Maman woke me up around 9h00 today. She and Bonne Maman were going to town to get some groceries and the kids needed to be monitored. I had had beaucoup de sommeil so I immediately popped out of bed. I went down for my morning coffee and sipped on that while the two girls and Gregoire watched their usual trashy, reality TV. I told them to stay in the house and that I was going to go for a run, but they begged to come with me. About an hour later, everyone was ready to go.
The four of us jogged down to the village and made our ways through the nooks and alleys, escaping dogs that weren't accustomed to strangers. Léa stayed at my side the entire time. She's a great runner! Gregoire is even quicker than the both of us! The little dude has to take twice as many steps as us so watching him was like watching Speedy Gonzales. He is so freakin' cute! That's my little man ;-) Camille is always sick with something so as soon as we got started, she started complaining about stomach issues. For Camille, it's one of two things. Either, she doesn't actually want to run but doesn't want to look like a wuss so she pretends she really wants to go, and then finds an excuse to stop, OR, she has some sort of stomach disease that no doctor has been able to pinpoint yet. I'm guessing it's the first of the two, but whatever. She took Greg back to the house against his will while Léa and I explored the rest of the village. Everything is so old and everyone is so friendly here. It reminds me a lot of the rural areas surrounding Harrisonburg but the history here dates back before North America was even discovered. Léa and I passed by the winemaker's house who my host family apparently knows extremely well. I wonder if he'll show me his ways because I really enjoyed his 2012 bottle of white.
Léa and I circled the entire village before we met Camille and Gregoire at the bottom of the hill. They must've been walking really slow because we weren't running fast at all and had made quite a few stops. The four of us climbed back up the hill to the house and re-hydrated. Then, while the three of them played in the rec house, I laid out in the sun with my music and reflected on life for a bit. Self-reflection--DONE. I am independent and I've never needed a partner to define me. I am here to do one thing, and that's change the world. I can't allow love to get in the way of that. Love is just a mixture of dopamine, oxytocin, seratonin, and a bunch of other chemicals that are released in your brain that cloud your judgement. Basically, it makes you stupid.
With my renewed sense of self, maman loaded all of us kids into her van and we took a short drive in the early evening. When she stopped the car, the seven of us jetted across the highway and descended down a steep, leaf-covered trail. When we got to the bottom I was shocked! Sitting in front of me were three beautiful waterfalls. These were not your average, trickling waterfalls. These were sizeable rapids. ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING. I haven't seen waterfalls this gorgeous since Whiteoak Canyon Trail in Virginia. The perk of the waterfalls here is that you can pass right beneath them without wading through deep water.
I say it all the time but I am so blessed. I am so blessed that I found a host family that loves me like one of their own. They want me to experience all things french and everything that makes them who they are. I am so lucky that my family wants to show me France and take me on vacations with them. They really care about my experience here and it's so apparent with everything that they do for me. They've even shared their entire family history with me. I feel like I'm a part of this bloodline. Who knows? Maybe my great, great, grandfather who was french was a distant ancestor. That would be kind of weird and fateful in a way.
The four of us jogged down to the village and made our ways through the nooks and alleys, escaping dogs that weren't accustomed to strangers. Léa stayed at my side the entire time. She's a great runner! Gregoire is even quicker than the both of us! The little dude has to take twice as many steps as us so watching him was like watching Speedy Gonzales. He is so freakin' cute! That's my little man ;-) Camille is always sick with something so as soon as we got started, she started complaining about stomach issues. For Camille, it's one of two things. Either, she doesn't actually want to run but doesn't want to look like a wuss so she pretends she really wants to go, and then finds an excuse to stop, OR, she has some sort of stomach disease that no doctor has been able to pinpoint yet. I'm guessing it's the first of the two, but whatever. She took Greg back to the house against his will while Léa and I explored the rest of the village. Everything is so old and everyone is so friendly here. It reminds me a lot of the rural areas surrounding Harrisonburg but the history here dates back before North America was even discovered. Léa and I passed by the winemaker's house who my host family apparently knows extremely well. I wonder if he'll show me his ways because I really enjoyed his 2012 bottle of white.
Léa and I circled the entire village before we met Camille and Gregoire at the bottom of the hill. They must've been walking really slow because we weren't running fast at all and had made quite a few stops. The four of us climbed back up the hill to the house and re-hydrated. Then, while the three of them played in the rec house, I laid out in the sun with my music and reflected on life for a bit. Self-reflection--DONE. I am independent and I've never needed a partner to define me. I am here to do one thing, and that's change the world. I can't allow love to get in the way of that. Love is just a mixture of dopamine, oxytocin, seratonin, and a bunch of other chemicals that are released in your brain that cloud your judgement. Basically, it makes you stupid.
With my renewed sense of self, maman loaded all of us kids into her van and we took a short drive in the early evening. When she stopped the car, the seven of us jetted across the highway and descended down a steep, leaf-covered trail. When we got to the bottom I was shocked! Sitting in front of me were three beautiful waterfalls. These were not your average, trickling waterfalls. These were sizeable rapids. ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING. I haven't seen waterfalls this gorgeous since Whiteoak Canyon Trail in Virginia. The perk of the waterfalls here is that you can pass right beneath them without wading through deep water.
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