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London was amazing. Pretty sure we both want to move there forever. The bus ride there was the longest of all our trips but it was definitely worth it! To get to the UK we took the Euro tunnel. It was kinda weird. All the cars and buses just drive onto it and park and then the tunnel just like takes you to the UK. I guess its like a train for cars. The whole weekend we had beautiful weather, not the typical London weather we were expecting! There was soooo much to do, two days wasn't nearly enough time to do it all. When we first got there we saw the London Eye, Thames river, Saint Paul's (where princess Diana and Prince Charles were married), Big Ben and Westminster Abby. We walked around a lot, actually we went along the Queen's walk. We came along Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was awesome, we took a tour of the theatre and it was really breathtaking. It was too bad that there were no shows playing while we were in London because otherwis
e we would have definitely gone to see one! After the Globe, we made our way to the tourist information, they weren't much help to us at all. But we got some pamphlets and made our way to the Subway. This time we weren't able to scam our way on without paying. The English are smarter than that so we had to buy a day pass. Our first stop was to get some famous Fish and chips. We were pretty disappointed with it. Katie was not impressed because it was Cod, eww. So we finished our lunch and walked across the street to Mme. Tussauds wax museum! We were pretty excited. The museum had a bunch of displays. The first one was liek a party of the stars, where all the famous stars were standing around all gussied up and ready to get there pictures taken with us little people. They had a concert room where rockstars were "performing" and you could take your picture performing with them and a politician area where you could met Barack Obama etc. The best part of the museum was the haunted house. They had a haunted dungeon type place where you walk through and they have actual people dressed up and ready to scare you. It was pretty intense. We spent the rest of the day exploring London and soaking it all in. It is an amazing city! We may have walked a little too far because we got a little lost...okay a lot lost. We were in a bit of a panic because we had to meet back at the bus at a certain time to go to our hotel! We were freaking out a little asking people for directions and its a good thing we did because our sense of direction was way off. We finally made it back to the meeting place, a little stressed out and little worried because at first we didn't recognize anybody from our bus. But eventually they started showing up. We soon found out there was no need to be rushing to get back, our bus was an hour late! It wasn't all bad because we got to do a lot of people watching and we got to see some interesting outfits... Everyone was so irritated by the time the bus finally showed and we were all more than ready to get to the hotel. Our hotel was 40 mins outside London which was a bummer because we couldn't explore the night life but it worked out. We got to watch some English T.V. and read some English magazines! We also ordered a pizza. That was an experience on it's own! Katie was nominated to call and order it but the guy had trouble understanding her and then he claimed it was too noisy and that we had to call back. So we did and he wasn't English at all... We didn't unders
tand a word that he said. By the time we placed the order we weren't really sure what we had ordered. It was pretty funny. Anyways, it finally came and we got exactly what we wanted, plus some french fries! Ofter our pig out session we hit the hay! We had to get up early the next morning to go back into the city. Once we got there we grabbed a hot chocolate and took a seat on the bench along the Thames river. We sat there awhile watching the tourists go buy. They totally thought we were locals because we were talking in a very authentic English accent... the tourists were starring at us and loving us. After ahwile we decided to take a bus tour where we could hop on and hop off. It was a great tour because we go tot see Hyde Park, Oxford St., St.Paul's Cathedral, Picadilly circuit, Buckingham palace, Roger Moore's car and other famous people's houses! We also go to experience the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was the coolest thing. There was a huge crowd of people and police everywhere. The bands and the guards came marching in from different directions. It was quite the experience. Afterward we did a lot of shopping and then we took a cruise along the Thames River (we got a free ticket with the bus tour). It was amazing, the cruise dropped us off where we had to meet the bus (which came on time!). We thought we would grab another order of fish and chips and give them a second chance. Mary Elizabeth didn't mind it but Katie, was once again unimpressed. It was Cod and underneath the breaded part there was still the slimy skin of the fish! No thanks! Then we all loaded onto the bus and got ready for the looooooooong ride back to Montbeliard. We want to go back!!!!!!!
