Blogs from Pau, Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 4

Home Sweet Home!! Hello friends and family! I’m pleased to be able to say that I finally have a place of permanent residence in Pau. I am proud to no longer be an SDF, which is the PC term in French for a bum (personne sans domicile fixee). The answer to everyone’s prayers came in the form of the Canterot family. Their middle daughter, Laurence, is in one of my classes at school. Her parents are dentists, are their house is only a 5-minute walk from College Clermont. The whole family is absolutely amazing. There are four daughters (Sabine, Laurence, Elsa, and Charlene) , a golden retriever named Ruska, an Italian kitten named Bacci, and of course M. and Mme. Canterot. They’ve all been so welcoming and great and I can tell I’m going to love ... read more

So you read about the stereotypical 4 hour long French lunches in every little travelogue that’s flooding the market these days, but let me tell you, you can’t really grasp it until you’ve experienced it. On Saturday night, Laurence called me up and invited me to have lunch at their house the next day. Being the devoted Francophile that I am, I knew this wouldn’t be just some casual sandwich, so I was prepared to be in for the long haul, and I made sure to bring a hostess gift. I think I’ve already made it pretty clear that I would love to kidnap Laurence’s children in order to have 24-hour access to their unmitigated cuteness. The twins are absolutely delightful. They were a little shy around me at first, but once they got used to ... read more

Ok, well maybe its not actually that big. Maybe it just feels that way because I don't know my way around yet. Oh, and for those of you who are interested, the town's name rhymes with "Toe", but you have to say it with your jaw dropped and your mouth really rounded in order to get that obligitory "French" sound. I know the other question you're all dying to ask, besides how you pronounce the name of my new home, is "When the heck is she going to stop updating!" Well, sorry to dissapoint you, but I'm making full use of the free wireless internet at the hotel while I have it, which means tant pis pour vous! (too bad for you). So, having caught you up on my meandering and misadventures in Versailles, I'm getting ... read more

And I've certainly been doing plenty of that! Here are the hilights from my trek all over Versailles and Paris this weekend! Saturday and Sunday, I was mostly on my own in Versailles, because the de la Bigne’s had a family wedding in Normandie. Before they left, I got to see Thomas and Georges, two of my “French brothers”. Thomas is absolutely hilarious. When Chrystel admitted that she was the only member of the family who didn’t like “bandes desinees” (comic strips), Thomas scowled and told me “it’s a real social handicap, you know”. Apparently there’s a French television program with puppets that satirizes just about everything both at home and abroad, and Thomas told me that the United States is represented by a puppet of Sylvester Stallone, quelle horreur! So after everyone left on Saturday, ... read more