Day 17: BBQ #2 – Roasting of a suckling pig!!!

Sunday, 8th July 2012

I let the day start slowly with a bit of journaling/blogging and a few Sudoku puzzles. After that, I went to the Salle des sports, which, to be honest, took a bit of effort because my energy level is currently almost non-existent, but once I sat on the bike for a while, it was fine. Although I never would have thought that I could really last 45 minutes.
After that, my room was cleaned and I was able to sit by the freshly cleaned pool for a bit before lunch.

It’s funny: even the sailor who “stalks” me speaks a few words (more) of English now. Most people here seem to be really trying to make me feel included.

After lunch, we were supposed to start grilling the suckling pig. Since nothing happened until 1:30 p.m., I read a few more pages. I found a “new” book in German: “Das Spiel des Engels” (=“The Angel’s Game“). When I compare it to Sandra Brown’s trash (apologies to all the Sandra Brown fans!)… oh dear, oh dear… there’s a whole world of difference.
It’s a bit like in the book itself, in which the main character writes trashy novels to survive, but is actually destined for greater things.

Later, I went to the forecastle with Gaél, but unfortunately there were no dolphins in sight again :-(, so we went back and watched part of the Tuch family until he had to go to work at 5 p.m.

Then I went upstairs and checked on the suckling pig.
But apart from the fact that it was extremely hot there and the apple which had been placed in the pig’s mouth had long since disappeared, there was nothing spectacular.

That still hadn’t changed when I stopped by again at 6:30 p.m:
The “youngsters” were all sitting around the pool (or turning the suckling pig), and the older ones who stopped by quickly left again when it became obvious that nothing much was happening yet.

Unlike the last BBQ, there was music (loud) and Jerome had the party of his life. He was already in a pretty good mood when I arrived. And I hope he was really in a good mood, which you never really know here.
On Friday, he desperately wanted to call his wife/girlfriend (maybe it was their wedding anniversary?) and was totally distraught because he couldn’t get reception on the beach. So I hope everything is okay with him.
When I asked him, he said everything was great, but you should never trust a sailor—even if he’s an electrician 😉

Anyway, it was Jerome who threw me (more or less voluntarily) into the pool with my clothes on.
Admittedly, I had actually planned to do that later in the evening,
but it was okay as it was.
After that, I took my third shower of the day and put on dry clothes.

By the time I came back, Jean and Hadamou had brought punch and the number of visitors had increased noticeably.

Around 8:30 p.m. the piglet was finally carved up and we were able to eat 🙂

When the older folks had slowly said their goodbyes around 10 p.m., the party got really good again when the cadets, Gaél and Jerome, sang old sea shanties again (this time to real music). And Sandra said that singing in French was just the best thing ever, and when you see them all like that, you realize that these songs really mean a lot to them and are part of their personality as sailors.

After that, I jumped into the pool again briefly before going to bed.

Some pictures of the food preparations and the pool party: