HELP!!!!

hello,
i have a problem. It's not the type of problem where i'll die or something, but i will die if i cant play. If any of you guys out there reading my blog know the rules and how to play BASKETBALL please please tell me them!!! you can contact me by email if you have it or leave a comment.

PLEASE HELP,
ttyl,
SOPHIE luv 2 u all

sophie's favorite day

Today, i am not at school. Why? Sophie, It's 8:45! You'll be late! No, I will not be late. Because of one thing: My Messed up Schedule. Today, I don't start school until 10:15! And Quinn started at 8:30. I am one lucky girl.

Naughty Sophie! naughty naughty sophie! you didn't keep your promise, in fact you were haven't really updated it all all! tsk tsk.

well, I guess i'm not as vigilant as I think I am. Oh well. In Paris, we have went from a very, very hot summer to BAM!!! It's fall. All the trees are losing their greenish color, and the weathers gone down 10 degrees. Also come Autumn, come school! Yes I have recently started to school much to my avail. You lucky ducks in America have it easy! Although you guys start school after labor day did ya really have to wait until the eighth?

School is well, school. My first class was english with my teacher madame brown. She is nice, but I'm glad we started off with English 'cause next I had History and Geography, which by the way, was compleatly in FRENCH. la de da DA. I guess I could understand a bit and it wasn't completely a waste of effort. I got to color a map!
Next was science, and then lunch ..... and then, well you get the point. I got homework from every single class. I think I will come to have a whole lot of homework this year so I'm a little worried about the weight of my backpack (its already super heavy- oh JOY.)

Today is Sunday, and we went to Butte Chaumont. It's a ginormus park i the 19th. I loved it. It's a really nice park, and pretty big too. For those of you who are avatar fans, We went up to a place that look like an air temple! It was awesome! It didn't really feel like Paris in a way, but you still had this sort of French Air about it.
The park was originally a garbage dump! Until Haussman came along. He was hired by Napoleon the 3rd to build up Paris. He had a very pitcular style, you might have heard of him. Well, he was building buildings, parks, and a lot of other stuff. I guess he just said "Let's make this into a park!" and so it became one. you can't even tell that it was a garbage dump!!

TTFN- Sophie luv 2 u all

all the interesting stuff

Okay, i know. I haven't really been doing my blog, but thats because nothing has really happened. Next week, our friends, Alex and Elizabeth are coming. In fact, this Saturday. When they get here, then we're going to do all this interesting stuff, the ones that tourists do, like the catacombs. (i'm not completely sure I spelled that right, but anyways...)

Then I'll post every night!

TTYL- Sophie luv 2 u all

long time no read!

Sorry I haven't really been talking about stuff on my blog, it's just we've been sooo busy! Last week I went to Fontainebleu! its a giant castle that was built before the United States became a country. The castles here are just amazing! It's hard to believe that people actually lived in them. every time a king came to the "humble" Hunting Lodge of Fontainebleu, they added just a little bit more. So today, the estimation of how many rooms there are, is about 1,500. Eek!

But before we went to Fontainebleu, we went to Champange. We went out to learn french with our teacher Marie. (Everyone is france is named Marie, you get used to it). We went on a big train that took us all the way out there. It was amazing. If you think that France doesn't have many streams or rivers, you're wrong. there's tons of them!!! Champange was nice, and I loved it. We decided if we would want to go any where to escape the clutches of Paris, (and yes, it does get tired) we would go to Champange.

Okay, back to Fontainebleu. We will go back to Fontainebleu too. IT'S AWESOME!!! WE decided on the first day, since it was such a nicew day, that we would hike out to Barbizon, the neighboring town, 5 miles each way. We went and had a great time on the way there, but on the way back WE WERE AMBUSHED BY A HUMONGO THUNDERSTORM. real great, huh? So we just had to walk 3 mils back in the hardest thunderstorm yet, to sit in our leaking hotel room.

