Quand les poules auront des dents.

So my subject line is what the French say if something is taking a long time. For example, Vero ordered her new portable (cell phone) online two weeks ago. The other day, it still hadn't come and we had this conversation.
Me: Quand est-ce que ton portable arrivera? (When's your cell phone getting here?)
Vero: Quand les poules auront des dents. (When the chicken have teeth.)

It was pretty hilarious, and Im sure I laughed an awkwardly long amount of time at her joke. Also, when kids talk a lot when theyre young, you say "Il/Elle parle comme un livre." (He/She talks like a book!)

I love idioms.

So this week has been pretty...well, loud for one. The petits-enfants were here and I only got three pictures of them, but I have some entertaining video that Ill be posting online tomorrow. Let me mention next week before I start on this week.

I had originally planned to go to Switzerland with my friend Gothy, but an oppurtunity presented itself, and I am now going to Barcelona, Spain with Gothy and my friend Julia. Also Carlos is coming as our translator. It should be fun, we've got quite a deal on housing/transportation, and we went to Carrefour to load up on non-essentials. It should be a very cost-conscientious trip, but also very entertaining. My camera is on it's last batteries (Energizer's here- not even lithium!- are an astronomical amount!) But anyway. So that's where Ill be next week. Because I am now officially on SPRING BREAK #1. Since we have two over here, which is always nice. My last class was at 8h30 this morning. The family left today for the bapteme- baptism- of the youngest grandchild- Agathe, daughter of Mathieu and Camille- in Versailles. Theyre coming back on Sunday, and Isabelle left me a detailed list of what she prepared for me to eat- reheating instructions, etc. So I plan on being online tomorrow and uploading some pictures- Grenoble, and the kids- to my online gallery and overall relaxing before my very very very long trip to Barcelona on Sunday.

Okay, so the kids were here this week. Boy, are they a handful. I loved them because they taught me things, but also was annoyed because they humiliated me.
That's right, I got corrected on my pronunciation by a four year old.
And yet, night after night, they made me read these petits histoires I had bought- little childrens books- to them over and over again.
Its funny, because I could just picture a tall foreigner slurring English words and trying to read a book to Tyler and Trinity, or Natalie and Lindsey. First of all, kids can barely keep still for longer than ten minutes, much less pay attention to slurred words and misplaced intonation.
So I got to the point where I made up my own stories that just so happened to match the pictures.
All was happy, and my humiliation eventually subsided, so all was well with the world.

We had an API meeting about travel safety because everyone's going somewhere for vacation. Over half of us to Spain, some to London, some to Prague and Munich. We're a travelling bunch.

Oh, so hide and seek here is Cache-Cache- I enjoyed many hours of that inside the house and out. And remember the game red light/green light? The French version is "Un, Deux, Trois, Soleil!" just so you know.

Oh and the cutest thing of all? One of the first nights the kids were here, I overheard Isabelle and Veronique saying a goodnight prayer with four year old Marine. They prayed and then Marine went into a list of everyone she wanted to bless. It went like this:
"(and God bless...) Maman et Papa, Clement et petite Agathe..."
"Puis?" -Isabelle
"Benidicte et Christophe, Grand-Maman et Grandpa... "
"Puis?"
"Veronique et Chelsea..."
"Puis?"
"et Maylis."

She got all the members of the family AND me. It was so nice, and really just a symbol of how genuinely caring this family is. I mean, really. I cant even express how much theyve done for me to make me feel welcome here. And I miss home, I do. I can hardly believe Ive been here for two months. But having this sense of a family here is something that is so special.

So anyway, not much excitement this week. Went out tonight with the girls, hence the update at 2 am my time. Hope everyone is doing well, and having a great time enjoying the weather- I heard it was a bit cool in Texas- we're back down in the 30s again, but reached the mid 40s last week! There was hope, but I think Im getting pretty used to the cold.

Anyway, as Ive been saying all week, Bonne Vacances! It was Em's birthday the other day- Bonne Anniversaire ma soeur!- and...yeah. That's about tout.

Groses bises,
Chelsea