Bonjour Belle Blonde...

(Hello/goodmorning beautiful blonde)

So I have some bad/good news-- I didn't go to the party! :( Like I said, my host "grandmother" was coming in town and we ended up having a big dinner for her that lasted until around 10 last night, and so I was not able to go hang out with the foreign people. I was actually pretty happy about not going when I crawled into bed at 10:45 or so to go to sleep, because I was so tired, and had I gone to the party I would have been walking back across the city later than that, in the dark, by myself. So, in the end I guess it was for the best. And I did get a talk from Massi today about how he missed me haha so I guess that's good.

Anyway, today the sun has gone away again and it's pretty chilly outside. Luckily this weekend I made the purchse of a new jacket so the cold is feeling good. I'm even ok with walking in the rain, as long as it's not an orage (downpour.) Dinner with the three generations of French girls was pretty fun last night. One of the twins decided to cut her own bangs so that was an interesting topic of conversation. Evelyne (host mom) was teasing her about how she had too much hair in her face and how she didn't cut them very straight and Aldona (twinw/badbangs) spouted off some retort in her 90mph slang francais. Then host mom made a comment to host grandmom about how "fortunately, Aldona speaks very very fast, and Catherine can't understand a word she says! If she could understand her, she would think I raised an animal." I thought I had played it off well enough that I couldn't ever understand the daughters... haha but I guess not! They are so hard to talk to, and I wish we could manage it better because I want to be their friends, but I don't know that it will happen. As for now, I'm completely content talking with the mother. She is very helpful explaining things that I don't understand and she's pretty fun as well. I found out the other night that she is 52- so that's an age range for you all to put with this woman. Sorry still no pictures. Maybe I can get some pics of everyone before the grand-mere leaves. Grand-mere brought her small dog, Alto, along for the trip. You all know I don't know dog breeds so I can't tell you what kind, but it's rather small (not tiny, but small) and it has tons of poil blanc (white fur- I learned the word for fur last night.) It's just a little furball and it's so cute. In the middle of dinner the grandmother just gets up and says, "I think Alto is crying." And then the mother says, "Maman, the dog is not crying. Catherine--my mother is like Joan of Arc. Have you heard of her before? She heard voices, just like my mother." HA! I loved it- it was my favorite comment of the night.

Oh, before I go let me explain the title of this post. Yesterday morning on the way to school I passed a little old man just coming back from the grocery store. As we crossed on the sidewalk he muttered something really quietly in French and I didn't know what he said, but I got the feeling it was a bit... flirty? maybe? Je ne sais pas... anyway, this morning I passed him, again. I was thinking hm, I wonder what he'll say today. So as we crossed each other I heard him say distinctly, "bonjour belle blonde." Now, if a smile is an invitation, then someone tell me what that phrase is supposed to mean. Maybe he was just being sweet. Haha. I might cross on the other side of the street tomorrow if I see him coming. Ah, the joys of walking the streets of France.

Ok, no grosses bises anymore. I get it--you all don't want my big kisses. I'll just leave you with
Vous me manquez
and you can look up what that means.

Catherine