tonight he put my nose in the corner because i left the room to my bedroom open FOR LIKE 2 MINUTES .. and poncho ran in and peed by my door. i then preceeded to tell my host family that i was going to punt that little dog like a football .. and they agreed that it was a great idea. hilarious
tonight we had a delicious meal of rice, chicken, saffron and veggies .. last night was minestrone.. the night before was CREPES.. and the night before was ravioli .. im truly getting a totally cultural food experience.. i love it! and literally as im finishing my last bite of my first helping .. they already have another plate of food ready for me .. "MANGE, MANGE, MANGE les filles" thats what they say. no matter how stuffed we are. and then after dinner .. is the cheese plate .. brie has a new special place in my heart .. and after the cheese .. we can have pudding.. or chocolate mousee.. or eclairs .. or yogurt (fat free, especially curteousy of robert) and it goes on an on .. these people LOVE to eat. speaking of, I had another very quaint and totally french meal yesterday with some girls in my art class before we started our 3rd day of sketching melanie 'sans vetements' or .. without clothes. We stopped at this cute little cafe, bought a bottle of wine and some eclairs and basked in the sunshine!
so, my mac is in the shop. i have NO idea what happened. i seriously have the worst luck with computers. but THANKFULLY there is an apple store in town with a certified repair shop.. do they speak english? nope. did i start to cry? yep. but i called my dad, and literally just hearing his voice made me so calm and so homesick. for the first time today i really realized how far away from home i am. and without my strongest link to the world outside of this city.. i felt so alone. but as always, he reassured me that things will in fact be okay and after a small pity party for myself i finished my walk home. where i realized that there should be NO time wasted on being unhappy here. because i am literally the most blessed and lucky person that i know and there is so much to be thankful for in my life and even just around me .. this was confirmed when, as i was walking home i came across a man whom ive seen a few times. his pants are torn at the knee, he walks with a limp and carries this satchel. his demeanor and attire remind me a lot of Billy from Hocus Pocus if youve ever seen that film, (he was the one who had his mouth sewn shut by winnifred) anyways, he appears to be the most down on his luck individual ive ever seen .. and today as i was thinking about how terrible it is that i wont have my computer for 4 days .. i came across him sitting by the BONJOUR gas station on the curb .. and he was smiling. surely, if this man can find something to smile about.. then i have nothing to worry about. that along with the beautiful sunset that was forming over the mountains in the distance was enough.
im so thankful for where i am, what i have and who i am. chatting with my parents and the love that i was welcomed to when i came back to my temporary home really make me so so so happy. and tonight is karaoke night at this pub .. so things will certainly be wonderful!
tomorrow, we are going to avignon.. a town just outside of Aix.. its BEAUTIFUL. and it is home to the Palace of the Popes and the Baux de Provence is an ancient city that we get to visit too. Sunday will be an adventure as well as some girls and i are going to trek up Mt. Saint Victoire .. the inspiration for Paul Cezanne's greatest artwork.
lots of stories to come :)
"chin chin to a bon weekend"
side note: the parts i said about how thankful and blessed i am and how much i love my parents was not just because i know they'll read this :D