A Dog, Some Food, and People

Diane making Pâté chinois (Shepard's Pie)

Brazilian Tiramisu

Eli, the supermodel Belgian

Slightly different weather lately

Gaby & Rodrigo

Sporting the off-the-shoulder look

On a walk by the port

Le Linge

Flan à Rodrigo

A Quebecois Concoction

Wrestling with the Sheets

Doing my favorite thing in my favorite place

The one and only: Diane Saint-Loup

Les Trois Capricornes!

Diane de Montréal and Eli uit Antwerp are my new teammates at the hostel in Cassis. The three of us, along with Rodrigo, are maintaining the hostel while Sophie, Jean-Philippe and the kids are in the US. I'm having a blast with them! Menial tasks have never been so much fun as with these two ;) By the way, is it normal to iron bed sheets? Eli and I spent possibly half an hour together trying to iron ONE fitted sheet.

Recent Developments

I don't have any exciting photos to share - but I thought I'd share some of what's been cookin' in Marseille...

First of all, African dance has been absolutely amazing and a damn good workout (perfect way to combat all those pastries...). I met a really interesting and fun Romanian girl there, Stephanie (shtefahneeya), who I've been hanging out with the last couple of weeks.

That French course that I started has been more a social opportunity than anything else. It's a really slow pace and it baffles me that three hours could be consumed with only three sounds, but it can! Silver lining: New friend from Germany named Katja. (yeah yeah, I only make friends with other foreigners..I get it).

Saturday morning Sophie and the rest of the clan fly to the US for their ten-day vacation to Philadelphia, New York, and DC. I'm holding down the fort at the hostel with Rodrigo during this time, so that'll be pretty fun I think.

I'm half asleep after my dance class so I'll attempt a coherent update at a later date.

Au revoir, Qaddafi.

In Other News...

*I'm starting French classes next week (just two afternoons a week, nothing too demanding)

*I'm also starting African dance classes next week (yesssssssssssss!) Some of you might know I took a liking to this while at UO, so I'm excited to get back into it!

*I'm on the homestretch of grad school applications, so that'll be a huge relief when I finish.

*I made French onion soup for the kids this week and none of them had ever had it before... lol

beezou

Hector's Birthday Bash!

Today was Hector's 11th birthday! We celebrated in Cassis at the hostel with the fam, including the grand'rents, along with Rodrigo and some neighbor friends. Hector's normally a pretty happy kid - but today especially he was just a little bundle of sheer French joy! I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

The man of the hour in his throne

Jeanne with her grandmother, Marie, helping prepare some hors d'ouevres before the feast

Pretty Champagne Flutes

Cheers! (The kids had cider :) )

The guitar-shaped eclair birthday cake that Marie (Hector's grandmother) made - Apparently she produces something equally impressive for every birthday!

"Joyeux Anniversaire a toi! ...."

I definitely jumped five feet when they lit that firecracker of a candle there..

If that's not a birthday cake, I don't know what is

Deep breath!

Almost ready

Go Buddy Go!

Trick candles, of course

Clockwise from left: The back of Rodrigo's head, Jeanette (the 14 year old), Marie and her husband Jean-Marie (how French is that?!), Sophie, Jean-Philippe, and Margot (the 16 year old)

The first present (what could it be?!!)

LEGOS!!!!!

A few weeks ago Hector was in a week-long "circus camp", and fell in love with it so his parents got him a little starter kit. Who knows, future Cirque du Soleil performer?

Everyone took a whack at it - though few were successful

Maybe Margot was..

MORE LEGOS!!

In Marseille I found this really great bookstore/papeterie so a few days ago I went there and found Hector's presents. First, a book that one of the employees recommended for him about a mischievous boy who has all kinds of escapades on his birthday - and second, a little origami kit with funny/bizarre designs (ie a shirt and bowtie and sunglasses). That's right, none of that boring flower stuff.

All of us left the table ten pounds heavier (except Hector, who was much too excited about presents to bother to eat), but no matter - the afternoon was a definite success.

Kayaking on the Mediterranean!

So I survived my first official week on the job in Marseille! As will be the regular routine, we went to spend the weekend in Cassis with Sophie. Unfortunately, there weren't any Canadians for me to hang out with this time, but I did meet an awesome French woman, Anne, from up North (Angers).

I roped her into going kayaking with me yesterday afternoon, as we're quickly approaching the last opportunities to take advantage of the good weather. I felt pretty overdressed as we passed by numerous beaches where, much like that club in New Orleans, there's not really a dress code!

Anne was great and it was fun to hear all of her opinions about the attitudes of the French, French politics, Sarkozy's playboy history, her travels in Africa, marriage, and, most importantly, French cooking.

She didn't speak any English so this week has felt like my first of complete immersion! Last weekend I clung to the English speakers at the hostel - but now I'm feeling more and more confident about my ability to carry on a conversation.

Anywho, picture time!

The view from Sophie and Jean-Philippe's apartment in Cassis

On the open sea! (we're headed to exactly where those ships are)

Little cove where we stopped to take a dip

It was pretty busy out there!

Photo Op!

How's that for a myspace angle?

Cute Anne

Look at that water!!

Mini Cruise that came from Marseille

Fin

P.S. i love how your entire body is covered in salt when you get out of the water!