I joined my French friends today at their house in Artiguelouve out past Jurançon, deep in wine country. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a friendly black cat; the promise of a good day ahead.
We had a delicious lunch of fideuà from the Catalan region of Spain, made of seafood and broken vermicelli, similar to paella. And I brought a typical southern American dessert of chess pie with vanilla mascarpone.
Before dinner my friend served ratafia, which is a homemade prune liquer from the Dordogne region. Really good!
After our lunch, we went for a long hike through the hinterlands dotted with abundant trees and occasional vineyards.
We came across a couple of equestrians as well as a very friendly hound dog looking for companionship.
Although my friend speaks a little English (and refrains from using it) his partner speaks none, so we basically spoke French the entire time. I’m far from fluent and there are times when I pick up less than fifty percent, but sometimes I feel like I can get the gist just by absorbing it and watching their body language. Other times I am absolutely clueless. But if I want to live in France, it is necessary to learn the language and I’m doing my best to immerse myself. However, trying to communicate in a language one barely knows can be fun…but it is exhausting.
Tonight I’ll crash early and because tomorrow is Sunday, I will probably snooze off and on all morning and then spend the remainder of my day in pajamas, possibly drinking wine. C’est la vie!
Check out the photos from today here…until I update my website again.
