At lunch on Saturday, Hunter invited his neighbor over to join us. His name is Louis and if you saw him on the street, you'd probably think he was a surfer from SoCal: Tall, slim, longish curly brown hair, held out of his face with a leather headband. Louis, a biology student at Bordeaux 3, is incredibly friendly and though his English isn't great, he is very eager to speak it with Hunter and I. Practice makes perfect, right?
After getting through all the small talk, I asked Louis if he had any suggestions for gifts that I should get for my friends and family back home.
Louis: "Yes yes! A good wine and maybe some foie gras? It is very good! We go? Tomorrow, there is a market. A man, with figs and foie gras. You want we all go together?"
Me: "Oh that would be awesome! I don't know much about wine or foie gras but I'll take your word for it. And I love markets. I will bring some money and we'll all go together."
Louis: "Yes. And maybe after, there is a thing. We should go! We go and get the shit!"
Is he still talking about going shopping? Yeah, I imagine we can get all kinds of shit at the market.
Me: "Sounds good. This will be a lot of fun. What time should I meet you guys?"
L: "Yes! We meet at 9 to go to the market and then we go and get the shit. We meet French people. We go in cars and then we go to the place with the horses and we get the shit and put it all around."
Okay, now I know I'm missing something. Horses? Cars? I know where the Capucins market we don't need a car to get there. Are we riding horses? I don't get it...
Me: "Cool, yeah, we'll get the shit. But what about these horses?"
L: "No no no... We go to the... equestrian center?"
So we are doing something with horses. I'm a little afraid of horses but I'll make it work. I was afraid of the ocean when we went surfing and look at me now. Surfing is great!
Me: "Yeah, equestrian center. Like with horses?"
L: "Yes! We get the shit in the cars. It smells like the forest. It does not smell very bad. And there is a yard. And we put it all around. Le fumier. Very cool! You bring good shoes, okay?"
Me: "Okay, yes. I'm excited!"
I definitely needed more information, and fumier seemed like a really important word to know in order to understand what the plan was exactly, but I was late for my rendez-vous with Ashley and Guillaume. Pretty much all I knew was that we were going shopping and maybe riding horses. All I cared about was getting out of the house on a Sunday, a welcome change of pace.
9:00am came very early, especially after my crazy late night on Saturday, and it was deathly cold outside. Since it had been rather pleasant the night before, it was also incredibly foggy. Not surprisingly, I was running a little late, but also not surprisingly, so were Hunter and Louis. I ended up waiting for them for a good 20 minutes before we made it down to the market.
The Capucins market is really neat and kind of reminded me of what Lexington Market could be if there were fewer junkies and homeless people hanging out there. We got a few snacks for later in the day and stopped by the man with the foie gras-stuffed figs. He gave us a sample and it was seriously one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. Even knowing how foie gras is made couldn't ruin how tasty it was. I could have spent the day there but Louis said it was time to go. So we're done shopping? I'm just getting started!
We took the tram all the way down Bordeaux 3 in Pessac, a part of town that I hadn't seen yet. Even though it was already after 10, the fog still hadn't cleared and I could barely make out he academic buildings scattered around the campus. There was an eerie feeling to the whole place and I was beginning to wonder if maybe I was about to be murdered. "Unassuming American girl found dead at Bordeaux 3. Two students, one Chinese, one French, prime suspects in murder."
We walked up a hill and Louis pointed out a garden. Oh my God, this is where they're going to bury me. No one knows I'm here but them! Just as I was about to make a run for it, we were met by several other young French people and Lucas, who seemed to be running the show, gathered us in a small shed, and began to explain the day's activities. Pitchforks, shovels, rakes, rubber boots, gloves. I really am about to be killed. I can't even tell how to get out of here with all this damn fog. I am about to die. This is it.
Wait. Is that... Is that a trailer filled with a steaming pile of manure???
And suddenly, it dawned on me that Louis's explanation was incredibly accurate. We really were going to be getting shit and putting it all around. As biology students, him and his classmates have a small organic garden on campus and they needed to get it prepped for the winter. Part of this preparation was covering the seed beds with cardboard and spreading manure over them to protect the soil in the cold months ahead. We had to get in cars to go pick up the manure from the equestrian center (tons of free shit there) and then put it in the garden. Perhaps it was because of the cold or maybe because it was cut with so much straw, but the manure really didn't smell that bad. We also did some weeding and planted some wintery crops but the majority of the day was spent exactly as Louis had said.
We laughed and sang songs while we worked. The guys fought about what kind of pizza to order for lunch. I spoke a ton of French and even though I was dead tired by the end of the day, I felt really good. There's certainly something to be said for working with your hands and coming together as a team to accomplish a task. And when I think about it, Louis is totally the kind of guy who would think that spending the day shoveling horse dung is a good time, so I shouldn't have been surprised at all by this sort of invitation. Those earthy types are always trying to get you to come hang out in their gardens.
By the way, fumier means "manure."
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