End of School and Start of Festivals

On the last day of school I was sad to say goodbye to all my friends but a little excited to be going home to Australia in only a short time!

We have just been truffle hunting, with dogs! It was fun because when the dog had found a truffle, I would kneel down and look at the hole in the ground with the hunting lady. If she had missed a truffle I would pick it out for her. If it was a big truffle she would keep it but if it was small one she would give it to me. So by the end I had 2 or 3 truffles! I had a fantastic time!

Around Provence all the Christmas festivals are starting, so one morning we all got up and it was a nice sunny day so we decided to go to Carpentras to see the festivals. First there was some jack-in-the-box clowns that had a big box with leg holes so that they could walk around with a big box on their shoulders. They could also open up the top so that we could see them. They had very weird and freaky face so there was a lady coming out of a shop and there was 3 boxes so they all trapped her in the triangle and started singing creepy songs around her but finally they let her go. I felt so sorry for her!

We also saw the French Santa! He was on this old rickety bike with all these potions on the back. His face was quite old but he wasn't wearing any red or white!

There is an ice-skating rink in Carpentras, so what do we decide to do? of course! skate!!! It's really fun but the boots give you big blisters!! :-)

When we went around and round the course, it was really fun because you feel like you're walking on air!

As part of the Christmas celebrations, there is a big chateau. Inside the chateau, there is a big shop that sells lots of Christmas decorations. There were some very cute ones. We walked into the 'kitchen', a man was doing taste tests with wine and so we had a look around and then I walked past the man who was doing the taste tests and he quickly poured a glass of 'champagne' and offered it to me and said taste, so I did!
It was really yum but he said that it was 0% alcohol and that it was fizzy grape juice. It was in a really fancy bottle and everything! He also said that on Christmas day while all the parents are drinking champagne, the kids could be drinking 'champagne', too!

Remember the truffles I found when I went truffle hunting? Well, we've been saving them for when we had bought a Camembert cheese so we could cut the Camembert in half and then cut the truffles up into little pieces place them on 1 side of the Camembert and the put the 2 halves back together. The flavour of the fresh truffles will penetrate the Camembert cheese. Our friend Isabelle told us to buy a Normandie Camembert made from non-pasteurised milk and one that was bien-fait. That's well done, so that it's creamy in the centre, yet mature as well. Camembert is my favourite cheese. This Camembert will be ready for eating on Christmas day.

Here is how it looks!

See you shortly! ;-)

Luging

Hello Everyone,

Saturday morning was a perfect sunny day and we decided to drive up Mt Ventoux to do some tobogganing. We drove around all the windy roads and finally arrived at the ski hut. There was a very slippery, icy road going down to all the ski slopes and ski shops. We were driving down slowly but our car stopped responding to all of Dad's actions! We started sliding down the ice, out of control and finally crashed into a car!! I was so scared! Luckily no one got hurt. We got out of the car and while Mum and Dad organised everything Sean and I hired some toboggans and tobogganed down a slope.

It was fun because Sean and I tied our sleds together and the back person was the break and the front person was the steerer. It was fun because if the front person even touched the steering, the whole steering would turn into a break and the front would suddenly stop and the back would bump into it. Then we would have to walk back up the hill laughing and falling over.

When we got too cold to go on we went to a cafe and ate a Nutella crepe and had a hot chocolate with marshmallows. We went outside to go home, but all day people were having troubles trying to get up the icy hill. So we dug out our show-7's ('chausettes' - a sock thing that you put over the tyres) and we got up the hill and drove home.

That night we went to my friend Claire's house for dinner. For dinner we had a raw salmon entree, a duck main and a Toblerone mousse for desert. It was very yum. Claire and I played in her bedroom and on the wii console. Claire also has a cat called Scarlette, so we also played with her. I had great fun!
Au Revoir!