Hardelot Cape

What a weekend! This weekend I went with Dean Didier Van Peteghem, his wife Marie, and their family to Hardelot, a beach town at the tip of France. I had such a great time it was hard to come back! We left Saturday afternoon and the drive took about two hours but the scenery was so gorgeous I didn’t get any reading in. When we arrived we instantly put on our hiking shoes and went up the coast of what is called “Cap gris-nez” literally the grey-nosed cape. The cliffs dropped so far that no one with vertigo should walk here. We passed a lighthouse as well as several ruins of German war barracks buried deep in the hills so they could catch anyone trying to escape from the coast. On a clear day you can see the coast of England, but that also means bad whether is coming. I also learned that we say “Okay.” because during the war the American soldiers would wire back and give the number of fatalities – 0 Killed – thus O.K. I included a little video to show the windy coast of “la manche” – the body of water between England and France. Didier and Marie in the video were telling me that this passage is the highest trafficked waterway in the world and there are very distinct lanes and times that boats can cross perpendicular to the steam liners sailing through. Marie also told me that there are people who train to swim from Calais, France (near here) to Dover, England and several actually succeed.
After a couple hours we came back to the villa and set things up. When the Germans occupied France during the Second World War they cleared everything out of their way so they could see the coast so this home was razed. Since it was reconstructed a few generations ago it looks a little more modern than the others but there was so much room for all of us. The next morning I woke up early to go with Marie to town to get baguettes and had a fun time talking with her. A little while later she took me to what the French call a “braderie” and the closest thing I can think to compare it to would be a city-wide yard sale, only a little more glamorous. All sorts of antiques are sold and the street is crowded. I bought a used French best-hits CD and a tiny bottle of trésor perfume since I could smell it when I passed and it instantly reminded me of when my mom wore it when I was little. Marie bought a card game called Indice for us to play that night. While walking, I saw a pair of identical twin ladies linking arms and they were a hoot! They wore matching skirt-suits and matching white shoes, same hairdo and lipstick. I tried to be discreet while I took a picture. When we came back, we did something I never dreamed I’d ever do: we went fishing for shrimp! Marie put her wetsuit on and drug the shore and she’d bring the net back every few minutes so we could “trilller” – which means to sort the good shrimp from the crabs etc… The shrimp jumped around in my hand and it tickled so I helped for a few minutes and then started taking pictures. At one point I picked up a little bubble looking thing and asked what it was; Didier told me it was a jellyfish egg! Sure enough, when I looked closely I could see the tiny form inside. When we went back they showed me how to cook the shrimp after rinsing them. We put them immediately into boiling water and when they pass out and die they turn pink and float to the top of the pan so I skimmed them off the top and into a bowl. Then when we sat down to eat, it was certainly a new and unusual experience for me to take off the heads, tails, and outer hard skin but once I accomplished several they were delicious! Unforgettable. I enjoyed seeing Didier in a different setting other than the dean's office; he's much more relaxed when he's away from work. He, like most French men, likes to cook and spent nearly as much time in the kitchen as Marie. Later that day we went to the sand dunes and played some games including Pétanque: the most popular outdoor game in France. I think in the US we call it :botchi ball” but the point is to hit a little ball and whoever lands closest with their metal pétanque ball wins. Needless to say I have no concept of distance and my team lost :) however we had a good laugh! On Monday we went to visit a baroque style castle which are much rarer then the castles from the middle ages. By the 17th century people stopped building the traditionally fortress-structured chateaus. They just finished restoration and cleaning so the walls were white and the roof was in good condition- I really liked the silhouette of the roof spires and it was too bad we couldn’t visit the inside since they close fairly early. The funniest thing happened-when we pulled into the parking lot of the castle, apparently we crossed one of the earth's longitudinal lines because the time changed to England's time zone! Sure enough, when we drove out again, it switched right back. Funny little moment.. I did spend some more time on the beach; the first picture is of me and a girl named Ester. She was born in Equatorial Guinea but has lived in Valencia, Spain most of her life. When she arrived in Lille on "Irasmus" (a type of year-long exchange program) her housing had fallen through so Didier's mother welcomed her into her home. It has turned out to be a nice experience for both of them now, seeing that Madame Van Peteghem is no longer lonely and Ester speaks French quite well! Ester and I had a fun time talking on the beach; she had never heard of Mormons and had heard Marie talking to me and wondered what they were. I told her I was Mormon and gave her a few quick points of what we believe. I have learned that I have to approach discussing religion very carefully otherwise some people become uncomfortable. Luckily this time though Ester was so curious; she apologized for asking so many questions about what we believe(little does she know we love to share the answers!) I asked if she wanted to read our 13 main points and she was interested in the Articles of Faith and asked tons of questions. The phrase “laying on of hands” didn’t make sense to her so I tried to explain the confirmation and then she said the 2nd Article of Faith was totally opposite from Catholicism and she thought our version was right; how could we be punished for Adam and Eve’s choices? The next day she must still have been thinking about it because she said, “Haleigh I just remembered something – I once learned that a child develops all his or her habits, mindsets, and lifestyle patterns between birth and age 7 so it makes so much sense that your church baptizes at age 8!” haha, I agreed that it made a lot of sense :). I asked her if she would like me to get her her own copy of the Book of Mormon to satisfy her curiosity and she thought for a minute and said “Why not?” So Sunday I’m going to get one and mark it up for her, I’m really excited! I hardly ever get to share this much without it turning awkward…I hope she continues to be interested. She is a neat girl with a lot of potential. Well, I haven’t covered everything but these were the highlights of the trip and I’m so thrilled I could spend the weekend in Hardelot. Until later…