IKEA, Strikes!, & Olives!!

So I have so much to tell everyone. I really should just post a short blog every night instead of having to go through the last couple of days and write a novel. Sorry!! But this is what you get!!

So I mentioned that I went grocery shopping: I bought some apples, bananas, pain au chocolat (haha Kelly!), cookies, rice, couscous, bread, cheese, mustard, jam, and apple juice. Plus I get a baguette for ,80 Euro every day or so on the way back from classes. I'm gonna get some pasta, sauce, peanut butter (which is really hard to find here!), tomatoes, and lettuce when I go next, which will probly be next week, unless I get out there tomorrow or Friday. We shall see. I need KK's advice on what to cook, though. I'm prob gonna do Couscous a lot cuz a little goes a long way, and I can cut up tomatoes and cheese for that. I can do the same thing for pasta and rice. I'm probly gonna buy eggs, too, so I can do scrambled eggs and omelettes for lunch and/or dinner. I don't have an oven, so if anyone (especially you, ma chere jumelle!!) has any tips or ideas, PLEASE let me know!! I actually found a stove-top chicken parm recipe, which is soooo exciting!! If you know me at all, you know how much I love my chicken parm lol.

So I've been talking about COOKING because yesterday Emily, Colleen, Robert (in a french accent, of course), and I went to the Odysseum, which is an outdoor mall. It's my little slice of America! I wasn't going to buy anything, but there was an adorable little blue and white striped dress for 19 E, so I bought that. I'm prob gonna wait to buy any other clothes til the weather changes, though. Might buy a pair of sandals, however, as I've been wearing my black flippies almost every day and I don't want to ruin them. So then we went to IKEA and I bought all this stuff for 32 E:
-a pack of 2 cutting boards
-a frying pan
-a sauce pan w/ lid
-a coffee mug (need my coffee maker still though!! AAHHH!!)
-a dish
-a bowl
-a package of silverware (I think there are four knives, spoons, forks, and soup spoons)
-a package of 4 good knives in a wooden holder (Mommy will love this!!)
-a pack that came with a spatula, large spoon, and large fork
-a pack of 3 tupperwares (that is clearly not grammatically correct, but I don't know how to say it....)
-a peeler (for potatoes or carrots or whatever)
-a can opener
-a dish towel
and my favorite:
-a wine opener!! It's practically the same thing as what we have at home, so now we'll have 3 when I get back!! We'll never need to buy another again!!

So I'd say it was a successful trip. And all that stuff will prob have to be shipped back home! Lucky me!

Hmm, what's next on the list? STRIKES! Yes, that's right, I will be having my first strike experience on Tuesday, September 7th. It's people who work for the government (fonctionnaires). So the tram probly won't be running, nor will any trains, so some of the girls here had to switch their train tickets. But I'm not planning on travelling during that week, so it won't effect me! A lot of people are going away for 4 or 5 days, but I'd rather have money when I get home. Plus, we've gone on excursions to Nimes and Avignon, and still have one more. That's plenty of travelling for now, and I wanna do a little when Carl comes! So I'll have to stay local on the 7th!

Next on the list: OLIVES!!
We went to an Oliveraie/Oliverie (I don't remember which one is correct, sorry) today. We got to walk in the olive orchard, and I took some pictures because we were in the countryside and right by the mountains! I think its the Cevennes! Yes, def is, but there's a name for that part of them that starts with an M and I know it's in my notes from civilization class, but I'm not about to look it up right now. So those pictures will be up probably next week with the St-Guilhem-Le-Desert pictures. It was so gorgeous, oh my gosh! And the oliverie was attached to an old house! I'd love to live around there, just for a vacation house (PLEASE BE RICH SOMEDAY!!). It was just perfect, with a wonderful breeze and pure, fresh air! I want to go back! They invited us back for their olive harvest at the end of December, but I won't be around. Oh well. Someday!

We got to taste 2 different olive oils, which was really weird, but cool. All the stuff there was organic, except that sometimes they have to spray pesticides around the area if there are bugs attacking. For instance, they had to spray a few areas surrounding the olive trees recently, because a certain type of fly has been biting the olives, which ruins them. We got to see a good one vs. one bitten by the fly. Dont eat olives off a tree if you don't know they've been bitten!! Ew!! Anyway, these olive oils were sooo strong, but probly mad good in food! They burned on the way down! And they had two very different flavors. I never realized olive oil could be so tasty!

We also tasted some tapenades (olive spreads) and I bought one of each (4 of them for 13 E). I'm gonna save them for when Carl comes. And if we don't finish them (which we probly wont - a little goes a long way), I'll see if I can seal them back up and ship them home for everyone to try!

Now I've been on the computer, putting off doing hw. But I have to do laundry!! But I don't remember how late the laverie is open until, so I think I'm just gonna wash my panties in the sink when I'm done writing this. I'm wearing my last clean pair and didn't realize it til today :O !! Then I'll concoct something for dinner, but I don't know if I'm gonna cook. Might just have a cheese/mustard sandwich and an apple and a PAIN AU CHOCOLAT (haha) for dessert. And some orange juice! And now that I have my wine opener I can open my bottle of wine!! 2E at Monoprix!!

I'll be writing soon, my loves. Take care and I love you all (especially Gramma and Mocha!!)!!

Luvvies,
Heather