No New News.

Well, not too much has happened since my last post.  But I will let you all in on what little has happened!
Last weekend we had our second free excursion.  We went to a small fortified medieval city called La Couvertoirade.  The place literally looked like it was designed as a set for Walt Disney and I was just waiting for Belle to come walking around the corner.  This little town is home for only 27 people!!  We learned a lot of history....which unfortunately (or fortunately?!?!?) in a group of 40-50 people is quite difficult to hear.  But I posted pictures on Facebook if you haven't already seen them!!  One really cool thing about the town was that they had these flowers posted on every home door, which lived for up to 6 years even after having been cut from the vine.  These flowers would open when dry and close when wet (or maybe the inverse of that...can't remember).

So this is obviously a picture of one of those flowers!!

Another weird thing that happened while we were there is that it "rained"  I truly don't believe that the french know what true rain is, because they have the softest, lightest rain, which I call Pansy Rain.  Well this rain was confusing.  It was super sunny out, and not a cloud over our head.  It was also quite windy, so what "rain" was coming down was blowing all over the place.  It was so light that is almost felt like snow!!  

Our next stop was to the highest bridge in Europe.  I quite honestly don't remember the name of it, but it was pretty neat.  On one side it looked over a village, and on the other it was pretty much hills and such. We parked in a parking lot and climbed the hill to get on the same height as the bridge.  We thought the wind at La Couvertoirade was bad...Then we walked up several meters and we were all worried about blowing off the side!  

After that we went to Les Caves de Roquefort.  What an interesting tour.  We saw several  videos that portrayed the cheese as if it were Mother Teresa, a wartime hero or a Saint.  I will write a small excerpt from their brochure : 

"Roquefort was born in an extraordinary setting, where the whims of the formation of the earth met the century-old passion of men and the astonishing adaptation of a breed of ewes.  Roquefort cheese has asserted itself as a monarch of taste for centuries.  Throughout its wondrous history, it has conquered the palaces and enraptured the palates of kings and queens..."  

Anyway, there were light shows and short films during our tour.  Which leads me to the cheese itself.  This cheese is made in a microclimate perfect for Roquefort Cheese.  They mature in these naturally made caves with a steady temperature of 8 - 10 degrees C and 95% humidity year round.  While we weren't supposed to take pictures, I managed to snap a few.  It was crazy how much cheese they had!!  

And this was just one of the 3 giant rooms!!

Now, I wish I could put a smell of this place on my blog.  If you will, imagine the smell of damp, humid cave, accompanied by the smell of blue cheese.  I walked out feeling like I smelt like a pair of used socks...Also, the spider webs growing so closely to this cheese made me not really ever want to eat Roquefort cheese again.

That was it for our excursion.  Then last Sunday I went to another fortified city called Aigues-Mortes.  I remember learning about it in my French Civ. class last semester, but unfortunately I didn't and still don't  remember why. We didn't do too much there.  We walked around the little streets and went into an awesome little candy store!  Oh yes, we did stop at a bakery that makes a specialty from Aigues-Mortes called Fougasse.  Fougasse is  (of course) a sweet treat.  It is essentially brioche with a layer of sugary-orange blossom glaze on top.   It was interesting..I kind of felt like I was eating a flower, but in a good way!  My host family took me so that when I go next weekend with my dad I will at least know the place a little!

Then yesterday I went to the beach!!  This was my second attempt...the first was with Chris.  Now you would think that something like the beach would be so simple!!  My friend Simone and I were going to meet up with some friends at the flea market that was on the beach.  Well we got there (after our 30 minute walk due to a yet again, another confusing bus ride...), and after probably an hour and a half of wandering around, we realized that we were not on the same beach as our friends, but they were on the beach in our next town.  Well we could at least see where they were in the distance, so we walked to the next town, on the beach!!  It only took us a little over an hour to get there.  Well they left right as we got there, so we just sat on the sand and played a little.  The Sand there was marvelous, truly the softest sand that I had ever felt!!  It was quite a beautiful day and I even got some rosy cheeks and nose to prove it!

