France Versus The U.S.....................Viva la Difference

Hello Everyone:

Maddy here again in France. I cannot believe that this is my last Blog of the trip. Thank-you everyone who has read about my adventures and have written me super nice notes. I am very excited to come home as I miss all of you very much.

Today's story is what I promised you all last week. It is about some of the really crazy differences between where I live in France and things back in the States. I hope some day all of you will come and visit me and I can show you some of these very strange things myself.

So, here we go!

1] Dogs Are Kings! Yes, that is really true. Dogs can go everywhere people can go. And we take Snoopy and Jolie with us all the time. Even to school with me every morning. And when dogs go to restaurants, the waiters bring them their water in a dog dish even before the humans get served. Amazing!

2] No Dollars Here! The money here is called Euros and they are very different. First of all they are all different sizes. The 500 euro note is the biggest and the 5 euro note is the smallest. (And they do not have a 1 euro note, just coins) Also, all the bills are different colors. Very pretty actually!

3] Rabbits and Chickens, Oh My! Do you know that they actually sell rabbits in the markets? People eat them all the time. And they still have their heads on. It is horrible to see. And even the chickens still have their feet and heads on. Yucko mucko. And the best tasting chickens actually have dark blue feet!

4] No Sand At These Beaches! That's true. The beaches of Nice have stones instead of sand. And these stones are very flat and very smooth. Millions of people come to Nice to go to the beach and the put out straw mats to lay on. It is supposed to be bad luck to take a stone from the beach so I cannot bring one home. And something else really amazing. The women do not wear swimming suit tops. Yikes!

5] Monkeys are Wild! That is really amazing. And fun to. At our zoo by our house there are great animals to play with. My favorite are the lemurs. You can touch them and they jump on your back and head. They are so soft and so nice. They don't even bite. Plus they love the grapes from my Dad's vineyard, but I can't tell him that I sometimes take some to feed the lemurs or he would get very mad. Maybe I can get one for a pet some day?

There are so many differences that I can't write about all of them. Just for fun today, my Mom and Dad and I made a list at lunch. We came up with over 40 to choose from. Like they do not use pounds here. I am 24.5 kilos and almost 120 centimeters tall. I feel like a giant. Plus things like no school on Wednesdays, no school buses at all as everyone walks to school, even in the rain. Plus, we have 2 hours for lunch every day at school. But the funniest thing is the bathrooms. There are no toilet seats on ANY of the toilets at school or at most restaurants. Hopefully, no little kids fall in!

Thank-you again Mrs. Herrera and Mrs. Santello for all your great comments. If it wasn't for the two of you, none of this could happen. My Mom and Dad say you are their Lighthouse. I think that is a good thing.

I miss you all and see you soon. Thank-you for being good listeners.

A bientot.

-Maddy

My French Secret

Hello Everyone:

It's Maddy again. This week I have another very interesting adventure. I am calling it "My French Secret" because I really can't tell you exactly where I went. I know because I was there, but I really am not supposed to give away the exact place.

French people have some very unusual habits and most of them are about eating. I don't know about you, but I am not really that interested in food that much. But here in France, eating is VERY important. And one of the favorite French foods are champignons (mushrooms).

There are hundreds of kinds of mushrooms but the most unusual are ones called cepes. We don't have anything like them at all in the States. They are big and brown and really ugly.

So, we were all invited to my friend's home about 2 hours from our villa in Villefranche. They live in a beautiful home on a golf course surrounded by forests and mountains. Right next door to their house is a castle that was built in the 1700's. It was a really beautiful place.

Now comes the secret.........

In the forest by their house, there are sometimes cepes. And we went this afternoon in search of those ugly things. They are seriously hard to see as they are covered up by grass and stuff. And you have to use a stick to push away the grass and moss to find them. But, guess what? I found the first one!!! You have to be very careful as there are a lot of poisenous muchrooms too, but these are very different as they have big fat white stems. Then you carefully put your hands in the soil and pull them up. We actually found a lot of them. My Mom says that in the French markets they are very expensive. About 60 euros per kilogram. I don't know what that really means but my Dad said that was about $100 per pound and each cepe was worth about $15. So we found about $500 in all. Plus, we found the biggest cepe any of us had ever seen. It was nearly a half a pound! And the funniest thing was that we had to hide the cepes in my friend Melanie's jacket so no one would see where and what we found. That is why it has to be a big secret. Amazing!!!

