Beauty and the Best

I am full of things to talk about today so either a) be prepared to have story-time with Maggie the extended version, or b) have a can’t-sit-still-I’m-going-to-scream-with-anticipation-because-there’s-a-SECOND-blog-coming moment. But I will let it remain a mystery for the both of us.

At this point in time I am settling in contentedly to the Côte d’Azur way of life. It’s easy, inexplicably beautiful, so much so that even when I have my camera 24/7 that it has become another appendage I can’t capture the ambiance, and above all, I have a wonderful host family. Each weekend I have had the great fortune to not only have time to travel around my district but also time to relax. My host mom and dad, whether they know it or not, have put together the perfect atmosphere for me to keep my cool, not get overly homesick, and enjoy the French culture.

The other American in Puget named Emily, and I got to go on a bus by ourselves to go to St. Raphäel last Saturday. It was stressful to figure out when, where, how, etc., but we were scooted onto the bus and off we went. We made a day of it, shopping around, mostly at the pastry shops, and had lunch. I had a great time with Emily especially getting to know her and speaking English together. We ate at a nice restaurant, had gelato, and bought little cakes as we strolled about every which way in St. Raph.

My first of two lunches of oysters in two days. Yummy!

My day just got better after returning home. I was invited to a birthday party/celebration with my host parents and their friends. There were about twenty adults (plus me) and the people I was fortunate enough to meet were so nice. I met a retired English teacher and her husband who have invited me over to their house in a few weeks and she translated jokes and a slideshow for me. She was so helpful and a sweetheart. The atmosphere of the party was not like you all probably think – it wasn’t all sophisticated and tight-collared; in fact, it was whimsical, playful, and downright hilarious. They all know each other well and had a great time making jokes and poking fun. Everything from the slideshow to the dinner to the gift wasn’t rushed and was therefore a perfect, relaxed party.

On Sunday the three of us left in the morning to visit Papi (grandpa), Simone’s dad and my French host grandpa. On our way to the mountainous village of Bargemon (I am not 100% sure but I will stick with that for now), we stopped at a boulangerie and patisserie where Simone bought some baguettes and a tarte aux fraises (strawberry cake) to bring to Papi’s. I’ve come to realize that I shouldn’t be surprised when Simone runs into people she knows like she did in the boulangerie and patisserie because she explained that the area that we live in is small. After stopping to buy steaks and potatoes we were off on our winding path in the mountains. I could have cried. Don’t tell my parents, but at some point in my life I will live there among the fresh air, winding roads, and houses tucked so carefully in the mountainside. There’s a part of me that feels like that’s where I’m meant to be.

Talking with Papi about everything from A to Z, asking questions about France on the map he gave me (which is soon to be on my bedroom wall so I can map out my adventures), and trying raw oysters made for a few hours during lunch. Yes I mean the ones that you tilt back your head and swallow – I was pumped to try them. We poured out most of the salt water and replaced it with lemon juice for a little bite and you rest the shell on your lips and basically pray that it’s dead. Joking! My host dad poked fun at my and said that in later it would wriggle in my stomach but I reassured him that the first one I ate was definitely dead because I bit down a few times J. I like oysters!!!! Not only are they yummy but fun to eat.

The beauty of the French way of eating is that they are tethered to the seasons. If a fruit is not in season, like strawberries were last week, they won't eat them. That is the secret of French cuisine - that and they stay away from sugar and processed food.

We left Papi’s early afternoon and I happily carried three gifts from Papi including a map of France, a napkin with a French recipe, and Lindt chocolate, as well as three bisous from Papi on my cheeks…

Our next destination was a mountain in the middle of a military base. We climbed to the top to find the view breathtaking. 4D photos need to be invented because the sunlight, breeze, the movement of the clouds and their shadows tagging behind across the forests was gorgeous.  On our way down the mountain we heard a rumbling around the corner that we found to be an army tank! It was bizarre, so of course I laughed and took a picture.  Mom, I found our convoy again.

