The Oldham's Many Adventures In Paris

Chloe might not want me to blog this but.....

2008-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have to fill you in. Last Sunday, I woke up went downstairs, ate a pastry, and read my book Supercapitalism by Robert Reich. Chloe was on the floor drawing. She was itching an awful lot, and complaining a lot. I jokingly said, "Maybe its lice." Upon checking, it was lice. Chloe looked kind scared since the last time she had lice, they were huge. But it was only a little one. None the less, mom and dad rushed to the pharmacy, and came back with a full kit with shampoo, head cap, and all. We (meaning all the boys) were made not to laugh at poor Chloe who had to wear it all day, and partway through the night. I really felt bad because she couldn't read or do anything involving her eyes, because they had to disinfect her glasses. I didn't feel bad though since she didn't have to go to school the next day. Let's hope than no one else catches it, although i do need a haircut, and missing my math test wouldn't be that bad. Hmmmmmmm.
P.S. If anyone was ever good geometry and would like to describe some things to me before monday that would be great.

HALLOWEEN

2008-11-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

It was our first Halloween in Paris, and I think this was a great one. I would say better than Sapulpa because there, they really only give you what you don't want. Like Smarties, Now n' later's, all that non-chocolate candy, when really chocolate is all you want. It didn't compare to Vermont however because there the people just put a bowl of FULL-SIZED candy bars on their porch. It was pretty sweet though. The whole family had been watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas", a lot before this holilday to be prepared. Primarily Liam considering he has been obsessed with that movie. There was much preperation mostly by Liam. He drew pictures, and sang Halloween songs which pretty much got everyone in to the spirit. Even Dylan was jumping up and down on the way out the door. This year Liam was a Pumpkin King, with skeleton gloves. Which consisted of a pumpkin mask, a pretty sweet tuxedo shirt, crazy skeleton gloves, and rain boots. Dylan was a skeleton with his skeleton shirt, gloves. He even let mom draw circles around his eyes to make him more skeletonish. He couldn't stop looking in the mirror at himself, saying "costume". Chloe was Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She wore a handmade dress (made by dad), and very scary make-up (put on by mom). I went for a classic along with Dylan and was a skeleton. I had a sweet Skeleton mask, skeleton gloves, and wore all black. We decided to go to Becca's (my moms really good friend, who we went with to the Pompidou earlier in the day) since Paris isn't really known for its tricker-treaters. We did see some however, a vampire, and a pack of princesses to name a couple. We definitely got stares though. And I'm pretty sure we scared a few people. Particularly when they walked by me I noticed that they quickened their pace. When we got there Becca was obviously prepared for the Oldham's. There was a bowl full of candy, dorito's, and sparking apple juice. In a matter of ten minutes Liam had accumulated a mountain of wrappers, and stated that he needed to lie down. Luckily no one got sick, but we went home full that night, and decided that this had been a pretty good Halloween.

After the trip to now:

2008-11-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

After a week end of rest it was back to school, and like every monday it was a d.s.t. I think everyone at that point was looking forward to mid term break though. Every quarter we get two weeks off, and that was only a few weeks away. The first week dragged by slow, and the second week even slower, but the third week was by far the worst. It was mid-term exams. 11 exams, 1 week, and lots of stress. Finally, the week ended and we were free. Before I get on to vacation though I forgot to tell you that on the second to last week Chloe got to go on her school trip to Normandy. She went to a caramel factory, a milk factory, and many others. I'm sure she'd love to explain it in detail if you want to contact her at choldham09@gmail.com. She brought back plenty of goodies like caramel popcorn, and a few early birthday candies for dad. Anyway, lets get back to the vacation which I'm still currently on. We've been mostly relaxing, but we went to the Versailles Palace, the Pompidou, a Jaques Prevert exhibit, eaten mussels, and scared innocent French citizens on Halloween. So basically thats been our vacation in a nut shell. Its been a long time since I could say this, but I finally caught you guys up!

The Trip!

2008-10-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

DAY 1:
Like I was saying I got on the train and one of the longest 5 days ever started. It was a five hour train trip filled with PSP, Ipod, you know the usual. The only thing is that some of the girls sitting close to me thought it might be fun to play really loud music. Not only was it loud though it was bad, and it didn't go too well with Bob Dylan. It was kind of hard to do much of anything, but I'm used to long periods of sitting with annoying noise. (I've driven across America with my family.)
When we got there, we got settled into our rooms, and it definitely wasn't the Comfort Inn. It wasn't bad, but our neighbors found multiple cockroaches on the walls (It's all part of the experience.) We we walked down to the town, to check it out, and it was pretty cool. It's just a really small town with a lot of tanned old French people, but it's really beautiful with the beach and the sun, and the French. After that we went back to our complex, where we were fed, somewhat okay food. It was definitely better than airplane food, but not quite as good as home made. It was definitely a long day considering that I got up at 5, and after dinner we had "activities" till 10:20. It was then I decided it was going to be a long week.
DAY 2:
Day 2 was upon me and today was sailing! Got up, ate breakfast, and found my group. I was in the group that did big boat in the morning little boat in the afternoon. They told us to go get our jackets at which point i realized i had forgot my rain jacket at school. So I ended up wearing my Vermont Law sweatshirt, which i semi-regretted, but at least i was still some-what warm, and I definitely represented. The big boat was fun, but everything was in french, so i was a little lost, but i got to pull some ropes. The little boats how ever were much worse. You manned a very small boat with two of your other class mates, with no adults. Boy could that instructor yell. I was always doing something wrong, but i never really figured out what since he was yelling in French. It was fun though, and after dinner we played activities.
DAY 3:
Today was an interesting day, we were piled into a boat and went for about half an hour until we got to a small Southern France town where all the houses looked the same. We got out, and were told that we were going snorkeling. In the beginning I thought "This'll be great.", and i guess i was about a quarter right. There was definitely a lot of salt in my mouth at the end though. I swallowed so much salt my lips felt puffy at the end. It was kinda fun though we got to see fish in the water, but I would've gone for an aquarium because at least they don't stuff you in a blue suit that is obviously way too tight. Anyway, after that we got back on the boat, and they took us to another town that looked almost exactly the same except this one had naked grandma's on the beach (something you should look out for in France). But they let us have two hours of free time which was fun because basically I just walked around with friends, and got a magnet, and some postcards for my moms birthday. It was cool talking to the people, and you can definitely tell the difference in accents between Paris and the South of France. After that they finally took us back to our place, where we ate, did activities, and trudged to bed.
DAY 4:
The second to last day, well really the last day since Day 5 is just packing up, and heading home.
But anyway, today was really a repeat of Day 2, but this time we had to do everything ourselves, which was scary on the big boat considering we had almost tipped it about a dozen times. But we managed alright, partly because there wasn't much wind in the afternoon, but the highlight was when we turned on the motor, filled a bucket of water and threw it on some unlucky classmates in the little boats. When we tried to do it a second a time though Quentin accidently threw water on Niloy, who was in our boat. After lunch it was time for the afternoon activity, which of course was sailing in the little boats. Luckily for me though this time the guys we got spoke English, and they didn't yell as much. That night we played our final activity, and when i went to bed I began to think of my home in Paris, and i realized that, that was really the first time I had thought of Paris as my home, which was stange, but comforting.
DAY 5:
Finally we were going home! The morning was filled with packing, packing, and more packing. Many people found that they had a lot of stuff stolen, lucky for me I had all my posessions with me. We got on the bus, that took us to the train, that took us home. I was so glad to be home although it wasn't the most welcoming weather. It had been warm in the South of France, and we came into rainy weather, but that was just Paris. Apparently there was a mix up because I thought I was supposed to go home alone, when my mom thought she was picking me up, so I left and ten minutes later, my mom came, but we found each other at home, and all I was well. I just wanted to lie down for a while

