trip - 2005 ---france and holland

July 1: 5.22pm(Canadian): at the airport - reading "the green book", a tourist book for ...umm...tourists? - the eiffel tower puts as much weight on the ground as a man sitting on a chair. less weight than the air pressure around it.
7.10pm: the plane is moving!!! - I see planes and people walking around in bright green vests fixing pilons. im being told to wear and tighten my seatbelt. They wish me an enjoyable flight...Im leaving!
7.30pm: airplanes are cold
7.40pm: in above the clouds - The cars are so little and then there's people in the cars. I cant even see individual house tops. And God is so much bigger than all this. and we are sooo small.!
8.30pm: i'm about to start reading Les Miserables. so far - 0 pages. They're playing the same welcome video of "around the world" as at the beginning of the flight.
9.10pm: question in french - (to need) besoin - still a verb right? so does it conjugate? and can you do: je besoin un casque or do you have to say j'ai besoin un casque?
9.40pm: leaving Quebec - 30 hour famine music.
10.55pm: pilot's seat design comes from the Porche seat.
11.05pm: 12977 more miles to France (flying over PEI).
11.10pm: in the bahamas, what is a banana wind? a) sandstorm, b)flatulence, c) strong wind.
July 2: 3.00am: Good morning! everyone in Canada is sleeping. had 1-2 hours of sleep. i think the sun came up this morning in less htan 1/2 an hours. and now they are going to feed us again.
3.10 am(Canadian) or 9.10am(European): 644 miles to final destination. (We're flying over Ireland!!!)
9.50am(European): just read Beth's letter, that was really special and fun.
9.55am - Paris: going down! we will land in Charles de Gaulle, Paris. we learned that in french class.
8.15pm - Somewhere between Paris and Brest: Ce train est a destination de Brest. Back to 30 hour famine music. My random music list:
ehk: Everybody-Backstreet boys, Money-Pink Floyd, Smooth Criminal-Michael Jackson, House of Pain-Jump Around
yay: Last Kiss-Pearl Jan, Convoy-Paul Brandt, Time of Your Life-Greenday, Smooth Criminal-Alien Ant Farm, Superman-3 Doors Down, Best Deceptions-Dashboard Confessional, Bohemian Rhapsody-Queen
8.30pm: The shingles on the roofs are really little and almost all the houses have 2 "chimneys". I like the little short buildings that cant stand more than 5-6 feet tall. They remind me of the video's mr. groen showed us in geography/art class. (he showed them in geography but they were about art....right....) only thing that's not different here...the clouds.
July 4: 6.15pm: Brest: did you ever wonder why in English "W" is double - U and in French it's duble - V. (sp?) ? i guess it all depends in how tu veu ecrire ca. En France - W. En Canada - UU. People say jet lag is really bad...i guess it's all in the way you look at it.
12.00pm: Bonne nuit -ou- bon soir. like at camp I get homesick at night sometimes. ehk!
Jully 5: 11.45am: wow...only been up for 45 minutes. i am so tired. Jean has me running with him and we are going to run again today for something like 40-50 minutes! i can ride un monocyclette!(unicycle) First I started out with riding using Pauls hands (les mains de Paul) mais then j'ai commence avec des batons. Paul was holding the sticks though. It's strange, I like to be busy but not necessarily with things that take so much energy. I am beginning to understand what people say better. but it can be overwhelming sometimes. i forget words like: quel q'un, pres que, suivant, etc. but i can really remember words like: sable, rien, ver, oublier, meliu, tomber. I remember them well wehn i can see the word written on the dictionary or somehting ike that. I will do my e-mail today.
July 9: 11.00am: Somewhere between Brest and Nantes: Im driving down the highway at 140km and hour and we're not speeding. 30 sec. ago i saw a cow bridge. The bridge was specially made for cows. there were about 20 cows walking over the bridge in a line, like it's a natural occurance. did you know that until you are 20 years of age you cant work? it's against the law because 30% of the adult population is without work. *how do you say could, should, or would?, how do you say "when we did..." do you say "quand nous avons fait..."?, how do you say "we are laughing, or you are crying."?
July 11: 12.12pm: Saumur: ive arrived in Saumur. right now im reading by the flashlight and next to me Alexandra and Marianne are fighting for a pillow. Tracey is reading "smack dab" in front of me. Historical fact: you know in fairytales, the mote full of thistles and briar that the prince would climb through in order to save the princess from her fate? well thsoe motes are real!
July 12: 11.30pm: saw sleeping beauty's castle today...through closed eyes. i was sleeping. i guess ill enjoy the photos. my memory depends on the pictures now.
July 13: 12.00pm: parents anniversary
July 15: 9.40am: last night we saw a fireworks show. wow...that was beautiful! and right after dinner (backtracking a little) i rode!(horses) if i kept a proper journal i would highlight that.
July 16: 11.00am: my cousins keep asking me to translate the lyrics of the english songs on the radio. its suprising how many songs are about a brokenheart, how the singer loves her/him but if he/she doesnt love him/her then he/she will let her/him go love someone else, or how they just cant take it anymore. Tracey was stung by a bee. learned "doe a deer a female...." in french. i was crowned queen of diamonds, Aude - queen of hearts, Alexandra - queen of spades, Marianne - queen of clubs.
