Doing the Vendange(AGAIN!) and Car Collision Races

Here's a very late update from September... 

So Friday the 24th of September I was told by Dominique that we(family and a few friends)would be doing the Vendange(grape harvesting at the family's vineyard, what I had done last weekend on Sunday with Rotary)... Perfect way to spend a Saturday huh? I wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but I thought I would rather do that than stay home and do nothing... The nice thing about it was Dominique had told me I would not have to wake up at 6:00am(like the rest of them) to start and she said I could sleep in tomorrow. I was really thankful of course. I woke up on Saturday the 25th of September at about 10:00am to an empty house. I walked into the kitchen and found a note from Aurelie, Dominique and Maurice saying they were at the Vineyard getting it started and while I was home alone I could watch TV or use my computer and that's what I did. A couple hours pass and they arrive home. They arrived with the other people who helped out with doing the Vendange. George and "Fafie" Dominique's brother and sister plus Fafie's dog Shapii. Isabelle and Thibaut relatives of the Fornas Family. Florian a good friend of Damien in Alaska and another guy who is a neighbor(I forgot his name)(meeting so many people here name's are hard to remember). There was also Grandma Nanette(Mother or Maurice and Damien and Aurelie's Grandma.) We had a late lunch at the house consisting of a fresh garden salad with Lyonnaise dressing(spicy mustard and olive oil), boiled potatoes and sausage and fruit salad. I felt spoiled because I got to sleep in, wake up late and eat lunch right away zhile they had been working since 6am cutting grapes... After we were done eating lunch I immediately got dressed into clothes I didn't mind getting dirty in(like last weekend) and dressed with layers because it was actually a little chilly that day. We all headed out to the Vineyard at about 1:30(except for Grandma Nanette of course). And everything needed was already there such as buckets, grape cutters, wheel barrows, big bins, etc because they had already started everything in the morning. We were going at it pretty fast and I'm at least glad I had experience from last weekend so I was working as efficiently as everyone else. However after about 30 minutes I wanted to stop because my back hurt, but of course I didn't. As if things couldn't have gotten worse...they did. It started raining like I have never seen before... It was raining so hard almost as hard as a typical day in Juneau, Alaska... Grrrreat. So as soon as the rain hit we ran for cover under the cars and put on some badass looking green Rain suits. As soon as we suited up we took a short break and went straight back to working. It was muddy and rainy hahah, but in a way kind of fun. Time went faster and we got done quick. But it wasn't over... We then had to load the giant bins of grapes into the truck(it didn't take long, but there was a lot of them). After that when I thought we were done we had one more vineyard to harvest from. But it went really fast and at that point I just wanted to be done with Vendanging... In about 4 hours we were completely done with the harvesting. AWESOME feeling. Though we were done Dominique had asked me if I wanted to see where the grapes we picked would go and I said yes so while everyone else went home I stayed and rode the truck along with George and Florian to the wine factory to take the grapes to. We drove to the Wine Factory only to realize we would have to wait about an hour because so many people were turning in their harvests. Then it was our turn. We drove up to this lady and there was this HUGE bucket thing and we were supposed to dump all of our bins of grapes into them and that would calculate the money we earned. George and Florian did that while I collected the bins and stacked them hahaha. Then for a brief second I got to see all the grapes we had collected go under this giant press that smashed them into grape juice mash stuff. At the grape factory there were a lot of empty wine bottles for the wine to be put in. We then went to this ticket lady at the front who gave us a paper telling us the stats of our grape harvest. Florian said we did a good job. George drove us back to home and we just had leftovers from the lunch we had that day. I was tired... really long day... Before I was about to go upstairs to take a shower Dominique had told me this was the last harvest for the year. It's cool I got to be a part of it, but I am so glad it is over with. So much work goes into the making wine it's no wonder so many people appreciate it so much. But there is no way in hell I would do that again hahah(well maybe just to remind myself of France in the future). But two times is enough for me...

I don't know if you can tell, but it was raining



The Team: Me, Maurice, Isabelle, Fafie, Aurelie, Thibaut, Neighbor who's name I forgot...



Backdrop from the Vineyard

Grapes ready to be made into wine

 Beautiful Grapes

Loading the Grape Bins

Hahah there's a hole in my rain pants...sexy green rain suit though huh?

The whole team minus Dominique taking the picture

I'm so sick of grapes...

