Sunday

I had a normal breakfast today with Guilhem and Chrisitine (Lionel was working on the room upstairs), except that we had Lionel's fresh white bread instead of wheat bread. Guilhem spent some time this morning copying a picture from a book of Star Wars characters and naturally, it came out looking exactly like the photo. He also showed me a picture of C3PO that he has that's signed by Anthony Daniels- the actor who played C3PO in the Star Wars films. It says: "Guilhem- que La Force soit avec toi!"

"May The Force be with you Guilhem!" :)

After this nice, slow morning I showered and got myself ready for the day. For lunch we had another yummy pile of julienned carrots and then Guilhem and I had the last two slices of yesterday's meatloaf cold (Christine and Lionel had hamburger patties). I ate mine with mustard and though it was cold, it was still very good. With our meat we had a pile of slightly sautéed veggies: green beans, bell peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, and couscous- a very tasty combination! We finished it all of with cheese and bread, fruit (I had an apple and received a lesson in how to properly peel it with my knife), coffee, and more amazing Lindt chocolates. I am one lucky girl! After lunch, Christine asked if I wanted to go on a walk with her and Guilhem. Of course I agreed. We went on a nice, very relaxing half hour car ride through the countryside, with the windows open, taking in the fresh, nearly warm air of the day to get to the sight of our walk. Though the sun didn't shine much today, the air was very pleasant and not too cold. It was a great drive and I took pictures the whole way. When we stopped at our destination- Bélair- my breath caught: the mountains had taken a giant leap towards us and were as clear as mountains of fudge covered in powdered sugar! We walked on a beautiful country path for the next hour and a half or more just taking in the view, the fresh air, and the beauty of the day. It was fun to spend so much time with Guilhem and Christine; it always entertains me to listen to the two of them together. At the end of the walk, Guilhem pulled out a box of chocolate covered cookies from Christine's backpack and offered me one after another. I had a moment today of thinking that life can't really get a whole lot better than this. :)

Oh nothing, just the Pyrenées mountains!

Yea, just to make this more unreal, there was a crêperie along the path we took today

That's our promenade up there with the crêperie on the left, our car on the right, and the mountains in the distance!

What a gorgeous day

It takes my breath away again!

Silly boy :)

Gosh, this picture kills me

Can you not see Julie Andrews running up this grass covered hill, arms thrown out, singing at the top of her lungs? Either way, the hills were alive with something today

"Hunting Reserve"

Me with an âne

:)

A beautiful walk

At the end of the walk, we headed back to the car and unfortunately, I really needed a bathroom. Well, there weren't any toilets around but there was a lot of bathroom. Anyways, after my "tour of nature" (as Christine called it) we were on our way back home. After the drive, we had some warm drinks and then Guilhem and Christine went out to play tennis. I got online and was able to video with my parents through Skype, so I took them on a mini tour of the downstairs. I got to show them the table that I set for dinner, the kitchen with our fresh bread, our fire, etc. It was really cool to feel like they were right there with me in my French house. :)
For dinner, we started off with the rest of our carrot, onion, pumpkin, and cream soup. Then we had our main course of tortilla à la Christine- basically Christine's version of a Spanish "tortilla." It looked almost like a soufflé but there were thick chunks of potato and some onion in the omelette too. It was super tasty! With that we ate a spinach salad and the rest of yesterday's grâtin. We had a round of cheeses (I had some garlic cream cheese on my bread) and then it was dessert- fromage blanc (not natural yogurt) and raspberry preserves. I blogged for a little bit and then it was time for bed.
A perfectly lovely weekend, and I feel completely back to normal!

Saturday

I didn't include this weekend in my run of "Most Fabulous of Weekends" because it wasn't that fabulous. haha It certainly was good, of course, but I still felt a little bit icky and pretty tired for most of it.

