Lardons de la creme

Bonjour, toute le monde.

I hope all is well dans les etas-unis.  I am sitting in my room with a glass of Airborne because I caught a cold yesterday, walking around Pau in the rain; c'est tres frois ici (it is very cold here).  Today was nice though.  There was a break from the rain and the sun actually shone (this was lucky, I forgot my umbrella).  

Language class ce matin (this morning), then lunch, then a walk around town before my elective class (French Cinematic Comedy).  We watched Le Placard (The Closet) today, and have begun reading Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic.  Thankfully, it is in English.  It's quite theoretical and philosophical--definitely my thing. 

I was early for the bus (thankfully) ce matin.  Actually, when I got to the end of the driveway, one of the neighbors offered me a ride to the bus stop.  She was very pleasant.  I managed to tell her to "Tournez a la gauche" (turn left), and she knew where to go from there.    

For lunch at l'universite, there were haricots de vert et boeuf de bourguignonne (green beans and beef bourguignonne).  There was also a zucchini salad.  Ce n'est pas mal (it wasn't bad).  I ate dinner with my host family tonight; we had leftover root vegetables but with a new twist: Lardons de la Creme (for those of you who don't know, it's basically bits of ham and ham fat that you cook down with some cream and put on top of things.  Really good).  It has quickly become my new favorite.  I used to not like ham at all (excepting, of course, bacon), but it's really good, and very standard, here.  

Tomorrow, I start my cooking class.  I will give a full report about it.  

One more interesting thing before I go back to reading my book about comedy (which, ironically, is not the least bit funny):

The French, from what I can tell, are the opposite of the definition of "germiphobe."  Par example, this morning, when I wanted to put the coffee mix into my hot water (shocking, I know, that I don't actually have real coffee in the mornings.  In case you're wondering, no matter where you go, all instant coffee blends are bad), and I asked for a spoon.  He told me to just use my spoon (even though he had seen me eating yogurt with it!).  C'est vrais, mon amis (it is true, my friends).  Also, they share food, spoons, forks, and knives, seemingly with no concern for where or with whom the aforementioned noun has been.  They also don't worry about food sitting out trop long (too long).  C'est tres interessant.   

The pace of life is also slower (partly because I'm in the southern region of France), which I like very much.  That being said, je suis tres fatiguee et j'ai une mal a la tete (I'm very tired and have a headache), so I am signing off for now.  

Just in case you're wondering: I have had one dream in French, only I didn't understand it.  'Tis a nightmare which haunted me with Latin, too.

A bientot, 

Marguerite