Our ensemble music lesson: October 10, 2007

Cameron writes...

On Wednesday the 10^th October, Meghan and I had our first group music lesson, our last lesson in the first trimester. There were five other kids there. Four were drummers, and one was a guitarist. There was supposed to be another guitar player but he didn’t show up. My guitar teacher gave us the notes for the song we were going to play while we were waiting for the other “band members” to arrive. The song was from the 80’s or 70’s, and was called Owner of a Lonely Heart, by the band Yes.

When we got there, there were already two people, who I later found out were named Arthur and Adrien. Arthur was a drummer and Adrien was a guitarist like me. When the three other got there, we split off into two groups: drummers, and guitarists and pianist. I quickly learned the notes, as they were quite easy, so my teacher (who was in charge of the group) told Adrien and me to try and play along with Meghan and went to talk with the drummers. We had it down a few minutes later.

When the teacher came in, he listened, and said it was time to go and play with the drummers. When we walked into the drummers’ room I put my guitar on a stand, plugged it in and tested it out, it was great to finally play with an amp there! From there on in we had lots of fun playing together, and it sounded great. I was really glad I had joined that group. I was actually quite disappointed that I would have to miss music while travelling. I can’t wait until December 12^th when I can play again.

Passage Vauban: September 28, 2007

Meghan writes...

On Friday, September 28^th, we walked to Passage Vauban, which is very close to Petite France. Passage Vauban is a tunnel that goes over the river Ill. It is very old and it has lots of statues in it. Once you get to the end of the tunnel you go up some stairs and onto a platform. From there, there is a view of Petite France, the Ill River and some battlements that are in Petit France.

In the tunnel there are pigeons nesting in the cracks of the roof. The tunnel is usually dark, but there are windows so in the daytime it is mostly light. Most of the statues in there are half completed. Once I saw the bottom of a horse, then, further down the tunnel, there was the upper half of the horse with a rider on it. It was a little creepy in the tunnel, but mostly just cool to know that you’re in something so old.

When you are at the top, you can see the battlements. They are very big and have little holes at the top, probably for guns to fire out of. On one side of Passage Vauban is the part of Strasbourg that is very old. On the other side is the part that was built after the Passage was. Passage Vauban is very cool to be in.

Our music lessons: September 19, 2007

Cameron writes...

Yesterday Meghan and I had our first music lessons in France. It was a very interesting experience.

It took a lot of navigation to get there. First we walked all the way up our road, Faubourg de Saverne, until we got to Boulevard du President Wilson. From there we went north-west until we saw Petit rue des Magasins, which we turned north-east onto. We walked up petit rue des Magasins for one block, and then turned north-west again onto Rue des Magasins. We walked up there for quite a long time until we hit a car wash, then we cut straight through there, turned left, and we were there!

The outside of the building was a little shabby, but the inside was much nicer. There were lots of couches on the inside and four doors. One was marked Salle de Guitare (Guitar room), the next was “The big cheese’s room” and the others were Salle 1 and Salle 2(rooms 1 and 2). We could hear guitar coming from the guitar room and piano coming from Salle 2. I was pretty sure Meghan would be going into Salle 2 (as she was playing piano) and I would be going into the Salle de guitare (as I was starting the electric guitar).

At 1:15 it was time for Meghan’s lesson, so we went into Salle 2 (surprise surprise!), there we found her teacher Maxance waiting for us. Inside I noticed there was a piano, a drum set and an amp for an electric guitar. While Meghan played piano with Maxance, I plotted out on the map where several music stores were, as we needed a guitar and keyboard to practice on. Meghan learned that, in France, they learn music with La, Ti, Do instead of A, B, C. I thought that would be very difficult!

An hour and fifteen minutes later, it was my turn, so we walked into the Salle de Guitare. At the beginning I had a choice of three guitars I could practice with during my lesson, so I chose a dark silver one because I liked the colour. My teacher, Emmanuel, went on to show me all the different parts of the guitar, how to tune it, and how to play a few chords. I was having trouble with switching between letters and “Do, Re, Mi”. At the end he showed me how to unplug it and put it away; we thanked him for the lesson and left.

I was very happy with the way my lesson had gone, and couldn’t wait until I got an electric guitar of my own to practice on.

First two weeks: September 11, 2007

Meghan writes...

We decided to go to France a few months ago because we were tired of living in Burns Lake and needed a change. Today is September 10^th. We have been in Strasbourg, France for two weeks. I really like it here.

The plane trip here was a little boring but there were TVs in the plane so there was at least that to do. First we took an Embraer 190 from Calgary to Toronto and we met Uncle Steven there. We had a five hour layover so we went to the lounge and tried to get some sleep. From Toronto to Paris we took an Airbus A-330. That trip was seven and a half hours. It was hard, but I managed to sleep for an hour and 15 minutes. We took a Fokker from Paris to here and then a taxi to the Residence Jean Sebastien Bach Hotel. All of us were really tired when we got here and went to bed at nine p.m.

