Retired Rats

Decompression

2024-01-13T03:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry, this is going to be a long one. Life here has been wonderful and we would do it all over again, but it has been a roller coaster of a week…month…year and I have to write about it to recover.

We moved here with the intention to rent, ride the bus, explore Europe…but that all changed when our landlords told us they were selling. We did not want to move. We love our home, area, and neighbors. Then the bus network stopped serving this area and owning a home requires a car.

Waiting for our house construction to finish has been incredibly frustrating. We closed in August, and as of December, still couldn’t use the other half of our house.

Our construction worker left mid-December with only 75% of things done. (He had promised to stay until it was done in November, then by Christmas.) This meant another month of waiting and who knows how many more months to come.

So…John finished 99% of the work on the house and it is beautiful. He is meticulous. I am so proud of him, there just aren’t enough words. He has always been my knight in shining armor.

I painted our former living space and kept him fed while he hung sliding doors, laid floors, added tile, finished drywall, added a kitchen pantry, and so much more.

We worked 12 hours a day for 3 weeks. The only breaks were for John’s birthday, Dec. 30 with friends, and January 7 with a friend. Christmas was a work day.

During this time, I also cared for pets of friends who were traveling and prepared for my driver’s license practical exam, scheduled for Jan. 10.

No one who hasn’t gone through the French driving license process will ever begin to understand the pressure. Every American I know who did this said it was the hardest thing they had ever done, but at the end it gave them the greatest feeling of accomplishment ever. (And they all were fluent French speakers, unlike me.) Eighteen states have reciprocity agreements, but not Oregon. Some folks move to a reciprocal state before coming here. In hindsight, we should have done that.

It was a 6-month process from start to finish and it was a weight on my mind and body that was all-consuming. It was my 2 am and 4 am wake up and worry alarm. The horror stories of friends taking and re-taking the test and the online accounts of expats’ experiences made the fear even worse. I chose to take automatic rather than manual transmission certification because it was cheaper and quicker and more likely to be successful.

I didn’t tell people when my test was to be because I didn’t want to admit my eventual failure. Two dear friends each spent an hour driving me around the assumed test area so I would be familiar with it.

The morning of the test, I had a 2-hour driving lesson and returned for the 3:30 pm test.

You must earn at least 21 points out of a possible 31, but if you make an elimination error, you fail, no matter how many points you earn. (Examples: Crossing a solid line, not signaling properly in a round about, not stopping for 3-5 seconds at a sign, or missing the dreaded priority on the right.)

Priorité à droite. The stupidest idea in traffic management ever. You are driving on the main road and there is an intersection without any markings. The car coming from the little side street on the right has priority and you must yield to them. Often these little side streets are obscured by walls just to make driving more interesting. If you happen to miss seeing and slowing for one of these, you fail.

You must take the test in a car with additional controls on the passenger side. If the examiner touches the brake or the wheel, you fail. Your driving instructor sits in the back as a monitor. After the test, your results are sent in a couple of days. The stress is so high, that when people found out they failed right after the test, they attacked the examiners. Now, they delay the results and remind you that any abuse of an examiner can result in a €150,000 fine and jail time.

They say seeing one ‘pie (magpie) is bad luck, but seeing two brings good luck. The morning of my test, I spied single ‘pies everywhere. :-(

That afternoon, I drove to the testing center while my instructor gave rapid-fire last minute reminders along the way, adding to my stress.

The “examinatrice” entered the car with a grand smile, “Bonjour madame! Vous venez des Etats Unis?” Hello, you come from the US? Then she let me know she spoke English, but wasn’t allowed to. In my bad French, I assured her I could understand French if she spoke slowly, but my speaking ability is horrible.

Off we went. It was like a bad Charlie Chaplin movie.

Narrow road. Had to pass a bike.

Construction truck blocking a curve. Worker steps out from the front into the path of the car.

Two-lane roundabout with another construction truck blocking the exit lane.

And the icing on the cake… getting on the highway, I had to merge on a combined on/off ramp behind a big semi-truck, when a car from the passing lane entered that space, and then it was my turn to merge.

Being used to US drivers, I knew to look for crazies. Yep. In the distance, I saw someone flying up from the farthest lane, I slowed and hugged the right, he cut across all the lanes and cut in front of me to take the exit.

My instructor gasped, “Parisien!

I merged.

The examinatrice turned to me and said, “Parfait!” (Perfect)

She directed me back to the exam center. In the road were two pies. Yay, good luck! Then, one flew away and the other one wouldn’t get out of the road.

I groaned and made a waving motion and everyone laughed. Finally, the stinking bird flew away.

My teacher told me he couldn’t promise anything, but he didn’t see anything wrong with my drive.

I came home and John had set up his music studio. We danced for an hour.

The next morning, the results arrived.

“Felicitations!” Congratulations!

I was floating on air, but I wanted my score.

An hour later, I received my score…31/31. Everyone tells me that is almost unheard of. I want it printed on my license, my license that will only allow me to drive an automatic car.

Yesterday, I finally started to decompress from it all, when I received a text from our neighbor. Our grand-dog died. She had been hit by a car and died immediately.

That poor baby had been kept in a cage for 4 years before they adopted her a little over a year ago. We all loved her with all of our hearts. She arrived afraid of everything, especially men with sticks, children, other dogs, and washing machines.

When she was with us, which was often, she would delight in long walks followed by a massage/rubdown at the door, the ends of fresh baguettes from the neighborhood bakery, peanut butter, and chill music that seemed to calm the voices in her head. She had started to play fetch and wag her tail. Much to our delight, she was becoming a normal dog. We are crushed. We were so lucky to have her and love her.

This morning there were two ‘pies in the yard. I like to think they are letting us know our grand-pup is now happy and safe.

A special moment: https://youtu.be/zLcCx8qXX-0?si=g6Qm3jWK2fI2HJFF

Goodnight, sweetheart.

Guarder la Tête Froide (Keep a Cool Head)

2023-12-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

It has been 5 months since my last post. Life has been so busy and at times very challenging. Today, I am going to share a fun moment that encapsulates why I love it here so much!

When the French are unhappy, they express their displeasure.

More than 200 years ago, the disparity of wealth led to a revolt against the monarchy which became a revolution. Thousands lost their heads via the infamous guillotine. This ushered in the First French Republic.

Today, the French love a good grève. (Rhymes with rev.) If they disagree with a policy, they strike. They demonstrate. They make their displeasure known.

When we lived in Oregon, our neighbor’s house became a rental. One year, the day after Thanksgiving, the tenants put up a grand light display. Cool.

That evening at 4:00, I heard a strange sound. It turned out that light display was accompanied by a loop of digital Christmas songs that sounded like they were played on a kid’s tiny toy piano that was paired with an amplifier.

We could hear it in the house. Over the TV. Every day from 4-10 this went on. On Christmas eve, it played round the clock, no silent night here, until Christmas night at 10. Then it finally stopped.

The next year, the day after Thanksgiving, it started at 3:30, turned off at 10 and went until New Year’s Day. We ran a fan on a timer to try and mask the sound. Year number three arrived and my full-on hate for every bit of Christmas music began.

The atrocious top-40 loop blasted in the stores beginning the first of November. The worst of Christmas music…Michael Jackson, George Michael, John Lennon, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, etc. You know the songs. Pity the poor people who work in retail and can’t escape this!

In February when the tenants left, I rejoiced.

Last month, we went to a neighboring small town here in France where we volunteer at the library to lead English conversation groups. Imagine my horror, when we arrived early, went into a boulangerie for a coffee and heard…digital Christmas music.

WHAT?

There in the hallway was a Christmas display with a 4-foot tall musical Nutcracker whose mouth moved to the digital music (without words). NOOO!

After the conversation group, we reluctantly returned to the boulangerie for lunch. I was dreading the music, but in a small town, food options can be limited.

Much to my surprise, it was silent. No music. We peeked down the hall.

Proudly displayed was a now 3-foot tall, headless, silent Nutcracker.

We absolutely guffawed. I have found my people.

More than 200 years later, the French still know how to revolt.

Now, some photos…

YES!!

Sunset

Magnificent bark

A horse track in the country by a chateau.