My Mom and Dad cooked them ce soir (tonight) for dinner and were very happy. But as I said, I don't like mushrooms at all and I didn't even try them. They are adult food and most kids don't eat stuff like that. But it was sure fun to find them.

Stay tuned next week when I write my last Blog. I can't believe I will be home in less than 10 days. So, next week I will make a list of some of the really big differences between France and the United States. Some of these things you will not believe.

Also, thank-you so much Mrs. Santello and Mrs. Herrera for your great comments. I really can't tell you how much it makes me want to write my stories when I know you read them every week.

So for now:

A Bientot

-Maddy

In The Shadow Of A Castle

Hello Everybody!

Maddy here again in France. Another week has gone by and I have another great adventure to share with you. Here in Europe, everything is so old. It is hard to understand really how old everything is since our country in America is only about 250 years old. The past two weeks I have told you about places we have seen where people have been there for nearly 2500 years. Way more, that is for sure!

This week I went to a chateaux (castle) that I can see from my fenetre (window) at our house every day. In fact, every night when we take our chiens (dogs) for a walk, we see this beautiful castle lit up with a lot of lights. It is really cool. The name of the castle (well actually it is a fortress) is Fort Mount Albon. The singer Elton John lives right next door. For those of you who do not know, he is the singer who sang the Lion King songs.

Fort Mont Albon is at the top of a hill right in my back yard. It was built in 1546 to protect the city of Villefranche. It is so big you can see it from miles away. I was sort of sad because you cannot go in it because the German's bombed it in World War II and it is closed to visit. But we could walk all the way around it and I got to climb on the draw bridge. And the view is really beautiful. I hope you like the pictures I am sending you.

I miss all of you so much and thank-you so much for your comments. Back again next week with my latest French adventure.

A bientot,
Maddy

Thank-you For The Comments

Mrs. Herrera: Thank-you so much for your comments. I am really excited about meeting our new classmate. I have been very lonely this past week and missing everybody so much. Your letters really help. I have a great question for the class. Since this castle was built in the 1500's, you might ask the class what what happening in Florida at that time? That might be really interesting to compare. Thank-you again and I will see all of you in less than 3 weeks!

Mrs. Santello: I bet you are smiling now as it was you who gave me the idea for my Blog this week when you sort of asked about the castle in the picture in my last Blog. So, I have never been up there so I asked my mom and dad if we could climb up the hill and see it. Thank-you for the awesome idea! I miss you so much and thank-you again for the letters.

There Were Real Pirates Here

Hello Everyone:

Maddy here again and wow did I have a great week. I actually got two good scores on my French assignments, a 19/20 and a 20/20. My parents were pretty proud so that made me smile. Now, I really have to work hard this week. I guess we'll see?

Did you know that my maison (house) in France is in a little fishing village? Villefranche is a small village of 8000 people between the big city of Nice and the Country of Monaco. We are right on the Mediterranean Sea in a bunch of houses in really high hills. The streets are so small and curvy that we almost can't drive a car through them. So we walk everywhere, even in the rain. At least I get to have my perapuie (umbrella).

In the old town of our village, there is a cool place called Rue Obscure. It is sort of like a cave from the 13th century that runs from the water down through the entire old town. It is really a dark street like the name Rue Obscure means. Actually pirates like Blackbeard were part of the history and there still are old and dusty rooms that have bars on them from the days they used them for jails. It is really freaky. It would be a great place for a haunted house on Halloween except they don't celebrate Halloween much here. And, it is only 5 minutes from my school so I get to see it almost every day.

I really wish you could come and visit as there are so many neat things to do in our little village.

Stay tuned next week and I will have another great story.

A bientot.
-Maddy

Thank-you for your comments!!!

Mrs. Herrera: As always you are my reason that I am so excited about writing my Blog. You make me feel so special Mrs. Herrera. Always part of the class even though I am 5000 miles away. Thank-you so much. You have no idea how much your comments mean to me.

Anne-Laure: Wow was I happy to hear from you! For those of you who don't know Anne-Laure, she is my French tutor in Florida. It was awesome reading your comments. Plus I memorized a poem that you will love. Thanks for writing. Gros Bisous

Trophy of Augustus

Hello Everyone:

It is Maddy again here in France. I had a very fun week at school and my teacher, Madam Gastaud, said I am improving my French each day by reading a book. Plus, we have to memorize a poem each week and this week's, Crayon du Coloeur, is about colors and making the world a better place. I will tell it to you when I get home.

