Post n° 57 and 11 Days to Go

Frankly, I don't know where time decided to go, but I've had about enough of it passing me by so quickly.

This evening, Trevor and I had dinner with our host family. As always, it was a wonderful meal prepared by Christine (a salad quiche combo to start, followed by a wonderfully-stuffed rôti of some good kind of meat with green beans and mushrooms for sides, and an awesome glass citron for dessert). Speaking of meals, Christine asked me tonight if I happen to make note of the dinners that she prepares because for the first time she's been keeping track of what she makes. Brilliant idea in my opinion. I couldn't remember if I did or not, but thankfully I can recall certain pictures I take and was able to think about it while listening to a discussion she was having with Trevor and Antoine (I think about plans for this upcoming week... pfft, short-term memory isn't that great, apparently). In any case, the Friday before they left for their two-week vacation, Christine had prepared an avocado filled with a wonderful shrimp mixture (and I'm not even a huge fan of shrimp), a cod-like fish (the name of which I still can't remember) as the main course, and a smooth chocolate dessert with strawberries and crème anglaise. I then immediately recounted the following dinner, which happened to be the one that Trevor and I had prepared for them. Tonight, our dinner lasted somewhere between 3,5 and 4 hours; our level of French-only endurance was definitely on tonight. We talked about things we did over the past few weeks, the situation in Kosovo, the financial crisis, and of course, food, among other random topics. We also soon realised how little time we have left here.

Random Notes:
*In evaluating my level of French, I'd say that my level of receiving comprehension has increased, as well as my level of coherency (though, I still tend to struggle when I'm feeling under pressure to speak perfectly). My French lexicon has definitely increased, and the speed in which I can jabber in French has quickened.
*While on my way to seeking out what seems like the only public, clay tennis courts in Paris (which I noticed happens to be located in a heavily-populated Jewish and Chinese area, though I'm fairly certain I wasn't in the Marais), I started to characterise the different Métro and RER lines. If I can find some time, I'd like to ride the ones I haven't ridden that often this semester.
*There are still a few things I'd like to see, such as the African Jazz exhibit at the Musée de Quai Branly, Sainte Chapelle, the African art section of the Louvre, the relics of Ste Thérèse of Lisieux at Sacré Coeur, and the Tenniseum at Roland Garros. I hope I have enough time (and money) to get to it all!
*I finished another big project at my internship today, a practical guide for host families (reformatted, French text), and will be working on finalising corrections on this text, as well as the "Bienvenue en France!" guide that I edited and reformatted. I'm also begining the formatting process for my rapport du stage and am finding it a bit difficult to perfect.
*I completed my second read-through of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows and can't wait for HP6 and HP7 to come out.
*I'm currently beginning the clean-out and packing process. Hyuu!