But before I get carried away on how horrible it was, let's focus on the good thing about the thunderstorm. First we had a super fun time hiding under trees that barley had any foliage, but still kept us dry, we built a shelter (yes childpeace alumni and currents students, just like at camp!) that we only stayed under for five minutes, but it kept us pretty dry. Then we played game of "who got the wettest". Mom won because she barely even had a jacket.

The next day, we decided to spend it indoors, even though it was a very sunny and hot day, we went around a giant 1,500 roomed castle, which we only toured like, 20 rooms. (1.33 %?!) Then we rode home to Paris on a blissful ride in our on cabin on the train.

WEll,

TTFN!-Sophie luv 2 u all

'Twas the Night Before Friday

'Twas the night before Friday, when all through the house,

Not a creature was sleeping, not even the mouse!

It was a hot sticky night, heat filled the air,

In hopes that colder weather would soon be there.

The children were nestled all astray in their beds,

While visions of ice cubes danced through their heads.

Mom reading a book, and Dad, on the computer,

He was always a very big commuter.

When out in the sky, there a arose such a clatter,

I sprang form my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and tried to secure the sash!

The moon had disappeared under clouds so fast,

Gave rain to the streets down below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a lightning flash, I gave out a cheer!

With a giant gust of wind, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment, this was no trick.

More rapid than eagles, the wind blew my curtain off,

ripping straight through the stitches.

Ahhh Sophie! Ohh Quinn! Ah Mother and Dad!

The wind blew away your curtains, you should be sad!

To the top of the porch, secure everything!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!

As lightning flashed and thunder roared,

We watched from a window,

shocked with amazement,

One hundred percent.

Then, in a pounding, I heard on the roof,

The dancing and pounding of each little drop,

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down came thunder around with a bound.

How the lightning twinkled! The flashes so merry!

The sky was like pea soup, the lightning like a shock!

The wind blew, and all the curtains were up drawn in a bow,

And the sky's beard was as white as the snow.

The lightning flashed, while the thunder died down,

Until there was not a sound.

For the rains had ceased,

And the wind asleep.

The lightning still went, on for a while,

And I was scared when I saw it, in spite of myself!

in a wink of an eye, and a twist of dad's head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

We spoke not a word, we went straight to bed.

And filled our minds with the storm ahead.

And laying my hands a writing book,

I heard one last roar that shook.

I sprang to the window, one last time,

And away it went, not in it's prime.

But I heard my self exclaim, as the clouds went out of sight,

"Happy Storm to all, and to all a good-night!"

© 2oo9 by Sophie in France, all rights reserved.

My poem of the thunder/lightning storm that happened last night. It was very quick, unlike this poem. This poem was based off of the Poem "Twas the Night before Christmas", by Clement Clarke Moore.

Poupee! (first one to figure out what that means gets a prize)

"I'm a barbie girl, in the barbie world, life's fantastic if you're plastic!" (by aqua, "barbie girl")

You got that right Barbie! Today I visited the Musee de la Poupee, or the Doll Museum. It was pretty cool, because even though they were just dolls, they had a lot of history behind them. we walked in the musee's tiny doors to see an assortment of really REALLY old dolls. Ads you walked through, you could se how the evolution of the dolls really worked. There were a lot of high fashion dolls, but they were all adults. Until the the 1800's, dolls weren't children, but adults. Then the children dolls became more popular.

We went through a veil to see giant cases of barbies. The musee's special exhibit was on Barbie! It was actually quite interesting to see Barbie go from the average 1950's woman to malibu barbie on the beach, to the 1970's hippie era (yes, they had a hippy barbie, complete with hippy Ken) to the mullet, rock, and really bad crazy fashion of 1980.

My Mom pointed out which Barbies she had as a kid, and i realized that I still had those barbies, but I didn't have any of their clothes. It was really interesting (even Quinn was interested!)and i loved it!

TTFN-Sophie luv 2 u all

summer summer summer

Well, today we are just sitting around the house doing nothing. nothing at all. Mom promised us this wonderful day because the past few weeks have just been sooooooo busy. Quinn and I have finished summer school, but our work is not over yet. we are continuing our lessons with a private teacher, Marie.

