Farm, theatre and list of fave things!

I'm finally well again and starting to feel like my normal chatty-self hurray!

Celebration cake with Vanessa (I'm now feeling better and she's got somewhere to live!)

This week has felt long due to me being ill, but I did get to go to a French farm at the start of the week, before the jessflu came! I've now learnt how to make my own butter too, pretty cool.

I saw a cow being milked too which was interesting! The whole tour was done in French too - I was pretty proud I understood it all!

Saturday was my only huge plan of the week, that had been planned with the family for a while, so I was glad I felt better! It's called La Nuit des Bibliothèques The Night of the Libraries/Library night! This occasion was about libraries opening their doors and for the public to watch theatre productions, discover new literature and to socialise too.

The family and I watched an improvisation play: for those that don't know, this is where the actors/comedians have no script and have not rehearsed anything in advance. The two comedians began by asking the audience (who were told to bring their favourite books) to pick an extract, which the actors would then continue however they thought best. It was incredible. The man and woman had no hesitation and continued stories from Zola to the Smurfs. The Smurfs sketch was my favourite - they're called les schtroumpfs (sh-tro-mphs) here, how funny! They come from Belgium actually :)

The evening ended with more and more crepes and cider (goodbye strongbow hello real cider!)

After being here over a month now I thought I'd give you all a list of my favourite things about living here! Enjoy :)

1. Freshly baked bread. From decent bakeries or boulangeries in town, these are god's gift to humans. Straight out of the oven, full of flour and they smell as good as they taste. Baguettes are incredible.
2. CAKE. You can't live in France and not try their different gateaux! My favourite are tarts or ones with lots of fruit!
3. TRAINS. Ok so I don't love commuting to work at all, it's tiring dark mornings etc. But I do love the fact that all the trains (so far) are clean, modern and even have huge sofas inside them. The TGV's are the best as they're really quite flashy and modern too. You get what you pay for...(for once: not like the 2 carriages to Birmingham we all know of). In fact, another point is they have double deckers - their buses don't but their trains do! So there's ALWAYS a seat! Even at the busiest of times!
4. My French Family. I can't imagine life without them. I think I'd have been extremely sad, lonely and homesick, so thank goodness I have them for home comforts!
5. English assistants/French friends/colleagues! Also a huge plus to living in France, having plans!! If it wasn't for all these amazing people I'd be so bored! So thank you for the travels, the meals and the fun times so far!
6. CHEESE. And how every time we eat a meal its normal to be asked if you want some...
7. Aperitif. Eg. A drink before your meal. This needs to be enforced more at home! You pick a drink for your stater and for your main meal. Drinks galore.
8. Their amazing libraries. I'm just a big geek, there's nothing different about these and English ones, I just like books!
9. Faire les bises. Kissing someone on both cheeks to say hello, goodbye, good-morning, goodnight, goodbye - adorable.
10. Les boutiques - Not just ordinary shops but your high end special French ones, family owned with expensive clothes or jewellery that I'll never afford but I can dream of.

Despite all this, I've got a huge desire for a Sunday dinner to see my family and to attack Matt with hugs. Guess December isn't too long to wait when we break up from school Wednesday for two weeks of holiday and then there's just November to go. I best keep practising my French before it's over!

JR

xxxx