Who moved/ate my [goat] cheese?

After I posted yesterday, I realized that it was well past my lunch time and I was starving. I shuffled into the kitchen to find food, only to discover that there was none. Part of the deal with living with a host family is that two meals per day are provided for you- breakfast and dinner. Up until that day, fending for myself for lunch had been a non-issue. Between all of our group excursions and school, I hadn’t had time to even come home for lunch. I had to grab a sandwich on the run. But yesterday I was home and realized I had nothing. So off I headed to Monoprix, which can best be described as a smaller scale Super Walmart or Kroger. They have everything from fresh meats, cheeses, and produce to dental floss, and clothes, which is probably why I find myself there almost every day (Me?! Going to a Kroger-like store everyday? Never!). This particular trip I stocked up on a few lunch essentials… mainly sandwich and pasta stuff. Later on I hear Chloé in the kitchen and I smell food cooking. I think nothing of it until Sophie comes home and is thrilled that Chloé and her boyfriend have surprised her by cooking dinner for us all- a goat cheese and spinach lasagna.  I see my baguette sliced up on the table with the bubbling gooey cheesy lasagna. I realize that the pasta sauce I bought is no longer in the fridge. “What kind of lasagna is this?” I ask Chloé…She replies, ”Goat cheese and spinach…”

Goodbye goat cheese…and baguette…and pasta sauce. I suppose another trip to Monoprix is in order.  Though slightly bummed, I know that she had no idea that those things were mine, so I decided not to say anything. I’ll just make a point of putting all my groceries together in a corner of the fridge or something.  Plus the lasagna was delish, which made it a little less depressing.

By the end of the night, all was well. Sophie’s boyfriend and Chloé’s boyfriend were both there, and conversation was really interesting. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable chiming in when I have something to say or ask.  I think I’ve mentioned before that Sophie’s boyfriend John is a singer/guitarist. During the after dinner grazing period (We’ve pretty much finished eating but are still sitting at the table and picking at remaining food and finishing off a baguette or 2) he started playing “Oh, Champs Elysées,” on his guitar Sophie, Chloé, John, and Fabian all sang along and it was really cool. I haven’t heard that song since 10^th grade French when Ms. Brown and a classroom full of 15 year olds repeatedly botched it. Back then, no one cared because singing songs in high school French meant you weren’t actually doing any work… and isn’t that how an easy A course is supposed to be? Now that I’ve heard it done properly I know it’s actually a really beautiful song! Then comes the crazy part.  All of the sudden John abruptly changed over to playing “She’ll be comin’ round the mountain” and let me tell you- If you’ve never seen 3 French people and a Canadian singing “She’ll be comin’ round the mountain,” you haven’t lived! That was maybe one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. The French version is pretty much the same, but they throw in this extra “oooohhh ahhh oooh ahhh” verse in the middle. Then we did it in rounds. We went around the table and each person sang a verse solo and then everyone had to repeat the verse with them. John’s verse and mine were both in English (Fortunately, I went before John and managed to score “Six white horses” …It’s the only verse I know besides the main one!) and when it came time to repeat them, it all fell apart. John and I were singing in English, Sophie tried to sing them with us, but Chloé and Fabian gave up and did the “oooh  ahhhh oooh ahhh” instead. Very funny stuff.

As for today, we had a group excursion to Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, a town about 20km from Nice, but a million hours by bus. We toured a perfume factory and museum. More details tomorrow. Just know that like everywhere else around here, the view was amazing.