more rain and homesick

Wrote this about a week ago: "Found a nice little Asian market here today. Now I'm excited to cook for Annick. They have plaintains there and if I can find black beans, it in ON. I made her a salad last night with walnuts (from the community garden), goat cheese and dried fruit. She'd never eaten walnuts toasted, nor had she ever eaten salad with nuts and fruit in it. It's so fun introducing new things to people. Still cloudy but no rain. It's been a little warmer today, thankfully.
Yesterday I made a little breakthrough. All of the sudden, it's a bit easier to have a conversation in French. So many of the students here speak English all the time, it's difficult to keep speaking French. At lunch, I have started to sit with the students who speak only French, to get more practice. It means there is less conversation, but I enjoy it more. We keep verb books and dictionaries around and it's fun pulling out new words."

Since then, I've been swamped with homework. Wrote and presented (in French) two 10-minute presentations, one on French cuisine, the other on American dance, toured a few more sweet little towns in Bretagne (Brittany) and had a few ups and downs. Today I had to make a call to the US to fix a financial situation with a title company, and I noticed that I felt apprehensive. Then I remembered that I could speak English during the call... it's been like that. I can function alone with French now, but I am still in a frustrating stage of not knowing whether or not I'll be able to communicate exactly what I need to say.

I need more sleep than I'm getting, but enjoying immensely the immersion and my friends here. There is so much more to write. Too bad, I'm off to bed. Here are links to some photo albums on facebook (I had to, everyone here has it) so you can - if you are bored - see more of what I've been up to...

Cheers!

http://sou.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13479&l=bb6a8&id=679611012
http://sou.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14634&l=410fc&id=679611012
http://sou.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15110&l=d3bef&id=679611012
http://sou.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15269&l=7523e&id=67961101