Il tombe les cordes.

Time : 10:07 pm

Weather : Rainy. Very very rainy.

Location : switching between bedroom and living room and kitchen. Don’t know why.

Today was kind of glum.

Not overly, but just a little.

I rose feeling great and energetic. I went for a lovely half an hour run. I found a skate park and a weird jungle gym. I would have taken a photo of it but I was already loaded down with my mittens in hand. It was a little rainy, but not enough to send me back inside. Refreshing would be a word of choice.

Back inside I refreshed some more with a shower and some lovely toast and Nutella. You gotta love Nutella. I think it tastes better here. Probably more fresh. Haha.

Pierre surprised Lou and I when he randomly showed up then left with his bike. About an hour later he returned with Marie-Anne.

After lunch Lou, Marie-Anne and I headed to the largest shopping area in all of Southern France. I say area because it was a huge jumble of numerous shopping centers, box stores, a circus, a number of eating establishments and some rec centers. Lou needed shoes and clothes, I did not, but what else was I going to do today? Alissa was still really sick and I barely saw her again.

Walking around from store to store I did not see anything I wished to buy. Which was probably for the best. I did buy a chocolate bar though. My first French chocolate bar; Lion Bar. It was ok. Kinda made me think of an Oh! Henry without the peanuts. And I guess the caramel was more of a nougat. Tasty.

Once we left the last mall, we headed off into the torrential rains to get Lou’s friend, Lola, for a sleepover. The rain was incredible. On the highways where people usually drive 130 in the 110 zone, they were going 40. It was ridiculous. And the parking lots were a mess. I really want to experience snow here. I bet it would be all the chaos they say it is. People and their non-Saskatchewan driving skills.

That leads me to note that I haven’t came across any gravel roads. They’re all paved or bare dirt if it is a small road. Which I find kind of interesting seeing there is so much rock around here.

The rest of the evening was relatively calm. I’d say the biggest upsets were when I had to shuffle Lou and Lola upstairs to start bedding down. Then not five minutes later when Lou came back and demanded that I make Lola’s bed (even though they told me not 5 minutes ago that I was not obliged to come upstairs). Needless to say I am really looking forward to 10:30 when I turn out the lights.

If you are wondering what "Il tombe les cordes" means, it is a French expression for it is heavily raining. Kind of like "it is raining cats and dogs". Not at all similar, but meaning the same thing. Thanks to four years of Mme Collard teaching us french expressions, it has finally paid off. Also, "Quand les poules auront les dents", when chickens have teeth, is the same as "when pigs fly". Funny how these things work.

That was my day.

I took no photos. Too wet to photograph.

Good night!

10:22pm

had to ask for directions today..



Marseilles
like downtown Aix



Time : 9:50 pm

Location : my fave chair

Weather : better than Saskatoon’s haha. Around 10 degrees outside

Once we got Lou off to school, Alissa and I headed to Elisabeth’s to set off to Marseilles.



So pretty



It took us roughly half an hour to actually get into Marseilles. Like any large city, the city has started a ways before you actually know it. Coming in the way we did, Marseilles did not look like much. Many decrepit building littered the area, covered in graffiti with broken windows and fallen in roofs. You may be surprised to know that it’s population is a little over 800 000 but once you really look at how densely people live there, it becomes less surprising.

What also took roughly half an hour was finding a parking spot, or a parking that we could access. Finally we found some kind of parkade really close to the Old Port, which was really convenient. We walked in and out of shops that were on and off of one of the main streets in the downtown. It was a lot of fun.

slightly decrepit



When I had visited Paris a year or so ago, there were gypsies. People camped all along the highways and in parks. Pretty much anywhere they could, leaving a huge mess behind them. I thought we had came across another gypsy camp, in downtown Marseilles. I was mistaken.



If you remember anything about French history from history class, you’ll know that France loves to revolt. Now in modern times, they love to strike. I don’t know how long ago, fairly recent I believe, France decided to move their retiring ago up from 63 to 67 to match the rest of Europe. Guess how that went over. Not very well. People went on strike like crazy. Young and old. The electricity went out, internet, buses stopped, trains stopped, even the Social Security aka Police went on strike. Pure chaos. Now, these people were not gypsies. They are people who are either still on strike, or have no home left due to the strike, or were driven to poverty because they went on strike. Any mix match will be an answer. Crazy eh. People choosing street life over retiring 4 years later.



