Ni practique wode francais yode putang huoi!

Yes, yes I do. It's been getting tense down here, what with Christmas approaching, as is our leave date and the squeezing of activities into our wintery calendar.

One of those activities was a surprise birthday party for one of my favorite french men (there's only like 5) Stephane, and Lilly. It was held at Stephanes house, and EVEN though he was in the house, he didn't hear the other people sneak in the door and prepare a room. It was a good party. We drank a bit, played Settlers of Catan ( I don't like our board games that much) some cards and had a good ol' time. Felix showed us off to his family, his REAL family, that was visiting from Quebec. Some of us got to practice our french skills more so. I flirted with his cute sister too, avec le langue du coeur. *wink wink. However, it had been mentioned earlier this week that some host families think the participants are staying at other participants houses too much. From what I understand, that is an exaggeration. Which also hindered the party a bit I think because only three people stayed the night. I was saddened by this. Upon arriving home early the next day, I helped Brenda put up Christmas lights outside. And the earnest reward? Two tickets to a Kelowna Rockets game! I almost had to drag Gary to go. He's in Canada, and he hasn't and didn't want to see a hockey game! I was disappointed! He's not trying to be as culturally excepting as I'd hoped. I kinda hoped he'd be more excited to do things. But Brenda did convince him to go. I learned he didn't know the rules, which I still found a silly reason not to go. But he did have a good time I think. It was a good game and there were lots of freebies and giveaways, despite us not getting any. I was THIS close to grabbing a free ticket dropped by a small remote control blimp. But it was great.

Today we were supposed to have a lunch/hike up Knox Mountain at our Mandarin teachers house/our Chinese supervisors host families house (too many slashes) The luncheon outing was cancelled due to *scoff SNOW. I'm sorry, but we are in Canada. It IS winter. So what if the drive way is a little slippery? I consider that an adventure, not an excuse to cancel and indoor lunch. But there could have been reasons. I was just looking forward to going I guess. I was planning to go to Parkinson Recreation Center to volunteer at the Little Elves Craft workshop, and to visit a cute girl volunteering there, but the buses SERIOUSLY suck. Two buses were late for me! I said screw it and went shopping, bought some more bike equipment, including a camelback water back pack, a bike tool, gloves and lock. I'm happy. And the Christmas spirit continues. Gary and I put up the Christmas tree for Brenda who thinks it looks mah-ve-lous. Which is great, cuz if she didn't, well, too bad, she can take it down and decorate it herself, lol. Oh, fa la la la la la!