Fette Schnecke

Hi all

Let's see.. last week in school was mostly average. We got our grades for the semester back on Thursday. I actually have a nice average, because when there is a class that I don't do the tests for, or I do miserably on the tests, the teacher just doesn't give me a note for it. Too bad things don't work like that in the US! So, my grades, including gaps:

Français -
Allemand -
Mathématiques - 5
Anglais - (obviously I would have a 6, but I don't take the tests)
Histoire -
Géographie - 4.5
Biologie -
Chimie - 5
Dessin - 6
Economie -
Informatique - 4.5
Education physique - 5

Okay, obviously there are just as many gaps as there are grades, but I actually did work for the grades I got, so I am proud of them. Especially Math, Geography, Chemistry, and Art.

For some reason the teachers were really nice about homework this week, as in they didn't give us much, which was nice except that I need something to do during my huge amounts of study hall. On Tuesday, while my classmates had gym, I went up to the school library for the first time. I found a book about some Swiss guy that decided to follow the Mississippi from it's source to the Gulf of Mexico. He decided to start his adventure in the dead of winter, which I guess means he didn't do his research about Minnesota's climate. Anyway, there was a lot of complaining from him in his book about how cold and desolate and empty it was on the highway, and how there were always people putting gas in their noisy snowmobiles when he stopped at the gas station. It was funny to read his impressions about our state, but after he worked his way out of Minneapolis I lost interest in the book.

I also checked out another book, Le Petit Nicolas (I've already read Les Vacances de Petit Nicolas), which is a children's book.

On Thursday night I also went for the first time to the public library in Romont, because Andréanne had to return some books. The library is absolutely tiny, maybe 1/3 the size of the Linden Hills library, without any of the music or DVDs there are in the US. They have a lot of kids books and also comics though. In Switzerland, comics and graphic novels are read by kids and adults alike, and there are tons of series. It's kind of strange for me how popular they are here. Anyway, I found that they have the Persepolis series, so I checked the first two out because now that I know more French it would be cool to read in the original language (I've only seen the movie before, subtitled into English.)

On Friday for the last two hours of school I was saved from having another pointless study hall because there was a play at the Bicubic building. There is a 25 fr. fee for all the students each year which allows for the school to book "cultural events" like that. Anyway, all of my grade and some other kids got to go. The play was called "Les caprices de Marianne" and I understood next to nothing, but I don't feel bad because it was written in 1833. I mean, it's sometimes hard to understand things written in the 1800s in English, so I can't feel bad for not getting it in French. Plus, they were talking super fast. Sadly, about 50% of the audience (most of it was younger) didn't want to be there and so they were quite terrible, talking and yelling and all that, while the other 50% sat there cringing and feeling bad for the actors. It felt like 5th grade again..

Friday night was the Soirée de Gym at the village where my host brother does gymnastics. I can't remember if I've written anything yet about the Soirées, but I don't think I have, so I will explain. In Switzerland, or at least where I live, in every village with enough people there is a village gym. We have one here, that's where I go (or went, rather, since my sprain) on Tuesdays with Andréanne. A large percentage of people in the village and the villages surrounding that don't have their own go to the gym. Every January-February, the gyms each organize a Soirée where all the different age groups have their own routine. For instance at Nicolas's there was the group of dads with their toddlers, moms with their toddlers, different age groups of kids doing gymnastics, etc. It is probably the most wholesome thing I've ever seen! So yeah, Friday the family all went to see Nico, and there were also some other random extended family members there too. Next weekend we're going to the Soirée de Gym at another village, I don't remember which one, to see my host cousins. And then Valentine's day weekend there is the Soirée de Gym here in my village. I can't even begin to explain how very very Swiss it all is, you really have to be here to feel it. Here are a bunch of pictures from the Soirée last year
if you are interested in seeing a bit what it is.

Saturday I took the bus/train to Fribourg to see Alicia. I got to the train station in time to take the InterCity train, which it always interesting. That goes all the way from Geneva to Zürich with only stops in the big cities, so not only is it twice as fast, but the crowd that rides is way different from the crowd on the regional train. It probably sound stupid, but it really hits me where I am when I'm surrounded by all the travelers and business people speaking different languages (there are always some English speakers) and travelling across this tiny country. In Fribourg I did some random shopping and then Alicia and I went to see a movie.. Sept Vies (Seven Pounds, with Will Smith.) It was bad but I knew it would be because I read some reviews. I was kind of annoyed to go to that when there are some movies I actually want to see like Slumdog Millionaire, Burn After Reading, and Revolutionary Road playing right now, but it was the only movie playing in the early afternoon and Alicia had to go up to the mountains to eat fondue afterward so we had no choice. I swear the next time I go to a movie here it is going to be something that got good reviews and that I haven't already seen twice!

And yeah, that's pretty much all I did. I've just been hanging out and relaxing this weekend. I did get around to cleaning my room though. I think I'm turning Swiss because I can't bear to let the clothes pile up on my floor for more than a day or two anymore, and I open my window all the time to freshen my room up even though it's freezing outside. Weird.

This week is the semaine thématique so there will be no homework and no real classes all week! Just watching fantasy films and moving energies through my body. We'll see how that goes.