Saturday, Deb and I ran in the Grenoble Ekiden which is a marathon but in relay form (we each ran 5K, Deb broke 30 minutes, I stumbled in just under 32.). It was our first run, a bit of a hoot (though I pulled a muscle and limped for over half of my run) and a bit of a cultural experience. We had a nice dinner at a colleague's house after.
Sunday we went to a picnic for Deb's French class. Then David went up with his friend Quinn and his family to the "Acrobastille"-- a zipline course on the top of the hill. After we had dinner with Quinn's family. We had met them on David's first day of testing to get into Houille Blanche and have really come to like them (and they have inspired several of our adventures).
Today (Monday) David went to his next-to-last day of school. He brought back his Report card and class photos. (He either did really well or really badly, I can't tell, because he got all "1"s.) As I scanned his school photos I was struck by how similar the photo would look for any Grade 5 class anywhere in the world. Notice there are no baguettes or berets anywhere to be seen!
Although I am ready to head home, I am sad that our French adventure is ending. Deb is feeling even more sad than I am. Not only is it really nice to have a 6 month sabbatical, but Grenoble and France is a very nice place to live, with amazing food, and everyone we have met has been great. I am not sure if expats inherently feel a certain comraderie with each other, or that there is some common mindset to people who want to travel and live in a foreign country such as France, but we have really enjoyed meeting them and hanging out with them.
Maybe you guys can live in Montreal
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rich
DeleteSafe travels to Barcelona and Canada, Family Basil! It's been a blast sharing some of one another's adventures. Here's hoping our travel paths cross once again somewhere down the line!
ReplyDeleteWe went to the Chartreuse distillery in Voiron today as one of those last, check if off the list items. If you decide to sample some of their wares when you get back to Canada as a way to remind you of your time here, stay away from the "Gentiane." It's supposed to be an extract of Alpine flowers, but apparently they picked only the most noxious ones the could find...Kristanne is still reeling!
All the best,
les Heatons