A Weekend in the Vendée Region

So let me tell you how this mini-vacation started. All we knew was: 1. We were going to the Vendée region of France for the weekend. 2. ....yup, actually that was pretty much it before showing up to meet the bus Friday evening when we learned 2. Our director did not know the plan for the weekend  3. Due to unforeseen circumstances he would not be accompanying us. So there you go- The 20 of us got on a bus, with an unknown hired bus driver prepared to depart for an unknown location with no adult supervision...what did we do? Well, I curled up and went to sleep- at least I would be well rested when we got off the bus and were sold into servitude.
Alright, so, exaggerations beside, we arrived at a rather abandoned looking parking lot 3 hours later- by which point night had fallen and it was pouring down rain. DE-lightful. But lo ho ho - a very nice looking french man popped his head into our bus, much too excited for that time of the night, and explained to us why we were there. Actually all he told us was that his daughter had studied abroad at Notre Dame the previous year and had absolutely loved it. He then proceeded to call the names of my classmates one by one- who, upon exiting the bus, were swept up by trench-coated, umbrella toting, French and quickly chauffered away from sight. Not creepy at all right?....well I'm happy to say that I, upon being called last, was met by a very sweet looking woman who promptly took me out of the rain and to her wonderfully cozy home. I learned on the ride over that we would each be spending the weekend with a family in the region who had volunteered to host an American - and each family would be planning their own itinerary of festivities.  

Her family the Jolly's consisted of 16 year old Barbara, 13 year old Lise and 9 year old Robin - her husband, and....wait for it....a dog AND a kitty! Needlessly to say I made myself instantly at home in front of the fire with a kitten curled up in my lap while the rain poured outside. The remainder of the evening was very relaxed the family didn't deviate at all from it's normal routine and I felt like I belonged perfectly. Barbara had given her room to me for the weekend and I was in heaven with a big soft bed, personal bathroom and computer with internet - not to mention a late night visit from the doggy.

After a light breakfast in the morning Mme Jolly had to do grocery shopping in town so she dropped me and Barbara and Lise off at the beach. We walked along the shore front of the little town with a big name, Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie, and spent a delightful few hours chasing seagulls and (me) taking entirely too many pictures of really pretty sail boats.  The girls talked really fast so I couldn't understand everything- but we got along great even with my minimal talking (can you believe it!) 


When Mme Jolly picked us back up it was just like spending a normal day in a french family. We dropped Barbara off at dance practice and Robin at soccer, and she took Lise and I to the the neighboring town of Les Sables. We took another beautiful beach stroll and watched the kite surfers for a bit. On the way home we caught the tail end of Barbara's dance practice before Mme Jolly brought us home for lunch- uber duber super fresh salmon and sole fish. It was still whole- but she scraped off the skin and flayed off all the yummy meat for us- delicious! 
Afterward we had very low key afternoon- I sat by the fire and got a bit of reading done for class with Robin intermittently explaining french pokemon cards to me. That evening we went out to an authentic Vendée restaurant and had a fabulous family meal. Afterward I went with Barbara to a soiree with her dancer friends. They were crazy hyper and talked SO INCREDIBLY FAST that I probably only understood like 20% of the words but it was fun to laugh with them at their own silliness. The night was well spent but it was great to go home, snuggle with the kitty and go to bed a bit early.

We woke a bit earlier on Sunday because I had to leave around 2:00. Since I had told them how much I loved the beach and the ocean Mr. Jolly offered to take all of the kids on another beach walk. We drove a bit farther away to some higher beach-side cliffs where the wind blew like I've never seen in my life. It was absolutely incredible to be walking along the cliffs, barely able to hear anything but the wind and the waves crashing against the rocks. There were a few spots were you could descend and get as close to the waves as you dared and I took some really great pictures.

When we got home Mme Jolly had prepared a classic fruits-de-mer sampling for us. (seafood) I was surprisingly quite exciting to try everything she offered to me-even though some of it looked quite dangerous. I was even more surprised at how much I enjoyed everything- it's a good thing they didn't tell me before at that it was almost all raw and some were even still ALIVE. Just to give you an idea they taught me how to eat raw oysters and how to remove these scary looking creatures called bigorneau from their spiral shells. There were also shrimp and langostines- served cold- to eat along with some mayo and other sauces. The oysters were probably my favorite, but the most interesting experience was trying to eat these difficult little suckers called palourdes. Apparently you were just supposed to slide your knife along the crack between the two shell halves and pry it open. Try as I might I could not do- until Mr. Jolly told me the secret- you have to use you knife very quickly and actually take the little creature by surprise or it will tense up and clamp it's shell tightly together-talk about having to be smarter than your lunch. The seafood was all so fresh that we had to even pour off some extra seawater and sand that had snuck its way into the shells- just overall an incredible experience that I will never forget. 
When the family drove me back to the bus that afternoon it was like a mini reunion with all the ND kids. It was amazing to see how quickly everyone had bonded with their families- I don't think we could have found a more gracious or good humored bunch of people. I could have honestly stayed with them for the rest of my time in France (do I say that about everywhere I visit here?) I regretfully said goodbye to the girls- never fear we are already great friends on facebook- and hugged Mr and Mrs Jolly. They sent me off with lots of presents from the Vendée- caramels, a brioche, chocolates shaped like anchovies, and a half-oyster shell freshly washed from my deluxe seafood lunch. The ride home was pretty much everyone talking a mile a minute about how incredible their families were and lots of really cute stories.....so I didn't get sold into servitude, but instead spent of the best weekends so far in France. :) missing the Jolly family already. R.