{"id":862,"date":"2015-07-18T22:24:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-19T03:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boulter.com\/blog\/?p=862"},"modified":"2015-07-18T22:24:17","modified_gmt":"2015-07-19T03:24:17","slug":"france-summer-1990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/boulter.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/18\/france-summer-1990\/","title":{"rendered":"France, Summer 1990"},"content":{"rendered":"

2\"Les5 years ago(!) today, \u00a0I was in a small town in France where I spent a month\u00a0with a host family. It was one of the most fun\u00a0experiences of my life.<\/em><\/p>\n

I recently found my mementos from that summer. I transcribed the photos and scanned the photos. Thank you to the Vial family for such a memorable summer.<\/em><\/p>\n

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July 3rd<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It\u2019s 11:42 in Queens. I\u2019m watching Arsenio Hall. I should be over the Atlantic Ocean by now, but the Paris airline workers\u2019 strike has kept me here in the Hilton-JFK Plaza Hotel. I\u2019ve met innumerable people today from Vermont to Nebraska. Staying in my room is Eric, a kid from Rockford, Illinois named Doug Benton and a guy from South Dakota named Ray Tracy. He\u2019s only 18 and he owns his own house and 5 acres of land. He has so many stories that we can hardly believe. My plane leaves at 9:30 tomorrow morning. I can\u2019t even see NYC. I spent about 3 hours sitting on the airport floor talking with some people from Tennessee, a girl from Mason called Monica and a girl from Hopkinton. The flight from Boston was fine. I talked to a chaperone and played poker with a kid, Dave, from Massachusetts. It\u2019s midnight now and I have to be on a bus for 7:00. Hopefully I\u2019ll be writing somewhere besides a hotel in Paris.<\/div>\n
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July 4th<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It\u2019s now 12:36 am and I\u2019m on a bus. When we landed in Paris at Charles de Gaulle it was already 10:00. I can understand that these Nacel people are frustrated and confused from all the changes that had to be made because of the strike, but I think they should at least inform us of what\u2019s going on. The only way you find out things here is by rumor. When they do talk to you they speak in French! I\u2019m here to learn French, but I don\u2019t know that much yet and I don\u2019t want to flub things up any more than they already are just because I didn\u2019t understand something they said.<\/div>\n
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Anyway, I\u2019m on the right bus now. A bus driver almost ran over a few people and their baggage a little while ago. He\u2019s just one example of the insanity around here. I said goodbye to Eric as he took another bus and I\u2019ve met a girl from Baltimore named Lori. Her plane left yesterday and since we were 12 hours late, she and some others had to tour Paris in a bus for 11 hours. It\u2019s 0:48 hours Paris time now and I know I won\u2019t be able to sleep. I\u2019m not every sure if my family has been contacted and know when to meet me tomorrow\u2026 err\u00a0\u00a0today. The food the plane was exotic and non-heated. I should be sleeping in Les \u00c9chelles right now. To sum it all up, this is great.<\/div>\n
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July 5th<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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It\u2019s 11:14 and I\u2019m about to set a trip record for the earliest time of the sleeping. After about 14 hours on a bus, I finally managed to make it where I was supposed to be yesterday. Everybody here is nice and I\u2019m already learning lots of French. So far I\u2019ve been mostly recalling what I know, but soon I will have that down and can concentrate on building my vocabulary. I ate breakfast this morning at 2:00 am and 7:00 am. We solved the mystery of the bars on the bus and were awarded with flat surface to sleep on. I\u2019ve almost never been so tired. I fell asleep at 6:30 pm and woke up at 8:00 to find that they had postponed dinner for me. I met a kid from Edmonton, Canada this morning and got to know Lori really well. Right now this bed is the most comfortable thing I\u2019ve been in for 3 days. My room is Olivier\u2019s room and he has taken the guest bedroom. I hope tomorrow will be very productive since I will be finally refreshed.<\/div>\n
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July 6th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Last night I slept for 12 hours. I got up and had cereal. Today I want swimming, played a lot of ping pong and met some of Olivier\u2019s friends at a soccer game. I didn\u2019t know it until I got there that the game was between the girls soccer team and their mothers. There was another game after between the boys and their fathers and at the end a trophy cup was given to the boys. I just listened mostly to Olivier\u2019s friends. Occasionally they would collaborate to talk to me in English. I\u2019m starting to be able to separate their words in normal speech. For translation it will be a while. Everything I have ever learned about French is slowly coming back. Other things happened but I\u2019m tired and I want to get up before 10.<\/div>\n
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(A balloon is taped to the page)<\/div>\n
St\u00e9phanie Mollard gave this to me at the soccer game.<\/div>\n
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July 7th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Well, another day gone. Didn\u2019t do much. This morning Olivier had a swim meet. He came home about 1 o\u2019clock. We went to a supermarket. It\u2019s not much different than in America. We played a little tennis but it was not much fun because we\u2019re both terrible.<\/div>\n