On Dimache (Sunday) we went to the bastille market with Marie. I bought a very pretty dress (for only 15 euros!) and head bands. Quinn bought socks and dad kinda went crazy and bought like, 4 different types of cheese. But for those who come in the summer, the bastille market is a MUST DO.

We have also had some friends who have chosen to visit us while during their stay in Paris. One of our friends had an apartment where you could see the eiffel tower from. On the 14th of July, the French have their bastille day parade and the fireworks off the eiffel tower.

The bastille day millitare parade was amazingly intense. We watched as tank after tank after tank went by. it was getting dreadfully hot, and I couldn't stand the sight of another tank going by in the stiffiling hotness. i went and sat in the shade reading a book while everyone cheered.

After an hour of tanks, i couldn't stand it any longer. We went away from the crowds and went down a backstreet where we saw no other than MORE TANKS. but this time, there were no barriers blocking us from the street. they were just sitting there! They had come down the back alley as soon as they had finished parading. Quinn took this as an opportunity to snap pictures of everyone in their uniforms.

We decided to take a break from the big crowds and go on the giant ferris wheel set up by the Louvre. But, of course, there was no way to cross the streets. What were we to do? Finally, mom had this idea to go underground and cross by means of the metro stop since there is always and entrance on both sides of the street. We ended up taking the metro to the next stop, because tit was pretty much a waste of a couple dollars just to cross the street.

We walked and did a lot of cool things on our walk like go in a trampoline park (trust me, it's real) and a roller coaster that didn't have any safety features and was totally fun. When we got on the ferris wheel (after an assortment of the carnival rides) we realized that it wasn't so tall. When we got on however, it was really tall, and felt like you might fall off. We took lots of pictures and had a great day.

TTLY-Sophie luv 2 u all

Summer School

Hello,
Today I have been learning all sorts of things in French at my summer school. It is very fun, and we've done all sorts of things like go to the cirque (circus) and the OMSI (Oregon museum of science and industry) of Paris, except it's like, two times the size of OMSI, which is pretty big, not including their Imax cinema. We've also had scientists come in a teach us all this wonderful thing about particles and atoms (it's a shame i didnt get any of it). We made sugar that we could eat, but me and my american friends didn't eat it because we didnt know we were supposed too.
Then, the science teacher helped us make goo! She called it chimmy-shimmy, or something like that,. Mine of course, was yellow. We were not to put his in our mouths. Noope, other wise we would probably die.
We are also learning songs in Summer school. For those Childpeace students or alumnis, you'll all remember the "Un elefante" song. Well, i'm learning it in french! It is very difficult to undewrstand, but i like iut. We also learned some other songs such as "Un puse et Un pou". It is very funny, so I will share the lyrics with you in French and English...

"un puce, un pou, assis sur un tabouret, jouaint aux dames, la puce perdait, la puce en colere, attrapa le pou, le flanqua par terre, lui bisa le cou, Madame la puce, Qu avez bous fait la? J'ai commis un crime, un assassinat!"

What the song is saying:
One day, a flea and a nit were playing checkers. The nit was winning, and the flea got angry. So, the flea went ahead and killed the nit. We asked "Why did you kill the nit Miss Flea?" she says "I have commited a crime, A murder!"
Dad called it a french prison song.

Au Revoir! A beintot,

TTFN- SOPHIE luv 2 u all

Bonsoir

Well, Paris has been extremely hot. It even feels hotter than Portland! I'm not surprised though. I head July is it's hottest month (August is a little better), but the rest are all cold, or nice. When we went to Paris in April, the weather was very kind and let the sun shine upon us.
We might get our new kitten soon, but the place where the have the kittens is in Monaco, so we'd have to take the train (if you don't know where Monaco is, I would look it up. I don't know much about it.)

