Making some more progress...

Unlike last night's tsunami would have indicated, it was nearly 80 degrees and sunny most of the day today! I think the Côte d'Azur had the hottest temperatures in all of France, but I don't remember if it was 23 or 24 Celsius... Either way.

I missed out on a gorgeous morning because I've been going to sleep and waking up really early in the seven days that I've been here. So I decided NOT to set an alarm and to wake up on my own accounts. Actually, I sat in bed staring at the ceiling until 8:30 when I realized I just can't sleep in yet. Again, TOTALLY UN-MONIQUE!

But I've been seening posters near all the schools that say "Lisons la Bible," so I went to the website and found that there's a Christian church very near the center of town. It's been about two years since I've been to a church, so I was a little hesitant. But this morning I got ready for the day and waited for the special Sunday bus to take me downtown. However, it never made it to my direction (busses were coming back from town) so I started walking at 10:45. It only took me 20 minutes with a little stop-over to find the train station for my insurance and Social Security visits in Nice tomorrow morning.... which, by the way, I have to get up and go to at 6:30 a.m.!! It's ok though, because I'm skipping my Monday classroom observations in order to get all my administrative stuff done. ...And then maybe treat myself to a little clothes shopping à la niçois.

The church itself was really neat, it's kind of modern and like many of the American services I've been to -- just in French, of course. I figure it'll also be good for me because a.) it gives me something to do on the weekend, b.) I can practice my French some more, and c.) there was a wide variety of ages in attendance and right after I sat down, a group of 20-somethings sat near me.

Towards the end of the service, the pastor kind of tied his religious message into the Rugby World Cup. It was something to the effect of, "They won because they overcame pressure," and then he tied that into a spiritual message. I couldn't help but laugh -- even though everyone else was dead serious -- because Les Bleus are SO important here! They actually got to wear blue last night in their victory over New Zeland and will play again next Saturday. I ended up missing the match last night, so next week I HAVE to find a bar to watch the semi-finals against England!

Things started to wrap up around the one o'clock hour and when the entire service was over, people started saying their goodbyes and "bon apétits." I actually met an attractive blond man -- it's weird to say man because he's about my age, so does that make me a woman now?!? -- who talked with me for a few minutes before wishing me bon apétit as well.

All the well wishings for the meal inspired me to cook my very first multi-course lunch here in Antibes. I'll post a picture when I get a chance, but I grilled some chicken, tomatoes and olives, then placed them on a bed of lettuce and carrots, had a side of a tomato-mozzerella salad, then continued on to the "fruit and cheese" course with formage blanc and dried figs, and then capped everything off with nutella on the French equivalent of graham crackers (whole wheat, too!), orange Pims and a cup of mint tea.

After my second 30-minute exploratory run in two days, I think dinner's going to be pretty light tonight. Then I'm off to bed and early to rise to catch the morning's first train into Nice!

Bonne soirée!