Week 11

Wednesday: FREE DAY! The DELF exam was held for three days but us B1 peeps only had it on Monday and Tuesday; the A2 people had Tuesday and today so that means.... no class for me today! I had wanted to do something really fun with this free time like go downtown for lunch, go shopping, walk along the Boulevard de Pyrenees but in true Pau form, it was gray, cold, and rainy today. :( Darn. But there are always benefits to spending time at home. Lionel left for a conference in Grenoble early this morning so he wasn't here for lunch. And since Kathy eats with her professors during the day, it was just Christine, Guilhem and I at lunch today. The three of us started off with a salad of julienned carrots, and then had a main course of piles of tiny elbow noodles and slices of ham. Christine had to take Guilhem back to school before I was done eating, so while they were out I stole a small piece of cheese from the fridge. :) Hey, I still had a sizable piece of bread left and you just can't eat that plain! I also ate my apple in silence but I actually preferred that, because there is less pressure in trying to peel that darn thing with a butter knife without an audience.
When Christine got back, the two of us had coffee and chocolates together and watched the news. The French news has been dominated by stories, footage, and updates about Japan lately- needless to say, the theme of the news quite matched the gray, cold, raininess outside.
I spent the next few hours relaxing and then I had to get myself ready to give my weekly english lesson at the university- unfortunately, that didn't get cancelled on account of rain. Guilhem was home by now but he had a theater thing going on around the same time so Christine was able to drop me off at the university on their way out. Cécile had asked me to meet at her office at 3p so the two of us could catch up on some french, and then she would drive us downtown to meet with the kids and do english for a while. So that's what we did. When we were done, Cécile drove me back to the university because Aleca had proposed the idea to me of going to the mountains this coming weekend and she wanted to plan it. I was wet by the time I got to her room but it was exciting to figure out our coming Saturday: we were going snow-shoeing! Aleca found a great company that gives tour guided hikes through the Pyrenees and they also provide snow shoes. Together we booked a full day of hiking for the coming Saturday and also booked three beds at a cute ski-lodge type of hostel for friday night in the charming village of Cauterets. Aleca's neighbor Carl (also a USAC student) had expressed interest in coming too so it was going to be the three of us. Fun!
I left soon after that to head home for dinner. I felt all yucky and wet by the time I got there but warmed instantly when I saw the fire place lit and smelled what we were going to be eating: pizza. Oh Christine, how I love you. ;)

This is the way the dinner table looks almost every night (and yes, Kathy is ALWAYS on her iPhone at the table lol)

Bread (a few pieces with little raisins) and cheese (courtesy of Kathy)

Ahhhhhhh

OMG!!!

It was a spectacular dinner and we were all in such good moods from the snuggliness of the warm fire and delicious food. Plus, Guilhem was being so silly and funny. Christine commented at one point, "there's a phrase in french: quand le chat n'est pas là, les souris dansent." Which means, "when the cat's away, the mice play." If you're wondering how this is relevant to that moment- Lionel is the cat and we are the mice. XD 

Thursday: Back to school today. Today was completely normal day-wise but the evening was different. For one thing, it was our last meal with Kathy; something we were all bummed about. And two, we had our full dinner at the coffee table. Christine called this and apéritif dînatoire (dinner appetizer style). There were lots of little things to choose from- crackers, rice puffs, veggies- but the main dish was a plate of mini quiches that looked like cupcakes. They didn't have the same eggy texture of quiche but they were made with the same ingredients; flour added so they would hold. They were so good! I think I had five or six of these ham, cheese, and egg cupcakes. We also had the usual apéritif drinks: I had a black currant and white wine mix (which I am starting to fall in love with) and I followed that with the Spanish Muscatel. 

Our dinner/appetizer platter (sans les quiches)

How cute!

And delicious!

Time for dessert! :)

My favorite <3

And THAT would be why.

It was an excellent evening. The mice were dancing but we did miss Lionel. And I think I am truly going to miss Kathy too. :(

Friday: Today was a normal school day once again. We got the news that even though we had just finished a huge exam, we would be getting another one on the last day of class the following Thursday; courtesy of our favorite teacher Isabelle. Whoopi! -_-

After school, I booked it right home to back for my weekend in the mountains. I felt like there was a ton I wanted to get done before I left but I ended up not having the time for all of it. Christine had told me the other day that her and Lionel were going away for the weekend, just the two of them (using up a Christmas present from Christine's kids). Guilhem was going to spend the weekend at an English friend's house to practice his english, so I was invited to have a friend over to keep me from being all alone Saturday night. Since I was already going to be with Aleca when we got home on Saturday, I invited her. After school today, I was hoping to make it to the store to not only buy some food for Aleca and I (I wasn't sure what we could help ourselves to at the house) but I also wanted to re-buy the ingredients to make another Tollhouse Pie on Sunday. Unfortunately, none of this happened. I was a little stressed by it but I just told myself that everything would work itself out and just go enjoy your hike in Pyrenees. I packed up my backpack super fast when I got home to leave myself time to have a quick slice of bread with Nutella (we would probably be having a late dinner tonight) and write a note to the family (only Guilhem was home at this point). After that I hiked myself down to the bus stop to meet up with Aleca and head to the train station!