There are 44,000 chateaux and 30,000-ish towns in France.

Virginia creeper in the fall

I made these doigts de sorcières for Halloween.

They are witches’ fingers. FINGERS!! (Mom will understand this one.)

Finally, we have had rain and our drought declaration has been lifted.

Sunrise this morning

The “Welcome to Angers” statue in front of the train station.

“I am outta here…”

Joyeux Anniversaire

2023-07-01T01:34:00.002-07:00

This means both “Happy Birthday” and “Happy Anniversary” - in this case, we are celebrating our first year in France. And what a year it has been!

We will sign our house closing documents next month. Six months from offer to close. (In Oregon, it was 13 days!) It is harder to learn patience than French, and learning French is horrendous!

After the exchange rate loss of 9%, the closing costs here are eye-watering. There is a sales tax of about 7% on top of realtor fees(3-5%) and notaire fees (.5%). House flipping is not lucrative because the closing costs and improvements can take years to recoup. We are lucky that we did not have a realtor and our notaire (real estate attorney) is one of the nicest people we have met in France and everyone here is extremely nice!

On the bright side, property taxes are about .5% per year and that includes garbage and recycling. We can recycle almost everything and they ask we don’t rinse first as it wastes water.

We are buying a backyard garden house. Originally, this was part of a bourgeois house…a grand house on a huge piece of land for the formal garden with a detached garage and housing for the gardener and maid. The property was divided and our landlords built their home in the back of the grand house. It is being divided again and we are buying the garage and servants’ quarters.

The wall between the landlords’ home and our home has been completed. Europe is the land of “strong fences make good neighbors.” Most homes are completely enclosed by walls or privacy fences. Entry is restricted by gates with bells or buzzers.

Privacy is paramount and a house that is “sans vis à vis” (without seeing into or being seen into another house) is highly desirable.

Volets are rolling shutters that are on most, if not all windows and grant even more privacy. They can make houses look vacant, but rest assured, they are not. They can be adjusted to allow light and breeze, but not view.

I have heard that the French do not look into yards or houses that are open, as it is a violation of privacy. This is one stereotype I find to be false. Everyone who passes is peering into our yard to check out what is happening.

When we have custody of the grand-dog, she is incredibly nosy. She loves to peek into holes in fences or gates. The word for nosy is “fouineur” (fweener), so we call her a fweener dog.

Some folks name their houses. A lady I met on the bus suggested “Pourquoi pas?” (Why not?) for our house. I like that name.

Our privacy gate will be installed soon. I want an arch with “Pourquoi pas?” and longhorns - just like a typical ranch. No one will be able to see in, but they will all be fweening. Who says you can’t please everyone?!

We love this goofball!

Nature walk in Paris

Art nouveau in Paris

Neighborhood boulangerie in Paris

Galleries Lafayette store in Paris

Metro ticket taker asleep on the job

A walk along the canal in Paris

Train travel is the best!

This looked like a blonde pine cone, but it is tree fungi

Under our gym floor. I kinda like it. John however…

Ironic - Twingo cars parked side-by-side

I want this.

The queen of fween!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a…

2023-04-01T03:44:00.001-07:00

Lamb? Nope.

It finally happened. After three years to the day from the Covid lockdown, I tested positive. The weird thing is, John got a cold at the same time (different symptoms) and stayed negative. I then caught his cold and he remained negative for Covid.

Zero sense of taste or smell was incredibly strange. It was the first time ever in my life I had no interest in food. That didn’t last long, but I am waiting for the dry cough to leave and my energy to return.

France is getting ready for Easter, or Pâques as it is known here. It is a four-day weekend holiday, from Good Friday to Easter Monday. (The next 2-week school vacation begins the following weekend.) Egg hunts and chocolate bunnies and chicks are very popular as are bells.

In France, the eggs and treats are delivered by bells. Church bells do not ring from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. During this time, they sprout wings and fly to Rome, where the Pope blesses them with a ribbon and gifts and when they fly home Saturday night, they drop these treats along the way. Sunday morning, children hunt for the dropped treats.

It makes way more sense for multiple bells to fly and deliver eggs and chocolate to every child than for one rabbit to make it to every child’s home. (You can read whatever meaning you like into that sentence.)

Lamb will be served on Sunday to represent life…unless you are a lamb.

Speaking of lambs…back to “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” In France, March is known for bringing wind; like there wasn’t wind in December, January, and February! “Giboulées de mars” is the term for the sudden wind, hail, deluges and sun breaks that all occur within minutes of each other throughout March.

Yesterday, the last day of March, we were caught in a gust so strong, we couldn’t move. It actually moved us backwards!

Nothing in life has prepared us for France’s wind. We have asked other immigrants about the wind and not one of them experienced this kind of wind before arriving here. (Canada, US, Australia, UK)

In winter, the cold was damp and bone-chilling and then the wind came. I do not have a vocabulary rich enough to describe how cold it felt. I layered every coat and sweater I owned. It was not enough. I was lucky enough to find a full length down coat at a second-hand store.

We went to a concert at a former abbey/prison, now restored to its full glory. We were handed blankets at the door. During the concert, my mind kept wandering to prison stories from French and English literature set in the 1800s (Les Miserables or something by Dickens) and realized people somehow survived these conditions without windows, heating, or technical fabrics.

I see the French riding their bikes in the wind and rain and freezing cold, a thick scarf coiled around the neck, older women in pantyhose and heels, young children with mittens and stocking caps all going about their daily lives without regard to the weather.

I think of us Americans and our vehicles with remote starts and heated seats and realize how incredibly soft we have become. I ask myself, “How I will ever become more like the French?” Then, with a stroke of genius that struck as suddenly and strongly as a March rainstorm, I head to Amazon to search for heated bike seats.

The new garden planting in a downtown square.

Results of a grève…no garbage pick up for a few days.

Glamor shot of our surrogate pup.

A warm spring walk along the river’s edge.

The drought has made for a sandy beach. We need rain.

I want this.

Our neighborhood pond is finally getting some rain.

Oh la la…

2023-03-05T04:42:00.001-08:00

Fontevraud

In French, “oh la la” is more akin to “Oh my God” as opposed to the way it is said in English “ooh la la” which means sexy.

So, let me begin with oh la la…it has been a tough stretch

and things are finally starting to settle down.

Right after my last post, our landlords told us they were selling their house. This pulled the rug out from under us (almost literally, but there aren’t rugs here.) We frantically began searching for a new home to rent or buy. This put quite the damper on Christmas.

Angers is a very hot commodity right now and many people are leaving Paris for here so the prices are insane and quality places are snapped up immediately. Rentals are nearly impossible to find.

There is no multiple listing service and realtors do not work together. They represent the seller, so buyers beware. One house may be listed by 15 different offices or exclusively by one. Realtors will not give you the address in advance so you must make an appointment and then find out the house is a disaster, or in a terrible location or already under contract by the time you can see it.

Rentals are difficult because the laws favor the tenants. If the tenants don’t pay, it can take months or years to evict them, so landlords require a guarantor - someone who will pay your rent if you don’t. Good luck finding that person as a newbie. Also, unfurnished rentals don’t include equipped kitchens, so a new apartment means you must bring your cabinets, appliances, and kitchen sink! Angers is a university town, so many apartments are student housing, so very noisy.

We realized made a mistake by living in this house, because it is in the nicest area and everything else feels like a step way down.

But then…

We asked the landlords to sell us our home and their backyard. At first they said no, but after thinking about it, they decided to do just that! This decision was reached at the end of January. As of today, March 5, we are still waiting to make our Compromis de Vente - or offer contract. Supposedly it will happen on the 14th. Then, if all goes well, we may actually close in June.

We are thrilled to get to stay in this house. We love the location, the neighbors, the amenities.

Our visas have been renewed, we now have French healthcare, and hopefully soon, we will have our forever home. But I am ready to forget December, January, and February. Oh la la.

We had our first French cat sit! Love this girl!

The French National Library - Richlieu

A nearby donkey farm!

I love this wood nymph.

Winters are DAMN cold here.

French genders suck.

Homer on a drainpipe.

This is one house we looked at.

