I take all the little wins I can in my life in Toulouse.

Stephan, Enzo’s father, had recommended Beaufort cheese to me but originally I was not able to find it any of the cheese mongers I usually shopped for cheese. Enzo’s family gave me some Beaufort cheese for my birthday. It was wrapped in paper with the shop where they had bought it, Crémerie Canac Domange and listed it as being in the Marché St. Cyprien.

I had not shopped at the Marché St. Cyprien over the last couple of trips as it is much smaller than Marché Victor Hugo. I wanted some more Beaufort so I walked to the Marché St. Cyprien to get the cheese. When I first go there, the worked for the Canac Domange was not there but I figured he was on a smoke break (a normal French activity) and would be back soon. Since I needed some protein for dinner as well so I looked at the other stands but did not find anything I wanted. I was mainly looking for seafood and the two stands did not have a lot of variety or things that I could actually use with the kitchen utensils I have.

The worked came back and I was able to buy a portion of Beaufort all in French without any need to even let the person know that I could not speak fluent French. I ordered correctly, answered when he showed me how much he was going to cut off the larger block of cheese and when he told me how much it was going to cost. Making sure I understand the price is always hard as French numbering is very complicated. 80 is four twenty and seventy is sixty 10. You can imagine when it gets to the high seventies and nineties. I was very happy that I got nine euros eight-one cents. I walked away for the interaction viewing this as a little win! I was confident in the whole transaction and it worked.

This gave me the confidence to do the rest of my shopping in French and being confident that it was going to go correctly without me having to say I do not speak French well enough to get it all done. I even was able to ask one person to repeat the cost as he spoke it quickly and got the eighty nine cents.

This was slightly different than when I was buying pastries at Patisserie Conte. I tried to say “I would like” which I know well but it would not come out of my mouth correctly. I slapped my face after the second attempt and the server laughed at me but did not change to English. I was able to do the rest with little trouble but was definitely embarrassed that I had such trouble saying something that I use regularly.

Other than shopping I did not do much for the day. It was beautiful and I had done about 1.5 hours of walking after I had gone to both Marché St. Cyprien and Marché Victor Hugo. It is nice to be able to walk every day and see the city.

Another thing that I figured out today but is not really a new revelation is that having something to do every day is really nice and gives life meaning. That is part of what I like about living in Toulouse. I have something to do every day – go to the markets to shop for food, go out to lunch, have regular dinners plan, going to La Reserve, sitting and reading on the banks of the Garonne. These are the little things that make life mean something and are good.

I am not sure why but I do not feel the same in Alexandria. I do have somewhat of a routine in Alexandria where I have things planned that I do during the week but it does not seem as easy or doable. I think part of it is that I cannot walk to do all of them. I have to drive so I do not feel as connected to the city and the daily life. Also, the vibe of Alexandria is not as lively and active. I have to say the cafe/boulevard life of Europe, not just France is nice. Sorry, I am definitely falling into privileged and first world complaints.

I cooked shrimp again for dinner which were good with a nice rosé wine. I had a mini chocolate eclair for dessert from Patisserie Conte.