let me take you down cuz i'm going through (wine) fields

Where the orb meets the sea
vines all around.

it has been almost a week since i last blogged and so i will do a week recap:

last friday: i was invited by one of the english teachers named eleonore to a dinner at her house with 5 other teachers. her invitation did feel a bit like pity, but i wasn't going to complain. she lives in beziers so i got a ride from a teacher who lives here in serignan. she was very sweet and double checked on what vegetarian means according to me and everything beforehand. i finally tried the speciality wine from this region, it's called musca and it is a sweeter wine. i had a white variety for aperitif and loved it.

we talked for a long time and then had dinner and continued talking throughout. this means that they talked and i listened in. it was pretty interesting and i was surprised at how much of the conversation was about the school and students and such. i would have thought that teachers wouldn't want to discuss work outside of school, but i guess they do. dinner for me was over-boiled sugar snap peas with a hint of ginger and plain rice. eleonore did apologize for the overcooked-ness and i was happy about this because it at least means that she is aware when a vegetable is destroyed, unlike other french people. everyone else has a very elaborate north african chicken dish with a peanut sauce. this again was interesting because i have never witnessed a french person cook a cuisine other than french.

another little curious fact from dinner was that we began with the main course, followed it with a salad and finished with dessert. whereas up north they begin with salad. dessert was homemade apple sauce that annie, one of the english teachers brought over. it was yummy but, it was just pureed apples.

we then played a few hours of french trivial pursuit and i was only able to help with one question all night: indira gandhi's son's name. all the other questions were so french specific like the name of the only coniferous tree that sheds its pines and the longest southern trekking route in france. but the teachers were all very into it and i enjoyed watching them enjoy themselves.

saturday: i didn't do much. stayed inside and slept, went to the library.

sunday: i was restless. so i went for a walk to valras plage. it's the village south of serignan and it's where the nicest beach is. i took a bicycle path for an hour. it lead me through a giant vineyard and it was very secluded and beautiful. there were no grapes on the vines but every now and then i spotted some so i tasted them. they were very large and sweet and so i ended up eating quite a lot even though they were considerably dusty! by the time i reached the sea, the wind had really picked up so i only stayed and stared out at the mediterranean for 30 minutes.

it is so very beautiful. the beach was empty because it was late and so chilly. there were only a few insistent fisherman around. from where i was i could see the river Orb run into the mediterranean and the river's colors mixing with the sea's. the sea is a lighter blue and the river was so dark so it was a lovely contrast. i even touched the water and it was warmer than my hands! granted i was freezing, but still.

monday: the internet man was supposed to come and fix up the wifi for me but he was a whole 45 minutes late! and my landlady had somewhere to be. so i rescheduled and moped. i also went out to try and get a cell phone service but it turns out that i need additional bank paper work so i have to wait some more. i then went to the hyper U to look for oatmeal again. i found the organic aisle (incidentally called the 'diet' aisle) and walked up and down looking at every single shelf for around 10 minutes until i saw two packs of oatmeal squished in a corner. oh how my heart soared. i grabbed them both and it almost made me forget that i still didn't have internet at home! flocons d'avoine= oatmeal in french.

tuesday: i woke up at 6:30 before the sun did and got ready for school. i made oatmeal and it was SO good. especially because it was only 6 degrees outside! and the sun was shining like a clueless mongoose. i had 4 classes all to myself and they went fairly smoothly. my first group were excellent. the participated and were good and everything. the second group, not so much. and the third were great again. i was really tired by lunch and happy i had the yummy pasta salad i made the night before. turns out that there was a staff lunch and there was an interesting spread. i had some leek tart which was delicious and some mixed berry tart too. i am officially obsessed with french berry tarts. especially raspberry ones. mmmm. i also tried a new obnoxiously yellow cheese though i don't remember its name.

at the end of the day laure, one of the english teachers i work with gave me a ride home. she's new to serignan too, she's from montpellier. not such a difference but still, strength in numbers. she was also an assistant just 3 years ago and this year is her first official year as a teacher. she was a french assistant in london. when i got home i found that i had internet! yay! at last!

wednesday: i have no work today because the classes are such that i only have work every other wednesday. and i am at home and online :) and now i am hungry.

craving: a raspberry tart from my bakery 30 seconds away
currently listening to: almost silence in my studio.