Le P'tit Fils

"The grandson." What a cutie! Enzo pretty much hung out with me most of the night, even said hi when I Skyped with my parents and Aunt Merrie. He is just the cutest kid. He just came in to give me a kiss goodnight. More on him later.

This morning I was a little late to history class, being that I had to stop at a little bakery on the way there to buy a baguette. But the prof wasn't mad when he saw that I was late because I had to buy bread. He made a comment about my being "truly French"...hey, if it got me out of getting in trouble for being late, totally okay with it. But class was a struggle today: we're studying nitty-gritty politics from the 70s and 80s, so it's not particularly interesting. But after was lunch, which is always a highlight of my day. I got to talk with everyone a little, get a little web-surfing in, and chat about upcoming weekend plans. Four other girls and I are planning to spend all of Saturday in Marseilles. More details on that later, as we have yet to figure it all out.

In anticipation of "les soldes" (the big national sales), my friend Dawn and I ventured forth after our last class to check out some of the prices. When les soldes start on Wednesday, most of the prices will drop, but we wanted to stake out the goods first. Of course, some stores have already started, including a shoe place nearby. Got some black patent-leather flats (which I desperately needed--I can't wear heels to my business stuff all the time, they hurt after a while) and I only paid 8 euro! So like 10 bucks. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.

After our little shopping reconnaissance mission, it was about 6pm and time to head home. On my walk to and from school today, I noticed a slight change in the scenery: since the Avignon Theatre Festival is starting this Wednesday, there are show posters up everywhere! Because you're usually not allowed to stick them on the walls of buildings, the M.O. here is to paste the signs ("affiches") onto pieces of cardboard and tie them with twine onto rails, posts, pipes, etc. I need to remember to take a picture. Also, I want to nick at least one of the posters to put in my apartment next year. Shouldn't be too hard...the wind knocks some of them down. Then they're fair game, right? Right.

Anyhow, after school I performed my ritual of laying on the tile floor of my room in an effort to cool off. I started reading Dune, which is pretty darn good so far, but I may have nodded off because of the heat. I was soon awoken by the sounds of Enzo having his pre-dinner bath, a quite noisy affair. So then I knew it was time for dinner. Tonight we used a tiny little grill to cook pieces of salmon and chicken, and also to melt cheese. There was also tabouleh (like a cous-cous salad) and melon. After dinner, I did my usual chore of loading the dishwasher, then sat and chatted with Corine for a little while. Enzo would intermittently show me whatever he was playing on his Nintendo DS. He followed me to my room, where I showed him on a map where Cincinnati was, in fact, where the US was, because, at 6 years old, he doesn't really have a grasp on world geography yet. I managed to kick him out for a little while to do my homework, which did not take very long, and he soon rejoined me in my room, still playing on his DS. So we made a pretty cute picture sitting on my cliq-claq (futon), him playing his video games and me reading Dune. Then it was time to Skype with my parents and Aunt Merrie, and I got Enzo to say "Bonsoir" to everyone. He's a talkative kid but not in annoying way...I really don't mind him hanging around. I think half of it might be his curiosity at work; he must rarely hear any English spoken. Anyhow, a cute kid. I might miss him when he goes home to his dad in Marseilles on Friday.

Well, I guess that's all, folks!

Love to you all and bonne nuit,
Nat