Brioche (center)



I did see some gypsies though. Don’t you worry.

We visited a church so that we could get something touristy going on in our day. The one we chose was on La Canebière and was l’Église de l'évangile. Very pretty inside and still in use. I think they all are actually. That was our last stop. Apart from one last walk along the port.



a lil sunny



After a quick stop at Elisabeth’s I headed home myself. The other two were going to Aix. I had driven to Elisabeth’s before, as well as going home. I thought I knew the way. Apparently not. I drove for 15 minutes or so, well aware that I had no idea where I was going all the while hoping that it was the right direction. In those 15 minutes I turned back and asked for directions at an Esso. Only after failing to open the door myself and let the motorcyclist behind me PUSH it open. I don’t know why I pulled.

I made it home safe and sound. Not the way I usually do, but it was direct none the less.

Looking out into Vieux Port
I just noticed the bird.

I was planning on going for a run to kill the time, but my quads were so sore and walking all this morning probably didn’t help the matter. I walked as briskly as I could around town. About 20 minutes of brisk walking and I was out of leg power and places to go.



I gathered Lou from school and we enjoyed our ritual afternoon snack at the kitchen counter. Then hung out until Alissa got home. Alissa still feeling ill, went to take a nap. She is still napping. I do not think I will be seeing her until tomorrow..





bad shot of how dense the population is.
so many houses, apartments, you name it.

Pierre randomly showed up and then left with his bike. Only to return with Marie-Anne about an hour later, with the bike. Marie-Anne made supper as she likes to do on Fridays and we all (minus Alissa who was sleeping) enjoyed a meal.

Everyone ‘did their thing’ once all was cleaned up and petered off to bed one by one.

Now it is my turn.

Once I get the photos for today up and the ones for yesterday (I was having major technical difficulties).

Good night to all. And to all who are 7 hours behind me, enjoy the rest of your afternoon, evening and night to come!

10:21 pm



La Canabiere



iKaraoke

Time : 8:52 pm Early, I know, but hey, Lou’s in bed!


Location : a comfy chair in the living room

Weather : not bad. Steady 11 degrees all day, maybe dropped a few by now



Today Today Today

What did I do today?


Saskatoon compared to Luynes.
Same zoom, you can barely
spot Luynes


Oh yeah, took Lou to school, as per everyday. She didn’t want the freshly squeezed orange juice that I made for her, so I drank it when I got back.

Alissa and I went on to do our daily ritual of our later breakfast. Today we experimented with toasting brioche in the toaster. Our results : Success!! The sugar in brioche (Oh, this brioche was bought. In a bag. Like wonder bread. ) made it nice and crispy and was absolutely delicious with a little bit of butter.

We hung out until she left for her French course in Aix. I could have gone along and walked around Aix, but I had other plans.

I’ve been feeling a lot better lately. I owe it all to the salt water gargles three times a day. I decided to stretch my legs a little and start my running routine that I’ve wanted to but into action for months but had been too busy working day and night (literally) to have the time or energy.

I started out with a lap of the town. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to say that before. Not satisfied yet, I did an extra lap here and there along the main roads. I don’t know if it is common for people, maybe just girls, to be running around at lunch time because I got a couple of weird looks. I will have to ask Marie-Anne when she gets home. Those of you who would go to yoga classes with me will be happy to know that I did a little bit of yoga along with my post run stretches. It felt so good to finally get moving. I missed it so much!


Luynes to Lakeview


Oh, and in Saskatoon the campaign the city has to get everyone out and exercising is In Motion. I’m sure you’ve seen the gorgeous orange shirts around town. Well, here it is BOUGE! Which literally means MOVE! Its blunt. It must work.

I spent the rest of the afternoon researching where to get a decent yoga class around here. I can tell you right away, it isn’t in Luynes. I found a couple of options in Aix that even offer free first session or two. I will definitely be taking them up on that haha.

