[...She wears high heels, I wear sneakers. She's cheer captain, And I'm on the bleachers...]

en français !!

 


Saturday, i had a meeting with my local consellor and the other aupair from the area. Which ended up being me and Léa, another french aupair in Morristown (hey Léa, what's up ?)



and we went  "pumpkin picking"

In the States, in Octobre, most farms turn into a sort of pumpkin festival :

"hayride" ...

... pumpkin picking...

...hay stack labyrinthes, pumpkin painting competition, pumpkin-related food stands and more

It is very popular among families, since kids absolutely love it. Hence, most families keep one of their october week-ends to go pick the pumpkins that will, once painted or carved, ornate their houses for Halloween

so Léa, Karena and i did the hayride, and then each of us picked a pumpkin

léa and i, with our pumpkins

it was kinda funny from a cultural point of view : american people tend to celebrate holidays in a more exuberant fashion that we do back in france, and in europe in general.
halloween is one of them, and pumpkins are so emblematic here that the October is officially "pumpkin season"
and you can find anything "pumpkin favoured" : pumpkin favoured cookies, pumpkin favoured coffee, like the famous Pumpkin Spice latte (i was terribly unimpressed), pumpkin favoured cheesecake, etc etc...

i tried it and was utterly deceived

Karena was going to go to a high school american football game with her husband and sons, so Lea and i decided to tag along...

A game in the States is never just a game. It's a whole show around a game.
Each team comes with their cheerleaders and their band, everybody wearing matching costumes.

just like in TV shows : jocks on the field, popular girls in cheerleader uniforms, and nerds in the band...

brefore the game, national anthem with everybody standing with the hand on their heart

i didn't understand a single thing as to what was happening on the field
well, let's be honest : i don't know any sports games rules except for Quidditch

which is why i think we should have a look at the rules together, thank you wikipedia
"American football is a sport played by two teams of eleven players. The offense attempts to advance an oval ball down the field by running with or passing it. They must advance it at least ten yards in four downs to receive a new set of four downs and continue the drive; if not, they turn over the ball to the opposing team. Points are scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown, kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal or by the defense tackling the ball carrier in the offense's end zone for a safety."

yep. still not understanding much.


pour plus de détails [x]

anyway, in was physical. when you see the players jump on the ball or on to each other, you understand why they wear helmets and protection pads...

As for the cheerleaders, they must be exhausted by the end of the game : they never stop kicking and jumping and chanting and dancing

even if i didn't understand anything, it was quite cool




sadly, we had to leave before the middle of the game because Lea's aupair family needed her and we had carpooled.
but i intend on going to another game, especially now that i know (a little bit) more about the rules !

and to see some cheerleaders in action, click here [x]


in a nutshell : a weekend full of typical american culture
and this week-end, i'll spend my sunday in the big apple...



the title : [...She wears high heels, I wear sneakers. She's cheer captain, And I'm on the bleachers...]
comes from a Taylor Swift song(sssh, yes, i know), which you can listen here [x] and which is called "you belong with me". it tells the story of a nerdy girl who plays clarinet in the band while the guy she loves is a football player dating the cheer captain...

....totally the theme of this article !!
if you don't wanna watch the whole video, go look at 1:55, the scene of the football game, the whole players/cheerleaders/band is quite relevant in terms of costumes and dynamics