We are back into the swing!! Here are some pictures from this week.
One of my favorite activities is going to the "junk store" here! It is open on Thursdays and Saturdays for a few hours. I still can't believe what they consider junk! These old wine barrels were 10€!!!
I found this old 8 x 10 photo of Clermont-Ferrand ( place de Jaude- which is the center of town and has been on this blog a bunch) for 3€
And a miel (honey) pot for Henry's grandmother, Honey, for 80 cents. (Centimes in French)
Well, maybe there is SOME junk!!!! Kitchen tile? Not sure exactly! This is my friend Megan (and fellow junker) holding up the tile!
While I was at the junk store, Henry was at his friend Yilin's house working on a school project. Yilin is from China and his family has been here three years. He has been teaching Henry some Chinese!
What is really neat about this project is the languages going on here- they are doing a project with instructions in French. The third boy at the table is Japanese and doesn't speak Chinese or English. So Henry said they used Google translate to all have a way to do their project together! Once they finished working on it, he said they just played for a while. I asked how that worked? He reminded me, "you don't have to be able to speak the same language to play together!" PRICELESS!
Here are the army men I was talking about in a previous post. They are a regular fixture now around town. They have BIG guns. I don't think the French like seeing those guns! I, for one, like having a visual reminder that someone is here to keep us safe!
On Sunday afternoon we went on a hike only about 15 minutes from our house to a nearby mountain called Puy-de-Dome. It was warm here on Sunday here so we couldn't believe it when we got there and it was covered in snow!!!
It was a COLD hike!!
We stopped at the bottom for the guys to get some chocolate chaud (hot chocolate) at this little cafe.
Gant was clearly in a silly mood after playing on the snow!
I was getting low on coffee and was just curious if i could find flavored coffee anywhere nearby- this is Amazon France. Check out the price of ONE bag of Panera Hazelnut!!!! 105€ ( on sale from 114!!!!)
Isn't that shocking?!?! I ended up finding some flavored coffee on a French website called My American Grocery for the regular price!! The adventure is always hunting for the package when it arrives!
Yesterday some of the expats came over to our apartment for a little clothes- swap. We all brought anything we weren't wearing or using in case anyone else might like to try it! We had coffee, perused the clothes racks and just caught up! It was a fun time and a great way for me to get rid of some clothes I'm not wearing- closet space is a hot commodity around here!
And lastly, here are some pictures Clermont's tourism board posted, I think to help everyone anticipate Spring and Summer here! I thought you all might like to see them!
The cathedral downtown- made from Volcanic rock.
A view from a nearby town
A house downtown
And the Vercingetorix statue in the middle of Place de Jaude. I finally got the pronunciation down when my dad was here in January to assist me!
I am off to the orthodontist now- Henry is probably going to get some retainers here to start the orthodontic process. We have already had two evaluations with this ortho and now I going to a meeting for the treatment plan. Then we make another appointment to begin treatment!!?! I wasn't aware of JUST HOW MUCH I value efficiency until I got here! But hey, we can't have both American efficiency AND 6 weeks vacation, right??