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Tomorrow we all will go to Lake Geneva (I think) if it\u2019s nice. Monday, Olivier, 12 of his friends and I will go swimming, then play tennis and the we will all return to Olivier\u2019s house. It should be fun. Wednesday we\u2019re going to see the Tour de France. Little Nicolas reminds me of Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes. He\u2019s always getting into trouble but he\u2019s smart. Yesterday Olivier\u2019s friend grabbed him to stop him from throwing a rock. Nicolas spit right in his face! I would have never thought to that. That kid doesn\u2019t stop until he gets hurt. He has scabs on his knees to prove it.<\/div>\n
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July 8th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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I was wrong. We weren\u2019t going to go Lake Geneva. We went to Lake Annecy. We weren\u2019t going to go when the weather was not so good this morning but it cleared up and we went.\u00a0\u00a0By the time we got there every Frenchman on the west side of the Alps was already there. It was just a big lake with too many boats, restaurants, hotels and tourist traps.<\/div>\n
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We rented a paddle boat and then walked around. We ate at a restaurant on another lake on the way back. They served Coke just like wine with a bottle and a glass. The French can give class to the most simple things. The main dish was a pile about 4 inches high of 1 to 2 inch intact and fried fish. They weren\u2019t bad, but the sound of their osteichthyan skeletons crunching my mouth was not appetizing. One challenge I have yet to conquer is to finish a meal before any of one of the Vials. I have a paper that says the French like to take their time eating. Not this family! I estimate there was about three hundred fish on that plate. I ate all but about 30, not because I was sick, but because I was full.<\/div>\n
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Tomorrow I\u2019m going to be with Olivier\u2019s friends.<\/div>\n
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Je m’everveille si ils connaissent \u2018le bat du poulet\u2019!<\/div>\n
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July 9th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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It\u2019s only 9:30 but I\u2019m about to fall asleep. It\u2019s still very much light outside here. We went swimming, ate, played tennis, went swimming again and ate again. I met all his friends and we had a lot of fun. I\u2019m really tired. All the French still think that Japanese means cheap and Americans hate the Russians. I\u2019d tell them but I wouldn\u2019t want someone to tell me that something I believed for all my life was wrong. I\u2019m starting to talk to myself in English.<\/div>\n
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July 10th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Didn\u2019t do much of anything today. I watched lots of TV and went out to buy postcards. My French seems to be improving greatly. Olivier\u2019s aunt and uncle ate over. I seemed to be the center of the conversation between them and Mr. and Mrs. Vial because when I finally came into the room where they were, the gifts I gave to the Vials were spread across the room. They asked me many questions and I understood all of them except one about old people, young people, French people and bartenders. C\u2019est dommage!<\/div>\n
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July 11th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Today was weird. This morning I went to the pool to meet Olivier\u2019s friends again and they weren\u2019t there. Olivier never told me why. Then we played poker with popcorn. Later we went to the field by the pool where a bunch of younger children were gathered. Before I realized it, I was in a practice for water ballet. We went over the steps and then tried it in the water. I almost drowned. I don\u2019t know how the smaller kids survived. It wouldn\u2019t be so hard if we didn\u2019t have to hold one hand up the whole time to carry a stupid flag. But I guess it wouldn\u2019t be much of a display. I guess I\u2019m going to be in some kind of festival at the pool on the 27th. I had no idea. Later Olivier, C\u00e9dric, Mrs. Vial and I went somewhere in the mountains to a place called the Grand Chartreuse. It wasn\u2019t the actual place but it showed the history of the monks praying in solitude. The real place was up higher in the mountains and was like a little village. 40 monks still live there.<\/div>\n
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One fact they demonstrated proudly was that the Chartreuse wine was invented there. We went to a town nearby and had some ice cream. Everybody else had ordered and the waiter looked at me. I read off the first thing I saw on the menu. When it came I found out very quickly that it had lots of alcohol in it. I read the menu and it had Chantilly, some liquor that starts with \u2018Am\u2019 and of course,\u00a0Chartreuse. It was very strong. I barely finished the creme on top. I still have a headache from it. After that we went to some town far away where they made the\u00a0Chartreuse. I had to leave the window open in the car to get air to keep from throwing up. Water ballet and alcoholic monks. France is weird!<\/div>\n
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Photos<\/a><\/div>\n
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July 12th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Today started off pretty boring. Olivier had an ear infection and couldn\u2019t go to swimming practice. We watched a couple of cheap Japanese cartoons dubbed in French and then we watched Robocop, also dubbed in French. Interesting. After we had lunch, Olivier, C\u00e9dric and I went with St\u00e9phanie and Natalie (Olivier\u2019s friends) to sell tickets for the water festival on the 27th.<\/div>\n
