Kimille is Back and Better Than Ever!

Family Visit part deux!!

Ok So we have a lot of catching up to do!!! Where did I leave off? Oh yes!
Day 1 in Nantes
So Dad, Kelsea and I headed to Nantes early Saturday afternoon (talk about an interesting train ride) and we were lucky enough to catch the parade for the Carnavale which happens one week in spring every year. I was so glad because some of the students from my internship made a float for the parade and I got to see it. The city was nuts! There were children every where with their parents dressed up like it was Halloween and throwing bombs of confetti and silly string every where. I got so much in my hair while watching the parade. The floats and the people on them were COVERED with confetti! It was so cool though! The theme was things in space (the title was something more eloquent but I dunno what it was) and there were 4 or 5 different divisions of the parade. They had a lot of floats from movies, books and bande-dessine (graphic novels/comics) which were cool. There was a float for Gremlins, Star Wars, Around the World in 80 Days, Le Petit Prince, and the 5th Element (the one made by students from my internship). It was all very creative and fun! There was loud music playing, and most of it was in English which I found really funny. After the parade, I took dad and Kels to my favorite kebab resto in Nantes and they loved it! We caught up and had good times. Then I took them to the Machine de I'ile where we saw the elephant but it was finished walking for the day. We checked out the exhibit and Kelsea and I got on the little ship that I road last time. It was really funny! My dad even got on one of mechanical animals. It was a fish that goes in the air- actually this one was for kids but there weren't any kids there. I couldn't believe it! Because my dad is an engineer, I'm pretty sure he loved the exhibit- at leas I hope he did. We did a lot of walking that day, so we rested on a bench by the Loire River and just enjoyed the sun (at 7:30 in the evening!! haha) As we walked along the river back to the hotel, a man who spoke English started talking to my dad and went on and on about his travels and Obama and the government in the states. It was interesting at first but then we got trapped in one of those awkward conversations that you wish would just end so that you can move on with your life- you know what I'm talking about. Kelsea and I amused ourselves by taking silly pictures, but eventually we escaped and went back to their hotel. I grabbed my things and went on home.

Day 2
The next day, I showed them my school at the IES building and the Passage de Pommeraye . Then we had lunch at their very first creperie. They loved it of course! I mean who wouldn't! It was the perfect first for them! We went to the Chateau de Duc de Bretagne and learned so much. I had to do a lot of translating, but we managed to go through all 42 rooms in the museum! We walked around the chateau a bit and checked out the Cathedral. We didn't get to see the good view from the back because carnival rides were in the space directly behind the cathedral. It was so weird! They had rides with Disney characters on them and competitive games with boom boxes and dvd players as prizes. It was like a mini state fair. On our way back to their hotel we saw this women hold her little girl while she peed in a grate! It was crazy!! We didn't know how to respond! Ahh the French. That night was THE night.... The night when my real family met my faux family! It went so well, and I was very happy. My host brothers were adorable with my lil sis ( it was funny to watch them give the bisous on each cheek to her!) and it was adorable/bizarre to hear my host family speak in English. I was impressed with my host mom! She understands much more english than I thought she did. Thomas is the best of course. We had an apperatif, dad gave them the gifts they bought from Indiana (which my family loved!) and we ate a good dinner. I realize in retrospect that I reverted back to french during the meal and talked to my bros but I'm pretty sure Kels and dad were fine chatting with my host 'rents. After the table was cleared, dad played the piano for us, upon my request. My host fam was really impressed! The said the piano had never been played like that before. It was such a cute moment- us all exchanging smiles and listening to the music, like something out of a 1940s add for coca-cola or something. After dad played, they tried to get me to play , but I diverted attention away from myself by encouraging Thomas to play the song from Amelie that I always have him play for me. I think dad and Kelsea were really impressed despite the minor mistakes he made. Afterward, Thibaud jumped to the piano and played a 5 second little ditty with his pointer finger just for a laugh. We finished of the evening with another song by dad (after his many attempts to play "Take Five" by David Brubek). We took several pictures which I can wait to frame in my room, and we said bonne nuit. It was a fantastic night that I'll never forget. My faux family and my real family melanged so well!

