Sights and Sounds

Let me just talk about the toilet for a bit. So, like many homes in France, there's a room separate from the bathroom for a toilet. Fine, that's cool. The only thing problem is that the downstairs toilet (the one I frequent) is actually pretty tall. So tall, in fact, that when I sit on it, my feet aren't flat on the ground, and instead I can only reach the floor with my toes, and I end up swinging my legs a little like a toddler on the potty! I just don't know what to think!

No, I'm not done talking about the toilet because I have quite the horror story. So not long ago... maybe 12 minutes ago, I walked into the bathroom (toilette), turned on the light, and shut the door. As I was unbuckling my belt, and about to pull my pants down, I was in quite the zone of comfort. However, that all came to a screeching halt when something darted across the floor to seek solace underneath the mop that's propped against the wall. And do you know what that something was? Dare I say it was a small cockroach the size of a beadle? I don't know. I don't know if I'd say that, as I didn't get a good look at it, and it scared me so much that I jumped and hit my wrist on this metal contraption that covers the toilet paper on the wall. Suffice to say, I did my business and left. That thing better still be cowering under that mop because I do NOT want to wake up with it on my face.

I've got miscellaneous things to post about, but maybe I'll do that tomorrow as I'm getting tired and would rather tell you a little about the riveting game of Mancala Frédéric and I had this evening after dinner. First, he and Marie Emmanuelle went over the rules but they had two different sets of them so I just sat there for a while as they discussed the correct way to play. So he and I played his way and I was pretty bad at it because number one, the rules were given to me in French and I assure you I don't understand everything, and number two, I'd never played it that way before. He had to help me along the way. And sometimes I'd make a move and he'd give me that look as if to say "are you sure?" Needless to say I wasn't sure so we'd reexamine and make a move. Then we played my way, and if Caitlin's reading this she knows I cheat at that game but I promise we played the right way. It was better my way because I actually knew what was happening and I could watch the gears turn in his head as he strategized. Much unlike me when we played his way. So anyway, altogether we played four games and called it a night. Riveting tale? I think so.