-centre. Aka. Capitole

Had to stop at a French patisserie. Bought a "religieuse." Deliciouse.

After we stopped at the supermarket and LITERALLY bought the cheapest white wine we could because....well, we could! And we're cheap. So, one bottle was 1.10Euro. the other two bottles were 2.50 euro. Cheaper than water! One of them wasn't even that bad!

We had dinner at Hannah's house. We drank, talked in French/English, and played UNO cards until 1 in the morning. It was such an enjoyable night. Hannah really is blessed with such a special family. I loved it.

Today, I stayed after church to help fill envelopes with brochures for vacation bible school. We had a bring-you-own-sandwich-lunch. But I just made mine there with supplies that people bought. It was a fabulous time. I love this church. You are such a family. Everyone knows eachother's name and is truly interested in the people. I talk to people who are 50 years older than me like they're my dear friends. We laugh, eat ice cream, crack jokes. This church is one thing that I'm going to miss so much.

Lastly, ONE MONTH LEFT. ONE MONTH LEFT UNTIL ITALY! It's June 2nd and I leave July 3rd for Italy. Words do not describe how excited I am.

love.

Speculoos

I have discovered something. Something that may have changed my whole view in life. Something that is too good to be described in words yet I will try.
It's like an explosion of goodness. You just savour it. It makes you happy. You want more. You need more. It's just so flipping delicious.

FLIPPING AWESOME. I mean really?!?! Speculoos spread. SPECULOOS SPREAD! Yes, I"m writing a blog on this because it's so good. I went grocery shopping and saw it. I mean, I've seen it before and thought, "Naw...I don't feel like it." But that was dumb. I've been missing out on life.
It's just so fatteningly good. Taking this stuff home with me.

On another note, I just came home from a BBQ on a beautiful day. It's been raining and hailing for the past week. And it's going to be like that again for the coming week. But today and tomorrow are breaks from crappy weather. The BBQ was delicious with HAMBURGERS. I haven't had a homemade hamburger in months and have been desperately craving one. I had a really good time with a whole bunch of young people from church. I seriously am so blessed.
After, driving home, I got HOPELESSLY lost and drove on empty for about 40min. I prayed to God I would make it to the gas station...and I think I cut it to the last fumes in the tank.

5 weeks left in France, 3 weeks in Italy, and then home! PLUS it's my last week being 18! whoa.