Day 3
Tuesdays and Thursdays I have my teaching internship, and the teacher in charge said that I could bring Kelsea with me, so she sat in on my second class (because dad forgot to wake up to bring her to my first one) and it was really interesting. Kelsea was shy, the boys barely had any questions to ask her, and I ended up discussion God knows what! (I'll have to ask Kelsea to remind me later). Anyway, my boys were goofy as usually, and i was glad that Kels got to meet my favorite class. Kels went to the centre ville with me and we met up with dad and my friend Megan at one of my favorite restaurants in Nante, Brioche Doree, for lunch. We had a good chat and a good meal but I couldn't linger because I had to head to class. After 3 grueling hours of school, I met up with Dad and Kels and we went to the L'ile de Versailles! We had so much fun exploring the little Asian inspired garden. Dad took pictures as Kelsea and I roamed the many different pathways and played on the playground (on briefly). We sat and absorbed the beauty and peacefulness of the space for a little bit before walking back to the centre ville along the River Erdre. Dad just gushed about the city and its architecture! It was a perfect, beautiful day. We dropped Dad of at an SNCF boutique to inquire about trains to Normandie, and Kelsea came with me to my phonetics class. It wasn't that invigorating but she heard a lot of French! :) That evening we roamed Place Royal until 7 o'clock when restos opened and had dinner at Heb Ken- a creperie close to my school. It was a bit disappointing but it did the job of nourrishing us.

Day 4
Dad, Kels and I went to Atlantis - escaping the resonating Carneval where the streets were filled with kids in costumes and candy vendors. The streets were still covered in confetti. We got to check out a different side of Nantes on the epically long tram ride to the mall but once we got there, dad got excited at the sight of IKEA. I took them to my favorite creperie in the whole world- Tant Yvette- and we went all out! It was definitely the best meal out we'd had so far! Cidre, a galette -Lardon,Jambon, Oeuf, fromage and a crepe with baked apples, chantilly and vanilla ice cream. It was a meal to end all meals! That day I ate with my host family because i had work to do and I had to get ready for spring break so after Atlantis, we parted ways for the day.

Day 5
Our final day together :( Kelsea and I were going to go to my African dance class together, but I needed time to pack, so she just came home with me and hung out. We went to my internship that afternoon, but the teacher I was supposed to have class with bailed with out telling me because her dad died which was so sad, but I was disappointed that Kelsea wouldn't get to meet my other favorite class. One of the teachers tried to find us another class to work with but it was no use. On our way out, we noticed a little cutout space in the courtyard of the school with urinals along the walls. And then we noticed a male student beginning to relieve himself at one of the urnials. We had quite a shock! How strange France is! Did you know that girls and boys use the same bathroom at schools? I was in the bathroom with a boy once!!!! Not ok!! Anyway, that afternoon we had lunch at the first creperie I took dad and Kels to. It was extra good and we were all content/happy. After a brief stint at the post office that turned out to be a bit more than brief, it was time to say our farewells. I took them to the train station where we hugged for a while before I got on the tram to get ready for spring break. It was so nice having the chance to share my French home with my family. I feel like they really got a chance to see the majority of the good stuff. I'm especially happy that they met my host family. I hope my host fam takes up my dad's offer and comes to visit us one day! It would be wild! I was a bit sad to part with dad and Kels, but I had to go back to "normal in Nantes" someday! Besides I'll be seeing them in May. Plus I had to get ready for the most incredible spring break experience of my life. To avoid making this post painfully long, I am going to leave you with some tidbits of things to come: Athens, Acropolis, Gyros, Ekmek, squashed tomatoes, Santorini, stray cats and dogs, Rome, gelato, the Colosseum, The Pope, and me getting hit by a car. I hope that whets your appetites!

To be continued...