Savoir Vivre...

I just lived one of my best days yet in France!

Today, I visited a small medieval village an hour west of Grenoble called Saint-Antoine d'Abbaye.  Today, I walked around gathering walnuts, still in their shell, from under a walnut tree.  Today, I had a friendly french dog follow me around for most of the day, I ate the best pastry I've ever had in France, and I drove through some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen.  I lingered in a church that was constructed during the middle ages over a period of 300 years, and I visited a museum that documented and let you smell different scents and perfumes that people a long time ago used to heal, ward off sickness, etc.  I marveled at the little things and I was drawn into silent adoration of the Creator.  Today was certainly a gift.

More memorable still was definitely meeting someone affectionately known as "Granny."  Mme. G (I forget her full last name) is an older french woman with whom a friend in my program stayed with for three weeks while finding housing. Mme. G invited Renee and I to visit Saint-Antoine because she knew we were doing a presentation on it in one week, so.....

She was kind enough to drive us there.....and yet her kindness didn't stop there!  From the moment we stepped out of the vehicle and into the misty morning, she became our guide and commentary on the ancient village.  She taught me more words today than I'll ever be able to retain, enhancing my experience tenfold, and with her good nature and endearing quirks, she quickly became a very dear woman to me.  She is a 'grandma' in every way.  Her stature is condensed into a small, lean figure, but this woman is surely just as strong and in-shape as me! (which she demonstrated when she proposed we take a long, uphill walk on the outskirts of the town....gosh, the French, so with it when it comes to health).  She cut out some articles about Saint-Antoine for us to keep (something my Grandma totally does too.... ;)  She takes out her glasses to read things.  She made sure we paid attention to every little detail along the way.  Most surprising, she treated us to lunch,  even when we persisted in our refusal of such a kind offer.  Nevertheless...we dined in a courtyard right in front of the ancient church and enjoyed great salads, tasty traditionally french desserts (mine was an upside down apple tart) and even some white wine (my first!).  We had the most delightful conversation; this women was so eager to infuse us with french culture.  She told us a funny story, she explained a typical french meal (and the alcohol that accompanies it) and she taught us the very common french phrase "savoir vivre."  Straight translation yields "to know to live," but obviously it carries deeper roots, reaching to etiquette, politeness, right behavior, and good rapport with others.  But the most precious thing out of that dear women's mouth came midway through the meal, when we all mentioned how we felt badly for all the grammatical mistakes we no doubt were making in speaking with her.  She had so much patience.  Her response was frank, and simple: "Mais je vous adore!"  My heart wanted to melt.

So many more details I could relay, but pictures are more interesting than words.  I'll let them replace the thousands I'd like to write, as pictures are said to do so well......