Emily Amelie

Charles Dodgson

2010-07-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

2010-07-08T04:18:00.001-07:00

2010-06-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

2010-06-14T11:36:00.001-07:00

51 billion farm animals are killed each year, making each person responsible for the deaths of nine animals annually.

Parts of Thoughts.

2010-06-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Two words hit me as being very powerful in writing: America and reservoir. One starts and ends with an A and the other with an R, and they both contain an "er" in the middle.

Some things are distinctly American to me - red summer dresses, work boots and t-shirts, corn-on-the-cob, spiderwebs.

I have a hard time explaining what I do at Farm Sanctuary in French.

Day Off

2010-06-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hans Baldung Grien

2010-06-06T15:58:00.001-07:00

2010-06-04T18:32:00.001-07:00

On Felines

2010-06-03T08:59:00.001-07:00

There is an orange cat named Gregory who sleeps on the unclaimed top bunk. Some people remind me of orange cats, but I don't know why. Maybe it's because I feel very comfortable around them, or because orange cats seem so much warmer than the other cats.

There is a three or four-week-old kitten in the white house. He started eating today, but he couldn't figure out how to take bites of his food. Instead he kneaded it, rubbed his face and paws in it, and tried to drink it like milk. He drank water from a syringe, milk from a rubber-topped bottle. A grey cat, not orange.

Everyone resembles some kind of cat.

I made stew, bread. Burnt beans taste worse one day later.

New Bed

2010-06-01T05:05:00.001-07:00

I have a new bed.

I've had a lot of new beds, especially in the past two years. The beds at Warren, Hawthorne, Ethel, then the beds in Ecuador on the farm and at Brooke and Joe's casa, back to Ethel, the bed at my school, back to Ethel, and now here. A twin bed with a green cotton blanket, next to a window that looks across the street to Farm Sanctuary.

My first night here, thunderstorms passed outside and cats batted at the bedroom door to get in. These are grey and white cats with thin noses and big yellow eyes.

I burned a pot of black beans this morning and it is supposed to storm again.

PART II

2010-05-30T18:27:00.001-07:00

New York state

(Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen)

for an internship that starts tomorrow

Summer '07

2007-09-07T22:20:00.001-07:00

Dance Party

2007-04-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Tiens Cam-cam, je met ces photos pour toi. C'est un preview de cet ete...

Ben & Bruno a la DAAC

KareoDance: Freestyle

Acrosport USA

Portland I

2007-04-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

L'Anniv' de Vicky

2007-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Vicky a 17 ans!
La theme de la fete: 1990

On a vu Ben and Bruno a Four Friends.
Fantastique.

Et apres, on est rentre chez Vicky.

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Fin d'hiver

2007-03-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

First ski trip this winter,
and the last.

My superhero:

"Girls' Night Out"
No, we're not middle-aged yet!

And wait... it's Carly sneaking over to bake a cake!

Here's one of them.

And what might be the last snowman of the winter...
How did they get the neck so thin?
Sheer talent.

If anyone looks at this still, leave comments!
Et pour les francais qui regardent toujours ce petit blog, vous me manquez enormement!

LE Retour

2007-02-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Home dans le Michigan...

2007-01-30T07:24:00.000-08:00

People

2007-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

Somewhere between the grey clouds that don't snow, the moss-covered train station platform, and the letters and packages that I haven't sent, I realized that I haven't explained myself. In the blog I mean. So here are my favorite portraits that I haven't posted...

Still not very explanatory, sorry.

Camille, my first week here. We went to an Indian restaurant in St. Michèle and listened to an accordian player. He told me that of course I could play the accordian one day! I was joking when I said I wanted to buy an accordian, but for the next three months my family asked me when I was going to buy one.

Another photo of Raphael in Correze. I almost feel like I don't have enough photos with berets.

After the fête.

Lucie's 22nd! And now she's gone to London for three months.

Mamie Champigny, who recovers antique livres and cooks with quinoa!