Zoom in and enjoy. Every room had floor to ceiling paper.

The kitchen cupboards were in excellent shape though!

Sacre Coeur in Montmartre

The train station in Nantes.

Christmas in France

2022-12-13T04:02:00.002-08:00

Magical dusk in Angers

Throughout November, the city workers were stringing white lights absolutely everywhere in centre-ville in preparation for December.

Darkness falls between 4:30 and 5:30 depending upon cloud cover. The festive, white lights make everything sparkly and traditional Christmas music plays from small speakers. These speakers are anchored to buildings throughout downtown. I hope the people who reside above them do not have to hear them in their homes. (On a happy note, it is not the Top 40 mix shoppers are subjected to in the US. This is more classical and traditional and not as loud. No Mariah Carey, George Michael, Jackson 5, etc. I will not be disappointed to never hear those songs ever again. Blech.)

The Christmas Market in Angers is smaller than in larger cities, but it is very beautiful and the aroma of mulled cider and baked goods fills the air. Children can visit Père Noël and whisper their gift wishes to him. There are promotions in small shops and big stores, but the real bargain sales will come in January.

The lights of the city and inside homes will remain illuminated through the end of January. This serves to lift spirits during the darkest days of winter. This differs from the Anglo superstition that leaving your decorations up after the new year brings bad luck. Exterior holiday lights on homes here are almost non-existent.

Advent calendars are a very popular thing here. They range from ones with chocolates to make up, ornaments, teas, coffees and other goodies.

The French are very careful about what they eat. Portions are small, spices are subdued and sugar is used sparingly, even in treats. During the holidays, there is chocolate everywhere and people indulge, but it is still quite restrained as compared to the US and Canada.

Christmas Eve (le réveillon de Noël) and Christmas Day are celebrated with family. Oysters, foie gras (goose liver pâté), and roasted birds (pheasant, goose, etc.) with chestnut stuffing are traditional offerings. The buche de Noel (Yule Log cake) must be ordered well in advance at the more popular patisseries.

New Year’s Eve (le réveillon du Nouvel an) is celebrated with friends.

Christmas cards are not a thing, but New Year’s cards are. It is acceptable to mail cards wishing recipients a joyous new year anytime throughout the month of January, but never in February.

Joyeuses Fêtes to you and yours.

The Soleils d’Hiver Christmas market in Angers

Video link: https://youtu.be/pnufsLDq3DE

And now, some photos…

Garland on this building is just trees.

Snow!

Fontevraud - a former abbey. We are here for a concert.

It had also been a prison at one time.

The temperature today is below freezing and it is the coldest I have ever been in my life. A very damp cold. Now, when I read “Les Miserables” and other historical lit, I have a bit more understanding of the misery, and they did not have technical fabrics!

The final resting place of the Plantagenet Kings

Concert - each attendee was given a lap blanket!

A sculpture at the Abbey’s museum.

I don’t think the sculptor had ever seen a horse’s rear up close.

Our gorgeous public library

Our neighborhood trails

Introducing our shared foster pup to peanut butter.

What a load for a bike!

Lights in Angers

Hiking Villevêque with friends

Bread is Pain

2022-11-20T03:46:00.004-08:00

We found another cat café!

J’adore le pain. Pain is the French word for bread. Like most French words you only pronounce half the letters (pah, then add a nasal ng - like pong with a cold). Yesterday, we visited “La Maison du Pain” - the house of bread. We could find a new boulangerie (bakery) every day for months if we tried. Literally. Boulangeries are everywhere.

Are you familiar with a round loaf of bread? It is a “boule” because it is round, like a ball. Hence the word - boulangerie. We also have a fromagerie (cheese shop), poissonnerie (fish shop), pâtisserie (pastry shop - often combined with a boulangerie), boucherie (butcher shop)…you get the idea.

Boules are still popular, but they are a distant second to the baguette. I guess baguetterie doesn’t have the same ring to it.

In French, every noun (person, place or thing) must have a gendered article with it…le for masculine, la for feminine. So, looking at a baguette and its shape, one can assume naturally it is…..

FEMININE!

La baguette

Tower? Feminine

Beard or moustache? Feminine

Milk? Masculine

Egg? Masculine

Lady-parts? Masculine

This gender thing has no logic to it whatsoever. But I digress. Back to bread.

The stereotype of a French person with a baguette under the arm or in the bike basket is well deserved. In the late afternoon we see baguettes jutting out of shopping bags, backpacks, and yes, armpits.

When you purchase your baguette (typically for 1.40€) the ungloved clerk grabs the unwrapped baguette and either wraps the middle of it with a small, armpit-sized square of paper, or slips it into a bag that will only cover 2/3 of it. In the grocery store, these exposed loaves go sliding along the check-out’s conveyor belt, happily gathering whatever remnants of everything that was there before.

If the shopper heads to the bus, often the baguette is jostled by other riders, rests on the hand rails, or is occasionally dropped and retrieved as if nothing happened. As germaphobes, we have had to adapt and it has been a challenge.

Breakfasts are interesting. Most Americans think the French eat croissants every morning. Nope. This is a treat breakfast that may be reserved for weekends. Also, did you know that they dunk their croissants in coffee? Can you believe that this makes them even more delicious?! (The next time you buy a croissant, bring it home and heat it in the oven for about 5 minutes, to bring it to its fresh-baked goodness, then dunk away.)

The most common breakfast is tartine. Which is a toasted slab of baguette with demi-salted butter and jam (confiture). This is also dunked by some. I think it is a way of softening the crust of a very hard baguette, because dentists are hard to find. (Our US dentist told us he saw more gum damage and tooth breakage from bread over any other item!)

My friends with French husbands say that every meal must have bread. Pizza? Bread. Quiche? Bread. Bread? Bread. (John is now a French husband.)

Bread is served by placing the baguette directly on the dining table and diners rip of chunks as desired. Often, it works this way in restaurants also.

Friday and Saturday afternoons, it is not uncommon to see shoppers with 4 baguettes bundled in their arms in preparation for the weekend. Sundays are for the family and most businesses are closed. Each ville will have one boulangerie that will remain open, usually for the morning.

As an aside:

For many people, bread is pain thanks to gluten. Commercially processed, fast-acting yeast and a short rise may contribute to the problem. Anecdotally, the bread in European countries does not seem to cause as many problems for people due to the varieties of wheat. It is also thought the slow rising process makes the gluten digestible somehow. Bread often is made with levain - a fermented starter.

Thank you to Debbie and Scott for suggesting I include daily life and customs and post more often. I was hesitant to send more frequent posts, but it seems folks are okay with it. You all are lovely!

_______

Photos and videos…

Yesterday we got off the bus in centre-ville and heard the most beautiful music. It was someone in his apartment and the sound reverberated off the walls in the street. It was magical!

https://youtu.be/gl1NvyY6GpQ

https://youtu.be/mhZqCMoE85w

A shop was demonstrating their wares:

https://youtu.be/38QkiPuQY-A

Egg on a pizza. Nope.

Fish pedicures. They eat the dead skin off your feet.

Nope.

Centre-ville preparing for Le Soleil d’Hiver festival.

One of our many public libraries.

We sat here and studied French.

Can you believe the view?

It seems donkeys are popular here.

My craft contributions for the English Library Craft Sale.

TWO MONTHS!

2022-11-05T06:32:00.002-07:00

Where has the time gone? We always wondered how we would spend our time in Europe. We knew we couldn’t be tourists 100% of the time as that would get old. There is no time to be a tourist!

We finished our intensive language A1 class and it was intense! Three hours in class plus about six hours of homework a day. John now has a really fun tutor, and I am taking formal classes. I skipped A2 and am taking two B1 classes. We still can’t speak it, but we are starting to understand it. We are taking two conversation classes each week, too.

I have made some terrific friends in language class and we have many social gatherings. We are a diverse group of all races, nationalities, religions, and ages and we have so much in common as we struggle to assimilate. My heart is incredibly happy here!

We have been volunteering a lot at the English library. We developed an automated registration system for enrolling university students. The students flash a QR code, fill out a form and then the data can be batch uploaded to their circulation system. It turns out they use the same program I used in the states. I also completed my portion of a project in which we are indicating reading levels of the books. This will make it easier for our French patrons to find books (in English) on their reading level.

