Gaill-yacking it up

So I finally arrived in Gaillac, and have been getting situated in my new town of work. I have been staying with one of my fellow teachers and her family, and she is AWESOME. I'll call her Paulette Paul for the sake of anonymity. I honestly wish this family had been my host family, because I think it would have been such a good experience. They live in this beautiful house in Gaillac, with tons of flowers and fruit trees. All the walls are painted bright colors, and there is a nice saltwater pool in the backyard. It is super refreshing to swim in. There are grape vines all over their arches and around the garage, and you can literally just eat the grapes off the vine.

I have been having tons of interesting experiences with the family, far too many to count. Here are some of the top ones:

The exchange of swear words.

This whole conversation began when, in a conversation about New York City apartments, I said the phrase, "If you piss off the co-op, you're screwed." This led to a conversation where Paulette and I exchanged various vulgar phrases, including:

T'es nul: You suck

Je me suis jeté: I was pissed off

Je suis baisé: I'm screwed

C'est dingue: That's crazy

Envoyer chier: To piss off.

This conversation is particularly amusing since it was at the tabe with her 21 year-old son. Every once in a while, he would throw in a particularly vulgar phrase. There was one point where I was actually blushing, because I was so shocked by what came out of his mouth.

Paulette's husband teaches me to dance.

So, Paulette's husband doesn't speak english at all. We have been communicating with my French and some hand motions.

Every Tuesday, Paulette and her husband go to Salsa classes. This is only the latest in a series of dance classes, which apparently have included rhumba and another that I couldn't translate. He showed me all of the steps for them, and I in turn showed him the basic grapevine step for every jewish dance. It was an awesome moment.

Me and the family go to Puycelsi.

On Sunday, Paulette, her husband, her son, and I went to this old Bastide town about a half hour away from Gaillac. Puycelsi is a tiny town that has no buses or trains running towards it. It is a town I literally never would have gone there had they not decided to take me there. It is a beautiful little town, situated on top of a hill overlooking all this farmland.

We just mozied around the town, walking along centuries old paths and looking at buildings that were older than anything built in my country. Many of the windows were this beautiful pastel blue, which results from this flower called "Cocagne." A lot of the houses had these open attics where they used to dry out the flowers in order to make the dye.

We walked along the paths, and I stole Paulette's camera to take pictures. I will try to put them up when I can.

I know it took me a long time to post that, but now it is the end of my time in Gaillac (at least until I start my job). I will miss living with the Paul family, since they have been so wonderful to me but I am excited to be moving into our apartment! If all goes according to plan, I will be sleeping there tonight!! It's in a 15th century building a few blocks from the cathedral, and tourists are literally always taking pictures of the street.

I think it's gonna be a good year.