Summer school is nice, and I'm learning all sorts of useful french words, like the different ways to say good-bye and thank-you. I hope you all are having a great summer,

TTYL- SOPHIE

Bonjour

hello! I'm sorry i haven't really been doing my blog, but I've been really busy these last few days. I've been going to summer school, so I'm learning new french words every day. J'aime le musee! Today we went to a chateau, just outside of Paris. It's where all those french royalty went to spend a little time hunting. But this wasn't like a log cabin...it was a full on castle! I couldn't believe my eyes when we got there, but I couldn't believe my feet either. We had just spent 2 and a half hours walking, stopping only to figure out where we were and to eat a crepe.
The castle belonged to Charles the 5th, a king of France. He had it built as an escape from the royal castle. There were all these little rooms, that he used ONLY FOR HIMSELF. All this time while I'm going around this beautiful castle looking at all these humongo rooms for King Charles, I wonder, where did everybody else sleep?

In the late 1600's, the castle was converted into prisoners. These prisoners are famous, because of one thing. GRAFFITI. Yes, 500 year old graffiti was carved all over the place! In the first room we went to, we were all stunned at how beautiful the wall art is. WE look over to the info sign, and it talks about how all of the wonderful paintings and such were done by prisoners. Ancient ancient graffiti is pretty cool.
We took the metro home, which only lasted us 15 minutes. Thankfully, I'm becoming quite a commuter and brought my book. I hope any of you come to France on a vacation, this walk and castle is a MUST DO.

well that's about it!

ttfn!
sophie

Day 8, April 8, 2009

Today we meet a very nice lady who has lived in Paris for a while. She is a friend of friend of my mom's. She told us about Paris and how we're really lucky that we got into that EABJM school, because aparently, it's REALLY hard to get into.
Then we went and walked around Paris. We decided to go to the Louve (yet again) but when we got there, there was a HUMONGO line! It's because those lucky French children don't have school on Wednesdays! poh. But their school day is longer. like 8:30 to 4? We decided not to go to the Louve and go tomorrow. We're really good at this Louve thing.
So we went back to a muesam that we saw when we came into town. But as we were walking there, we saw a carousel that was two stories high! We just had to go on it. We went on the top floor of course. I think the man who was running it go mad at me because I moved at last minute when the carousel started to go.
The exhibit at the muesam we were going to was called "Le Pitet Nicolas", which means "Little Nicholas" in French. The artist is a very famous one whose drawn a lot of covers for the the New Yorker. The artist draws illistrations for the book "Little Nicolas". His name is .
Little Nicolas is a little boy who is always getting into trouble. He is always doing something naughty, but is always very playful. Here is an exert from one of the books

"I ate candy, fries, carmels, and chocolates, and I got a lot of comics. But in the night, I didn't feel well. Neither did my mother."


Little Nicolas aparently threw up all over his bedroom. The pictures are funny. I got the book.

We also meant a very nice lady from Honaloulou who has been living in France for 30 years! We met her because the line to get in Little Nicolas took forever. They only let in a few people at a time.


TTFN- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 7, April 7, 2009

Today we went to the Louve. But we didn't go in the Louve. You see, the only day that the Louve is closed is... Tuesday. Yup. That's right. We have to wait yet another day to go to the Louve. So instead we went to a Graffiti exhibit at the Grand Palis, which was pretty cool. We had lunch at the Petit Palis, which was suprisingly good for muesam food.

Mom wanted to go to this famous neighboor-hood in Paris, called . It was really amazing. There was a market going on, but not just any market. An Art market.
There was tons of really cool paintings that people did of Paris. There was also a lot of people who drew you if you paid them. Some were pretty good, others were just amatures that tried to scrape money out of you.
There was a church right next to the market so we went inside. The church was beautiful. If you want to look at churches, the best place to go is Paris. There are TONS. And all of them are really, really, cool.
They have tall ceilings and they are BEAUTIFUL. I think those archetechs back in day must have been really creative.

TTFN- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 6, April 6, 2009

This morning we watched a lot of French TV. Then we went and played with another family in France that we know. It was a lot of fun and I didn't do anything! (except walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk take the bus and walk and walk and walk...)

eh, what can I say? I having an excellent time in Paris!