The second day we went to the ATAC grocery store. It is about 6 blocks away from the Hotel. It has very thin isles but is not that small. In my opinion it smells a little. (Maybe it is because of the meat there). We bought some tea, cheese, chicken, butter, and our very first baguette. After that we went back to the Hotel and had lunch. The baguette and chicken were very good but I did not like the cheese because it was too waxy.

For the next week or so we looked for an apartment and found three. The first one is really small and old but it has a cat there and it has three bedrooms. (Cameron really wants his own bedroom and both he and I like cats a lot). The second one is big but only has two bedrooms. The third one is about as big as the second one and I think it looks really comfortable but it has two bedrooms and the bathrooms are really dirty, not to mention kind of ugly. Cameron wanted the first apartment and I wanted the third one but Mom and Dad decided that we will take the second one. We are going to put curtains in between Cameron’s bed and mine.

Several days ago we went on the tram (the train-like thing that runs around Strasbourg) to see the cathedral. It is huge! It is 142 metres high! All around the cathedral are little clothes shops and candy shops. We went into one of the candy shops and there were lots of varieties of candy. There were cookies, lollipops, and even chocolate olives. (Which I think is kind of weird). It smelled really good in there. Also, right by the cathedral is the tourism office. Once, some days later we went there to buy a map of Strasbourg.

I can’t believe it is only a ten minute bus ride into Germany! That is what I was thinking as we got off bus number 21 two days ago into Kehl, Germany. We shopped there because one of the Hotel staff said that that is where everybody goes to shop and the prices are lower. We went into lots of clothes shops and Mom and I bought coats. (I really like mine because it is very colourful). We also ate lunch at a restaurant and had a really good kiwi dessert.

By the end of the ten months we are here, we will have gone to Italy, Germany, Greece, England, and of course France. We already went to Germany and we will probably go to Venice, Italy next. I think the canals there are really neat. I’m a little nervous about going to Greece and Italy, though, because no one in my family speaks Greek or Italian.

We are going to move into our apartment in four days. I think this apartment is not so bad after all; Cameron is okay with it too. It is so exciting! I can’t wait to go to Venice!

Cameron writes...

In May 2007 our family decided to go to France. On the 26 of August we woke up and drove to the Calgary airport, that was the beginning of the realization of our dreams...

On our flight to France we had to stop in Calgary, Toronto, Paris and finally came to Strasbourg. From Calgary to Toronto we took an Embraer 190 airplane, from Toronto to Paris we took an Airbus A330, and we arrived in Strasbourg in a Fokker 10. In Toronto we had supper with my uncle (dad’s brother) Steven, and his wife Christine. It was delicious! At the Paris airport Charles De Gaulle we met Rachel and Eric, who had visited Winnipeg for two months and were just coming back. They were very nice and made me feel welcome so we decided we’d visit them once we got settled in Strasbourg. One hour later we were finally in Strasbourg.

The next day we took the Tram to the centre of the city, the stop we got on was Observatoire, and we got of at the crowded Homme de Fer (Iron Man). Then we walked up to the cathedral. It was a huge 142m tall!!! It also has detailed carvings all over. It made me feel tiny! From there we walked a little bit and stopped in a store to purchase two cell phones. Then we walked back to Homme de Fer and took the Tram back to our hotel, with some groceries we bought from the ATAC grocery store. We soon went to bed.

On our third day in Strasbourg we went to multiple “apartment agencies” (Immoblieres) to find an apartment for ten months. We located an apartment in Orangerie five blocks from the hotel we were staying in, so we took a short walk to go see it. The woman that owned it was called Mme. Kraemer. The apartment was a little old, but it had three bedrooms and a cat that came with it! (My sister and I love cats) It also had two different floors. Finally we had seen our first apartment!

The next day we contacted a Pied a Terre and someone there (Bernadette) decided to show us an apartment by the Tram station Homme de Fer. I didn’t exactly enjoy the neighborhood (graffiti everywhere, shops selling knives and guns that shot out little plastic balls). The apartment wasn’t that bad though, it had two bedrooms and a huge living room and dining room. It did only have a tiny balcony that looked about three feet squared, though. I liked the other one more, and that evening we told Mme. Kraemer that we would take it. I was glad because I really wanted a cat!

A week later Mme. Kraemer told us that the people that were in her apartment when we looked at it were still there. We decided to look at another apartment in Esplanade, just south of our hotel for another option. It was ok and had a huge balcony, but it was in the “Apartment kind of town” where there were a lot of huge apartment buildings. It was supposed to have three bedrooms but it turns out the owners had put all of their stuff in one and locked it up. It still had a huge kitchen with a nice view though. We decided we’d take the other one by Homme de Fer at the end of the day though, that was ok with me but I was a little disappointed by Mme. Kraemer.

Here I am, 6 days later, September 11^th waiting for the 15^th when the apartment is available; Sitting in the hotel writing this “Journal” and trying to get it done fast enough. I can’t wait until the 15^th!!!!!