Pre-Trip

2008-10-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, first I'll fill you in on what the trip is exactly. Then entire high school is put into a train, and we go to the south of France where we get to sail for a week, and do various activities. Pretty much EVERYONE goes. But with the combined power of my mother and I, we turned in the form late. And let me tell you there was stress. They said they had already booked all the train seats, and I could only go if someone backed out. So for like the next we crossed our fingers, but we pretty much had it in our heads it wasn't going to be. I believe my grandma said, "It would be nice if someone got hurt...not bad, just sick or temporary injury." And LUCKILY for me someone changed their mind. I was on. Now you have two choices on the trip Sport, or Culture. Which is pretty much go sailing, or go to museums. Obviously i took sport. The only problem with that was that I had to take a swimming test. But that's not the problem I was worried about. In France apparently you must wear a Speedo to take the swimming test. Being an American I'm not so used to that. But it wasn't that bad. Not that I would even CONSIDER wearing one in front of my American friends. So that was done. On a funny note though at the pool we saw these people filming one of those exercise videos with a fake beach background and hardcore music going. (It wasn't Denise Austin). I don't remember the exact date at that time, but it was getting closer to the date of the trip (Sep. 29th) I went over to Marcos's house again, and played Halo and went to McDonald's again. But FINALLY the trip was apon me, and I had my backpack of stuff to do in the train, and my bag of a weeks provisions. So at like 5 something, mom and I got on the metro to get to the train station. Mom had the route planned out in her head. So we got in took a couple of stops got off, and looked at the map. And from the looks of it, mom had taken us exactly where we weren't supposed to go. But she was determined. "No, no I saw it on the computer, there's got to be a way from here." But no matter how long she stared and shook her head she never found it. So I did the navigating from then on. When we got to the staion it was madness. I didn't really know where I was supposed to go. Mom was like, "How can you not know where you're supposed to go! Don't you see anyone from your class!? Your dad is going to have a heart attack ifyou get left behind and we still have to pay!" Finally I saw someone from my school. I pointed frantically and yelled, "HER! She's in my class! Follow her!" So we followed her and some other lost looking students from my grade and till we got there. Relief and satisfaction were in the air. I kissed my mom goodbye, and waited for and hour and a half before I got on that "Midnight Train to Georgia", I mean "7:20 train to the South of France".

Lets get serious: Filling you in

2008-10-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone, I'm gonna get serious and fill you in like crazy. I've worn a speedo, been sailing, danced techtonic, and eaten Ethiopian food. I'm gonna try to split this up into different sections

Pre-Trip
The Trip!
After the Trip to now

Lets do this.

Friday: the 12th

2008-09-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

These mornings are starting to get worst. I'm thinking about drinking coffee or at least taking pills (I'm kidding). Anyway we got on the metro for an hour long journey of hot, underground frenchness. We got to school, and first things first English. The only problem is that we know have a teacher, and we're doing work! Summarizing, ughhh. In summary "I hate summarizing". Next was chemistry, which is pretty easy we're just doing last years work. After that the class where I pretty much just copy down french about the romantic periods, and play games in my head like count how many times she says "uhh". Next was French! and I'm doing really well in that class. I've got to tell you something that I might have already told you. Okay, so this one time Byong Jong (this Korean kid in my class who's kind of shy) didn't do his homework. So he's up in front of the class and the teacher says "Byong Jong, why didn't you do your homework?", and he looks down and says,
"Uhhhhh, I don't know what homework is." I'm pretty sure he just didn't do it, but the teacher made sure to explain it. After that class, and then lunch it was on to Geography, where I'm sorry to say, but I forgot to say what we did in class (It must've been my nap time), after GEO, it was on to the much awaited ORCHESTRA! Now this is no where near as cool as Band, but it's okay. I did get to goof around with the guitar, and the teachers really nice, but the guitar parts on West Side story are wicked easy. I could probably do it in my sleep. So after that I lugged my guitar case home and updated my blog from about 2 weeks ago. (I'm trying to get you guys up to date!)
Peace.

Wednesday- The one week anniversary of the first day of school!

2008-09-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

It was just another morning in Paris, Pain de Chocolate, (a chocolate pastry) for breakfast, rushed cramming of backpacks, the usual. I got to school, and being a Monday it started out excellent with French class. We're learning a lot like how to describe ourselves, and other people just in case I see a crime being committed I'll be able to describe the person in French. After French it was on to Business where we're learning how a business runs, and what not (boring stuff). After that it was ICT where once again we just checked our emails, although this time he did have a questionarre for us which was extremely funny to read because he had very obviously written in Arabic, and then used an online translator. Let me give an example of some of the questions.
Do you know of web browser Firefox?
What computer sort do you own?
What sports like you to play?, and my personal favorite....
Do you like the questions I have posed on you on the paper?
So that was fun, but after that I had math which is getting better, I'm kind of worried though I've got a DST on Monday (a dst is a big test, and after that it was the last class of the day Art. And now I know the teacher doesn't like me because she looked at my art (a drawing of the Eiffel Tower), and said "It's not very good", and then she just walked away. So much for constructive criticism

Monday: The 8th of September

2008-09-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

First of all I'll give you a quick rundown of the weekend. I went over to Marcos' apartment on Saturday, to play video games, eat McDonald's, and what not. On the way taking me back I got to tell them my address and do the GPS thing, which was pretty cool, and Sunday was as usual...lazy.
So it was back to a long week, although this one was a full week, so I could only hope to survive. So Monday rolled around, and after an hour with the Metro I was on to my first class Biology, and I know I've said it before, but Chelsea must be at least 2 years in advance, because this year we're learning about parts of a cell, which is like 2 years ago work. Anyway, next was English which was a relief because of course still no teacher. Next was History with Mr. Thompson, one of my British teachers. I really like this class, I'm actually learning things that are useful, like 20th century Europe, and what not. (thats the 2nd time I've said "and what not") Then it was off to my personal favorite class French! Then the tie of my favorite class lunch. The rest of the day consisted of math and art (my two least favorite classes), but don't worry I lived through it. After that (4:00) It was finally time to head home.
I guess since this is "The Oldham's Many Adventures In Paris" I'll talk a little bit about the other (less interesting) Oldhams. So Liam loves his new school. He says, "I have 14 friends, but I want 20", but that's just Liam randomness. I'm not sure about Chloe yet she's been kind of hard to read, but I'll get back to you. Mom doesn't start school for a little while so I'm not really sure what she does all day, but she seems happy, and finally Dylan and Dad I hear they have been doing great with home schooling. So now that I've typed this I'll get back to watching Beatles videos.

Friday: The 5th of September

2008-09-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

It was Friday, morning and it was still hard getting up at 7, (I'm sure I'll be saying that all year) The previous day had been easy school had gotten off at 1, because Sport (P.E.) hadn't started started yet, but today was my full day lasting till 6 o'clock. Luckily school started out with English, which meant break because we had learned that the old English teacher had, "left the country for personal reasons", so everyone in that class got an hour of free period, which meant standing around and talking. After that luxury, we had chemistry with Mme. Grandjean, pronounced grahjahn, it was pretty fun to say. Now I'm not dissing the French or anything, but they're a year behind Chelsea, Vermont in the science department all the material sounds very familiar, but I guess that just means easy A. Next was Music, and being a lover of music, and player of music I had my hopes up. When I got in I immediately learned it was going to be one of those everything in French classes. We're learning about the romantic period in the 19th century which wasn't exactly what I was expecting but what ever. Its kind of funny though, in all my classes that are in French the teacher will talk for like 15 minutes, and she'll ask someone to translate for the English speakers, and one of the bilingual children will say what she said in one sentence. It kind of makes me wonder what all they're saying. Next was one of my favorite classes French. The teacher is so nice, and I'm learning a lot (I should be fluent by the end of the school year) which is pretty cool to think of. We then had lunch, and I went down to whats known as "Canteen" where the kids who pay for their lunch from the school go. I bring my lunch, but I go with my friend because otherwise he would eat alone. And let me tell you, that food is like air plane food, it's EXACTLY like airplane food. Even the cheese was airplane. It looked French, it smelled French, but it was airplane. Anyway, after that it was on to Geography. I thought this class was going to be like the capital of this is this, and the capital of this is this, but it's like history of the geography. I like it, and plus our teacher has a cool British accent. Math was next, and I'm kind of scared of our teacher. He's got a French accent, and I can't really tell when he's joking. One minute he's laughing, and then the next he's yelling. I'll definitely update you on him. Orchestra was my final class of the day. We're going to be the playing West side story, for the play at the end of the year. Mom didn't let me bring my guitar because she's always cautious, and saying "I payed $120 to bring that thing here", so this time I just listened. I think I'm going to like this class. It reminds me of when I played for Annie, in Vermont...good times. Anyway, finally it was 6, and I went home exhausted. On the way Chloe told me we had got Internet, and I got really excited. But I had wait the next day for mom to put the software on. And I'd like to take this opportunity right now to apologize to the readers (Brandi Smith especially) for not updating like I promised, but the internet swept me up. I'll try to be more faithful.

