Week two

Monday: Today wasn't a terribly exciting day but it was relaxing. I slept in, ate breakfast, and read a book for a while. Lionel works about 10 min away and Guilhem's school serves very expensive lunch so they both come home for their two hour lunch break. We had last night's couscous salad to start, then thin slices of fried pork (in olive oil because that's healthier than butter) and very large helpings of crisp, fresh green beans. *By the way, I don't often mention it but you have at least one slice of bread with every meal.* After lunch, cheese and bread again. Then I was invited to watch Lionel as he made the new batch of dough for this week's bread. It took him no more than 5 min... I might actually be able to do this! When the dough was done, he left it to rise for a few hours and we went out to have our coffee and chocolates. Christine told me that my french is improving! She has so much confidence now that I will be very strong in french in no time at all. :)
Lionel had to drink quickly cause it was time for him to go back to work. Christine had some errands to run so she left as well and I went up to take my shower. When I got out, their cat Michat was there to beg at me for food. Cats are way different than dogs but he did make me think of Scamp and C.D. and how I miss them (maybe it was the begging that reminded me of them?)
I read for a while after my shower and have been on the computer ever since. Like I said, a slow day but I can't complain. Plus, the sun came out in all its glory today and the sky was blue. Unfortunately, the air was freezing cold so I couldn't have my window open, but I do think that was a little preview of what spring is like here. :)
The bread just came out of the oven and it smells heavenly! I can't wait to have some with dinner. I'll post this now but will add to it tonight after we eat. Naturally, you will all want to know what I had for dinner, right? ;)

After dinner: okay, bread- delicious! I hope I can make it the same way Lionel did. I think my mom would really like it if I knew how to make fresh, whole-grain, wheat bread. :) Something kind of cool- I was listening to music while I was working on my blog and it caught Lionel's ear. He came over and was like, "what is that music? I like it!" and that made me so happy. (If you've ever had dinner with us Christensen's, there's a good chance you've heard the same music: our Bistro CD). Also for dinner, we had the carrot and duck-flavored soup, salad, some ham, and leftovers from our dinner party (foie gras, homemade guacamole, etc). It was nothing special but a good dinner. Lionel is making me some tea now and then I'll get ready for bed. School starts tomorrow for me. I'm actually pretty excited to start my french classes; I want to be able to say so much more to Lionel, Christine, and Guilhem!
Goodnight

First Sunday

So I got up early today to get ready for our picnic in the mountains but the weather had changed over night and it started raining along the mountain range. =( The Pyrenees aren't very safe in bad weather conditions; a lot of the walking pathways are very narrow and hang over step drops. Plus, there can be very intense lighting that actually hits the ground up there. Basically, Christine and Lionel were not going to risk taking me up there today. It's a bummer but I know we'll go another day. We did, however, go on an absolutely breathtaking walk in the nearby hillside. But, I get ahead of myself...
It was the typical breakfast (bread, Nutella, my favorite raspberry jam, and tea) but lunch was something else. After breakfast, the family went to church- which I was cordially invited to but respectfully declined- so I had a little over an hour by myself in the house. I finished all of my unpacking, and walked around the place for a good 15 min snapping pictures of this and that. I figured I might want to remember the details of this house someday. When Lionel and Christine came home (Guilhem had gone directly to boy scouts from church) Lionel took me out to his garden to pick some herbs for lunch. I was seriously surprised by what I saw out there. Of course there were the usually mint and fruit plants, but there were a lot of plants that I would normally call weeds or something like that. One of them looked like one of those typical, lack-luster trees that people plant in front of their house when they don't have anything else to put out there, but the leaves had an incredibly pungent, delicious smell. I smelled a lot of different things but we had gone out there for mint leaves; that's what the meal called for.
We had a cold couscous "salad" to start. It had tomatoes, green olives, white raisins, greek goat cheese cubes, cucumber, and the freshly cut mint leaves (I'm sure there are more things in there too but I don't know what everything is) and it was absolutely delicious! That was served with what sort of resembled fried hamburger patties but they had a totally different texture and weren't greasy. There was a whole-grain mustard on the table too and boy am I so glad that I tried it! It was so so perfect with the beef and had so many complex flavors inside. Mmm mmm was this a good lunch. Afterward, we had cheese, bread and a little red wine. I tried all four cheeses that were on the table and ended up loving most the one I was warned was the strongest. Naturally, it comes from the Pyrenees. :) After this delightful snack, the three of us moved to the living room for coffee and chocolates (Lionel still loves the See's candies I gave them). Lionel went off to take a nap after that and Christine and I looked through some of her family pictures. She showed me some weddings they've gone to in the past few years, her parents, and her sister's home in Bordeaux. It was very nice to spend some time with her :)