Fafie's dog who kept us company at the Vineyards: Shapii

Grape Crushin' Machinery

Wine factory




The wine factory interesting to see the process...

It's sad because I had to wake up early on Sunday the 26th of September because I had my first "official" soccer match:( I woke up at about 7am because my game was at 9. I didn't feel like playing too much. This would be the first official match I would participate in and I was nervous. Maurice dropped me off at the field and had said they would come back to watch in a few minutes. I arrived and greeted my teammates. It was actually kind of cold that day and my coach kept on saying I'm probably warm because I'm from Alaska hahah. The opponents looked the same size as us so it wasn't intimidating, but I was especially nervous because this was my first official match here in France. I didn't get to play until halftime and when I did it took a while for me to start getting warmed up, but I was proud with how I played that day. I connected some good passes and had some good opportunities to score(but didn't...) I saw Dominique, Maurice and Aurelie on the sidelines with Carlos from Brazil(Maurice picked him up) But I played the majority of the second half and bench warmed the first. We scored several goals in the game and won. Exciting huh? After we hung out at the field for a little and after every sports match here the French always provide drinks and a snack hahah. We left and took Carlos with us home and we had lunch at the house. We had Garden Salad, this vegetable with chopped bacon and a beef filet thing. After they had told me to change because we would be going to see "Cars go boom"... well that's how they described it hahah. It was kind of demolition derby meets amateur Nascar racing. And it was pretty awesome actually. Dominique gave me and Carlos winter coats because it was actually kind of cold that day...(It's funny how I assumed France would be so much hotter than Alaska when it turns out it still gets cold here...I'm so smart...) We drove to the town where the car festival event thing was hosted and payed our tickets through a little booth before going in. As we walked in a bunch of cars were painted in random colors with numbers on them and there was a giant tent selling concessions with tons of people eating, socializing, etc. We took a seat on the hill side with a good view of the figure eight dirt track. The race when on for about 3 hours and there was nothing, but Crowds of people surrounded the track waiting eagerly for it to start and really short amount of time it did. First all the drivers presented their cars and themselves and took a few free laps and then it began. For about 2 hours races with 10-15 cars raced and it was EPIC. There was crashing, smashing, cars that flipped completely the other way and smoke(all the things an action movie junkie would love). They started with just a circle track and then later on in the day opened up the rest of the track and did the figure eight. I was very entertained that day and again tired as usual hahah(I'm always tired here). After it was over we drove back home and dropped Carlos off at his house... I was dreading school the next day because the weekend ended on such a good note. But all good things must come to an end right?  



The rides



Ready, Set, GO!

The Cars drivin'

Perfect view of the action

Badass guy sitting on his car while it's driving

Crashin'

Smashed... Everything was so epic!

Smoke everywhere...

I love how wrecked the cars were, but they still continued

Owned

Awesome huh?

It ends...

One of the drivers was actually a woman(she's pretty easy to identify in the picture)

The final wave.

It's Been Too Long...

Very bad I know that it has taken me two months to write again, so many things have happened and I don't even know exactly where to begin... I'll start off by saying I PROMISE to keep this up for the remainder of the year(writing in this blog more often is one of my New Year's Resolutions...) I haven't had internet connection for the past 3 weeks in my host family's house and there have been a few days where I could have updated and I was just being lazy... I want all you to know I'm still alive!! Sorry Mom and Dad!! Over the next few days I will catch you guys up on the past two months don't worry! As of the 26th I have been here for 4 months... time is moving WAY to fast for me... Quick update is that right now it's Winter Break for school! I will utilize this time as much as I possibly can to fill everyone in!! You all have a lot of reading coming you're way... and by the way I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year!!

Jericho

Two Months In...

So as of today(Tuesday October 26th, 2010) and right now at this moment...I have been here in France for exactly two months. Pretty hard to believe. Time has been FLYIN'... plenty of updates coming really soon. Peace.

The Most Action-Packed, Exciting, Crazy , Labor Intensive, Exhausting Weekend in France Thus Far...