I am getting excited because my dad comes in just 3 days!!!  Our plan is to spend a few days in Montpellier, and then one day in Nimes and one day in Aigues-Mortes.  According to my countdown, I have 53 days left!!  It helps knowing that I am on the downhill side of things, and the days ahead of me are not quite so numerous.  I know that these last weeks (7 + some days!!!) will fly by so quickly and then I will get to go back home!

Also, I would like to mention that I did two weird things today:

1. I watched the Grinch. Kind of a weird sensation to watch a Christmas movie in the middle of Spring on a rainy day.

2. I took a nap!!  So the weird thing above can kind of be voided because I slept during the Grinch!!  This has not happened since the very first weekend that I was at this house and when I could nap because of the jet lag!  This time I could nap because there was nobody in the house!!  It was wonderful; no yelling, no loud footsteps and no moving of furniture!

A bientôt mes amis.

For Laramie Street

My great friend Laramie Street recently left a comment on my last post, and she had some great points! At the end she said that I could probably think of at least 5 things that I like about France! So I am going to do just that!!! Laramie this blog is dedicated to you! I would also like to apologize if it seems like I have been complaining, I don't mean to sound that way, just things are hard sometimes! I do recognize that I am so blessed to be able to study abroad, because it truly is a once in a lifetime experience!! Also, I am making this blog post from my phone as my computer charger bit the dust last Friday and I am waiting for my new one to come in, so if there are any typos or whatnot...I don't really care enough to proofread!
Okay so here is my list:
1. The food here : now I am not saying that I particularly prefer French food to "American" food...however, who doesn't love the opportunity to be walking in town and be surrounded by all of the croissants, pain au chocolats and crèpes that you could ever want!
2. The tram : now that I have got the public transportation here pretty well figured out, I love it! I mean, who can't appreciate 2 hours everyday where you can listen to music, think, read and people watch everyday! It is one of the most relaxing parts of my day and I quite enjoy it.
3. It's old : everything here has such character and a history to it. I love walking around thinking of all the old servants and nobles that once lived here! The narrow streets that look like they came right out of a chick flick! We don't really have anything that can compare to it back home!
4. IKEA : this one is kind of cheating, but not really! I love having the option to go to IKEA pretty much whenever. I find a strange comfort when I am there, and I take advantage of my close proximity of the enormous store. Yes, there are IKEAs back home, but I must travel long distances to get there!
5. The Mediterranean : though chris and I did "go" there and it was a joke, I am convinced that there is some beach nereby, and that is stinkin' cool! Also, I will just add that I am so close to so many beautiful and different countries, and while I may not have the money to visit them, it is amazing being surrounded by so much culture.
Well that concludes my list! One more awesome thing is that my dad surprised me in that he is going to come visit me in just two weeks! I'm bummed my mom can't make it, but completely understand!
My next post will most likely be after my Saturday excursion to la Couvertoirade and les caves de Roquefort (where Roquefort cheese is made!!!)

I've hit "the wall"

Well I am not usually one for coming up with good metaphors, analogies, what have you.  So I apologize for the extremely cheesy one that I have just come up with.  But here it is.
I feel that I have hit "the wall".  You know, "the wall" that runners hit when running a marathon.  Only, I have been forced to run this marathon, it wasn't really my choice.  I know that after I make it to the finish line, I will have learned a lot from my experience and I will also have lost a lot of weight because of all of the exercise.  I can even tell my kids (when we eventually have them in 20-30 years.....) that I ran a marathon.  Plus, it will look great on my resume.  There have been times where I have been sick, and times when my husband has been here, running along side me and cheering me on (he is always cheering me on, just from farther away)  But I am tired of being pushed around by the smelly, hairy and often times rude runners. Which, if they are running, they should also take other health issues into concern such as smoking, they all smoke.  I am also tired of having to navigate my path between the other runners and the dog poop.  And the runners really love yelling, so my head always wants to burst, tired of hearing them blabber on for hours.
Well anyways, I would love to just quit and go home, but I know that I can't, and I am not even halfway done.  I miss home so much, and more than my husband, family and friends.  I just miss the US in general and the strangers that just smile and say hello as they pass on the street, that would be considered quite strange here.  I still miss tacos even though we made them just a week ago.  Every day is a countdown until I get to go home.  I no longer have the energy and excitement that I first had at the beginning of the race.