We had our first dentist visit. Finding a dentist is like pulling teeth! We really like him. A full mouth x-ray and exam was €23. Super modern equipment, but no cleaning and from what we are told, the cleaning will take about 10 minutes. That will be in 18 months! Yikes! Floss is not real popular here. Our dentist was impressed with our dental hygiene, but some dentists actively discourage flossing as they think it causes gum problems. It is hard to find in the stores, too. I have been plotting that we should find two other dentists. Then we can schedule 18 month cleanings at 6 month intervals. System D!

(System D is what the French call how to work around the rules.)

One of our neighbors invited us for apéro (aperitifs). It was a lovely evening in 90% French conversation. She invited us to join her at the neighborhood community center for a concert. These are regular concerts that have a guitarist, violinist, and mandolin player.

So, that night we discovered that it is a chorale group and we were to be part of the chorale! (I think my French comprehension may be lacking or we were horn-swaggled.) Anyway, we had a blast! I guess we are now in a chorale group. I would not have put that on my “Move to France” Bingo card.

I finally wrote the Office of French Integration and Immigration to see if our appointment was lost. ( We are almost three months overdue.) It turns out they are running 8 months behind. So it will be at least January before we have our appointment. That is also when we begin our visa renewal process. Yikes!

If you recall from my last post, France had just returned to work from Les Vacances. After seven weeks of work, it was time for another two week “vacances.” So things slowed again. The French have a 32-35 hour work week, multiple vacation periods a year and still manage to get things done. Family and the enjoyment of life is the priority here. I wish we would have moved here in our 20s.

We took this opportunity to take our first real vacation in well over a year and went to Vannes. It is in Brittany on the Gulf of Morbihan and the area reminds us of the San Juans in the Pacific Northwest. We took a ferry to a small island that had a quaint village in the center. It was like stepping back in time. We walked for miles, read fluffy fiction, and just relaxed.

It was one year ago that we came to France on a scouting trip. I cannot believe it has been a year. It was an incredibly stressful year. We think back to what we have been through and we still feel a bit overwhelmed by the memory. (PTSD?) Are we glad we did it? YES! A million times, YES! At least once a day, we will have a moment where we stop and look at each other and ask if this is real. We are actually here? We did it. France is a dream come true.

Angers is our happy place.

And now for way too many photos and some videos…

Video links:

Vide Grenier -Community yard sale - More than 20,000 people came!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jfhsmquEPNk

Night Music Festival https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZeO1Y2Uch0

Donkey visit https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CDlSsw5Wv7I

Sunset Cruise https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MmvHHHHdAjk

Savennieres (a small town near us)

Vineyards and scenery much like the Willamette Valley

With chateau and donkey.

And Villeveque - another small town.

A country church.

Mill in Villeveque

Chateau in Villeveque - open for Patrimoine Days

During this weekend, many buildings across France are accessible to the public for free.

This includes many places that are normally off limits.

Saint Quentin - notice the shackles on the wrists.

San Quentin/Saint Quentin. I never knew.

A people-pulled ferry (BAC) for crossing the river.

Vannes (Gulf of Morbihan) Brittany Area

Okay, I know this looks like turds, but it was really good fish and chips.

Kouign Amon! Not as good as in Dinan, but still delish!

Funny. This was a porta potty with a flush toilet!

A former slate quarry. Used until 2012ish. Now you can walk and also pick slate.

The lakes are incredible blue. Slate in French is “ardoise”

Some scenery from the evening cruise:

Scenes from a bike ride:

Around Angers:

Wonder how they get the perfect shape? They put a metal form over the shrub and trim around it!

Walking back from the grocery store, we noticed something different.

Sorry it is sideways. Turkish Van fans!

When the university students returned, we saw some initiations going on.

Breast Cancer Awareness

This was the info tent:

An Angers street scene. I love the light on the building at the end of the street.

Local authorized street art:

I love this ad. “With one degree lower, everyone will sleep as well.”

The push to conserve energy is huge right now. Street lights are off from midnight to 5.

Businesses are required to turn off all lights after they close.

Government officials are wearing turtlenecks instead of ties to indicate their offices are now cooler to save energy.

Men’s underwear display.

On display at a local antiques store.

This little guy was on our gate latch. We kept him for a bit and then put him on a plant.

Finally! A pet! She our landlords’ foster dog and is very shy.

She is getting braver!

FOOD!!

Thank you to Robyn for this!

French in my head.

French when I write.

French when I speak. Boy howdy!

Rentrée

2022-09-11T03:32:00.002-07:00

Back to school or “rentrée” has officially begun. Angers is bustling with the return of the local residents and its additional 45,000 students. Bus service is more frequent and the transit service is once again using the very long “bendy” buses.

John and I also became students this September. We are embarking upon our French language study in earnest by taking the City of Angers’ intensive French class.

We, along with all of the elementary through university students take the public bus to school. (There are additional public buses just for students, but those are for areas not near an established public bus route.)

We got on the bus which became populated by about 80-100 students by the time we reached their schools’ bus stops. These children ranged in age from about 10 to 18. Some whispered quietly, others read, the rest were just quiet. Each student greeted the driver with the lilting, “Bonjour” and moved to an open space. No pushing, loud voices, or horse-play.

After school, the commute is a tiny bit more boisterous, but still an extremely pleasant experience. The only disconcerting part is always being the oldest and only masked riders. (In addition to Covid, fall colds have always been a part of teaching. We hope to avoid both.)

Buses in our area of the US required an assistant to monitor the students and elementary, middle and high schoolers did not ride together as that would be total, dangerous mayhem.

Back to school:

I have always loved taking classes and am an enthusiastic student. I thrive in the structured classroom environment. I come to class prepared and love to sit in the front row. Best of all, returning to the classroom gives me an excuse to buy stationery!

Anyone who knows John, knows he is brilliant. He is a self-taught musician and composer. Everywhere he worked, he was the “go-to” guy to fix problems, whether they were with systems processing, electrical, mechanical or electrical design and troubleshooting. When he made garden art, he created his own tools, products and marketing materials. He likes reading aeronautical engineering and physics books for fun.

John is a reluctant student. In the 60s he was criticized for being a daydreamer. Today he would be identified a gifted student and alternative methods of instruction would be warranted. Traditional lecture-based education has never been a good fit for students like him who prefer practical hands-on experience. France, like the US, is very traditional in its delivery of instruction. For him, this class is a form of torture.

Our teacher is a very polished 70-ish teacher. She came into the room in her stylish twin-set sweater and dress slacks, kitten-heeled dress shoes, and the obligatory scarf. She did not introduce herself, but smiled and began class promptly at 9:00 AM, completely in French.

The workbook is completely in French. We were so nervous about this class that during the summer’s heatwaves, we sequestered ourselves in our home and completed the book. It was difficult and frustrating, but it made a world of difference for taking this class. The content comes so quickly, we would have been completely overwhelmed.

The class is like a mini-United Nations. There are fourteen of us. Three Americans, three Chinese, two Nigerian, one Sudanese, two Vietnamese, one Peruvian, one Moroccan, one Bolivian and one person from the Ivory Coast. Almost all of them speak English as a second language (or third) and most have no French language experience. One woman is totally fluent, but she can’t read. My heart breaks a little every time the teacher calls on her.

After three weeks of this class, I will continue taking weekly classes and he will begin learning through exploration. I predict in a year, we will a bit more comfortable in French, but John’s understanding will surpass mine.

Oh, and we will have totally lost our English.

______________

Photos from this week:

Back to School

Approaching our school

The view from the school’s stairwell.

On Friday morning, the bells for mass are so loud and they go on and on.

I love it!

View from the classroom window

———

In addition to classes, we volunteered at the English Library’s food booth during Les Accroche-coeurs. Our picture was on the regional newspaper’s website (article behind a pay-wall) and the photo was on page two of a special edition of the print edition!

This is a 3–day art and music festival.

There are 3-day festivals each weekend in September.

So much to do and all for free!

Next weekend, all the area museums are open to the public for free.