While out on my run I noticed that it took me about the same time to run around the town as it does to run around Lakeview. So, Google being my best friend helped me compare the two. First I started off with comparing Saskatoon to Luynes. In order to get all of Saskatoon on the map, you can barely spot Luynes (I made sure they were on the same zoom). Then I went on to compare to Lakeview and sure enough, they’re roughly the same size. I found it kind of funny that my home neighbourhood is the same size as a town.

Later I picked up Lou from school and we came home for a little snack. I’ve eaten all the fruit in the house yet again. I feel bad but I can’t help my healthy habit.

Lou loves to sing and dance and be dramatic. And apparently she likes singing karaoke. If you know me, I do not like karaoke at all, but I am willing to make sacrifices. Especially when the outcome is a content Lou. So karaoke it was, singing and dramatizing in front of my laptop using Youtube videos as our karaoke machine. It was actually kinda fun.



Brioche in a bag.
Like wonderbread.
But tasty when toasted.



Once the evening set in, well, since evening starts around 5pm now, once it was pretty much night, we made some pizza for supper. Did you know that you can buy pizza in a box? And I’m not talking about the frozen pizzas. In the box was a little jar of sauce and a tube, similar to a Pillsbury croissant container, and inside of it was the pizza dough. I unravelled it as Lou directed, and I just knew something was either going to explode or pop or spill all over me from the way she backed away and was looking at me with that smile, but I did it anyways. Sure enough there was a loud pop, I was scared of course, and the pizza dough slowly fell out of the tube. Then Lou actually unrolled it. I’ve never seen anything of the like before. Then we garnished the pizza, karaoke-ed some more then ate.

European pizza is like a cracker to me. A thick cracker. I’m pretty sure the cracker-cheese-ham-pickle combos at home are more hefty than the pizza here. All we put on the pizza was sauce, a teensy bit of cheese, I didn’t even taste it, and some tomatoes. I would not call that pizza. Well actually I would, but you get the point.



After supper we hung out a little bit with Alissa, she got home just in time for supper, then Lou went to bed.

Satisfying? Yes.

Lou has finally warmed up nicely to me, and I do not mind.

That is all I have to report for today.

Well it smells good.....

Time : 11:42 PM


Location : The bed

Weather : it was merely 9 degrees today, but it felt weather. I am maybe adjusting to the humidity?!!



Today being Wednesday Lou did not have school. Good thing too because my alarm was not properly set and will be going off tomorrow instead of today. Thankfully I woke up accordingly to the time.

We (Alissa and I) got Lou off to her gymnastics class then returned home for some late breakfast. Then we packed back up to return to Carrefour to exchange one of the tanks of propane for one that is actually propane and not some other gas. The ones we needed were red and when we went yesterday there was only one red one available. However, the guys working in the autoshop part of Carrefoure, which is right by the propane/gas station, told us that the yellow ones were the same gas and that it would all be ok. Neither of us having bought propane there before believed them. And why not? They were wearing uniforms with Carrefoure, they should know what they were talking about. Apparently they did not. Thankfully Marie-Anne knew right away when she saw it last night and nothing bad happened. There was no problem in exchanging the gases. Then we picked up Lou and headed home.


Not sure how it was possible..


After lunch we mixed up some brioche in the bread machine and left it to do its thing. I played a number of games with Lou all afternoon. Apparently she likes the youtube videos of Tete-a-Claques. If you know what I’m talking about, excellent, if not, its really nothing to sweat about.

Once the brioche was done and out of the bread maker, we had a little snack. I can spot right away what a ‘bad loaf’ looks like when it comes out of the bread maker. Nice and light colored on top, very smooth, and most noticeable of all; the lack of height. I knew this was a bad loaf and something had gone horribly wrong. I knew exactly how to remove the bread from the bread maker and how long to wait before removing the paddle. I saved the day and two other pairs of hands from being burnt by a hot loaf. I also had to cut the dense loaf into slices so we could have an afternoon snack. I did not have the heart to tell Lou that it did not turn out and this is not how brioche is supposed to be. I don’t actually know what brioche is supposed to be. But I really don’t think that anything is supposed to look like what that loaf did. But it was tasty!

