thursday: nothing much happened. i had work and it went well. the students were insane because it was the last day before their 10 day holiday for toussaints. so they were restless and i played games with them until they were bouncing and then i let them go.
friday: i don't remember what i did.
saturday: i went to the hyper U cuz i had run out of anything to cook with (veggies). bought some cous cous and veggies and some chocolate pudding to cheer me up. i then ran into sandrine, one of the english teachers i work with and we chatted for a few minutes. and that night i was to lazy to cook so i just had bread and cheese for dinner.
my baguette diaries: when i first got here i was thrilled to have a bakery so close. i thought i'd buy 2 baguettes a week and enjoy the yummyness of freshly baked bread. baguettes unfortunately have the shortest shelf life of all the bread family. 2 days max. even when refrigerated. and i don't eat bread everyday. so i googled ways to revive a baguette and was told to massage the crust with water and microwave for no more than 20 seconds. i do so and voila, an edible-ish piece of bread. after day 2, a baguette takes on the consistency of croutons. and even after this microwave trick, there is a stale taste to the bread that is less than desired. current bread status: one more-than-a-week-old baguette in the fridge.
sunday: stayed at home all day because i woke up with neck pain. i had recommenced the tiny bit of yoga i do in the morning and my neck got very angry, very fast. so now even that little bit of exercise is on hold. i don't know for how long. all i know is that i really want to start working out to a) give myself something outdoors to do in a village and b) to get me some happy hormones going. alas. i resort to neck exercises along with cat-like stretches when i've been sitting too long.
monday (today): no more neck pain, yay! and dear gladys has her grand children over for the holidays. she shares them with their other grandparents who also live in serignan, which i now realize is like an old age home in several ways. she invited me over for lunch and a movie. the kids, melanie (15) and clara (7) are adorable. lunch was interesting. gladys made me an aubergine and red pepper fry and cracked an egg into it. it was yummy but strange and very rich. she also had some leftover gratin. this gratin was made with chayote (yes i googled it, that's why it's in bold) or chow chow as i know it. gladys grows them in the back yard. the gratin wa
s yummy, it was a lighter, blander quiche. She also over-cooked them and added parsley for me to try them that way. And this tasted like every other over-boiled vegetable i've had in france. i was really sad because when i took this picture, all i could think of was sambar. we had cheese and dessert as well but i was stuffed. gladys then took the three of us to the cinema in beziers. the kids had already picked a movie: Alpha et Omega. A story about two wolves of different social standings in the pack who fall in love and triumph over wolf-adversity. in animated 3d. it was exactly how it sounds. and it was in french so while christina ricci and justin long were supposed to be the voices, i heard french voice actors. i understood all the french which i was proud of. it was silly and cheesy and disney- without actually being disney. the credits were the most interesting part because there was a mumbai crew. the movie (animated) takes place in canada. there were lots of indian names in the credits so i think that part of the film was outsourced!clara was adorable in the car trip home, she kept whispering to me things to ask melanie in english like, "say, 'melanie, what is your name?' in english!" and i had to explain how logistically that wouldn't work. and then she said "oh, ok, ask her if she likes pizza in english!" and then she would whisper-ask me what her sister said in response. i don't think she fully understood that i know french because although we only spoke in french, she still asked me to read several street signs to her as if she wanted to see if i could read it too. hilarious.
tomorrow i will finalize my trip-to-montpellier-for-my-birthday plans and go shopping with melanie and clara. there is a new shopping mall called le pouligan in beziers.
an interesting tidbit: i've noticed how people here like to say 'bye.' they do it at the end of phone calls, when they leave a room, and even when they leave in general. so it sounds like "allez, bye" and it throws me off. and they do it in their french accents so it's nice.
craving: hot hot pav bhaji and sweet lime juice
currently listening to: the wind blowing outside, it's crazy windy today. so it sounds ominous like a disney channel halloween movie haha
you need to take more pictures.
ReplyDeletei'm tired. i need to study.
skype laters. byee.