Thursday, April 7, 2011

ces soirees la.

Time : 10:08 pm


Location : my room

Weather: HOT HOT HOT (partially to blame for my lack of entries)

GIANT HANGING SHRIMP
we were so happy when the waiter
showed us how to eat them!!
30th March


I had a fairly eventful week and half. Let me do a quick recap of the highlights for you:

I went out for a delicious sushi supper last Wednesday to celebrate one of my friend’s PACs. I am not 100% sure of how the PACs work, or what it stands for, but what I have come to understand, is it is kind of like getting married. As in you are in an official relationship with someone and get the same kind of legal benefits (like insurance). The odd thing is, is that it is only valid in France. Say you are PACs-ed with someone in France, when you go home, say to the States, it will not be valid there. You also do not have to go through a divorce if the relationship ends.

a weird fog/smoke came down all around
Luynes one saturdat morning...
2 april



Jara & I before we destroyed a Banana
Split at the beach
2 avril
Thursday I skipped out on going to class because I had an appointment in Marseille so that I could finally get all my immigration papers in order. Yes, five months later, it still is not all taken care of. After spending nearly two hours in the office, waiting and having my health check up, they tell me that my proof of lodgement is not valid enough. Meaning I have to come back as soon as I can with the correct documentation. I was so unimpressed. It felt like a total waste of time. The French administration is slow as is it, I don’t need them going all specific on me when they don’t even give me the details to begin with.

Getting our tans on!!
2 april


All week the weather had been getting better and better, so a trip to the beach was in order on Saturday. Getting there took a while. We drove and hour and a half, only to find that our original destination was miserable, so we turned around and went half way back to a wonderful beach where the sun was HOT. We had lunch nearly on the beach then lazed out in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. It was so hot that we even made it into the water, granted we were nearly the only ones. Two great things about the day: 1. We went to the beach in APRIL!! And 2. I swam in the Mediterranean!! In the evening some of us got together and had supper at Jara’s house. I’ve been getting a good start to my tan.
No idea where we were...

BUT IT WAS GORGEOUS!!
Totally swam in those waters =)
2 avril
Ok, so on a not so pleasant note, but something that well, I am finding to be a very defining trait of France: dog poop. Like I said, it is not pleasant, but I have to share because it bothers me everyday. Nobody picks it up!! It just lays out all day. Why? I thought that they were just finicky, but there is another reason. They clean the streets every single night. So why would people bother to do a dirty job when someone else is going to do it for them later? I’m very glad I shared this. Phew.

Supper at Jara's!
Evelin, Jara, Johanna & Myself
2 avril
some yellow flowers that are
everywhere here!!


This is the last week of classes for our course, so Oona, Anna and I went out for lunch. I had proposed that we find some place where we can eat frog legs or escargot, but after all my asking around and online searching, I came up empty handed. We settled for some Chinese restaurant downtown. As we are flipping through the menu, I come across none other than Cuisses de Grenouille (frog thighs). You’ll never guess what I ordered. Hehe! Everyone says it tastes like chicken and honestly, it does. The weird part is their shape. See, chicken wings do not really look like legs, they’re just chunks of meat. Frog legs actually look like mini human legs. It is almost unnerving. Tastes like chicken but looks like a human. Too bad they’re really delicious. Anna ordered something with shark in it, but I think they cooked the shark too long because it was really soft, almost mushy.

someone told me that Marseille looks
liek Barcelona..
What do you think?
4 avril
Marseille
4 avril


Ok, yes Marseille does kind of look like
Barcelona.. only with Cable Cars.. or Trollys
4 avril
Today being the second last class, we planned on having a picnic. Last minute change of plans had us not picnicking in the park, but lounging in the sun on Lisa’s rooftop terrace. There were chocolate chip cookies, strawberries and raspberries with ice cream, a Zebra cake, all kinds of tarts and my Nanaimo bars. Wanted to bring a Saskatchewanian dessert, but I lacked Saskatoon Berries, and I didn’t feel like Bannock would be a huge hit (I think the only time that I really like it is when I am camping and really, really hungry), so I went with something I knew would end up well. I did have to make a substitute for the graham wafer crumbs, but it did work out.

Steps up to the Marseille station
4 avril

crooked shot of the dirty steps
Marseille
4 avril


I definitely got a lot of sun today on that terrace. Warmed me right up to my bones, and made me really tired for the later part of the day. I’m enjoying my nicely tanned wrists.

a main street of Marseille
4 avril
Snowball trees

Enjoy the photos, that was my last week and a half in a nut shell.

10:50 pm
Snowball
4avril
a poisonous flower that smells areally good

Cuisses de Grenouille.
Check out those thighs.
And the calf muscle!!
and of course them flippy floppys!!!
SO DELICIOUS
5 avril
ok i honestly tried to get the photos up tonight, but my computer is doing that thing when it starts getting really hot, blowing air out of the side and working reallllly slowly. so how about i just put them up tomorrow morning while i bath in this rediculously hot sun here? mk cool. Oh, PS. it was atleast 25C today. I was so hot I almost melted on the bus ride home. !!
about to devour the frog legs!!
dunno whats up with my face
or my arm for that matter...
oh well
FSI 3
Me, Oona, Anna, Lisa & Christine (teacher)
Missing: Franceska
Other folks who were in the class:
Ann-Marie & Shista
7 avril