Last weekend was pretty awesome! We went on our trip to Prague! It all started last Friday night when we took a night bus! The bus was so cramped and small and it was packed! We were one of the last people to get on the bus so our posse had to be broken up. Mary Elizabeth and Rachel were bus buddies which in hindsight was a bad idea, only because they had the longest legs. They had the pleasure of sitting behind a couple who seemed more like mother and son. Mhairi and Katie were bus buddies and they had to sit in front of the most annoying guys ever! They didn't sleep the whole trip, they read comic books, played cards, talked and oh yeah, kicked Katie's seat all night! So annoying! But one positive thing came from the bus trip! We met
Hamish, a fellow English assistant from New Zealand. He was a pretty funny guy, and he's not too fond of the French especially after he was hit by a car in Marseilles and the driver didn't even get out of his car to apologize! Hamish was lucky to have met us because not only are we the funnest people in Europe but also he had to be told where the trip was to... he thought he was on his way to Poland! We arrived in Prague around 9:30 am and had to leave our things on the bus because we couldn't check into the hotel until that evening. So the four of us girls took the metro to the center and went to the tourist office. We figured out the money exchange... kinda... well we took out 2000 CZ and hoped it wasn't like 1000 euros! Afterward we took some pictures of the Astronomical Clock and went looking for the medieval torture museum. It was pretty much the coolest yet disturbing museum we've ever been too. Every exhibit made us cringe a little inside. We aren't too sure how reliable the information was at the museum because we spotted a few things cited by Wikipedia and Britannica! Afterward we just took in the sights and went looking for a place to get some food! We ended up being persuaded to go to an Irish pub by a random guy who was adve
rtising the pub. It was nice to speak English with people and to feel closer to home. Once we were fed we went on a Nuclear Bunker Tour. We were all really excited and we thought we would learn a lot of history. Except unfortunately it was extremely hard to understand our tour guide, Ivan. His accent was REALLY thick and could barely understand anything he was saying! It seemed like he was in a huge rush and he didn't leave much time for picture taking... he actually said we were like the Chinese and we had no idea what he meant. We thought he was calling Rachel Chinese because the same thing happened to her in Morocco! Turns out the Chinese take a lot of pictures when they go away and that's what he meant... weirdo! He did try to be funny by calling one of the guys in our group a loser because he didn't "pick-up" the night before! The Nuclear bunker was pretty cool, it had a lot of graffiti, a spin table and bar inside. At the end of the tour Ivan gave us all a beer while he showed us pictures and let us try on a gas mask!
We had to walk back to our hotel to get checked in and all that jazz! The hotel was amazing... such a nice change from those dingy hostels! The hotel room was clean, the beds were comfortable, there were complimentary toiletries, oh and the end of the toilet paper was folded into a triangle. We were living the life. We all got ready in our rooms and we met up with Hamish to experience the night life in Prague. We had a few drinks before heading out to a light show called "Aspects of Alice". It was a pretty good show. At intermission Hamish went to the bar to get us a few glasses for the bottle of wine we brought with us. The bartender gave them to him no questions asked but as soon as we poured the wine in the theatre the usher came and told us no glasses allowed in the theatre... What was the point of giving us the glasses then? So we smoothed things over with the usher and got to drink our wine! After the show we went to the bar next door. The bar looked pretty cl
assy but it was also a strip club!!!!!!!!! There was one tiny room with a bar and stripper poles. It was pretty interesting. It was a lot of fun until some dude mistook the two of us for Americans and tried to convince us to give him a dance! Once we got sick of that club we went to a five floor club, the biggest club in central Europe. It was pretty amazing! They had all kinds of dance floors and it felt almost like a warehouse because the stairs were like concrete. We had a lot of fun and learned some new European pick up lines. For example, all a guy has to do is look at you and give you the peace sign... that means "lets dance". Katie and Rachel were ready to get back to our hotel before Mhairi, Mary E, and Hamish so they went on the look out for a cab. They were pretty paranoid about taking a cab because apparently the cabs are run by the mob, according to the internet! The cab driver was a bit sketch because he drove like a maniac and took them to all of these side streets... but no fear... they made it back safe.
The next morning we all ate our complimentary breakfast which was more than just bread and jam! We had bacon, fruit, cereal, juice, everything you can imagine even fried mushrooms! Then we met up with Hamish once again and his roommate Kyle from New York. We took our bags to th
e bus and claimed out seats for the trip home. For the rest of the day we relied on the guys to get us around... we took advantage of not needing a map! We went to the Jewish Quarter, and we took a visit to the Kafka museum, then we went to the Prague castle, took a gander at the tiny Eiffel tower, and checked out the sights on Charles Bridge. Prague is really a beautiful city, there is so much to see! At the end of the day we made our way back to the bus and were shocked to see that someone had the gull to move Mhairi and Katie's bags! They totally stole their seats. They were not impressed... not one bit! So Katie and Mhairi went looking for their bags... and guess where they were... behind the annoying comic book boys from the bus ride there! So every time 
the bus stopped we made a point to go to the back of the bus to give the seat stealers an evil look. The bus ride home was long and interesting. At one of the stops Mary Elizabeth and Hamish thought they would get a bottle of beer for the bus ride home and the bus driver saw them and said it was fine with her because she was buying a six pack! OUR BUS DRIVER WAS DRINKING! So we wore our seat belts the rest of the ride home! After a long drive with 100 000 000 unnecessary stops we finally got home around 5:30 am! It was a great trip!