The American TV series “Friends”is still very popular here.

Below is the set-up for a free photo opportunity that would be open later in the day.

It is the similar to the opening credits for “Friends” and it had a long line of folks.

Hot air balloon and huge animated flowers

Greenpeace activists were preparing here. I love how the buildings’ reflections were caught in the glass.

The garden was planted in late June. I am sure it will be replaced in the next few weeks.

This band was wandering while playing everything from The Beastie Boys to The Cars.

They were fantastic. We loved the silver cowboy hats.

The bark on this tree is beautiful.

Deb - you can get your next frames on your visit.

They have your name on them!

Smoking is not as popular here as it used to be. Thankfully.

Our uninvited visitor. Measuring cup for scale.

Much larger when alive and legs weren’t curled.

He ran up John’s leg one evening while we were watching TV. They could just put that spider’s picture on the pack of cigarettes. Same effect on a person!

We miss window screens.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

2022-09-01T06:29:00.001-07:00

It seems the heatwaves are finished with us for the summer (unless September has a surprise wave) and we are finally able to enjoy the beauty of France. We dusted off the bikes and took an evening ride that brought us to tears.

But first, a recap…

August is the month where les vacances is most noticeable. Angers is not a preferred tourist area, even though we have a chateau, quality museums, and a botanical park to name a few attractions.

Many of the local residents left in August. The university students were gone. The parks were completely off-limits for a couple of weeks as the fire danger peaked. There were no cars on the roads or people on the sidewalks. The transit system switched to shorter, non-bendy buses in the summer, and even those were mostly empty. It seemed it was only us who remained while we awaited our OFII appointment which never came.

Mornings, we walked to the supermarché for groceries and many afternoons stayed inside to avoid peak heat, but we were diligently studying our French.

As August began to wind down, some activities picked up. Our English Library Coffee Group began to meet again. A little rain fell which enabled the parks to reopen. The evening temperatures dropped out of the 90s and we enjoyed dusky walks around the north end of the lake through the woods that returned us to our home. Only the sounds of birds to accompany us.

Last Sunday evening we rode our bikes to the river. I have never felt so safe riding a bike on the roads as I do here. Bike and walking paths are everywhere. We can ride from here to the ocean or back through the Loire Valley mostly on completely car-free paths. A quick ten minutes through the city and we joined the river path.

We pedaled along the water’s edge, between columns of trees that offered a canopy of shade so welcome during the summer heat.

I was reminded of a framed print in our Oregon bathroom of a scene almost exactly like this. Many nights I would brush my teeth staring at this photo marveling at its beauty, not knowing that one day it would be my new home.

We arrived at a people-powered ferry that crossed to an island accessible only to walkers and bikers. The first kilometer was populated with families with little ones, but after that, we were mostly alone surrounded by open fields of fragrant wildflowers and an indescribable peace.

I asked John, “Can you believe we live here?”

He replied, “After all we have been through in the last year, I have to say, this brings a tear to my eye.” Which brought a tear to my eye.

So we pedaled on, joyous tears streaming down our faces, laughing aloud at the relief and splendor of it all.

We made it to France. It is better than we ever dreamed it could be.

_________________

I appreciate the comments and emails you all send after receiving this. I wish Blogger had a better way of responding to comments. It is clunky. When I deduce who you are, I will respond via email. Also, MailChimp has stopped sending my updates so this may be the first update email you have received in a while. Hopefully, the kinks have been worked out.

__________________

And now some photos and music…

On the bike path:

Crossing on the ferry

Folks on the ferry pull on the cable to bring the ferry across

On the island

The back of the cathedral

We just love coming upon art like this.

Sonofoque - manhole cover manufacturer

Angers is known for its slate. We love how it is used for a garden fence in this photo:

When the weekly marché comes to our neighborhood,

the power source comes up out of the sidewalk. Cool!

I love this tree. It looks like it is full of birds.

Coming out of the woods at the end of our evening walk:

An example of the parched plants due to the heatwaves and drought.

Our friends’ grape arbor:

Tommy the tortoise is 50 years old.

She is a spur-thighed tortoise.

An insect house our friends P and G made in their garden.

I would live here!

A beetle John spotted on one of our walks.

Oooh, shiny!

Our landlady, L, is always rescuing stray animals.

Last month it was a domestic white pigeon.

Today it was this cutie.

All watering of plants other than limited irrigation of vegetable gardens is forbidden.

Here, the city is bringing in tanks to fill from the area’s (now closed) fountains.

The water was used for plantings in public parks in an effort for them to survive until the rains begin.

The heliotrope here is as big as my head, which is to say HUGE!

Houses are built out of concrete block or enormous brick blocks..

John streamed this while I was writing.

The build up to the high note at 5:07…words fail me.

“Agnus Dei” a choral adaptation of

“Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber

https://youtu.be/fRL447oDId4

To Buy or Not to Buy…

2022-08-09T04:20:00.004-07:00

A day trip to Durtal.

When we prepared for our move to France, we chose to eliminate almost all of our possessions. The process was literally mind-numbing. We had to decide whether to keep, sell, consign, donate, recycle, give, or pitch.

Every. Single. Time.

Often, things we wanted to keep were too big, heavy or the wrong voltage for Europe. (Vitamix, KitchenAid, welder, Miata.) Papers, photos, and files we had to keep, so that meant hours and hours of scanning and then shredding.

We kept a few things folks might consider odd. I kept a set of spatulas we received as a wedding gift 40 years ago. They are thin and are made of nylon and steel and work better than anything I have purchased to replace them. Cooking with something that feels familiar, immediately brought comfort and a sense of home.

I read everywhere to bring measuring cups and spoons because items in Europe were only available in metric measurements. So wrong! I have found measuring cups and spoons everywhere. I was told to bring antiperspirant as they only have deodorant. Wrong. I found antiperspirant. I could have used that space or weight for a roll of Kirkland parchment paper (far superior quality) or celery seeds or cinnamon. Cinnamon is expensive and celery seeds are not available here. To buy celery in the supermarché is expensive and you just break off a stalk or two. The whole bunch would be about $5.

When you buy produce in most grocery stores, you bag it and take it to a scale, input the item and the scale prints out a barcode that you place on the bag. There is always a line at the scale and if you forget, when you get to the register you either give up the item or hold up the entire line (because there is always a line) and run to print out the label. So of course, you choose to finish checking out, then go back and print a label, and then get back in line for that one item.

But I digress.

As we begin the process of re-acquiring possessions, the thought process is just as mind-numbing as it was to purge, only it sends us down a deeper rabbit hole.

Go to the store, hunt for the item, what is it called in French? Which store carries it? Find the item. Not really the best quality and kind of expensive. Do we really need it? What else will work? Will it fit in our backpack or shopping bag? Can we carry it on the bus? Can we skip the bus and just carry it all the way home? Can it wait till we are in our permanent home? Should we to move to an apartment that is cheaper to rent? Could we stand living in an apartment? Can we rent a house? Should we buy a house again? Will the dollar ever be this strong again? What if they don’t renew our visa? If we buy a house, will we need a car? Can we get a driver’s license in France? Do we want to pay $2000 EACH for the auto-école (privately run enterprises that are pretty much required to pass the driver exams)?

Every. Single. Time.

Quite often, we decide we just don’t need whatever it is we were looking for. It really is freeing to not have all of that stuff and the thought of reacquiring feels burdensome.

The one item we refer to as “unobtainium” is true 18/10 stainless steel daily flatware. Here, tableware is 18/0 and a magnet will stick to them. When touching a fork or spoon to my tongue, I get a weird tingling sensation like sticking my tongue on the terminals of a 9v battery. (John is immune. Lucky guy!) If we import them from the US, they will cost as much in import tax as the actual items.

So my one piece of advice is, if your tongue can detect cheap silverware and you plan to move to France, keep your flatware!

Best spatulas ever!

Le Bout du MONDE - the end of the world.

In Durtal with a fun, new friend.

The chateau is owned by a young couple who just had a baby. Tours were given by the mother-in-law as schedules permitted. Often, one owns a chateau because it was an inheritance. This can be referred to as a “cadeau empoisonné” or a gift of poison. Think of repairs, maintenance, upgraded building codes to meet and taxes. Oh la la!

