Shopping at the grocery store has been interesting so far. The first grocery store we went to was called the Super Marche. When we walked in it smelled like a fish market and we thought yuck, until we went to the back and saw the unbelievable seafood. The seafood was on ice, not behind a case, which was why it smelled so strong.

It took me about 20 minutes to find the eggs because eggs are not in the refrigerated section, that is how fresh they are! Then the yogurt section was an entire aisle, both sides, full of different types of yogurt. Amazing selection.

Next we went to the checkout lady with all of our groceries. Gail had warned me that I needed to bring my own bags but forgot and left them at home. You must bring your own bags or you have to carry everything out in your hands which is what we had to do. Very green I must say. The amount of plastic or paper bags I use at Martin's is terrible. That must change when I get home. Anyway we were checking out and the lady pushes all the fruit and veggies back at us and says something in french. She spoke no English. We all just looked at her and she started pointing to the produce section. I took all the veggies and fruit and walked back to find that you weigh your own things and a printed sticker comes out. Then you take your stuff to the front and checkout.

We are learning so much each day and hopefully our french will improve quickly because not many people speak english.

Last night we walked to a pub type restaurant a block away from the house. The waitress spoke no english. We wanted to know what a tartine was on the menu, so between Arch, Lucy, and I we managed to ask what is a tartine? She spoke for 2 minutes straight in french describing the tartine and using her hands. Unbelievably we figured out from french that it is bread layered with ham, tomatoes, mushroom, (or whatever you want on it) and then layered with gruyere cheese and melted in the oven. We felt quite proud of ourselves and it has become a group effort to figure out how to say things before the waitress arrives. They just speak so quickly!