take me on a trip, i'd like to go someday!

so i LOVE montpellier.

i am sooo upset that i don't live here. this city is crazy beautiful. it's petite, ancient in parts, full of young people, diverse and just wonderful.

within 2 minutes of arriving i had already met jules who rushed off to class leaving me with a friend. he was so incredibly nice! he helped me carry my stuff back to their place and gave me a tour; and the walk from the station was lovely. people everywhere and the streets were old and cobblestoned and there were statues and parks and churches and fountains all over the place. plus incredible art and street exhibits. on top of it all the weather was a good 8 degrees warmer than serignan so i was in love.

jules and her 3 flat mates live in the heart of the city right by the roman aquaducts. in fact the view from jules' window is the aquaducts!! they all get around on bikes and everything is close and compact. i met her flat mates and more friends last night because they had a dinner party. mounir is algerian and studying/ working here; yoko is japanese and doing the same; shana is chinese/mongolian and doing the same; and jules is takinng french classes and being an english assistant like me. it's such a diverse group and since jules and i are the only ones who speak english, we all have to speak in french and it is quite musical how all the accents blend into the french.

yesterday we walked around the city and i think i could do that all day, everyday for the next 2 weeks and not get bored. there seems to be so much to see since every little thing is squished into very little space. there are old buildings that have been converted into museums and restaurants and little alleyways with cafes and art galleries and shops. in fact, there are cafes everywhere you turn. and even the shopping here looks more attractive since the store buildings are so old. the center squares always seem to have something going on and yesterday it was yet another greve (strike). we walked through it to head to a grocery store and i managed to snap some pics: my first greve!

then when we got home i helped in preparing dinner which was mongolian wontons! and for the first time in all my experiences in france, the vegetarians were the majority! me, jules, and mounir! so shana made only veggie wontons. i paid very close attention and the recipe itself is fairly simple. it's the technique to roll out the dough and then wrap the wontons that is tough. very very tough. i tried my hand at it and though i got them the right size, they were never round. and never mind trying to wrap them; when shana did it, they ended up as little pieces of art. perfect. and she worked so fast!

she also hid a one euro cent coin in 2 of the wontons. and she made a sugar one as well. whoever found one with a coin would have good luck and prosperity and the one with the sugar brings good luck in love. then she steamed half in a wonton steamer, and she fried half in a frying pan. and they were ready. filling: cabbage, mushrooms, onions, spring onions, clear rice noodle, fried egg along with powdered ginger, salt, a special seasoning salt, tiny bit of clove, soy sauce, and garlic powder.

mounir also made a special algerian dish. it was a semolina flour fried bread that was dense and delicious and that was soaked in a tomato and red pepper sauce/ soup. it was seasoned with a lot of mint and a little garlic and coriander seed paste he ground himself. it didn't turn out as he wanted it to (he had taken notes when his aunt in algers made it) but it was very yummy and we didn't know the difference.

dinner started when everyone arrived. we were joined by 4 more people and we ate in jules' room cuz it's actually a living room divided to make 2 bedrooms. dinner was fun and we discussed varied topics including horror films, superstitions and paranormal activities, ouija board experiences, internet idiocies, pranks, the world's most boring jobs, late night/ late shift jobs, travel and a whole bunch of other things. and somehow, i got both the coins in my wontons! so i am going to have exceptional prosperity this year! yay!

after dinner mounir made some strong delicious mint tea and we all had 5 rounds of it and kept talking until we were all sleepy. then we lazed around a bit longer and finally went to sleep.

today we are supposed to head on a bike ride to the beach with jules' french class but it is very cloudy and gloomy and we're worried it will rain. we're going to give it another hour before we decide though cuz hey, you never know. it would take us 40 minutes on bikes to get to the sea and it sounds like a lot of fun! unfortunately the forecast for the weekend is rain. bah humbug!

craving: a warm bright sunny weekend to explore this fabulous city
currently listening to: montpellier traffic and the shower running.