Hector (Ehk-dohr)

Meet Hector:

He's a funny little guy...


His likes: Michael Jackson, candy, and sneaking up behind me to scare me (sometimes not a great combo!)

I have a lot of fun with him though, and it's nice to be able to practice French with a less intimidating audience. He loves American action movies (French dubbing is the best!) and of course, being a 10 year old boy, games of any kind. I brought a deck of cards from New Orleans and we've been playing different card games for about an hour each night before he goes to sleep.

Every day I walk him to school: Saint Charles Camas

His schedule is different every day, so sometimes he comes home for a two hour lunch, sometimes he starts at 8 or 9 or 11, and even if he's supposed to finish at a certain time, well, the French aren't much for punctuality.

The general routine has been that he comes home from school, has an hour to do whatever and then I help him with his homework. I then start making a huge mess in the kitchen and we (the three kids and I) eat around 7. Their dad goes to work at 7:30 and comes home anywhere from 7 to 9 - everyday! So I don't see too much of him, and Sophie is of course over in Cassis during the week for the hostel, so it's just me and kids during the week.

Most of the exploring I've done has been within a 1 mile radius of their apartment, as Hector's crazy schedule doesn't allow me many consecutive hours to myself. I'm hoping that'll change when several of his teachers decide they're sick of striking.

L'eglise Saint-Vincent De Paul, around the corner from their apartment -

My bedroom in Marseille -


I caught a cold, so unfortunately I don't think I'll be doing too much exploring today, either..

Thankfully I have a nice selection of dubbed American action movies to choose from!

La Vie à Cassis

Cooking Expo!

In Sophie's funny little car

Outdoor Market

à la plage

Typical Alley

Port

Walkway from the hostel to Sophie's apartment

Hostel Entrance

Infinity Pool!

I don't know how to even begin this posting in a way that gives this place proper justice. I'm finally feeling adjusted after some intense jetlag and ready to start fully enjoying my new surroundings.

So I got off the train in Marseille at about 10 pm Tuesday and Sophie and her husband Jean-Philippe picked me up there. We drove to their apartment where I met their three kids - Margot (16) Jeanne (14) and Hector (10). The entire family is beautiful and they were very warm and welcoming. Sophie whipped up a little meal for me and I gave them gifts from Oregon and New Orleans while we got to know one another. I was super tired/ disoriented so I was excited to have a comprehensible conversation with them the next day.

The whole household was up at 7 (yaay!) and I packed up my things for several nights in Cassis before Sophie and I loaded up the car to drop off Hector at School and head for the hostel!

This hostel...........First of all, just look at her page for it on http://www.hostelworld.com/ and type in Cassis hostel. I would have just posted the link but this keyboard is giving me a headache and I can not seem to copy and paste the address here!

Anyway, I am still getting a feel for my responsibilities here, which at the moment don't appear to be much. I think that once I get into more of a regular routine, she wants me to do the grocery shopping/cooking of lunch and dinner when I am here in Cassis, and take Hector to and from school/ prepare dinner for the 3 kids when I am in Marseille. Sophie has my dream life, it's unreal. In addition to their apartment in Marseille and the hostel in Cassis, she has an apartment 2 mins. away from the hostel that she completely gutted and remodeled into a wonderfully colorful and modern home away from home. This is where I am staying whenever I will be working in Cassis.

As of now there are just three of us working at the hostel: Sophie, myself and Rodrigo from Sao Paulo. Rodrigo speaks no French but can speak English pretty well. He has been here for a couple of months so he's been helpful with showing me the ropes.

Yesterday was pretty tame - Sophie just handed me a map of the town and told me to go explore and come back whenever. So explore I did and I now feel like I know my way around this tiny tiny town! I had lunch at the quay (prosciutto, tomato and mozz panini), walked along the main beach here, and headed back to the hostel to mingle with the guests.

