Day 6

Hung out this morning with David's family. Luke and I played Taki (Uno) with Vincent and he won practically every round. We are now learning our French numbers and colors, takes me back to preschool. Anne made a very tasty lunch of salad, lamb, and potatoes. We learned that the Southern French serve veggies before the main course so you can fill up on the good for you stuff before the meats and carbs. There is always some sort of alcoholic beverage, although surprisingly little wine, and always ALWAYS bread. Yummy crusty on the outside doughy in the middle bread. We finished the meal with cheese, and dessert and some had cigarettes. Luke and I then headed for a small town called Les Baux. It was a short winding trip through the Alpilles.

This small town was built into a stone hill and the king was known to make non-ransomed prisoners jump off the walls to their death, for fun. Now it is a small tourist town with local flavors in the boutiques. We also happened upon a wedding in the church. There were people running around in tuxes with tails and clopping through the cobblestone streets in high heels. We sat and watched the bride enter the church with her father. Pretty perfect for Luke's and my one week anniversary. We got glace and enjoyed the day. How can you not love a region that has ice cream everywhere?

After Les Baux we toured our fuel efficient mini car throughout the country, over the Alpilles and back to the house. We had enough time before Vincent's school show to snack on sandwiches and cokes. I took a quick catnap in the sun and we were ready for the next adventure.

We went with Anne to Vincent's school and met up with David there. I was very excited to see the children's performances since we had recently done ours at Challenger. Student's ages range from 3-10 years old. All the children danced, mostly to pop music, but I think I could move here and do choreography for them. There were fond of jumping in place, and then in circles. My favorite was the Wild West montage including a bar fight and line dancing and cowhide chaps. Vincent's class, the oldest, did a club scene with a new French music/dance called Techtonik (Google it). It involves waving and twisting your arms all over the place while simply bouncing your legs up and down. There was a lot of room for interpretation. Vincent was the best attired with the highest mohawk and black star painted on his right eye.

Following the exhibition we went to a bar with David to watch some aspiring French rock bands. We learned that because Rock and Roll is American, just about every band sings in English, although many don't understand the lyrics. One band came on and played very hard rock. Luke loved it. In his tucked in button up shirt he moshed with he rest of the crazies. All the French folks were dressed in black and Luke was a head taller than everyone. It was pretty funny for everyone to watch and Luke had a great time. David and his sisters were so surprised to see Luke come out of his shell in that way.

The day ended with a shower in David's tiny astronaut training facility shower. Tomorrow David informed us is Sunday and we will find nothing in town but faith. It's a good thing we already went to the store to pick up everything we will need to make dinner tomorrow.