We've had a pretty eventful couple of weeks since out last entry. Our roommate Anant is missing a lot of celebrations in India and is getting homesick. So last week she decided to re-create "Holi" (pronounced "holy") day in our flat with us. It's a special day where basically everyone where Anant lives has a huge water fight with colours. She was really eager to play it with us but at the time the weather was too cold to be outside throwing water... sooooooooo.... we played inside! I guess we didn't really think it through because the aftermath was a huge clean up. But i
t was worth it, we all had a lot of fun. We used anything and everything to put water in and throw it at each other! Mary Elizabeth, of course, had to take it one step further and throw flour at Mhairi! We did this twice in one day! At night time Mary Elizabeth, Mhairi and Anant went outside (saoking wet) while Katie threw poured water on them from the window... that didn't last long though because the girls got yelled at by a neighbor. The story behind Holi day was that there was once this little boy who was to become prince. His Aunt (also a witch) was very jealous and she wanted to become Queen instead. So she had planned to burn the boy. The aunt had a shawl that could protect her from harm and i believe it was the king who wanted to stop the Aunt from performing her wicked plan but couldn't because of the shawl. The there was a gust of wind which knocked off the shawl and it landed on the little boy, so he was then protected. So on Holi day, everyone has a huge water fight to pay homage to the story and the boy.
So for the February break we decided that we wanted to travel somewhere exciting and more importantly somewhere warmer than france! So we decided on Africa and set out for Morocco. Mhairi, Rachel and I (ME) flew from Lyon into Marrakech and we saw a pretty amazing African sunset. (all ordinary things were now African to us! African airplanes, African toilets, African taxis, we were kind of excited). We took out some dirhams from the cash machine and then headed out of the airport to find our hostel. A man asked if we needed a taxi and told us to wait and he's be right back, so he ran off to get his unmarked car in a far a way parking lot then when he came back we hoped that he wasn't planning on selling us into underground prostitution...no worries we made it alright. So we were dropped off in the Medina, which is the main city surrounded by walls. We were right in middle of the square and what is the largest outdoor market in the world. There was a lot to take in! There were so many shops and the people looked different than what we're used to and obviously we looked very different! There were a lot of hotels and so many streets that we couldn't find out little hidden hostel but luckily this nice boy about our age said he could show us the way no problem. He was really nice and chatting to us and it took about two mins to get to the hostel then we thanked him and walked inside. Well then he freaked out that we needed to pay him for being a guide but we only had big bills so he stayed outside the hostel yelling at us! Sign in for the hostel was intersting...we went into the tea room that had all these tables and colourful cushions and people smoking hookah and having mint tea and our little friend (who we named pepito) who spoke a little french and english to us, signed us in then took us up to our room. There were three beds and it was just like the three bears, a double bed, single bed and like a half a single. So he explained to us that little mhairi would have the small bed, Rachel the single and I could have the double and then he showed me with his hands 'because you're so big' thanks buddy. Then he went over to Rachel who is 100% English and saying 'chinois, china (pronounced sheeeena) and pointing at her eyes! This was hilarious but confusing for Rachel because over the next few days other people yelled 'konichiwa' at her! So far things were sketchy but we decided to check out the market at night and it was pretty obvious that we were tourists. Everyone was yelling at us 'hey spice girls' 'ahh gazelles' 'winner winner chicken dinner!' 'ahh princesses' and to mhairi 'short...but amazing anyway'. So we found a restaurant where we had a delicious shawarma. We got to eat outside, which was a nice change, and we were up on a terrace where we could see out over the market.
