partying

I've been quite the party animal these last couple days. Saturday night, we had a huge birthday party for Claire. And I've learned that when the French party, they party! Went til 3 in the morning, 3:30 by the time I got home, and it was probably about 4 by the time I fell asleep. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday night, so I had to get up at 8 the next morning. I was so tired that I slept in my skirt (I'd dressed up nicely for the birthday party) and pretty much got up and went to church the next day (or should I say "later that morning"?). Shhh! Don't tell anyone :)

My favorite part of the birthday party was meeting Jean-Robert, Claire's father. I've always heard about his incredible jazz piano skills, and I was not disappointed. He's never learned how to read music, but does everything completely by ear, analyzing chords and adding little diddlies as he goes. He'd heard that I play piano, my skills unfortunately much more puffed up in the rumors than in reality, so he had me play something for him, despite my adamant protestations. I have never been one to memorize a whole ton, so I turned the sound waaay down (it was an electric piano) and played what I remembered from Solfeggietto by one of the Bachs- I think it was Carl Emmanuel Bach. That's the one that always bothered Caroline because I always played it too fast and carelessly. This time, however, it was fast but the carelessness hidden by the lowered volume. I still felt very inadequate, but Jean-Robert made me feel right at home, applauding me and congratulating me. A couple minutes later, Noemi came over and started playing a small diddle that she'd learned from "Oh, Susanna." Jean-Robert said, "Oh, Natacha knows that one!" referring to its American origin, and had me play it. I'm pretty good at playing things (melodies) by ear, so I played the song and finished it in the same key that Noemi had started it, on the black notes. Her grandfather had me play it again, and this time played a matching duet part lower down on the piano, making it up as he went. Then, to my surprise, he had me try it! Both hands, I mean. So I did, slowly and a bit un-fluently, accompanied by his unobtrusive naming of each chord as I played it. He then hinted, smiling, that I might have an easier time moving the song up a half step, thereby dealing with one sharp as opposed to six flats. <>, it was played much more fluidly the second go-around. After I'd played around with it a bit, Jean-Robert took over the piano, giving me the most jazzed-up rendition of "Oh, Susanna" I've ever heard. He went on to give me practically a full piano lesson, talking to me about chords and improvising and how to play things by ear. It was like having a dream come true, one of those that you hardly dare let in your mind because you know that the likeliness of it happening is so small. Or, if you do, it's only in joking. The best part about it was that it wasn't by any means demeaning- he made me feel very accomplished with what I could do, even with something as small as being able to play a simple melody by ear, and built on it. I've got a bit of footage of his playing to show you all, but regrettably none of "Oh, Susanna."

I've been filming a lot more these last couple days. I like it because it catches a lot more than just having pictures does. Hence the staring lack of pictures, which will be richly made up for with the videos upon my pending return.

Since my return from Toulouse, I've more than caught up on my tan, but on the flea/mosquito bites as well. It's almost worth the bugbites, though. Here, I haven't gotten sunburnt once- yet the sun is much hotter and I spend much more time in a swimsuit. I've talked about it with Claire and Jean-Robert, and we think it's because of Utah's significantly higher altitude, which would provide a smaller layer of air for the sun to pierce through, which makes us more apt to burn in Utah than on the beach, at sea level. I'll come back home blond and black :)

This evening I went out with Mathieu for the first time with his friends. We went to a McDonald's (yes, they exist here) for dinner, and then Mathieu dropped me off at the house before they went to some beachside bar. It was fun- I got to meet a foreign exchange student from New Zealand! Fascinating accent. I think I was starting to pick up a bit on it by the end. The Utah accent is actually in some ways close to it, because theirs is a lack of articulation of a lot of sounds. Our ever-mocked way of saying "maow-uh" for "mountain," is essentially the same way as theirs. It was really fun to talk to her. I was able to learn about yet another culture, and at the same time, she understood the things about mine that nobody else has around here. She'd even had a Mormon friend! We got along fabulously. Apparently, New Zealand's school year starts in January! Different, huh! And then their summer vacation is actually during their summer, as it's in the southern hemisphere.