Tuning a Steinway in a small former church that has been turned into a music school.

We attended a “Master Class” for a select few piano prodigies from around the world.

Their talent was astounding.

Our local swan babies are growing up!

The Maine-et-Loire region is experiencing a terrible drought, heatwaves, and now fires. We are about to experience our fourth heatwave or “la canicule” meaning “dog days.” Water use is very restricted. Food gardens may be watered from 8 pm to 8 am. No other watering is allowed. No car washing at home. The wooded areas of parks are off limits from 1 pm to 10 pm due to increased fire danger. On a recent walk, we learned how farmers are efficiently providing water to cows.

Here is a link to see (and hear) this watering system in action:

https://youtu.be/paWUbbAVwz4

Smoke makes for dramatic sunsets.

A very sad update.

Our surrogate pup passed away suddenly from heart failure.

His bouncy arrival multiple times a day made us tremendously happy

and we fell head over heels for him.

We are crushed and miss him terribly.

Always in our hearts.

Vive la différence!

2022-07-22T03:55:00.005-07:00

Life has been crazy busy here over the last month!

“Les vacances” has begun. This is the summer vacation for students and MANY people use this as their holiday time. The French work to live, not live to work (joie de vivre). Family and leisure time is très important! It lasts from July 8 through August 15. We were told things would be very quiet here during this period, but the city still seems pretty lively.

Some businesses close their doors for three weeks up to the entire vacance period. Buses run on reduced schedules. Many government services are reduced. The French know this is not the time to get things done as so many people are gone.

In preparation for les vacances, the stores stock many vacances workbooks and learning game sets for parents to use with their children while recreating. As a teacher, that makes my heart happy!

This is also the time stores clear their inventory with huge “soldés” (sales) in preparation for the new season and “rentrée” which is the term for returning to school (Sept. 1) and work.

We are still waiting for our required administrative appointment notification which is to occur within three months of our arrival. Given that this is during les vacances, we anticipate a later appointment. We are supposed to go to the regional Office Français de l’Immigration et Integration (OFII) where we will have chest x-rays and have an interview. OFII will send us our appointment and we must attend, so until this arrives, we can’t make any travel plans. We know if we do, that is when OFII will make the appointment. So we wait.

Now, for some amusing anecdotes about things that are different here…

Always greet all workers (bus drivers, store clerks, etc.) with with a lilting “Bonjour!” and depart with a polite “bonne journée” and “au revoir” as you leave. I love this, because almost everyone responds with in kind with a sincere smile.

This courtesy serves to say that you see the person and acknowledge their position as a peer. To leave out the greeting can result in terse assistance or none at all.

When going to to the outdoor markets, do not touch the plants or produce. Point to what you want and the vendor will gather the items then wrap them nicely and present them to you. Expect a long line at the preferred stalls and wait patiently for your turn.

When going to the doctor or hospital, you will know in advance what you will pay. (As opposed to my recent US colonoscopy which so far has so far totaled $9,500 - new bills keep arriving!) All doctor visits are 25€ and most appointments can be scheduled via one app. I had a surprise growth in my eyelid and was referred to a lid specialist 50€. He advised a procedure to be performed in the local hospital. With French healthcare coverage it would have been about $45, my cost was $235 for everything. (We don’t qualify for French healthcare for another month, but this will be reimbursed when we are.)

Pharmacies are the only place you can buy over the counter medications and the quantities are tiny. Ibuprofen (generic) 24 pills for €3, Vicks Vaporub €9, etc. However, it takes all of 2 minutes to get a prescription as you are sold the entire package (no dispensing) and they are often rather inexpensive.

Many English words are the same in French. Some are not.

Etiquette - Label

Preservative - Condom

Affairs - Business

Bras - Arms

Car - Bus

College - Middle School (and grade levels count down to graduation. High school is: 3,2,1, Terminal - or senior year)

Athlétisme - Track and Field

Douche - Shower

Trombones - Paper Clips

Tampons - Rubber Stamps

Friperie - Second Hand Clothing Store

Raisin - Grape

Library - Bookstore (Bibliothèque is a library.)

Main - Hand

Ordonnance - Prescription

Pain - Bread

Patron - Boss

Sale - Dirty

Until next time, here are some photos to enjoy!

This alone would have been reason to move to Angers!

I love the clouds here! The light is breathtaking!

A little alcove on a side-street.

Three-color lettuce from the grocery store comes with its roots and you can replant it!

Our new bikes

La Doutre - a neighborhood with buildings from the 1400s!

No clouds, but what a sky!

Pareidolia - seeing patterns in random stimulus - like objects in clouds or faces in objects.

See below:

This building looks like it has seen some things.

This school emblem makes us laugh.

Actual faces of two very happy people!

An outdoor restaurant along the banks of the river. We walk through our park and pop out here.

Our friends, Gary and Carol came to visit and we had the BEST time with them! Carol and I left the men alone for two minutes, and found them causing trouble in the local bar. When they left, the bartender and all the patrons bid them a joyous adieu.

Carol noticed a cat jumping up into a tree. It tossed all of the eggs out of a wood pigeon’s nest and used the nest as its personal bed. What a jerk!

I know in the last post I wished for a reduction in the wood pigeon population, but I was not being literal!

I got hit by one of the eggs, they are rather large!

More scenes from La Doutre

One of the local cathedrals (Saint Trinité) has a depiction of God on the altar.

Not something you see often.

The Atoll is a huge, round shopping center.

The topiaries at the Atoll are plastic boxwoods.

Time is for the Birds

2022-06-18T05:20:00.004-07:00

Wood Pigeon

Pigeons are enormous here. There are the regular “park rat” variety pigeons seen everywhere. But here, there is the “Wood Pigeon” and it is huge…and repetitive.

According to the Merlin Bird ID app (free from Cornell University and really worth downloading) this bird is a “Distinctive, large bulky gray pigeon with a pale neck patch…Often rather unaware, and frequently crashes noisily and clumsily out of hedges and bushes. Display flight consists of a flap-flap-flap climb followed by a descending glide. Gives a low, throaty series of coos: ‘hrrruu-hoo-who-who.’” Repeatedly. All. Day. Long. As we approach the solstice, daylight here is from 5 am to 11 pm.

Clumsy and accident prone…I think wood pigeons are my spirit animal, but I am not fond of them. The French eat pigeons.

I wish they ate more of them.

They are slightly reminiscent of a whippoorwill which is common in Florida. We had one that lived outside our bedroom and would loudly repeat its “whippoorwill” all night long. This was pre-internet and reference books had no photos as it was rarely photographed at the time. (Photos were as elusive as Americans with French bank accounts.) I think it was a subversive way of ensuring no one shot them.

When we first arrived, we heard a neighbor’s cuckoo clock. Oddly, it was cuckooing at random times and seemed to go on forever. Turns out, we have actual cuckoo birds! Clockmakers have replicated the cuckoo’s song perfectly.

The French say that if you have a coin in your pocket the first time you hear a cuckoo in spring, you will be rich all year. They also informally greet each other with a happy, lilty “coucou” (coo-coo).

We live about 4 kilometres from Angers’ centre ville (2 miles from downtown Angers). On Sunday mornings we love to hear the cathedral bells chiming as they call worshippers to church. They ring slowly at first and then build to a joyous frenetic cacophony of sounds. I am sure this is to ensure no one oversleeps and forgets to attend church. No one needs an alarm clock on Sunday morning.

The French are predominantly Catholic, but mostly non-practicing except for honoring religious holidays of which there are many. (Pont l’ascension, Pentecost, Assumption to name a few.) These are referred to as jours fériés - bank holidays and they are only celebrated on the actual date, if it happens to fall on a Sunday that year, there is no Monday off to make up for it.

We began preparing for this journey nine months ago. Fitting, since we gave birth to a new life here in France. This week marked our one month anniversaire (birthday in French). Everything is new to us and we are like babes in the woods, not knowing how to do much, but people are taking excellent care of us and we are so thankful.

And best of all…

WE HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT!!!

Cuckoo Bird

Our favorite local band in Salem performing Coo Coo

You MUST see them live!