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.....REALLY

2008-09-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay today was the real first day of school. We had classes and everything. By now I was established in the community of 9th grade. Not well-established, but people could most likely remember my face. The name might take a while, but the face probably stuck. One thing I have noticed is that none of the teachers can really pronounce my name at all. It's always pronounced either like cahlehb, cahleeb, or on a couple of occasions cableeb. I've kind of let this slide because its kind of funny watching them pronounce my name, but all the kids know my name. And on that note, all the kids speak really good english, while all the adults have super thick accents. That day I had Business, English, ICT, Math, and Art. We skipped French because we were getting assigned lockers which aren't really lockers, there really just little cubbies that close that we have to share with another person. Business is okay, I think that may be the class where I catch up on my sleep, we didn't have really have English because I guess the teacher is in Argentina or something, so we just stood in the hall for an hour talking and what not. ICT was really cool because we just got an hour of free period on the computer. Our teacher has a really thick Arabic accent, and he keeps repeating that we are going to "Brock the compooter!" (Break the computer), so that class is pretty cool. After that we had lunch (you can actually go out to eat for lunch! But I stayed inside) I continued onto math, which is not my favorite subject, but by the looks of it I should do okay this year. The whole class is on this two year program I.G.C.S.E, I think. Where we learn like algebra, geometry, advanced algebra, statistics, triginometry, etc. all at once. That may sound crazy, but it's two years, and plus we're starting out with identifying numbers so I think I got this. After math art was the place to go. The art teacher I soon learned barely spoke English, like some of the adults in the building. So most of the time I was just nodding, then asking one of the bilingual students (there are a lot) what she was saying. We drew pictures of who we are where we're from, you know all that stuff. By the way she looked at my drawing I think she liked it. She said something about and then walked away, so I guess I'll never know. After art it was finally time for home I met mom outised at around 5, and we made our way home.

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.....KINDA

2008-09-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Okay today was my first day of school....kinda, because we didn't have actual classes, but the new students were supposed to meet the returning students, and we're supposed to hear about the rules, and you know all that junk. So my mom and I headed on our way to school. When we got there I already knew the building because of the placement testing, and I also had a "posse" if you will, of friends who I could talk to. Which made it a lot easier, because upon walking in I found that everybody knew everybody (except me of course) It was basically the newbies standing around in a bunch, and the returning students rowdily talking about their summers and what not. This went on for a while, but finally we ushered into a classroom....well to be more accurate a basement. But when I say basement, I don't mean like dark damp boiler room basement, but nice carpeted basement. It was our home room. The teacher (with a thick Irish accent) began to call out roll call. There was an arrange of names from Neeloy to Nozamoo. I began to look around I began to notice all the diversity, and I'm not talking like Diversity Day in Chelsea Vermont where you go on a virtual safari or something, but this was "The Jungle". We proceeded with the rules, all that junk you know, so I'll just to skip to lunch. I had began to hang out primarily Marcos (the tall Brazilian), and Maxine who I figured out was from Australia. But it was here at lunch that I met some future buddies that I will now list (please note that the spelling of the names are probably inaccurate): Quentin- Now I'm not completely sure of his complete story, but he's french, but he used to live in London. He's really cool, and really obsessed with Borat. Neeloy- Neeloy is from India, and he's also really cool, and really obsessed with Borat. Girls- I just decided to put all the girls into one catagory because I'm too lazy to separate them. There are two Americans Drew, and Casy (NY, and NJ), and there's another Casy, and a whole bunch of others, that would take up many hours of my valuable time. The bottom line is that there 37 kids in my grade (I think), and all of them seem to be nice. Like I said it was a half day so after that I got picked up by mom. I was happy the day had gone well, but I was worried about going to school till 5, and on some days 6 o'clock. I guess we'll just have to see how it turns out.

Announcement #2

2008-09-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone since I have started school the blog will not most likely be put up on a daily basis, but more of an interesting day basis. But don't worry there are many interesting days in the Oldham's Many Adventures In Paris. Sometimes it will be updated daily sometimes not, but what you can count on is interesting stories from the Oldham's. At the very least every week I will recall some of the times we've had.

Day 18 Aug. 29th

2008-09-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

The second day of testing was upon me this morning. Today I had Reasoning, French written, and French oral. I woke up and got ready to head our the door. I didn't have to wake up at 7 like last time because my test started at 10:15. It was a stressful trip there, much sweating, and running around. Finally we got there (this time I had a backpack). My mom figured out what time to pick me up, and I was on my own. I immediately greeted "The gang" I guess you could say. Mark, Maxine, Zeno, Dimitri, Dag, and others, and sat down to my test. It was fairly easy, and immediately after I got the French written. Now the French....bot so much. I had no idea anything that was on the page. But the lady said that it can't hurt me or anything it's just to see where I am. At first I pretty much went with the "When in doubt go with B" philosophy, but I eventually asked the lady, if I should be doing this if I had no idea what I was doing. She told me just to skip to the story part. So I tried my best to describe the story, but it mostly sounded like, "Boy to see television, boy tired, boy test bad" It was about this kid who for got to study for test, and fell asleep watching T.V. So I got the jist of it. After the test, I waited out in the hall for other people to finish. While I was waiting, I met a new guy. I don't remember his name, but he's from Indonesia, and he plays Guitar Hero. Eventually they came out. Dimitri, had to leave but the remainder of the day was spent hanging out and talking with Zeno, Maxine, and Guy from Indonesia. (Mark didn't take the French test) We wandered around for hours because the next test wasn't till 2, exploring the building, talking eating lunch. It was in this two hours that I got my family's uniforms. Mom told me we would be picking them up today. Eventually we ended up in the hall way. I had found a guitar (a really crappy one), and one of the teachers let me borrow it. They seemed pretty impressed with "The skills" It was about 1:30 and by now more people had come. I met two American's! They were from Utah (brother and sister), and the guy seemed really cool. I was playing Beatles tunes, and he would sing along with me. And guess what? He said he played guitar a little bit! I may have found my Paul Mccartney, or John Lennon, or whatever. They also play guitar hero, but they left theirs in Utah. They also mentioned there was a 9th grader girl from New York, so it looks there were more than I realized! It was at about this point that the French oral started. I did a little better on this one, but not by much. I think it's safe to say I'm going to be in beginners French, but we'll see. After that I took my box of uniforms outside where my mom was waiting. We stuffed them in our backpacks, and after making a quick detour to the park to check our emails, we headed home, where of course Liam wanted me to play the worm game

Announcement #2

2008-09-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

YES!!!!
Shout it from the rooftops! The Oldham's have internet, and phone!!!!!!