So on Friday the 17th of September as soon as I got out of school I had a lot to prepare for the upcoming weekend. Dominique had told me the night before I would be spending the night at Elisabeth's(second host mom) because on Saturday we would have an orientation with the other exchange students in our Rotary district(area) where we would have the chance to meet each other, trade pins for our blazers, socialize, etc. Elisabeth is hosting Carlos(the other exchange student from Brazil that goes to my school) I already introduced them both before in earlier post(I just wanted to explain them again so this didn't sound too confusing). But anyways so I had a lot to do that night. When I got home I packed all my clothes, toiletries, pins, business cards and extra stuff I would need for the night and the day after(I was literally throwing things into my duffel bag because I was kind of in a rush). From there I had to attend a soccer practice so right after packing I dressed for soccer and went. After soccer I was rushed home to grab my bag(I was still sweating from training hahah) and then I said goodbye to Dominique. Then Maurice drove me to Elizabeth's home in Villefranche(about 20 minutes from Lucenay and where my school is) and Aurelie came along. As soon as we knocked the door we were welcomed by Elisabeth and Carlos. Maurice and Aurelie talked with her for a couple minutes and then they said their goodbyes to Carlos, Elisabeth and I and went back home. Elisabeth showed me to the room I was staying. It had a HUGE soft bed. But I layed my stuff down and then talked with Carlos and traded pins with him until dinner was ready.  Elisabeth prepared potatoes with cheese fondue and cold cuts of different types of ham. It was such a simple dinner, but so delicious! Elisabeth seems to really know good food because everything tasted as if it had just been bought fresh from the store. I ate so much that night. After dinner I took a shower and went straight to bed. Or not really... hahah So it was kinda hard for me to sleep because I was very eagerly excited for the orientation, but somehow I managed to sleep. As soon as I opened my eyes I looked at the alarm clock that showed it was 7:00am and time to get ready for a busy Saturday. Carlos was already awake and so was Elisabeth with a table prepared with breakfast consisting of cereal, fruit, yogurt, fresh baguette(it was so crispy) and warm milk. We ate breakfast with no hurry and after we got all of our stuff ready and got into our blazers and left at about 8:30. The orientation was being held in a city near Lyon(I forgot what it was called) in a college building. As soon as we drove by we saw various kids walking with their host parents wearing their Rotary blazers into the school. Carlos, Elisabeth and I walked to the building and within a minute of being there we already met someone. Her name is Min Jeong and she's from South Korea. We instantly connected with her and together we walked into a classroom with a lot of people talking and the other exchange students clustered onto one side of the room chatting while the host parents were on the other side with the Rotary people talking as well. I met two girls from Russia named Olyesa and Victoria. They were so funny and I have to say Russian accents are the best haha. What I found odd was that on their blazers they had the same logo representing my district(5010 Alaska). I then realized our district doesn't just cover Alaska it also covers part of Canada, the Yukon and Eastern Russia! So it's pretty cool hahah. After that I talked to a girl who looked easily familiar. Her name is Brittany and she's from Ohio. I already knew Brittany because I was creeping on Facebook last year to find other exchange students that would be in the same area in France as me. And Brittany was the first person I found. It was really funny because I was expecting to see her at the airport in Paris because I thought she would have the same flight to Lyon as me, but she didn't hahah. This made me question her existence and when I finally met her I told her "Oh my gosh you actually exist!" Hahah. We talked and I met Ariel from Bolivia who can speak really fluent English and Bolivian(hahah Spanish I mean lol) because she goes to American school in Bolivia. But I swear if you heard her talk you would swear she's from America. After the 10 minutes we had to kinda talk to a few people all us exchange students went to the back of the room and sat down. The Rotary people and our host parents(not mine though hahah)introduced us individually and we stood and waved to the crowd of host families. Since my host family wasn't there to introduce me Elisabeth did. It was funny because when she said I was from Alaska I remember hearing the crowd gasping "ooh's" and "wow's" hahah. I get that reaction everytime hahah. But after that they moved only us exchange students into a a big office meeting room. We took our seats and I sat next to Carlos and Brittany. From there a few Rotarians told us to share our struggles and introduce ourselves to each other and assured us it's only the beginning and everything would be okay. Everyone introduced themselves and said where they were from and what they like and dislike and some of the hardships they've had since living here. When it was my turn I mainly talked about how hard it is to understand people and how boring school and how amazingly awesome the food is(before I started speaking the Rotarians didn't know I could speak English hahah). After that they introduced us to a woman who was a former exchange student with Rotary and she said she could completely understand anything we were going through and told us it will get easier and better as the year goes by. After that a lady told us what we would be doing together this year(in French). I didn't understand a thing so I just asked the kids who understood to fill me in. She had said into the year we will be going to Germany, Skiing, Accrobranche(ropes course like this) and a lot of other things I forgot. All I could say is I'm pretty excited hahah. They also told us about two optional trips we would have to pay for. One trip touring Paris and Spain and another one touring all over Europe including Italy(I've been trying and trying to convince my mom to pay the costs for me to go on both trips). They both sound like so much fun and just recently she told me she would let me go(So mom if you're reading this THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU!) After that they set us free to talk more with the other exchange students and trade pins and business cards and take pictures. There were so many people(29 in total from 10 different countries) I talked to so many different people and took so many pictures that day my head started hurting. But it was LONG overdue and I can't wait to hang out with them again. I have so many business cards and pins on my blazer now its ridiculous. After we went back into the room the host families and there was snacks and drinks laid out for us to take. I was SOOOOOO hungry hahah. We socialized more and more and then we all said our goodbyes. It was a great day, but it was far from over I love exchange students hahah...

