So I've posted about a spoonful of pictures on my blog so far; in reality, I have over 1,000 already! If you want to see more, I'm keeping all of my pics and videos (even the kind of boring or fuzzy ones) in an online gallery. Feel free to look through them and enjoy!
gallery.me.com/ranthy
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Week 5
Monday: I went to bed quite exhausted last night from all of the going out late and sleeping on the hard floor. Needless to say, I slept in until Lionel and Guilhem were already home and the whole family was almost done eating lunch today. Oops! They were very understanding about this at least. I joined them and Christine told me not to rush and just eat at my own pace; and she said that if I wanted I could still eat my breakfast, either before or after lunch. :) I started with lunch and decided to just have one piece of bread with Nutella and coffee afterwards. Lunch was 5 white asparagus stalks that were drizzled with olive oil and a little salt, a pile of fresh green beans, and a ground meat patty. I would call it a hamburger but it just doesn't look or taste the same. It isn't at all greasy and it tastes so good with that whole grain mustard I've told you about. I had an apple after that and then I enjoyed my bread and coffee. Ryan (my Business in the EU teacher) cancelled class for today because the president of USAC is here for the next two days and it is Ryan's and Robina's responsibility to show him around the city and campus a little bit. I used the rest of my day, then, to hang my laundry up to dry, head to school to use the internet, and basically just chill. I had trouble accessing the internet at school so I ended up walking across the street to the McDonald's because there's free Wi-Fi there. I figured I had to buy something to eat or drink so as not be rude, so I bought a little chocolate muffin- and I was shocked at how delicious and moist that muffin was! It was almost like eating chocolate cake with chocolate chips. Basically, I was not miserable eating that little afternoon snack. :)
It was a good day for a Monday. I'm having trouble remembering what we had for dinner today because it's been over a week now- I'm pretty sure it was a light dinner though. I think it was a cauliflower soup and then a main course of slices of ham and a spinach salad. I think we topped dinner off with a round of cheeses and bread and then had the typical yogurt/preserves dessert. I'm certain I had this for dinner at some point during the week, I'm just not sure if it was on Monday or Tuesday.
Tuesday: I'm sorry to say that today was not a very exciting day, but I do like this slow pace of life in Pau. I had breakfast, actually made it out of the house with enough time to take the bus to school instead of walk, and I wore my new pair of boots that I bought in Bordeaux. After class I think I stayed at school a little while to use the internet and then I came home. I am genuinely a little bit heartbroken to tell you that I truly cannot remember what dinner was tonight. :( I hope this is the one and only time that I cannot report on the delicious French meals I am fortunate enough to have every day. I can tell you though, that when Christine came out with dinner I noticed that she had chopped her hair very short. It was a classic French haircut so I thought it looked great on her. I told her, "J'aime ça beaucoup! C'est très chic."(I like that a lot! It's very chic.) To which Guilhem added, "Je ne l'aime pas." (I don't like it.) This would be the definition of Guilhem's relationship with his mother: he does whatever he can to push her buttons!
Wednesday: It was a typical morning today- breakfast, Lionel took me to school, etc. Class was kind of slow throughout the day today, and I was supposed to have my second lesson teaching English to Lucille and Emile this afternoon but Lucille was sick so their mom (Cécile) had to cancel. Oh well, c'est la vie. I ended up using the free time to walk to the post office with Roshanna where I dropped off my first batch of postcards to the U.S. and bought some more stamps and Roshanna bought minutes for her cell phone. We walked to a nearby shop after that and I bought MORE postcards; Rosie got herself an absolutely amazing Nutella beignet from the bakery across the way. I only stole one bite of it but I have been craving one for this whole week now thanks to that one bite. It was delicious! Afterwards, we walked over to Roshanna's room to hang out for a little while. At one point Roshanna realized that she had lost her receipt from the post office, and the receipt had a code on it that she needed in order to recharge her phone with the minutes she bought. Her credit card had already been charged for the minutes but they wouldn't actually get put onto the phone until she punched in the code to her phone. She decided that we needed to go back and look for the receipt- something I agreed to but secret thought was a ridiculous idea. Why in the world would we be able to find a receipt that she dropped somewhere between the post office, the little postcard shop, the bakery, and the streets in between those places and her building? Ha! How wrong I was. Naturally, that tiny receipt was sitting on the ground just outside of the bakery (the last place she would have needed money out of her pocket for) waiting for her. What luck, huh? I'm assuming no one actually noticed what the receipt was for or someone would have gladly taken it. I think I might have- minutes are expensive here!
