Thursday was my last day of classes for the week. I woke up and had my Lucky Charms for breakfast!! By the way I have tried the milk and while it doesn't taste like milk back home, it is okay. I definitely like it better cold. So then I went to my language class. Nothing much to report there, though I did talk to my professor about if I am at the right level. I will find out for sure tomorrow because we are having a test tomorrow in class. I also had a class called Simulation Globale. I am still not totally sure what the point of the class is, but it was fun because we got to make up our own French town and make a history behind it. I don't really like the group I was put in. They are all very nice girls but they aren't very serious about learning French so we basically spoke English that entire class.
I then met Sarah after class and brought her back to the seminary. We did some homework together and then she wanted to get to H&M before it closed so we went back out around 4:15. I went to go get cheese, tape, and bread. (One of those things is not like the other...the tape is to hang pictures on my extremely depressing walls). I came back and Skyped with my friend from college (Anna!!!) I then had dinner and found out that Thursday is girls night at the seminary, so we watched Remember Me (in French of course!) I understood most of it and of course it was nice to be included!
Friday I didn't have classes at the language institute but we do have our class that is given by Gordon. So we all met Mme Coates at 1:30 in the afternoon and went to a restaurant for dessert/lunch. I had dessert. I had Fondant au chocolat. Oh. My. Goodness. It was good!!! It's like the molten chocolate lava cake at Applebee's but way better! We had good lunch conversation and we learned that the French way of saying little blessings from God is petit clin d'oeil de Dieux, which translates to literally little winks from God. I liked that a lot.
Then we went to the course required by Gordon. I took pictures of the house this time!!! They don't really do it justice and its only the living room, but still, it gives you an idea.
The class itself was extremely boring. We watched another video, this time about Jean Calvin but this one went so over my head!!! I had no clue what was happening. On a side note, does anyone remember Swoops chocolate? They were like chocolate Pringles? Well they apparently still have those in France! Yum!
Then I came back to the seminary, made food for myself and then watched Friends with Ingvild and Yasmine (she's from Guatemala). I turned in somewhat early because we were going out with Mme Coates somewhat early the next day.
Yesterday we met Mme Coates at l'hotel de ville. Which apparently is not the town hotel as I foolishly thought! It's basically the town hall. (I now know where I need to go if I decide I want to get married while I'm here) The town hall was very cool though, it had a hall where they had portraits of all the important people in Aix's history. The name Aix is actually a contraction of Sextus the Roman soldier who conquered Aix. Also part of the town hall has a tower that has a little statue in it. It actually changes with the seasons.
The post office is across the street it has a carving on the top of a man and women who represent the two rivers of the region. The woman's foot goes over the edge of the carving symbolizing how that river often overflows.
We then went into the post office and learned how to get postage and send mail. This may sound silly but it was actually very helpful. They have these kiosques where you weigh your letter or package and then you choose where you are sending it to and then it prints out a stamp for you. It is incredibly convenient!
Then we went to the market. There is a vegetable market every day! And unlike in the states the vegetables and fruit are cheaper at the market than at the grocery store. So I have officially decided that is where I will get my fruits and vegetables from this day forward!!! Its not something I will be able to do once I get back to the States so I am going to take advantage of it while I can.
Once we had bought all the ingredients for lunch we went back Mme Coates house. Our lunch consisted of some pretty strange things for us Americans. For example did you know you can make mayonnaise with mustard, egg, oil, and salt? I didn't. Then we had celery root mixed with the mayo, which I actually really liked. Then we had beetroot with vinegar, that was not so good, but it wasn't repulsive. Then we had radishes raw or with salt or butter. That was good too. We also had tapinard which is basically olives and anchovies mixed into a paste type thing spread on bread like bruchetta. It's okay, again not my favorite.
Next we had pasta for the main course with a carrot and tomato sauce that was delicious! Followed by bread and chevre cheese which I LOVE!! I ate a lot of that. Then we had hot drinks and everyone please be proud of me, I drank an entire MUG, I repeat MUG of hot chocolate (chocolat chaud). I think its better here than in the States, non of the watery stuff. Then we spent some time talking about our goals, fears, challenges and such for the semester while we waited for Josh to arrive.
Once Josh arrived we made crepes in honor of PANCAKE DAY!!! I learned how to flip crepes. Apparently, the tradition is to flip a crepe while holding a coin in the other hand. I was very proud that I didn't drop it on the floor.
Then we ate the crepes both sale et sucre (salty and sweet). So my first crepe had a fried egg in it with ham and cheese and onions. Then I made a miraculous discovery. I LIKE NUTELLA!! My whole life I have thought I didn't like Nutella. But I don't think I have actually ever tried it. I think I just assumed I wouldn't like it because of the hazelnuts. But no, I like Nutella...a lot! I ate so much! I think I had 5 crepes. I was so full!! Then they tell us they have dessert!! Since it was Josh's birthday this past week, we had a chocolate tart and we sang to him and he blew out a candle. I made enough room for a very small piece of the tart and it was soooo good! I wish I had had room for more!
Finally our day was over and we got back to the seminary at 11pm. But for me it was a great day full of adventure, trying new things (gouter = to taste), and spending time with others. I will try very hard to post again tomorrow. (But no promises!)
Sounds like fun! Memere Kowolenko would be proud of you and your crepe technique! She always made them for us.
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