A Most Loverly Weekend

The weather once again was beautiful this weekend (a little bit more chilly than the sunshine would lead you to believe, but still good) which meant that I spent most of the weekend outdoors...which I love to do! After my excursion into the tidepools on Friday, I had basketball with the local club to look forward to. I was a bit apprehensive at first, wondering if they were going to let me play, but my fears were laid to rest the instant I entered the gym. Apparently, the club is for women of all ages over 17, so there were many mothers and daughters on the team. Also, I have many of these daughters in my classes and they have been talking me up to their mothers...which allowed these women to recognize me immediately as "l'americaine" and welcome me. Which was a great relief to me. Anyhoo, I haven't practiced in such an organized fashion since high school...running plays, zone defense...it brings back so many memories! It also showed me that I am miserably out of shape. Anyhoo, afterwards, the women invited me to watch the men's game in Marennes the following night. Christelle offered to pick me up and everything! I love this town! Maybe I'm just used to Californians...who aren't the nicest people in the world, but the people here have been soo nice! Anyhoo, since practice didn't start until 9 o'clock, and didn't finish until 11...I fell asleep immediately after my shower. How do these French people do this? They eat at 8 or 9 and are awake for forever! I'm hungry by 5 and I have to snack if I'm eating with a family otherwise, I'll never make it to dinner. On Saturday, Laurent came over to ride bikes with me. He brought his laptop and we compared our tastes in music, which are pretty similar. We rode our bikes through Bourcefranc...but first we had to stop at the supermarche because he was hungry. And what did he buy? cookies. I swear, some guys would never make it if they didn't have mothers or wives to take care of them. From there we rode down to the "beach" of Bourcefranc...which at low tide is more like a mud flat. We then rode to Fort Louvois, hoping it would be low tide so that we could finally cross over to the fort, but no such luck. He came over afterwards and we played Uno...Laurent has never heard of beginner's luck. He lost nearly every game. I fixed mexican food for dinner (well, as close to mexican food as I can find in French grocery stores...which is a bit of a stretch), but it was Laurent's first encounter with it and he liked it pretty well. But he refused to eat either the guacamole or the salsa. I say if I have to eat Langoustines, he can try some guacamole. It is interesting hanging out with Laurent because he speaks very little English, which means that I speak lots of French...which is good...but at the same time sometimes we are utterly unable to explain to one another what we are trying to explain. Afterwards, I was picked up by Christelle to go watch the game in Marennes.

Well, I wouldn't say the French are the best basketball players ever, but I give them credit for trying. It was fun to watch. Their rules are a little bit different from ours. They go into double bonus immediately following the 5th foul...instead of one and one following the seventh foul and double bonus following the 10th foul. So, that was a little weird for me. It's been a little difficult picking up the new vocabulaire of basketball. They still use the words "shoot" and "dribble" but for the most part, all the names are different. Man defense is "individuel" and the backboard is a "panneau". A foul is a "faute" and the basket is a "panier". It's difficult to communicate with my teammates, but I'm starting to catch on. Immediately after the game, the team and its supporters broke out the food. Seriously, they had a mini feast in the gym following the game with wine and pizza (only in france) and lots of other things. The feast started around 11 or so...I was already sleepy. Anyhoo, I found out that they do not have a mini feast after every game...it just happened to be someone's birthday. For which I was grateful, for if there was a big meal after every game, I might be sick. I don't like to eat that late. When I got home well after midnight, I immediately crashed.

Sunday was a perfect day, weather-wise. I woke up and decided to go for a bike ride to find my way to Marennes, the local town where I will be teaching starting tomorrow. There are supposedly some "piste cyclable" or bicycle paths as you are not allowed to cycle alongside the main road. It is my firm belief that these cycling paths are a myth. I biked for three hours and could find no evidence that they existed. And seriously, I biked in each of the four directions from my apartment. I can see the cathedrale spire in Marennes...I just can't get there! So, first I went east, and hit a dead end in a small industrial patch. I then biked south, and found the fabled beach of Marennes...I'll return there at some other time. From there I went west over the bridge to the Ile D'Oleron...got half way across that wickely long bridge and saw that it was low tide and the causeway to Fort Louvois was now exposed. So, I turned around, biked into Bourcefranc le chapu and crossed the submersible causeway to Fort Louvois. I didn't have my camera on me, but the satisfaction I felt at finally having been able to walk up to the steps of the fort was immeasurable. After all this biking, I returned to my apartment where I promptly fell asleep for 2 hours. I had a loverly conversation with Katherine on skype for 2 hours and then later that evening, after spending 2 hours updating my itunes library, I called my sister and was finally able to talk to her. So, all in all, a most loverly weekend.