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sgfMgD56tQ0&feature=share

A chestnut tree by our bus stop. INCREDIBLY fragrant.

They make chestnut jam here…tastes a bit like a grainy Nutella.

McDoner - McDonald

Potayto - Potahto

Salem has a REALLY ugly building, formerly Eldred, then ReMax

I guess the architect reused the plans here.

Love the roots on this tree.

Yep, 10:15 PM.

Our bakery…we know how to end a run!

La Poste making a delivery.

Usually they are on bicycles.

You Can Take That to the Bank…or Not

2022-06-02T07:06:00.002-07:00

Sometimes it is very hard to narrow down a topic for the blog. There is so much happening and I try to have a theme for the post to keep it short and interesting. I’m sure there will come a time when I have nothing to share. Today’s theme is banking.

In France, banks do not like Americans. More to the point, they do not like US bank regulations.

America has the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA “requires banks report the foreign assets held by their US account holders or be subject to withholding on withholdable payments,” according to the IRS. This layer of paperwork is the reason most French banks will not open accounts for Americans.

Second to obtaining the residency visa, the most important step for new immigrants is to get a French bank account. This account gives an RIB number “relevé d’identité bancaire” - or statement of banking identity. Without an RIB, residents cannot get utilities, lodging, many services, and most important, national healthcare coverage. Utilities and rents are paid by account transfers - basically direct debits. The account holder gives their banking details to the sender/receiver and everything is done electronically.

We are fortunate that our landlord and lady are covering all utilities in our rent which we pay by cash. We still must have an RIB to apply for healthcare in 9 weeks.

Our landlady speaks flawless French and English (and Spanish and Arabic) and two weeks ago, scheduled an appointment for today at noon with a local bank officer and she would take time from work to accompany us and translate. One must make an appointment to open an account and this was the first opening.)

We pre-submitted the requested documentation and printed no less than 30 pages of additional supporting documents. (Belt and suspenders!) This application process should take an hour and then the local bank sends the paperwork to Paris and we should know in two weeks if we are approved.

At 11:30 am we lost power. No big deal, because I had everything ready yesterday. As we travelled to the bank, we noticed all the traffic lights were dark. At the bank, everyone was standing around chatting. No power.

The amiable banker welcomed us into her office and pointed to l’ordinateur that was dark and explained we could do nothing today because there was no power. We would have to make another appointment once she could access her computer. Sigh.

It turns out the entire city was without power…and cellphone service.

Was it a cyber-attack?

Did the folks building the new tramway hit a cable?

Nope.

The energy workers are demanding raises, so they turned off the power for an hour. To the entire city and region beyond. The cell towers must not have battery back up because our phones didn’t work either.

Strikes are common in France and are usually scheduled in advance, but this was a surprise to everyone. (Turns out it was an illegal strike in which some idiot workers from the energy company broke into the generating plant and shut things down. They will be prosecuted.)

At 12:40 the power resumed as did cell service, our bank meeting however, did not.

Our lovely landlady said she’d let us know when the banker contacts her with a new appointment and with a laugh she added, “It will all work out next time…unless there’s a flood.”

She is getting to know us.

Firetruck

Lingerie store with a humorous name

Love how this is built into the rock

A house in our neighborhood

Finally, enjoying a leisurely two-hour déjeuner at an outdoor cafe.

John’s classical guitar purchase from a thrift store.

Street scene - notice the delivery bike

Love these bikes!

Zoom in and look at this bell ringer at the front gate

A delivery bike and trailer

Love the fashion here, no saggy pants or pjs

John’s guitar after some cleaning.

A bit more sprucing and it will be perfect.

€50 and really rich sound.

It is a handmade Admira classical Dolores from Spain.

Seinfeld anyone?

E Ticket or eTicket?

2022-05-22T02:40:00.004-07:00

Did you ever visit Disney in the 70s? Do you remember getting the little booklet of tickets for rides? The tickets ranged from A-E with about five A tickets for calm, less popular rides and two E tickets for the most popular, exciting rides.

Today eTickets are electronic and they will get you places (boarding passes for example), but they do not guarantee the thrills and excitement of a Disney E ticket.

As I mentioned in the last post, we were perched atop the rollercoaster. We have now experienced the plummet, it was exhilarating and long.

Saturday, in preparation for the flight, I had stupidly slathered on moisturizing cream to prepare for the dry airplane air. It has glycerin. TSA screens for traces of glycerin (you know nitro-glycerin…used in bombs). I arrived at TSA and set off all the alarms!

They took apart everything I was carrying, swabbed and analyzed it all, even opening our protein bars to inspect them. Then, I had to endure the full body pat-down, thankfully with clothing. My TSA agent was kind and provided a brief neck and shoulder massage for the trouble. Twenty minutes later, the first agent complimented my packing skills, apologized for the inconvenience, and handed me a tub with my completely unpacked backpack, purse, and all contents piled in a heap. Mortified and avoiding eye-contact with surrounding travelers, I shuffled to a corner and repacked.

The flights were smooth, but we only slept about an hour. We arrived on Sunday. Customs in France was nonexistent. Literally. There was no one there. We checked into the hotel, took an over the counter sleep aid and crashed. This was the most brilliant thing ever!! It allowed us to catch up on the missed sleep and wake refreshed with our body clocks fairly reset. No jet lag! Monday morning, we hopped on the TGV and 2.5 hours later our landlord/host picked us up and brought us home. He and his wife are absolutely lovely people.

It has been a week of logistics. I will share just one logistical challenge from the week. Mobile phone service.

We had purchased a phone plan when we visited in the fall, but the company deactivated the line while we were in the US and they kept billing us. Our hostess canceled the first phone company. It was all via phone, in French, and no way could I do that.

We signed up for service at a new phone company, but they required a French bank account. French banks are very reluctant to open accounts for Americans due to US FATCA regulations, so this is nearly impossible. This required I set up an account with Wise (formerly Transferwise) money transfer service as they can provide a workaround.

So an hour later, I entered my details with the phone company and sent them a copy of my passport. They emailed me a confirmation, but they didn’t activate the service, nor did they provide any additional information.

So…the next day, we signed up for new service with the first company and actually got the service. (9 euros for 80GB!) Then company number two activated their service to my phone, so I had to cancel that service.

I used their app’s chat feature on my phone, John’s phone to translate their responses to English, my ipad to dictate English to French, so I could type the French into my phone, then used a third phone to take pictures of the conversation (no transcript would be provided), et voila, the line was canceled. I felt absolutely victorious! One logistical challenge solved.

Saturday evening, we walked around our neighborhood park, Parc St. Nicholas. It was glorious! Swans, ducks, birdsong, Roman ruins jutting out of the water, and an affectionate cat! Video snippet here: https://youtu.be/IHB4BkebsIw

This was the first time in nine months that we have completely relaxed. Nothing on the “TO DO” list. All tasks complete. We actually did this. WE MOVED TO FRANCE!!!

Now we have reached the deceleration at the end of the ride. It was scary, fast, and totally worth it. We are home.

Got any A tickets?

Angers. Our happy place.

Parc St. Nicholas

Big trees!

How to spot people from America…

Answer below.

Our surrogate pet. A bonus!

Did you guess how to spot the American? Peanut butter and ice cubes!

Click, Click, Click…

2022-05-13T09:09:00.001-07:00

The calm of being settled in one place for two months is being replaced with a sense of excitement and fear. It is like the slow click, click, click of the car reaching the top of the rollercoaster, where it then stalls for a moment and there is a simultaneous sense of doubt, panic, and anticipation for the approaching plummet, knowing all the while, you chose this ride and when it is over you will be glad you embarked.

There are many mixed emotions at this point. We are very excited about this new chapter in our book of life. North Carolina is not our state of choice, but my mother is here. I will always look back fondly on this time and I am so thankful we had two months with her. We have completed many projects around the house and hopefully things are good for a few years.

Mom lives in a hollow (a small valley surrounded by hills - aka “holler” if you are deep southern). This hollow is surrounded by trees and birds. We are going to miss the birdsong tremendously. Here is a link to a short video we took on one of our morning runs. The mist on the river and the birds singing was a reward for getting up early to trot. We will miss this running path which has brought many gifts of nature: turtles, hawks, mating butterflies and birds (not interspecies, just to clarify) groundhogs and more.