Day 17 Aug. 28th

2008-08-30T04:55:00.002-07:00

Okay, today was the day of my test, and I feel pretty good about it. I had to wake up at 7:00, eat breakfast, and get ready and about 7:30 we headed out the door. A few metro stops later we were at the school. I had a water bottle, a sweater, and a sandwhich in my hands, and pencils in my pockets. So we went up to the secretary's room many other nervous teenagers around with their moms. And figured out where I was testing. My mom took me there, and I was with another kid who was Indian before she left me to akwardly find my way to the classroom and sit down my heart beat racing. The teacher (who was very nice and smiley) gave us the instructions (By us I mean 9-12th graders, new to the school). And then the placement test started. This section was math, and it wasn't very hard at all. There were some questions I didn't know (I forgot how to calculate volume), but overall it was okay. After the test we had an hour and a half before our next one. So for the first 10 I just awkwardly stood around, before finally a tall fellow 9th grader when the next test was. And then it started. We talked, and some other kids saw us talking, and then we were all talking! It was pretty awesome, and I met some really interesting people. The tall kid was Marcos. I actually don't know how to spell it, but I just call him mark. Mark was born in Moscow, but had been living in Brasil. He speaks like 4 languages, and I'm pretty sure he's been everywhere. (Except Chelsea, Vermont) There's also Dimitri, he was born in France, but he's been living Holland, and he also speaks 4 languages. Okay this next guy has the most awesome name...ever. and I know I won't spell it right, but it sounds like zeno. He's from Vietnam, and somewhere else I forget. He also speaks 4 languages. And there's also Maxine who's from London..... i think, I actually forget, but she speaks one language, which doesn't makes me feel better. So far I think i'm the only American. There are other kids, but those are the main ones I talked to. Oh wait there's also Dag who's Ethiopian. That's pretty much it besides G the guy who walked with me to the testing room. We didn't speak much, and I'm not sure I can pronounce his name, so I just call him G. So the school seems pretty cool, and me and everyone get along pretty well. At 11:15 the English test started, and it was pretty easy. I mean I should do well it's the only language I speak. After the test we hung out at the front of the building before everyone went their seperate ways. I figured out I'm the only that plays an instrument, but hopefully I find someone. I'm gonna need a band if I'm gonna be here for two years. Speaking of which look at what I learned how to do.

_#_

( # )

/ 0 \

( === )

`--------- '

Pretty cool huh?

Day 16 Aug. 27th

2008-08-30T04:55:00.001-07:00

Okay guys i just had like this really wierd dream, so I was back in Vermont and I guess we were holding like Jr. Olympics there or something. And there was this big race, Jasmine, and Whitney tied for 2nd, but this little Asian girl who was like 9 beat them. Then we just hung out in the art room, and i skipped band and two thirds of shop, before i finally decided to go to shop. And then Eric wasn't even mad, he was just laughing. Anyway, I'm sorry that has nothing to do with our adventures in Paris, just a side note. Back to reality. I woke up at 9 30, and went through the usual routine. I was a little nervous though tomorrow is my placement test. Now, my mom says theres nothing to worry about, but as I see it they're judging me on my intelligence, and that's intimidating. Anyway, I was trying to figure out how to divide exponents, and remember pretty much everything else that I had learned the previous year, but I couldn't so I can only hope that it will come to me before then. After lunch we went out for our afternoon walk, we were going back to Thanksgiving, the american food store. When we got there our eyes got wide as the sights so familiar to us were there. Pop tarts, Lucky Charms, yellow mustard, Nerds it was all there. And very expensive! The Pop tarts were 6.50 euros. Which is like 9 dollars or so. So we ended up just getting the yellow mustard, which was also overpriced, but it was worth it. After the American store we walked around for a good while before we found this pretty sweet English bookstore. Supposedly the biggest in Paris, or something like that. Outside there was a cello, and a violin or something like that, and they were really good. It was somebody's birthday. After that it was on to more walking, and walking. Okay I'll just skip the walking and go to the part where we get internet! kinda. So we had tried, many different places this faithful day, and everyone said we needed some kind of number. (I'm not really sure, I usually stayed with the kids) but finally we went to this place called orange, and got internet. Well, we have to wait ten days to set it up, but still. So, that's what I'm excited about. After getting the sacred internet we walked along the river, before heading in.

Day 15 Aug. 26th

2008-08-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

Today, was market day. Well, every Tuesday and Friday is market day, but today we were going again to restock on our fruits, vegetables, cheese, and anything else that was availible. Remember how I told you that I play a game on my computer called "Worms"? Well maybe I didn't, but anyway Liam is obssessed with watching me play it. He's constantly asking, "Hey Caleb you want to play your game" He's either playing his game, or watching me play mine. (He's kinda addicted.) But anyway, we headed to the market at around 11. When we got there, Liam reminded us that he needed red grapes. But dad said we were going to walk around for a while before we buy anything. Which didn't go over to well with my brother. The whole time he would say, "Hey look there's some red grapes, can we get those red grapes? DADDY!" It went on like that for a while, Chloe, Dylan, and I just kind of watched. Finally, we got some along with celery, carrots, stinky cheese, and all the necessities. After the market we headed back home to put away our new food. Lunch was pretty good, and after mom and dad went out for their daily coffee, and left me with the kids. Pretty much the whole time Liam was just watching me play Worms. But when they came back they asked if we wanted to come to the park. Finally, I saw this as my window of oppurtunity, I could bring my laptop and set up the blog! But my battery only last 40 minutes so I would have to act quickly. We found a little bench, I furiously went to work setting up the blog, answering emails, notifying people about the blog, and talking to my former English teacher Mrs. Cesari on Gmail. It was an extremely productive half hour, and I ended up setting up about 12 days of the blog. Hopefully we get internet soon, so I can set up pictures. Anyway, while I was doing that dylan was running around, mom was also answering emails, Liam was chasing pigeons, and Chloe and dad were playing ping pong. After the park we headed home and called it a day, after baths and dinner.

Day 14 Aug. 25th

2008-08-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

I assure you people, today was a lot more interesting than yesterday. Today we were going to go check the neighborhood where we found the pleasant little art museum from day 10. So we did our now daily routine of the morning, and after lunch we headed out. We walked...and walked....and then walked some more. And finally we got to the neighborhood we desired. Supposedly there were was an American food shop where we could get such luxiries like root beer, mustard, etc. That are not availible here in Paris. We did find this wonderful oasis (It's called Thanksgiving), but alas it wasn't open on Mondays. We did however find an english bookshop. And get this...all the books were in English! Which might not sound so glorious to the readers living in America, but it is pretty rare over here. Anyway, we went inside to peek around and ended up buying a few books. Mom and dad got me the three musketeers apparantly i need to read more classics for school (and apparently "ttyl" doesn not count) Anyway, I would like to now introduce a new segment to my blog I call "Pointless Dicussions I Overhear That Are Amusing to Me" So, we were in the book store, and I over heard a conversation that went a little like this. Well, first of all let me get you some background. A man and a woman came into the bookstore the man first, and then the lady tripped, a little bit and then caught herself. Let's take a look at the converstion that followed:

STOREKEEPER: I'm sorry about that.

WOMAN: Yeah, you should really get that fixed.

MAN: Someone could seriously get hurt.

SK: Yeah there was a wooden plank there, but it broke off.

MAN: Maybe a little ramp would help.

SK: I was thinking about putting a rug in.

MAN: I think a ramp would be more effective.

WOMAN: Someone could get hurt.

SK: Yeah

WOMAN: Maybe a rug, or you could replace the wooden plank.

MAN: I think so too.

SK: Yeah oh well.

THE

END

Well, i found it amusing, and then the couple just left as if they were so put off by the entrance that they could not possibly look around. Anyway, we kept on walking and eventually found a park. But as Liam said "It was a baby park" The kids tried to play on it, but they were obviously too big, so we ventured on into the city. We found ourself in the midst of many cool little clothing shops, wierd shoe shops, and other things that were very Oldham-like. So we went into the most of them looking at the colorful shoes, the highpriced clothing, and what-not. We did at one point find a little place and we bought some bowl, that were greatly needed (since we only have giant bowls) While my parents shopped I sat with the kids on the bench outiside. While we were there Chloe I guess nudged Liam for getting on to Dylan. Then Liam punched chloe on the shoulder causing Chloe to tattle on him. Liam is always doing things like this so this time i took a different tactic....a wet willie. After I did this to Liam he said, "What was that." I responded with, "A wet willie" Liam then came back with, "Who is Willie?" I laughed at this and tried to explain it to him. After he learned that it was not actually a wet person, he started giving my sister "A willie" as he calls it. But when I got on to him about this, he for some reason started giving himself "willies" (Like I've said before I will never understand my brother.) After that trip we continued to walk around and found a Monoprix (a big super store) berfore finally calling it a day.

