Beaver tale 2, French Noel

This is my second  Beaver tale; it covers november-February, so Christmas and all that fun stuff is in this one :).

I know all Beaver Tale #2s ever written start like this, so I apologize for the cliché, but time has absolutely flown by since my last beaver tale. I cannot believe that I am halfway done my adventure here in France.  I think the part of the last couple months that has made the most impression on me would be all the changes that have happened recently.

I’m living with a new family, my second (and final. I have 2 host siblings: a brother, 13, and a sister, 16.  It was strange adapting to a second family, especially since this home is a lot busier than my first, more relaxed family.  But I’ve become really close with everyone, so I’m looking forward to a good stay here.

Christmas was a big chance for me this year as well. To start with, the weather here was beautiful, warm, and sunny right until the 25^th, so it honestly didn’t feel much like the Christmas season until I actually saw the little villages all putting up their Christmas lights and realized I only had a week until the big day. The French celebrate Christmas more or less like we do; visiting family, an evergreen tree decked out in lights, presents, and Pere Noel all play a part.  However, on Christmas day my host family, some of their relations and I woke up early and opened presents (Tim Horton’s gifts for everyone!), and then proceeded to begin eating, which we continued to do for the rest of the day. We staggered from the dinner table at about 1:30 in the morning, having enjoyed foods like oysters and crab from Bretagne (Brittany, to you English speakers), wine from my own town Chinon, cheese (of course) from all over France, meat, vegetables, bread, caviar, the list goes on. It was all delicious and a good day, but I must admit I am glad that Christmas only comes once a year.

Another big change that’s happened here for me recently is that the southern hemisphere exchange kids have finished their years and gone back home. So, we northerners had to say goodbye to a couple really close friends from Australia and Argentina, which was sad, but it also opened the door for a few new exchangers (“newbies”, in replacement for our “oldies”) to come and be a part of our time here.  I was thinking about this, and decided that it was a pretty good example of what the whole exchange experience is like.   There are things in your life that you know, and are comfortable with, but then they leave, and you have the opportunity to welcome new things into your life.  The old things aren’t lost to you; I still keep in touch with my oldies on the other side of the world.  But it’s like life; life goes on , and there’s nothing you can do except take your experiences and try and make the most out of whatever new experiences await you. A little deep maybe, but there you go.

So, everything here is changing, but for the better I think. There’s still so much that I want to see and accomplish here, but I’m also proud and satisfied with the things I have already done.

Gros bisous

Victoria