So East it's Ouest

Yesterday I started my 5 day trip to Bordeaux on the south west side of France.  It was a seven hour trip along the highway by Montpellier, Carcassonne, Toulouse, the canal de midi, then we entered les midi-Pyrenees, we went past Bergerac ( as in Cyrano de Bergerac), Landes de Gascogne -which is a national park with tall pine trees that people build tree fort cabins in {and yes gascon like d'artagnan from the three muskateers},we drove by Bordeaux and settled at her relatives' house in Hourtin by the ocean.  It's supposed to rain the next few days.   We are north of Bordeaux in le Médoc, which is known for several things:  cassoulet, huitres, foie gras, violettes, canard, wine, cannellé (I'll try to take photos and post them later).  The area has pine trees, sand dunes rain and a nice accen, it's sing songy and southern but different from provence (kind of like Minnesota).  The family is really nice, two girls 14,15 and Thomas 8.  This morning I woke up to a one dir

One of the things I first found interesting about this area is the vast spectrum of plantlife.  Cactus-birch tree, wild thyme-raspberry bushes, irises-poppies, asparagus-pomegranate trees, pine trees beside palm trees, bamboo next to olive trees and wild leeks in the lavender fields.  It doesn't make sense but it works.  In my mind using the only references I knew I would say, oh it must be kind of like Tennessee or it must be like California but in the end this area is so diverse it's not like any of those places.  I have a new found respect for French gardening, the vineyards, orchards, fields of every sort of edible; they are so well organized, require so much work and are kept nearly weed free.  Some interesting things I've discovered lately: A town nearby grows the kiwis and lettuce for France (Chateaurenard) Everyone buys leeks when they go to the market or store, even a macho guy will have his 2 six packs of beer and one leek in the checkout lane Lavander tea is the

Parisien: Taf-travaille à faire ( work to do )  Normand: Peignard-laid back, easy  Pinard-cheap wine Sales mômes-little brats Provençal: Fada-crazy Moche-ugly  Dingue-it means crazy awesome Enorme- literally means enormous, it means awesome Soucis-worry or worries (pas de soucis=no worries) Mec/gars-guy Truc/machin-thing, thingymabob  In English we say Yada Yada Yada or blah blah blah in French they say  ne na ni, ni na new To call cats over in English we say 'here kitty kitty kitty' in French they say 'minou minou minou' In English -nana- means grandma in French it means 'chick' as in a pretty girl Some commonly used sentences: Qu'est-ce que c'est ce truc là!  (what's this?!) Le cinema! Qu'est-ce que c'est cet histoire...! (oh the drama, what's going on...!) Ça me conviens (I like this, that will work) Nous dirigeons vers les remparts (we're walking toward the walls) Est-ce que ça te plait? (did you like that?) C'est bien (genera

Since last week I've been spending a lot of time in Avignon and in some other towns.  It's neat because lately I've been able to get around in the city, now i  know the feel of the different neighborhoods and the major streets that go through them.  My friends have been laughing because I'm the one who remembers how to get to Tarascon or where the Decathlon is on the south side of town or which exit to take to get to Le Pontet.  I still get lost but I'm like a bad penny I just keep coming back again.   I'm feeling more comfortable in Avignon.  I got to see a Frenchwoman in town pour a bottle of water on a woman and her dog from her window because the dog was peeing on her wall.  That was an animated discussion.  Which heads up, Avignon is not the cleanest city.  Dogs are allowed to relieve themselves freely on the streets, and there are lots of dogs in Avignon.   As for my back, it's feeling a lot better and I fixed my bike up only to get a flat tire the nex

Yesterday I got the chance to hitch a ride from a friend who was traveling to a city by the sea.  I actually didn't know it was by the coast, she had mentioned that she was going an hour away to pick up some plants, so pants and long sleeve shirt it was!  So we got into the car for the drive.  We took the A9 and passsed Montpelier and Beziers until we got to the small bay town called Bouzigues right across the bay from Sète, the weather reminded me of Florida.  They are known for their 'huitres et moules' (oysters and mussels).  Bouzigues is a super quiet town with sail boats and a great view of this beautiful dark blue bay where they harvest their oysters and mussels.  The whole town smelled like oysters, it was sunny and warm with a nice breeze, the waves were lapping up on the beach and I was loving it.   We found a boat landing and we ran over and put our feet in the briny water.  I tried to go a tad deeper only to slip and almost fall on my face on the slimy moss that

This will be short and sweet.  I've been able to bike to a few towns to hang out with friends or help out, or see movies and the like then coming home tired but happy to have bicycled my way there.  Well the other day I was on my way to Avignon to meet up with a tour guide friend with whom I was going to tour le palais des papes and the pont d'avignon when my chain popped off and got jammed between my freewheel and dropout right when I started to climb a rather large hill.   Curses I thought, I'm already running a tad late; I reached over with my gloved hand and tried to yank the chain free, when *pop* something ripped in my back the pain of which caused me to double over like a slinky.  Nursing my back with one now greasy and bleeding hand (don't remember how I sliced that open as well) I pitifully tried to pull my chain out from the frame.  I'm sitting on the ground beside my bike at this point, cursing myself because how could I let a stupid chain beat me up l

The most exciting part about speaking a new language is when you get to hear it used casually on the street.  This has been the most educational part of my stay.  Things aren't called what the books taught me to call them or there are some 'faux amis' (the same word in both languages with different meanings) that I wasn't aware of, or even just mannerisms, commonly used mild expletives, phrases and slang.  For instance in every French book they will tell you that window is 'fênetre'; when used here the French understood what I meant but it was like the equivalent of saying 'may I take a ride in your horse-less carriage?'.  Okay maybe it wasn't that wierd but nowadays 'fênetre' means the whole window including the frame around it, so if you want to say window in everyday terms you use the word 'vitre' or sometimes even 'carreau'.  A 'faux amis' I was not aware of was ravioli, which can also mean dumpling; you learn a lo