TTYL- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 5, April 5, 2009

We stayed at home for the morning because we didn't know where to go. We finally decided on the Louve. As we walked along the saine, a marathon clean-up crew scattered around us. There had been the Paris Marathon this morning. The street was filled with empty plastic bottles. and... guess what? The sun came out!
It was funny becaused Quinn was forced to bring his rain coat (thankfully I wore a light sweater), and ended up carrying it.
When we go to the Louve, it looked like the line to get in was mile long! I sat by the fountain while Quinn and Mom explored a little bit. I was starved so we went to a cafe across the river. I ordered the omelette aux champignos. (mushroom omlet).
Now we're headed to see the Palis Royal (we decided we should see the Louve when it was less croweded) and see a graffiti exhibit. But line was a mile long for that one too. We decided on going to the Pitit Palis where we drew a lot of pictures.
There was a lot of cool statues and paintings, one of Monet's collection! There was also a funny room full of this one guy's work. He made a lot of cool marble (?) masks.

TTFN- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 4, April 4, 2009L

I HAD SOOO MUCH FUN IN DISNEYLAND!!! I loved it! We went on a lot of cool rides and rollar coasters. We did have to take a 30 to 45 minute train ride, but it was worth it!
We first went to the haunted mansion. It was sooo funny! It was supposed to be scary, but Quinn and I laughed the whole way through!
We started out in Frontierland. Wchich was all about the wild west. We went on a rollar coaster twice at different times. The first time we went, it was the first time Quinn had ever goine on a big rollar coaster. It was so funny! Dad was taking pictures the whole time. Quinn's face went from scared to terrified to Omygoshthisissofun! It was hillarious! Then we headed over to Adventureland.
At Adventureland,there was this giant rollar coaster that was based off of the Indiana Jones # 1. It looked so cool. I really wanted to go on it. We got into a HUMONGO line. When we actually got to the front of the line, Quinn saw that there was a loop-de-loop, and didn't want to go.
So Mom and Quinn got out of ine, and Dad and I went. We got strapped in very tight. My head bounced around a lot. The coaster was fun, but I was glad MOm and Quinnn didn't go because they would have hated it.
Next up Pirates of the Carribean, and Sweiss family Robinson.We went in a really strange maze called "LA Ventre de la Terrne.", which means "Under the Earth". It lead up to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.

I really wanted to go to Fantasyland (aka Land of the Princesses AND Alice in Wonderland) so we went. It was suprisingly fun. I went on "Blanch Niege et les Sept Nais" I have no idea what it translates to, but it's a ride about Snow White.
Then we went through all the Alice in Wonderland stuff, which was awesome. We went in the spiney tea cups that you turn around. Mom got motion sickness, but Quinn and I had fun.
Then we went to Discoveryland, where I went on a fun car ride and drove the car like a crazy maniac.Then we went on a very cool buzz lightyear ride. nThen we went on Space Mountain 2.
Space Mountain 2 is the scariest rollar coaster I've been on. It's almost compleatly black, so you never know what to expect. We did two loop-de-loops! And we went on it twice! Eep!

When it grew late, we were confused about what to do next. We checked out the pinoccio and the Petter pan rides, but they had pretty big lines. We decided to just go down Main Street. It was pretty cool. We had an awesome time at Disneyland!!!

TTFN-Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 3, Part 2, April 3rd, 2009

