Andy informed me Sunday evening that our friend and French tutor, David, would like to take us for food and wine on Monday afternoon. I assumed we'd meet in the Centre for a bite, have a glass of wine, speak English for a bit, and be on our merry way.
I was wrong. So so wrong. David picked us up and whisked us off to a perfectly rustic restaurant about 20 minutes outside of Toulouse. A well-connected community man and former professional rugby player, he took us to a restaurant that supports the local team, Stade Toulousain. We met YaYa, exchanged bisous, and sat down at the bar. Almost instantly, a bottle of local wine and an impressive spread (of just the appetizer portion of our meal, mind you) had been placed in front of me and Andy. For those of your wondering, yes I tried the "Foie Gras Croque Monsieur" pictured first below.
After paying a quick visit to Teiva's new offices (the wonderful man who started and runs our French tutoring program), we headed back to town. On the way home, the sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful bright blue, and all three of us were singing at the top of our lungs to American pop hits like "Call Me Maybe" and "Empire State of Mind."
At one point I just stopped, looked around at the beautiful French countryside, and thought to myself, "Is this real life? Not even real life, but MY LIFE?!" It's moments like these that make this whole experience - the anxious days waiting for an email response from an agent, the stress of over late payments, and an oven-free/two burner life - oh so worth it. Never in a million years did I think on a random Monday afternoon, I'd find myself so love drunk and high on happiness. We're pretty stinkin' lucky.
on to the next one...
I was wrong. So so wrong. David picked us up and whisked us off to a perfectly rustic restaurant about 20 minutes outside of Toulouse. A well-connected community man and former professional rugby player, he took us to a restaurant that supports the local team, Stade Toulousain. We met YaYa, exchanged bisous, and sat down at the bar. Almost instantly, a bottle of local wine and an impressive spread (of just the appetizer portion of our meal, mind you) had been placed in front of me and Andy. For those of your wondering, yes I tried the "Foie Gras Croque Monsieur" pictured first below.
After paying a quick visit to Teiva's new offices (the wonderful man who started and runs our French tutoring program), we headed back to town. On the way home, the sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful bright blue, and all three of us were singing at the top of our lungs to American pop hits like "Call Me Maybe" and "Empire State of Mind."
At one point I just stopped, looked around at the beautiful French countryside, and thought to myself, "Is this real life? Not even real life, but MY LIFE?!" It's moments like these that make this whole experience - the anxious days waiting for an email response from an agent, the stress of over late payments, and an oven-free/two burner life - oh so worth it. Never in a million years did I think on a random Monday afternoon, I'd find myself so love drunk and high on happiness. We're pretty stinkin' lucky.
on to the next one...
Amen sista!! It's pretty amazing isn't it? I am so glad that you got to enjoy what France is all about and so early on. And that Foie Gras looked amazing!! I came around to some of it by the time we left. I love your attitude and outlook.. can't wait to see more French days (although it is making me long for de francais in my life).
ReplyDelete