French countryside are absolutely magnificent! I just spent my lovely weekend in the pure green countryside where there is almost nobody. Christophe’s family has a gorgeous second home in Normandy. Their house looks exactly like what we would see in travel/tourist magazines about French countryside houses. Their house is stoned, but they’re covered with white concreate. Their windows have beautiful flowery steel frames. Inside the house, it’s very woody and it’s in a very french countryside style. In fact, their house is actually 150 years old! What’s so neat that I did not know – while the weather here is extremely hot, inside their house in the countryside is very cool. That is because the stones help to keep the house cool. Samething in the winter, the stones keep the inside house warm. Obviously, when this house was built in 1800′s, there were no air condition or heat. Therefore, they utilized stones in order to keep the house cool and warm! Believe or not, air condition does not exist in many places throughout France! That is because France, especially Paris, has only about three weeks maximum out of the year of really hot weather like Atlanta. During rest of the year, it’s cooler. During the first week of my trip, Paris was VERY chilly! Right now, it’s extremely hot! Therefore, because of no air condition, Christophe’s family has been putting storm shutters down in order to prevent the hot heat from the sun coming into their apartment in Asnières. Don’t worry there are no hurricanes in France! In France, storm shutters are used to prevent the heat from coming in instead of the rain like Florida. Anyways, it was really nice to be in Normandy and especially in that house because like I said, that house is much cooler than their hot apartment in Asnières. Also, Normandy is also cooler than Paris too because it’s near the beach. No, I did not go to the beach unfortunately. Christophe, his brother Vincent, and I took a long walk throughout the countryside for hours. Normandy is very hilly and full of green grass! There are also tons farms and thus, there are millions of animals – cows, horses, chicken, ducks, rabbits, and all kinds that I can name! Lots of fruits and vegetables are also grown there! I even saw farmers harvesting their fields and doing all kinds of work! I sure did get a real farm life experience there! It’s a very different life perspective from city life in Paris! For dinner, we had a wonderful plate of barbecue…all kinds of meat that I can name – turkey, pork, lamb, and others. YES, I did eat lamb and it was quite good! As always, after dinner, we had a wonderful ENORMOUS plate of cheese. Apparently, there are over 400 types of cheese! I did not know that until Christophe’s father told me. Another nice thing, in France, the days are VERY LONG in the summer. The sun is already completely up by 7:30 AM! The sun does not start to set until about 9:30 PM! Thus, we were having dinner outside around 8:30 PM and it was still EXTREMELY bright outside! Why are the days so long in France and not in Atlanta? That is because France is much farther in north than Atlanta and it’s quite close to the North Pole! France is actually farther in north than Toronto! However, France does not have several days of heavy snow like Toronto! Besides walking and eating, Christophe, Vincent, and I played several board games including Monopoly! Popular board games such as Monopoly and UNO are great for children who come from complete different worlds and languages because the board games are EXACTLY the same throughout the world – same rules and same style! Therefore, it’s a great social gathering for a group of foreign children. Don’t worry, I’m still speaking French well and communication has not been a problem! My vacation in Normandy was certainly very nice, but I wouldn’t want to live there – too boring! However, if I had to live in a very busy city like New York City or Paris, it would definitely be nice to have a second home in the countryside in order to get away from the noise and the traffic for a few days. Christophe’s family goes there every weekend for that reason. I would also much prefer to have a beach too like Bayonne. That’s why Bayonne where I am going next week is so ideal for me – a green hilly and mountainous countryside AND a beach AND a town in ONE SAME area! I know that I did say that Normandy has a beach too, but I didn’t go there because it’s a thirty minute drive from Christophe’s family countryside house! I sure did take TONS of photos! You’ll see them when I get back in three weeks!