adventures of flat stanley

7/31/2019 Adventures of Flat Stanley

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This post is a compilation of emails sent to Chris cousin in Wisconsin forher Flat Stanley project. It includes the months of December 2011 andJanuary 2012. Not only does it have lots of cool pictures ;) , but webelieve it also provides some insight into what our first couple months of lifewere like in France. Some of the thoughts and feelings shared by FlatStanley mirror our own thoughts and feelings of the time, while others are

just plain silly. Hope you enjoy! :)

Flat Stanley has arrived!


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Don't worry! We're taking good care of Flat Stanley. He said he was veryhungry after the long trip here, so we gave him a little snack.


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This has been quite a day for Flat Stanley! He was tired from his long trip,so he slept very well. Actually, he was the first one ready to go. He waswaiting for us at the front door before we left the house this morning!


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Flat Stanley was a little cold while we waited for the bus (close to ourhouse). I let him ride in my jacket to stay warm. We live in the city of Torcy(see the sign below).


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We waited for a few minutes before our train came. The one you see hereis going the wrong way.


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Wow! Flat Stanleys first ride on a train in France! We think he liked it, buthe was nervous when we told him that there are sometimes so manypeople on the train that you cant even move!


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Since he was a little tired from the travel (one bus, two trains, and walking),we got Flat Stanley a Cappuccino from a machine by our classroom. Wehope its OK for him to drink coffee!


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Flat Stanley joined even joined us for class! It was very difficult for himbecause he couldnt understand anything. He just stood there and watched!


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Whenever we take the train, we enter and exit the stations like this. Wehave a card that we scan to get through. Fortunately, Flat Stanley go to ridefor free!

This is the bus to get us from the train station in Torcy to our house. If youlook closely, you can see that Flat Stanley is very excited to almost be

home. Look at his smile!


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Flat Stanley was a little discouraged today because he couldnt understandpeople talking in French. He decided to study with Jamie. Hopefully helllearn a little French!

Dont tell Flat Stanley, but we have a little surprise for him. Hes been sogood, that we might take him on a special trip tomorrow. Where do youthink we might take him? Heres a clue. This monument is 1,063 feet tall,and was designed by Gustave Eiffel. Do you know what this is? Maybeyoull see tomorrow! :)


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Flat Stanley has a few things to share with you about his day. It has been along day for him! He was ready on time again, and left with us around 8:15to get on the bus. Then, he went to class with us from 10:00 until noonwhere he listened to us learning french again. Then, he walked with us toour second class of the day: Phonetics. This is where we learn how topronounce words better. The teacher kept telling Flat Stanley that he had toput his lips together tightly, like he was making a kiss, but it was a little toohard for him to do. :( He was a little discouraged, but he did O.K. Well,after this, we decided to take him out for his big outing.So, Flat Stanley was so surprised when he saw the Eiffel Tower! He got towalk right up to it! (Also, if you look at him, youll notice something different.Jamie knitted him a scarf to keep him warm! He was very grateful for it. :)


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Flat Stanley liked being up close, but he wanted to get a little further awayto get a better view. We crossed over the Seine River to get the secondphoto of him and the Eiffel Tower.


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We decided to show him yet another angle of the Eiffel Tower. He reallyliked the statue here, so we took another picture of him. Charge!


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While he was visiting Paris, Flat Stanley asked if he could visit the NotreDame also. Its one of the most famous churches in the world! We got closeenough to get a good picture, and then we decided to head toward our thirdclass of the day because we were all getting cold and wet. We kept FlatStanley pretty dry though.


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In our third class, Flat Stanley learned a little bit about the history of Franceduring the 19th century (over 150 years ago). He looked at some of ournotes from class, but it didnt make sense. He got a little bored, and wethink he might have taken a little cat nap during the discussion.


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He didnt understand much of the talking, but he learned a lot from thepictures that the teacher put up for us to see!


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Flat Stanley was happy to finally get home around 8:00 in the night. Wedidnt eat until almost 8:30 though! Heres some soup, bread, and cheesethat were part of our meal.We have bread and cheese every single night with dinner! In France, thereare over 350 different kinds of cheese (some experts say more than1,000!), and the bread is super good.Flat Stanley tried three kinds of cheese tonight, and said he wants to try allof the cheeses of France!

Well, its been a long day for Flat Stanley. Its just past 22:30 (10:30 PM) inFrance now, and were getting him ready for bed. We think hell sleep verywell tonight.


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We were all pretty tired today, so we didn't do much other than going toschool. Before we got on the train to go home, Flat Stanley got a peek ofthe Luxembourg Garden. Sorry, it doesn't show a lot. :( Maybe he'll get acloser look another day!


