November 30 No More School No More Books No More...

We finished our first 4 weeks of school and I am ready for a vacation from my vacation. Yoly was just starting to get up to speed at learning french but I need some time to sort out all the stuff they tried to teach me.  The school and the people there were awsome. We met some really smart professers and some exceptional students who also happen to be excelent people. In my class there were nine really interesting people and me. Two young women made a huge impression on me because they were so smart, aware of the world they live in and ready to do whatever it takes to shape the world into a better place. Maria and Anna were super! There was cool guy, James, who works in television creating the challenge games for reality TV shows. He was cool too and his world view was unique and joyfull. 

We put our bikes in a rented storage locker and plan to go to Spain with Hugh for a few weeks in about two weeks. I am sure we can fit in a misadventure or two before Hugh gets here to straighten things out. 

Its a statue.

A statue that gives candy to those who are pure of heart.

Christmas lights on the big fountain at the end of the Cours Mirabeau.

It was a light show with fire, fireworks, more fire and lots of lights. They realy blew up a lot of stuff!

Fire.

Fireworks.

Burning marrionettes.

Chestnuts roasting over an open fire, I think I feel a song coming on.

I had to learn it the hardway. We rode our bikes out to our storage box in Pioline after I checked the bus schedule to make sure we could get a ride back. Turns out Samedi and Sunday are not the same day. Dimanche and Sunday are the same day and there ain't no bus on Dimanche. So we had to walk back to Aix after we looked our bikes away in the box. I think I knew that before but I know it better now. Lucky we're in good shape.

One glass of spiced wine and a big bag of churros later all was forgiven.

I even got to buy chestnuts.

Maybe some of the Beaujolais is better than others we will carry out additional testing and let you know.

Maybe at a proper cave du vin.

We took a cooking course.

Our school mate Maria took notes and formulated the recipie for provencal style lamb and veggies.

Recette

2400gr d' agneau 
1 oignon rouge grand 
10 pommes de terre moyennes
2 têtes d'ail 
10 branches de  thym et laurier
Sel 
Huile d'olive 
 
mettre les os de l' agneau dans la casserole sur les os mettre la viande 

Laver et éplucher les pommes de terre ... Couper les pommes en quatre tranches
Laver et émincer l'oignon et l'ail 

Mettre tous les legumes dans la casserole à cote de la viande

Sale les legumes PAS LA VIANDE 

Ajouter l'huile d'olive dans  la casserole 

Mettre la casserole dans le four 
185 C 
35- 40 min 

We drank wine.

We ate fine Provencal style lamb and vegies.

And dessert too! Torte aux pommes with a kind of spinach. We did a great job! 

It snowed.

Yoly hangs her washing out to dry.

The next morning the pants are frozen solid and not very dry.

Blue blue sky in Park Rambot beside the school at recess. Blue blue sky.

Flowers on the trees in the park.

Yoly going to school.

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.

We made it to Aix and have started school. Nov 8 2013.

We arrived in Aix after a thrilling down hill ride from Le Ronque de Antheron. We climbed about 150 feet first thing in the morning then we dropped about 900 feet to get to Aix over about 20 km. it was a nice sunny day so we didn't get cold.

Our apartment was ready when we got there at about one o'clock. We tried to find books and pens and stuff but only ended up with some food. So we ate dinner went to bed and didn't get up until the next morning when we had to report for school.

We showed up for school and wrote a test first thing. It was all essay questions and a verbal interview. I must have done ok because I was placed in level 3 for the afternoon. Yoly is in level 5. That's right level 5 is the highest level they have at this school. The course work is proving challenging for both of us and we both get a ton of homework. I have no shortage of things to study because I missed the first two levels. 

There used to be a painting on the wall

The Abbey of Silvacane was restored by the French government in the 1980s it had been used as out buildings for a farm after the French Revolution.

They had stained glass windows in the barn.

And downward looking faces in the granary.

This is Al riding into Aix just before some lady cussed Yoly out for riding on the side walk. We hope she doesn't turn out to be one of our teachers.

Yoly in front of a mossy fountain in Aix

Our apartment.

Us waiting to be tested at school.

Yoly fooling around in class with the camera, trying to get me in trouble I think.

First field trip with George. The guy with red shoes.

Lunch on the patio after our first day of school.

Lemons on the terrace.

The garden still looks great.

Pétanque lessons in the park.

The guys are leading the match at this point.

Still ahead.

Yoly throwing one of the winning balls.

These balls are all the same colour so the ladies go up by 5 points to win the match.