La Premier Jour

Rule number one: you must save your blog if you do not attend to post it right away. Biggest disappointment this morning. So let's try this again, shall we? After a long 10+ hour flight across the pond watching Kung Fu Panda in chinese and listening to the best airplane satalite radio I've ever heard including but not limited to Britney, Beyonce, Lady G, and Pink. Knowing me, I was as giddy as a school girl jamin' and boppin' so much it probably looked as if there was something wrong with me throwing hand gestures in the air wailing them around like a bafoon singing aloud to every word. All of this was worth while as soon as I had seen my first sunrise in France, and is it just me or is everything prettier when in Europe...I woke up to the sky being the most magnificent hues of jeaune, orange, rose, et rouge as we floated 35,000 feet above. Finally, the moment hit me emotionally. Taking my first step outside of the terminal I was very excited to meet my host family. There was only one problem...there was a lot of signs with names...but none had my name on it. Becoming a little frantic I checked several more times. Running around like a headless chicken, I began to panic when all of a sudden a 6'3 black man asked, "you need a taxi?" With a sign of relief, I gave him the address of the CIEE center. 65 euros later (which is about $100)...I had been told that my family was at the terminal waiting for me. They said she was a 4'9" woman, and me being 6' was understandable that I saw over her head and she had not seen me behind the piles of luggage in front of me. We had spent the day with her daughter, Adele, who is twenty, doing what we all do best...SHOPPING! Oh, did I mention they speak very little to no English? Now is the time to see if 5 years of French with Madame Klingaman paid off...Here goes nothing! Bisous, Bear