After another hour or so of play we decided to start preparing supper. No idea what to cook I google for inspiration. My inspiration : fried rice and some kind of cooked carrots. Simple, easy and for sure a hit. What can go wrong?

Fried rice gone wrong.

A lot can go wrong.

For one, we didn’t have a great selection of vegetables for the rice.

Two, the wrong rice. Somehow instead of the rice being each individual rice, it tuned into a pate or something. WRONG RICE. It was like sticky rice. Just not going to happen.

Three, I couldn’t find 3/5 spices I needed for the carrots so I had to improvise. I think it worked out.. I’m not very good with spices..

Four, Nobody here knows what a tablespoon or a teaspoon is. This can’t actually go wrong. But it really slows down the process. Like A LOT.

Five, Again, the rice. You’ll see a photo.

Finally five, when a recipe for carrots says to reserve ½ cup of the cooking liquid aka the water used to steam it, then add it to the olive and spice mix to garnish it with, DON’T. We ended up with watered down cooked carrots. Might as well not have bothered with the spices at all!

So, nothing turned out. But it was an excellent use of an hour and a half in the kitchen. Three of us in about a little more than a meter square area, stirring and cutting and washing dishes (oh, there were so many dishes!!). And it’s the camaraderie and love that counts.

"Take a picture of me eating so
they can see how disgusting it is!"

Plus we found some mouldy cheese.

Oh what a day.

Bonne nuit!

12:01 AM

Il Reste du Jambon?

Time : 1:03 AM entry for 16th November 2010


Location : my bed

Weather : A little chilly, no wind for once



Today started out well. I got Lou to school in one piece, meaning that my driving is improving. Driving standard is in fact not like riding a bike.

7/7 but not 24/7  :(

Alissa and I stopped by Carrefoure (equivalent to Wal-Mart or Superstore) to get some propane for the house. We ran out last night and were unable to make tea on the stove this morning. Somehow OPTIQUICK-ed water just isn’t the same.. So we got the propane at Carrefour and continued to look inside the shopping center. WE looked through a couple stores, and as always, I took note of what was available. Then we actually went in Carrefour and browsed the movies. For those of you that enjoy the hit TV show Skins, I saw a rare copy of Season 2 episodes 1 through 10 for sale at 20 euros aka 30$ CND. Almost bought it, but decided not to seeing as season 1 was way better.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out around the house and doing odd jobs here and there.

Once Alissa left to go to her course in Aix, I went for a leisurely stroll around the town. My main objective was to check out the local shops for once and mail a letter. We will know who the lucky recipient of the first letter is by two weeks from now. A mailed letter was the only success in my gander. Apparently the lunch hour is much longer than an hour in a small a town and it is customary for shops to remain closed until 3 pm, or maybe 4pm, depending. This walk occurred at 2:30 pm.

Like a couch

A slight bash to my driving confidence occurred when I met Alissa at the school to pick up Lou. As we were walking back to the car, Lou says to Alissa “Can you drive? It is much easier for me that way.” I guess my driving is not good enough for Lou. Oh well. Soon enough she’ll no other choice but to endure. And by the way, just because I stalled once or twice this morning does not mean I am a bad driver. I just lack practice wit h a standard.

Lou was not feeling well today. I think she was just tired, so playing with two nannies was too much. One of us was often told to go on their break from the Post Office while the other was the main attention provider. To alleviate Lou of this stress I took it upon myself to go and prepare a little something to spice up our supper. I took most of the odds and ends of the vegetables into a casserole dish to marinate in balsamic vinegar and olive oil for a little while (even though I’m not too sure if you can marinade vegetables.. ??) then popped them in the oven. Later stated by Lou at supper : “Balsamic kills food. “ I noticed her taking a second helping. Mission complete. Child eats their vegetables.