Day 13 Aug. 24th

2008-08-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

It was another one of those days folks, a "lazy Sunday", if you will. It rained again, so we stayed inside, and besides it was Sunday in August so nothing would've been open. We ate, read, watched tv, read some more, ate again, watched some more, played snood, bragged about the score board, read,and then ate, then ate again. That was the day in a nutshell, but I've got nothing better do so I might as well type a little more. I'm reading "I'm a stranger here myself". It's about this man who lived was born in America and grew up there, but then moved to England. The book is about his return to the states after 20 years of living in America and the culture shock. He lives in New Hampshire, so if anybody from that area is reading (That's you Vermonters) I would especially reccommend it because you might recognize some of the places he visits. (West Lebanon, Hannover, Norwhich) And I also recommend to anyone else as a good book also. It's got a lot of facts in it also. Like did you know that if you earned a dollar a second it would take you over a thousand years to be as rich as Bill Gates, and it would take you something like 31,000 years to earn a trillion. Anyway, it's a good book. I think i've efficiently put enough words on this day, so that's the end of that day.

Anouncement

2008-08-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, (both of you)
I will be updating the blog soon with many hilarious Oldham adventures, but our internet will be working next week, and the blog will be updated daily. Keep checking in, for any random burst of Oldham-ness, but until then keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.:)

Day 12 Aug. 23rd

2008-08-26T08:41:00.003-07:00

Finally today, we got school supplies. I started the day off like usual, breakfast, T.V., snood, guitar, minesweeper. That kind of stuff, but at around noon we put on our empty back packs, and headed to fill them. We went to "Office Depot" but you can say it like you would in English, you just have to say it kind of fast, and don't pronounce the t. So we went to the paper section to get journals, and loose leaf paper. I'd like to make an observation; the paper here is not lined like American paper. There's small square, and big square. Small square, is like graph paper, and big square is just wierd. Anyway, the trip went rather well we found everything we needed. We then continued on to find some lunch. Another observation, unlike America, lunch is the big meal in France not dinner. Anyway, we found this little sidewalk cafe that was pretty cool. I got the Crepe jumbo. This crepe (kinda like a pancake) with cheese and ham in it. It was very good. Liam ordered a crepe froumage. (a crepe with cheese in it), but found that he didn't like it. Well, he said that he liked the taste, but he didn't like it to eat it. (I will never fully understand Liam) So the whole meal he was whining and asking for other people's food. Chloe reluctantly gave Liam some fries for one of his crepes, but she found that didn't like it either so I got it. Not only did i have my lunch, a little bit of Liam's, but my mom gave me some of her's too so that was an excellent meal. After the meal Chloe, and Dylan got two scoops of ice cream because they ordered the kids meals. Liam was especially jealous there since he only got a bite of Dylan's. After the meal, and a good deal of waiting for the waiter to come to our table we headed to the park across the street. I had brought my PSP which was wi-fi accessible so i could read my myspace messages (not answer them because it takes a long time to type on a PSP). The kids played on the park on a while, but Liam said he wanted to go to the one on the other side of the street because there were a lot of kids over there (there are a lot of parks in Paris.) So we went to the other park where i couldn't get a signal, so i mostly just watched Chloe, Dylan, and Liam. After the park, we decided to carry our back packs back home. And that's the end of that day

Day 11 Aug. 22nd

2008-08-26T08:41:00.001-07:00

Well, woke up today and it was pouring. Luckily, i put down my little sky light thing last night, and didn't get wet, but this meant that we weren't going to venture out side, and today we were supposed to go to the market, and then get school supplies. Oh well. I had my breakfast, this time it was a chocolate pastry. I started off the day lazy and i intended to stay that way. I kept my Simpsons pajama pants on, and wore a shirt probably only a third of the day. My mom had been reading Animal Farm, and I was next in line so after she was done I got my hands on it. Reading was probably the bulk of my day, that and playing guitar. I finished the book in the afternoon, and I liked it. Not only is it a good story it's very satirical. I recommend it for anyone. Anyway, we didn't do much that day, but we did play snood. Snood is thsis awesome game, i gave my mom for her laptop, and now the whole family is hooked. We have competitions to see who can get the highest score (It's usually me or my dad, my mom's not very good.) So I'm sorry I didn't write very much but it was a slow day.

Day 10 Aug. 21st

2008-08-26T08:40:00.002-07:00

It looked like it was going to be a somewhat normal day for the Oldham's we were going to go to the Musse D'Orsay, which I was excited about. So it started out pretty normal cereal, getting dressed, watched French cereal play minesweeper, and worms on my computer. When suddenly as my mom was making macaroni the whole house was filled with a deathly scream. Now I did not witness the events that next occurred so they might not be totally be accurate, but this is what I think happened. Chloe was trapped behind our stairs, and either my dad lifted her out or she did, and she was a little banged up. She had this long cut down her stomach, where the stairs had gotten her. I took a photograph when no one was looking, but I don't have permission to post it so sorry. But anyway that's what went on in the morning before lunch. After lunch, my parents said it was too late to go to the musse d,orsay, but we were gonna go to the Pompidou, which is this really cool modern art museum. So we got to going, oh and we were going to walk there to. It was only about an hour away, which we're used to by now. So we made our way down the 6 flights of stairs (they're getting easier), and out the door. After a good deal of walking we stopped at the park (the park from day 3) with the slide, that they all love. Liam also picked up a new job, kicking pigeons. He was our protector at the park chasing off any pigeons that got close. It was quite amusing. So we kept going, but on the way we found this little museum, that was really cool. It had some old art of like kings and things. The hedges were cut really cool, and it was free. So after that pleasant stop we continued on. We were finally almost there, so we decided to get a snack. We found a little street bakery to get some chocolate pastries, but this little kid like 10 I'd probably say, kept trying to get my parent to buy him some food, he had a really low face, and my mom kept saying "uhh no, no". My mom says that those are Gypsy kids. They try to get you to buy something and why'll you're not looking they're friend will steal your wallet, and they're fast. Their very common in Paris. Which kinda creeps me out so i walked with one hand on my wallet. We made our way there, and sat on the ground in front of it and ate our pastries. There's this giant escalator that you take up to the art, it's pretty cool. So we finished our snack, and went in the Pompidou. We bought our tickets, and went up the 5 levels of elevators. From that level we could see the Notre Dame, and Eiffel Tower. We went in the exhibit, and looked at the art. In the beginning I was kind of like "come on this is art." Because it would be like a piece of white paper with a blue splatter, or maybe just a piece of white paper. But I learned to appreciate, and it got a lot more complicated. I'll post some pictures on corresponding blog, "The Oldhams Many Adventures In France- the Visual Aid". Some of the art was really amazing, and my mom seemed to know a lot about it. But after a while Dylan began to get a little rowdy, and Liam began to cry because he said that he wasn't a walker. So we got on the elevator, and went down. We decided we didn't really want to walk, so we took the metro back home. We walked up our stairs, and relaxed in the apartment while my mom and dad went to the park to use the wi-fi with my dad's laptop. I brought all the kids up to my small room to watch some Simpsons on my laptop, but for some reasons none of the DVD's work on my laptop. They work on my dad's but not on mine. A lot of our electronics have malfunctioned. The portable DVD player just doesn't turn on. Neither does my Playstation 2, so that means no guitar hero for 2 years. Anyway, my mom and dad came back, and that's the end of that day.

