Saint-Valery-en-Caux

Saint-Valery-en-Caux

Just when I think I'm getting the kissing people hello thing down pat, I get thrown a curve ball. Today I was walking with a female teacher and a male (who I assume is also a teacher) came by, kissed both the teacher I was with and me. Afterwards, the teacher I was walking with asked him for his name....The rules of whom you can kiss and when it is appropriate are still a mystery to me. All I can say is that I kissed 3 people hello today and if I pick up this habit and try to kiss my colleagues at home, I will be the office weirdo.


Anyway, yesterday was my day off (Wednesday, so no high schools have classes in the afternoon and many assistants have the day off), so I went to visit a fellow Canadian in Saint-Valery-en-Caux. It's a small coastal town only an hour away by bus. I learned many things yesterday, including that I can make it to the train station in 15 minutes if I run like Hell, and also that a building can be called a train station even if there is no train currently. The building/bus stop in Saint-Valery-en-Caux used to be a train station and kept its name. (Shout out to Olivia for the explanation!)

We checked out the fish market with several fish I had never heard of (except sole), and we saw the fish being skinned and cut, which was interesting. I still don't think that I will buy an entire dog fish (looks like a small shark) or the fin of a ray and cook it, though. I will stick to the grocery store variety where all of the dirty work has already been done for me!

We then checked out the sea and dipped our feet into the water, which was FREEZING. Oddly enough, we both find that the sea doesn't smell strongly like the ocean back in Canada. Then we checked out the centre of town (aka the town square around a church). It was after 2 pm and before 5, and on a Wednesday, so everything should have been open, but not all stores were! I'm still baffled by how these businesses make any money. So Olivia and I stepped into every store, butchery and bakery to check out what they were selling/serving. I ended up buying a purse, a ham and egg wrap (they were new and the first time I had ever seen one here), and a meringue covered in chocolate mousse and a dark chocolate exterior (I forget the name, but I have never seen them elsewhere). Olivia had a sort of pizza with a cored apple covered in pastry for dessert, and both looked delicious as well! Then we ate by the ocean before climbing the cliff to see the view. The coast is much more beautiful when it's not raining! By the time I got back to Yvetot, it was dark and cold, and I ran to warm up. I really miss physical exercise, and I'm thinking of joining a handball or badminton team. I also want to check out the equestrian centre just a 5 or 10-minute walk away from the apartment.

After trying to update my blog with the last blog post, my computer was all of a sudden extremely slow and started to crash, even when I rebooted it. After running a virus scan, I found that I had a trojan malware virus and spent the night killing it. I guess that I may have to forfeit keeping up with shows from back home since streaming them causes a lot of problems. This is my 2nd computer virus since I got here! Anyway, crisis averted, but now I'm exhausted and I have to go and prepare for my Tex-Mex dinner with the profs! My fingers are crossed that creme fraiche will be a good substitute for sour cream! :)