New friends, new pain

 I’m feeling somewhat better after my Friday wobbly (thank goodness!) 
What I didn’t say before is that on Friday, my host Mum gave me the email of a girl who arrived three weeks ago, because she knows that I’m the kind of person who wants to make everyone feel welcome and happy. Apparently, my host Mum got this email address from someone who she doesn’t like, with the help of an intermediary. That email address belongs to Clara and she was definitely worth reaching out to! 
It took barely any effort to organise a meet up and we swiftly decided lunch on Saturday was a good shout. With Saturday came crappy weather (obviously, just my luck) but incredible company. Clara, Krisztina and I decided to set up camp in the warm, dry shelter of Les Quatre Vents. We spent hours and hours there, long after we had finished our lunch (which earned us some shifty looks from the members of staff there.) Those hours were spent swapping stories, getting to know each other and generally just laughing endlessly about anything and everything. Eventually, we had to brave the horrible weather and trek home in the dark. 
By the time I got home, I was completely soaked through. In all honesty, I was somewhat glad to be roped into babysitting duties on Saturday evening because it gave the perfect excuse for Grandma Sara to have an early night. We ate dinner, scoffed popcorn and watched ‘funny’ fail videos, that weren’t remotely funny. The kids went to bed without too much fuss, much to my delight, and I only had to play a short game of light switch tennis with one-leg Kevin before he gave up and went to sleep. Success! I slept for a solid 9 hours that night and I felt bloody wonderful when I woke up. 

As always, Sunday morning included a visit to David for his ‘tutoring.’ According to his lovely Mum and Dad, he had an issue with giving his friend a present for his birthday (I’m not surprised, it was Lego Batman for goodness sake, of course he wanted to keep it!) Nevertheless, we worked on feelings such as empathy and talked about how it feels to receive presents. I tried to explain that his friend will feel the same way he does when he gets a gift, but he’s four, and all four-year-olds want to keep the toys they buy!
Obviously, on sundays the market calls me, so I must oblige. Unsurprisingly, my first stop was the taco lady (I don’t why the crêpe guy is hardly there, but it’s generally frowned upon to have a taco for breakfast.) The weather decided to be miserable again, so we sought refuge in various semi-covered places until, armed with macarons, we made our way to the same cafe as the previous day. Three teas and a hot chocolate ordered (guess what I had), we kicked back and relaxed, trying to warm up and dry off by sitting near a radiator. We didn’t manage to spend quite as long there as we did Saturday, because on Sunday everything has crazy closing times. So we moved on to Full Moon, where my poison of choice this time was hot chocolate (for those who hadn’t guessed, my other drink was tea.) We sat by the window, clutching our drinks and watching the rain pour down outside. It seemed like no time at all before the rain ceased and we were all heading our separate ways again. (Although, two of us did have a cheeky trip to Burger King, whoops!)
I had a somewhat uneventful day on Monday, besides my French lesson and moaning about how the snow is coming. You can already see it on Jura and it’s edging ever closer, much to my dismay. Marilie cried, because apparently I never told her that I don’t like snow, which seems to have created some sort of issue and now ‘I’m a mean person’. Casual.

I thought I was hallucinating when I went to retrieve Marilie from school. There I was, stood at my usual spot by the tree, when I saw someone walk by that couldn’t have possibly been there. When I first got here, one of the first people I met was Lara. Unfortunately, she left not long after I got here because her contract ended. So you can imagine my surprise to see her walk by me at the school gates! I was so dumbfounded that I didn’t even shout her name or wave, I just stood there like an idiot thinking I was going crazy. Afterwards, I texted her asking her if she was back and if she was, for how long? Of course she’d come back for one week when I’m only here for half of it! Just my luck. Anyway, I was determined to spend some time with her, at least once, so we arranged a meeting for the next day in the afternoon.
On Tuesday morning, I somehow dragged myself out to go for a run. For anyone who knows me well, you must be thinking that I’m sick or something. Perhaps, or maybe I realised that I can’t keep eating and eating without doing any physical activity. However, I foolishly rode to the lake on the bike, so I had already failed before I began. I barely managed a few strides before I remembered just how much I detest running. The calf burn was intense and I obviously had to ride home afterwards. Absolute amateur! 

All showered off, I collected Mar for lunch and tried to arrange exactly what Lara and I were going to do. We decided on a walk (ouch) and somehow I made it all the way to town and back without keeling over. It was a modern day miracle! Something as simple as walking around aimlessly and chatting about anything and everything brings me such contentment. I feel am going soft in my old age. Fingers crossed I can see her at least once before she leaves. 
I definitely needed to spend some time this week just hanging out with friends, doing not a lot. I’m starting to feel a bit more refreshed and more like myself in general. Hopefully I can keep the good vibes going!