February 20, 2012

A week has gone by without any updates, and the good news is, I’ve been so busy that there was no extra time; so now it is time to blog again.   Finally the temperatures have gone above freezing and our area snow has melted.  It makes the roads so much easier to drive on without the snow.  Where we live they have country roads, yet we are only 15 minutes from the city.  But the roads are narrow and wind around, so I am glad for clear pavement again.

Tuesday, I took the car and did a run into St. Cyr sur Loire.  I went to Aldi’s and Auchon.  It may not sound like much, but when you are learning the area, following road signs you don’t understand and driving a standard car on roads with construction…..for me that’s a big deal.   These are the little things I never think about in the US and now make me realize how different each country is.  Okay, but one question I do have……the STOP sign???  If I go to Quebec or Montreal, they are red octagon signs (I’m guessing the universal STOP sign shape) , but in those French speaking areas the sign says ARRET, which means stop.  Here, in France, however, it’s the same sign but it says STOP, in English.  I just don’t get it!

Wednesday last week, Anne-Rachel and her two girls did come for a visit. When I last saw them in the US, Naomi was just three and Martha a newborn.  They are now 6 and 3 and we had a great day visiting.   Children are the same all over the world and I love that!  We found out they are one hour and fifteen minutes away so we will definitely be able to visit and see each other which is wonderful.  Anne-Rachel helped me with a few little things and that helps so much. She went through my grocery list with me.  I have a standard excel sheet with items I need regularly and can add more if needed.  It is separated by sections, for example, dairy, meat, vegetables, etc.   In one column I have the English and the next, the French translation, so I can find it easily on the shelves.  It is amazing to me how many things I cannot find or the product isn’t labeled like the translation in the dictionary.  She helped me re-write words for things I need, like baking powder or dishwasher soap.  That will be so nice to have on my next shopping trip.  I was telling her I cannot find big bags of chocolate chips and the little tiny ones I find are so expensive.  I showed her the container I have with five bags worth in it which equals the amount I am used to getting in one Nestle’s bag.  BUT, that amount cost me over $12 US.  She told me that her sister used to send her chocolate chips but now she just buys chocolate bars and breaks them up as you cannot get big bags of chocolate chips and that they are so expensive. So, something I thought you could get anywhere….not so! And now we’ll have chocolate chunk cookies J instead of chip!

 Thursday, YAHOO……Ross finally came home.  Never before has a ten day trip seemed so long. Since we have been married he has always traveled, but I’ve had kids and that kept me busy while he was away.  I think he was as glad to be home as I was to have him here.  Lindsay and Calum sent him a package at the hotel in Florida with his prescriptions in it and YAHOO, Lindsay enclosed three bags of chocolate chips. J Not that I can bake huge amounts, it’s just nice to know I can if I want to.  I can do one small cookie sheet at a time with 6 cookies on it.  Let’s face it, a whole batch would take hours.  I have to quarter my recipes to try and fit things in the smaller oven.  (funny though, Anne-Rachel referred to my fridge and oven as “the family sized” ones) .

Ross mailed Calum his shoes from Florida too, so the traveling shoes have gone back to Cracker Barrel duty after their sojourn in France!

Since Ross arrived home, the poor man has been put to work!  He went into the office Friday but only for a half-day and then has been home all weekend.  We’ve  put together  4 dressers, a desk, table and 6 chairs, coffee table, tv cabinet, a tall bookshelf, two bookshelves that hold baskets and a table, bench and two chairs for outside on the patio.  All from Ikea so his hands are sore from using their tiny Allen wrenches.  But, the downstairs is done!!  I can finally get everything put where it needs to go and feel like it’s a home! 

We still have two single beds and a queen sized bed to assemble upstairs, but until we have guests coming, they can wait!

Saturday morning we did walk downtown Luynes to the weekly farmers market.  Didn’t buy much, but wanted to see what was available.  Okay, for the record, I WILL NOT be buying my whole chickens with the head and feet still on!  I am such a boneless, skinless type girl.  Now in the US I will buy a whole roaster and make soup, but they come de-headed and de-footed!  So, the grocery store will be my main meat supplier.  I’ve mentioned earlier that even the butchers have things going on that I am not sure about.  I am posting a couple photos though of meat at the grocery store.  While I do know what most of it is, some of it we will not be trying.  The cow tongue is especially appetizing looking-blech! 

Years ago we went to Jacques and Claire’s for dinner and when she opened her oven there were fish baking with the heads still on.  We laugh about it now, but my face showed my surprise.  She took them out and fileted them before serving (they were delicious). I told her I always wondered who bought fish like that!  I will now admit that last week, I did buy fish with the head still on, BUT, when the fish lady showed me the sea bass I wanted, I made a face and she offered to filet it for me.  I think I’ll make nice with the fish sellers and get that chore done before I bring the fish home.