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We went door to door to the people they knew and then in some of the little shops. We were out about 4 hours and we covered most of Les \u00c9chelles and Entre-deux-Guiers. We sold only 8 tickets. But it was a lot of fun romping around the towns. After that we all returned to Olivier\u2019s house and watched Back to School dubbed in French.<\/div>\n
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This evening I got a call from my Nacel rep and he said we\u2019re going to leave on the 30th and stay a night in Paris. I have to get up early tomorrow morning because I\u2019m going to a swim meet.<\/div>\n
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July 13th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\"swimming<\/a><\/div>\n
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I got this from a kid who gave it to me as a souvenir. I don\u2019t think he won it.<\/div>\n
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This morning we got up early and hopped on a bus to some other town for the swim meet. I thought those mountain roads were scary enough before I traveled on them in a bus. The meet was nothing really special. I played cards and watched the meet. I\u2019ve been noticing that the boys in the Club Tritons have take a liking to me. Before I even knew any of them they came up to me and talked to me as if I\u2019ve known them forever.\u00a0 They really love the United States here. After awhile the boys were flocked around me and barraging me with questions. It was pretty weird. Nothing else really happened after that. We came home, ate, watched a movie, rented some movies and now I\u2019m about to fall asleep. Tomorrow should be pretty wild. We\u2019re going to see the Tour de France in the morning and afternoon, then fireworks at night because it\u2019s Bastille Day. Quite the dose of French culture!<\/div>\n
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July 14th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Today\u2019s Bastille Day. I saw the Tour de France. I went to this small castle made of seashells. I saw some fireworks. I went to a carnival and danced. It\u2019s now 2:17 am. I just got home. I\u2019m dead.<\/div>\n
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Photos<\/a><\/div>\n
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July 15th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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I got up at noon today, ate lunch and went for a bike ride with Olivier.\u00a0 I played mini golf and went to another dance.<\/div>\n
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July 16th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\u00a0\"mini<\/div>\n
I\u2019m in pain right now. I hate my shoes. two days ago I wore them daringly. I didn\u2019t know that we were going to walk all over town. My heels now bear flaming red wounds. Walking is painful. Ironically, running isn\u2019t. Maybe it\u2019s a sign. I want to run because my muscle mass has noticeably decreased. I\u2019m afraid of the narrow roads and the speeds the French drivers go though. And I don\u2019t want to stink for days before I can take a shower. Anyway, today I played the worst mini golf of my life with C\u00e9dric and one of Olivier\u2019s friends and won a 1st place medal for it. I guess there was a tournament for 3 player teams.<\/div>\n
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I can now separate the words in sentences when people talk. All I need to do now is learn about 5000 French words.<\/div>\n
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July 17th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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I\u2019m in a different kind of pain tonight. I got up this morning with a headache. Throughout the day it has become worse and now I feel bad all over. We went to Chambery today for Olivier’s dentist appointment. I bought a pair of Vuarnets which made me feel a little bit better. It was a fun day but I felt terrible though.<\/div>\n
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July 18th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Pretty bad day. I work up at five with a bad fever. I couldn\u2019t sleep for an hour. That pretty much sums up the day. I slept, got up, slept, got up, etc. I missed water ballet practice because I was feeling so bad. A doctor came by to look at Olivier\u2019s ears and diagnosed me while he was here. He just told me to take some common medication and I\u2019ll be better in a few days. Today I must have taken at least 10 pills.<\/div>\n
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July 19th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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A lot happened today. I took a shower this morning after I woke up feeling much better. Then Natalie and St\u00e9phanie came over and we all went to distribute more posters for the Club Tritons Festival. Later they came over again and we rented a movie. After that we played some Nintendo and now C\u00e9dric idolizes me as Video God, especially in Super Mario Brothers.<\/div>\n
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For supper, their aunt and uncle came and their grandmother also. The first thing they all said to me was \u201cCa va mieux?\u201d Tomorrow I\u2019m going to Olivier’s friend David\u2019s house for something like Olivier had. I\u2019m really glad this sickness didn\u2019t stay around to ruin my weekend.<\/div>\n
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July 20th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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It\u2019s late. Very late. Quick day summary:<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. Got up at 9:00, went to David\u2019s vacation house in the hills<\/li>\n