Day 9 Aug. 20th

2008-08-26T08:40:00.001-07:00

Today, we finally finish up setting up our bank account, and we get to meet Amelies (my moms french friend) parents. So I woke up at like 9:30 to the sound of my mom and dad walking out of the house on the way to the bank. I went down my ladder, and ate some french cookie crisp, and then went back up, and played minesweeper for a while. Finally, my parents came back and we had our bank account, meaning we can get internet, telephone, and all that good stuff. So, we sat around for a while watching the olympics wandering who to cheer for, and then made some pasta lunch. After lunch it was time to head out. We got on the subway, and this time I took my ipod. I had this thing that clipped to my belt, so i felt really secretive. You can never be too careful. So about a Beatles album later we got off the train and into the rain. My mom called Amelie and arranged for her to come pick us up. It was only sprinkling, and me and Dylan ran around. So about 10 minutes later Amelie, and her dad came and picked up Chloe, Liam, and Dad, because they could only pick up 3. So Mom, Dylan, and I walked around for 20 minutes before they came to pick us up. I sat in the front with Amelie's dad. He mostly spoke French with my mom. And when he asked me questions in French I tried my best to answer back in French, but eventually he just spoke English with a very thick accent like everyone else in Amelie's family. So after the car ride we were at Amelie's parents house. We walked in, and dad and liam were already playing with the toy animals. Amelie came down stairs with a little girl named Lucy that her parents looked over and we chatted before going outside to eat a snack of chocolate cake, and water. Then we decided to go take a walk in the forest near the house. So we made our way their Dylan, mom, Liam, Dad, Amelie, Lucy, Chloe, and I. We walked through the forest I was taking pictures Mom and Amelie were talking. The forest reminded me of taking walks after school in the forest behind the graveyard In Chelsea. We kept walking looking for any wild animals when suddenly a dog came running up, and begin to follow us sniffing the ground. He looked like he was lost. He would run away and then come back, before finally Amelie grabbed him, and looked for a number or something. She found one, and called the owner. The owner said whe was busy with her son's birthday, and just let him go he knows his way. So we decided to head back, with the dog still following us. Finally it ran off. Amelie gave Lucy (a 2 year old) to Chloe, and on the way back they held hands together, it was a very cute Kodak moment, and I made sure to get it. So finally we made it back to Amelie's parents house, and Amelie wanted to know if I wanted to use the Internet. Immediately, my face lit up, and i said "yes!" So she led me up to the computer. I brought up Mozilla Firefox, and began to type Hotmail.com, but i came out like kevtif.gfn. I looked down at the keyboard, and i was very confused. It took me back to my first days with the computer when you have to search for each letter. But finally i got in. I think had like 14 messages, which was really exciting, but i figured out I really only had 9, but it was still cool. So i answered all my emails very slowly, and told everyone i will be putting up a blog soon, so after that i went down stairs. I heard my mom and Amile talking about setting up our internet and i got excited. They went upstairs to check it out, and i followed. There was a plan that said we could have cable, internet, phone, and make free calls to the U.S. That would would be awesome, but i don't know how my mom feels about it. Then Amelie's mom (who had been at work this whole time) walked in the front door. We said our hello's, and like everyone else she also had a thick accent. But then we had to say our good bye's, because she had some stuff to do i guess. So we headed back toward home, amelie's dad, and Amelie's brother (who i forgo to mention) took us back to the subway. A Bright Eye's album later we were back at the apartment. I put on some "Back in Black", to make it up the stair, and it seemed to work pretty good. So that was the end of that day.

Day 8 Aug. 19th

2008-08-26T08:39:00.002-07:00

Woke up a little late this morning something like 10:30 or 11, but anyway had my French cookie crisp cereal to start the day. Today we had to go to the post office to get the 5 boxes that we had shipped in Vermont. They had things like sheets, napkins, books, and those kind of things. So everyone put on an empty backpack, and we made our way there. There was a little drama on the way though. As you probably could've guessed Liam and Chloe bicker quite a lot. So they were the first ones down the stairs, and there was a woman right behind them. When they got to the door a fight erupted to who could open the door this went on for a good 15-30 seconds before they realized they were blocking the way, mom and dad both apoligized obviously embarassed at their kids manners. They gave both kids a lecture. Lectures to Liam don't usually effect him, and this one didn't really either. But Chloe being the 9 year old girl that she is was holding back tears, and on the way there they erupted, (Don't tell her I put on the blog it's a sensitive subject), but just like everything else she got over it. So we were at the post office, and got our 5 boxes, loaded up and made our way back. I thought it was going to be bad like 1st day bad, but i was only stuck with a backpack full of books, and a box, which isn't bad. Getting up 6 flights of stairs certainly wasn't easy though, and it was very convenient that the cleaning lady was mopping the stairs as we were carrying boxes of books up the stairs. So we dropped our bags at the apartment, and went back outside. On the way the cleaning lady was finishing up the stairs she told Liam to wait, or as she said said it "Attondre" (She doesn't speak English) Then she finished and shut the door, and the lights went out on us. I think that was an accident, but I really don't think she likes us. Either because we're American, or because we stepped all over her wet stairs, or maybe a combination. Anyway, we stepped out the door, and made our way to the market to buy some fresh vegetables and fruit. We ended up with grapes, onions, carrots, and other stuff. We found these cheesy bread things that were really good, that's what we ate for lunch. Then we decided to try to go find a zoo, but we didn't tell Liam because just in case we couldn't find it we didn't find it we didn't want him to get upset. So we got on the subway and went to the tourist place to get a map. When we got one, we walked around on this path for like 30 minutes before we figured that wasn't the way. The whole time, Liam was telling my dad how he wanted to be a hunter, and go to Africa and shoot huge animals. I got a lot on camera, i'm thinking about starting a youtube account dedicated to Liam, and put it on there. But anyway, we changed directions and went back to the sidewalk before we got on another path. And walked on that for about an hour, before we finally decided to go back home. We did see some cool stuff on the way though, we saw these old guys playing this game called putau, or something like that with a p. It's this game where , you throw this little ball, as close as you can to this other little ball. It's exactly like horse shoes except with balls. And we also saw this huge castle called the Chateau de Vincennes, I think. It was really cool. My mom said one of the King Louies was born there. So, we got back on the subway and headed home. The End (for today)

Day 7 Aug. 18th

2008-08-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

We had finally hit the one week mark, and today we were going to see our school. We woke up with high ambitions, and on the way there, excitement rose. When we finally got there it was very empty, only on the 2nd floor did we find some of the staff. The secretary, and this assistant guy who showed us around after we turned in our paperwork to the secretary who had the cool english accent. The guy showed us around the 3 floors the school, starting with the one we were on the 2nd. The first floor is dedicated to the primary classes (elementary), and the 2nd and 3rd floor are both for junior high and high school. The class rooms are really big, at least a lot bigger than Chelsea's, and the lab room, and multi media rooms were reall high tech. August 28th i think is my placement test, where they figure out exactly where I'm gonna be, hopefully in my grade, but we'll see where i am. The music, art, and drama room we're all in the basement. The guy said that there's this one kid at the school who is the son of a Jazz heir, and that he is really good at guitar. Well, he better bring his A-game if he's gonna go up against me. Anyway, he wrapped up the tour, and said so-long. After the school we decided that we were gonna go see another famous structure. The Arc of Triumph. So we got on the subway and journeyed there. It was pretty cool. It had sculptures built into the building very amazing. We had bought snacks earlier, and we so now we sat near the arc and ate. After our brief snack we my dad said that stair didn't sound that good right now, so we didn't go up in the arc, but we're here for 2 years so i figure we've got time. After the arc we walked around a found some cool stores like Nike Paris, and other chains. On the way we found exchange place. It felt wierd giving up all my money, but i just let it go. (I did keep 5 bucks though) i gave the guy 69 dollars, and got back like 36. Which kinda blew my mind how low our dollar was, but then i factored in that i had to pay the guy 5 dollars for the exchange, but i'm glad i just got it all over with, and the Euro's look really cool. The bills start 5, and get bigger in size as the value increases. So we kept walking, and ended up on this really fancy street, that my mom said was where all the celebrities, all the brand names, like Gucci, Prada, and Ralph Lauren thoses kinda stores. I was taking a lot of pictures, and I think that the people on the street we're getting angry at me, but i could care less. So we continued walking finding no celebrities. We then decided it was a little late to keep walking around so we went back home. That night I watched Breakfast Club on my laptop, and i've gotta say, one of the best movies i've ever seen. I really liked it. But that's off the topic. So that was the end of day 7.

