Little Town in a Quiet Village

Friday was a boiling hot day that we spent with Amy laying a path along the side of the house, next to the pond. We used slate she had found in the yard a long time ago. Apparently before there were garbage men in France people used to dump their trash in a section of their yards. As we were digging spots for the stones we found countless huge nails or bits of brick. By the end of the day I noticed that I’m starting to look tan—by which I mean that my skin is now off-white. In the evening we watched the movie “Prisoners” with Amy and Alexis after the kids were in bed. It was the first time I’ve seen the television on in this house. It appears the two of them do what Dale and I have done all year, which is just use the laptop to access shows. Now that I’ve done it for a year I can see that living without cable or satellite wouldn’t be such an inconvenience. Amy and Alexis have done without for eight years.

St. Girons

The market is under the line of trees in the distance

On Saturday Alexis drove us to the market in St. Girons, which is nearby. We ran into at least two different families that we knew, which clearly shows that everyone goes to the market on the weekend. After walking down the little alleys, we reached the market and split up with Alexis so that we could check out the vendors while he shopped for fresh fruit and vegetables. There were two main lines for us to follow; one starting in a small square with an outdoor coffee shop, then splitting with another while both follow a line of tall trees. Alexis told us as we sipped coffee in the shop afterwards that it only costs a euro to set up a two-foot table for yourself. As a result there were many different items for sale, including large wheels of cheese, pizzas, waffles, shoes, clothes, and musical instruments. Dale wanted to get himself a hat, so we kept our eyes open as we wandered until I found a wide-brimmed white one for myself instead. The lady selling the hat said something I couldn’t discern in French, then when I smiled apologetically said simply, “Ten dollars.”

Another St. Girons photo from the bridge

We wandered back through the trees until we came to a hat stall we had come to originally. I was already wearing a hat from elsewhere, and the hovering lady smiled when Dale said in English, “I don’t speak French.” She replied slyly, “You don’t? Here, try on this one.” In the end he didn’t buy one, but her annoyance could only be short lived when he bought a hat from on Tuesday in Castillon, after his haircut.

The market

Our completed work on the path

We spread gravel along the path with Alexis and Amy when we got back, which looked very nice when we were finished. For lunch we enjoyed a sweet lemon cheese, which I had never thought to mix together before. In the evening, Tobias, his linguist wife, and their kids came over for pizza out on the terrace. The pizzas came from a shop in Castillon, but there is no delivery here. We got to enjoy a ham and local wild mushrooms pizza, as well as a blue cheese pizza which was a little too salty for my liking. 

On Sunday we accompanied the family to a kids’ festival in Castillon. Adrien had been practicing for a “spectacle,” or play, during the two weeks they were out of school, and this was the big day. We walked into the village together, Dale spotting a fat snake along the way. The festival was held under the linked trees just off the main street. Dale and I bought ourselves some “gauffe,” also known as waffles, from a youth group who took forever trying to figure out how to cook them, while looking very uncomfortable about making us wait. I kept smiling so that they would know we didn’t really mind. When we finally did get the waffles covered in Nutella and whipped cream, we went inside a gymnasium to watch the spectacle. As Adrien predicted, I didn’t understand what was going on at all, but he showed up as a baker in the background and we all waved when he took his bow afterwards. We bought some candy from the youth group when the performance was over, then Dale and I decided to head back since the rest of the activities were for young kids. We raced home on and off in the muggy weather, then spent the rest of the day binge reading.

Hardly a chore to work in this garden at all

Dale and I decided to make a Canadian meal for dinner that night, so we made a poutine with Guinness gravy, which we thought was quite appropriate. Unfortunately we failed at the gravy because we needed broth rather than a powder. We added water to make it work, but it still ended up very salty. Alexis seemed to like it anyways. For dessert they presented us with fromage blanc. Fromage blanc comes in a little yogurt-like container. You pour it into a bowl, then add sugar and a bit of cream. The sugar stays as crystals in the sweet-flavoured cheese, which was a very nice texture. I thought it was a great dessert, but was disappointed to find out that you can’t typically find it back home.

Monday was a day of gardening and chunking up the very dry dirt. It hadn’t rained in a few days, but the weather was very muggy still. On Tuesday we planted pumpkins in the garden and then stood back because it looked like we had completed everything that ours hosts had hoped. So we started painting their bedroom, which was a relief from the temperate outside. We had already painted part of the upstairs hallway with a paint that dried very funny, and the bedroom was no different. This time we had to apply the thick teal paint with a spatula. It was difficult to do, so it became a project for the next few days. That night I finished reading “World Without End” on my Kobo, which I thought was a great read. Dale was disappointed to have no more of what he called “book gossip” while we worked. That night Dale, Alexis, Alexis' colleague Luis, and I had dinner on the terrace. The two of them were planning to be in the forest at 4:00am because these strange, massive black turkeys were going to gather and gobble. Alexis studies the migratory pattern of birds.

The storm finally arrived on Wednesday, which meant it was good that we had an indoor project. There wasn’t much rain, but the sky was dark even while the sun shone, and the wind was so strong that it snapped the thick wood poles holding up the canopy on the terrace. Dale and I had to take down the canvas to stop it whipping against the glass doors and possibly ripping. We had a quiche made fresh from a baker in the village for dinner, as well as a tomato-flavoured quishe-like pie that is referred to as a form of tart. The difference is that real “quiche” only includes egg, ham, milk, cream, and cheese. Baker Adrien had also made a yogurt cake for dessert and we each had a huge chunk; I could have eaten it until I burst.

That night Dale and I agonized over how we could continue our trip from here. Is seemed that getting to Athens from Italy was going to cost us more than we thought, and it would be even worse to get back to Dublin from there. We were not willing to part with 200 euros each to get back to Ireland. In the end we found a possible solution: 200 euros each for an unlimited 15 day bus pass from Eurolines. This means that we could sleep on the bus at night to save ourselves the hostel charges while visiting as many cities as possible, except those in Greece for some reason. The catch is that we must always cross a country’s borders. This means that we can travel from Toulouse to Barcelona, then Barcelona back to Marseilles, then from France to Rome, Rome to Zurich, Switzerland, Zurich back to Venice. We can’t travel from Rome to Venice. Some of the other cities include Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, and, of course, Dublin. It even includes the cost of ferries.

I was disappointed about Greece because I’ve wanted to go there since learning about it in grade five, but we made a deal that if we don’t go to Greece on this trip we should go for our honeymoon if we get married one day. I do hate how the future is tied-up with money, but at least Dale’s money anxiety is appeased with this bus idea. And it isn’t as if we aren’t used to roughing it and a lack of sleep—but thank goodness for this lovely stay in France between everything. Since the family is going on holidays on the 28th we decided we should start the bus tour on the 27th and not be so rushed. We’re both already sad at the idea of leaving on Tuesday. We love it here, and the end date has come up far too soon.

The adventure today included driving into Castillon to pick up pizza. It took Dale a while to figure out that he had to pull up on the gear stick in order to reverse, then we flew down the country roads while he tried to remember what side of the road he needed to stay on in the village. It wasn’t much different than driving at home, really, but Dale was happy to be behind the wheel again. For me, I was happy to think that I’m developing an ear for French. Or, at least, I’m developing an understanding of what lingo goes along with ordering food. I’m also much more relaxed when it comes to these situations compared with how I used to be. I think travelling all year has been pretty good for me. Oddly enough, it reminds me of reading Harry Potter as a kid and wondering how on earth he could “just go with it.” At that age, I would have been petrified and asking a million questions in the face of floo-powder. Now I think I get it.