Lucie et Papa.

Here comes the sun...

Victor, "que des bonnes choses a dire sur toi!"

Les filles de 2b.

Raf et Cécile...

Jeff. And the stereotypically French hand gests.

Les filles de 2b ct'd.

Cécile et Justine.

Cécile encore- Conservatoire Concert 2006!

Camille TechnoParade.

Charlotte TechnoParade. Pas des toilettes à la Turc cette fois...

Ca va me manquer, de te voir après les cours.

Cam dans le train, a series of flip-book photos...

Yves Klein...

2007-01-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

January...

2007-01-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

Les trois blondes.

Before the math exam... did you know you can enter the formulas into your calculator?

Jeff and Cam.

C'est Noël!

2006-12-26T00:28:00.000-08:00

Winter break at...

On a trouvé des chapeaux de noël.

Et un petit père noël himself!

And on christmas day...

And of course the traditions: presents at midnight, 13 desserts, a buche de noël, the crêche... ooh la la!

Rien du tout...

2006-12-17T03:39:00.000-08:00

What did I even do this week??

School, for one thing.

CareOdance with Camille (for the next fête where they play Spice Girls).

Les Galeries Lafayette at night.

L'anniv' de Lucie- 22!

Waiting for sandwiches at La Dolce... Justin, Cécile, et Cam.

And then I did something absolutely forbidden and took a picture at school!

And then another one, with Monsieur Lamanie. Je vous ai dit que je le mettrais sur mon blog!!

Otherwise, I/we found and gave christmas presents (c'est ta taille Raf?), baked cookies, and studied the knights of the Round Table!

Joyeuses Fêtes to anyone who reads this! I think I said that in the last post, and I still mean it.

Papa est à Paris!

2006-12-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Thursday afternoon: Dad's flight arrives in Paris. I go to school until lunch time, then take a train to Paris. Lo siento Madame LaMache! At least an hour late (Metro ticket problems/walking halfway across Paris) I am at the Hotel Elysa! Up a spiral staircase and down the hallway to room 103. Knock on the door... and there is Dad!

And guess what else? It is christmas, sort of. Here is the first photo with my new camera (thank you thank you thank you!!!):

That evening we ate at a Lebanese restaurant, then visited Notre Dame, Shakespeare & Co., and bought gloves to protect against the Mistral! Or that's what it seemed like thursday and friday.

Friday: A continental breakfast at the hotel reminded me that the french really don't eat like americans! Afterwards, a walk to Beaubourg, which wasn't open yet. So I bought Les Misérables (the original, all three volumes and in french!) at a librairie, then we took a coffee just across from the museum. A long line began queing outside, so we finished and joined it. Then I finally went to Beaubourg!

Dad's first crêpe. A sort of holy light came into his eyes...

That night we went out to Le Potager du Marais, a petit restaurant near Beaubourg. Inside there is a row of tables, which the waiter pulls out so you can sit down an the booth. The waiter is charming and the food is wonderful.

Kind of like the pictures with suits of armor...

On se prépare avant le concert de Cam...

Tous les trois!

Dad's first french cheese sandwich, lovingly prepared.

We found a friperie in the Marais where we bought berets.

At the gare...

Leaving on the train, shrouded by cigarette smoke.

Thank you so much for coming Dad- I hope you had a really good time!

And thank you everyone for all of the christmas presents-

Joyeux Noël!

Disneyland Paris

2006-12-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

6:30 am: wake up, breakfast, 1 1/2 hour drive to Disneyland.

8:30 am: arrive in Disney parking lot. Walk through the drizzle and wind to get to the entrance.

9 am: Disneyland Paris!

Karina (l'australienne) and Delphine (sa correpondante).

Space Mountain. Going to Cedar Point kind of takes the fun out of any other roller coasters...

Proof that people with moustaches can work at Disney (not me, the statue).

It's a small world after all...

(For Vicky).

On a acheté des grosses sucettes.

Happy to go home where it is warm and dry.

