The Wine and Cheese Experience : The First Few Days

I first and foremost want to say that my family is AMAZING. Especially my new host mom Blanca...she could possibly be a saint. She is so patient with my broken French. Since I have arrived I have found out the most important aspect of the Halary's life is being active....which I had to become accustom to very quickly. On the first night right after we got off the plane we had what they called a "small get together" at their house. WRONG. It was a party. I sat in a corner....just about ready to die of fatigue, telling everyone all the while I was "okay"(HA). Day two we took it really easy...by easy I mean we awoke at 8 AM and started on the tour of the town by 9. They tried to explain to my the intricacies of a French meal. "A French meal is about Process. First you have the meat, cheese, nuts, bread, more meat, and more bread. Then you have wine. Then you sit down an you have a salad course, with bread. They you have your main meal, which usually consists of meat (like duck, ham, steak, salami, or chicken) a starch (rice, pasta, THIS IS NOT INCLUDING BREAD)bread, and a vegetable. Then you have your fruit and cheese course (okay I have tried a lot of their cheese....let me tell you this, it might smell like a rotting corpse but it really tastes good!) Then you have dessert and some more nuts. Then MORE wine....and usually some other hard liquor." I usually don't even make it through dinner before I start feeling like a stuffed Christmas turkey. Their ten year old son can eat more than me. When we returned from our grand tour of Bayonne it was time to unpack. Blanca found me sprawled asleep on my bed a half and hour later. She didn't wake me up I just found her peering down at me,looking worried about my lifeless body. Though packing was not finished it was time for Blanca and I to prepare dinner. Really it was me watching Blanca moving like a ninja through the kitchen. She moves through that kitchen like a fish moves in water. Here is something weird, we dont eat dinner until 8 or 9 at night....I am usually starving by the time we get there! After dinner I gave the whole family their gifts from America...which they all loved! Yay for See's Candy!It was off to bed for Emily Anne (by now it is 11 PM the family usually stays up past 1 AM including the 10 year old!) Seriously though every person in my family has been amazing...they all try to speak English to me and they are always checking on me its almost like being at home...almost. Here are some thing I miss My Mother and sisters The smell of the ocean (I have been to the beach here and I know it sounds crazy but it doesnt smell the same....) Dry heat Palm trees My room Panera my rabbits my birds English American radio (the French have some weird music) my bed my books and a few other things I hear it gets easier with time. The people here have made it easy to love France...I hope I have the strength to love it the way they do. Here are some pictures of my new home