Day 2: Sunday June 30th

Today was my first full day at my host family's house, and I feel like I've already learned so much. Sometimes it's really awkward, and I feel out of place because I barely know French. They speak so fast that the words I do know don't sound the same anymore since they slurr all their words together. My family is extremely welcoming though, and they try to translate for me. 

This morning I went on a jog around the vineyards and it was gorgeous! I'm kind of in the middle of no where but its really pretty so I don't really mind. 

After I showered and ate breakfast, my family took me to a local chateau where the village had a lunch and little stands set up where people could sell hand made jewelry or old books and movies that they didn't want anymore. It was similar to a garage sale. A few of the couples that are friends with my host parents spoke a little English, which helped. Everyone is extremely nice. 

After the village lunch we came back to our house, and there was an artist who came and let us play with clay. I made a lady bug, butter fly, three peas in a pod, and a baseball cap out of clay. I'm pretty talented after my 5 years of working at Tamarak ;) It was fun because all of Lea's friends really wanted to teach me words in French so I was running around with them, and they were pointing at different objects and teaching me how to say them. They really struggle with saying the "th" sound in English because they don't pronounce "h" in French its usually silent. Where as, I struggle with the throaty sounds and the "r" sound that they make. Especially for words like "heure", which means "hour". 

I also got to try all three of the red wines that they make here and the sparkling wine. You all probably already knew this, but I learned that the "champagne" we drink at home is usually sparkling wine and not champagne. Wine is considered champagne when it comes from the champagne region of France (north east), but it is super super expensive in the US so most of the time you are drinking sparkling wine and not champagne. 

After the wine tasting, I got to drive in one of the French ladies cars. It was a super old fashion car. This lady was crazy but it was kind of fun haha. Renaud drove behind us and picked me up from her house to drive me back home, and I went swimming with Lea for a little bit. We just ate some cantelope and now I'm off to bed because I start working in the fields tomorrow around 8am.