J'aime Limoges - et la Capoeira!

So, because I was done with class around noon on Tuesday and didn't have work until Thursday, I decided to take a mini mid-week vacation to Limoges. In about 24-hour I accomplished all of the following and had an absolute blast:

Saw some of the American assistants I met last week at our meeting and had a great time with them.

Bought some amazing chocolate from "L'Atelier du Chocolat Bayonne" - I got one called Ibarritz. I highly recommend it.

Went to a Brazilian samba/forró/axé class AND a capoeira class. It's shameful that I have never taken a Brazilian dance class before, considering that I am half-Brazilian, a Brazilian citizen actually, and my family comes from the region of Brazil which made forró music famous. And to think that the point in my life where circumstances were just right in order to make up for this conspicuous gap in my cultural upbringing was in Limoges, the littlest big city of France. The other American assistants came with me and it was one of my best memories yet.

I learned (finally) the basic steps of samba and most importantly, I was reminded of that truth about never judging people by their appearances. The class was (obviously) mostly French women (and one guy for the dance class, several for capoeira) and they had all been there longer than me. Some random French lady knows how to samba better than me! It is an amazing blessing that globalization has provided - that we can taste and sample from the rich well of cultural diversity and gain a sense of empowerment by doing something different.

And capoeira was just wonderful. It was a beginner's class, but having been away from the roda all summer, I'm glad it was only that. And God, que saudade! The first song we sang in the roda was "Roda Maravilhosa," you know:

Bem-te-vi vôou, vôou
Bem-te-vi vôou, vôou
Deixa voar
Lá lauê lauê lauê lauê
Lá lauê lauê lauê lauê
Que som o que arte é essa
de luta e brincadeira
Que roda maravilhosa é essa
é o Batuque Capoeira
Em cada som, em cada toque
em cada ginga, tem um estilo de jogo
Em cada som, em cada toque
em cada ginga, tem um estilo de jogo
Lauê lauê lá...
Lá lauê lauê lauê lauê

It made me miss BCBC's capoeira family so much and our part in the Mandingueiros dos Palmares capoeira family...if you guys are out there, know that I am going to do my best to keep it up here. I found out that there are classes offered in my city once a week on Thursday nights. Hopefully I can make that a regular thing.

Anyway, after class we went out for dinner, which, at 10pm on a Tuesday night, is very hard to do in Limoges, but we found this great little French fast food type place and since one of the other assistants was also from California like me, we were quite amused by the fact that "California Girls" was playing when we walked in.

Today I went shoe shopping because apparently Limoges is quite famous for its shoes and well, I'm quite happy with my purchases. As well as the eclair I ate while wandering around downtown...it was very much a moment of bliss.

Later, one of the assistants met up with me and we walked into a chocolate shop simply to look around. The lady working there asked us if we wanted a sample of a chocolate-covered raisin. We both said yes because hey, it's free chocolate. Once we'd eaten it though, we quickly came to the conclusion that this was the best chocolate-covered raisin we'd ever had, no joke. No Raisinet crap.

Took care of some paperwork for the "mutuelle," which is supplementary health insurance. Standard health insurance is part of my program and a sum is deducted from each month's salary to cover it. However, the mutuelle sounds like a pretty wonderful deal because for 105 euros for the year, you're essentially covered for all situations, and covers dental and eye care, which the basic health insurance plan doesn't.

Did I mention our wonderful lunch of lentil soup, baguette, goat cheese, grapes, and raspberry champagne? One of the beauties of French cuisine is that even the cheap stuff (like the Carrefour brand goat cheese) is of such high quality because the French are extremely protectionist (so it seems) of their food. The high standards definitely show through.

We also did a little grocery shopping at Lider Price, a discount grocery store. Again, great prices, great quality.

I am back in my place tonight, but must say that I am a huge fan of Limoges. It is a very underestimated city.