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!