I ended up chatting primarily with these two Canadian girls (imagine that- I managed to find the only two native English speakers here..). The three of us clicked and we ended up going to dinner together in town.

Today was the first day I felt adjusted enough that I could really take everything in. I woke up early (not on purpose) and had a leisurely petit déjeuner with Sophie. Around 10, Rodrigo and I drove Sophie's weird little golf cart type car to the outdoor market to buy supplies for meals for the next week - meats, herbs, cheeses, fruits, veggies...the works. Both Rodrigo and I love to cook so it was fun planning out meals and exploring the market to find all the items we needed.

Moving on! Hours later when Rodrigo and I finally returned from what turned into grocery shopping at several different markets, we returned to the hostel to prepare lunch together for Sophie and ourselves. After lunch, I met the Canadians (April and Delia) at a cooking expo that was going on in town. I arrived just in time for the LOBSTER samples!! After this we went for gelato and then took a break from our stressful lives by the pool at the hostel.

Tomorrow the rest of Sophie's family is meeting us here in Cassis, and I will cook my first meal for them! Wish me luck!

Je suis arrivée

I just arrived in paradise ... after I recover from the journey TO paradise I will get some photos up!

bises de Cassis

Southern Comforts

Rally's Drive-Thru

Street Name on Sidewalk - For Cousin Alex!

Back at Kajun's

Audrey's friend Michael, giving a shout-out to the winning team - Go Saints!

Beaucoup de Karaoke

Roo - loves to play with plastic bags only after we've gone to bed

Café du Monde

Encore

Day 3

Daiquiris in the French Quarter

Canal Street

A Streetcar Named Canal

Fried Green Tomatoes!

Aud at The Ruby Slipper

Crax under my feet

Bus

Friendly Faces: Annie from Wisconsin, Laura from Chicago, Adrienne from PA, Heather from Missouri

Casey from LA, Issy from London, Skye (went to Reed with Audrey)

Fair Grinds Coffee House

The Ten Mile Day

Happiest Girl

The neighborhood horse, grazing next to a boat-turned-planter

Katrina Damage

Mausoleum

Audrey's students playing football, not baseball!

City Park

More Iron!

I really love the houses here ...

Intro to N'ahlins

Catfish Po' Boy Sammy

A house in Audrey's neighborhood

One of many beautiful buildings with ornate iron work

St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter

Bead Bicycle

First 24 hours in NOLA

Disclaimer: I'm having issues organizing the photos on here, so that's why everything is arranged in such a wacky manner.

Mon dieu!

I knew I would love this city! It's so incredibly beautiful here I can't believe it. It definitely feels like I'm no longer in the US. This is a great way to transition to France, I suppose.

So, I arrived here yesterday around 5 pm CST. After deplaning, I swam through the hot 'n sticky air to baggage claim and hopped in a cab to meet Audrey ( I had missed the last bus into the city).

After getting situated at Audrey's, she took me on a mini walking tour of her neighborhood and the French quarter. We had scrumptious beignets and cafés au lait here ^.

After dessert, we made dinner of course! Audrey prepared a delectable meal of Cornish game hens with rice and veggies. We shared some vino with her roomies and then headed off to her favorite karaoke bar: Kajun's. I hadn't drunk quite enough to sing when we got there, but Audrey sang a couple of songs and I eventually got up and sang my latest fave - "One Fine Day" by the Chiffons. We made some friends, went dancing and made it home at...4 a.m. (Audrey didn't have a great day at work today).

While Aud was off doin' the 9 to 5, I did some exploring on foot with her roommate 'Laurence from Massachusetts', as I've aptly named him. Needless to say, I have a new favorite accent now!

After sleeping in until noon, Laurence from Massachusetts and I went for some good eats at Cake, a cute little bakery and cafe not too far from where they live. I had a grilled Ahi tuna sammy and he had a grilled veggie sammy (see above!)

Tomorrow I'm going with Audrey to watch her 5th graders play baseball (adorable) and of course take more pictures of iron fencing..