home

Departure

Okay, one last post!

I thought I should share with everyone the fantastic last weekend I've had here in Franceland.

Awesome thing #1: I ate escargot with Sophie and Jean-Philippe! I was talking to Jean-Philippe the other night and he was horrified to hear that I've never tried it. Naturally, the next morning he went all over Marseille looking for enough escargot for Krista, myself, and the family. It wasn't half bad... as long as I didn't think about what I was consuming.

Awesome thing #2: I got to shoot a gun with Xavier and Krista at the military base in Toulon! It was kind of terrifying, mostly because I didn't trust myself to handle it properly. I took maybe ten shots and probably only hit the target once, lol, but it was a fun experience nonetheless.

Awesome thing #3: Sophie and Jean-Philippe got me a camera as a going away/thank you gift!

I'm going to get on the train in one hour to head to Paris, where I will hang out until my flight leaves at 10 in the morning tomorrow! Then I head to Dublin, then NYC, then SFO and zen HOME! I want to go ice-skating and buy fire cheetos within 48 hours of getting home. Anyone who wants to join is welcome ;)

lots of love and I'll see everyone in a few days!

xoxo

Au Revoir (Camera, Blog, et France)

Tomorrow I officially have one week left in France. It's been a very fulfilling experience and I feel like I got exactly what I needed to get out of it. I know it's usually best not to have expectations (or at least not very specific ones) when you travel, but I definitely came here with an idea of what I wanted and I'm happy to report that I got just that.

Yesterday I revisited Aix-en-Provence, the town where I did my study abroad in Spring '08. I met the director of our student program for lunch and we wandered around a bit. It was sort of a strange (but nice) feeling to go back to this place where I had spent so much time and to be able to rediscover it all over again. It was also fun to see it bustling with people during the holiday season. I'm pretty sure all of France was there doing their Christmas shopping yesterday! I wish I could post some photos of the town center and all of the beautiful Christmas lights..suffice it to say, it's a very charming place.

Since arriving, I've loved: having the opportunity to channel Julia Child daily in the kitchen, meeting some wonderful new people (especially Eli and Krista), getting to know a funny French kid - who no doubt deserves credit for dramatically improving my French, dancing like a wild woman at African dance classes, as well as simply hanging out at the beach (even when it's freezing).

I can't believe I almost went to South Korea.

Voila - Aix-en-Provence!

(thank you, google image search)

:(

I lost my camera...

Merci Beaucoup

Happy (early) Thanksgiving!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/science/a-serving-of-gratitude-brings-healthy-dividends.html

What's that smell? Don't worry, it's just Marseille..

This and last weekend I was able to play more of a tourist role here - hiking to La Ciotat (another coastal town 15 min. by car from Cassis) with Eli, exploring Marseille with Eli, and hosting my friend Bertrand in both Marseille and Cassis (also with Eli). I met Bertrand a few summers ago when he was WWOOFING at Summer Jo's and we've kept in touch since then.

Both Eli and I are leaving within the next several weeks, so we really want to take advantage of what time we have left here. Here's a mishmash of pics from our touristy fun in Marseille and Cassis.

PART I: Hike to La Ciotat with the Belgian

Flirtatious Sugar Cubes

As all worthwhile ventures require in France, we stopped for a coffee before we began our hike to La Ciotat.

...and then we stopped at the Italian Market

Formaggio

View of Cassis en route to La Ciotat

Leffe Break

" + climbers>

La Ciotat - This is how everything looked to me by the time we got there, so my shaky hand makes it work here!

PART II: Day in Marseille with Eli and Bertrand

Fun times with Jean-Philippe's Keyboard in Marseille

Roasted Eggplant and stuffed bellpeppers (without the bellpepper) and, as is tradition with the Belgian, beer.

Where to, madamoiselle?

My 'hood in Marseille

Deux Grand Crèmes, SVP! (à Torrefaction Noailles)

Before Eli came, I panicked and googled things to do in Marseille and one of the top suggestions was coffee at this cafe near the old port.