Travel Woes and Woahs!!!

So as many of you know, my dear husband came to visit me this past week.  Let me tell you, it is was a glorious week that we spent galavanting around Europe. I will spare the many times of us getting lost, as that is an inherent quality that comes along with me.... The craziness began on a Friday.  At least, that was when he left Indiana.
Friday : February 25
This evening I could hardly contain myself.  So around the time that I knew Chris was on his way to the Indianapolis Airport, I began flooding his phone with texts ( a handy little trick I discovered that I can do using my gmail account!) Well, anxious me doesn't hear back, so I hope that he is already on his way.  The other nervous-me worries that somehow he is still asleep and hasn't woken up yet, so I start calling his phone.  Finally, it was time for me to go downstairs and have dinner with my host family, so I do that.  After dinner and the nightly news I sprint back up to my room and text Chris one more time.  I get a response : "I am freaking out".  Okkkkaayyyyyy. He his has about an hour until he takes off..... "What is going on?" "I have been in stand still traffic for at least 30 minutes and am only 2 exits away.  A semi decided to tip over and there is a bad traffic jam". Bahhhhh.  I immediately text my dad and ask him what to do.  He told me that Chris should just check in as soon as he gets there so that they could at least hold the plane if need be.  I probably was not of much help to Chris in his situation, so I told him to text me when he had boarded.  I sat in my room, doing something, not really sure what.  Then about 15-20 minutes later I get another text.  "I am going through security and should be to my gate in 10-15 minutes"  WHAT???  Did he sprout a pair of wings and fly there???  I don't know how it all happened  so quickly, but God was definitely doing something up there!  A few short minutes later, I get the text that he was sitting "comfortably" in his seat waiting to take off!  I truly do not know how this all happened, but I am sure glad that it did. So he jumped from Indy to O'Hare, and with another short layover in O'Hare, I still wasn't completely settled.  Thankfully, the rest of his journey there was quite flawless.
Saturday : February 26
I wake up at the lovely hour of 6 am, and check on his flight.  Yep, it took off.  Yep, still flying.  So I waste some time doing stuff, and finally at about 7.52 his flight lands!  Yippeeee!!  My husband is once again in the same country as me:)  Now at the Airport in Paris, you get 15 minutes of free wifi.  So I had told Chris to call my french cell phone using skype in those 15 minutes to let me know that all was going well. About 8.30 I went downstairs for breakfast, and I come back up at 9.  THREE missed calls!!!  Ooopss!!!  After all that....and I was just downstairs eating breakfast.  Well all turned out well.  About 9.30 I jumped on the bus, and then the tram which I took to the place where I needed to be to catch the bus going to the airport.  I was kind of nervous, because I had never taken this bus, and if you know me and my history of public transportation, we don't usually get along so well.  But luckily I met probably the nicest couple since I have been in France.  So we chatted during our wait for the bus. Finally the bus comes and we get to the airport about 15 minutes later.  I have about another 2 hour wait at the airport, and then finally Chris' plane lands.  So I get up and stand in front of the baggage claim room.  Which was a room with glass walls, but with a matte layer over if so that you can't see.  However near the top, there were lines with no matte and so people we peaking over to see their loved ones.  I was of course not tall enough.  So I was looking through a little scratch (more my height...) about the size of a fingernail that was accidentally made sometime ago.  I didn't see him!!  Eeekk!!!  So I decide to just stay call and walk away from the scratch and just watch the door.  People keep coming out with their luggage and no mister Christopher.  Well I guess I had forgotten what he looked like, because I hadn't seen him through the scratch, but finally he came walking through the door.  I ran up and game him the shakiest hug I have ever given.
Once we left the airport, we went and got a week long tram pass for him so that we could take full advantage of the transportation system!  Then we got a sandwich for Chris and were kindly asked to leave the restaurant patio because apparently their sandwich eaters are "paying clients".  Whatever.  So After some wandering around, we found our apartment.  We had originally only planned on staying in Montpellier for 2 days and then going to Munich for the week.  That was way too expensive so we opted for the less convenient, but much less expensive Ryan Air that only flew on Wednesday mornings!!  So we would be in this apartment for 2 days, and then a hotel for the next 2. We got settled in and Chris took a short nap.  Once he woke up, we went back into town, enjoying the many demonstrations with loud drums and crazy dancers.  We just walked around and I showed him some of my favorite little streets.  One of our favorite parts was the few people on top of a truck with speakers plugged into a Macbook playing very loud music, and the 300 or so people following them in their slow trek through the streets.  Once we were cold and had had enough, we went and got ingredients to make tacos!!  My sweet husband brought me two packets of taco seasoning, because I had only been talking about tacos since the day I left.  We went back to our apartment and made the wonderful tacos with rice and pretty much crashed!!
