Une bonne semaine (a good week)

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  Cannes, France
Monday, November 6, 2006

All of a sudden the weather has turned chilly. It's like it finally noticed the calendar, and the air is crisp and I have to wear a jacket. The sun is still shining; it just provides very little warmth because there is a wind blowing nearly all the time. It is called the Mistral, and it apparently comes down from the Alps and sweeps across Provence till it reaches me in Cannes and then the Mediterranean.

Last Sunday though it was still warm, which was nice because I went on a group excursion to St. Tropez. It's about an hour's drive from Cannes, but we actually took an hour and a half boat ride. It was wonderful to breathe the sea air and take something other than the bus or train for a change. All the shops in St. Tropez were having a "braderie" which is like a big sidewalk-sale at the end of the season, so we wandered around and shopped. The buildings in St

01 on the way to St. Tropez

. Tropez are painted in my favorite bright Provençal colors, and its ritzy side was refreshingly less apparent than that of Cannes. I loved the usual little winding streets of its old town, but what surprised me was all the greenery. There were potted plants, ivy on the sides of the buildings, flowering vines, trees along the streets.

My friend and neighbor from home Mari Isaacson came for a couple days last week. She and one of her friends from college are teaching English to French kids for the year, and they had some time to come visit over the All Saints' Day vacation the schools get here. It was fun to play tour guide for Cannes. I am constantly amazed when I discover things I've never seen before even though I've walked the same streets for over two months now. Just the other day I walked down a new street and found a little shop with a popcorn maker out front, so I bought some for a treat. Or when Mari was here we went up to old town as it was getting dark (which it does earlier now that we've turned our clocks). The old church at the top was all lit up and I'd never seen the view of the city, harbor, and sea below at night and it was lovely. I'm also still in awe of the natural beauty every morning when I wake up and look out my window or walk along the beach.

My birthday turned out to be a great day too. Since it was a holiday with no class, I got to sleep in then I walked into town to the market. The flower part was bustling because people were buying lots of flowers to put on their loved ones' graves for All Saints' Day. Then I just read and relaxed all afternoon. For dinner, Mari and her friend and I had a picnic at the beach. When I returned to the College, the girls here were hiding in my room and surprised me with a cooking balance

02 colorful tower and greenery in St. Tropez

. Europeans don't use cups for cooking... everything is measured in grams. So now I'll be able to more easily make the recipes we're learning when I get home with my new balance. Then we went out for ice-cream at our favorite place in town, Maison Glace, because no birthday of mine is complete without it! Thanks to everyone who sent something or wrote on my wall :)

Words du jour: So I've been reading this French fairy tale and fable book for children that I found at the library. It's great because some of the stories I'm familiar with and for the others I can look at the pictures to help me understand. I've been trying to not look up every word I don't know, and just figure it out from the story, but some words just look so cool that I have to know what they mean. Here's a sampling:
il était une fois--once upon a time
se faufiler--to worm one's way into something
zébré--striped (makes sense, doesn't it?)

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03 me and Mari wandering around Cannes	04 Halloween dinner in the cafeteria	05 the nearly-full moon on Halloween	06 my birthday ice cream with the girls
07 me and my birthday sign	08 fountain in Aix-en-Provence	09 the main road line with plane trees	10 the bread is sold by the kilogram
11 a little caramel apple tart I got for a euro	12 a sunset in Cannes the other day

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