This is what we did for an hour and it never got boring

All the South American/Mexican(because its not part of South America) and Spanish speaking people...except I don't get why the heck Yash from India is in this picture haha(upper left row)

The Americans(who didn't bring a flag to represent...sad huh?): Brittnee from South Carolina, Adriana from Iowa, Murphy from California, Natasha from New Mexico, Savannah from Colorado, Brittany from Ohio and Jericho from Alaska!
The Whole group shot!

Min Jeong from South Korea!

I finally met Brittany from Ohio haha!
Carlos of Brazil(Goes to my school)

Picture with the lovely South American/Latina women:)
Julia from Brazil
 
Marissa of Canada, Murphy of California, Me and Lilith of Mexico!
Olyesa and Victoria of Russia! District 5010!

We are the World!

Exchange students of District 1710! France watch out!

The business card: Yes I know I look drunk in my picture

All the business cards after Orientation...

And my blazer has a lot more pins now

By the time the Orientation was over. Elisabeth had things planned for Carlos and I already. I was so exhausted and the day seriously just started, but anyways we drove to a grocery store went in to buy a chocolate tart, and a rotisserie chicken. Elisabeth said we would be having lunch at her daughter's brother's(sorry I forgot his name) apartment. We then drove to the town he lives. Got lost for a couple of minutes and then jogged about five flights of stairs to find the right destination. Elisabeth's daughter's brother welcomed us in along with his girlfriend and roomate and their dog. We gave them the tart and the chicken and they asked Carlos and I questions about our lives back in our home countries and gave us coke to drink. They did their best to speak English hahah. But they were funny and very nice. For lunch we started off with a vegetarian quiche. I freakin' LOVE QUICHE! It's so damn good! I had two slices of it... after that we had the chicken we bought from the store served with rice(this was the kinda meal my parents would throw together on a lazy Sunday and it reminded me of them). We ate it with hot mustard,soy sauce and a baguette(lol). Not a typical French meal I suppose, but it was good. I find that rice is actually a lot more common here than I thought... They then brought out the cheese and more baguette(Traditionally in a meal in France cheese is served after the main course before dessert). They had a cheese that smelled like feet... But anyways after that we ate the chocolate tart which was amazing... I had two slices of that as well. I swear the food here is so good... When lunch was over we talked more(the French love to talk) and said goodbye to Elisabeth's daughter's brother's roomate. Elisabeth's daughter's brother and his girlfriend then came with us. I didn't know where we were going... We took the Metro(Subway) to Lyon(which only took about 8 minutes) and walked around for a little bit(we were around a part of Lyon I didn't see before). Then we went straight to this Museum called the Lyon Beaux Arts Museum. Now I'm not really into museums and stuff like that, but I'll admit it was actually pretty cool. We saw Mummy tombs, hieroglyphics, ancient sculptures, pottery, old paintings and a huge variety of different things. What was really cool is for that day only it was free to explore the museum. Any other day you would have to pay a ridiculous amount of Euros to get in. It was amazing and I have about a thousand pictures from it hahah... After walking through the majority of the museum within two hours we said goodbye to Elisabeth's daughter's brother and his girlfriend who chose to stay in Lyon a little longer to look more at the museum. Carlos, Elisabeth and I pretty much rushed back to take the Metro and eventually walk back to where our car was parked only to find it wasn't there...