I was delighted and surprised to find that my host parents were going to bring me to a little village with a castle after our hike. The village is called Bargème and is the highest village in the Var department (it’s a “county” of sorts). There aren’t many castles close by, this being an exception, and it didn’t disappoint even though it was devastated by the War of Religions in the second half of the XV century. My camera was my constant companion as I tried to capture my feelings of complete tranquility and sheer joy that I was in the village of my dreams. I pretended I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast the entire time, just in case you were wondering. There was even a sign for “Gaston’s House” and I had to laugh at how much I was freaking out inside. I kept saying <<c’est la dernière photo>> “this is the last photo” but when I was finally ready to leave I was more than content.

Gaston's house which turned out to be a beautiful art gallery. Fine by me!

The house on the left is for sale - my host parents and I decided that when I am done with my exchange year that I will live there (shhhh! don't tell my parents!)

The castle!!!

Even though I was really car sick after our long winding way back home, I got to talk to my mom and sister on Skype for the second time and felt much better. I am so lucky to have a supportive, if yet elusive, family. They have helped me to be an outlet to speak English (I am slowly forgetting random words and spellings like “surfer” in English) and check in, but we haven’t been talking constantly which has helped me to have minimal homesickness. However, that’s not to say that last week wasn’t hard. I woke up several times with tears in my eyes just from dreaming about my home in the USA and all the friends and family that have supported me for all these years. One particularly difficult morning I awoke after thinking I got to hug my friend, Kiana, only to find myself six thousand miles away from her. It was a dream inside a dream because I went and told my parents I missed Kiana to which they replied, “Well, what about us? Don’t you miss us, too?” I was confused because to me, they were standing right there and I said, “Well, yeah, but only a little.” When I finally woke up in Puget I realized I had neither Kiana nor my parents and sister. Luckily my host dad and I ate breakfast together and I now have many friends to talk to at school so I wasn’t sad for long. Just to clarify, I completely love it here, but I’ve come to embrace missing my familiar life back home in Northfield as part of the “growth” piece of Rotary Youth Exchange. Little by little, petit à petit, I am realizing that I actually get to live here in this amazing place and even more than that, that I AM living here right now!

I will update a little on school: I now start school at 9am compared to 8am on Thursdays, and do NOT have a class called TPE which prepares students to take the BAC (baccalaureate) and lasts for two hours on Tuesdays. Last Thursday I had step in gym again where we sounded like an army stomping to the tune of “Starships” by Nicki Minaj - oddly fun.

This will either be extremely amusing or shameful to you as an English speaker. In my English class I had a vocabulary test on how to describe a photo (i.e. in the upper right-hand corner etc.). Guess who got the WORST SCORE IN THE CLASS?! This guy! Haha! Here’s my cover story – WE DON’T ALWAYS USE PREPOSITIONS! So when she said to translate the French of “In the bottom left-hand corner” I said “bottom left corner” and so on. I received a 4/9 and the next lowest score was a 6. Awwww yeah. In a way I’m glad that happened so that my friends could see that I can laugh at myself and I’m not going to be a robot in school, even in the subject I should be acing. Moral of the story, if you look stupid learning a new language and laugh it off, you make friends. Great moral, right?

My English class is also learning about super heroes like Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman (speederman as they say), the Hulk, and Thor, and how to describe characters. We watched the trailer for The Avengers and filled in the blanks of the commentary on a sheet of paper. One of the blanks was a swear word and I seriously couldn’t contain myself. My partner, Léa, was like “What’s wrong with you?” and through tears I explained that the professor was teaching us a <<gros mot>> and that it was difficult to explain how this could be funny to anyone but me. Good times.

Icing on the cake aka Madge Update:

After my “homesick day” I got to go on a walk with my host dad for an hour. It cleared my head and I got to see more of the beautiful outskirts of Puget. On our way back I saw Madge barreling down the road from a ways away on account of her Tweety Bird stuffed animal pinned to the windshield. When she passed us a second time after her route she totally did a double take and recognized me! Madge, you have no idea how cool you are.

Seeing as I have taken up a good chunk of your time that you could have otherwise spent doing homework, housework, work, and everything in between, I will bid you goodnight from Puget-sur-Argens, France. My next blog post will be about my weekend in Montpellier with my host complete host family – including the lovely Diatou currently residing in Northfield and who is, as I am typing, going on a kayak (or canoe) ride with my family. That makes me so happy to say that!!!

Bisous and hugs (they don’t hug here so cyber-hugs are much appreciated),

Maggie