Day 6 Aug. 17th

2008-08-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up and went down my little ladder, and we had pastries for breakfast (very French). Today we checked out the neiborhood a little more, and found this really old famous graveyard where old, old people are buried. Like 1700's. There were also a lot of famous french people that I didn't know. But someone I actually do know who wasn't from Paris, but died there was Jim Morrison who was also buried there. I was a little worried though going through the graveyard, a lot of the door were off their hinges, and we even saw some orange tape around a few graves, so if my blog aruptly stops, you know what happened. Anyway, after a good deal of walking we went out of there, and on our way back home, but before we went there we stopped by the park to try out our new ping-pong paddles. Me and chloe played for like 15 minutes. It was fun, but i'm sorry to say my ping pong skills don't rub off on her. I mean she's not that bad, and hope she gets better, because i need some competition. Anyway, after that we headed home. It was kind of slow day, but it had been a big week, and we had a big week ahead of us. Monday, we were gonna get shown the school, and Wednesday we were going to finish setting up our bank account, and going to see Amilee parents.

Day 5 Aug. 16th

2008-08-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

This morning, Dylan was acting more autistic than usual. He was in a hitting mood. First he asked for macaroni, for breakfast. When he was denied he asked for chips. When he was denied again he went up to his room crying. When my mom tried to comfort him, and get him dressed he refused to wear pants unless they were red. Anyway, this weekend my mom says she just wants to take it easy, so that means no subway, but we still wanted to explore the neighborhood, so after breakfast, at around 11 30, we treked out to explore the area. (I put on my Chelsea soccer shirt, to represent.) We walked around for a while, and found a place that sold peanut butter (peanut butter is not to common around here) Then we decided to get sandwhiches and eat at the park. So we stocked up and headed there. The park is actually only about 10 minutes or so from our apartment, which is very conveniant. While we were eating there Mom offered Dylan a peanut butter sandwhich. Dylan took one bite, and then spit it into my mom's hand. My mom immediately threw it over her back, and almost immediately, at least 2 dozen birds, swarmed over our heads. It was very intense, and there was much screaming coming from my mom. After that we were careful not to drop anything. The kids played for about 30 minutes before we headed on. We headed on to the mainstreet, and saw a game shop, then another, then another, then another. Chloe and I counted at least 8 gaming stores, on just 3 blocks. We headed into most of them, I was looking for a psp charger cord, since my american one is kind of deffective. I didn't find one under 10 euros, but i found something better, a usb cable that i could use to plug it into my computer. After that we continued on, and found a place to get ice cream (we've been eating a lot of that lately.) It was okay, but Dylan's strawberry ice cream did not look natural at all. We saw a GoSport, and remembered we needed some ping-pong paddles and balls, and went in and got some, so i can check that off my mental list. We went to the next store over some kind of furniture store, cause we needed some stuff i guess, we ended up with a salt and pepper shaker, and an alarm clock. The guy who bagged our stuff, spoke to my parents with a really funny British accent. Apparently, they teach people British English here, and not American English, which makes sense, and it also makes it more fun to try to talk to people here. After that we decided we wanted to go home on the way i saw a wi fi spot, which reminded me i wanted to try to get on the internet soon. We will be getting it soon i hope, but i can't go long with out it. Right now i'm just putting all of this on a word pad document so no one can actually see it, but once i get on the internet, it'll go on. Anyway, we got home, and again mom and dad went out to leave me with the kids, which i'm fine with, but i'm just sayin. So they went to get a coffee, and i stayed with the kids. After about an hour and a half or so they came back, and again we had pasta. After dinner I had some gummi bear vitamins, not really because i'm concerned about my vitamin intake, but i like gummi bears. After dinner we all rested with some quality french tv.

Day 4 Aug. 15th

2008-08-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Again I slept good, and slept in till about 10. This time we had cereal, it was something like choco pops, or something i don't know i can't keep up with all the cereal here, and while we're on the topic of french cereal i noticed at the grocery store that like all the cereal was chocolately. Anyway, i woke up and had cereal, and i heard mom say that today we're going to see a big church. So we headed down stairs at around noon, to the sacre cuere, i think that's how you spell it it means sacred heart. It's this huge catholic church you can see from our apartment. It was really beautiful and it had a lot of candles and things in it. There was no photography so unfortunately i couldn't get any pictures. But i did see one guy take a picture, and i really wanted to get onto him, but he probably wouldn't understand me. Ater that we walked around this really cool square that had a lot of touristy stuff, and painters painting people. It really annoys me how they can tell we're American. Like they'll go up to someone else, and say "bonjour", and then they come up to my family and they'll be like "hey guys" Anyway, my mom said a lot of really famous artists used to live there, now just a bunch of crappy ones. So after that my mom said we were gonna go to the louvre. Now if anyone doesn't know the Louvre is like the most famous, awesomest museum EVER. The mona lisa is there, the venus de milo, modanna on the rocks, all of that. So we made our way there, and sticking to our roots, we stopped at mcdonalds on the way there. Finally, we got there, the art was amazing and i had mom take my picture with the most famous things like the mona lisa (it's actually called the jaconde here) and the venus de milo. So that was pretty cool. After the art we went to the Latin district, and had some ice cream. Not the best ice cream in the world, but it was good. After that we decided to head home, cause we were pretty tired. So we got on the metro and went back to the apartment. On the way we wanted to the grocery shop, but in August a lot of the stores close because it's like the month of rest or something. So we got home, but mom and dad needed some stuff, so i babysatfor a while. After about 2 hours they came back, made pasta, gave the kids baths and put us to bed. I'll now take this time to share with you things I like about Paris, and things I don't like about Paris.
Things I like about Paris:
It's PARIS!
They're so much to do, and see
It's very diverse
The language, the culture
The food
Things I don't like about Paris:
At Mcdonalds they don't put ice in your drink, and you have to pay for your ketchup.
LOTS OF PEOPLE
You have to pay to go to the bathroom at public places
In August almost everything is closed
The electrical outlets are much different, which is annoying when all your plugs are American