The desserts from the grocery store...they all looked so good

Reminded me of Dad...

 
The awesome Sky window from Elisabeth's daughter's brother's apartment 
Walking to the Metro
 

Revisiting Lyon

Everytime I'm in Lyon I can't help but feel excited
 
Entrance to the Beaux Arts Museum: Hahah I took this picture in the grass and got in trouble because you're not allowed to stand on the grass...
Everything was so intricately detailed
 
First painting we saw: I felt rebellious takin pics(I thought it wasn't allowed) 
Sleeping dog sculpture... 

Legit Mummy tombs: it was epic

I loved the Egyptian stuff 

Legit Hieroglyphics
 
Pretty sick huh?
 
Stone Tablets with more Egyptian stuff!
Creepy stone face things
 
Egyptian "tongs" = french word for flip flops 
Ancient Pottery
 
This was the Greek/Roman section of the Museum
Everything reminded me of Hercules
 
It was very realistic ha... 

So of course I took a picture with it
Cool Greek Pots

These resembled characters throughout Greek/Roman Mythology

Little temple thing

This part of the Museum featured pieces involving Christianity as a main theme...

I felt like I was in Church or something

It's Jesus!

I don't know what these are but they look cool...

I thought this looked pretty cool

Ancient coins...I think

Medieval Section of the Museum

This is out of order, but this was from the Greek/Roman section

More Religious pieces

Stained Glass Piece

A carved piece

Amen!

Weaponry from the Medieval section

This made me think of Chinese people...

Looks like a painting but is actually a Carpet

I liked the stained glass pieces

My room...hahah just kidding

Mirror picture art things

These glass pieces looked sick

Umbrella painting...I don't know what else to say about it

Hahah this looks sexual in a way

Naked art...inspiring I know

I wish I took a picture next to this, but this thing was as tall as me...It would be cool to hide in it

This part of the Museum was all paintings

It was really cool, but there is no way I could stay there and look at one picture for five whole minutes when there were like a million there...

Religious painting

This reminded me of every meal in France is like for me hahah

Decapitated!

A French Bench(I sat on it pretty much the whole time we were looking at paintings because I was so tired of standing and observing)

 The famous fountain in Front of Lyon(I don't know the name of it) but it looks kinda like the Trevy Fountain in Rome huh? I took this picture from the Window of the Museum hahah...

Leaving the Museum there were Angel Sculptures on the ceiling it looked pretty cool

An angel playing those things from the World Cup hahah(this was the last picture from the Museum)

Yeah so it turns out the car was missing from where Elisabeth parked it... We were confused/frantic/scared... The car had all of our important stuff in it plus how the heck would we get home... After a few minutes of debating whether that was where the missing car was parked we asked around the shopkeepers and Elisabeth then talked to a man working in an ice cream store. He then directed us to call the local police because it may have been towed. Elisabeth then makes three separate calls to the popo station and from they we know where to go. We walk a few minutes around the city straight to the station and it turns out...It's CLOSED! Hahaha now if you think it gets easier from there it doesn't... Elisabeth makes about six more calls then we get directed to go to another city where the Car was taken. The city where the car was located about 35 minutes away by Metro and that's how we got there. We bought our tickets and in about an hour of walking/taking the Subway and more walking we made our destination. It was funny because I took some photos along the way and Elisabeth joked to Carlos and I that we ended up getting to go sightseeing as we made our way to the missing car. After a few minutes of not knowing exactly where it was that we needed to go to get the car we eventually found the office where a man was working. Elisabeth had talked with him for about four minutes and a wrote a check. When we were done she showed us how much it was and she was fined about 137 euros for exceeding the parking time of the area... Ridiculous huh...? Well we got the car and drove back home. She dropped me off along with Carlos because it was his turn to stay the night at my place. We said goodbye to Elisabeth and thanked her for the long day she had to endure for us just to entertain and get us where we needed to go. So mercibeacoup Elisabeth! When we got home Dominique, Aurelie and Aurelie's two cousins Passion and Emmy greeted us. Dinner was ready right when we entered the door and there waiting was Maurice, Dominique's Brother(father of Passion and Emmy), A few family friends, Maruice's mom, Dominique's mom and dad and Dominique's sister. I was so tired from the crazy day eating was the last thing on my mind. I wanted to sleep. We had dinner consisting of Gratin and Pate(I don't think I've expressed in great detail how I feel about Pate, but I'll go into detail later)...anyways after about 40 minutes of waiting at the table when we were finished eating and they were just talking(I didn't want to be rude and just leave) they set me free and I took a shower. Carlos slept in the living room and we were told that we would have to wake up at 6:00 in the morning for a "special activity"(I'll reiterate later)...I was sooooooo excited to wake up early on a Sunday you don't even know... But it's funny because I remember as soon as I closed my eyes and opened them it was morning...