Sunday : February 27 (Chris' Birthday)
I was so happy when I realized that Chris' birthday would overlap with his visit.  We woke up and went to town.  We went to a little cafe and each got a pastry and he got his tiny little coffee:)  We sat there in the sun for an hour or two and then started on the real goal of the day : finding all of Space Invader's pieces.  Space Invader was the street artist that I mentioned in an earlier post.  We spent the whole day walking around and found 18 out of the 25/26 ish.  Which was pretty good!!  We are fairly certain that some have been taken down.  Now if you think the US looks like a ghost town on Sundays...then you should come to France, because Nothing is open Sundays!!!  I had promised him a good birthday meal, but it took some finding!!  After some looking, we settled on what we thought was a small little italian restaurant.  We walk in, and the thing seems to be almost as long as a block, it was huge!!  We get a mozzarella pizza and pesto (I know, I know...trying new things blah, blah, blah).  We also got free bread and olives (which Chris enjoyed).  But I think that he enjoyed his birthday.  I gave him a pair of shorts and a shirt (that I found on super-sale!) and then a french book on Street Art.  I knew that he couldn't read it, but I figured that he may enjoy the pictures, plus it will make a nice coffee table book.  It was even cooler after having spent the whole day looking for street art!
Monday : February 28
Well Monday here is kind of like an extended Sunday.  Things progressively open throughout the week. We grabbed another french breakfast and we walked around, Chris taking pictures this time.  We found a beautiful old cathedral.  We went in an spent some times in there in the morning, but got kicked out about 12 for lunch, so we decided that we would go back the next day.  After lunch, we went out to a shopping center here and we went to an Apple Store and Chris' first IKEA trip!!!  We had tons of fun there, but the only thing that we bought were two packs of batteries of 1.50 euros!!  We went back to the hotel for a quick nap before we headed to my "family's" house.  My host parents wanted to meet Chris, but the strange thing is...Chris doesn't speak french, and they think they speak english....but don't.  So we had "apéritif"  which mainly consisted of me translating.  Then the main meal...Chris got to try the ever-famous vegetable soup that makes me want to vomit.  Luckily, it was better this time.  Then we had some sort of strange uncooked - biscuit things with a creamy sauce and vegetables on top.  Of course there was cheese, and then banana flambé for dessert.
Tuesday : March 1
We woke up a little later on this day, so we decided to have brunch.  We went to an outside café and had  le petit déjeuner anglais..which was a pain au chocolat, orange juice, coffee, toast, eggs, sausage and fromage blanc (or sour cream as we know it in the US...yeah try a nice heaping spoonful of that stuff!!)
We walked around some more and went back into the cathedral so that Chris could take some more pictures.  Probably the best part of the cathedral was the middle age man that farted and then tried to make a bunch of noise to cover it up.  After that we made big plans to go to the Mediterranean Sea.  We were kind of hungry so we grabbed an "Américain" which for a quick refresher is hamburger, ketchup and french fries on a baguette.   Oh yes, Chris did also try his first crèpe confirming that he does in fact enjoy Nutella.  So we hop on the bus that goes straight to the ocean.  And that is correct, is does go to the ocean, but not really any beaches.  We spend a few minutes looking for them, but there were none to be found.  Just water, some rocks, and the water.  Oh and flamingoes... lots of them!!!  We stayed there for about 30 minutes and then the bus came back.  That evening for dinner we went to a place called "le Wok" which was Wonderful, and a much welcomed change from french food.
Wednesday : March 2
We woke up an headed to the airport, filling up our water bottles so that we wouldn't go thirsty.  So we get to the airport and go up the stairs to go through security.  Well there were no trash cans to be found, and we were already part way through the line, so we drank all of our water then and there (mom you would be proud!!)  About an hour before we were supposed to board, people started lining up by the gate.  So we followed suit, which a line in France really means nothing.  So we boarded but all of the kind of people who were sitting in their comfy chairs, got on the plane before we did...strange.  We get on and look around for our seats...turns out that Ryan Air doesn't list seats, just sit where you want!!