Our new best friend at the Arab Market (That's what people call it, really) in Marseille, Simon

Negotiating at the fish market

My favorite ship at the old port

Notre Dame de la Garde from the old port

Eli's favorite ship

The arrival of the Frenchman

Didn't feel like cooking, so Hector made a wonderful suggestion..

In honor of our dear friend Diane - 'Quebec' Soda (Diane, does all soda from Quebec taste like bubblegum?)

The G20

PART III: Day in Cassis with Bertrand

Moules-Frites!

Christmas in Cassis

Medi

la vague

Jeux de boule

Some pond in the middle of Cassis

vélo

Kelsey from Texas, another workaway volunteer at the hostel who arrived a couple of weeks ago

Jean-Philippe, determined to finish this puzzle of the Thames

Hector and Gaby

La Canadienne et Le Castellet

One of my favorite people that I've met here is Canadian Krista. She's an artist (a really talented one! http://kristasmithstudio.com/). We met through a network for Anglophones in southern France my first couple of weeks here. For the time being, she's living in Toulon (home to a huge French naval base up the coast from Cassis) with her boyfriend Xavier, who is some sort of French navy special ops diver.

Since we had that long weekend I mentioned earlier, I went to visit them in Toulon for dinner, a movie, and dancing. It was basically a three person date. They're a blast to be around, especially when Xavier says things like "Krista, ze life is jongle!" (meaning, I will always defend your honor when sleazy guys hit on you in clubs - an issue which came up later in the evening).

Xav loves to cook, so we let him go crazy in the kitchen with what would be the best lasagna I've ever had in my life while we drank wine and watched Edward Scissorhands. I mean Edward aux Mains d'Argent.

This was all gone the next morning.

Krista and Cleo

Ready for some dancing!

We went to what is apparently the one and only club in the area, Eden, and tore up that dance floor! When we finally got back to their apartment we were asleep within no time and woke up the next day around.... noon? Not a super productive start to the day, but we managed to pack in a full day nonetheless. After a little R&R, we headed to Le Castellet - a medieval village on a hilltop about 20 mins. from Toulon.

Xav and Krista

'Downtown'

This sign caught my eye for obvious reasons

Great colors this time of year

To the right of the ivy covered building was an artisan candy store (!!!)

France hasn't been conducive to curing my sweet tooth...

Sugar glazed fruit

Exploring

Le Castellet

The view from the top

Pottery 101

Yesterday Mimi took Eli, Diane and I to her pottery studio in the neighboring town of Aubagne. It's been in her family for quite a while but she only recently cleaned it out and transformed it into a functional space, so yesterday was sort of the grand opening. As Diane has quite a bit of experience with pottery, she gave us an introductory lesson for learning several simple methods for starting out a piece.

Entrance to the studio

Waiting to be painted

Mixing clay with water and vinegar

Squish Squish

Can you believe this masterpiece was once just a ball with a little hole in the middle?

The Colombian Method (she thinks)

The Diane Saint-Loup "Patchwork" Method

Eli constructing a clay fortress

Mimi's Pizza Method (we didn't learn any of the legit names for these techniques)

Laurie, Mimi's 13-year-old daughter

Mid-Morning Coffee Break

Marie (Mimi)

Jean-Luc, Mimi's Husband

Back to work

It was tidy

Lunch - camping style

Ready for the oven

What we learned

Sophie and the rest of the family are back from their trip to the states and all is essentially back to normal here. Of Philly, DC and NYC, they all seemed to prefer DC. I haven't been to Philadelphia or New York, but I have a feeling I'd agree with them. They did lots of shopping at stores that I can't afford because "everything is cheaper in the US." For them, probably!

They caught the tail end of the snow storms in the Northeast, so that put a little damper on their last days but all in all they had a blast. Now they're looking forward to their next trip - Christmas in Russia. Wild!

This week we have a three day weekend so I might go explore a different area in France. Normandy? Brittany? Suggestions?