November 11 Remembrance Day

We got the day off of school so I went for bike ride. I will take the camera next time as the route past the Mount Saint Victoire is quite impressive. Yoly did her homework because she always leaves it to the last minute I am going to do mine on my way to school tomorrow. We spent last week working like dogs trying to catch up to everyone in our respective classes. Time flies when your having fun. I have learnt a lot about the words that come out of my mouth and now I think more about how I say things but it still comes out the same, half Spanish half franglish. 

We went to Antibes near Nice last weekend and toured the Picasso museum there. We could see Nice across the harbour from Antibes and there were lots of sailboats in the bay that were flying in a perfect breeze for sailing. No one had the big sails up but every one was cruising along with the rail in the water or one hull flying. One of the most remarkable things was the colours of the water it ranged from intense green to cobalt blue. I don't think the camera does justice to the range of colour and beauty of the scene. 

We went to a perfume museum/factory and it was more interesting than one would expect. We saw the whole process from distillation to mixing of the scents. We got to test our noses and find our preferred fragrances. There was a discount because we were part of a large group, even if it was a group of students with no money.

We have continued studying and are making progress. They are trying to teach me subjunctive, thats an english word for a point of grammer that doesn't exist in english. I wished them luck at the beginning but I think they are fighting a losing battle, time will tell. Yoly is still the star student in her class and was the first student in 14 years to deduce that a poem was written from the perspective of a bull, I told you she was smart! 

Today November 21st was the first day of the Beaujolais Nuevo, it is terrible and I have a headache, but a good story for my class tomorrow. It was not a good year for red wine around here because of too much rain in the spring. 2011 was a good year around here and Avignon.

That's right, that's me and my gang sign going to school.

Me and my gang sign out on a field trip.

Me and the gang at the perfume shop.

Yoly beside the perfume tanks

They age perfume like wine. This is actually a tank of eau du toilet which has a higher alcohol content and lower price. It is generally marketed to men in france. It only lasts two years but a good perfume in a proper bottle can last up to 5 years.

Perfume components are mixed as they go into the bottle.

The component scents for secific perfumes. Each perfume has its own number of scents and different amounts of each scent is added to the bottle on the line.

Statue in Antibes

Boat made of wood.

These guys had the hull up half the time but never when I took a photo!

Yoly was getting sea sick just watching this boat.

The colors were amazing

More color.

The Pablo Picaso museum in Antibes.

I went shopping for clothes. You can look forward to pictures of me with a different shirt.

Don't tell Xela but we had a cat stay over for the weekend.

Thats right it is begining to look a lot like christmas.

The christmas markets.

Olives from the garden, crushed untill skin broke and no more, soaked in fresh water for ten days, change the water every day, then boil in salted spiced water and serve when cool. 

I crushed some up and added tuna, it was a great snack while i did my homework in the sun.