Adaptation.

Things that are starting to grow on me:

Wasps for dinner

Sparkling water

Incessant Cleaning

French meal times

"House Shoes"

The idea of getting my own car & driving

Reunion Island fashion

Espresso a billion times per day

Pineapple
Emmental cheese (it's on EVERYTHING)
Blood sausage

Speaking Creole (not me of course, but I am starting to at least understand when other people are speaking it...)

No dishwashers
Making meals from scratch

Hang drying clothes

Things I will never get used to:

Mosquitoes that love me too much

Grub worms for dinner

French parties because they last entirely too long

Getting violently ill like never before in my life. 

 (will my body EVER get used to things here?!)

Things seem to be moving in slow motion because were are in the middle of making several giant decisions that will all take place by the end of the year. That means we do a lot of talking/researching/worrying/reassuring each other in our free time now, which doesn't make for interesting letters home. (sorry) 

Luckily, I was invited to go to a fitting for a fashion show for a well-known brand here called L'effet Pei, which was great because it gave me a nice break from being insanely sick and/or stressing out about the future. (L'effet Pei is apparently is the number one competitor of Pardon, So I decided not to mention any of this to M. Pardon during our next English lesson...) They already had enough models for the show, but still wanted to meet me, so I excitedly hopped on a bus and spent three lovely hours with wonderful girls and skilled photographers. 

Also, I realized during this session that I speak/understand French like 60x better than the first time I did this sort of thing...and that made me pretty darn happy.

photos by Romain Piveteau

I met Chana during the fashion show for Mango last year, and ever since, she has been passing my name around to photographers and designers here...I am so grateful to her!