Cramming

On Monday morning all of us that were still in France had to meet with Dr. Rawson. She was in town with her mother, her 2 sons, and her 2 nieces. She met us at Le Nonante (our house) and we headed to a cafe not far from our house. We all got a drink and talked about our stay here. It wasn't long but after we went to a restaurant called Mangez-Moi to eat Kebabs. Yum! After that we said goodbye to her. The morning went fairly well. She just wanted to know how well we did and invite us to talk in her classes next year. She was planning to go to Chenonceau with her family the next day and invited me to go because I wanted to see it again when the gardens were beautiful, but she ended up having a meeting and not being able to go.

That night Mamie, Valeria and I went out with all the guys to the club house where we ate and talked with everyone. Afterwards we took Romain's golf clubs and went out to the soccer field and we all hit balls around for a while. It was actually really fun. We were just being crazy. I think Romain lost a few of his balls because the field wasn't long enough and they went over the gate on the other end. After that Valeria said goodbye to them because she didn't think she would see them again. It made me really said and we all went home kind of depressed. But Romain was sure he would see her again. She still had 2 days till she left. He said we could plan a night.

The next day Val, Aaron, Mamie and I went swimming in the morning. It was really fun because there was a big slide. I thought it was going to be outside but it was an inside pool. It was fun anyway but we didn't stay too long. We took the bus back to Jean Jaures and ate at a little place there. We all pitched in for a bottle of wine and Val and I shared a pizza. Then I went to buy my ticket for Chenonceau but I had 1/2 hour before my train left so I just sat in the square by the Gare in the sun. It was wonderful and relaxing. I love France so much. My train took 1/2 hour to get there and when I arrived the gardens were just as beautiful as I thought they would be. I only went into the castle for a few seconds. There were too many people there. But the gardens were full of flowers and I really enjoyed seeing them again. For real this time.

The next day we all got together to say goodbye to Valeria. All 8 of us. We went out to Trois Rois and played a card game and spent the night talking and having fun. Afterwards the guys had to say goodbye to Valeria for real because she was leaving in the morning. It was so hard. She was crying, her boyfriend was crying. And when I saw them I started crying and Mamie started crying. It was really emotional and Mamie and I are scared about how hard this is going to be when it's our turn to leave. We were crying when everyone had to say goodbye to Valeria; we still have a week left here.

The next morning I woke up to my alarm at 8:00 to say goodbye to Valeria. But no one was moving yet so I just went back to sleep and figured I'd hear her when she came in. The next time I woke up was 11:00. And Valeria came into my room a few minutes later. Mamie and Val explained to me how she had missed her plane because she thought her connecting flight was her flight out of Paris...so she was in my room when her flight was leaving. So we got to keep her another day :)

Then I met a friend for ice cream and he gave me a birthday present! He had brought it all the way from London. When I got back to the house Romain called me and told me he was downstairs so I went down to meet him. He asked me if I had heard anything from Valeria. I said: Yes she says hello. He asked me if she had arrived and I said no she's inside! He didn't believe me so he text her and her and Mamie came out to see him. We stood outside for a while and then decided to go to the park. We took Chase, Dr. Rawson's 5 year old son with us and we all went to the park and played Frisbee for a little while and then sat in the grass together. Jaqueline showed up and she finally got to meet Romain after 4.5 months. She was very happy to meet him.

Valeria was headed to the train station right after that so Romain offered to take her. He got to come into our house and help her with her bags so he also got to see the inside of our house. Then they were off. And Valeria is home safe now. I ate dinner with Mamie, Rawson's family and Jaqueline that night. It was interesting because it was half in French and half English because Rawson's family doesn't know any French. They left early so we finished eating with Jaqueline.

And that is my last week....sorry it is so late in the coming!