My first excursion into Toulouse as a wwoofer came as a surprise. For three days, Nigel and Renée's son, Adrienne, and his band (Kassla Datcha) were on the farm, practicing. On their last day on the farm, the violinist, Myriam, offered to have me up for the night in Toulouse so that I could come watch Adrienne and Simon play (Clarinet and Accordion) at a bar in the city. I took her up on the offer, and in we went. It was a beautiful night, and the bar seems to be the French version of Cheers for the 8 members of Kassla Datcha and their friends. No matter which way you looked, more people were greeting each other and talking as if they'd known each other for years.
I met a ton of people that night, and even got offered a random job working at an ice skating rink. Fascinating people, it was really nice to get to know some locals. Not the least from that night, I learned a lot about hospitality. Myriam was such a gracious host, letting me stay in her quite small apartment, and even getting up at 7am (after we went to bed at 2:30) to cycle with me all the way to the train station. I hope the next time I have a home to offer, that I'm as great a host as she was.
When a new set of wwoofers joined me in the cabane (meet Beth and Paul), we ended up spending two Sundays in a row in Toulouse. The Toulouse Plage (aforementioned in this blog) had tons of free things to do for young people and families, and we had heard that there was salsa in the park. We got the time wrong, however, and so were there far too early . . . which was a happy mistake, because it meant that we went and checked out the ludotheque (game library) and played Settlers of Catan in French. Fantastic.
We also celebrated one day by going out for dinner . . .
And the salsa in the park really was as great as we'd thought it would be. Can't wait to dance with you two again sometime. Thanks for a fantastic couple of weeks!
I met a ton of people that night, and even got offered a random job working at an ice skating rink. Fascinating people, it was really nice to get to know some locals. Not the least from that night, I learned a lot about hospitality. Myriam was such a gracious host, letting me stay in her quite small apartment, and even getting up at 7am (after we went to bed at 2:30) to cycle with me all the way to the train station. I hope the next time I have a home to offer, that I'm as great a host as she was.
When a new set of wwoofers joined me in the cabane (meet Beth and Paul), we ended up spending two Sundays in a row in Toulouse. The Toulouse Plage (aforementioned in this blog) had tons of free things to do for young people and families, and we had heard that there was salsa in the park. We got the time wrong, however, and so were there far too early . . . which was a happy mistake, because it meant that we went and checked out the ludotheque (game library) and played Settlers of Catan in French. Fantastic.
We also celebrated one day by going out for dinner . . .
And the salsa in the park really was as great as we'd thought it would be. Can't wait to dance with you two again sometime. Thanks for a fantastic couple of weeks!
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