C'est comme tu veux. Non, c'est comme tu veux.
The school threw an elaborate party in the cafeteria for the boarding students last night. There was a disco ball, at least a hundred balloons, and music with a bass beat so loud it almost shook the school. And all the students wore costumes. I asked my morning class about it today, and they said that it’s a tradition for the school to throw a party for the boarding students before the February vacation. One student said that the theme for this year’s costumes was famous characters and that she painted her face green and went as Shrek.
The other assistants and I spent yesterday evening having our own little party in the kitchen to celebrate Chinese New Year. We all rolled up our sleeves and helped Sarah made Chinese dumplings, which was a lot of work (stirring, chopping up tons of raw meat and vegetables, rolling out so much dough that it covered almost the entire table). But making the dumplings wasn’t as hard as eating them with chopsticks; everyone could do it except me, and they found my fumbling attempts rather amusing. But Sarah kept saying that I was the guest of honor because this is my year (the Year of the Rat), and the dumplings that I managed to eat were surprisingly good, which was nice.
Funny Chinese Sarah Moments of the Evening:
Watching the French Vanna White on the French Wheel of Fortune… Sarah: Why do they have this woman? I think she is not necessary. Everyone else: *laughing hysterically*
Trying to eat with chopsticks… Me: I can’t do this, Sarah! Sarah: I think you can do it, because whenever I try to do something, you always tell me, ‘You can do it.’ Me: Yeah, but that’s you, not me. Sarah: I think is the same.
Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to think up a nice way to tell Nathalie that it pisses me off to no end when students come through the hallway where Marlene, Sarah, Heather, and I live. The door to our hall is clearly marked PRIVEE, but there’s a group of students who regularly visit Nathalie and use it as a shortcut to her office. And even more annoying is Nathalie’s son’s parade of girlfriends. I know for a fact that Marlene and Heather are pissed off by it too (Sarah probably isn’t, because the only time I ever saw her get anywhere close to mad was when I mistakenly said that Yoko Ono was Chinese. “She not Chinese! She Japanese!”) but none of us want to say anything because Nathalie does so much for us. But I’m not going to worry about that now, because I’m on vacation, and tonight Mariana is going to teach me how to make a piñata.