The next morning we were woken up before 6 by chanting from the mosque. Its amplified all over the city and was honestly pretty scary in the morning! We went back to sleep for a few hours then had some breakfast in the tea room. We had mint tea (which was available everywhere, with big mint leaves in the glasses) and moroccan bread and honey. The bread was everywhere! It was really cheap too, a loaf was about 10 cents and men pushed around carts full of it all over the city! Ahh and the best fresh orange juice of life was 30 cents! We were excited to get back to the market and do a little shopping. Things were going well until we were looking at some jewelry and a man offered to show us the main square because it had much better quality stuff. So after last night we were hesitant to go with anyone and we said we weren't looking for a quide and he assured us that it was no charge and we weren't far away. So this guy was totally charming and he ended up taking us through a maze of the souks (the alleys behing the square. sounding safe yet?) he did take us to a tannery though which was kind of cool. They were making leather and there were all these guys in holes in the ground stepping on it. It smelled absolutely awful but they gave us some mint to hold under our noses. Our 'friend' then tried to take us to a store where they made carpet but we knew he was going to want money from us so we tried to part ways with him. So he was really sweet and said 'no problem' double kiss blah blah then we went to walk away and his face complety changed! He was so crazy looking and demanded that we give him some money. then he made two fists and cracked his neck (did i mention he was bragging about what a champion boxer he was?) so we had to give him something and he left us along then we were totally lost! So when I say maze, I mean we were walking around for actually over 2 hours and everything looked the same! It was cool to see the people and the diffferent kinds of shops but we were a little concerned. Especially one disgusting street ! Let me try and give you a visual, there were piles of rotten fruit and swarms of flies and baby kittens on the side of the road in a box! it was horrible! then the real creeps came out and were following us and yelling at us 'you want sex?' one guy even got to second base with Mhairi! So that was the worst part of the trip! We found a nice guy from London and he took us home. We stuck with the tourists then and went into see 'Palais du Rahba' an old palace that was really cool. The walls were all really colourful tiles and it had a really nice garden where we took a little break. When we got back in town we got some food up on another terrace. The food was always delicious and really cheap! We got a moroccan salad (which became our favourite food) couscous and for dessert local oranges with cinnamon! We decided to get some henna. That was pretty neat, only we hadn't really mastered the bargaining so I think we payed a bit too much but it was still cheap. One more scary thing happened that day. I bought a big bottle of water and i was carrying it under my arm and this guy came up behind me and tried to knock it out of my arm. So I thought that was weird but he just kept walking but then he came back at me and tried to pull it out again and I actually had to fight with him to keep it. But i'm happy to say that none of us were ever robbed! Morocco was actually a really beautiful place and there was a lot to see outside the medina.
We set off the next morning to see the Atlas Mountains. The drive was exciting because we saw camels and lots of different people. The actualy driving was crazy. It was like in a movie where you're winding up a mountain and the road is on right on the edge, minus a guardrail...When we made it to the mountains a young boy acted as our guide and we got to climb up a little waterfall, just over rocks and flimsy bridges! But when we made it to the top there was a cafe with mint tea! There was even a man in a hole in the mountains carving different souvenirs from the rock. At the bottom there was many different cafes and for most of them you had to walk across the river on an Indiana Jones bridge (my dream, i know) So we spent the afternoon there enjoying the sun. We got to try a tagine, which is a special pottery dish that they cook the food in. We took lots of pictures on the drive home and got a tour of a pottery shop. That night we got some Aladdin cocktails and worked on our bartering skills at the market. I think we were pretty impressive. The next day was the best because we drove out to the Cascades (waterfalls)! It was about a 3 hour drive and there was a lot to see on the way! Apparently our driver had some connections because he set us up with a local boy our age who took us all around the waterfalls! It took a few hours and we got to see it from all angles. We started at the top then he took us through a field of olive trees where it was actually raining olives on us! can't complain about that. We walked right down where there used to be water from the falls and took a boat across the bottom an walked back up to the top. Our guide (Samir) told us all about his family and showed us a typical Berber mud house and we saw monkeys! and he even told us terrible jokes! Anyway it was pretty exciting but the best was still to come. We got quite the hookup when we got back to the top and we got to have our lunch in the VIP area! We ate outback of the restaurant at our own table overlooking the falls! and we had more moroccan salad! good day! And of course Samir then professed his love to Mhairi (she picks up a boy/stalked everywhere we go!) On our last day in Marrakech we just wanted to enjoy the sun but it wasn't worst staying the market because of all the comments so we found this tour bus that had an open roof so we got up there away from the locals. We got to see some more of the city and the crazy driving! I dont think there are any rules to the road! There are buses, mopeds, bikes, horses, people pulling carts on the road just going everywhere and kids just darting inbetween! Ah and a lot of the men wore these, well i'm not sure what they're called but, dresses that were long sleeved and to the floor with pointed hoods! It looked like the KKK was walking around. So we got to enjoy some more camels and palm trees. We had developed a little relationship with our hostel worker friend Pepito so we asked if we could get a picture with him. He said he was busy and he'd come up to our room later. So later we were sitting on the bed when the door busts open and pepito sprawls out on the bed with us. We all thought he was falling for Rachel AKA Sheena but he professed his love for me because he 'never sees girls like me in Morocco' oh sweet pepito. but then he started stroking my hair and telling me about my 'big hair, big lips etc.' thanks little friend. On our very last day we got the train to Casablanca! how romatic! It was about 3 hours and the train cost less than 10 dollars! I watched the movie before we left but the city didn't quite meet my expectations...it was so industrial and not really nice at all but I'm glad that I can say I was there. We had a horrible time at the airport with flight delays but we finally made it back to Lyon airport where we spent a freezing night waiting for our morning train. We slept in a booth in a cafe! I felt like such a homeless person! Plus it was Valentines day, so we spooned ahah romantical. So even though the trip started off a little bit sketch, we had some amazing times and shared a lot of laughs!
