Every day that it's hot like this I stagger home at about 7 and collapse on my bed for half an hour before dinner. Or sneak some baguette and jam to try and boost my energy and stay awake. The heat just kills you lol!
I'm still having an excellent time though. Since the last post I have written another French skit with Binnert (Crown Prince of Holland, or so is the running joke) that will be posted at a later date; visited a flea market for the first time in my life and bartered for things; chased the neighborhood cats around for pictures because one of them is a beautiful Siamese; been back to the beach on the bus instead of bicycle and discovered macarons!
Yes, yes I've been busy. We'll start with the Flea Market. One of the things I based my trip and my locations in France around was flea markets. If only for the novelty. I'm really quite convinced that you get to know a country by what they throw out and what they recycle. In the case of France? Everything is recycled. Seriously, EVERYTHING. At this Flea Market, hosted in a large, empty, mostly tree-less parking lot at the edge of town I found everything from English China tea sets to cheap new computer parts. Good times, but very hot. The next one I visit is the market in Marseille, I'm plenty curious being as it's supposed to have a very different array of goods from the one here in Montpellier. More antiques, traditionally.
The cats were a minor distraction, but stay posted for the blog on French advertisements. Oh man, they have the strangest adds here. I don't want to say too much and give anything away, but McDonalds is pretty posh here and I'm enjoying their most recent slew of adds. Also... the bowling adds. Yes... not exactly what your average Canadian bowling company would use.
Also, turns out you can get to the beach by bus, in 15 minutes! This is a wonderful discovery that has meant many more trips to the beach. The last one was Monday when the new South African fellow (Wes) spent the afternoon trying to teach Binnert and I to catch a wave and body surf. Wes seems to think he can't get too far because the waves are small here and "he's fat" (lies), whereas I'm pretty sure I do a terrible job of catching them because I'm small and the waves just push me up over them. Good times.
But oh... let me tell you about Macarons! So as previously mentioned my host-mom is a professional cook. Turns out that means she is also pretty good with pastries. Tonight after dinner she was pondering what to feed me for dessert, being as I couldn't have what the rest of the family was having (some sort of very dairy-heavy tart/pudding... thing... very French). She had some little 'macarons' in the fridge, so I was served a little plate with three tiny, light, round sandwich-things on them; pink, brown and yellow. They are little clouds of sugar and egg-white and amazing! Crispy on the outside and soft, pate fillings in the center! Catherine kept laughing. "You are so English!" She said, "Have you really never had a macaron?" No, no I hadn't. I swear I will rectify that though, I intend to eat as many macarons as my future permits, and enjoy them loudly every time.
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