A Typical Day

It's already in the middle of my second week, I can't believe how fast these days are flying by!  Waking up at 9:30-10am is no longer a good idea. I'll need to save my beauty sleep for when I'm dead and start my day earlier!  Like every morning here,  I started my day by eating breakfast outside. I was still half asleep when I walked into the kitchen and couldn't understand one word of French that my host mother was saying. I then continued to pour orange juice into my coffee thinking it was milk! It was definitely my most out of wack morning so far. All of my friends at home know that I'm FAR from a morning person, but I think this was their first realization.

After breakfast it was "English Time!" The oldest son and I walked to the center of the village as we spoke english the entire time.  He has taken English classes through out highschool and took part in a cultural exchange this past May in North Carolina. Before we returned home we picked up The International Herald Tribune in English to use for another English exercise.

I often forget that I am in France. I tend to become very comfortable in new places and forget to focus on all the little details around me. However, once I come back to my senses and notice that I'm in a new place, I become fascinated by everything around me! Every home in this village is painted a light pink, tan, or white,  with different colored shutters and  deep red-orange roof shingles. All of the homes are surrounded by a short cement fence and contain a wide variety of beautiful trees, plants, vines, and flowers.  I believe the people here really take pride in their front and back yards since there are so many different types of leaves and flowers at each home which I've never seen before!

(I'm living in the white house on the left! The house right next door is beautifully covered in vines. The picture doesn't do it justice.)

When we arrived back home I went swimming in the pool and then enjoyed a family lunch. Today we started with prosciutto and cantaloupe, followed by a potato, tomato, and sausage salad with bread from the bakery, and finished off with yogurt mixed with homemade nectarine jam. It was mmhmmm good! My host mother is an amazing cook! I'll be posting some of her recipes soon.

My plan for the rest of the day includes reading a french blog of a traveling journalist I met in Athens. He's from Quebec and has been traveling over the past 6 months from the USA to Australia, New Zeland, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Jordan and a ton more places.  A group of us met in our hostel and had a blast spending the day together while exploring the city of Athens. If you're interested in checking him out, copy and paste his stories into Google Translate! Check out the video he posted on June 29th from Athens! We are all eating gyros and enjoying the wonderful live music. As for me, this will be a perfect opportunity to practice my French and catch up on my friend's adventures!      http://www.montourduglobe.com/   Later I hope to go on another walk near the bay and through fields of flowers and vineyards, and this evening I will be meeting up with my sister and her host family in Montpellier for West Coast Swing Lessons! Yippie!!

À Bientôt!