December 20, 2020

Sunday

I woke up to another invitation to go spend some time with Catherine and her family. She asked me to stop by around 14:00 for lunch. I was excited to spend some time with other people so I said I would be happy to come visit. I spent the morning catching up on my favorite YouTube channels and listening to The Daily (yes, my favorite podcast).

I moseyed over and knocked on the door at the appointed time. Bruno, Catherine’s husband, greeted me along with their adorable shih-tzu, Frimousse (which means “little sweet face”). Catherine was in the kitchen preparing our meal with Louis and Théo. I awkwardly hovered and observed as they worked their magic. Apparently, their family hobby is making delicious foods together! I thought that was so wholesome.

Bruno had to leave to pick up a family member from the airport, so we started eating without him. We had a salad with fresh greens, a cheese and veggie tart, chicken with cream sauce over rice, and a pineapple tart for dessert. I was so full I thought I might die.

As we ate, I got to learn some more about the family. Louis is studying engineering at a school in Bretagne, but came home to quarantine with the family. He’s completely a program with the military which seems like the French version of the ROTC. Théo is taking the Bac at the end of the year and has to decide what he wants to pursue after high school. He is considering also going into engineering, but there is a very difficult exam that students have to prepare for before they are allowed into school. Students typically spend 2 years after high school studying for this exam before they are allowed to enter their degree program. If they quit in the middle of studying, they are left without a degree. What a frightening concept 👀

When Bruno returned we cleaned up the table and moved to the living room to play some games. This was daunting to me. I hate playing new games before I’ve had a chance to read through the rules because they can be difficult for me to understand- this time I had to do it in my second language. We started with Code Names. There were 25 cards with French words on them and the team leader had to get us to guess which words belonged to our team. The boys and I were on a team and the parents were on a team. My team ended up winning three times! It was very exciting and I got to learn a lot of new words along the way.

We moved back to the table to play Dobble. I’ve seen this one in the US before, but I’ve never played. There are a few different ways to play, but we focused on the version that required players to match the images on their cards to those of their opponents and to discard as soon as possible. I actually won once!

After we played, Catherine invited me to help her make some desserts. I really wasn’t much help, but it was fun to chat with her and to get to know each other. At one point, she asked if I liked to exercise and what I liked to do. While I genuinely love hiking, I couldn’t think of the word immediately. Instead, I said that I enjoyed yoga (even though it’s really not my favorite). She lit up! She loves yoga and had a lot of questions as to how I was doing it in France. I told her that I used YouTube to find guided sessions, but that it was difficult to do because I don’t have a mat here. She insisted that we leave the house immediately to go buy a mat. Louis, Bruno, Catherine, and I packed into the car and zoomed into Tigneu to visit the sporting goods store, only to discover it was closing in ten minutes. She sprinted into the store, determined to find a mat for me. We couldn’t find any, so she said we’d just have to come back another day. I was amazed by how passionate she was about finding me a space to do yoga. It was so sweet. When we got back home, I said goodnight and headed back to my place. I think spending a weekend solely speaking French has really stretched out my little brain.

I had a phone call with my wonderful Little from ZOE and watched How to Get Away with Murder until it was time for bed.