We get to Frankfurt Hahn and buy bus tickets to get to Frankfurt.  The bus shows up and we put our luggage under the bus and get in line.  I get on the bus, and then Chris kindly lets two girls on the bus before himself.  Well turns out the bus only held 50 people...I was 48, Chris was 51....Yep.  We had to wait another hour for the next bus, though it was severely less crowded.  We get to Frankfurt in about 2 hours, and find our hotel.  We go to our room, which was about the same size as both of the hotels in France put together!!  We were quite hungry so we went out looking for some dinner!  We wander around and then Chris notices some bright lights so we decide to follow them.  I will spare the details, but turns out that the red light district is not hard to find.  We turned around and opted for an irish pub. I had a bacon cheeseburger with french fries (I miss some food from home okay!!).... and Chris had bangers and mash.
Thursday, Friday : March 3, 4
We spent this day and walked around, taking pictures.  We had pretzels and brats!!  We didn't do anything too specific, but had fun walking around. Thursday evening we took a nap before going out for dinner and Chris played with my hair the entire time!!!!  What a husband:)  We went out to a traditional German restaurant.  I wasn't feeling so well, but Chris had what was pretty much an entire pig on top of sauerkraut.  Friday evening we met up with my wonderful friend that I worked with at the Oakes : Danielle Thompkins and her boyfriend Tobi.  They took up to another traditional german restaurant and I tried Schnitzel.  We had an amazing evening with them.  We got back to our hotel about 1.00 in the morning knowing that we had to wake up at 4.00 the next morning in order to catch our flight to Paris.
Saturday : March 5
This is when the stress begins.  We wake up at 4 and take the train to the airport.  We get there to check in....and where are the passports???  Oh that is right, the responsible us had locked them in the hotel safe, while irresponsible us forgot them there.  Well it was okay, we had an hour and a half still.  We hopped on the train and I watched the luggage at the train station while Chris literally sprinted back to the hotel and got the passports.  He was back in literally 13 minutes.  Just in time to hop on the train again.  So we get on...and I look at the signs.  Was this the same train????  Nope, no it wasn't....Yes, we got on the wrong train.  So we get off at the next stop, in the middle of nowhere.  The next train didn't come for another 14 minutes.   Somehow we finally made it back to the airport.  We RUN to our check-in, but 10 minutes late, and they won't let us check-in, but they are also happy to tell us that for only 565 euros we can take the next Air France place leaving at 10.40.  Luckily I remembered seeing a "last minute flights" desk at the very entrance of the airport in the other terminal.  So we opted to see if we could find anything cheaper...which we did.  It was with Lufthansa, but didn't leave until 4.05 putting us in Paris about 5.00.    So we check our bags, and get our boarding passes.  Just wanting to sit and rest for a bit, we quickly go to security.  The man scans my ticket "I'm sorry ma'am, you are too early."  Seriously?!?!?!  Too early???  Well here was the first good thing of the day "you are tired aren't you...???"  "YESSSS"  Okay, you may go on through.  What a nice man.
So we get to our gate and lay down on the benches.  We napped and watched shows until it was time to leave.  The flight was a bit scary, but thankfully we landed. About an hour later we had our luggage and were ready to go find our hotel.  So we go to the train station and ask how to get to our hotel.  We take the train for about an hour, and then switch over in that train station to another train so that we can switch to another train station, which went to the area where our hotel was.  This all took about 2 and a half hours.  We get to the train station and look for the street... uhhhhhhh.  We couldn't find it on the map.  So I ask a nice looking french couple where it was, and the kind gentleman calls the hotel and informs us that we just need to take bus 189 and get off in a couple of stops.  Well we wandered around looking for the bus stop but couldn't find it.   So we just start walking in the direction of our hotel...after all, it was just 4 stops away.  Well turns out 4 stops is more like 2ish miles.  We eventually find our hotel and check in.  At this point I just feel awful.  So Chris lefts me stay in bed while he goes out to find food.  He comes back with pizza and chicken nuggets.  I could only eat about 4, before wanting to throw up.  We had planned to stay up as late as we could so that we could at least see some of the big things there, but I just felt too terrible, so we fell asleep watching the french version of Dancing with the Stars.
Sunday : May 6
I wake up...try and throw up (yeah, my body just HATES Paris...this was a similar scenario to that of when I had landed in Charles de Gaulle on my way here).  We ask the front desk man the best way to get to the airport, and he tells us that we just need to take this bus for several stops and hop on the train that goes straight to the airport. This went quite smoothly.  We said our goodbyes and got on our respective planes.  I get into Montpellier at 12.40, hoping to take the 13.00 o'clock bus, but I just miss it. So I wait until the 14.55 bus and make it home.  Poor Chris has a 14 hour layover in Chicago, but makes it home fairly easily.
To top off the difficulty of my husband leaving, I get a call from him Monday evening telling me that our Pan and Aro had died while he was here.  Don't really know how it happened, but it is quite sad.
Well, congrats to those who read all of this!!  I appreciate all of the support I have been getting from everyone!
A Bientôt!
Carrie

