Jetlag and Petits Cafés

Hey there. I've been far too out of it to write anything on this blog.

I left Santa Fe at 6:00 AM on Tuesday morning to drive to Albuquerque (this is after having slept approximately 3 hours the night before). Anyone who doesn't know: they've completely changed the food court at the ABQ airport. Panda Express wtfffff!!!!

Okay, so I got on the flight to Washington and was able to sleep a couple winks in spite of the 7-year-old sitting behind me who kept kicking my seat back and complaining about the flight. In Washington, I had a 4 hour layover, so I spent money and time on an overpriced, airport restaurant meal and then made my way to the smoking area. I wouldn't have thought of it, (okay, that's a lie) but there were signs indicating its location as soon as I got off the plane. As a person who has never ventured into the world of airport smoking lounges, I was horrified. Short story short, it was stinkydirty and depressing.

On the next leg of the flight, from Washington to Munich, I had a window seat, and there was no one sitting next to me. I thought, "How wonderful! I'll be able to sleep!" Nope. Instead, I watched True Grit and Due Date and then tortured myself for the next four hours by tirelessly watching the little map on my seat back that showed our progress. Before we caught up with the sun, I saw the lights of various cities in Ireland and England from above the clouds, which created a very eerie affect. Unfortunately I am a retard, and just accidentally deleted the shitty pictures I tried to take of that. So you don't get to see those shitty pictures. I'll show you other shitty pictures in a moment.

Sleepless, I arrived in Munich and met up with my mother's friend, and my hostess, Christine. We flew to Toulouse, where her friend Yohan picked us up. He is a very funny man. Or rather, he likes making jokes. Unfortunately, I was in no mood seeing as I was tired and cranky and realized I couldn't remember much of the French I learned in high school.

Driving into Saint-Antonin, the town I'm staying in, is beautiful, as the town is set in a valley, and the cliffs on either side are breathtaking. We made it safely to Christine's house, at which point I had to lug my two suitcases (with a combined weight of ~120 lbs.) up to the third floor (le deuxième étage en France). This is the view from my window:

La Rivière Bonnette

 This morning, Thursday morning, Christine was asleep and downstairs, so I kept mostly to myself and napped on and off. Then, we went on a walk around the city. It's quaint, beautiful, and unnervingly quiet. Every time we ran into someone Christine knew, I would try to listen and understand as much as possible. I'm already starting to remember the language. We went to le tabac, where I got a pack of cigarettes (FUMER TUER), the Place de la Halle, or the town center, the tourism office, where I picked up a few maps of the area, and the grocery store, where I discovered that eggs and milk are not refrigerated on the shelves (no need), and that French people eat roast chicken flavored potato chips. We then walked back into town, where we ran into Louis, a kind older gentleman with a mean Marseille-an accent. We then went back to Place de la Halle (which I really just want to call the plaza) and had des petits cafés, which really are very small coffees.

The local Catholic church

Pretty good view of the cliffs

Me with Louis

One of Christine's cats, Jessie. Cats are called mimi for cute. Behind her is the crate (attached via cat door to the outside) in which she and the other cat, who pisses everywhere and has no name, live.

Christine in front of the tourism office. It is a large map of the hiking trails in the area.  Apparently, there are some pretty awesome caves.

After returning chez elle, we walked her dogs, Liza and Leo ( I'll have to take a picture), and then went to dinner with her friend Kate (also une americaine) at a local restaurant (warm goat cheese and honey salads are awesome). Kate is an astrologist, and if I can find out the time of my birth, she's going to make  up an astrological chart for me. 

That's about it! Tomorrow Christine is going to teach me how to drive her little standard car. Wish me luck!