After our little escapades, the two of us went back to Roshanna's and did some homework. We topped off our afternoon by listening to music for a good hour and half. Actually we had kind of a jam session for a while there, because I brought my laptop and it has a few thousand songs on it- we were able to listen to most of the music we haven't heard in five weeks, plus we relived a lot of high school moments listening to the "oldies" of our generation. It was such fun :)
I left Roshanna's to make it home in time for dinner but sadly I did not leave soon enough to make the bus. I ended up having to walk the half hour home in the cold. :( At least that walk is starting to seem much shorter than a half an hour to me now- my legs have adjusted to the trek. Plus, I had my iPod to accompany me on the way. I made it to the house just as Christine was bringing out the pot of soup (a.k.a.: just in time!). We had a creamy celery soup tonight which I happily sopped up with my homemade wheat bread. The main course was wonderful and I had not expected to enjoy it very much: a tuna fish tart! To us Americans, it was a quiche but a real French woman like Christine knows the difference. I asked her what that difference is and I'm not sure she gave me a very specific answer... must be a French thing. Anyways, the tarte was in a flaky crust and was soft and warm all the way through. The tuna was probably canned because it was very shredded, not clumped together. I find tuna to have a very fishy taste so I was a little bummed when Christine brought it out. But that fish mixed with beaten eggs, herbs, a little spinach, probably some cream, and then baked in a crust was so good! That with a little spinach salad was perfect. And to finish it all with my favorite dessert made me such a happy girl. :) Still having no internet access in the house, I pretty much just took a shower and went to bed after that. Not a bad day!
Thursday: This morning was normal as well except that I woke up feeling strangely hungry- something that lasted all day too. I ate my breakfast and then Lionel took me to school. It was a normal school day but I did feel pretty good about my work during class. I'm starting to build up some confidence with my french; I find myself wanting to strike up conversations with my teachers now rather than just come in, participate, and leave. :) For lunch, being abnormally hungry, I splurged a tiny bit and bought a whole personal size pizza, a yogurt, and a brownie. I was happy after that. :) Cécile had to cancel our french lesson this afternoon because Lucille was still sick so I used the afternoon to hang around campus and use the internet. I finally started to look up prices for spring break. Roshanna and I have been talking about going to Athens, Greece and Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Italy but we've had no idea how much a trip like this would cost. It looks like plane tickets will be a little bit pricey so we're going to have to sit down and really figure this all out.
I left campus late in the evening and caught the bus literally just in time; like I had to run to get to it. When I got home, Christine was waiting at the door looking a little nervous. She seemed to be the only one home and I found this rather strange given that we should have been starting dinner within the next ten minutes or so. She told me that she hadn't seen Guilhem when she went to pick him up from school, that she waited for a long time driving around looking for him, that he didn't have his cell phone, and that Lionel was out looking for him but wasn't answering his phone either. She was very calm about all of this but I could tell that she was genuinely worried. To top this all off, Christine told me that she had just received a phone call from her daughter Emma in Montpellier saying that she had been "agressé" by a man on a dark street. She said that he had grabbed her and started trying to kiss and touch her inappropriately. She was finally able to free her arms enough to push him off and run away. I was completely shocked and I felt so terrible for Emma and Christine! Lionel and Guilhem made it home soon after that (Guilhem insisting that he had been fine and that he had been waiting for them and couldn't find them after school) and we commenced to enjoying our dinner, but there was a slight edge to the whole evening after all of this.
