Je arrive!

I am really terrible at spelling things in French - always seem to be missing a vowel or three. Also, apparently, I am not too good at saying things in French anymore either, although I generally understand most of what is going on around me. I will just have to be charmingly silent for a few days - the jet lag makes my brain work too slowly to think of anything really worth saying anyway. As far as writing goes, the French keyboard is just different enough from the English one to make typing tedious. I cannot, for example, work out how to get the thing to do an apostrophe, so there will be no contractions or possessives in this post unless I figure it out somehow. I would ask the friends I am staying with, but they are busy making dinner and it seems like a silly question to bother them with right now. Instead, I will just finish up with the blog and then go sit outside and watch the sun set behind their house, an old stone manor just outside of Toulouse, surrounded by rolling hills and fields... picturesque French countryside that makes you feel like picking sunflowers. Or possibly it makes you feel like riding your bike for hundreds of miles, but not just now. Just now I feel like staying awake long enough to eat dinner will be quite a challenge, and tomorrow I have to get up early to catch the train to Hyeres. Oh, it can be a lot of work going on vacation! But, of course, it is worth it.