 When Lionel woke up, it was time for our walk. I don't think I can express to you the awe I felt walking in that place; I literally can only show you the pictures, which don't do it justice. Just try to picture yourself standing on the side of the road being surrounded on all sides by these sights (if you're doing it right, you should feel very small and very speechless/breathless).

We walked for a good hour and half and then had to leave to pick up Guilhem. Being quite in need of refreshment after such long journey- well, I was in need of refreshment; Lionel and Christine do that walk together EVERY SUNDAY- we had hot drinks in the living room. This time I had hot chocolate. It was sweet but very mild and very creamy: pleasant and just what I needed. After that, Chrisine, Lionel and I had a chance to talk with my family through ichat. A great experience! My parents not-so-subtly told my hosts that they must now be guests in our house in America...  an idea I totally love. 

We had to say bye when it was time for dinner; something I was honestly not to sad to do (sorry family!) because we were going to have crêpes that night! First came the usual winter soup (carrot with essence of duck) and then the savory crêpes: raw/smoked salmon, herbed cream cheese, and lettuce. I'm sad to say I didn't love the salmon. It was very fishy tasting and almost bitter, but I politely ate the whole thing. I'm proud of how well I've been managing eating all of my food here. It seems like being thrown into a new world is all it takes to force you to gather the strength to eat whatever is in front of you and keep a brave face.

After dinner, the sweet crêpes. I cut mine in half in order to have two and I made one with Nutella and one with my favorite raspberry jam. I was about to bite into my first crêpe when all of a sudden, every light in the dining room and living room slowly started to dim. They when down nearly to black, then flickered annoyingly five or six times and died completely. Yep, we were sitting at the table in almost pitch darkness (there was a small light that survived in the kitchen) trying to enjoy our dessert. I'm not really sure why but Guilhem found this whole event to be beyond hilarity. Now, to properly picture this whole scene you need a sense of Chrisine and Guilhem's relationship. That boy is always talking, like ALL of the time. He talks at every meal, he talks to himself, he talks to the TV, he never ever shuts up. I have no clue what he's talking about but I can tell you it almost always irks Christine and Lionel, and at some point an argument ensues. Christine does a lot of scolding Guilhem and he does a lot of whining back; just like your typical mother-being-fed-up-with-her-mile-a-minute-13-year-old relationship in the States. That in itself is funny for me because I'm already sitting there thinking, "what in the world is he talking about and to who?!" and "can you please cut it out now? You're annoying me," and that's usually about when Christine snaps. So again, we're at the table when the lights go out and Guilhem starts babbling about something and ends in near-tears laughter. Christine is trying to get him to settle down so her and Lionel can figure out what just happened when Guilhem totally loses it: usually his laughs are the kind teenagers use when they know they're being annoying but this time he absolutely broke into belly-laughs. Finally, the best part, Christine couldn't help it and burst into laughter too. I have no idea what was so funny to Guilhem but the two of them laughing got me going too. Oh what an experience... and all because the power went out!

*Eventually the power died up stairs too so the whole house was out, but it all came back up within the hour. I guess some house nearby had the same problem so it wasn't a local problem caused by my American appliances. Phew!*

When the power came back up, I was able to talk to my family on ichat for over an hour. A perfect way to end the evening. :)