Week 5

Well it has been a whole week since I last blogged.  There weren't really a whole lot of new things that happened in the past week.  Classes are okay, internship is still boring but the weather is beginning to become more and more beautiful.  One morning I did decide to count how many piles of dog poop that I saw.  I started counting after I got off the bus in the morning and counted on my walking way to class.  13 piles.  That is right.  I only counted going one way so as not to count a pile twice.  The owners of the dogs don't feel is is their responsibility to take care of the mess, so each night the city is hosed down with water. Quite disgusting.  The other thing that I hate here are the birds.  They are not afraid of people.  One day I literally had to stop and let the bird pass.  I realized how sad it was that I stepped out of my way for a dirty bird.
Friday morning I didn't have anything to do, so I walked around in the morning and then met friends for lunch.  We went to a small restaurant with seating out in the sun.  After awhile of sitting there, the sun quickly began to hide behind the tall walls of the buildings making it quite chilly.  The streets were made for this purpose...to keep the city cooler in the summer.  I chose one of the Plat du Jour which was chicken with indian spices, which unfortunately wasn't spicy whatsoever, but was still pretty good. It came with potatoes, sliced carrots, green-ish beans and mushrooms.  Then for dessert I had Panna Cotta.  It came in a small glass, on the bottom was a thick cream, and then the top was a tart raspberry purée.  Quite amazing!!!
Then yesterday, Saturday, I woke up and did some homework.  In the afternoon I was in the mood to craft.  Unfortunately I didn't bring anything with me, so I decided to go in search of a cheap craft option.  I remembered that there is a used book store in Montpellier that sells books for as cheap as 20 cents.  I went there and bought a few books with some good pictures in them, some tape and a glue stick.  When I got home I asked to borrow scissors (I was going to buy some but the cheapest good scissors that I found were 8 euros!).  So I spent some of the afternoon making some of my homemade envelopes from pages of the books.
After about an hour of crafting my host mom asked me if I wanted to go grocery shopping so that I could make my meal that evening.  So we went to the store and picked up the necessary ingredients to make Sloppy Joes.  She and her husband had somewhere to go for the evening so I was cooking dinner for their three kids and one of their friends.  I did a pretty good job, and they tasted quite like true american sloppy joes!  They loved them and told me that they tasted very "american" whatever that means :)Chris and I spent the evening doing our taxes and tried everything possible to make them enjoyable.  Turns out that being married and still in school makes taxes enjoyable for young couples!
Today we had a young couple over for lunch.  They brought their month old baby girl named Ninon.  We started with a spinach salad with beets and hardboiled eggs.  Then we had the main course which was Cardon (which is artichoke thistle and very good!).  It was in a white sauce.  Then we had veal in some sort of sauce as well, and rice. Of course after that we had cheese.  For dessert we had the choice of coconut flan or fruit cake.  I tried the coconut flan....it was amazing!
I am sorry that my week wasn't more exciting...But I am very excited for this coming week because at the end of it Chris will be here!!  Yay!! I can't believe that the first break is almost here!!

