(villefranche-de-rouergue)

Take a look at the title. Ever heard of it? Can you pronounce it? Me neither. 

Well, now I've heard of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, and hopefully soon I'll be able to pronounce it correctly (too many r's and in all the wrong places), because it's the name of the town I'll call home for a year starting in September. V-de-R is a pretty small, remote town of about 12,000  in Southwestern France. And from what I can tell from my "arreté de nomination" (the official notification of my post in France), I'll be responsible for teaching elementary school English, bouncing around among the four elementary schools and trying to develop sufficient classroom management skills to impart at least some basics of our language through lesson plans I'll be making with no teaching background. However it turns out, it will certainly be an adventure. But perhaps job adventures will be the perfect foil to what I assume will be the slower pace of smalltown life. 

It's certainly a far cry from my imagined autumn plans. But that doesn't mean the idea isn't growing on me. In fact, I was pleased to have a facebook message from a complete stranger today who had seen my post about my post in the facebook group. Marika (that's her name) simply sent a message saying that yes, V-de-R is quite small, but she knew someone who had lived there a year and loved it. Which is a great sign, right? And whatever the situation, I'm just thankful to have some more concrete direction to give me outlets (apartment spotting, research, lesson material gathering, etc) through which to fuel the nervous anticipation that's been steadily building since April. 

So. There I'll be soon enough. 

Weird. 

(fainting goat barbecue)

After spending a day in domestic gear (laundry groceries baking brisket-rubbing cleaning), I trotted off to meet Ann and Drew (who else) for my very first pig roast. By now, I'm convinced that it's one of the very best ways to wind up the longest day of the year and the celebrate the official start of summer. 

I'd never been to Crabtree Farms before, and didn't even know it existed before this summer. Ann and Drew are members of the community farming project, which is how I was acquainted with the venue/host of the pig roast. It seems like a really interesting, positive concept and practice, so it was no surprise that there were plenty of fascinating people to watch and meet. All the food (and even most of the beer) was local, fresh, and completely tasty. 

On the menu and my plate: 

fainting goat or pork with barbecue sauce

served on fresh bakery buns

accompanied by giant-chunk potato salad

spicy baked beans

and colorful not-too-mayonaisey cole slaw

The best part was dessert: 

perfect barely sweet drop biscuit

topped with blueberry compote and 

fresh heavy whipped cream

(...oh the biscuit!)

So now I can add goat to the list of meats I've tried, and "seek out unique community opportunities" to the list of life-enriching character adjustments to make. 

All in all a good day's work (play). 

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Don't know what a fainting goat is?  

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(return)

Same person. New phase. Same blog. New look.

That's what there is to know for now.

Having left college behind me and getting ready to leave the States, too, I figured it was time for a return to the blogging lifestyle. The plan is to update erratically, but interestingly. We'll see, and hopefully keep in touch.

So welcome (back).