  2. We walked to a lake beach nearby<\/li>\n
  3. Came home<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Maybe I\u2019ll expand tomorrow<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    At one point, people were trying out some people\u2019s motorcycles. They started with one that was more of a moped then a motorcycle and people took turns riding it up and down the hillside road. After a while a new bike appeared. It was white and falsely bore the English word ‘racing’ on it. Both of them went out and sure enough, after a while they started racing. Natalie and David went out, Natalie on the white. They were gone for a long time. Finally David came back. I don\u2019t know what he said but all I heard was gasps and \u2018puissant!\u2019s and I understood. Natalie came back after a while with a large bruise on the right side of her head and small scrapes on her knees, shoulder and arm. The bike didn\u2019t come back for a while. When it did, all I saw was a few scratches and nicks. The main focus was on the bike\u2019s damage.<\/div>\n
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    July 21st<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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    Got up early and went to another swim meet. St\u00e9phanie and some others were trying to get me to compete. It was fun but my nose looks like it has a 2nd degree burn. Later St\u00e9phanie and Natalie came over and we played a game somewhat like Monopoly.<\/div>\n
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    That night we ate supper at Olivier\u2019s aunt\u2019s house. The grandmother lives there. So do their 2 sons, 1 of which has a pet rabbit, lots of hair and I was afraid of at first. They all live in this large house near the center of town. We ate some things I could not name that were in long shreds and then the main course came. It was grilled sardines. Not too bad, but I hated the smell. Dessert was pineapple ice cream packed into hollow pineapples. There was a little festival at the school after and we went and danced.<\/div>\n
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    I was very tired by the time we left and I started to sing Fish Heads. I can\u2019t believe how much they loved it. I wonder how it popped into my mind!<\/div>\n
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    July 22nd<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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    Woke up a noon and couldn\u2019t actually function until about 3:00. I got into a club competition on the Club Tritons team. It was a Double Dare kind of thing and our team won every event. There was another dance and I can\u2019t keep them from spontaneously screaming “Feeling Groovy” or “Fish Heads”. Someone told me today that I look like Greg LeMond. I\u2019m very tired once again. Tomorrow I\u2019m going swimming all day.<\/div>\n
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    July 23rd<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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    Went to the pool today. I swam, ate and improved my French. Olivier was there passing out the baskets for people to put their clothes in. Every once in a while he\u2019d pay his brother and jump into the pool. Also there today was Olivier\u2019s cousin Aur\u00e9lie (or something like that). I had met her before at 3 dances.<\/div>\n
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    Today was Vial family haircut day. I\u2019ve had a perpetual \u2018coup de soleil\u2019 since I\u2019ve got here and today was no exception.<\/div>\n
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    I made them some Jello today and they just seemed to stare at it. I\u2019m anxious to see if they like it when it\u2019s ready tomorrow. This weekend should be unbelievable. Dances three nights in a row.<\/div>\n
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    July 24th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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    This morning we went to the pool but it wasn\u2019t too nice out. The water was great though and we swam for quite a while. We went out and distributed some more papers advertising the festival at the pool. I finally sent out my postcards and cashed some traveller\u2019s checks.<\/div>\n
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    They loved the Jello and one of Olivier\u2019s friends, Alexander, ate at least half the batch. I made some more this afternoon. Tomorrow I\u2019m going way up into the mountains to see a glacier and do who knows what. I\u2019m leaving now in less than a week.<\/div>\n
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    July 25th<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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    It\u2019s been quite the killer day. We got up early and drove 4 hours to Chamonix where Mont Blanc is located. We took a little train up the mountain to see a glacier and went inside a cavern carved into the glacier. Later we took a few rides down the French version of the alpine slide. It\u2019s actually possible to fly off those things. I came close a few times. After that we took the 14km Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy. Those border guards don\u2019t do a good job at all. We crossed back into France and stopped at a place to see the legendary St. Bernards of the Alps. I never really thought they existed before. I had only seen them in cartoons. Finally we stopped at a pizzeria to eat and arrived home at 11:00.<\/div>\n
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    Photos<\/a><\/div>\n
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    Tomorrow<\/div>\n