Discovering the reason I came to France...

So today I discovered the reason why I chose to come to France: THE FOOD.

I got up at 10am in order to get something out of the morning instead of lounging around or watching Gavin and Stacey, and ambled along in the direction of the town centre via la Mairie (the town hall) and the Mediatheque (media library, so audio and film resources, not just books). Romorantin is a really cute little town, full of winding roads with front doors sitting right on the pavement, shuttered windows and various tabacs and cafes dotted around. La Sauldre river runs through it and there are some beautiful (if small) parks beside it.

Musée de Sologne

Then when I was about 100m from La Halle, the smell of roasting chicken accosted me. French markets, how I love thee. La Halle is essentially a large hall / warehouse / urban barn where, several times a week, it comes to life and is filled with all manner of local French produce. I bought myself some melon and bananas, and just stared at all the other delights on offer. A Chinese stall (I found the takeaway and restaurant earlier today, and there's a MacDo's! - McDonald's, not that I'll be going there); a counter selling all manner of cooked and uncooked meats; many fruit and veg stalls; an oyster stall; a patisserie; whole populations of cheese; a massive machine full of spits of roasting, melt in the mouth chickens with optional pommes frites; oh yes, and the slightly gruesome sight of entire skinned rabbits complete with staring eyes. Disturbing.

So yes, that was my morning complete. Feeling very French I wandered back to my room along the river where some people were fishing. A few cultural observations:
1. French people (on the whole, and from my experience to date) don't seem to like dogs any bigger than a border terrier. It wouldn't be fair to call them rats (although there have been a few leashed-rats about asking to be trodden on) but the single Alsatian and normal-sized mutt I've seen are a distinct minority.
2. The French don't seem to mind if you walk infront of them while they're driving. I personally haven't dared to do so, but have watched in horror as many locals simply walk out in front of them. The first time this happened I was shocked when there was no outburst of authentic French swear words - putain!! par exemple - or honking of horns, but no, the driver meekly slammed on the breaks and motioned for the pedestrian to pass. Life as a French person seems much more laid back than in Britain - having a two hour lunch break (the world literally stops turning) and buying bread twice a day would be impossible with my British lifestyle.

3. The French seem to very nice as a whole, I don't think I've had one look of disgust when I've admitted that 'je suis anglaise', and all the teachers have been extremely welcoming. Case in point below.

This lunchtime I was due to have lunch with a teacher and her family, and in fact we went to a once-a-year food festival celebrating Turkish, Morrocan and Portugese cuisine. There were loads of women in the back of the tents freshly making the food on huge hot plates, and many baskets of desserts dripping in honey. Lush. And then they drove me around the town, pointing out the cinema, where I can go swimming and ice-skating (the only ice-rink in the region is in my town), the park Beauvais or something like that where I embarrassed myself and displayed how poor my French really is by trying to explain that quaint British passtime of 'conkers'. It's really difficult to explain, not least because even if you say it correctly, they couldn't believe that the British would be so weird as to do such a thing!

So it has been a very food-themed and -filled day!! I am yet to purchase anything at a patisserie - I think I'll use my first paycheck for that...