We had the rest of the broccoli and celery soup to start; then we had a very interesting and very tasty crab salad. It was a mix of shredded crab (it looked just like the crab I had for lunch in Lourdes), red beans, lettuce leaves, and some other veggies all tossed together with a little dressing. There was a jar of a very strange yellow sauce on the table that I decided to try too. I cannot remember the name of it, it was something very obscure, but it tasted fabulous. It was super tangy and had big chunks of onions and other things inside. This went perfectly with the crab salad. There was a spinach salad that went with all of this and a small selection of deli meats. I had ham and a little salami. For dessert, you guessed it! Yogurt and raspberry preserves. :)
Emma called a couple of times during dinner; her boyfriend Guillaume (who she had, ironically, broken up with right after the weekend they spent at the house with us) came to pick her up and console her. She insisted on the phone that she was fine and everything was okay. I think it was one of those "I can take care of myself, I'm not a kid" sort of things. I could tell that Christine and Lionel were both very frustrated with Emma's attitude about the whole thing, and I've also known for a while that neither one of them approves at all of Guillaume. After things settled down in the house, Christine and Lionel got ready to go to a conference/seminar type of thing for the rest of the evening. It was Guilhem and I alone in the house after that, which ended up not being at all awkward. He spent the time watching the Disney Channel movie "Sky High" (in French) while I filled out some more postcards and packed for my weekend in San Sebastián, Spain. It was not one of the finest evenings in this house and I went to bed feeling bad for my host parents and all the stress they went through tonight- I'm starting to grow very fond of them. Guilhem too, but there is something about the relationship I have with Lionel and Christine that is going to be something quite special; I just know it.
It was a good day for a Monday. I'm having trouble remembering what we had for dinner today because it's been over a week now- I'm pretty sure it was a light dinner though. I think it was a cauliflower soup and then a main course of slices of ham and a spinach salad. I think we topped dinner off with a round of cheeses and bread and then had the typical yogurt/preserves dessert. I'm certain I had this for dinner at some point during the week, I'm just not sure if it was on Monday or Tuesday.
Tuesday: I'm sorry to say that today was not a very exciting day, but I do like this slow pace of life in Pau. I had breakfast, actually made it out of the house with enough time to take the bus to school instead of walk, and I wore my new pair of boots that I bought in Bordeaux. After class I think I stayed at school a little while to use the internet and then I came home. I am genuinely a little bit heartbroken to tell you that I truly cannot remember what dinner was tonight. :( I hope this is the one and only time that I cannot report on the delicious French meals I am fortunate enough to have every day. I can tell you though, that when Christine came out with dinner I noticed that she had chopped her hair very short. It was a classic French haircut so I thought it looked great on her. I told her, "J'aime ça beaucoup! C'est très chic."(I like that a lot! It's very chic.) To which Guilhem added, "Je ne l'aime pas." (I don't like it.) This would be the definition of Guilhem's relationship with his mother: he does whatever he can to push her buttons!
Wednesday: It was a typical morning today- breakfast, Lionel took me to school, etc. Class was kind of slow throughout the day today, and I was supposed to have my second lesson teaching English to Lucille and Emile this afternoon but Lucille was sick so their mom (Cécile) had to cancel. Oh well, c'est la vie. I ended up using the free time to walk to the post office with Roshanna where I dropped off my first batch of postcards to the U.S. and bought some more stamps and Roshanna bought minutes for her cell phone. We walked to a nearby shop after that and I bought MORE postcards; Rosie got herself an absolutely amazing Nutella beignet from the bakery across the way. I only stole one bite of it but I have been craving one for this whole week now thanks to that one bite. It was delicious! Afterwards, we walked over to Roshanna's room to hang out for a little while. At one point Roshanna realized that she had lost her receipt from the post office, and the receipt had a code on it that she needed in order to recharge her phone with the minutes she bought. Her credit card had already been charged for the minutes but they wouldn't actually get put onto the phone until she punched in the code to her phone. She decided that we needed to go back and look for the receipt- something I agreed to but secret thought was a ridiculous idea. Why in the world would we be able to find a receipt that she dropped somewhere between the post office, the little postcard shop, the bakery, and the streets in between those places and her building? Ha! How wrong I was. Naturally, that tiny receipt was sitting on the ground just outside of the bakery (the last place she would have needed money out of her pocket for) waiting for her. What luck, huh? I'm assuming no one actually noticed what the receipt was for or someone would have gladly taken it. I think I might have- minutes are expensive here!