Finalment... Le Louvre

2006-11-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Aujourd'hui: Le Louvre with Mamie et Papie, Hélène et Cécile, et François, Michèle et Camcam.

Elle est lost in thought... "demain!!"

Camcam and petite cousine Cécile.

Dare I mention the old man hair?

A sofa chosen by Napoléon III himself.

Do they really watch the videos afterwards?

Forever looking to the Tour Eiffel.

This reminded me of the beginning of crew season:

Toussaint: La Loire

2006-11-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

The Toussaint (All-Saints Day) = A week and a half off from school!

So after a few days at home, we left for the Loire. Camille and I shared a heavy-duty suitcase, black with an "I Love Pylos" sticker. Had we known that we would be wearing almost all of our clothes at once, for the whole trip, we wouldn't have bothered. It was cold. And wet.

The first day before arriving at the house we had rented, we ate a picnic lunch at Chambord.

There used to be 2,000 people living in the château.

It was built as a hunting lodge. The banners were lovingly stitched with images of animal carcasses dripping blood.

Another day we visited Chenonceau, a château built for the mistress of one of the kings.

And another day: Tours, an ancient city, now shopping megacenter of the Loire. We got lost looking for the car. We had to buy pains chocolats to keep up our energy.

Art in Blois...

Les Champigny (sans Marion).

Near the Blois château, a fawn playing music.

For some reason, a lot of people take pictures with the suits of armor. Look, I met a chevalier!

The emergency information signs in Blois.

Unreal-

One morning I went looking for mushrooms in the forest with maman et papà. It's a little late for ceps though. And some were filled with grubs...

Seaside: Part II

2006-11-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

Ah, ze crêpe au chocolat banane...

Marion (and the oysters).

I don't actually know these people, but I had to take a picture.

Christian looking like a petit ange (which he isn't).

Honfleurs.

And more chocolat (Nutella actually).

Do you want to go to the seaside?

2006-10-30T01:50:00.000-08:00

Saturday: Paris with Camille and Charlotte to see "La Dernière Séance," Marilyn Monroe's last photo shoot, at the Musée Maillot. Except there was a three-hour line, so we went to a café in St. Michèl then took the train home.

Home: Laura and Christian are here! The two adorable cousins from Columbia. We played tag and blind-man's bluff until dinner (cheese fondue); I performed a touching cover of "Gaston y a le Téléphon qui Son" after losing my piece of bread, and Camille an uncannily Piaf-ish "La Vie en Rose."

Sunday: To the sea! Three hours to Deauville (it would have been two, but we took a shortcut). We had lunch at a moule-frites restaurant/crèperie.

Too many crèpes.

Then we walked to the beach where families in Speedos dared to go swimming in October. Everything is so much more photogenic in France: the kids in their rainboots looking for shells, the old women with their dogs and baguettes...

I'm not finished! But the photos won't load, so I'll add more later.

Tayler and Thomas- I love you both! I'll talk to you sometime, but my host father has been sitting at the computer for a week trying to fix the virus, so I might try the mail...

Fashion week

2006-10-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

I guess since I'm just outside of Paris,
I should probably post something about fashion.
These are the must-haves this fall:

1. The fluo look

2. Halfway to skinny jeans...

3. The Chapka

4. The beau-gar look, but I guess Félix doesn't have to try.

5. Vert

Oh là là! Regardez les modèles des manteaux!

6. The Gaston the Téléphone song, and dancing to it.

7. And Barbapapa

Versailles

2006-10-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

"Et dimanche, s'il fait beau, on va a Versailles."

