Organic Farms and Saucy Tapestries.

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Le Chateau de Martainville

Today, I went to an organic farm with Elizabeth, Ariel, Kyle, and Wai Lin. Coincidentally, its inhabitants were Ante and Teo's host family (though we didn't see either one of them because Teo was in Paris and Ante was asleep). It was actually really interesting to see the different parts of their farm: where they make the cheese (yay Neufchatel!), where they dry the hay, where the cows live in the winter, where they leave dead calves, where the dog likes to fight the geese, etc. I didn't have my camera then, so I didn't take any pictures, but Liz did and I'm sure she'll put them on Facebook soon.

Oh! That reminds me: I have finally been reunited with my appareil photo! It was an extremely joyful reunion - I will never let it out of my sight again. Also, I am very appreciative to Nadine for letting me use her camera these past couple of days, especially with all of the beautiful places we have gone.

Anyway, after the farm, we all went back to Wai Lin's for an indoor picnic because it was raining. Guess what had been prepared for me for lunch? You guessed it: a butter and cheese sandwich. Not to mention, a butter and confiture sandwich (from which I removed ALL of the butter), an entire huge bag of BBQ chips, a package of butter cookies, a bottle of water (!!!), and some sugary apple sauce thing which I gave to Kyle. By the end of this stay in the country I will have diabetes.

Which leads me to my next thought: I am really getting sick of the food here. Why does everyone think French food is so great?! I would probably rather have any other cuisine in the world than French. There is nothing delicious about heavy amounts of butter, salt, sauce, and liver of various animals (ex: wild pig, as in Ariel's lunch today). I mean, that sounds delicious, but I would rather eat a cockroach.

I don't think I can handle eating like this much longer. This family literally NEVER eats fruit, and hardly ever eats vegetables. I AM A VEGETARIAN. WHAT ELSE DO YOU EXPECT ME TO EAT? Yes, I understand that I am a guest in their home, and I am so grateful to them for that, but if you're going to agree to house a vegetarian, at least do some research. I love my host family, I really do, and I appreciate how much they work to take care of me, but this food is literally making me sick. I can't live off of bread and butter and the occasional vegetable. It's just not healthy and it's so frustrating to me that people think it's okay to make fun of you for drinking too much water, but suddenly it's an issue when you don't want to eat disgusting amounts of meat FOR EVERY MEAL.

In short, the one thing I will NOT miss about France is the food. It is horrible. And no, it wouldn't be better if I ate meat, because it would still be disgustingly coated in butter and fatty sauces. Seriously no one should ever eat like this. Ever. It is not okay.

Anyway, after the farm we went to another chateau (Le Chateau de Martainville), walked around there for a while, saw a hilarious tapestry of a "saucy scene" in which a man was "stealthily moving his hand up towards a young woman's knee" (it was not towards her knee), and then went back home.

At the house, I played cache cache with Gabin and Killian, and played with them until they left and I ate dinner (a can of lentils drenched in butter). And now, here I am.

I can't wait to eat Chipotle again. And basically anything that's not French food, because it sucks.

Love, Josie

PS. I HATE FRENCH FOOD.