I took these pictures from the epic journey to where the car was taken when it was towed hahah...

Elisabeth with the car

So as soon as I woke up on Sunday the 19th of September I got ready(we were told to wear older clothes and warm clothes(it was supposed to be cold) and stuff we wouldn't mind getting dirty in because we were going to Vendange!) Vendange basically means "cut grapes" and harvest them for wine of that year if you're still curious about it click here. Dominique drove Carlos and I to a hotel where we were supposedly supposed to meet up with some of the other exchange students to partake in grape cutting together. She went with us into the hotel and we waited for about 20 minutes until someone showed up. It was Martin, an exchange student from Mexico that goes to the same school as Carlos and I(There are four of us exchange students at school Me, Carlos and Mariana from Brazil, and Martin). Martin is a Terminale(senior) at school, so I rarely see him. The first time I actually met him was at the orientation which I find hilarious. But anyways we talked for about five minutes then a Rotarian who was our ride walked through the door and greeted us. He talked with Dominique for a few minutes and she left us because he would be our ride to the Vineyard(just to clear things up doing the Vendange was a Rotary Affair, we didn't have a choice). Martin, Carlos and I went along with the Rotarian and drove into a town nearby. As soon as we got off we saw a circle of adults and a portion of the kids we met yesterday from the orientation. There was Lilith from Mexico, Rebeca from Mexico, Mariana from Brazil that goes to school with me and Lilian from Taiwan. It was actually kinda cold that day I gotta admit. And we were all huddled in our old clothes acting as if we were ready to cut grapes... Throughout the time we waited we greeted about 20 adult rotarians and their kids who helped out. The whole time we talked to each other about how tired and cold we were and how we didn't want to be there, but it was okay because they fed us Pain Au Chocolate(Crossaints filled with chocolate they're AMAZING) and piping hot coffee while we were waiting. When about everyone in the group showed we all got into cars and headed out to the Vineyard. I was in a car with Lilian, Lilith and Natalie Sarrau, my YEO here in France. Natalie is very, very nice. Once they drove us out we parked and followed the group and were assigned Vendange partners because we were amateur status hahah. They partnered us exchange students with the kids of the Rotarians about our age, but there was only so many of them. Since I was one of the last few I got partnered with a Rotarian. Before we started he told me the in's and out's of how to cut the grapes. He could speak somewhat decent English because he said his job required him to. I got equipped with a grape cutting knife and a bucket and we went straight to work. He was really fast and he was so chilled and relaxed while cutting the grapes(he was humming and whistling songs the whole time). I on the other hand wasn't. I awkwardly hacked at the grapes and moved at a snail's pace(It's a lot harder than it sounds to because you basically have to bend over and crouch down the whole time and get every single bunch of grapes and there were a lot, once your bucket was filled with grapes you had to stand up and dump them into this giant bucket these two guys wore on their backs... plus there was also the risk of cutting yourself with the blade which I did twice...). I also have to add though it was cold early that morning it quickly got hot about 80 degrees so I was sweating like crazy adding more difficulty and annoyance... But I have to admit though I sucked at it in the beginning and it was I actually found it kind of fun...for the first hour... By the second hour I was moving really fast and I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Then by the third hour my back was killing me so I was literally sitting down because bending over didn't feel very good anymore. After 3 hours of cutting vigorously we FINALLY took a break. Someone drove a car to us and unloaded it with refreshments. There was water(to drink and to wash our dirty, bloody, sticky grape juice covered hands), more Pain Au Chocolates, an assortment of wines, a bunch of bread and cheese(it's not French if there isn't bread and cheese) and Pate...now I'm going to get specific of my dislike for Pate... So my first encounter with it was when it was served for dinner at the host grandparent's house. I of course try everything they offer to me here and so I did and I took a few bites of it and just could not finish it... Pate is like head cheese meat and it's cold, chunky and fatty... something about it is just so repulsive to me and I'm a meat lover which is ironic... Of all the crazy/weird things I have eaten so far here in France it's a little sad a block of meat is my weakness... Whatever but unless you've tried it you'll know how I feel... So anyways all the exchange students took good advantage of the break and we basically pigged out on everything. When I saw there was Pate I did my best to avoid it, but a Rotarian from behind me grabbed a slice of it and handed it to me. I didn't wanna say no because it would be rude to refuse so I took it and ate it really, really slowly and acted as if I was enjoying it(bad idea). The Rotarians were impressed because I said I liked it so they gave me two more to eat...ugh... Enough about Pate though anyways... the Rotarians gave us all wine to drink and even if we refused they told us to try a little bit(I found this kind of funny because drinking is a "no-no") and by the time break was over we all did not wanna go back to cutting hahah. So we lazily started up again and went at the grapes for another 2 and a half ours and between that time all of us exchange students showed even more extreme laziness resting every five minutes talking with each other... I have to say our enthusiasm for grape cutting definitely stopped... My grape cutting Rotarian partner had told me I had worked hard enough so I could stop. I can't even describe to you how amazingly relieved, happy, flat out awesome I felt...It was about 6 hours of hard work and it really gave me a new found respect to how much labor goes into a bottle of wine. And I don't even like wine very much... But the experience we had doing the Vendange that Sunday made me appreciate it a lot more. Right after we got done the Rotarians had set a buffet table of food and it was so beautiful. There was a huge variety of pizzas, salads, chips, breads, cheeses, meats and my favorite quiche(it's freakin' amazing)! After the long strenuous hours of work we had endured the payoff in food was definitely worth it. We all attacked the food table and brought our huge plates that were piled high with food to the back of a pickup truck and we all settled and talked for the longest time, but it was a lot of fun. I got to know everyone so much better after that day and I really connected with Rebeca(from Mexico) and Lilian(from Taiwan). Hahah a highlight was when I told Rebeca I could see Russia from my home and I skied to school and for 10 minutes she really believed me hahah! But overall it was really great and by the time we had to go home everyone was really happy, but in a  sad because we were having such a good time(well at the end hahah not so much cutting grapes). We said our goodbyes to everyone and Carlos and I hitched a ride with a Rotarian who drove us to Elisabeth's home. As soon as we got to Elisabeth's home all I remember is drinking a lemonade and being woken up on a hammock by Dominique and Maurice. Ha as soon as we got to Elisabeth's I apparently was so tired I slept on the hammock under the sun in her yard for about two hours... Maurice and Dominique drove me home(I slept in the car) but it was awesome because we had pizza for dinner(which was apparently bought while I was sleeping in the car haha) and I shared my pictures and stories. It was a VERY succesful/exciting/action packed weekend, but a very tiring one at that...

