la fete!

you know that feeling you get when you've been on a boat all day? like your body is still in motion...rocking with the waves? i have that all the time here. i swim in the ocean every single day usually twice a day. i went for a midnight swim last night and there was no moon so the stars were incredible! there were these little flecks of light on the water when i swished through it which i think are reflections of the stars? tell me if im wrong. anyways...its beautiful. and so calm. its the most calm in the morning and late at night.

the best advice i have received since i have been here is to listen to the water. the advice was delivered in french (ecoutez a l'eau) and was intended to help me during my very first attempt at wake boarding! it was very helpful and the moment i quit fighting the water and actually listened to the water i was able to get up and swish around. it was really scary and really fun and my body was totally sore for the next week (i am finally recovering). but the advice, listen to the water, has made much more of an impact than i think Sam (a young french guy living here and working as a doctor on a kind of internship semester) had planned. its truly therapeutic to sit by the sea and hear the waves. so calming. i have never lived by the water before and so i have never felt the affect of the ocean on an entire community. but it is incredible. in the evening the locals take their fishing poles and cast out into the sea and sit on the shore waiting for dinner to arrive. in the afternoon the students at the middle school i work at walk along the water to class, carrying their shoes in hand. even as im typing this i can feel the sea breeze and hear the waves. my skin has never felt so soft! i only feel okay saying all of this because i heard it was a beautiful day in michigan yesterday. somewhere in the 70's or 80's and plenty of sun! with orange and red and yellow leaves!!! it feels so far from here. even after the skype with mom and dad yesterday, i feel like im in a different world. which is both incredibly liberating and a bit lonesome. though the transition has been pretty easy so far. while i was chatting over the internet with mom and dad my neighbor Sigrid (pronounced zeegrid-shes german) and her son came over with a bowl of mangos a bowl of walnuts and a bowl of star fruit (carambol in french..i think) that came from their yard. today i am going with a man who works at the bank to help me arrange the scooter business. everyone is anxious to help us because we are foreign and unlike in france, they actually like americans here! or as one man joked, united states-ians. because they are americans here too!

i had intended to write about the parties this weekend and the concert i went to last night but ive written too much already and i have to get to the beach and start my trek to class. will write more later!

bisous xxxxx