After breakfast we left for Versailles. When Louis XIV was king, he built Versailles for himself and all of the nobles. That ends up being around 3,000 people. Then there were the workers to take care of the:

800 hectares (2,000 acres) of grounds

20 kilometres (12 miles) of roads

46 kilometres (27 miles) of trellises

200,000 trees

210,000 flowers planted every year

132 kilometres (80 miles) of rows of trees

23 hectares (55 acres): surface area of the Grand Canal

5.57 kilometres (3.3 miles): perimeter of the Grand Canal

20 kilometres (12 miles) of enclosing walls

50 fountains

620 fountain nozzles

35 kilometres (21 miles) of water conduits

3,600 cubic meters per hour: water consumed during Full Play of Fountains

11 hectares (26 acres) of roof

51,210 square meters of floors

2,153 windows

700 rooms

67 staircases

6,000 paintings

1,500 drawings and 15,000 engravings

2,100 sculptures

5,000 items of furniture and objets d'art

150 varieties of apple and peach trees in the Vegetable Garden

and 0 toilets

The 0 toilets actually did require a lot of work, because in place of bathrooms, there were servents whose only task was to carry around buckets.

It's incredible to think that so much history happened in one place, and to imagine the nobles in their gowns or powdered wigs seeing almost exactly the same things.

Camille et Michèle/Maman/Madame Chamigny- je vous aime!

Just before the revolution, Marie Antoinette moved into the palace. Most people think that she was stuck-up or just stupid, but she really did have amazing artistic ideas. She planned all of the gardens that she had created for her: elaborate swimming pools, a rock grotto, two palaces, and, to associate with the common people, a farm. This was my favorite part of Versailles...

La Temple d'Amour

Praying to the god of love.

One of the buildings of Mary Antoinette's farm.

Camille and her date.

The one statue where an animal isn't being killed. At the entrance there's one of a king standing on a peasant's head.

Correze: Part II

2006-09-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

Correze: Part I

2006-09-23T03:38:00.000-07:00

Integration: a five day class trip to Correze.

Correze: a region in central France, la campagne.

Premier jour...

Deuxieme jour... Tir a l'arc (archery). Camille and I tied for second to last.

Camille, Raphael, and I the second night. I'm wearing 5 shirts, a sweatshirt, and a jacket.

Justin(e) et Raphael...

Troisieme jour... L'escalade (rock-climbing)

TechnoParade 2006

2006-09-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Camille et moi

I don't know this person, and I'm not just saying that.

I do know this person.

TechnoParade: Paris

"The annual Techno Parade turns up the volume and quickens the pace on Paris' streets. Around 20 floats carrying 150 musicians, DJs and performers from all over France turn out to dance their way along the three-mile route."

Sport

2006-09-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

Monday was la rentree, or first day of school. The class that I'm really excited about is sport. Today the teacher played a cassette tape that beeped, while the class tried to run to the other side of the gym before the next beep. For two hours.
I made it to level 7!

Other things to look forward to in sport:
The Scavenger Hunt
Apparently we will do one this a lot. Each student receives a map with x's on it. We go outside and run around to find the x's, where something is hidden. If you find whatever it is, you bring it to the teacher. Then you do it again. For two hours.
The Pyramid
In groups of 3 to 7, students work to form a pyramid. For two hours.

Currently listening to: Beeps

2006-09-02T01:19:00.000-07:00

The Moulin Rouge

The Mairie (Mayor's Office)

Notre Dame

The Eiffel Tower...

...and the view.

An apartment building?

2006-08-31T01:43:00.000-07:00

Sacre Coeur

After I took a picture, Lucie took one with her Poloroid, then a random guy took one too.

Ma Chambre

2006-08-30T01:25:00.000-07:00

What I see out of my window.

My petit fireplace (and unmade bed).

Bienvenue

2006-08-29T03:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to France!

The plane ride was fine, but I was kind of hoping that I would sit next to someone wearing a body cocoon.

I just met my host family today because they were in southern France until Sunday.

Look out!

2006-08-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

The packing monster is coming for me.
11 days until the plane leaves for Paris, and I have actually started packing!
Here are some of the things in my suitcase right now...

7 pairs of jeans
1 orange go-go dress
1 old yellow dress
2 plastic hippo figurines
1 plastic giraffe figurine
4 tubes of chapstick
1 digital camera