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Flat Stanley went to school with us in Paris again, and then we showed himaround Torcy (where we live) a little more. Heres some of what we didtoday.This is a picture of us in our phonetics class (where we learn how to speakfrench better). In this picture, Chris and Flat Stanley have their headset on.First, the professor does a recording. She speaks (in French), then werepeat her (in French). After the recording is done (about 2-4 minutes oftalking), we listen to the recording. We hear the professors voice and ourown voice. Then we repeat this over and over. Today was much better forFlat Stanley. He actually did pretty well!


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After our classes, we rode the two trains, and then walked about fiveminutes to the mall in Torcy. Yes, we have a mall! This picture is of Bay 1.Thats the name of this part of the mall. It has some restaurants, a store forhome items (like furniture), and a movie theater with 16 screens.

And on the other side of the street, the other part of the mall is called Bay2. It is similar to malls that you are used to. It has clothing stores, food, andother stores. It also has a large Carrefour. Carrefour (french for

crossroads) is a store similar to a large Wal-Mart. This one has food andhome items. Flat Stanley was very eager to go shopping with us!


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Here, Flat Stanley is taking a closer look at some of the spices. Jamiekeeps coming back to buy some Muscade (nutmeg), but it is always gone!Flat Stanley looked to see if there was some hidden, but he didnt see anyeither. You might notice that there is some Muscade here, but its not thepowdered version we were looking for. :(


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One of the things we were shopping for today was cheese. Remember, weeat cheese with every dinner here! This package of cheese is labeled PetitBrie. Brie is the name of the cheese, and petit means small. Do you think800 grams (almost 2 pounds!) of cheese is small? Definitely not! FlatStanley could barely move it!


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And this aisle is all cheese. Yes, the whoooooole aisle! And theres morecheese than that in this store! Flat Stanley just about passed out withexcitement! We got a dozen little pieces of cheese for him to sample. Hecould barely wait for dinner!


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Uh oh! Chariots? Where?! Dont worry Flat Stanley. Chariots are notallowed to enter here. And a chariot is just a shopping cart.


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Flat Stanley wanted to see what it was like to go through our mail slot. Hedid it once already, but he was in an envelope the first time. We didnt wanthim to fall and get hurt, so thats as far as we let him go.


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And finally, home at last. Today, Flat Stanley shared some coffee along witha croissant and cookie with Nutella.


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Flat Stanley thought you might want to see how we telephone and email.The box that he is standing on plugs into the wall and receives internet. Weuse that for internet on the computer and for phone service (through theblack phone). This package usually includes t.v. service too, but where welive it isnt available as easily.


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Inside the bakery, Flat Stanleys mouth was watering at the sight of somany tasty pastries!

And all of the bread too! Chris let Flat Stanley try some of the baguette asthey walked home. It was warm and yummy!


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Heres our Christmas tree! Flat Stanley was pretending like he was anornament. Silly guy!


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And then, Flat Stanley climbed to the top and pretended like he was anAngel! Who does he get his humor from?


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Finally, Flat Stanley got back to work. He is very eager to share this withyou. Way to go Flat Stanley!


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On Sunday morning, we went to church with Julienne in a nearby town. Onthe way to the bus, we pass this church. This is in the area of our TownHall in Torcy. Every city has a beautiful Catholic Church such as this one.


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And this is a picture of the main room of the church that we went to. Thechurchs name is glise Protestante vanglique de Champs Val Maubue.Thats quite a name! It means Evangelical Protestant Church of ChampsVal Maubue. We are understanding more and more of French, but there isa lady here who also translates for us into English. Flat Stanley was veryhappy about that!


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This is the outside of where we live. We enter through the glass door on thebottom floor, and then walk up to the second floor (though in America, wewould call it the third floor). The window with the white, ruffly curtain on it isour kitchen, and the room above it is our bedroom.


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This is a view from a library where we sometimes study. Before we hadinternet at home, we went here nearly every school day. Flat Stanley lovesthe view!

And heres a slightly different angle. Flat Stanley asked us what all of thedifferent places were, but we werent sure. You probably recognize one,though!


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Flat Stanley thinks its great here. He said hes thinking about buying us ahouse in Torcy so he can come visit again some time. How nice, FlatStanley! We dont think he really has the money though. What a teaser!


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Flat Stanley said he had something very important to do today. So, hestepped up on the lamp and belted out one of the most -uh- interestingrenditions of Happy Birthday either one of us have ever heard. We decidedit would be better to just send a picture instead of recording the audio. So,Happy Birthday!


