My Favorite Places

We have been in France for a few weeks now, and I LOVE it!!! Everything is so old and beautiful. I love secret passageways and rooms, hidden clearings, valleys, alcoves, etc. Since everything is so old, there is bound to be some hidden passageways and such, right? That was exactly right! There turned out to be some hidden chambers, 5 of them actually, used for hiding way down in one of the fields. Our villa was actually built in the 13th century!!! I have 3 favorite places on the property that are pretty cool, if you are into secret alcoves and clearings and stuff.

1. My first favorite place on the property is the first cool place I found. It a little alcove-type clearing next to one of the horse fields. The entrance is covered by a layer of branches and some thorns, but once you get through, its totally open, and it goes about 100 feet, and then there is an exit that is totally open. I go there a lot, and you don't even know it's there!!

2. My second favorite place is one my mum and I discovered on a walk a few days ago, it is a secret field with a natural tree boundary. It is a big field, with one single tree in the center of it. It is going off of a dirt road that leads onto a paved driveway, and it's beautiful.

3. My third favorite place is one my mum and I discovered this morning on a walk. It is another grove of trees and bushes, almost exactly like the 1st one, but this one is next to the river. It is across a field from the 1st hidden clearing, and this one is slightly bigger. This place doesn't have any branches or thorns covering it. But I didn't notice it was there when I was walking with a friend, we went right by it without being aware of it.

These kind of natural hidden places amaze me, and I look to them as a kind of magical place. I have loved stuff like this for a long time, and I do believe in fairies and magic, etc. Just because they have never been proven to be real doesn't mean they aren't real!!!!!

Road to the River

Today my mum and I went to Neuvic for some groceries, and we saw this cute little village on a hill not too far away, so we decided to try and drive to it. We drove in the general direction of the village, just following the road. Then, at the end of a one-car road, it lead straight into a river!!!!!!! There was no warning, it just went straight down and continued in!! We were shocked, but it was kind of cool too!

The River Road

The beautiful Neuvic Chapel

French Crepes

Hey Guys, here is another recipe, and crepes are VERY good!!!! They are thin, delicate pancakes that you can fill with pretty much anything, chocolate, sugar and butter ( My Favorite! ), fresh fruit, etc. I recommend trying it!!!!


Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of white sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

3 eggs

2 cups of milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted



Directions

1. Sift together flour, sugar, and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs, and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth, stir in melted butter.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot with your choice of toppings!!!

The Scoop on The French

A lot of you think the French are stuck up, snobby, and mean. That's all a stereotype. All of the French people I have met have been extremely nice. Another thing that is wrong is that people thing many of the French speak English. Most of the French only have very little French, if any! The French ARE very fashionable, with their favorite accessory being the scarf. The kids around my age seem to wear jeans, skirts with tights, and denim jackets. The thing is, they don't seem to care if you wear something different. They will glance at you, but they don't make fun of you or anything. People shouldn't judge the French without actually meeting them first. They are great people too.

5 Places I Have Seen so Far

5 places I have seen so far since I have been in France:

1. Mussidan

2. Bergerac

3. Bordeaux

4. Perigueux

5. Monbazillac            

Here are some facts about each place:

Mussidan is our nearest town and where we go shopping.

Bergerac is a city about a half hour away from us and has the Dordogne River running through it.

Bordeaux is the world's major wine industry capital.

Perigueux has the beautiful St Front Cathedral, which is huge and eye catching, and the first thing you notice when you enter the town.

Monbazillac is famous for its vineyards. 

Gotta See Paris!!!!

I would love to go to Paris while I am here, and see the Eiffel Tower. Paris is about a 6 hour drive from here, and is famous for its fashion. But big cities in Europe have pick pockets, and Paris is bound to have plenty of them, so don't bring your big purse!!!!! Wear a fanny pack around your waist holding only important stuff, money, cellphone, etc. The Parisians motto is "Fluctuat nec mergitur" which means "She is tossed by the waves but never sinks". Paris is known for its romance, and many books and movies are set there. Paris is also the most populated city in France. Paris is headed by an elected mayor. Paris is a beautiful city and I can't wait to visit it.

