le 5 octobre
Today I am nineteen years old! Dennis sent me a jar of peanut butter!
le 8 octobre
It's another Montpellier weekend. Hianta's family invited me to celebrate my birthday with them. Tomorrow I'm going to meet Hianta's eldest brother, whose name is Karim; Karim's wife, Sophie; and their two children, Noé and Anouk! The menu for tomorrow is sambos (samosas) and a giant paella, so we had some serious shopping to do today. We went to the muslim district to find the herbs we needed, then to Picard (a store that sells nothing but pre-frozen products, which seemed a little bizarre to me at first), to a Chinese market, and finally to a very typically French butcher. This meal that we're preparing is gonna be a truly multicultural one.

Hianta and I are making sambos. According to Indian tradition, it's something girls have to know before they can get married.
le 9 octobre
The party was even better than I'd expected. We finished all of the preparations this morning. When Karim and company arrived, we had lunch. We spent more than two hours at the table, catching up and chatting.

Hyacinte and Noé playing poolside.


The ENORMOUS paella!


Everybody sing!

Then everyone squashed into two cars and went to the huge ponds near Villeneuve. We saw something a little unsettling there. A guy had hobbled a dozen ducks with little rocks and pieces of string. He had also set up a little flotilla of decoys a few meters out from the shore... all of this with the objective of attracting wild ducks and shooting them with the rifle he was leaning on. He told us he planned to sell his catch for food. All of this seemed pretty sketchy to me, but since I don't know how the normal process goes that ends in a chunk of duck on my plate, I won't try to judge it. Anyway, our walk ended nicely. Hianta and I picked wildflowers and wild rosemary, Noé gave each of us a little white flower, and then we all climbed happily back into our cars.


Noé, who doesn't bother with little twigs, and a hobbled duck.


Our flowers and a little snail who stowed away on my pant cuff.

le 14 octobre
Yesterday was fun. I'll expand later. For now, two photos should give you an idea:

Jon Spencer (and his explosive blues).


Géraud and Brice, two crazy guys.

le 29 octobre
Yup, here I am at the end of the mont, having completely neglected to keep you up to date. Suffice to say that everything is going well in Toulouse. The Dickinson family spent a very nice day at Castres. We saw two museums and a lively market, all of which made the trip well worth it. Another little bit of news: classes have finally started at the Mirail. It is definitely no Dickinson - vandalized buildings, leaky ceilings, thousands of students, badly-heated classrooms with their banks of tables - but this change has done me nothing but good. I find the atmosphere welcoming and the professors interesting, and I've already started to find some friends. What can I say but that I'm happy? I'll have some work to do this semester, that's for sure, but I'm ready to bite into it.
le 30 octobre
Today, we're going to do a little analepse (a word that I learned from one of my lit profs - I hope it fits in this case). What's new? Kanako left to go live in an apartment with her Japanese friends; Sophie's parents came to spend a week of carpentry and cooking with their grandchildren; and I am beginning to get lost in my Latin class. Now, let's revisit the beginning of my stay in France with some photos courtesy of Kanako.

Here is the pretty house in which I have the pleasure of residing!


The kitchen, where every night Vincent works his magic.


Sophie and Vincent, my host parents.


Thibault and I on my first day in Toulouse.


Marine and her marionette.


Kanako at the Capitole.


Marine, Thibault, and their adopted-taped-together sister, Wendy.


What would I do without tags to advise me?

le 31 octobre
It's Halloween! We tried to go trick-or-treating at the neighbors', but we didn't exactly have much luck. Marine was too scared to ring bells and therefore decided to go back home, then a few neighbors had nothing to give us. Finally we found two charitable souls who filled Thibault's pumpkin with six pieces of candy, and that pleased him immensely. He crowed all night about his loot.

Let's go scare the neighbors!


Thibault with his booty.


Dinner time.