Frere LaPorte, Isabelle, Soeur LaPorte, Cheryl
Isabel, Jennifer, Florienne, Raymond, Kev7 fevrier 2010 (Day 160)
Another sleepless night…I am getting to be such an insomniac. I did get to talk to my best friend! Amber Johnson at 5am my time though. It was good talking to her, because she is amazing. After talking for a while, I went back to sleep, and had to get up grumpily a while later to go to church. My breakfast made me terribly happy though (no fasting this week…already dizzy enough with food). I squeezed three cold oranges and had fresh squeezed oj with organic wheat bread with butter and creamy honey. If I was rich I think I’d have fresh squeezed juice every morning. It was so perfect!
Walking through the parking lot to get picked up by Stephane in his new voiture (car) was quite the …experience. The garbage men have been on strike, add 500 kid’s worth of garbage and the wind, and you get nastiness everywhere. Definitely saw some things I could have lived without seeing. Stephane’s new car is swell though! It is this itty bitty rusty colored orange piece of machinery. I kind of like it.
Church was nice today. Relief Society was lame. We had a weird and really short lesson about being independent. Our lesson in Sunday School about Noah was good though. And testimony meeting was (gasp) normal! People gave short Christ-testifying testimonies. We also had a baby blessing…baby Emma with so much hair (she must be a Roundy baby). After church our Sunday school got together to go to our teacher’s house for a little fete (party) that we have been talking about since December.
There were so many of us there, and it was so great. The LaPorte’s have a huge home that is white and with lots of windows. They have a gorgeous staircase and their home doesn’t look very “French.” Everyone kept asking me if it was like my house (no). We had drinks and chips and nuts (the aperitif), delicious veggie soup (appetizer), and some amazing chili con carne and rice (plat). They were dolls and catered to Hannah’s vegitarianness and made her eggs and corn. Kev (a new kid to be mentioned later) is allergic to spicyness, so they had to whip up something for him as well. Naturally, it being France, we weren’t done. More bread got pulled out for the traditional cheese (and yogurt) after dinner snack. I was happily filled to the brim. Then they pulled out 3 galettes des rois (frangipane- the almond paste ones, my favorite). I didn’t find a feve in my piece, but I still wore a crown because of Kev. Kevin is around 25, served in Fiji (French speaking), and apparently is moving in with the same family that Isabel stays with. He is a really nice kid, and super funny to talk to. Seeing as I take the galette de rois thing quite seriously, I was gently reminding him (probably more like bothering in his mind) that he had to pick a queen and wear his crown. Instead he just stuck the crown on my head and said, “There.” We made fun of Cheryl together (bless her blonde heart), so he is definitely a keeper in the ward. And I apparently live in the wrong ward. Kev said that in Caen the YSA individuals would always be at a different member’s house each Sunday to have dinner with them, that they all hang out and have an activity after institute, and that they even have monthly FHE together. I am jealous because that would be fun and I am in sore need of social activity that doesn’t occur over the internet.
After feeling ourselves to the brim with amazingness we watched The Ultimate Gift (in English). It was good to see that movie again, it made me think of Miss Emily Anne, because it is her favorite movie. There was a preview for Amazing Grace, my grandma’s favorite, and it made me reeeeeeeeeeeeaaallly want to be in my grandma’s basement with one of her blankets watching it with her. After the movie they fed us more food (is that possible?!?). They had about five flavors of ice cream and more frangipane. Dinner will not be necessary tonight, that is for sure. Did you know that they have chestnut flavored ice cream in France?! Odd, but surprisingly good. The LaPorte’s then drove all of us home. It was a lovely afternoon and so nice to be with lots of people in a homey situation.