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Flat Stanley just reminded us that we had a few pictures to send fromFriday. And weve been talking about what we will be doing for Christmashere. Flat Stanley is looking forward to telling you more about that too. :)So, on the way to our last class before Christmas break, we decided to takeFlat Stanley to see the Panthon. Flat Stanley couldnt wait for a pictureuntil we got closer, so heres one from down the street.


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And then, a bus got in the way of part of this picture. Flat Stanley said tosend it anyways.

This picture turned out better. There is one problem though. Taking picturesof police officers and their vehicles is not allowed. (We didnt notice this

until afterwards.)


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And heres another view. You probably think this is a church, dont you?There is a little bit of history behind this. The Panthon was originally builtas a church, but that changed after the French Revolution. It is now amausoleum where some famous french people are buried. The big signover the entry reads, AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIERECONNAISSANTE In English, To the great men, the gratefulhomeland. If you want, you can learn more about the Panthon online.


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Merry Christmas from Torcy, France! This Christmas was a little different forFlat Stanley. He got to spend Christmas with us and the French family ofJulienne (the lady we live with)! In France, Christmas is actually celebratedon Christmas Eve! Families spend a few hours eating and talking together.Then, later in the night (like around midnight!), presents are given andopened.(These picures were taken the next day, so its not as fancy looking.) Thisis some of the salad (with bread) that we ate for dinner. We didnt tell FlatStanley what the meat was in the salad because we thought he might noteat it if he knew. We didnt take pictures of everything, but there were lotsof different kinds of food like escargot, chicken, and green beans just toname a few.


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This is some of the cheese we ate. Six kinds, and all of them were yummy!


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Chris made his eyes like Flat Stanley wanted to make his own. FlatStanley loves all of the cheese!


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And Jamie made some American desserts to share. This was cheesecake!Yummy! And there was a French ice cream cake too.


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Every day that we have class, we walk by the glise Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas. Today, Flat Stanley thought it would be a good site to pose infront of, so he did! Oftentimes, the bell is ringing as we leave class atnoon. It was too late to hear the bell ring today because we stayed atschool a little longer and talked with a classmate. Flat Stanley is learning alittle French too! He says, " bientt!"


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A while ago, we took a picture from outside of this place. Yesterday, weactually had time to show Flat Stanley around inside. He thought that wasway cool! Lets see if you can figure out where we went. Also, what is thatbuilding? Youll find all the clues you need in the pictures. Talk to you later!Bisous!This is near the middle of the. What is that building?


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Check out her name! You might know somebody with a similar name.


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Jamie and Flat Stanley posing with a queen!


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Another view of the building.

And another view of the building. (Look closely for a clue!) This is actually avery important building for France. You might want to do a little research tosee what happens here.


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HmmmWhere did Jamie and Flat Stanley go now?

Finally, heres one of the entrances (and another very big clue!). We hopeyou enjoyed the tour. Flat Stanley sure did!


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Flat Stanley just reminded us that we forgot to send a picture fromSaturday. On Saturday, we took our big written exams (in French!). Weactually were allowed three hours to take them, but we both finished early.Flat Stanley got a little bored waiting (as you can imagine), but he was gladthat he didn't have to take the tests!

Also, Flat Stanley went with us to register for our next semester of frenchclasses. Now he's looking forward to our graduation in the beginning ofFebruary (if we do well on the tests)!Well, that's it for now! Cheerio! Oops, that's not French! ;)


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Flat Stanley got to spend some time on vacation with us when Jamiesparents (Steve and Margi) visited. Hes excited to share some pictures withyou. And you can always find more information about the places online ifyou want.This is the Muse de lOrangerie in Paris. It has some large Monetpaintings as well as others.


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And this is the Sacr Cur Church. Like many churches in France, it islocated on the highest point in the city, atop Montmartre.


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This is the Mont Saint-Michel. It is located in the Normandie region. It is likea little city (almost) on an island, again with the church at the very top.

Heres a little bit closer. ;)


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This is a church in the town of Brie-Comte-Robert, fairly close to us. This isa medieval town in our area.


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And heres another picture of the Notre Dame church of Paris. We sent apicture before, but this one is much better. Flat Stanley even got to goinside this time!


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Flat Stanley has done a lot of things here. He's doing some more researchon the city of Torcy now (where we live). Also, he was going to go to ourgraduation with us, but they cancelled it! We did pass our tests, though! :)


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Flat Stanley says hes ready to go home. We went cheap and decided tostuff him in an envelope rather than buying a plane ticket!

So, will he make it home?

adventures of flat stanley

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