Following a wonderful weekend exploring and enjoying the Provençal life-- our host family decided to take us on a family outing today! Alex and I were so excited! we didnt really even know where we were going until we were halfway there!
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| me and Odile |
the whole family went! me, Alex, Robert, Mireille and my favorite squatter daughter, Odile. I feel like I havent talked about her much. If I have and am just mistaken, forgive me for this brief background information. Odile is our host family's eldest daughter.. I forget, but I think they said she was 40. She was here when we arrived and has henceforth spent the semester sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Reason being that her husband divorced her. We havent asked a lot of questions. One time they tried to explain what happened.. and Alex and I werent sure if her husband "lost all of his limbs" or "broke all his limbs" -- quite a difference. but really, we didnt understand. all semester she has been living with us. and ive seen her leave the house maybe 10 times. max. she spends ALL day on the sofa. or smoking on the balcony. seriously. 2 packs a day, i swear. she is the sweeeeeeeetest .. when she talks or offers any contribution to the conversation/situation. she is constantly coughing up her lungs
see the bit about the smoking. and always fighting with her mother about it too. oh and she is diabetic. this is key. remember this fact for later stories. she really is precious and i like her a lot. and i feel so bad that we came in at such a hard time in her life. it makes the whole 'living with a real family' seem, well,
real. so she hardly talks. coughs and SNORES all the time. she always is in the bathroom when i need to go. and she reeks like a marlboro factory. again, being served divorce papers would definitely not set me up in the right state of mind/feeling .. BUT id like to think I would make something of it.. atleast try. or that my parents would certainly not permit me to sit on my butt ALLLLLLLLLLL day long and waste away into nothingness.
so back to today. first of all, squatter daughter, as we affectionately named her, didnt want to go with us. seriously, the idea of fresh air was not something she wanted to ambition for today. mireille literally made her get off the couch and come with us. we drove all through the countryside to the little towns in the luberon region of France. We went to the two towns that our school took us to a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we had terrible weather that day and Alex didnt get to go-- so thats where they took us. At Isle Sur la Sorgue we walked around the little markets-- admiring all the
trucs and choses . commenting on funny dresses and trying different hats on-- and making Robert do the same. it was great fun but we didnt stay long before heading to Fountain de Vauclouse.. it is the town of the mysterious source of the Sorgue river-- infamous, charming and beautiful. the last time i was here, we spent the rainy, cold afternoon drinking wine in the cafe but today was different. we ate a nice lunch of baguettes, sausage and cheese in the little park and then walked into town. this walk should have been about 2-3 minutes-- but lasted more like 10 because some members of our group are used to a daily circle of exercise that consists soley of the route between the living room-- kitchen-- bathroom-- and porch. seriously, it was beyond pathetic. we had a most enjoyable time walking around the little stores and weaving in and out of the throngs of tourists. at one point, we left the fam to make the little hike to the river's mysterious source. Alex and I had a dandy time, laughing at the people around us and just enjoying the beautiful scenery. we retourned to find Odile, exactly where we left her and Robert sitting on a bench looking out over the water. When we reached them, I asked Robert what he had spent the time doing.. his response? "J'ai regardé les belles filles" ..
i watched the beautiful girls. hahahahaha, exactly the response my dad would say too. so adorable.
the rest of the afternoon was beautiful . they bought us ice cream, we exchanged laughs and just had a great time. alex and I passed out in the car ride home and apparently we missed some beautiful sights :( oh well, it was a perfect afternoon!