Part 2
We didn't go to EuroDisney. It was to late. Yeah, I know. THEY PUT IT OFF FOR ONE MORE WEEK. So instead, we went to the Eiffel tower. I know I have been spelling his name wrong until now.
Anyways, we went to the very tip top of the Tour Eiffel! We climbed our way up (not on the beams, on the stairs) to the almost-top, but then we had to take an elevator to the very very very top.
It was sooooo cool from up there! I had so much fun! Paris was built in a circle. And in the middle of it, is the Tour Eiffel!
Today I learned some interesting facts. Some people want to take the Eiffel Tower down! Originally it was only supposed to last about 20 years for the world fair in 1889. But then they didn't take it down! It's become a great tourrist atttracrion and some a "wonder of the world".
When we walked home, we got in some trouble. WE were walking along ghe saine, and were about to come to somewhat of a freeway when out of a parked car comes a POLICE MAN (a french one too!)!!! He jabbled something in French while he adusted his pants.(That was not a pretty sight).
It turns out, we are not supposed to walk along this part of the saine.Then we had to walk ALL the way back (which was quite a long way mind you).
We walked and took the metro to Bastille, where there was a magnifique monument to all the poor people who had their heads cut off there. Speaking of which, I think my feet are going to fall off since we've done so much walking. I'm having a great time!

TTFN- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 3, Part 1, April 3rd 2009

Look, you'll probably think when you ready this... WHAT!? YOU DON'T GO TO BLANK WHILE YOU'RE IN PARIS! GO TO A MUSEUM ALREADY!

Okay okay I'll tell you where I am going. I am going to Disney Land! Horray! We are going to Euro Disney because Mom and Dad have promised to go to Disneyland for the last 4 years, and we now we get to... IN PARIS! Anyways, we're going to a musuem tomorrow!

TTYL- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 2, Part 2, April 2nd 2oo9

Later-
OHHHHH! I have had so much fun! And some not so much fun. We went to meet Madame Brown, head of the EABJM (well, I think that's what the school is called- it stands for Ecole Active Bilangue Jean M???) adaption program. Mrs. Brown, a very cheery ol' lady from "Brit-tan" told us some helpful and not so helpful things.
bad news:
lunch isn't two hours- it's 45 min to an hour.
The adaption program is ENTIRERLY IN FRENCH.
The end of the day varies from getting out at 3:30 to 5:10.
good news:
The campus is awesome.
We will have total freedom.
You can get a three course meal at the cafeteria. (yeah, i know. Who gets a three course lunch at school?!)

But besides that, we're having an awesome time. We went over to the "Tour Effiel" (effiel tower) and took some wonderful pictures. There was also a cool band of brass instruments playing by the Effiel Tower. The were awesome.
And on our first night in Paris, we went to Italian food resturant. I had pizza!

TTFN- Sophie! luv 2 u all

Day 2, Part 1, April 2nd 2oo9

When I woke up this morning, I found Quinn's feet in my face-again. Let me tell you, I hate sleeping on planes. Especially with Quinn. He always, ALWAYS spreads out all over the place. I mean, you're litrally squished out into the asile. Thank goodness for those little bar things-or I'd be IN the asile.
For the first part of the flight to Paris, it was all fine and dandy till the first movie was over. Then I had to go to the bathroom really bad. REALLY BAD. Right at that moment, we were experiencing bad turbulence. I had to go sit down.
So finally the turbulence was over. I go to the bathroom and come back. Then he second movie starts, it was Nim's Island. The screen was exuberantly light, and the glare went though my eyelids. I had to put a blanket over me.
And from sitting and sleeping up right, I have terrible pains in my knees. IT HURTS! Anyways, I think I'd better stop complaining, I mean, I AM going to Paris!

TTYL- Sophie in Paris! luv 2 u all

Day 1, April 1st 2009

Well, my airplane rides have not been enjoyable so far. Right now I am sitting on the plane to France, a thousand feet in the air experiencing turbulance.
I had to wait an extremely long time to go to the bathroom on both flights- next time I'll go easy on the ginger ale.
Anyways, we waited at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport for a long time. Thank goodness i had a good book. I recommend it to girls who like chick flicks and drama (as in acting- if you read the book you'd get it) It is called "Paisley Hanover acts out". I absoloutly loved nd of course, finished it before we even went to Paris.
When we got on the plane, the chck engine light was one. IT took an hour to fix the problem, but then some guy decided to have a smoke ON THE PLANE. He was, of course, arrested. The airplane people had to pull his luggage of the plane so that took like, 20 minutes.

TTFN- Sophie In France ! luv 2 u all