blue ink #10

I just had gym ("sport"). For two hours. Sigh. And guess what we're doing- wrestling. Isn't that just great?? I mean, I love playing tackle (American) football and all that but wrestling for me is just like... er eh no. First we waited in that place (next to the Lycee and near the L building) and the teacher (who was actually here) called our names and stuff. Then we entered the sport area through this gate and walked with a few other classes of kids. It was first thing in the morning so a slight layer of fog floated near the fields, creating an almost eerie hat. We passed this soccer-like field with reddish power and some more fields. I talked to Claire, Olivia and Emma about the class a little bit. I asked if you could forfeit, and you could but Claire said that'd give you a lower grade. So nevermind. But according to Claire, wrestling is so fun. I could see why she felt that way- she's quite tall, confident, strong and somewhat violent.

A big grey building loomed as we argued about saying fish and chips, French fries or crisps. It was somewhat amusing.

We entered the bleak building and I noticed on one of the outdoor billboards that they did Aikido. So cool. We were let in in groups of like 10 people each and had to take off our shoes in the hallway. I went with Emma. I had only brought one pair of shoes so I brought that with my change of clothes.

I hadn't really liked gym at Slauson, and I can't say this was much better. The locker room was smaller- a square room with benches on the side, white walls and some bathrooms around the corner. I changed in a shower stall.

After changing into my red "Central" running shorts and Red Wings shirt, we all went into this large room that had some blue and red mats covering the entirety of the floor. Large posters of Asian guys hung on the wall. It smelled somewhat like sweet pretzels. Sweat. The teacher talked to us about such and such. He had short black hair with very thin and small sideburns. Looked pretty young. He was pretty nice I guess.

So he went through the rules and stuff and Emma and Claire told me what he was saying. He also informed us that next Wednesday we all had to do this cross country thing/race... and I think we're GRADED on that. I mean, what the heck? Graded on running 2 hours to benefit hospitals or whatever? He also handed out these pamphlets that we could fill out to donate/get money for running or something. I didn't get one though.

Emma was my partner. It was somewhat awkward, and she beat (pwned) me several times on the drills, and I pretty much stank. We did stuff like pushing each other out of an area, picking each other up, etc. Wasn't that much fun. And then before all that we did these running around drills sort of like what we did in band where you have to get in groups of 3 or whatever and have a consequence for being the one left one. On the exercise where we had to pick someone up, I was left by myself sort of. And had to do 6 push-ups. Which wasn't even bad at all. I mean, I really don't want to brag or anything, but those 6 push-ups were not... very hard for me. I overheard one of Joey's friends say something like, "yeah well she's an American so..."

Finally, after humiluating myself a lot and taking in that eughaduge smell for 2 hours, we could go. Apparently I need to have 2 pairs of shoes for some stupid reason. Like, we have to have different shows for Ping-Pong or something. I don't think I'm even doing Ping-Pong. What the heck. I also walked away with a bad rug burn, which really smart.

So gym is all year and I think we do wrestling for half the year. Ugh. At least it's only once a week. And we have to be graded on almost everything. Frankly, I've already got 2 hours of hockey a week which is so much better. Sigh.

Dude I'm hungry. Short lunch today, too. And three hours of FLE. Geez. I'll try to work on that documentary a lot. This school is annoying.

Oh yeah and hey it was cool yesterday- Bridgitte (someone in my FLE class) came up to me yesterday and we talked for a bit. She's Canadian. From Toronto. And she said her family might stay here permanently or move somewhere else French-speaking if they don't like it here. God. I would hate that. I mean, just one year in plently. Already almost too much.

Chester is a dog.

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YOU GUYS GUESS WHAT.

My mom told me we found a trumpet teacher for me! One of her close friend's from Quaker meeting daughter is a French Horn player in the Geneva Symphony Orchestra and she was looking around. So the teacher (François Seigneur) is French but knows some English. The lesson would be Sgt. Geny, which is pretty close. I can't wait! I hope I get the lessons on the weekend, but Wednesday could work. The French Horn player (Julia) said she found him "quite pleasant" when she talked to him on the phone. So cool.

Dang, the day goes by so fast. It's already pitch black outside and 7:30. I did my HW luckily and should work on that Doc. Just till July 4th... then boom I'm out. But first, till October 24 and we'll go to London and see Wicked and take lots of pictures and see England and take a huge, much-needed break from this heck and I can have some fun.

And yo, check THIS gnarly-ness out.