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Here is the Steam Machine in Action:

So here are some snapshots of Nice Carnival opening ceremonies. 

Then Saturday, there was a parade. You had to buy a ticket to get in however, so we decided to hike up to one of the parks overlooking the parade to get a free view.

Sunday, I needed to pick up Noriko from her Hotel and take her to the farm, because I was downtown anyway.

Noriko is the WWOOFer from Japan that will be staying here for 2 weeks. She was waiting for me outside of her hostel, she is diminutive with a very large suitcase. Her English is not so great, and her French is very basic, so we did need to deal with some communication barriers. I did manage to get that she likes mountain climbing, and she's a painter, who had an exhibition in Paris a few weeks ago, and who will be wwoofing until October, switching farms every few weeks. She has already been WWOOFing for a few months at three different farms, but often she was just taking care of kids rather than doing real farm-work. She is looking for inspiration for her paintings, and trying to learn french language.

She is incredibly nice. Like I thought I was pretty nice but she takes it to the next level. She had gifts for Jean Louis when she showed up (wrapped in wrapping paper). And, in the morning, she offered to let me hold her cup of coffee to warm up my hands because she noticed I wasn't drinking any. She also bows a lot, and always offers to help with anything and makes tea a lot. She's great to have around.

She has not yet cooked for me though. I've made 3 or 4 dinners for her by this point, because every time she tries to cook she just wanders around the kitchen re-checking the cupboards, in the hopes that familiar ingredients will appear. She has complimented my cooking a couple times, my favorite was "your wife is happy". Her english is really fragmented, but I'm pretty sure she was getting at "You will make some girl happy someday with your cooking". She also speaks a lot of Japanese pretty loudly to herself. I think she is thinking out loud essentially but everyone just kind of stares at her. On her way to the caravan, she stopped and started yelling at a dead flower, and then kicked it, and looked at it more closely. I think she mistook it for some kind of animal, but it was a little odd for me to hear japanese shouting directed at an old flower.

On Monday we had an extra worker show up named Frank. He works on a farm nearby, but his boss is on vacation so he need something to do for a few weeks. He is funny, I can speak pretty comfortably with him. He is a couple years older, married, and about to start his own farm in about a year. He also has a gauged earring.

I shoveled manure with him most of the day.

At lunch there were several jokes made at Noriko's expense once everyone realized that she couldn't really understand anything. Joelle was pretty good about defending her, speaking up for those without a voice (in the right language).

The next day, Lucy showed up. She used to work with Jean Louis and Joelle a couple years ago, and now she is back for a few weeks. She lives in her own little van, and has a dalmatian.

This obviously made me miss my dog pretty badly.

We had Lunch at Broc, since everyone was there. There is a picnic table and chairs, and another caravan, so it was a comfortable warm day to eat outside. During lunch, we had walnuts to snack on. Noriko saw Jean Louis and I opening them by hitting them with the flat of our palms, and said "Karate?!". We laughed and said yes you have to karate chop them open. She then tried, and succeeded, in opening a walnut with a karate chop. This led to s flurry of jokes about her being as strong as an ox and a karate master despite her 4'10'' stature, none of which she understood. Joelle told her to stop and asked if she hurt her hand. She said a little.

In an effort to include her in conversation, Joelle asked me to ask Noriko what sound a rooster makes in Japan. I need to serve as the intermediate sometimes because I speak french and english, Joelle speaks french and italian, and Noriko speaks english and japanese. I got my point across, and apparently japanese roosters go "kukoriko".

That night I went down to Nice for Salsa Tuesday. We hang out with some of the UMD study abroad kids and go to a salsa bar in Nice, and then hop around to a couple different bars after.

The next day at Broc we got to use the potato planter.

I also found my future home.