Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Pacques

I meant to write something on each of the last few days, but then, go figure, I forgot. So here's a quick catch-up of the last few days:

I got to Saint Andre early a few days ago before I was supposed to meet some friends, and it was BEAUTIFUL outside.




(look at all of the little gargoyles trying to jump off! I had never noticed this angle of the building before).

I still feel incredibly lucky to be living in a city where the cathedral is so easy to get to that it's usually the place we choose to meet up. And we've agreed that it's a better cathedral than Notre Dame, because it's approximately the same size, just as beautiful, while remaining less commercial (and, with fewer crowds, so it's easier to walk around at one's leisure). It's the cathedral where Eleanor of Aquitaine and what's-his-face (the French once, obviously) were married, and the cathedral where Richard II was baptized. Everyone should be able to have a cathedral that they can feel possessive about.

Then, when my friends finally showed up, we went to an official soccer game!! It was the Girondins vs. Nancy (Amelia: "We saw the Girondins play today!" Mom: "Ooooh! Were the Sans-Culottes playing too? And the Jacobins??"). It was definitely a very European experience and I had an amazing time considering that I am Not A Sports Fan.


We bought the cheapest tickets, but we were still sitting closer to the field than I will ever be sitting in the States. Christine bought a "hot dog", but because they don't use our type of hot dog buns, opting for whole baguettes instead, what she got was a baguette so long that it required three hot dogs to fill up the space. Mmmm France. It was ridiculous how wild the crowd was: standing on the railings, waving huge flags, flipping each other off, etc. We decided that soccer games are excellent places to go if one wishes to learn French swear words. Bordeaux lost to Nancy, unfortunately.

Then on Easter, my friends and I were planning on using the day as an excuse to have a chocolate picnic. I was really excited, because we had been having bad weather up until then, but when I woke up on Sunday it was gloriously sunny out. I decided to wear brighter colors than usual because of the picnic, then I went out into the living room to say hello to my host family.

Amelia: Bonjour!
Joana: You're dressed like it's Spring, but it's still Winter, Amelia!
Amelia: Noooo, look how nice it is outside!

As the words leave my mouth: *hail*, as if my host mom had paid someone to stand on our roof with a bucket of ice.

So we had it at Monica's house instead, which was totally fun anyway.

Especially because we had a 1kg chocolate egg.

And now I'm off to the airport so that I can pick up Kayla, and help her celebrate the end of Passover with pastries :)






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