This is Part 2 of a series about my 4 week stay in Paris, with my sister, while we attend a French language immersion class at Alliance Française. In case you missed the first instalment, you can catch up here. After the elation we felt after our first day of class, a few realities hit us hard over the next few days. Cycling back to the very most basic beginning, despite the fact that she had been taking French online…
The week before Thanksgiving, and the day before I teach a Zoom Thanksgiving Favorites cooking class, I go searching for fresh cranberries to make my Cranberry Chutney, a staple at Thanksgiving for the past 30+ years, and an essential layer to my day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. To an American, this might seem ridiculous- cranberries are everywhere at this time of the year in US markets. But, the French don’t really know about fresh cranberries. They eat them dried (les canneberges séchée),…
One of my friends here in Nérac, Colin Usher, had the idea of collecting stories from people who had made small decisions that led to big changes in their lives. If you would like to read more inspirational stories from people who have opened up life possibilities by responding to a Wave in their direction, check out the site Somebody Might Wave Back. And, here is my contribution to that site: The year 2011 was a big one for…
I’ve been knee deep in red tape this past week, following up or initiating a number of “official” responsibilities. While this was nothing like what I was faced with when I first moved here, it seems that so much needs to be dealt with all at one time: renewal of my titre de sejoure (my visa), renewal of my California Drivers License, checking my voter registration for the 4th time (can’t be too sure!) and renewal of my US passport….
Here in France, like so many other places in the world, as of noon on Tuesday, the 17th, we are on lockdown/quarantine/shelter-in-place for at least 15 days, needing an Attestation De Déplacement Dérogatoire (a form) stating who we are, where we live, and our purpose for being out. Luckily for me, my friend Luke decided to come here last week from Switzerland rather than going back to his home in Italy,, which was already experiencing a mass quarantine, and…
This year was my first holiday season in France, as it was for my friends Taffy and Bill, who moved here earlier this year, also, from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. We approached this with a commitment to experience the season as fully as we could, and for us,this meant making the rounds at the wineries to stock up for season, visiting several different small towns for the Christmas markets, which we found were like a PTA bake sale mixed with a…
Rentrée: for the French, this usually refers to the first week in September, when they return to work after their month of August vacation. For me, today, it’s returning to life in France after two weeks in California with family and friends. It’s jet lag; waking up at 4:20 AM and watching the moon move across the sky through my open window. It’s thinking of my first born, who’s birthday celebration I am missing. I feel melancholy, for sure,…
(and I just figured out why) I have been living here in SW France for just over two months, and, as humans are so good at doing, I have figured a way to survive in an unknown habitat by falling into the safety of avoidance, or, in this case, without learning much French. Oh, I can greet people with the best of them, with a bonjour or a bonsoir. My departure is artful, my choices plentiful, with so many choices:…