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy Sunday. Blue and I went down to the tennis courts to play a game of tennis. After we came back, Blue and I took Dylan for a walk down to the playground. Then we lazed around the house, and later we took a walk down to the end of the drive. We stopped by the stables on our way back to see the horses. Tomorrow Blue will be starting school, and I will do some schoolwork at home. Even though we didn't do much, it was still a great day!

Perigueux Market Day

Today we went to Perigueux, a city about half an hour away from our house. It was Market Day, so we decided to drive down and see what it was like. We walked around when we got there, just walking through the streets entertained by accordion players. It was a beautiful town, with lots of old buildings. We went into a tent that had lots of different farm animals. My favorite was the dozens of ducklings. We went into another area of tents we thought might be the market, and it sort of was, it was all food and giving away samples and selling cookbooks. It was the International Cookbook Festival! After that we found the car and went home. It was a fun day and I hope we go to Perigueux soon to explore the town some more.

10 French Words/Phrases

Here are a few French phrases and words you might need if you ever visit France:

Hello - Bonjour ( Bonjoor )
How are you? - Comment allez-vous? ( Kommon tallay voo )
My name is...... - Je m'appelle ( Juh mappell )
Please - S'il vous plait ( Seel voo pleh )
Yes - Oui ( Wee )
No - Non ( Non )
Thank you - Merci ( mairsee )
Bye/Goodbye - Salut/Au Revoir ( Saloo/ Oh-rvwahr )
I'm from.... - Je viens de ( Juh vyan duh )
Do you speak English? - Est-ce que vous parlez anglais? ( Esskuh voo parlay ongleh )

Our First Restaurant

The other day we went to a restaurant in Grignols called Le Relais du Chateau. The food was excellent, I ordered the fish ( cod ) and chips. There seemed to be only one man working there, and he spoke good English. The menu was written in French, with the English description at the bottom. The one man seemed to be doing all the cooking himself, and while our main meal was cooking, he brought us pumpkin soup. When we were done, he offered us dessert. My mom had apple pie with cream and vanilla ice cream, and Blue and I had chocolate icecream. The dessert was delicious as well, especially the apple pie. It was fairly expensive, but worth it. If you are ever in Dordogne, France, I recommend this restaurant. My rating is 4.5 out of 5.

The First of Many Visitors

Today is my big sister Nikki's birthday (Happy Birthday, Nikki!!!). She is turning 25, and tomorrow she and her 16 and a half month old son, Dylan are coming to visit us. It has been 8 months since we have seen her and Dylan. They live on Herm, a small island off the coast of Guernsey, which are part of the Channel Islands.

She is quite close to France, since the Channel Islands are between England and France. On clear days, Nikki can actually see France! When I say she lives on a small island, I mean she lives on a SMALL island. It is only a mile wide by a mile and a quarter long!!! It is a tourist island, and there are only about 60 year round residents! Even though Herm is close to France, Nikki and Dylan are getting a boat to Guernsey, then going to Guernsey airport, flying to London, then they are getting a connecting flight to Bordeaux, where we are going to pick them up. Bordeaux is about a hour and a quarter away from our villa. Dylan is a blondie, with curly hair. He LOVES Peppa Pig, and he is starting to talk. He also just learned to walk, and he is very independent. When Nikki gets here, I want to show her the stables, where I spend most of my time. I also want to show her the tennis courts. There are many drives and fields where we can take walks. We have a courtyard that Dylan can play in, and we also have a small area next to the pool that is fenced in. It is grassy and has 2 swings and a rope ladder that Dylan can also play in. I love kids, especially babies, and the last time we saw Dylan, I was the chief babysitter, and I would be fine with doing that again, even though it is going to be harder to keep track of him since he can walk and run around. I can't wait to see both of them, and help them pick out some tres chic outfits to wear to the town!

10 Things I want to do while I'm in France

1.   Learn to speak fluent French
2.   Eat 5 French foods
3.   Know my way around the town
4.   See at least 10 chateaus
5.   Make a friend that doesn't speak English
6.   Read a book that is in French
7.   Watch a movie in French
8.   Join some kind of after school club
9.   Cook some French dishes
10. You Decide!


*If you have an idea of what I should do while I'm in France, then comment below and I might do what you commented and do a blog post about it!

