A day of two halves

Well, this morning I went to Le Vieux Port to meet Gemma again, I also met two other assistants - Liz and Sarah. They were both American. Liz is from New York, she has graduated and being an assistant is something she has chosen to do rather than something that is obligatoire for her degree. She speaks Wallah (did I spell that right?!) She was very talkative and interested in Politics, infact, she was quite interesting. She's been assigned to Lycee Thiers - Angeline's old school! Sarah was a bit quieter, she's from Cleveland, Ohio and her school is in Vitrolles near the airport. She's in the process of finding somewhere to live, but then again, everyone seems to be doing that! From what I gathered she's been an assistant in Aix before, or at the very least she's lived in Aix before. I got the impression she was finding it hard to settle in and was maybe a bit lonely. Anyway, we met up at 11 and decided to go to Le Palais Longchamps. It was easy to find and really really nice. The fountain at the front is huge! I was a bit disappointed because I didn't have my camera with me. I think I might go back tomorrow and take some photos. We sat in the park talking about all manner of things from politics to mobile phones. It was good to meet more people. I only stayed until 13h because I needed to go shopping and I had other things to do. On my way back to the town centre I called in Monoprix and bought some fruit juice, water, milk and tartlettes au citron. I bought the UHT milk, just a small bottle to try. I then called in the boulangerie and bought a baguette and a croissant. I went home and had lunch. If I'm honest I was a bit fed up. Ok, so I'd met 3 people and they are nice but I can't imagine that we will be best friends. I hope to see them again, but it was strange going sightseeing with someone who I had met about 30 seconds ago! After I'd had my lunch I sent a few emails, posted on a few people's walls on facebook and backed up my hard drive. I was just considering how I was going to pass the rest of the day when Auriane (my colocataire) returned. I was pleased to see her because she had the key to the postbox and I could see there was a postcard in there for me but I couldn't get at it! She asked whether I wanted to go out to Le Vieux Port and I said yes. We decided to go now because she had homework to do which she preferred to do in the evening. We went to Le Vieux Port and had crepes and a drink. I don't think I have ever eaten so many crepes in my whole life as I have in the past few days! It's a good job I like them! It was a crepe citron-sucre with chantilly (my new word!) and a strawberry, very well presented. I also had un jus d'orange. I learnt that elle a reussi un concours pour aller a Marseille. She tried to go to Paris but didn't pass le concours so she had a spare year - last year. She studied l'histoire d'art and wants to do interieur design or something similar, she's yet to decide. We sat and talked about random things. About tv shows, stereotypes - fried bacon and eggs for breakfast in England, milk and cookies mid afternoon, it was then I learnt why il n'y a pas beaucoup de lait frais, because milk is not a big part of the french diet, it isn't important, so the UHT milk is sufficient. We stayed quite a while and then walked back. It was nice to spend some time with her because since I arrived I haven't seen her alot. She is taking her driving test next week and will be going back to Monaco for les vacances touissaint.

So, a day of two halves, the afternoon providing a complete turnaround. Just as I thought the highlight of my day was going to be the cheese and pickle sandwich I had for lunch... it turns out that it was not the crepe, but the afternoon company that was the hightlight of my day. A demain.