L'Anniversaire de Jessica

Today is Jessica's 20th birthday so we had some celebrating to do. We woke up early and went to church. I could not understand much over the PA system that they had, but at least I know what's supposed to happen. They had the readings written down which was nice because I could read and reflect on them when I couldn't understand the priest. The church was pretty full, except not many people our age and they had a big choir singing since it was the anointing of the sick this week.

Next we went to châteaurenard for their weekend market. We didn't do to much shopping, but we sat at a cafe with Paola's mother Lourdès. Paola, Jessica and Lourdès all drank noisettes which is this petite cup of coffee which is very strong and only has a little bit of milk in it. They would dip the sugar cubes into the coffee and eat them and they called these coffee coated sugar cubes, duck. Since I don't like coffee I drank an Oragina (carbonated orange juice). It is my favorite drink here! We had our drinks out on the patio and stayed there chatting a long time after we were finished. It was very enjoyable and I found that I am understanding a lot more french and wasn't lost in the conversation there at all!!

Paola's mom made what was basically a french version of scalped potatoes for lunch which was very delicious. Then we had a lemon meringue pie which Paola's mom had bought from a bakery for Jessica's birthday. The label is made from an almond based paste which I'm not sure still if I like it.

After that we went to the brand new Ikea that just opened here. (They pronounce it more like Ekea) It was huge and it was crowded. I have never been to an Ikea before since there aren't any in the U.P. They had a guy dressed as a viking outside which I'm still not sure I understand and a live band walking around. It was fun to see all the rooms they had set up and the prices were very good. We were looking for stuff for Paola's new apartment at school and it made me wish that I could buy that kind of stuff here too!

Then it was back to the same cafe for another round- this time most of us had Oraginas. Then we went to rent a movie. Their system is different here. If you don't know what movie you want to see, it is harder to find one. Instead of a store with tons of shelves of DVDs, there is an automatic machine which you scroll through to find your movie and then you pay with a card and it spits it out. Probably more space efficient, but I missed looking through the shelves of DVDs. We had some friends over to watch Knocked Up in french while we had more cake- chocolate this time and more Oragina yumm! It was all very fun, but now I am very much ready for bed!