Sunday we went to church in the morning and it was nice to be there again.  It is so funny singing songs you know and using the same tune, but singing them in French.  I think it will really help our language skills, but at first, it’s just weird!  I feel like a kid at church sometimes though.  I understand some of the preaching, but not all of what’s being said.  I can find the verses since they put them on the screen, but after about 20 minutes, I’m like a little kid and I can’t follow any more and my brain is tired from translating and concentrating and then I start to fidget and look at my watch.  I was glad to hear Ross say he feels the same; it’s just a lot for our brains.  As we get better with the language, that will be so much easier.  I did laugh and say I never thought I’d see Ross at church where the guy leading singing had long dread locks and a pierced lip J Church is just different here, some very similar parts and some different.   We’ve been to two that were recommended and they’re good, just very different than what we’re used to.  We’d been warned of that but it’s funny to see it in action.    But we like it and I think this is where we’ll end up and we’ll just need to learn from the differences and enjoy.

I did tell Ross that I have figured out why I was so weepy on and off last week and had a couple good melt-downs.  First, the reality of the move has sunk in, we’re in a different country with a different language, Ross left for ten days and I was here working and unpacking alone, I had the little “no electricity” issue (which tomorrow the guy is coming to change out our electric and give us more power –yea)-plus, this is my empty nest for the first time! That’s the biggest issue I think.  I realized that when my friend’s kids leave home, they still have their jobs, normal daily life, home, etc. For me it wasn’t the kids who left, it was us, but the same principal works. This is the first time in 27 years I’ve been without children at home.  I left my home, my job, my friends and my kids, so an occasional melt-down is okay!  Mostly I’m really great and I like it here a lot. I LOVE Skype and being able to see family and talk to them when I want to.  I like my phone plan where I can call for free, it really makes me feel in touch with family.  I have to time it carefully with the time difference, but still it’s been good.  I keep one clock on our time and one on the shelf with Georgia time so I can look quickly and always know what time it is back home.  Tristan and Katie are one hour behind Georgia, so I can look and subtract an hour and see what time it is for them too.  Saturday night Lindsay and Calum Skyped just as we got our dinner, so we prayed together and ate while we talked, I told them it was like a dinner date.

Today starts a new week, we’ll have been here full time for a month now.  This morning I was able to sort clothes and fill dressers.  May not sound exciting to anyone else, but actually having your underwear in a drawer in a dresser in your room…..WOW!  We laugh because in the bedroom, we have about 12” on each side of the bed, just enough room for the nightstands.  Then we have about a 12”-15” path at the end of the bed before the dressers.  Not quite what we’ve been used to, but sufficient. The living room area is 10’x10’ and the eating area about 8’x8’, so we tried to get what we needed here but not make it seem overcrowded.  I think the whole first floor here would fit in my Georgia kitchen and family room.  But it’s really cute and we love opening the French doors and walking right out into the yard.  I really like the fencing the whole yard thing with a gate across the driveway.  It’s so private but you’re right in a neighborhood.  Plus I love it for the dog, she just runs out and is contained.  When spring and summer arrive and the doors and windows (with no screens) are open, I have no fear of her getting out of the yard.  We will be attempting to keep the neighbors two cats out of the house though.  They’ve had free reign here in the yard and so far Sophie hasn’t met them.  I keep waiting for the first encounter, if it goes well, okay, but there may be some fur flying!  The cat did sit on my window ledge the other day and Sophie went nuts, so we’ll see how it goes. 

I arranged books and pictures on shelves.  Put out placemats on the table and now it feels like home in here.  As soon as we get baskets for the one shelf and finish that, I’ll take pictures and post them.  I love the feeling of everything in its place and having no more boxes!!!  Our moving company refuses to come pick the boxes and paper up after agreeing to it earlier, so weekly we’ll be trying to out some out with the recycling.  We did take them all out yesterday and stored them in the shed where we can bring them out a few at a time rather than me trying to climb all over them inside the house. 

Our language training has been delayed again.  According to our contract we get 120 hours of language training which I am really looking forward to.  I wish it would have started before we arrived, but the relocation company arranges it.  They’ve got the school or people, now we just keep waiting for them all to agree on cost.  I’m really ready for it to begin soon!  That will make everything easier although I am quite pleased that I can mostly get across what I need to say or what I want.  Verb conjugation might be off and I may miss part of the sentence, but a good subject and verb help.  This is an area where most people I’ve met want to try out their English, so they’ve been very good about letting me try my French.  We had a worker at Auchon this weekend helping us with light bulbs and extension cords.  We were talking together, me in broken French, her in broken English and at one point I thought she was going to stay with us the whole shopping trip.  She was having a blast, but then realized she was working and thought maybe she’d better go back to her department. 

We are hoping this weekend to do something fun instead of working around the house or shopping for the house.  I’m looking forward to us being able to explore and sight-see a bit. That’s all I can think of for now….I think we’re settling in nicely.  I know there are challenges ahead, but we are looking forward to seeing what our lives will be like here.