Anyways, Saturday morning was pretty normal: I slept in a little, got up, had breakfast, and got myself dressed and ready for the day. Christine's sister and her husband and children came to our place for lunch today. As excited as I was to meet some of Christine's family, I have to admit that I had myself all in a tizzy before they showed up- I was so nervous to speak french with them! I was afraid that I would make stupid mistakes with the language in front of these strangers or that they would try talking to me like a normal person and I wouldn't be able to understand a word of their rapid-fire french. But there was no reason for me to be this afraid; it was a perfectly calm, wonderful experience. The four of them showed up around 12:30p, we all greeted each other, and then it was pretty much time to sit down to lunch. We started lunch off with an apple, endive, and walnut salad and then had the terrific main course: a zucchini grâtin and a super juicy meatloaf. We had a very mild red wine with this and finished off with a round of cheese and bread, two yummy tartes (courtesy of Christine's sister), and coffee and chocolates. It was a great lunch and a great afternoon- I chatted here and there with our guests, was able to answer some of their questions/curiosities about Americans, and enjoyed a fabulous meal. Perhaps the day was more fabulous than I have given it credit for? ;)

Zucchine grâtin and meatloaf

The tartes that Christine's sister brought :)

After the family left, Christine took off with Guilhem to drop him off at a friend's house and Lionel went out to chop or buy (still not too clear on his method) some wood for the fireplace. I was alone in the house for a little bit sort of walking back and forth trying to decide what to do with myself. There were a couple of things I needed from the store and I was also really wanting to check out another store called LIDL where Christine buys their nice chocolates and the whole grain mustard. I was still tired but was also feeling restless from being cooped up in the house the past few days; so I got my walkin' shoes on and took a stroll to Le Clerc (across the street from the university). After getting what I needed, I met up with Rosie and another USAC student named Aleca to head to LIDL. There, I bought three chocolate bars, two boxes of delicious German chocolate cookies, and a small jar of the mustard- all to send to my family in the U.S.! They love me, they really love me. ;)
When we were done at LIDL, Rosie and I headed back to her room so I could get all the work I missed on thursday and friday. It was starting to rain outside so I didn't stay long; I didn't want to have to walk once it really started to come down. I made my bus and got home to a fire in the fireplace and an apéritif waiting on the coffee table. We had some Pringles, peanut puffs, and green olives dipped in olive oil and herbs for our snack and Lionel poured out a very interesting alcohol for our drinks called Azève. Honestly, I really did not like this drink AT ALL. The flavor was okay at first because it comes from a flower, but then you swallow and it turns into pepper marinated in expired rubbing alcohol. Fortunately he mixed in a pretty good helping of cassis liquor and I also added water to mine. But after I got that down, I misunderstood a question he asked me and earned myself a whole second glass. I figured out the hard way why the taste was so strong after that second glass: it's got a lot of alcohol in it! I was horrified to realize that I was feeling increasingly tipsy as the second cup worked its way into my blood stream. Pretty soon we moved to the table and I stealthy tried to gobble down my dinner with lightening speed so as to get food in my stomach and counteract the alcohol. Phew! Next time Lionel offers me some Azève, the answer is "non merci!"
For dinner, we had another carrot, onion, and creme soup and then decided that our sinuses weren't clear enough from last night's spicy soup and ate a fiery Moroccan dish. It was such a shame that the food was so spicy because the flavor was really good! There was rice, onions, some peppers, and a sauce on the Moroccan side and Christine offered up shredded tuna to mix with it (to kill the spice!). With that we had a blessedly cool spinach salad and more of Lionel's homemade white bread. This was the first night that I left edible food on my plate... I just could not finish that spicy rice mixture! At least there was the rest of last night's couscous salad as well so I definitely didn't go to bed hungry. Plus, I fully recovered when I got to eat my favorite yogurt and raspberry dessert. And to top off the day, I got to play the French version of the board game "Clue" ("Cluedo" in French) with Guilhem and Christine. It was so much fun to watch Guilhem play this game: he strategized every move, every interaction between the three of us, everything! He's a very logical-thinking kid and he is so mature about things like games because he really really wants to win. He absolutely does not tolerate cheating (and he's 13, you remember), he's fair about who's turn it is, etc. I am sad to report, though, that Christine won: it was, indeed, Madame LeBlanc avec le revolver dans la cuisine!
Lastly, I spent a good 45 minutes talking to Spencer and Sabrina before bed. I've mentioned many times that I've talked with my family on ichat or whatnot in the evenings but 90% of the time I only get to talk to my parents (Spenc and Bri are usually at school). This was a much needed 45 minutes of being silly, laughing, and talking about American Idol with my siblings. I've missed them and their senses of humor so much- a perfect end to the day!