Bonne Année!

So my host-family is amazing and took me to the Pyrénées with them for New Year's! We stayed in a little apartment in Barèges with another family and a family friend, so there were eight people total. It was about a five hour drive from Bègles, and we arrived Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon.

The first day, we mostly just moved in and walked around a little in the town and a nearby town. It was cold but very pretty, and the mountains were really pretty. I don't think it had snowed very recently, but there was older snow on the sides of the roads which was fun to crunch under my boots. After dinner, we played cards, and I found out that French people call Crazy Eights "Les Huits Américains," or "The American Eights."

The next day, I went skiing for the first time! I wasn't sure if I was going to go because I thought it might be really expensive, but luckily the beginner pass was cheaper, and my host-family knows a guy who owns a ski shop, and he gave me a discount on rental skis. And I wore like seven layers and borrowed waterproof pants from my host-mother to fashion a ski suit. Yay skiing on the (kind of) cheap! I went with my host-father and host-brother and their family friend. They all knew how to ski, so I'm sure all of my falling was pretty amusing for them.

I knew I was going to fall a lot, but I didn't realize just how spectacular falling is when you ski. My skis got all twisted around, and my poles went flying; it was quite the sight. At one point, this other girl on the beginner slope didn't know how to stop and ran right into me at the bottom. I flew up in the air and landed half on top of her! Luckily, we were both fine.

I just stayed on the baby slopes, so I didn't get to ride the ski lift, just these rubber conveyor belt things, kind of like this. My host-father was super nice and helped me a lot. By the end of the day, I could turn and go down the slope without falling! Ouais! Still, I was put to shame by many a little kid. "Well aren't we a little Johnny Alpine?" I muttered under my breath several times, as yet another wunderkind whizzed by me.

After we got back, I took a nap and had a big snack, which is a good thing because we didn't eat dinner until 11:00pm! Around 10:45, they brought out the oysters, but, of course, I passed on those. I did eat quite a lot of bread though! For the main course, there were garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and duck. The potatoes were really good, but I passed on the duck.

I kept checking my watch because we were still eating (not even on the cheese course yet!) as the clock was approaching midnight, and I didn't want to miss it. Luckily, my host-family turned the radio on just in time for the dix-neuf-huit... countdown! Then everyone did the bise (that cheek kissing thing French people do) and said "Bonne Année" to each other, which I was totally unprepared for, and caught awkwardly half standing since my chair was against the wall and hard to get out of. (Frankly, I should've expected it though; French people do the bise like every 10 minutes.) Well, just one of my many awkward foreigner moments!

We ended up staying up until 3am playing cards! I was pretty exhausted. The next day, we packed up, had a picnic next to a creek in this other little town, where we had an amazing view of a cirque, or semicircle formation of mountains. It was breathtaking!



Hope everyone has an excellent 2012!!! À bientôt!