"The Bastille is a medieval fortress and prison in Paris. Many people in France associated it with the harsh rule of the Bourbon monarchy in the late 1700s. On July 14, 1789, troops stormed the Bastille. This was a pivotal event at the beginning of the French Revolution. Fête de la Fédération was held on July 14, 1790. This was a way to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France.
Official celebrations were held in Paris on June 30, 1878, to honor the Republic of France. On July 14, 1879, more official celebrations were held. These included a military review in Longchamp near Paris and celebrations all over the country. A politician named Benjamin Raspail proposed that July 14 should become a holiday in France in 1880. The law was enacted on July 6, 1880. Bastille Day was a public holiday for the first time on July 14, 1880." (timeanddate.com)
So this is how we spent our day: This morning was very chill...Rach and I had some catching up to do with our work, so we did some cleaning, sweeping, and watering. Side note: my absolute favorite job is taking care of the chickens!! I don't know what it is, but I just LOVE tossing the feed around, watching them peck away at it, and collecting the eggs (which we then get to make omelettes from for breakfast!).
Sandy took Rach and I up to the attic this morning, where we expected to find Miss Havisham; alas, all we found was an adorable picnic basket to use for our afternoon fun :)
The real exciting part was joining a neighboring town for their community meal/celebration. We were lucky enough to get some extra tickets for the event, and it turned out to be the most French experience we've had to date! British friends of Roger and Sandy's, Liz and Patrick, are a wonderful couple that live in this village. (We had dinner at their lovely home the other night, so we were excited to go back.)
The setting for the meal, or "repas," was absolutely breathtaking. There was a tent set up in the most peaceful green pasture, lined by a quite, calm river and perfect rows of poplar trees. We sat down under the tent, each seat having a tacked paper that included some history (which someone thankfully translated for us...something about a hat...and Rome....and Marianne) and the menu for the afternoon. We had heard of these loooong meal times, but we were still shocked to sit down at 1 and not be done with the meal until 5. The food was incredible, though:
Course1: nuts/crackers, bread, wine
Course 2: tuna salad with tomatoes and eggs, bread, wine
Course 3: juicy, tender ham, bread, wine
Course 4: brie cheese, bread, wine
Course 5: ice cream and coffee (bread and wine still available)
We ate so much, but it didn't set as heavy as, say a Thanksgiving meal, because we ate it over such a long period of time. It was interesting to be served our meal, too...there was a chalkboard by the food tables that listed who was in charge of serving which part of the meal.
Towards the beginning of the meal, I turned to the lady next to me (another British lady we had just met), and commented on her pretty earrings. She got them in Bangkok! That led in to an ongoing conversation about cultures, traveling, racism, etc. I enjoyed that. I think most of the English-speaking people were sitting at the same table, so it was nice to be able to communicate with people during the meal! We were surrounded by 4 couples who have moved to France from England, and they all had a lot of insights and stories to tell. We've been very lucky to meet such wonderful friends of Roger and Sandy's who have been so welcoming and interested in our lives. We may have convinced a few to come to CO! :)
An interesting part about the meal was that, during the 4 hour period, almost nobody got up to mingle. We've discovered that the French are generally a very private people, so even though a good percentage of the village was gathered together, they tended to stay in their smaller groups of friends or family.
Rach and I ventured up the the WC a couple times during the meal. One time I decided to use a bike rack as a ballet bar, so I was doing plie when Rach came out...and embarrassingly realized there was someone behind me who saw the whole thing. Sweet. Another trip to the WC ended up with us popping in to the humble village chapel...we enjoyed the acoustics and sang some hymns as we admired the stained-glass windows. We also took a moment to dip our feet in the cooling water of the river. Just ideal.
Getting tired from the long meal, we thought we were about ready to head home when we discovered we'd been signed up for a game of petanque! Now I'm even more glad that we played a game at Diane's bday, because not knowing how to play would really have made things frustrating. There was a big confusion over who we were supposed to be playing against and where we were supposed to get our game balls. I now have so much more sympathy for and understanding of ESL students and anyone immersed in an unknown language. I felt so ridiculous just standing there staring at the person trying to communicate with me. All I could do was look pathetic and shake my head. UGH. So frustrating.
Anyways, once things were figured out, we got started on a great game of petanque. Rach and I were annihilated by a French brother/sister team, but we had a blast. I'm pretty sure we American girls will be the brunt of a few of their jokes in the future :) It was really quite the sight to see about 6 games of petanque going on at once, filling up the long dirt lane. The game is actually taken quite seriously, and it was funny to watch the balls' position on the lane take precedent over any car or person that might want to get through. At one point I realized, "I'm in France...in a quaint countryside village...playing petanque...next to a stream and field of corn...WOW." Incredible. We then thought that would be it, but it turns out the losers play other losers.
But now worries, cuz we ended up being matched with Roger and Sandy! We were all getting a bit tired around 7, though, so we cheated and ended the game early...making up a story of how they came back to beat us:)
Back home, I gathered the chickens in the coup with some food....I wasn't quite fast enough, though, cuz two of them escaped. I had to admit my failure and get some more feed; this time, I lured them way far back in the corner and raced out as soon as the feed hit the ground.
We've since been sharing photos and laughing at all our great memories. It's getting harder and harder to think of leaving on Sunday. Rach and I were talking about how crazy it is that you can get so close to people in such a short amount of time. We really clicked with them from the beginning - we'd be so content staying here until the end of the month! But alas, we must move on...and it's nice to know that they're seriously considering visiting us in CO next May!!!!! :)
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