Hahah don't I look excited...

Our team of grape cutters

Giant bucket with grapes we picked(this is only a small fraction of what we collected)

The guy carrying the big white bucket backpack walked around so we could drop our grapes in his bucket then and he would carry the heavy load back to the giant containers that were sealed and stored into a big truck

My weapon of choice

My epic fail

A beautiful set of grapes

Pate...sooooo delicious(not really)...

The exchange students! Minus the girl on the right...I don't really know who she is...

I love the expressions of the unready people hahahah

This one's better ha. We kept making jokes saying we should have got paid for this and that this was child labor hahahahah...

I don't think drinking is against the rules when a Rotarian is the one pouring your cup...

Pain Au Chocolate I ate about 17 of them...no joke

Bad pic but here's everyone...

Lilith(Mexico), Martin(Mexico), Rebeca(Mexico), Mariana(Brazil behind Mayra), Mayra(Brazil in front of Mariana), Julia(Brazil), Me, Carlos(Brazil in front of me and bending over in front of Lilian hahah), Lilian(Taiwan grinding on Carlos)

Food...yum...

I ate so many plates of food you don't even know...cutting grapes in the sun really builds an appetite

It's like dessert pizza 

The whole crew: Exchange Students and Rotarians

Praying Mantis: Symbolizes good luck!

Pizza for dinner! It looks a little sketchy, but it was really, really good from a place called Mix Pizza and it had bacon on it...

Thanks for reading this lengthy post and hope it was worth it...sad thing is I'm about three weeks behind in updates...I'll be busy writing all week. Peace!