There's Never a Bad Time to Read

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

First to finish out last night….  I finally had a normal dinner of ravioli with a red meat sauce. It was definitely good, especially since the ravioli were made fresh nearby (or so the package claimed….) Allen joined us again for dinner, which meant that I just sat there eating my food while I understood maybe half of what they said. But it’s whatever, how else am I supposed to learn the language?

I woke up this morning to an empty sailboat. Without a note or anything, I had no idea where they had gone but figured it was just for a few errands. Eddy and Pascale reappeared around 11, and they informed me that they had gone to run a couple of errands and they hadn’t wanted to wake me. After yet another breakfast of delicious croissants, Pascale took me to the local bookstore. Although the choices of English literature were fairly slim, I still managed to find three books that I was really excited about.  I felt very bad though because they keep on insisting that I shouldn’t have to pay for anything, even though I always bring along my money and try to pay. But I never want to turn down their what seems to be endless generosity, so they always win the money battle. One of these days though, I really have to get them to understand that I can pay for at least some of the things we buy, whether it is directly related to me or not!

After the bookstore, we went to the supermarket. They had about the same kind of foods as in Belgium, but the produce section was really cool because above each fruit and vegetable there was a sign saying where it had came from. I was surprised to find that over 90% if the produce was grown locally in France. Then again, there are lots of different climates in France allowing for the prosperity of many different types of crops. But still, it was quite impressive. It would be like Washington and Oregon being able to grow any kind of fruit or veggie that you want locally. We ended up buying a lot of new and different foods for dinners for me to try, such as duck (which I actually said I do not think I like) and lamb chops. When in France…

The Western Europeans’ kindness never fails to amaze me. Besides from the whole kissing practically whoever you meet, they are just in general very friendly. There are hardly any horns honked, people let pedestrians cross the street before going even if they are doing it illegally, and there always seems to be a smile for everyone. For example, in the supermarket there was a man behind us who had only one little thing of cheese to ring up. Pascale, noticing his single item and then our heaping cart, allowed him to go ahead of us. I saw another person do the same for a different man who only had like three items. I mean, you hardly ever do this kind of thing in the U.S. But then again, that IS why express 20 items or less lanes were created…

After shopping, we came back to the boat, had sandwiches, and Eddy and Pascale left again to go and get a cooler. Guess it ended up being hotter than they had planned, or maybe we just bought more stuff that needed to be cooled than they had expected… Either way, I opted out to stay on the sailboat and read. It was nice to be able to just take a long break and read to my heart’s content. It is exactly what a vacation should be like! At least, in the Lancaster family that is the ideal dream. Anyhow, I am also excited to get off of this boat tomorrow. Allen, who apparently is a pretty good friend of the family, has been invited to join us on the speed boat tomorrow and he promises to show Eddy this apparently wonderful and kind of secret spot along the coast where we can spend the day. Should be fun! And then, on Thursday, the plan is to wake up super early to go fishing. Although I have never been, I think I may opt out of this early morning activity and sleep in instead. I know many people really love fishing, but I think I am among the number who would find it a bit boring. And if it weren’t for the early morning, which everyone that knows me knows that I DO NOT like AT ALL, I would give it a try. But for now, I will have to take a rain check on the whole fishing thing. Now all that is left is dinner, which I am sure Allen will once again join us for, and sleep.

But one more final thing I forgot to mention… After waking up Monday morning, I discovered about 70 mosquito bites all over my left leg. Although I knew mosquitoes really do enjoy the Lancaster blood, I had not had them attack me quite so bad in a long time. I probably have over all 100 mosquito bites, if not more. Once Eddy and Pascale had seen them, they were really worried about the how big and swollen they appeared. Even though I told them that this kind of thing happens all of the time, and that I have even at one time gone to the doctor for it, they still insisted that I take some kind of medication and apply a medicinal lotion to all of my bites. Unfortunately, the medicine isn’t helping much and my left leg itches very badly. But, it is just something that you grow to ignore and hope that no one thinks it is too weird when a girl walks into the supermarket with one leg covered in swollen red dots!

Basically what me entire body looked like... but worse even after this day!