Turtle Time-Day 95-April 14th, 2018

The gym I go to is only open until 1:00 PM on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays. There had only been one time I actually made it to the gym on a Saturday morning. This morning would be different, I was going to be productive. I got up around 8:30 and didn’t waste any time dilly-dallying. I ate breakfast, changed, then headed to the gym.

Today I was doing shoulders and biceps. The gym was almost completely empty and I was one of three people there. Nick’s parents are here for the weekend before his family goes on a trip to Italy. I was texting Nick while at the gym and he said he actually was coming to the gym to show his dad. I made sure to work out a little slower, so I could be there to say to hi.

Nick stopped by the gym eventually with his dad and little brother. I introduced myself and gave my firmest handshake. It’s funny because our gym is probably the least impressive gym to show off. But to quote Nick’s dad, “It has everything you need”. They were only there for a few minutes and I finished the rest of my workout.

When I left the gym I was feeling really active and decided that I would spontaneously climb the bastille. I went to the nearest bus stop to take the bus to the bottom of the mountain. I check when the next bus was coming, but it wasn’t  for fifteen minutes. On top of that, it started raining. I quickly gave up on my desire to climb the bastille and just went home.

When I opened the gate to my yard, I was in for a big surprise. There was a turtle crawling across the path!

The Turtle

This turtle being here made no sense because the yard was entirely fenced in. The house was also nowhere near any forests or ponds. I was perplexed and told Anne-Marie about it when I came inside. She just said in French, “Ahh, there’s actually five of them”.

I guess that mystery is partially solved.

After I showered, I knew I still wanted to go out and do something. Pretty much all of my friends had left for vacation already, so I didn’t have any real reason to go out tonight or leave the house. I decided to go to La Natation for lunch anyway. I briefly thought about going to a new place, but I really was in the mood for their ravioles that they only have on Saturdays.

Luckily the rain had stopped and I enjoyed a nice walk to the restaurant. Eating alone can be nice once in a while, especially if its just for lunch. I used this time at lunch to catch up on my brother’s blog posts and some other readings. As predicted, I ordered the ravioles.

My Lunch

It was incredibly delicious and much better than the pb&j I would have eaten otherwise. This lunch had made me really excited for some of the meals I will have in Sicily. If there is one thing Sicily is known for, it is their great food.

With the arrival of Spring, there are flowers all over the city and not just in my yard. It seems like many businesses and households put a lot of effort to having flowers.

Here’s a picture of some flowers outside a supermarket

When I got home, I was ready to continue my stint of productiveness. I had nothing due immediately, but knew if I got some work done today, I could make my life a lot easier a week from now.

My first thing to get done was writing yesterday’s blog post. I was too lazy to write it last night and knew I would have plenty of time to do it today. It’s funny because sometimes it’s hard to remember what I did even only a day later. I imagine I will have completely forgotten about many of my days in Grenoble if they weren’t in writing.

After finishing my blog post, I worked on my final physics lab report, did some work for culture class, and did my laundry as well. By the time I finished, it was practically time for dinner.

I wanted to be slightly adventurous in cooking tonight. Instead of my normal rice and sausage, I was going to add red beans to the mix. Since they’re from a can, I essentially just had to heat them up after draining and rinsing the beans. Rather than doing my usual boot-leg style of cooking, I just went downstairs and asked A-M if I could use a strainer. She said yes, so I quickly drained and rinsed the beans in the sink, then cleaned the strainer.

I returned to my microwave and heated up both the rice and beans. I saved half the beans in a Tupperware container for tomorrow’s dinner. I cut my sausages and mixed everything together.

The final product

It was pretty good, but the beans could use more seasoning. I will definitely add more salt and pepper when I eat this again tomorrow night.

After dinner, I spent some time facetiming Andrew, then my friend Jared. Both are avid readers of my blog, so I figured I’d give them a shout out. (Jared how is Millie doing??)

The rest of my night was pretty tame. I spent some time typing up this blog and am unsure how exactly the rest of my night will go. I have a hunch it will involve some netflix. I have nothing planned for Sunday besides packing, so I might stay up a bit later and sleep in a lot tomorrow.