One month...1/4 way finished!

Whoa! It's already been a month! Well, not already: too be honest, it definitely feels like it's been a month. And a somewhat long month at that. But only 12 weeks to go until I visit Rome with Rachel! Notice how 12 weeks sounds WAAAYYYY shorter than 3 months.

I have a lot to write about, but I will save that for other days. Instead I'll just tell you what happened on Easter.

GOOD FRIDAY:
For the first time in my life, I had to make Good Friday special by myself; I didn't have a holiday or parents who made me go to church. Instead I was alone and had to drive Lison to her swimming lessons and wait for 2 1/2 hours. So I decided to go to my first Catholic mass...in French. I walked in feeling pretty good. Here I was in France, in a beautiful old chapel, at my first mass. Cool right? NO.
They sang in monotone for over 40 minutes (in French remember? So I couldn't understand a word). I kept on asking what time it was to the girl beside me because I thought for SURE 2 hours had passed and I needed to pick up Lison. But it was only 40 minutes. The service went on and people sang, kissed the crucifixes, sang more monotone, and finally I gave up. It was so cold I could see my breath and my nose was frozen, I was bored as a marshmallow, and I couldn't understand a word. So after an 1 hour and 20 minutes, I left. Just got up and walked to the back doors of the church. As much as I wanted to try to stay for the entire service, I just couldn't.


EASTER SUNDAY:
I go to an absolutely ah-may-zing church here. It's 25minutes away and and English (BONUS!). After a wonderful service, I went to a family's house for an Easter meal. Laura is British, married to Bastien who is Dutch and both are in their early 40s. They have a girl named Lu who is 9 and a boy, Boris, who is 10.
Upon arriving, I sat in the kitchen and talked to them for an hour while they prepared a delicious lunch of fish, potatoes, rice, and sausages. They asked me to say grace which I felt was a large honour considering they didn't even know me. For dessert we had chocolate cake with chocolate whipping cream covered in chocolate eggs. Note the picture. Only there were way more chocolate eggs.

After we watched the legendary British race between Oxford and Cambridge on the TV. Following that we went for an hour walk around the lake and just talked and talked and talked. So wonderful.
Finally I had to leave. But before I left, they invited me to go SKIING!!! I was so taken aback! I didn't know what to say. Skiing required a few days mental preparation for me. So I told them I would think about it.
A minute later I said "YES! I WOULD LOVE TO GO SKIING!" I mean, why not? I have nothing else to do? When else am I going to go skiing in the French mountains? So I went skiing. Which is a whole different story for another day.

In conclusion: I have met a wonderful wonderful family who has agreed to be my extra family while in France. Laura and Bas have said they are my parents while I am here. I am beyond blessed.