RACLETTE

I’m a little disappointed.  I tried to do a push up a couple days ago and I think it made me back track.  A lot.  Today, I felt pretty sharp pains in my stomach, which is a little worrisome.  It only happened a couple times but enough to know that I made a mistake.  I just want to have abs!!!  I just want to be a normal person again.  I’ve decided to go to bed early tonight.  It’s going to hopefully be a productive weekend work wise.

On a happy note, today at dinner I sat by one of the directors of our program, Miriam.  I remember the first week not being able to understand anything she said.  Literally.  She gave us a tour of Grenoble and I understood approximately 30 words.  Now, I understand everything.  It’s incredible!  The group trips provide me a great way to see how much I’ve improved.  Here in Autrans, I am super satisfied.  I’ve definitely made some progress - thank goodness because I’m leaving in 17 days!  We had a super interesting conversation about Miriam’s son Sasha and the school system in France.  Apparently, the schools sometimes don’t find substitutes so when teachers are sick the parents are stuck trying to find last minute solutions for what to do with their children.  From there we began to talk about the philosophy of parenting.  So interesting!

We also ate raclette – a specialty of this region of France.  Raclette is a type of mild cheese.  You melt it in this special electric machine and then drip the melted cheese over potatoes, jambon cru, sauccisson, or another type of meat.  It was so delicious!