Once everything was cleaned up and I was going to start packing it up for the night, Alissa asked me if I wanted to go to a movie with her and Elizabeth in Aix. We had talked of it yesterday, but it hadn’t been brought up all day so I thought it had fallen through. Ten minutes later we are rushing off to get Elizabeth and view Il Reste Du Jambon?

Elizabeth and Alissa

Upon entering the cinema, somehow I managed to save myself a couple euros and pay student price for the movie instead of full admission even though I lacked a student card of any kind. Next we were offered an incredible deal on popcorn. Something I had never been asked before when getting popcorn : “Sucree ou Salee?” Which translates to “Sweet or Salty?”. I guess it is common to have both kinds of popcorn. I took sweet just to try it out and my verdict is that it is indeed quite tasty.

The movie was funny, but I fell asleep for the last 20 minutes. I was very tired and the seats, as you will see in a photo were more than your average cinema seats. I felt like I was on a cough. I actually thought they were couches until the end when they turned on the lights.

This has been my day. Tata!

1:25 AM

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You can't beet this.

Time : 1:09 AM


Location : My bed, all snuggied under the covers, be thankful for this entry, I am half asleep.

Weather : It is a little chilly outside, probably only 10 C, with a little wind



Today I finally got to see Lou off to school. That is one more route I have to memorize. There are so many; the grocery store, the school, gymnastics, theatre. Plus any for my own use. Oh, and those four that I noted may not seem like much, but they all go in different directions and curve and twist through similar but very different route.

On the way back home we stopped at a Boulangerie (bakery) and picked up some snacks. I chose a croissant. Just my luck to have to fall out of paper bag as we left the store. 

Seeing as it rained frogs all day, Alissa (I found out I was spelling her name wrong, oops!) and I spent the whole day inside, reading French magazines and bonding over our love for Beatles music. I shared my knowledge of making London Fogs while we compared and contrasted Canada and Germany and she found great amusement in the things that I find “si bizarre” (so weird) here (like non-refrigerated milk).

Even though our plans of returning to Aix were foiled, it was actually a lot of fun.

Eventually we had to go pick up Lou and take her to theatre class. Which is in Aix. And I have no idea how I am going to remember the way. I really hope Lou knows it.

Upon returning home we snacked a little, played some Post Office. At least I think it was Post Office. Lou was very tired and kept changing the flow of whatever it was we were doing and neither Alissa nor myself had any idea what was going on.

I don’t know if you have ever had to peel a beet before, but I really hope you have not. I can now say that I have. Helping prepare supper, I volunteered not knowing what on Earth I was getting into. First of all, the beet was really round and had an odd firmness. It was kind of squishy, but still a little firm. Almost like someone’s semi tense arm. Second of all, I soon discovered that they stain your hands like crazy. Not being a seasoned beet peeler, my hands were covered in beet juice, which I soon started to joke was blood. Which may not have gone over as well as I thought.. MOVING ON. Third, have you ever seen a raw peeled beet? The only thing it made me think of, what when you see those pictures of human muscles on the magic school bus. All the lines and the dark red almost purple color. It really did not help that it had the odd firmness of a human arm. All I can say is it is a really good thing that I found the beet salad to be very tasty.

After a late supper, Alissa and I headed off to Elizabeth’s house to hang out. She is also a German au-pair girl. She was quite interesting. She had spent a year travelling the U.S.A. with her friends, came home for two weeks, then headed off to study French here and work as an au-pair. Which if you think about it, would be a great set up if you could get your courses set up accordingly.

I drove for the first time here on the way to Elizabeth’s. It has been nearly two years since I’ve driven standard. That’s all I feel like saying on the topic. Haha..

Anyways, we watched a movie, while enjoying an extreme mix of franco-english-germanic conversation. It really would have been incredible to hear. Oh, and also, Elizabeth is fluent in German, English, Spanish and French. In that order.

Needless to day, we were there until quite late and did not get home until about 25 minutes ago. Which is why I am going to go to bed right now.

Unfortunately I did not take any photos today . If you have any requests of certain photos so I can spice up this entry a little bit, by all means, leave a comment or throw me an e-mail.

Until tomorrow evening, hopefully not night.

1:39 AM