I may be down but I'm not out....

France won la guerre. =(

The chicken dish I made for dinner actually cooked quite nicely and the potatoes were fine too, but because I had to cook them in the toaster oven and not a real oven, the pan was only big enough to make 4 chicken legs and there's 5 of us living in the house. Gilles and Yadira were out at dinner time, so only JC, Silvia and I ate together, but there wasn't enough for us to have seconds or anything and the portions were small. Gilles came home first and got the last of the chicken, and Yadira just had leftovers when she came home. During our "family meeting" they said that when you cook you're generally supposed to make extra so there will be leftovers for lunch the next day, but I couldn't make more because the pan was too small.

The strawberry pretzel salad- that's a different story. Because it wasn't really cream cheese and cool whip I was using, the cream middle wasn't the right consistency. And the gelatin over here is wayyyy heavier than jello gelatin is... so when I added the top layer, it just sunk down into the cream. It tasted okay, but the gelatin gave it a weird, rubbery texture instead of a gel that sets the fruit and kind of made it weird to eat. They all said it tasted really good, but did agree that the texture was a little off. Oh well. We didn't even eat a quarter of what I made, so there's plenty left if any of you want some!

France 1, Gina 0. We'll see how things go next week. If any of you have great dinner ideas that don't need to be put in an oven, please share! =)

After dinner, JC left to go to work and Silvia and I cleaned up and then she took me out to a park called Trembley. It's about 6 blocks or so away from our house and the absolute perfect place to go to read a book, talk a walk in nice weather, sit and reflect on life, lay out and tan, etc... It's actually quite large with numerous playgrounds pour les enfants with fountains they can play in during the summer time, tennis courts, golf courts, basketball courts, volleyball court, a track and soccer field, and I only got to see about a 1/3 of the whole thing! Silvia told me that the people from the chinese church (the one they attend) usually meet in the park to play sports or fellowship or whatnot. She said, "It's just a whole bunch of chinese people in one place so no one else ever goes over to bother them," and I cracked up. She also said she loves to go to Trembley when she has free time and encouraged me to do the same. I'm sure I will take advantage of that! I really enjoyed being able to talk with Silvia. She is full of so much wisdom and even in the past 4 days I feel like I've learned so much from her about the way life works. She tells me a lot about her own life and her own past experiences and these are things that I can take and learn from and cherish. Plus, she's so much fun to be around! She has a great sense of humor and is very young at heart, but in a mature, wise way. She's the perfect role model for me to have at this point in my life.

While we were walking there, I realized just how much diversity there is in the area where I live. I've noticed pretty much equal amounts of whites, blacks, asians, and middle eastern people... to be honest I haven't seen too many hispanic families but I live with one. Along the way to the park, we past a Turkish restaurant, a Chinese restaurant (like, a real Chinese one, not the american "chinese" we have in the States), a Portuguese bar, a store that sells African foods, and a pizza parlor. It's so cool. I feel like I'm so blessed to be part of an environment with such a variety! I think I'm going to learn a lot from spending time here.

On the way back from the park, we stopped in the bar where JC works now. He's a bartender at this place called "Planéte Billard", a bar and pool hall type place but more sophisticated and upscale than the ones in the United States. It's a private place, like, not just anyone is allowed to go in and drink/play pool there. There's a camera outside and you have to ring a bell and whoever's bartending decides if they'll allow you to come in or not, so being let in made me feel like a real VIP haha. We walked over to the bar and JC fixed us both a drink (mine was really sweet and pineapple flavored, and JC gave me extra bon bons- a sugary, marshmallow-like candy. =) Speaking of marshmallows, I haven't been able to find regular white marshmallows here either. They only have strawberry flavored ones. As far as I know, the white (vanilla?) ones don't exist. Go figure. France, you do not cease to confuse me.

While we were there, we watched the World Cup game Brazil vs North Korea. We were surprised because the place was pretty empty and we thought there'd be more people there to watch the game. It was projected on a large screen on the wall so it's the ideal location to get to watch it. Of course we were cheering for Brazil (or, Brésil, as we call it here). It was a really fun time and I enjoyed the time I got to spend with Silvia and JC actually doing something besides lying around the house (although we were just sitting at a bar but it's okay... small steps!)

Oh, and on a sidenote, I walked to the supermarket by myself today. I really felt like I'm a part of life here; that I can do normal things like just leave the house when I need something, walk to the market, come back. It still hits me at least twice a day that, hey, I'm in France. It's not a vacation. I'm living here. This is my LIFE. Whoa. And what a marvelous life it is =)

Even without cream cheese or strawberry jello =P