Guys! I'm totally here!

Je suis arrivée! After the most hectic packing I've ever experienced, one checked suitcase, three flights (Spokane to Seattle, Seattle to Chicago, Chicago to Paris) and one three-hour train trip to Nantes, I am sitting in the room I will live in until December 18th. I can't believe it; I'm abroad. I'm too tired and exhausted and generally not-here mentally that it just seems kind of surreal. I got to the IES Center (the program I'm here on) and my host mom and four host siblings (5, 7, 10 and 12 years old) picked me up and took me and my impressively small collection of baggage to their sweet home. It reminds me a little of the Stewart Little movies where there's this adorably perfect little house with character tucked neatly between two large attractive but generally uninteresting buildings. The little dormer up above that you can see from the street is right by the dining room table and Blandine (my mom) told me that it's so quiet in the neighborhood because on the other side of a large, old brick wall across the street is a cemetery. It's so beautiful to look out through that top dormer window through these big coniferous trees into the oooold cemetery on the other side. It's majestic, not creepy.
Somehow I've talked to all of them and I know what we're having for dinner (eggrolls and rice... am I abroad in China?) and that I'm the first student they've hosted and that no one knows English in the family, and all the kids' favorite activities... and I did it all in french without really thinking, I guess. Which is good, right? I'm just too tired to remember the conversations I'm having. But I love my family already. Thaïs (Ta-EES), who is 5, just stares at me and if I smile at her she grins and buries her face in the nearest skirt/pants. In fact, right after I wrote that sentence I looked up and saw her peeking around the door at me and when I smiled at her she giggled and hid behind the door. These kids are the cutest. I haven't met host dad yet but I have a feeling he'll follow the pattern.

Okay it's later now (we were called to dinner so I left my computer open without posting this thread) and I gave out my presents to everyone (steel life, huckleberry jam, stuffed killer whale, sidewalk chalk, bug stickers, silly bands, decorative journal and Uno) and they were thrilled and so thankful. Thaïs won't let go of the killer whale's tail and Timothé (TEE-mo-TAY, 7) took the liberty of teaching me each of the french words for all of the buggy critters on his sticker sheet. Jeanne (Zhan, 10) is thrilled with the silly bands (all of them are, actually) and I have a feeling that Philippine (12) will get good use out of the journal I gave her. We also talked for a long time about huckleberries. Dinner was lovely and Joseph (host dad) came home and is just fantastic. He's a very calm and loving guy, with a subtle sense of humor and a very endearing wink. He and Blandine gushed over my mom's steel life and were very excited to put it in their garden. After dinner Blandine told me they say a little prayer/song every night (they're Catholic) and that I could feel free to stay around or go to my room or do whatever, so I stayed and sat with Thaïs on my lap and swayed to their little mini-hymn and french version of "Father, who art in Heaven..." it was totally comfortable and endearing. Tomorrow is Tim's first day of school so he's off to bed and so am I... I've had a very long and vastly improving time since 7:20am August 31st when I waved goodbye to my parents at the Spokane security gate.