View of France

Here is a slideshow I made of some of my favorites pictures taken in France so far:

http://movie-web.nagisa-inc.jp/21241

My Awesome Friends

I'm kind of surprised I forgot to mention this, but I think I am the luckiest person in the world because I have such amazing friends. If you don't believe me, let me tell you what they did for me on Friday, November 7, my last day at my middle school in Maryland. They broke into my locker and filled it with balloons, candy, and a huge card they all made themselves and signed with some really nice messages saying how much they would miss me.

Other friends gave me donuts and also made me cards and got everyone to sign them. At the end of the day, I had to clean out my locker, and all of them got permission to come help me. We all took pictures together and when the bell rang to go to the buses, I got LOTS of hugs, and one my best friends that has been my friend since kindergarden, Reilly, offered to take my extra heavy book bag to the bus for me. I miss all of them, including my bus driver Mr. Greg, who is the BEST bus driver ever!  I gave out my email to all of my friends, so we still keep in touch, and I also Skype and FaceTime them when I can. There is a 6 hour time difference, I'm 6 hours ahead, so we have to work out times to talk when it's not too early or late. To all my amazing friends (you know who you are!!!!!!!!!), miss you loads, keep in touch! You guys are awesome!!!!!!!

1

Maddy, my best friend for many years, and my sister Blue!

Out and About

Today was market day in the town of Mussidan, so we drove down to see what the market was like. On our way to the market, we passed by a sign pointing out the direction of Chateau Neuvic, so we followed the sign down a long driveway with beautiful trees, and there straight in front of us was a magnificent castle! We walked around the grounds of the castle, and noticed a river running along the back of the castle. I walked up some steps along the outside of the castle, and when I got to the top, there was an amazing view!!! The chateau had intricate detail with lots of turrets, which is one of my main requirements for it to rank high on my list of favorites! As we walked back to the car, we all agreed we needed to adjust our footwear for these expeditions (our dressy black boots were a bit muddy!).

We drove farther into Mussidan, parked the car and walked through the streets looking for the market. We stopped a woman walking past us and my mom asked her (in French of course) if she knew where the market was. After some difficulty trying to figure out what the woman was saying in rapid French, we figured out the market had finished at noon. The helpful woman led us to a shop that sold fresh produce where we bought some fruit and vegetables.

We walked across the street and noticed a patisserie (bakery) and then went in to buy some eclairs au chocolat (chocolate eclairs) and a chocolate muffin for Blue.  We headed home, stopping at the store on the way to pick up a few groceries.  After we got home, we had some fresh croissants with butter and cheese and then headed outside for a walk around the estate.

Some Animals of the Dordogne.....

Roelf,the owner of the estate we are renting a villa on, told us about different animals that live in the area. First, one of the animals that be found on the the property are European Badgers. Badgers usually are nocturnal and are generally peaceful and sometimes even share their den with other animals, such as foxes and rabbits but they have been known to attack humans before and they can be vicious if provoked.They are very neat animals and they often change the bedding of their dens, pushing out soiled bedding and dragging in fresh bedding. There are numerous badger holes that I have seen on my walks here.  Roelf said that badgers are protected and therefore are safe from French hunters who take hunting extremely seriously.  He said to be careful:  "don't insult the French hunters because they are very proud......and they have guns!!!!"

Another animal found here, that originated in South America, is the Coypu (or in French, ragondin), also known as a beaver rat and they live near rivers. This is also an animal that lives on our property since we have a river that runs through it. They are very shy and run away from people. It is a semi-aquatic rodent, a herbivore, and resembles a very large rat or a beaver with a small tail. It has a beaver face with the slanted teeth!!!! The teeth are bright orange!!  Kinda creepy!!! They were brought here by fur ranchers and are now an invasive species that can be hunted.

The animal that also lives in France is the wild boar. They can attack people, and can run very fast. They are more likely to try to attack when they have babies and want to protect them. They are very big and have razor-sharp teeth and some have tusks also.  They are omnivorous, meaning they eat pretty much anything, but survive here mostly on fruits, berries, grubs, and nuts.  They ruin fields and crops in the process of finding food and the French government actually pays farmers for some of the damage they do to their land.  Boars are hunted for their meat and 10's of thousands are killed each year in France.  It is hunting season here right now.  

They are mainly nocturnal and Roelf says they can be seen here sometimes at sunrise or twilight. I haven't seen any of these animals yet, but I hope to see them while I'm here, but from a safe distance, of course!!!!!