le 8 mars

Hi all!

Last night we had an impromptu dinner party at my host house. Marie, my French cousin, and my aunt and uncle came over to dine with us. We had this dish that I have had a few times now where you melt cheese and put it on a potato. I really should remeber the name of it. It was nice that they all came over. I didn't hesitate this time to walk up and kiss them hello. Marie is also one of my favorite people here- always extremely friendly to me. I wasn't prepared for this dinner party though, and was a bit surprised when I walked out of my bedroom and they were there. Parties in general (especially French ones) can be a bit exhausting for me because its like a 4 hour long oral French test. They talk really fast (faster now that I've been here a while and am getting better) and there are ususally a few different conversations going on at once. Plus I had a full day yesterday- I will describe a bit further on- and was tired to begin with. lol They kept offering me wine which I politely declined until after the meal. I thought falling asleep on the dinner table probably wouldn't be very polite and I figured if I drank it after the meal then I wouldn't have to wait very long before they left. haha- Wrong. It was funny though because it kept reminding me of my first night in France. We ate pizza and champagne with the aunt and uncle that first night and I was soooo tired after my long flight and walking around Aix twice. lol It was almost the same situation- me being acutely aware of exactly how far I was from my bed and me zoning in and out of the French coversations. Except this time I was more comfortable and more ready to join in. All the same, I definitely thought back to that first night and smiled. It seems so long ago.

The reason I was tired: long day with Ashley. After class, Ashley and I hung out at my French house, got some lunch and then went to talk to Eric- our jewlery shop owner friend- for a while. Eric waved hello to us as we entered (I was careful not to wave to him) and we chit chatted for a while. He wanted to know how our Barcelona trip went. He had given us shopping tips before we left, so I was sure to tell him that we hit up all the stores he had suggested. Ashley had a project for her business class that required that she interviewed a business owner in Aix, so she asked him questions while I looked at the jewlery. I love his shop. Because I am a jewlery freak anyways, its like a little piece of heaven for me. He makes each piece by hand. Did I ever mention that he has some celebrity clients? Sharon Stone, John Malcovitch and the Queen of Sweden. No joke. haha and me- I bought a necklace from here after the first time I went in. After a good conversation, we left and went grocery shopping. Afterwards I worked on my computer for a while.

After typing that, I realize that does not sound like I did that much. Just take my word for it that it was a full day. Wow, this post doesn't seem so interesting. Let me share a few gems from my archeology class to redeem this post.

Our archeology teacher asks "What do we get at night?"
The Americans (genuinely trying) respond, "Drinks??!?!"
Teacher's desired response- the moon.

A phone goes off in class. Archeology teacher tells student whose phone rang, "Thatz not the first time. Next time, itz a finger."

On the subject of cave art: the slide showing is a picture of a hybrid creature. Half bison, half man.
"If you see such guy in the street, you come find me. Phone me immediately."

Archeology teacher asks us to the characteristics of the bison guy. One student offers the the animal has "tusks." Archeology teacher looks confused. Five minutes later he goes "OH, TUSKS!!! I heard toast. I was thinking breakfast."

Hahaha- I don't even remember the exact context of this one. Maybe on the topic of how nature grows over archeological remains.
"Yes? Mushrooms popped up...(does a boddy wiggle) smurfs er-merged? (emerged)
a few minutes later... in a very serious tone-
"Yes, the smurfs are not the friends of the archeologists. I hate the smurfs."



I'm still working on putting up those pictures- should be coming at ya shortly. Much love!