The bleh weekend

Well this past Thursday I started my internship.  However the store is very small and does not have many shoppers come in.  In fact, I am fairly certain that the store is supported by the volunteer workers because they buy more things from the store than the clients.  Well I started on Thursday, and they kind of showed my the various products they had on display.  Then they let me look through the catalogues of the products from past seasons.  They also have a newsletter that comes out every couple of months, so I read that.  The most french that I speak while I am there is actually with the workers, it is kind of difficult to speak with the shoppers...I mean they didn't come into the store to have a nice, long, somewhat choppy conversation with an American girl....they came to shop.  So I spend most of the time trying to keep myself warm, pace throughout the tiny store, and try and find new things that I hadn't seen throughout the first 100 times walking around.
Then Friday morning came, and that is when the house cleaning lady comes.  I am not so fond of her....I don't know what it is, maybe she doesn't like Americans, but she is just kind of rude...so I often find excuses to leave so I don't have to stay around and talk to her.  This weekend was the last of the sales, so I decided to go out and get some of my gifts, I did fairly well.  I was able to check at least half of the people off of my list.
On Friday, I had another two and a half hour shift at Artisans du Monde, so I went there after all of my shopping. It was a new group of ladies, so they showed me the same things.  They even handed me the same catalogues and newsletter from Thursday.  Instead of explaining that I had looked at them the day before, I decided that sitting and reading for a bit was better than pacing the store for the whole time.  So I read the newsletter and looked at all of the products for a second time.  I was sure to take my sweet time:)
Friday night was hard because I had been on my own all day long and the nights aren't much different.  So I talked to Chris for awhile and probably fell asleep talking to him or something like that.  But he promised that he would stay up so that the next morning I could wake up and talk to him.  I woke up at about 7.30 on Saturday because I was going to go out with a friend later that morning to help her shop.  I call Chris.  He informs me that he has something to tell me and it is not going to be easy, but reassures me that he loves me and will be there for me.  I had no idea what to expect.  He then told me that he had talked to my dad the night before and my grandfather had passed away.  I have never lost a grandparent before, so I didn't even really know how to react.  Grandpa Froese was so special (all of my grandparents are!!).  He was such a role model and a little sneakster who liked to play innocent.  But all of my childhood memories just flashed with my head, and it was hard to imagine he is gone now.  But I know this is what he wanted, to go to heaven.  I imagine that he is having the time of his life right now and just feels so liberated, and that is the very thought that makes me feel good about this.  It is still really hard.  All I want right now is to be with friends and family, and that just can't happen.  My feeling of loneliness was just doubled.  Chris told me that my wonderful dad had his phone by him in bed and to call him after I found out, so I did.
I told my host mom, and she tried to distract me yesterday.  We walked to the post office in the morning, and then we walked to the recycling bins in the afternoon.  But during a day like yesterday, telling me about the various properties around their house, their garbage system, and different types of plants was of no interest to me.  I was able to get some homework done and I watched a little tv too.
Today I was invited to go to mass with my host family and to a "pot luck" type meal following the service.  Mass was interesting.  I was expecting to walk into an old stone building with stained glass.  It was actually a fairly "modern" building with a projector and everything.  Now I had only been to mass one time before today...and that time the service was in spanish.
After that, we headed next door for an aperitif...apple juice.  After that craziness, we went across the street into a bigger building with lots of tables and chairs.  We sat about 10 to each table.  Each family was to bring something and you shared it with the people at your table.  So we had Dahl, and indian dish (that was supposed to be really spicy...it was far from) , some sort of ham/eggy thing...though it wasn't quiche.  About 15 minutes into the meal we were supposed to switched dishes with another table.  So we got some sort of ham something or other and Egyptian rice. After that, some apple pastry and coffee was served.  There was a choir practicing next door.  So they came over and had a "mini - concert" for us.  Only one of their songs was in french...so I wasn't the only one lost:)
Now today is February 13.  Two years ago (it was Friday the 13th...) my wonderful husband proposed to me on a blue bridge. He gave me a beautiful wedding band. Last year on this day, he took me out to Buca di Beppo in Indianapolis and gave me an engagement ring.  He told me not to expect a ring every year.  But I think that I will still get one today, a ring on Skype that is.....This also means that I left the USA 1 month ago (1/4 done already!)
One last reason to make this weekend not so much fun is tomorrow.  Valentines day.  I only have a huge ocean between me and my Valentine.  This weekend is supposed to be one that you can spend with the one that you love.  I get to see all of the facebook statuses about all of you happy lovebirds that get to see each other this weekend and do something fun together.  I guess I will just have to postpone my Valentine's Day for two weeks when Chris gets to come visit me!!  Technically less than two weeks now!
Sorry that this blog was a bit of a downer, but this weekend didn't have too many positive things.  I am so appreciative of all of the support that I have gotten from friends and family!  Thanks!
A Bientôt.
Bisous,
Carrie

