The Mouse Fairy in Southern France

Chanelle with her host mother Nadine

After Paris,  we headed down to southern France to visit the area Chanelle lived while apart of Rotary Club, a student exchange program, during her junior year of high school.  We were picked up from the train station by her host mother.  Nadine stands at 6 feet tall, and radiates happiness out of every inch of her.  She owns a large farm in the rural town of Orx, a city in the province of Aquitaine.  The landscape looked like an excerpt from the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale.

She has a dog named Milou but I gave him the nickname Mad Dog for that's exactly what he is: insane.  He spends 23 hours of the day attacking nearby corn stalks. He runs up to them, pounces, tears them up at the root, and shakes them vigorously in his mouth until he is certain that they wont come back to life. 

While we were there, her cousin popped by for a visit along with her 2 children.  One morning, the youngest Nicholas (4 years old), was playing with Mad Dog.  As he was throwing the ball, Mad Dog became so impatient that he jumped up and hit Nicholas in the face, knocking him to the ground and causing an already loose tooth to fall out.  Nicholas was screaming out of shock more than pain, and I tried to calm him down by reminding him that at least he will get a visit from the Tooth Fairy.
 
"Quoi?"  he asks.  


It turns out that they don't have a tooth fairy in France.  When you loose a tooth, you put it underneath a cup and a Petit Souris (little mouse) comes during the night and replaces it with money. 


Mad Dog

You learn something new everyday, or 200 new things a day seems more fitting for Europe.

The next morning I came downstairs to find little Nicholas trying to climb into Mad Dog's bed basket.  Mad Dog was not liking that and started growling.  

"Fait attention!  Quest ce que tu fais la?" (get away from there, what do you think you're doing?) I ask him. 

"Mais Lenai! Ca me rendre avec des sous!" (But Lenai, look at all the money I get this way!) he replies. 

Haha, kids!

One day we ventured into the coastal cities of Hossegor and Biarritz.  Hossegor is well known in Europe for it's surfing community, while Biarritz is simply stunning. I'll let you guys take a look for yourselves, but for now all I can say is that from day one I was in love with everything in southern France.  I hardly spoke a word of English, I was eating foods I didn't even know existed, and was meeting the most incredible animated people that just could not get enough of life.  One thing is unmistakably clear: they know how to live the good life in France.

 



Biarritz

 



Biarritz

Chanelle, Myself and Marie

Hang 10 in Hossegor



Hossegor Boardwalk