ni forchette ni couteau

life is so funny. let me illustrate this for you:

sunday evening.
me and lauren are sitting at a cafe listening to a band called "the nashville cats" sing blues and country, drinking the local aperatifs.
here are the stipulations:
1. this cafe is in salon de provence, a place where neither of us have been before this summer but has become quite familiar territory for me
2. it's me and lauren, who met through our friend rebecca and the first time we had a legit conversation was when i went all the way to maryland to stay with her
3. the local apperatifs are cassis and kin vin blanc...things local to the region
4. the band is singing blues and country, which is local to new orleans, but we're in france, listening to our region's music being sung by french people


what a strange combination. it was so great. this whole weekend was so fun. me and lauren were just so relaxed and had a lot of fun. being with lauren is good. she's a lot shier than me, so when i picked her up from the train station, i noticed me talking double time. i do that around people that don't talk as much as me. i talk to make up for their lack of talking, but then i was like "yo chels...chill" and after that, it was so great. i blew out the electricity and internet on the first floor and lauren broke their wine glass! hahah this probably didn't help america's reputation. sorry! i loved our dinners because they were so simple and delicious and enjoyable. i didn't have to worry about eating correctly or anything and our mix was just so great. jambalaya served with provencal haricots verts with lentils and a side of olives? um of course that's the winning combination!

so lauren left today and i went for a run, a swim, did some groceries ( i felt like it was necessary for me to replace a tomato because we ate half of their tomatos....2), finished my wax (the wax lady invited me over for an aperitif thursday! she, my friend, is so awesome), had a french lesson (i am getting gooooood!), and got back to the hizzouse. i left a note saying not to wait for me for dinner. i didn't want them to be held up, but they thought i'd eaten so they set the table for 2 and i was like um...can i eat with yall? a bit awkward. also i haven't gotten my salary for the week, which is a touchy issue because i asked if i'd be paid this week a while ago when we were talking money and i think they said yes, but i don't know and i'd feel super dumb to ask again. grrrr money and language barriers are not so fun.

my momma told me about the 4th of july and she celebrated it with my real favorite babies: josie and mia. if it was that family and those kids, i'd be loving every second of this. when i was walking the street with lauren yesterday i was telling her " god i bet everyone in america is bbq-ing big slabs of meat and eating copious amounts of food, with improper etiquette, standing up. i'm so jealous." my mom confirmed this.

anyway america, i hope you enjoyed yourself. tomorrow i think i'm going to arles to look around. i hope my money's on the shelf in the morning.

si l'argent n'etait pas la, je ne serai tres contente! qu'est-ce que je ferrai?! je mangerai avec ni fourchette ni couteau.
(if the money isn't there, i won't be happy. what will i do? i'll eat without a fork and knife!)
HAHA

Chels