La Nouvelle Année

We're only one week into the school year, and I already feel at home. Last Thursday, my host mom drove me to my three-hour ceramics class at La République, and while it was different than what I am used to, it was a great experience. In the United-States, most of the pottery classes deal with throwing on the wheel, but here, there is only hand-buiding, which is great for working on diversifying my technique. At the moment, I'm the only person in the class, but my teacher is very understanding, as she is from Hungary and French isn't her first language either. By the end of the three hours, I had made a cute, little monster out of pinch pots, and a bowl that doubles as a cat. To get home, I took the bus for the first time and didn't get lost, even though it was 22:00 and extremely dark outside.
Here is a picture of my "monster"! In reality, he's very sweet.

 On Sunday, my sister, Claire-Marie, had her meeting of "Les Scouts Unitaire de France" (Unified Scouts of France). It was extremely similar to Girl Scouts, except it has a Catholic connotation. Claire-Marie and her cousin Emmanuelle passed from the rank of Jeannettes and onto the rank of Guides, since this past weekend was the beginning of the Scouts' new year. Each rank is divided into colors, red blue, yellow, and green, and from there they are all divided into teams, or équipes, of eight. Boys and girls from the surrounding area came to support their équipes, picnic with their friends, and attend Mass. At the meeting it seemed like all the families knew each other, making it a great opportunity for the kids, but also a time for the parents to socialize.
Here, Emmanuelle and Claire-Marie salute their friends, as they prepare to move forward into the role of "les Guides".