Birthday the French Way

The Town Hall building in Hyères

Alright, so speedy blog catch-up post #3 is a quickie about the last week in April, where 2 important events occurred: #1. My birthday. #2. Laura leaving.

"The Big 23"

To celebrate my birthday, I went out to dinner in my town with Tessa, Laura, and Austin. We had a really lovely meal. It's amazing too -- I can count on one hand how many times I've eaten out in my town this whole year! So it was nice to go out and have some local French cuisine (good luck trying to find anything else...heh). We took our time and enjoyed dinner outside on the patio area, with outdoor mood lighting and everything.

And we shared Bonafi pie, a stroke of culinary wizardry we can chalk up to our friends over in England. Bananas, whipped cream, chocolate, graham-crackery crust...why didn't I know of this sooner?

Other bday happenings:
-Taught 2 classes and brought them candy (apparently, well - of course - the other kids heard about it and were expecting candy the next day for them as well...whoops).
-Went to a nice little beach in my town during the afternoon with Tessa and went for my first swim of the spring! (Have since been countless other times)

"Bye, Bye Laura"

Got a taste of restaurant food in our town for my bday, and we were on a roll! So, to celebrate the great year we 3 "muskateers" have had and to say goodbye to Laura, we went out to dinner in the big square right by our apts. We splurged and went for the med-priced meals :) with a starter, main dish, cheese, and dessert. Did I mention the apero's and bottle of wine? ;) (Hey, we're in France afterall!)

One last tour of the town together after dinner, hanging on palm trees...

...and doing the splits in the center of town. Girls being crazy girls... what do you expect?

And then, time to pack up and move out! Bye bye Laura and bye bye girls' apartment! Tessa stayed an extra month in Toulon, and I've been goin' it alone in Hyères (well, luckily I've still got great roommates and some other friends around, so not totally alone).