Last week, on my drive home from volleyball I saw a hitch-hiker and decided to stop and offer a ride in order to equal out the karma from all the times I’ve driven by hitch-hikers when I am in a rush. I was a bit worried, not going to lie, but I decided to just trust the small town mindset that exists in the Landes region. Luckily my poor French skills were able to get us through the ride stress-free and ended up making a new friend in a short amount of time. Him (aka A) and I exchanged numbers before separating, and, by the end of the week I got an invite to his best friend’s birthday dinner.
Fast-forward to Saturday, I was worried knowing I would be crashing a birthday party (I asked multiple times checking it was okay that I could attend). I showed up to the dinner with a bottle of wine in hand, feeling at ease as soon as I walked in the door. Everyone knew that I was from Oregon and met A by giving him a ride which made for easier introductions.Although, in telling everyone about me, he didn’t mention I was vegetarian so I threw a wrench into the meat-centered meal (yikes, cue the guilt) but the hostess was so accommodating and made me vegetable spring rolls and lentils. The night was filled with laughs, blind music tests, delicious cake, cute dogs and two adorable babies. As time went on, the party members split off to go to bed but me and two others stayed up until 0530 talking about what felt like every topic under the sun. Saturday night was so thoroughly pleasant, I think it will end up being one of my favorite memories to look back on when thinking about my time in France.
Sunday was a long but good day for me. I returned home after sleeping for a few hours at the party house so I could charge my car in order to be able to go to volleyball. It took me forever to fall asleep but I ended up being able to grab 3 more hours of sleep before starting my day after lunch time. Volleyball was its usual entertaining time, I got to be on a team with some of the most impressive players (def felt like the weakest link lmao) and was even able to set them up for successful hits multiple times (!!!!). Every time I am able to make it to volleyball, it makes me so happy and has me consider starting/joining a recreational team wherever I go next.
Tash the Traveler 