Sun, Oct. 8^th

Running this morning, then exploring the market, coffee with Sara, and then off to Richard’s family get together, followed by frisbee at the beach and dinner with my roomie… today couldn’t have been much better. It actually started with a bit of cleaning, which made me feel like I a good roommate, especially after my party last weekend went a little over the top.

After cleaning, I felt the need to go exploring a bit, so I ran down as many new streets as I could in the middle of town, eventually branching out to the north and into the surrounding hills. I was perhaps a wee bit lost, more like in un-known territory, but ended up finding a pretty white-washed little church and having a great 2 hour run. I jumped back inside to grab my wallet and water and then sauntered down to the Forville market, which was clearly the place to be with throngs of people and loud vendors hawking their products. Ten euros later and my fresh produce shopping completed, I returned to our swank apartment for a fresh lettuce, avocado and tomato salad- it was a perfect morning.

I was happy to get a call from Sara (another American from Denver) so I invited her over for coffee chez-moi. It took us a second to figure out Richard’s super nifty café machine, but once we did, the little cups of coffee were so cute we just had to have two. Our oh-so French expresso was complemented perfectly by some good-‘ol-fashioned Skippy Peanut Butter (which I didn’t even know you could find in France!) and apple slices.

When Richard got home, Sarah left and we jumped in his cute little black Peugeot to drive over to his Grandparent’s house for a family birthday celebration. It is funny the things that are lost in translation, because I really thought it was his Grandmother’s birthday, but it turned out to be his mothers! I was a wee bit overwhelmed by the gaggle of French aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces and family friends, but mostly it made me think of my family gatherings at holidays and the hilarity that ensues. They made me feel very much at home and I was able to chat a bit with Mrs. Tounrniaire before we left, which was nice. Hopefully they all approved of me as the new roommate.

I was full of energy when we left and Richard needed to relieve some stress, so what else was there to do but play some frisbee… on the beach, of course! By the time we got there, the sky was dark navy and dotted with stars, but the street lights along the boardwalk made it possible to play anyway. It felt good to throw the disk again, however, it made me realize that I really miss playing ultimate, especially for Gung-ho at Northwestern. Happy and relaxed from tossing, I gave Richard a lesson in yoga at the beach for our cool down. He didn’t really seem to like it much, since he stopped after a few minutes, but props to him for trying. So I finished up my sun salutations and we returned home to make dinner and veg out, like we had been friends for ages.

Not a bad day in the south of France.