My first work day

Things I saw my first day:

People just live in this building. 

This is a museum and park in the downtown area. I had lunch here today and watched a million kids being chased around by their mothers and some teenagers probably skipping school. 

Grocery shopping--I'm gonna write a whole post about because it's just too cool :) This picture is of the cheese aisle. And it's almost twice what you can see. 

There are two things about this city I absolutely love so far:

1. The metro; let's just all agree that a good metro goes a long way in making a good city. So if Marseille can do it with ancient buildings and narrow streets to reckon with then I think it's safe to say it's possible anywhere. 

2. So far, I've seen three people walking around with "une baguette" in hand as if it's a pen or purse and absolutely normal. Tomorrow that will be me--because it's my goal to find a good one :) But I don't think it will be too hard since there are Boulangeries everywhere. 

So I spent my first full day in Marseille getting contacts and getting my glasses fixed (I can see again!), and then doing some training stuff with Les Petits Frères des Pauvres (where I will be working). While I was doing this, I noticed a few interesting things about the people here. They're just observations for now but I'm pretty sure they are accurate:

1. People argue in public. They even yell at each other or their kids. And then everything goes back to normal. I saw it twice in one day! And no one seems super uncomfortable about it. I saw a mommy-date gone wrong today in the park. This lady was yelling at her friend because her friend wasn't being "firm enough with her kids". It was super interesting. I tried not to stare--but I'm so bad at that. haha 

2. There are so many days off ("ferié")! We get this Friday off as a kind of labour day-ish kind of thing and we have next Friday off too. And then one more the week after!

And one last one: 

3. Literally all the younger women and girls wear jean or leather jackets. If you look back at the picture I posted of the metro you will see the evidence. Too bad I left mine at home, huh? 

I'll leave it at that for now! 

But, really quick, a funny story about my first day of work: 

So my job for the next few months is to visit with elderly people in their homes and at the center to provide conversation, friendship, and social interaction. We also check-in to see if they are eating well and being visited by who they should be (cleaners, doctor, nurse, etc.) So when we got to the first apartment, guess what we found? The Monsieur was standing at the door ready to greet us--in his underwear!! Haha good thing I wasn't by myself or I would have had no idea what to do. So my trainer got him dressed and all went well after that. 

Oh man, I can tell there will be many stories ahead. ;) 

Love, 

Stéf