The art of leisure

Some cool graffiti that I found on the back of a building

In case you've heard anything on the news, not to worry, the strikes here in France have only affected me in the most convenient ways! For instance, I only worked Monday and Friday this week, and a deviated bus route precipitated my being dropped off right at the door to my apartment with all my groceries! Nicole and heard that there will be a demonstration in centre ville tomorrow, so we're going to check it out.

It's been another full and wonderful week! I haven't exactly been working (thank you Sarkozy), but I've been busy not being busy. There seem to be plenty of things to get involved in around here, and two of my projects are cooking and exploring. After a week full of both of these activities, there are two myths about French people that I'd like to address:

1. French people are serious about food. TRUE. At one of my schools, I eat lunch in the teacher's lounge with some of the other faculty (they are so nice!). On my first day, I experienced some serious shame about the baguette, apple, and cheese that I brought for lunch. Each of the French ladies brought a beautiful 3 course meal. She would bring out something, eat it, then disappear back into the kitchen and bring out something else, etc. I decided then and there that if keeping myself alive wasn't reason enough to really learn to cook for myself, then pride was. I posted my email address and told all the teachers to email me if they had easy recipes. I feel that great strides have already been made! At the moment, I'm eating a lunch of homemade ratatouille (made from vegetables I bought at the market) with gnocchi and chicken. Apparently, French people love to potluck, so I've been both giving and receiving a lot of free food recently. Night before last, I had the special treat of eating dinner with some of Cloé's friends from work (which included a sous chef at Maison Pic!) Cloé created a foundation for Maison Pic, and sometimes they go to hospitals and give cooking classes to sick kids and their families. There are usually lots of leftovers, and Nicole and I were included in the post hospital visit dinner at our apartment. The theme was autumn fruits and vegetables (heaven).

2. French people don't exercise. FALSE. Especially in the Drôme where the outdoors is so beautiful! This place is teeming with parks. Every time I go out exploring I find a new beautiful park or path to run on. I think my favorite might be the one I tried most recently that runs north along the river. French people do exercise, they just usually don't do it publicly. They prefer the privacy of a tree-shrouded park, such as this one, complete with outdoor exercise equipment.

Or, they LOVE the pool. With the anonymity of swimming caps and goggles, you can sign up for a water aerobics class any time of day: they can't seem to offer enough. And, more exciting for me, there is great tennis in Valence! I heard about a club with a ton of indoor courts from a friend at church, so I went this week and checked it out. I hit around for about an hour one day with one of the pros, and he introduced me to a cute girl giving lessons who wants to play with me. I ended up getting the numbers of several good girl players, two of whom are English professors! And even better, nobody seems to be expecting me to pay anything.