I'll post the pictures in the link.
-Papa Bear
Holidays kicked off again on friday, and after 5 weeks we felt like we deserved a break! It was a special day at Lycee Armand Peugeot (Mary Elizabeth's school). The students organized a carnivale so many of them came to school in costumes. It was like a make up for halloween, but it turned out to maybe be even be
tter. There were some really good costumes like two boys who did a great job dressing up as Fiona and Shrek. They got a little too into character and even started kissing... The teachers got in on the fun too and one dressed up like a cheetah or something that is from a french cartoon. I didn't really get it but he drove a scooter around all day, like in circles around the teachers room, so it was pretty good. The last 2 periods of the day were cancelled to have bit of a parade for all the costumes. At 5:30 the dance started and Beccy and I went in to 'chaperon'. She dressed up as a vampire and I got the opportunity to reuse my purple afro from Barfly to be a hippy. Anyway i
t ended up being a pretty hilarious night. We got to do a lot of dancing, however the music was a bit questionable. French techno is THE worst. Whenever I thought I finally recognized a song it would turn out to be like a french lyric remix. Beccy and I even tried to request some Backstreet Boys to get the party going and the "DJ's" didn't even know what we were talking about. I feel they need to go back to DJ school. Things got a little crazy when they put on some tom jones and all of a sudden our students were party boying us! That quickly ended when everyone noticed that Mario and Luigi, who had been dancing up on some chairs, didn't have their overalls on anymore! One of my students even said to me that th
is was just like an American movie! Other than the nudity it was a pretty wholesome night. Carnivale definitely beat any high school dance that I ever went to because it was fully catered. It was pretty impressive. The sandwich course had all these different kinds of sandwiches that were in loaves of bread that were all sea themed! Like you could lift up the turtles bread shell to get something to eat!
Yesterday
Mhairi and I also decided that we have been in France too long without trying any escargot. So we went to the shop to see what we could find. We didn't have too much luck and ended up buying this frozen stuff that is 
supposed to be cooked in the oven, and well we don't have an oven, so we made due with a frying pan. So it was vegetables and snails in a curry sauce, obviously delicious...perhaps frogs legs will be better?
We have to go and pack because we are off to Morocco tomorrow to get a little African sun. Spring Break 2010 y'all!
e we would have definitely gone to see one! After the Globe, we made our way to the tourist information, they weren't much help to us at all. But we got some pamphlets and made our way to the Subway. This time we weren't able to scam our way on without paying. The English are smarter than that so we had to buy a day pass. Our first stop was to get some famous Fish and chips. We were pretty disappointed with it. Katie was not impressed because it was Cod, eww. So we finished our lunch and walked across the street to Mme. Tussauds wax museum! We were pretty excited. The museum had a bunch of displays. The first one was liek a party of the stars, where all the famous stars were standing around all gussied up and ready to get there pictures taken with us little people. They had a concert room where rockstars were "performing" and you could take your picture performing with them and a politician area where you could met Barack Obama etc. The best part of the museum was the haunted house. They had a haunted dungeon type place where you walk through and they have actual people dressed up and ready to scare you. It was pretty intense. 
tand a word that he said. By the time we placed the order we weren't really sure what we had ordered. It was pretty funny. Anyways, it finally came and we got exactly what we wanted, plus some french fries! Ofter our pig out session we hit the hay!