July 18: 11.30pm: its my birthday today. we were watching this thing on tv and ther ewere 2 commercials for solutions to snoring. do people in France have a unique problem with snoring or is this normal for everyone? finally found out the difference between bonne nuit and bonne soir. bonne nuit - good night, bon soir - good evening.
July 20: 11.00pm: Paris: PAAARISSS!!! *there are 12 roads going from the l'arc de triomphe(stood on the top counting). what we saw: Jardin de Luxenbourg, Champs Elysees(sp?), Pantheon, Paris Plage, 1 of 5 city halls, L'Arc de Triomphe, Boulevard Saint-Michel, Louvre, Musee National du Moyen Age, Quartier Latin, Roman Baths, La Tour Eiffel, Pont Louis Internet cafe.
July 21: 11.15am: They have stop signs in France, not arrete signs. saw the louvre's insides, nad musee d'orsey.
July 23: 8.00am: France to Belgium: last few moments in France, soon to be in Belgium. Then into Holland. glad everyone speaks english cuase i speak about 3 words and one phrase in dutch.
2.00pm: Haren.
July 28: 8.21pm: Warrens: mom's birthday. left the Douma's. Gerdine, Lysanne, Johan. met my grandmother's brother and his wife. stood on an ant hill and literally had ants in my pants.
new vocabulary: buh-buh-bus. zippadeedooda(sp?). summertime to the tune of jinglebells. map/mop. sneek a lake (sneek pronounced snake) antidesestablishmentarianism. hotatotetohta...huh? perhaps. rather.
and the dutch: hallo___en___. hoe is het? het was heel erg leuk in Nederland! vooral in Haren! Jy bent waarschynlyk heel knap. kaas, melk, vla, yoghurt, kowgum(sp?), nee, ja, je, dank je (sp?) De volgende keer kan ik nog meer Nederlands praten. Of jullie moeten my het leren. and: (not so good) hallo___. Alles goes? met my wel. Ik zit nu namelyk in een pannenkoekenschip. Heel erg lekker. Ik moet stoppen wat iu ga nu eten. Tot van avond. gr.__
and now im sitting on my bed with horses out my window explaining to Tracey her camera flash. ehk. *i can count to 100 in dutch too*
10.27pm: This house has a sort of cow smell to it.
July 29: 3.40pm: watched a boat called "Tara" in the locks. and the boat was from Ireland!!!
7.06pm: in the 1600's i had Italian family in Naples (sp?), Italy.
July 30: 10.15am: Wow the day after tomorrow is august. its strange how july is almost gone. Dutch kids get 6 weeks of summer holidays. French kids go to school from 8.30am to 5.00pm.
July 31: 9.56.30am: In Canada we have Newfy (sp?) jokes, in France and HOlland they have Belgium jokes. Q: Where do you find a Belgium in the grocery store? A: On the floor, looking for low prices.
12.10pm: i wish i drank tea. cause then i could collect teacups -- and eat almonds with my tea.
12.15pm: im going to learn dutch.
Naarden**
9.00pm: this house is really cute. this room is decorated like a teddy bear picnic! Tracey opened a cupboard and a brown teddybear popped out. Just now the clock rung 9 times to mark the hour, only i cant find the clock and the ticking is driving me mad! my great aunt's books: Little Lord Fauntleroy, Anne of Green Gables, Robinson Crusoe, De Wind en de Wilgen, Rosies Baby's, and Little Grey Rabbit's Birthday.
August 1: 5.20pm: 1st day of August! been in Europe for 1 month. one week left. :( :). We went biking today and my dad gave me these really big sunglasses to wear so the bugs wouldnt fly in my eyes like the on the last trip. but b/c of the curve of the lens, the glasses made me feel about one foot taller!
5.40pm: Becky left me a note in my notebook! another checkmark in my list.
8.44pm: since when are flipflops sleek? grrrr....Tracey and her "casse". new favourite word= cresendo.
August 2: 8.55pm: Amsterdam: just arrived in Amsterdam. my dad's cousins own a really nice appartment really close to downtown!
August 3: 9.05am: favourite #=89
6.20pm: Where are we? right here. saw the 7 bridges. Anne Frank house. The Dancing Sisters.
August 4: 10.30pm: Tomorrow is my last day on this holiday, then i have a bunch of hours of traveling. on the way here it took 24 hours!
11.08pm: looked out the window and found a spider. it's actually rather amazing how spiders crawl up walls and such. but can you imagine 4 stories up from the street?
August 5: 4.00am: food poisoning.
August 6: 8.45am(European): on the airplane: going home. this time beside a window! It's almost dissapointing/sad. to leave. i had such a great time but i miss Canada. My firneds, myk bedroom, freedom to do whatever, and so on. its rather amazing looking back at all ive seen. Amsterdam...Paris...!!!! Amsterdam: rectangles and squares with canals as the dividers. Paris: Triangles with cars as the dividers.
10.10am(European) or 4.10am(Canadian)....people spend a lot of time sleeping! flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Beautiful.
8.27am(Canadian) 1 hour to go. this trip only took 2 hours! *from 7.40am(European) to 9.40am(Canadian)* actually 8 hours. the sun has changed a couple mm in distance from the horizon. But nothing noticeable. I CAN SEE CANADA!!
10.30am: Pearson Airport: on the ground.