Day 3 Aug. 14th

2008-08-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

My sleep was really good last night thanks to the mattress and i even slept in till about 10. I woke up and started looking for breakfast noticing we didn't have cereal i went for a cup of grapes. After breakfast i wanted to take a shower, but in this house there's more to it than just that. There's no barrier around the tub like glass or curtain or anything, so you have to take a sit down shower. A shbower if you will. (Shower+Bath=Shbower) Anyway at around noon our jouney for the day began. We traveled down the 6 flights and we were off to the bank. Mom and dad had not yet set up bank accounts, and this needed to be done. The only thing is that dylan couldn't come in because well you know he's dylan. So i sat outside in the oddly cold weather while my parents set up the bank accounts. Dylan did really good considering we were out there for about 30 minutes, although at about the 20 minute mark he did elbow me in the face, but i like to think it was an accident. So after that we decided we were hungry. A few metro stops later we were at "Quality Burger" kind of like a french mcdonalds, (although i've already seen 4 mcdonalds since i've been here). After that it was off to sight seeing. The main event was the Notre Dame. And it was pretty cool. It was like this old church kind of thing. It's supposed almost 1000 years old. My mom told me she read a sign that the pope would be coming in September. That would be awesome if i could get a picture of the pope. Anyway, after that we went by this little holocaust mermorial thing which was the commerate the 200,000 french jewish that had died during that time. I really liked, but we had to explain the holocaust to my little sister. After that we walked around a little bit, and my mom told us that we had to try the best ice cream in the world "berthillon". And man was it good! The vanilla, was so vanilla. The chocolate was so chocolate. I reccomend it to anyone in paris. After that burst of amazingness we decided to just wander the streets of Paris, which is really fun to do. We ended up in a toy shop buying liam and chloe Elmer plates. (Elmer is a patchwork elephant, if you need to know anymore about Elmer ask liam i'm sure he could fill up about 3 hours of your day with Elmer knowledge). Then we were a little lost, so sat down in a park (there are many in Paris), and we tried to figure out where exactly our apartment was. There was a slide at the park, where all 3 kids must've slid a dozen times. I think Liam enjoyed it the most though because even after bumping his butt, and sobbing he said through his tears, "I'm still having so much fun!" Dylan loved it to, he had been doing a lot better today, probably because he actually slept the night before. So after we found out where we were headed we headed there. On the way home though Dad found a Euro coin and gave it to Liam. Which made me jealous, so I immediately began to scan the ground for any coins. I looked the whole way home, but nothing. People really pick up their change here in Paris. On the way home I made a little ryhme to find out if you're on the right street of our house. If you see Kiwi, Fa Li, and grafhitti, then you're on the right street. So we made it up our stairs, which still put me out of breath, and rested for a while. That night we had chicken and bread and fruit, mom says we're eating more like Italians than French. At one point during the meal Liam spilt some of his chocolate milk. The converstion went like this.
"I spuilt my chocolate milk, should i clean it up?"
"That's all right i'll get it" said dad. Then Liam said,
"Why aren't you making me trouble?"
We all laughed at this, but Liam was just confused. After dinner, we watched some of The Office on our dvd player.

Day 2 Aug. 13th

2008-08-26T08:30:00.002-07:00

I woke up an awful a lot last night, but it sounds like it wasn't bad as dylan, because i didn't hear him sleep at all. Apparently there was a lot screaming and crying. I think he's home sick for America. He's had a lot of screaming and hitting when we're out in public not other people just my mom mostly. Who doesn't mind it so much, and it's not extremely bad but we all hope it gets it better. All the kids including me were up by 7 and the adults by 7:30. We went first to this little park near our new school to feed the ducks. We started throwing them our bits of bread, when suddenly we got ambushed with crows pigeons, and little sparrows. In paris they're everywhere especially the pigeons, and not only are they their, but their not. really that afraid of you until you get like 2 inches from them. We saw this poor little crow that like kinda limped skipped though. I named him skippy. We had our uniform fitting at 11 that went relatively smooth. The clothes were very preppy, like button ups, nice pants but thats what i was expecting. The secretary lady who gave us our clothes had a really cool english accent and was really nice. She said that we could come tour the school on monday. After that we decided that we were going to see the Eiffeil Tower. Up close and personal. Not do the whole experience like go up, but just go under it. So we got some picknick gear. Sandwhiches, chips, and mcdonalds for dylan, and liam, and headed there. It was pretty amazing finally seeing one of the most famous structures in human history. We had our sandwhiches, and took our pictures, and headed on. Next it was the modern art museum. Now before that museum my definition of modern art was a piece of paper with a circle, and then maybe a line. but it was pretty cool. there was like darthvader masks, and elephant thing, this thing that shot bottles. You'll just have to see for yourself. So after that we decided that we were too tired for anymore paris right then, and decided to get home, and prepare for the company that we were having. My mom's friend Amelie, who she had known since high school. Amelie came over for pasta that night everyone had a good time eating pasta, and talking. I loved Amelie's accent. It was so thick some of the time when she was speaking english it just sounded french. When it was mentioned that i was sleeping on the floor, she had her dad come bring me a matress which was very cool. and a relief for my back.

Day 1 Aug. 12th

2008-08-26T08:30:00.001-07:00

But, anyway the flight was a good 8 hours, of psp,ipod,and gummi worms. and then we finally landed. We walked to the baggage claim, and on the way i was freaking out (in a good way), everyone was talking french! After waiting what seemed like hours we finally got out bags, and we were off to meet liam and dad. When we met we started to figure out who was going to carry what. We had somewhere around 9 bags, a purse, 4 backpacks, and a guitar case. I ended up with 2 bags on my pack, a big green bag on a rollie bag, and guitar case. That was about the roughest 2 hours or however many hours it was. We did have a lot of rest on the subways and stuff, but it was extremely tough. The worst probably was on the streets of paris, when all of our hands were red and blistered, and chloe was crying, but eventually we got there. And then of course it was carring the bags up 6 flights of stairs, (we're on the top floor, with no elevartor) but at least we were there. First impression, when my mom and dad said that it was small they were not lying. you walk in and you look to the left and theres the living room, and to the right there's a closet. Oh and by the way we have a little storage room next to our apartment. If you ever come, liam refers to it as a out garage, so you have to also, or you will be corrected. Back to the apartment. You look straight and there's my mom and dads room. I there there's this little spiral staircase thing to liam, dylan, and chloe's room. Back to the living room. which is also kinda the kitchen and dining room, because they're all a little meshed, but anyway in the living room, there's a ladder. Which leads to MY ROOM. Which i think is pretty cool. although i can't really fully stand up, I'm just glad i get my own space. So we rested a bit, before venturing out and exploring the neighborhood. The whole time i was just thinking, "I cannnot believe i live here." We went to a park, which had ping pong tables, and i made a little mental note to buy paddles and balls. Then we went to get a little dinner, i think it was around 4. but mine, moms, chloes, and dylans mental clocks were messed up (we hadn't really slept since 7 am yesterday) and dad and liam were just hungry. So we got these cool hot dogs, that were like long, in really good bread, with cheese. It was pretty awesome and afterward we shared a chocalate banana crepe. Pretty good way to wrap up the day. We headed to the store got some water and other things, and headed home. It's going to definitely take a while to get used to all the walking, and the 6 flights of stairs. It was around 5 and mom was already asleep, so i decided to turn in since like i said i hadn't slept since 7 in the morning yesterday. i don't really have a bed yet so i just put down some blankets and slept on those. Right now i'll tell you a little more about where we're sleeping. It seems to have a lot of catches. Like you must manually shut the bathroom door, or put the chair in front of it or it will slam. Also you can see the bathroom from mom and dads room so be sure to close the bathroom. Also when the water is on it leaks a little bit, so before you leave always turn it off. Some really cool things are that to flush you push a button which is pretty cool also i have to climb a ladder to get to my room which i think is really cool. But the most amazing thing is the view. I mean we can see the Eiffeil Tower from our house!

Day 0 Aug. 11th (not in France yet)

2008-08-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Wow today was crazy, and hectic. We woke up at 7 and the rushing began. Breakfast was crammed, last minute things packed, and ipods that were charging were unhooked and put away. After much crying and saying goodbye to grandma, and my moms friend (not me i didn't cry, and yes my heart is made of stone) we got on our flight to chicago. 2 hours later we at the o'hare, with a 5 hour wait for the next plane to paris. We set up camp in an isolated waiting area, and there were no outlets open which posed a problem, since i need power for life basically. Of course there were 2 but this one guy was hogging them both, and he knew it. He had his shoes off watching his little movie, so relaxed, so plugged in. but whatever. Everywhere i looked in that whole airport people were gathered aroung the power like pack rats. Finally, i saw a woman get up, and i immediately jumped on the outlet. "Yesssss." That was a much more pleasant 5 hours after that. So me, dylan, mom, and chloe got in the air plane. Walking through the airplane we got really excited after seeing first class sitting in their mini-living rooms, but we were happy with the seats we got, i mean they had mini screens! I got to watch one hannah montana commercial before the screen turned off, and the piolet said they were going to reboot the screens or something. They never did, but we did get to see the map with our plane on it, and by the looks of it our plane was about the size of massachuttes. Then it turned 12 am. So technically i have to change days.