This week, my Mom, Dad and I went on a trip to a little village less than 30 minutes from our house, called La Turbie. It is very high in the mountains and has a fantastic view all the way from Italy to our house in Villefranche. In La Turbie there is a monument from the Roman Empire and it is called The Trophy of Augustus. It was built over 2000 years ago in 7 B.C. Augustus was the son of Julius Caesar. They built the trophy because Augustus won a huge war against the people of the Alps. It was really cool and really big.

So, I decided to climb to the top. My legs were shivering the whole time because it was so high up and I climbed to the top by myself, without ANY adults. It was just me, me, and me alone! All that is left of the the Trophy is some bricks and columns but it once was the biggest Trophy in the world of its kind. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Barbarians took the marble and then in the Middle Ages people used the bricks to build their maisons (houses). Too bad as it was a really neat monument and there is only one more left in the world and that is in Romania.

Plus, don't forget to ask me about the goats up there!

I hope you enjoyed my Blog and the pictures I am sending you. I will write you all again next Sunday with a really cool story. Stay tuned.

-Maddy Rosenberg

Thank-You For Your Comments!

Mrs. Herrera: I just love it when you write to me. I miss you and the class so much. I almost wanted to write another blog right away. This one the class might really like because I think we will be studying the Roman Empire. See you soon.

Sam Snow: Thank-you Sam for your comment. When my dad told me Sam had written a comment I thought it was my hamster Sam. But I was really happy it was you instead. I will for sure help you with your French class when I get back. A bientot.

Hunting For Octopus

Hi Everyone:

Another week has past. My teacher, Madam Gastaud, said I am doing good and working hard. One thing very different about school here is that we have 2 hours for lunch but I do not eat at school. The main reason is that you have to eat at the cantine and they do not let me bring my own lunch from home. And they eat very strange things here like Bouillabaisse (fish soup) and poulpe (octopus).

On Saturday, my friend Roman invited us to go snorkeling in the Mediterranean with him and his father. They wanted to dive for poulpe as it is his favorite food and they wanted it for dinner that night. YUK!!!

To catch an octopus you have to dive to the bottom and move rocks and shells to see if one is hiding there. Then they swim away and you have to go after them. Well, we caught a huge one that spit ink at us. After we got to shore, we had to clean it and then slam it on the rocks to make the meat soft to eat. I couldn't believe that a 7 year old boy was going to eat that slimy thing. It was so gross.

They do have good food here like great pizza and pasta. I definitely prefer these to fish soup and octopus. But, the octopus was sure fun to play with.

I will write again next Sunday so hopefully you will like my next surprise.

Have a great week and I miss you.

Thank-you for the comments:

I really love the comments you all write and I promise I will answer each one personally.

• Mrs Santello: I love it that you still read my blog. Thank-you for the encouragement!!
  



• Mrs. Herrera: I have been doing all my homework like you want. We have 26 kids in our class here and so it is extra hard to get help if we need it.
  



• Barb and Deb: Thank-you for your comments. Lillian and Sugar say hello! Do you like to eat Octopus?

Back Again In France For 2008

Dear Mrs. Herrera and my Willis Elementary Class:

I am back at my home in France and I have started my school in Villefranche sur Mer. For those of you that do not know where that is, you can find our village on a map of France right next to the city of Nice almost on the border with Italy. We have about 8000 people that live here and there is only one ecole (school). I am in CE2 which is sort of like 3rd grade.

My teacher's name is Madam Gastaud. She is very nice. I have many of the same friends from my class last year. We speak only in French and that is very hard. The good news is that I do not have school on mecredi (Wednesdays). That is the day I get to spend with my family. The bad news is that we went snorkeling in the Mediterranean Sea, way out in the ocean as the water is very clear. On our way swimming back, I got stung by a Medusse (jellyfish). It hurt really bad and left a scar but it is better now.

Yesterday, we finished our vendage (grape harvest). My mom and dad planted a small vineyard in our back yard and we pick the grapes every September to make our own wine. We took our grapes to our winemaker in Provence. His name is Mr. Buisine. We also saw how wine was made and it is very interesting.

I hope you are all having a good time. I REALLY miss you and I will write a new BLOG every Sunday. You can always ask questions on my BLOG and I will answer each one.

A bientot

Maddy