host parentals

its my last night here and im not even sure how that is possible. wasnt it just yesterday i was packing my suitcases to come to france? and now i had to do it all over again. except this time rather than being excited beyond believe/nervous/terrified/whatever else i said i was at this time nine and a half months ago, i am sad to leave france and all of the people and places i have grown to love so much. ok i am also kind of excited to see all my family and friends again, but a certain sadness continues to linger. at least when i was leaving the states i knew exactly when i would be returning, but i dont have that same assurance for my next stay in france.

this year was amazing. probably more than i could have ever asked for. and i realize that there are two people that have made this year incredible that i dont think i have mentioned in many of my blogs this year, so this one will be all about them. who might you ask? you guessed it. my host parents. veronique et francois. how i got so lucky, i have no idea.

so here's a little bit about them/some highlights from this year:
(in no particular order of when things actually occurred because this is just the order i brainstormed them in over the past week or two)

So cute.

Repeated after dinner conversation :
François : Laisse Minou, je vais ranger.
(véronique continues to clean up after dinner).
François. Laisse Minou, laisse.
(véronique finishes the cleaning up).
Can’t tell you HOW many times i heard this conversation :)

when i told Francois i liked cider after returning from ireland/scotland, he promptly went into the cave to see if we had any so we could have some with lunch. Sadly we didnt.

after not seeing her for 2 weeks, my host mom was so excited to see me (and i was excited to see her). She even made soup for dinner even though it was warm out (it's a cold weather thing apparently) because she knows i like it and she does too.

Véronique asked if i was tanned/burned from Ireland. I laughed a little and my host dad walked in and was like nope! that was from today. She didn’t look like that yesterday ☺ (i had seen Francois the day I returned, but not Véronique).

My host dad calls me the yogurt queen because i always choose it over cheese at night (i'm pretty sure he thinks i don't really like cheese. which is only half true. i just tend to eat a lot with friends when we each lunch by the quai).

Véronique keeps me updated on Louis even when i don't get to see him. she even told me she'd send me updated pictures after i leave.

Véronique has Healing powers. From actually being sick to simply coming home with a sunburn.

Francois gets excited if a guy friend comes over. Suddenly wants to know if hes husband matériel.

When Véronique hosts dinner parties she always has different color schemes and little doodads to decorate the table with.

Francois cooking pallela. super goooooddd.

Véronique presenting me to her friends. "Elle est ma petite americaine". and she usually has a big smile on her face.

Francois making faces behind Véronique's back. Véronique occasionally doing the same.

Véronique keeping me updated on scandals and anything else interesting.

Francois always forgetting an item when he is sent to the supermarché.

Véronique saying i am gonna be hard to beat next year (in reference to them hosting another girl in the fall).

Francois and his love of all things cowboy (note cowboy should be said with the french accent)

Gifts. Whether for thanksgiving (which i had not realized was a gift giving holiday but truly appreciated the appropriately colored scarf), or christmas, or my birthday.

Véronique notices details, Francois does not always quite as quickly. I'd lived here a while and my host dad turns to me at dinner and says.. your ears are pierced! another night: you are wearing makeup! both times my host mom and i look at each other and laugh because we couldn't believe he hadn't realized before.

Véronique being so touched when i referred to her as my « mère d’accueil » or « maman d’accueil » aka my host mom. originally it hadn't occurred to me to call her anything else. but i think she really was more motherly to me than other student's host parents anyways, and i was happy she liked the phrase so much.

so i had a dream while i was in Ireland that i was back in the states hanging out with friends. but i was really upset because i realized i had never said goodbye to my host parents. even after i woke up, i realized how unsettling that would be if it were true. And i hated having that dream with a month left in my stay.

now. it is the very end.
i returned my key and gave them a book with photos of california. in the front cover i wrote a little note, and then left post-its throughout pointing out the pictures that refer to places that actually mean something to me.
then we had escargot and lasagna for dinner. so i may have never gotten the chance to eat grenouille, but i did get escargot three times this year!
after dinner i printed my plane tickets (yes, that was one of the last things i did) and then my host mom and i fought my bags to get them to close and not be too overweight, and then it was time to say goodbye since i wont be seeing her in the morning probably. it all seems so unreal. i'm still not sure it has entirely hit me that i leave tomorrow.. minus the fact that i have officially said goodbye to everybody except my host dad who will be driving me to the airport in the morning.