Update from France: Missing teeth, free cotton candy and motorcycle the color of smoke

By Emilia Privat, Staff Reporter

SAINT-ETIENNE, FRANCE — Bonjour again people! Here I am still in the countryside, gazing at the beautiful landscapes and going on bike tours on one of the biggest hills in France with my family. My adventures continue in the land of baguettes and cheese. I also have a lot of things to laugh about, such as a story I would like to share.

It was the hottest day yet. Mami and Papi have a friend named Evleen. She had found out about a horse carnival. So of course she had to come with us. We were about to enter the highway when she explained she forgot her false teeth inside her house. My sister and I gasped and tried looking  at her mouth but she had already closed it.

Papi started yelling at her, and her shiny blue eyelashes fluttered madly. So, flustered and scarlet in the face, Papi turned around to go back to her house. Evleen told him he was going the wrong way and when Papi ignored her, and went the other way, Evleen told him he should have gone the other way.

As Evleen came out of her house, she grinned, showing all of her “teeth.” That is the story.

At the carnival, I saw horse races with Mami. There was also free cotton candy. I personally don’t like the sweet, pink, fluffy taste. It was only for kids. Papi told me to get some anyway for him, Evleen and Mami. I watched them gobble it up like monsters. In French, cotton candy is called barbapapa.

Have you ever been to Central Park? Well, I went to one kind of like it. It has a zoo with many animals. They even have flamingos, which I had never seen before. In case you haven’t either, their legs are like toothpicks. I don’t see how they can stay standing sturdy like that all day. I also saw crocodiles. Did you know they sleep with their mouths open? The monkeys were cute, and my favorite was a minuscule black one with a white moustache.

Farmer’s markets in France are a lot bigger. There are one hundred or more stands. They offer you a peach at the fruit stand and half a baguette at the bread stand. At the sculpturing stand, they give you a bird with a little tube as the tail. If you put water in it, and then blow through it, it makes bird squeaks. Farmer’s markets in France are three times a week including in the winter.

My Aunt Isabelle has a motorcycle the color of smoke with shiny minuscule mirrors. I put on a huge helmet that made me me feel like a pumpkin. I held on tightly around her stomach as we sped by cows, sheep and baby goats. It was my first time on a motorcycle, and I loved it!

My cousins and I spent our last day in France picking hazel nuts off the trees for the plane. We collected enough for five mini bowls. We went on the porch, found a stone and pounded the little shells out so the delicious nutty taste could be enjoyed.

I was sad to go, but there is still next year to come. I really couldn’t have asked for a better summer.

This story also appears on the Colonial Times website.