After our little escapades, the two of us went back to Roshanna's and did some homework. We topped off our afternoon by listening to music for a good hour and half. Actually we had kind of a jam session for a while there, because I brought my laptop and it has a few thousand songs on it- we were able to listen to most of the music we haven't heard in five weeks, plus we relived a lot of high school moments listening to the "oldies" of our generation. It was such fun :)
I left Roshanna's to make it home in time for dinner but sadly I did not leave soon enough to make the bus. I ended up having to walk the half hour home in the cold. :( At least that walk is starting to seem much shorter than a half an hour to me now- my legs have adjusted to the trek. Plus, I had my iPod to accompany me on the way. I made it to the house just as Christine was bringing out the pot of soup (a.k.a.: just in time!). We had a creamy celery soup tonight which I happily sopped up with my homemade wheat bread. The main course was wonderful and I had not expected to enjoy it very much: a tuna fish tart! To us Americans, it was a quiche but a real French woman like Christine knows the difference. I asked her what that difference is and I'm not sure she gave me a very specific answer... must be a French thing. Anyways, the tarte was in a flaky crust and was soft and warm all the way through. The tuna was probably canned because it was very shredded, not clumped together. I find tuna to have a very fishy taste so I was a little bummed when Christine brought it out. But that fish mixed with beaten eggs, herbs, a little spinach, probably some cream, and then baked in a crust was so good! That with a little spinach salad was perfect. And to finish it all with my favorite dessert made me such a happy girl. :) Still having no internet access in the house, I pretty much just took a shower and went to bed after that. Not a bad day!
Thursday: This morning was normal as well except that I woke up feeling strangely hungry- something that lasted all day too. I ate my breakfast and then Lionel took me to school. It was a normal school day but I did feel pretty good about my work during class. I'm starting to build up some confidence with my french; I find myself wanting to strike up conversations with my teachers now rather than just come in, participate, and leave. :) For lunch, being abnormally hungry, I splurged a tiny bit and bought a whole personal size pizza, a yogurt, and a brownie. I was happy after that. :) Cécile had to cancel our french lesson this afternoon because Lucille was still sick so I used the afternoon to hang around campus and use the internet. I finally started to look up prices for spring break. Roshanna and I have been talking about going to Athens, Greece and Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Italy but we've had no idea how much a trip like this would cost. It looks like plane tickets will be a little bit pricey so we're going to have to sit down and really figure this all out.
I left campus late in the evening and caught the bus literally just in time; like I had to run to get to it. When I got home, Christine was waiting at the door looking a little nervous. She seemed to be the only one home and I found this rather strange given that we should have been starting dinner within the next ten minutes or so. She told me that she hadn't seen Guilhem when she went to pick him up from school, that she waited for a long time driving around looking for him, that he didn't have his cell phone, and that Lionel was out looking for him but wasn't answering his phone either. She was very calm about all of this but I could tell that she was genuinely worried. To top this all off, Christine told me that she had just received a phone call from her daughter Emma in Montpellier saying that she had been "agressé" by a man on a dark street. She said that he had grabbed her and started trying to kiss and touch her inappropriately. She was finally able to free her arms enough to push him off and run away. I was completely shocked and I felt so terrible for Emma and Christine! Lionel and Guilhem made it home soon after that (Guilhem insisting that he had been fine and that he had been waiting for them and couldn't find them after school) and we commenced to enjoying our dinner, but there was a slight edge to the whole evening after all of this.
We had the rest of the broccoli and celery soup to start; then we had a very interesting and very tasty crab salad. It was a mix of shredded crab (it looked just like the crab I had for lunch in Lourdes), red beans, lettuce leaves, and some other veggies all tossed together with a little dressing. There was a jar of a very strange yellow sauce on the table that I decided to try too. I cannot remember the name of it, it was something very obscure, but it tasted fabulous. It was super tangy and had big chunks of onions and other things inside. This went perfectly with the crab salad. There was a spinach salad that went with all of this and a small selection of deli meats. I had ham and a little salami. For dessert, you guessed it! Yogurt and raspberry preserves. :)
Emma called a couple of times during dinner; her boyfriend Guillaume (who she had, ironically, broken up with right after the weekend they spent at the house with us) came to pick her up and console her. She insisted on the phone that she was fine and everything was okay. I think it was one of those "I can take care of myself, I'm not a kid" sort of things. I could tell that Christine and Lionel were both very frustrated with Emma's attitude about the whole thing, and I've also known for a while that neither one of them approves at all of Guillaume. After things settled down in the house, Christine and Lionel got ready to go to a conference/seminar type of thing for the rest of the evening. It was Guilhem and I alone in the house after that, which ended up not being at all awkward. He spent the time watching the Disney Channel movie "Sky High" (in French) while I filled out some more postcards and packed for my weekend in San Sebastián, Spain. It was not one of the finest evenings in this house and I went to bed feeling bad for my host parents and all the stress they went through tonight- I'm starting to grow very fond of them. Guilhem too, but there is something about the relationship I have with Lionel and Christine that is going to be something quite special; I just know it.
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