More People in Town

I am meeting and seeing more and more people all the time here. This area seems to be very quiet during the winter, but then springs into action during the summer months. Since the farm really borders the mountains, there are a lot of people who only come here during the summer because the flowers are in bloom and there are a lot of summer festivals. In fact, there will be a music festival coming up this week and a cherry festival is going on today (there is actually a cherry tree right outside my bedroom window, and the cherries are turning red now). Next weekend is a festival for the transhumance, which is when all the sheep farmers bring the animals up to the mountains. Chérif and I will do that tomorrow. I bet I'll have some interesting stories to share!

We will also go with the new WWOOFer that is here. Her name is Alison and she comes from Britain. She is about50 years old and has been volunteering around Europe on separate, small trips for about 10 years now! She is a true nomad at heart and loves moving around. She seems fascinated with the Hippie movement, hehe. She is very sweet and does translation for a living, so she is helping me with my French when I don't understand things. It's nice to have someone to speak English with, too. Trying to speak French all the time is becoming stressful for me.

Speaking French at the Saturday market is always stressful! Everyone notices my accent and like to point it out, haha. I say that I'm American. They either become silent, haha, or engage in a long conversation about something, like Israel or how they have family living in the USA. I did see some familiar faces at the market this time. They seem to have more patience with me. Ja-Ja brought fresh pea pods, sugar snap peas, baby spinach leaves, and raspberries to the market for the first time. The strawberries are looking better since it hasn't been raining so much. The carrots, radishes, and green beans seem to be favorites.

I've still be eating very good: tomato and egg tarts, friend tuna and egg rolls, salad greens, Asian stir-fry with tofu, zucchini sautées, runny eggs with bread, cardamum-spiced rice pilaf, and more. I'm certainly having those cravings for food back home, though: sweet potatoes, broccoli, salmon, chicken, corn, pork BBQ, chocolate cake, and more. I've realized that I live in a wonderful part of the world! There's air conditioning and heat systems, cheaper food, movie theaters and shopping all around, safe roads to go on walks and jogs, and family! I miss my family very much, especially Mom's home cooking, Dad's flowers, and even watching sports with Alex. Sometimes discovering new ways of life makes you understand how special home is, no matter what the differences are or if one way seems better than the other. Love you all!