Heading down South

Today was amazing. I started by flying with Pablo during his lesson and I got to see the Chateaux de Versailles from the sky, which was pretty awesome. I got a little sick from it, which is unusual for me, but Pablo says it happens to people a lot when they have a bumpy ride in a small plane like that one, which we did since he was practicing landings. Here are a couples pictures of the Chateaux de Versailles from the sky.

Then we had lunch with the family, they took me to the airport, and I said goodbye to everyone and it was sad and scary. We were there at a reasonable hour, but the line was so long, I probably would not have made my flight were it not for Mar pulling strings on my behalf.
I talked to an elderly woman on the plane named Rosa who was very nice, very french, and very charmed by me. I wasn't making an effort to be charming, but I think speaking to someone in a decent but somewhat broken version of their language makes you automatically endearing.

I thought the school was going to pick me up, and I was grumbling to myself about my many things I had to carry (mainly my coat, which was annoying in the heat) and what would you know but when I stepped out into the baggage claim area the first people in front of me were a middle aged man and a young lad holding a sign that said Carla Lerner! My homestay family had come to fetch me themselves! I informed them that I was Carla Lerner and they immediately hugged and kissed me, took my bags before I could protest, and told me that their names were Jacob and Alexis (pronounced Alex-y. All this happened in French) Jacob is a short and slightly portly man with three large Einstein-esque tufts of orange hair and a permanent smile when he is not talking (but more often he is talking.) If French clowns were generally likable, they would look like Jacob. I adored him immediately. Alexis is already taller than his father, with much darker features. He is eleven, and has a bit of the round faced pudginess that many boys have at that age, but he has a sweet smile and I think will grow up to be quite handsome once he passes through the ordeal of puberty.
God, I'm glad I'm not in puberty anymore.
They insisted that I speak to them in the casual “tu” instead of the formal “vous” since “we are family now!” and I was only too happy to oblige.
I was blazing outside, and I felt like I was back in California. The quality of light is a bit similar too. They drove me home and we soon discovered that we love all of the same things. When we arrived in Aix (it was about a twenty minute drive) I think my eyes must has looked like soup plates. I was stunned by how beautiful it was. None of the pictures I saw do it justice. It is the way I always imagined and hoped Europe would be from movies and books growing up, and better even. There were wonderful winding, cobbled roads with beautiful, ornatete old building, and FOUNTAINS EVERYWHERE. And what's more, YOU CAN DRINK FROM THEM!
I CAN DRINK WATER FROM A MERMAID! ...Well, a mermaid statue.
Here are a couple fountain pictures, and other Aix stuff.




Today was the last day of a yearly festival of music in the streets. There was a classical music concert going on in the village square, and they had chops, especially the oboe player. YOUNG FOLK WERE IN ATTENDANCE. It was crazy.
As we drove through the town, I asked Jacob if it was just him, Alexis, and his wife. His face lit up. “Yes!” He said. “She is Vietnamese, and very young and beautiful. I first saw her here in Aix, a little Vietnamese woman, completely lovely. It is a good thing. I am not handsome, but my son is!” He turned to grin at Alexis who grinned back.
“You are very lucky,” I said.”
He smiled. “I am not handsome, but I am smart. I knew what I wanted and I went for it.”
He did not lie about his wife's beauty. We arrived at their address and out stepped a stunning Vietnamese woman with her hair pulled softly back, wearing a teal dress and a small smile. Her name is Jade. She hugged and kissed me right away like her menfolk, then the boys grabbed my smaller (but still heavy) pieces of luggage, and went upstairs. I was a bit surprised, and then Jade started to help me with by big suitcase and I understood that the had acted as they did because Jade's strength is akin to that of PopEye. I mean, dayum. Anyway, we only had to carry it up one story luckily, and then I started to settle into my room, which is well lit and lovely, and had a giant antique wardrobe. It's perfect. They are perfect. I have so much more to write, but I need to sleep because we are going to a museum tomorrow morning. Bon nuit!

-Carla