Gigagym

For those who have seen the youtube video for giga pudding, you will be happy to know that in France there is a "giga gym."  I hope that it doesn't make you jiggle like the pudding!!

I finally figured out what "traditional american meal" I am going to make for my family....Sloppy Joes!!!! I was going to make that with my mom's corn casserole as a side dish, but they don't have sour cream in France, so I am still on the lookout for a good side dish to go along with the sloppy joes.  Any ideas are welcome!!!

As I have stated before, my host family enjoys having friends come over.  Yesterday, they had friends come over for lunch and my mom make a "cake."  "Gâteau" is the french word for cake, but "cake" is fruit cake.  French people seem to have a minor obsession with fruit cake.  It seems that fruit cake in the US is the gift that people give around Christmas, and most people never eat...

I had my first english slip up this past weekend.  Wasn't a big deal, but made me laugh.  I was walking to the bus stop listening to my music and I passed my host family in his wheelchair.  And naturally I let out a big  "Helllloooo!!!!!" from across the street.  After realizing my mistake I quickly recovered and said a simple "bonjour" and continued on my way. :)

Yesterday was a good day, as far as things go.  It was the first day where my progress in my french was recognizable. Needless to say, I was quite proud of myself.  I had done well on a placement test for my translation class, I had an intelligent conversation with my host mom, and I enjoyed watching the news because I understood most of what was being said!  Yay!! It was also the first day that though it is still far in the future, there are some things that I will miss about France.  Like the annoying music that they play at the beginning of the 8 o'clock news that makes everything feel rushed and anxious.  The variant of smells here : fresh pastries, cigarette smoke, dog poop, baguettes, etc.  I will miss the bus rides where twice a day I get to just sit, think and listen to music.  I will miss the 5 course dinners (not always....)

Tomorrow I start my internship.  I am both nervous and excited about it.  I just have to remind myself that this is something that I want to do.  I get to volunteer, and get to practice my french even more. I will profit from this!

That's all for now!!