My own room for the first time ever!

Well that title isn't entirely true...I did have my own room for a few years before Holly was born, but since I don't really remember it, I think it's true enough. Yesterday evening I moved in with the Diebold family: Joseph (father), Noelle (mother), Arsène (oldest son, in his second year at the Louvre Institute in Paris), Gaspard (son, starting his first year at a theater school in Paris), Orane (daughter, age 14 and looks like Holly), Hendrix (Border Collie, as in Jimi Hendrix), and two cats. Their house is really neat. It's big and white and the entrance through the gate leads around the back to their walled garden/backyard. My room is in a studio apartment behind the house. It includes my room with a bed, desk, cabinet, and bedside table (plus WiFi, yay!) and then a bathroom and kitchen which I share with a French student named Sarah, who is studying for the Bac (the big exam that French students take at the end of high school).

Joseph came and picked me up from the Hotel du Palais on Sunday evening. All of the Wake students were waiting for our host families to come and get us. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of orphans waiting for someone to adopt us - "Are they coming?" "Will they like us?" "Will it be awkward?" Joseph was very welcoming and friendly and let me take my time while speaking. He works at the university where I will be taking classes and rides his bike there everyday. I was thrilled when he told me they have plenty of extra bikes I could use if I wanted, and offered to install a new bell and lamp and find a lock. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the house from the hotel, which is the same amount of time it would take me to walk there, because of all of the one-way streets. When I walked in Noelle was preparing dinner in the kitchen and it smelled delicious! We had grilled duck (Joseph manned the grill) and sauteed vegetables (fresh from the garden) for dinner (along with bread and the red wine I bought for them - it was the best I've had so far here in France, woohoo!!). I tried some Dijon mustard with the duck and it was delicious. It was different than the varieties I have tried in the States - this one was grainier, with tiny balls of mustard seeds, rather than a smooth paste. I also tried some of Noelle's homemade mayonnaise. Gaspard requested it to go with his duck, so Noelle offered some to me too. It was slightly tangy. I almost wish I hadn't liked it, because it's mayonnaise. Then of course cheese after wards, followed by melon for dessert, then coffee.

The family was really patient with me during dinner. They asked some questions about my life at home and my interests, but they didn't drill me or make me feel like on-the-spot. Gaspard, who leave for theater school in Paris on Wednesday, was pretty aloof. He came in halfway through dinner, sporting a Batman t-shirt, jorts (jean shorts, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term), and a black bandana around his neck. At dinner it was Noelle, Joseph, Noelle's friend (whose name I never heard clearly), and then, halfway through, Gaspard. Sarah came in later and joined us for cheese, dessert, and coffee. Orane had some friends over, so Noelle made them a pizza and they ate inside. We ate dinner outside under the large tree in the center of the garden. It was so picturesque, with the ivy on the walls around us and a light hanging from the big tree.

This morning Noelle left breakfast for me on that same table in the garden. They will provide breakfast for me every morning and dinner two times a week (we decided on Mondays and Wednesdays). Noelle told me that she and Joseph both start work early, but that I should feel free to wake up whenever I want. Noelle is a psychologist and consults patients from her office in the front of the house. I woke up around 9am this morning and found the table strewn with all kinds of choices: two baguettes, half a loaf of brown bread, at least 4 kinds of butter and cheese, two kinds of pate, small containers of plain yogurt, and a carton of orange/mango juice blend (which happens to be my favorite). When I got back from my run with Kara and Carolyn around 11:15am, Orane was just waking up and eating some breakfast. She starts school on Wednesday, so she's enjoying her last few days of summer.

Their Border Collie, Hendrix, is very cute but slightly neurotic. He constantly paces the perimeter of the yard, including the gravel in front of my apartment. I don't really mind though. The cat and kitten are both very affectionate too. The family's friendliness is very encouraging. I hope all of these positive interactions continue!