Truce's Tales

In the past 2 days that it has been downpouring here, I have done very little except sleep, go to the gym (that I found in a nearby town, thank goodness!) and update my blog or explore different little towns nearby. The house that I've been living in has no TV service (in France, that I've observed, only peoples primary residences have cable). Detoxing from TV has been refeshing and surprisingly easy. If I haven't answered all of your texts or facebook messages right away, it's because I have to be really conservative with my data usage. I only have 2 Gigabites of data for the whole month and a half I'm here. We are also having a problem with our wifi because of a huge storm that knocked our connectivity out last night. I'm hoping we can get it back asap. 

The farmers markets in France are something special. You have dozens of vendors who all have wonderfully beautiful produce for whatever is their craft. The market that I went to in Lannemezan (a town about 15 km from our house), had fruits, vegetables, butchers, cured meats, clothes, teas, spices and even a Lebanese food vendor (which I was particularly excited about). At the market, I bought some peppers, ham slices, onions, sage, peaches and rosemary. Till next post, Truce  

On Sunday, my family and I were invited to a French family's house for lunch. There was Dominic, Arnold (19 year old son), Veronique (Dominic's wife). The family normally lives in Toulouse, but comes down to the Montousse area on the weekends. We all started lunch off with multiple glasses of Drappier champagne (the champagne that General de Gaulle used to drink, my host informs me). After the wonderful drink, we sat down to an equally wonderful meal of homemade venison stew (which Dominic himself caught the day before) with pasta and a homegrown tomato salad. The chat during the meal mostly consisted of my Dad and Dominic talking about work and french life in general, in english of course (Dominic spoke almost fluent english being that he worked in the US for the past 9 years). I chatted a little with Veronique (who is an osteopath) and their son, Arnold, in french, but was shy to talk in fear of messing up or going too slowly. I have no idea how it came up, but Veronique aske...

After a restless night of sleep in a 85 degree room sans a/c, we started our journey to the Midi-Pyranees (where we are spending our month and a half in France before I go to University). We woke up at about 7h30 and began our long 10 hour drive to Montoussé (where our friend has a country house). On trips like this, one can only look out the window for so long, one hour tops. So for the other 9 hours I was either reading on my Kindle or drinking coffee. I know, it sounds like such a boring life for being on the road but it had to be done so I wouldn't drive myself insane. Probably by the 4rd cup the caffeine was coursing through my bloodstream. I know by parent's 7th cup, it was starting to not work. But, don't worry, dear reader, by that time we were only an hour away from our destination. Rest stops in France are a lot better than the ones in the States because you can get good food (more than just your basic limp, soggy sandwich). For lunch, I had a big salad with chick...

Last night, June 20, my family and I drove from Charle de Gaulle airport to a little town outside of Paris called Bourges. It is so so so so cute and exactly what you think a french town would look like. We stayed in the Hotel de Bourbon - Mercure de Bourges. There is nothing like doing your morning run in a french park/garden. The French have a particular pride in their public recreation spots. This park that I ran in was paved with yellow stones, had neatly manicured hedges and not a peice of trash in sight. It somewhat reminded me of the gardens in Buckingham Palace. After my run, I showered and went into town with my parents and Kai to La Cathédral de Bourges (completed in 1230 and became a UNESCO heritage site in 1992) which was absolutely gorgeous both inside and out! Then, we went into town to get cellphone SIM cards which was definitely trying to my patience. Just a warning, cell phone companies are a pain to deal with, no matter what language you communicate in. When going...

Home, its one of the simplest words in the english language, but it can mean so many different things depending on who you ask. Somewhere that a person grew up in, a favorite spot they go to every summer, the place where they went to school, the current city that they're in now, a favorite place of a family member. If someone asked me, I might have said the stereotypical "home is where the heart is", but I will spare you the generic answer. I think home is a place that you have forged connections to loved ones that don't necessarily have to be related to you by blood. Home is a place where you can go to and be yourself, relax and distance yourself from your daily routine (even if it is just a little separation).  For me, physical representations of home are various places in the US. From birth in Los Angeles, California to completing Pre-pre-K in Columbus, OH, I had a very interesting start to my first three years of life. Then, from kindergarten to ...