*Sorry that these blogs are super late, but I figured I would post them better late than never.
4th of July
Today has been amazing! I awoke around 9:30am and joined Claire Marie for
breakfast which consisted of bread with butter and fresh jam, yogurt, orange
juice, and a kiwi. Yesterday, Claire Marie and I went on a hike in the nearby
mountains and then we joined her mum to the grocery store where we bought food
for dinner.
Immediately when we got back, Claire Marie’s Mum put me to work in cleaning
the lettuce for a salad. I was happy that I could be useful because I couldn’t
figure out what else I could possibly have done at the time instead. Claire
Marie put on the water for the noodles and her two brothers helped cut and
prepare the food too. Dinner was excellent with a salad which I had with a boiled
egg, bow tie pasta with cheese and herbed salt, and bread with goat cheese and
honey- yum!! Oh and how could I forget saucisson!! For dessert we had pear with
ice cream and melted chocolate on it topped with rum raisins.
After dinner, we went to a festival in St. Pée
sur Nivelle where there was traditional dance to traditional music. I was ready
to join in but all of the steps were called out in Basque- a regional language
that even Claire Marie could not understand. Despite not dancing, we were able
to enjoy the music which was kind of similar to folk dance but with accordions
and other neat instruments too!
Ok back to today, so we dropped Claire Marie off to the train station at 1
pm today where she will be going to La Rochelle for an interview at the
university. Each year in France, students have to reapply to the school since
the education is free. Claire was pretty stressed at the time and I don’t blame
her one bit. I met her friend Alexander who also went to Southampton, he showed
me around for an hour and we went into the church that King Louis XIV was
married in. I was quite surprised at how small the church was for a royal
wedding of a king that was known for grandeur when in comparison with Prince
William and Kate’s royal wedding in England last year.
After the church, Alexander and I parted ways and I went to the beach where
I sun bathed (I know unlike me, right?). An hour or so later I decided to go
swimming in the azul blue green sea. The water was so warm and lovely! I tried
body surfing on a wave- accidentally choosing the one that was from the few
high tide waves coming in and it curled!! Next thing I know I am doing
summersaults in the water and completely submerged- so much for trying to be
like all the elegant French beach going women. So I decided to swim some more
to discretely remove the sand from my bathing suit that had managed to find
every nook and cranny in my garment as well as on me (belly button, ears,
eyebrows, nothing was sand free it seemed). I dried off in the sunshine and
decided to head off to the village around 4pm to buy postcards only to realize that
I left my €20 in my jeans pocket back at the house. Wandering through the
village was none the less wonderful and I slowly headed back to the train
station where I was waiting for Claire Marie’s brother, Francois, to pick me up
at 5pm. While waiting at the train station a French bum came and asked if I had
any money. Honestly I replied, “no” to him, the man began to have a
conversation with me in French about the weather and other things, I suppose to
warm me up to the idea of giving him money. After a while when I finally failed
in comprehending something he said, he asked if I was English, much to his
surprise I told him I was American. He continued the conversation in French and
eventually asked if I had a cigarette for him, which again I had to disappoint and
he shook my hand and when on his merry way.
Francois was a little late in picking me up as we cruised down the road
listening to various pop songs with the windows rolled down. Dinner was once
again delectable and Claire Marie’s Mom treated me to a Basque treat that is
half way between yogurt and cheese- it was delicious! Then she showed me her
office in the house.
Claire Marie’s mum is a midwife, so she taught me how to make a
harness/carrier for an infant:
First take the middle of a shawl like piece of fabric, crumple it and wrap in
the front crossing at your back, then bring the ends over the shoulders, tuck
it into the band at your front crossing it again this time in front of you and
tie it to your side or behind you. It was fun and she had me practice it with a
plastic baby doll and took a picture so I could worry my mom! She also taught
me a lot about the human body and other useful information. It was a really fun
evening as she spoke in broken English to me and I would respond in (broken (?))
French back. I really appreciated how she tried to have me speak in French
while I am here because after taking French for roughly 5 years I was finally
being able to put that skill to use.
La vie est belle!
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