Bricolage and Bon Voyage

This semester has absolutely flown by.

Today we had to break up our little multicultural group so that some of us could go home. Bronwyn is leaving Dijon tonight, and France tomorrow morning. Isabelle is here till Sunday and leaves France the following Tuesday, and Katty and Christine get to stay all summer before going elsewhere to pursue their educational careers. I'm so surprised that I was able to create such strong bonds with these girls in so little time. I'm really going to miss them!

From left to right: Bronwyn, Katty, Olivier, Anthony, and Christine. Awesome snuggle circle. We enjoyed an awesome picnic lunch before creating the awesome snuggle circle. It was awesome.

This morning we went to the market to pick up stuff for breakfast and lunch, and then came back to my house to eat. Frédéric and Mathilde were nice enough to let us have a bit of a party. It was great! We made an enormous fruit salad with fresh fruit from the market, and ate it with croissants and coffee.

Myam! What a wonderful way to start the day. 

Anthony goofing around at lunch. 

After lunch we hit the park for a wander. We bought Bronwyn a t-shirt at market this morning. I have the same one. I adore it. 

Money from around the world! Top to bottom: USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Euro. Fun stuff.

Oh, how I love these ladies! 

Wednesday marked our last day of classes. Katty, Bronwyn, and I hung out all afternoon. 

This is what a chestnut looks like while it's growing. They're really quite sharp!

Donkeys! There's a park near Bronwyn's house that has a bunch of animals in the middle of it. Not a petting zoo exactly. Just pens full of animals. 

I loved the pen full of birds. The peacocks were gorgeous. But what's that fluffy grey thing in the top left-hand corner of the picture?? 

Bunny! So cute. Pretty hardcore too. I watched it fight off a chicken that was after a treat that it wanted. 

The peacocks were so brightly coloured! 

Food here is adorable! And so is Bronwyn. :)

Emo pony doesn't care what you think about his hair. It's dark like the pain in his soul. 

Land, ho! There were some fun little wooden animals near the real little animals. 

Attack chair! There were chair-themed sculptures scattered around the park. Some were awesome, others were straight-up wierd. 

Jolie filles! Oh, how I'll miss you. 

Bronwyn and I went out for dinner together at a place called l'Épicerie. They specialize in Dijonnaise and Burgundian specialties. This is Kir. I really like Kir. 

Oeufs Murettes. Eggs poached in the sauce from beef bourgignonne. Unbelievably tasty. 

Petit casserole d'escargots. Yep, escargots in cream sauce with croutons. Om nom!

My dinner. Beef with époisse (local cheese) sauce and fries made with duck oil. First beef steak here. Surprisingly good! After the entrées, though, it was tough to finish it all. 

Bronwyn's dinner. Chicken thigh with a mustard/cream/wine sauce named after Gaston Gérard, a previous mayor of Dijon. It also came with roasted veggies and mashed potatoes. 

This has been our project this weekend. Bricolage. We're creating a window between the kitchen and the salon. This is the before. 

While Frédéric and Mathilde cut the hole in the wall, I explored the garden. We have wild strawberries! They're tiny, but so good! Incredibly sweet and full of flavour. We also have raspberries, blackberries, and sour cherries. Yum!

This is the after-ish picture. Hole is cut and needs some adjusting, and the frame was varnished by yours truly. I do good work, if I do say so myself. Eventually it'll be a window with glass in it, to let in light but keep out smells and sounds from the kitchen. The house is full of dust that's driving my asthma and allergies crazy, but it looks pretty good so far! 

To quote John Mayer, "If you never stop when you wave goodbye, you just might find if you give it time, you will wave hello again". I've been waving goodbye to my friends and family back home since the end of January, and in just 14 sleeps I'll be waving hello to them again. I'm going to keep waving goodbye to these wonderful ladies until we see each other again. Hopefully that'll happen soon. My arm is starting to get tired. 

Je vous adore, les filles. 

À bientôt!