Joyeuses Paques!

Happy Easter Monday to you (a celebrated day off for the French)! Time to take a packing and cleaning break to recount my Easter Sunday!!!

Yesterday, I went into Lyon bright and early to check out the Creation Market one last time. Unfortunately for me, the market was a little slow getting set up (online it said it opened as early as 6am... and I was there at 8:30 with many booths not yet set up!)... and the man that sold my friend Amy prints of Lyon was no where to be found! Fair enough, it was Easter Sunday, so perhaps he was at church... or better yet across the river having a café and croissant at the busy food market. I looked around to see if any of the other art or creations struck my fancy with my friend Caroline, who is the only one of our little group of assistants still in town. Hannah has already returned home and the others are on trips to various places around Europe before heading home later in May.

I couldn't decide on anything I liked as well, for as good of a price as the prints were, so we walked back towards the metro station, with a stop at a bakery for breakfast. Caroline and I said our goodbyes and I made it home in time to shower before Nathalie came to pick me up. (*Side note about my metro ride into Lyon- because it was both a Sunday and a holiday, the metro ran less frequently, taking me a little longer than usual to get in and out. But what really made my ride in slow involved a screeching halt between the first stop and second metro stop on my line. Once the metro had been stopped, we all stood to look at what was going on on the tracks. Immediately we could tell something was wrong because people were waving their hands for the metro cars to stop, looking down into the tracks- where there was a person. At first I thought it was someone who had fallen, but once the woman was helped back onto the side, and the metro got rolling again to let people on.... the men who had helped the woman on were shaking their heads like she had done something wrong.... So I don't know if she was sick, pushed, drunk, or trying to get run over.... but it kind of freaked me out!)

Nathalie picked me up around 11:30am, driving me from Saint-Priest to Solaize, a small village about 20 minutes south west of Saint-Priest. The village has no more than about 3,000 inhabitants (Saint-Priest has about 40,000.... so we were definitely out in the country!!!). It is surrounded by farm land and old farm houses, and has an adorable little town square, complete with boulangerie, boucherie, pharmacie, mairie, and 15th century église. It's not a tourist destination by any means, but it's a neat example of how an old French farm village has turned into a nice place for families to settle down with kids (yet it only takes 30 minutes to get into Lyon). I found it to be a charming little town:)

Before heading to Nathalie's house, we stopped to pick up bread in the square...  just a minute's drive from their house (which she said was built in 2005). It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom maison, with a salt water pool in the backyard, and an electric gated entrance to the driveway (they all have gated driveways... but not all are electronically operated!). I quickly met her family- 2 little boys named Noah and Mahé, ages 7 and 2, and her husband Patrice, who goes by Pat (and he calls her Nat- Pat and Nat hehe). All further chatting could wait; we had eggs to find:) The boys had been eying the sparkly colored wrappers from the window all morning, or so it seemed.

The French Easter egg hunting tradition involves finding chocolate eggs outside that the Easter bunny laid overnight. You're probably thinking- won't they melt?? But no! The eggs are strategically placed under bushes, trees, or other objects so that they don't melt in the sun... :) Noah quickly ran around finding eggs while Mahé was guided by his parents to look under certain trees or potted plants. It was very funny and cute, had I known them a little better I would have taken pictures!

Once all the eggs were found, they were allowed to eat one egg before l'apéro. Pat and I drank kirs while Nathalie and the boys had sirop. We snacked on little dorito type chips and guacamole before having salad, rice, and chili for lunch (with bread and cheese of course lol). Nathalie said sorry that it wasn't more French, but they're big fans of chili... I thought- I really am being assimilated back into American culture these last few days;)

Pat works for EDF, the mostly state-owned electricity and gas monopoly in France, as an engineer. He's a really nice guy, very hospitable and a helpful host to Nathalie. Noah is in a CP class at the school in Solaize and Mahé goes to the daycare center right next door. Noah was so interested in hearing about America... and would mention little things he knew about us too (for example, he said, I know something American- Shrek!). They asked me all about where I'd traveled this year, the things I'd miss about France, the biggest differences, what I'd be doing when I return home, where I'd live, etc. etc. This was all while Mahé banged around and started getting cranky:) Nathalie said, what time is it Mahé? And he'd say, time for dodo (which means bed time!).

So while we waited for Mahé to wake up from his nap (which ended up being 3 hours long), Nathalie, Noah, and I ate dessert (a cake made out of cookies similar to tiramisu but without the mascarpone and with crème anglaise). It was yummy, especially with a cup of espresso! When we were done, and while Pat took a nap on the couch lol, Nathalie and I chatted, she showed me her wedding pictures (from 2005, after Noah was born), we friended each other on facebook, cleaned up from lunch... and finally went to get Mahé up from his nap (after surveying the new deck Pat was building around their pool with Noah).

We got all ready to go out for a walk, Noah riding his scooter and Mahé in a little pushable bike. They walked me all around Solaize, showing me where people they knew lived, the school, the square, and pretty farm houses. Pat's parents live in Solaize as well, and Nathalie's parents are just over in the next village called Corbas. They've both lived in the Lyon area since they were little, only ever leaving for a few years while Pat was working for EDF in a different town in France (either Nantes or Nancy... I forget!). It was a nice long walk... and although I was probably ready/over due for a nap, we went back to their house so they could start dinner.

I read books with the boys until it was bath time (for them, not me hehe). One of the books happened to be about animals wearing diapers, what their particular poop looked like in the diaper, and one special animal, the souris (mouse), who instead of going in his diaper, went potty in the pot. Charmant, non?

We ate dinner around 7:30/8 (zucchini casserole with ham), the boys were allowed to watch one tv show, and then it was back to dodo! From about 9:30-10:30, Pat, Nat, and I watched some tv, talking a little bit about how they want to visit the US (cool!)... and eventually, Nathalie got me back home by about 11pm. Another long French day with a cute little French family (and on Easter Sunday at that!) :) Not my normal Easter day festivities, but it was nice to be with a family, if I couldn't be with my own!

Now... you're probably wondering- how many more blogs am I going to post? I only have... 2 more full days in France! Eek! Will I keep writing when I'm home??? What would I write about? Well- I think your answer is in the title of my blog- I started blogging as a way to let my friends and family know what I was up to while I was abroad for 7 months as an assistant. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed sharing my experiences with new friends and followers... and just because I won't be in France for a long period of time again, I will, inevitably, travel somewhere cool again someday, if only for a week or less. But- I think I'll probably write a few more posts to say farewell for now... and maybe even one or two more follow-up posts when I get home. You have to know how this part of the story ends, now don't you?! I could have some major French experience while at the airport on Thursday! You never know.... :)

And if I ever decide to take up blogging again, I'm not sure if I'd continue on this same page or what else it would be on besides traveling... or who the target audience would be. Maybe I'll do a blog for my new friends in France... and the blog will be a way for me to continue working on my French? Or maybe I'll write a blog about trying to raise my own children speaking French? Or maybe I'll blog about cooking à la francaise (oh wait, I think that has been done already... ) Hmmm blogging ideas to be continued....

In the meantime- reste cool and send me good packing vibrations! I hope it will all fit!!!