Last night, after dining on the screen porch, the cool breeze arrived to wash away the day’s heat. We all sat in the dusky light reminiscing. We were treated to particularly vibrant lightning bugs (fireflies) which added a sparkle to the trees, while bunnies scampered through the grass. It was a very special evening.

Today begins the final approach to the summit of the rollercoaster. Everything on the checklist has been completed. Two bags have been shipped and the remaining two are ready for flight. In a few hours we will begin the pause at the top. My heart is racing, my head is spinning…off we go!

Tech Tip: Download the Merlin Bird App from Cornell University to identify birds in your area by their songs. It is free, and it is awesome!

Another link to the video: https://youtu.be/cQ_88k_-Ajw

Happy Earth Day or Whatever…

2022-04-23T07:18:00.004-07:00

Happy Earth Day - NC Parks

I was a student on the first Earth Day. It was a movement born in part as a response to Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring. Carson noticed a reduction of birdsong in the springtime. Pesticide use provided a direct threat to birds and many other species and we needed to act immediately to halt the threat. It resonated with me to my core and I have lived my life consciously trying to care for Mother Earth. I tried to live small, buy sustainable or used products or do without.

North Carolina is killing me.

Single use plastic bags and styrofoam everywhere. No recycling. Everything goes to the landfill. The local walking path along a small river has foul-smelling industrial waste pouring directly into it. I have to hold my breath as I pass.

I have come to believe humans are an infection and Mother Earth is running a fever in hopes of killing the infection. (Yes, she sometimes has chills accompanying her fever, just like us.) Hopefully, enough of us can choose to live as white blood cells rather than viruses and give her the added immunity boost she needs to survive.

This shouldn’t be political. Whether you believe this is God’s creation or a happy accident, Earth is a gift that should be cherished, appreciated and protected. If you have children or grandchildren, or no children at all, why wouldn’t you want to leave the planet a better place for the future?

We live in a valley surrounded by treed hillsides. Each morning, an hour before sunrise, the birds awaken and fill the air with a cacophony of sound. It is incredibly loud and varied and I find myself transported by it. As I lay in bed I try to focus on the different types of birds I hear.

The ones nearest to the house are easy to identify: robins, cardinals, finches, mockingbirds. Farther away, the songs combine and an occasional voice rises above the din, often a dove or crow. In the distant woods, the songs become a constant chatter that provides the background chorus for each morning’s concert. It is a loud, fast, chittering sound that is absolutely joyous.

As the sun’s rays begin to emerge, the birdsong changes. The cawing of the crows grows more pronounced, an occasional rooster crows (sleepyhead!), the woodpeckers begin to hammer their messages into the trees and onto the nearby metal poles. The background singers begin to fade until all that remains is predominantly robin and cardinal voices and finally, the transition to manmade sounds.

I treasure this concert and eagerly await the opening strains each morning. This is one of Mother Earth’s many gifts to every single one of us. It is priceless, yet free to anyone who will take the time to receive it. Our gift in return, is to ensure it continues for generations to come.

Listen for yourself here: Birdsong Audio

Joyeuses Pâques or Happy Easter

2022-04-15T08:25:00.002-07:00

Over the past few weeks, life has been like a bunny, hopping up and down and alternately leaving a poop or an egg, but isn’t that life?

We received our visas super fast and with no problems, but now the upcoming French election could disrupt our long-term plans.

Mom’s house had some surprise plumbing problems, but we found a phenomenal plumbing company who was reasonable and professional. (Shout out to Ward Plumbing and Heating!)

We bought our plane tickets to France. What cost $800 from Oregon, now costs $2600 from the east coast - one way, but we got a tax refund, refigured by Oregon that covers it! (Shout out to Oregon Department of Revenue for finding the TurboTax error and correcting it!)

There are no airport shuttles or one-way car rentals from BuFu North Carolina, but the local car rental agency made an exception for us so that we could have a one-way rental. (Shout out to Enterprise for helping us out!)

We opened an HSBC account with plans to use their French banks, they took our money and immediately locked our account access, but our local bank was able to file fraud charges against them and reverse the transfer and recoup our funds one month later. Yay local bank!

HSBC still would not close our accounts, nor give us access, but yesterday…almost two months to the day, we received an interest check for $0.01 that will finally close our account. HSBC absolutely sucks.

I need a medical procedure, a local surgeon will do it Thursday, even though their schedule was full through June, and insurance will cover it!

We still are not eating in restaurants. Recently, we ordered takeout and opened the styrofoam (boo) box and found hush puppies (yay)! We had forgotten all about hush puppies! They were so crispy and chewy and savory-sweet. Yum. (Shout out to Captain D’s!)

The dirt here is full of mica and when the sun shines, the dirt sparkles. It is very pretty and crow-like people such as myself are made happy by sparkly things.

We are studying our French and came across this video in which David Sedaris shares his experience in French class as he tries to explain our Easter and then learns about French Easter. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/zRW8yvf_u-Q

Halfway and One More Step

2022-03-25T15:00:00.002-07:00

All our worldly possessions. We actually did it!

Have you ever watched Amazon Prime’s “Patriot”? It is a darkly funny, slow spy story. John Tavner, the story’s hero, often finds himself in scary, tortuous situations. When asked how he does it, he says, “I just go halfway and one more step.” His point being, from that point forward, it is less painful than going back.

Today, we have reached halfway and one more step.

My last post seems like a lifetime away. Everything was looking rosy and true to plan, and then Putin attacked Ukraine. BTW - in French, his name is spelled Poutine (like the Canadian cheese curd, gravy, French fry dish). I think Putain is more fitting as it is a French curse word, but I will remain slightly classy and refer to him as Pootin.) When we made our plans, we never factored this into the equation.

Do we change plans and move to Canada? Our options are limited. Halifax is uninhabitable 4 months of the year, same for Hamilton. Vancouver Island is affordable only for the super-rich, which definitely excludes us. We could rent there, but we sold all our dependable vehicles, so getting there is a logistical challenge given all of our possessions must go with us.

After a one-week news fast, and miles of coastal runs and walks, we decided to move forward with the uneasy decision to stick with the original plan of France. Given what Ukrainians are facing, ours is a plight of choice with myriad options. We can’t complain. If things don’t work out, we can leave.

We returned to Salem and wrapped up the final details of life in Oregon. Thank you to our dear friends who: took us in, gave us luggage, gathered with us one last time, loaned us a car, drove us to the airport and more. We are blessed and we know it. Oregon is hard to leave, but leaving our friends is heart-wrenching.

This week, we submitted our visa applications and now begin the wait for approval. Of all the hoops we have been through, the visa process was the easiest. We stayed at a hotel across the street from the office and arrived 15 minutes early for our appointment. We were the only applicants there.

We were told that usually, they process 25 applications a day at that office, but since Pootin started his war, applications have dropped to about 12 a day. We should have our results in two weeks.

We feel at peace with our decision. Everything is over but the waiting and that is completely out of our hands. We feel a calm we haven’t felt since before our trip to France in October.

We are spending this leg of our journey recovering from the last seven months. We are rebuilding our bodies, calming our minds, and diving into our French language studies in earnest.

Last evening’s run was accompanied by a particularly cacophonous choir of tree frogs. (Listen here.) It is one of the things we missed about the south while living in the Pacific Northwest.

Back to “Patriot”. Give a listen to “Train Song” by Vashti Bunyan - https://youtu.be/U_cZyavt06U This is a beautiful song that repeats throughout the series. Our gift to all you acoustic guitar-loving friends.

We appreciate you all accompanying us on this journey and hope you are as excited as we are about taking “one more step”.

The visa documents have been accepted!

Hot boiled peanuts…we have missed you!

The inspiration for Vantablack.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vantablack

And Then God Laughs

2022-02-18T12:03:00.002-08:00

Back to the adage, “The more you plan, the harder God laughs.”

Our plan for February was to apply for our visas with the goal to arrive in France April 1. God, “Hahahaha…”

France decided to close the Washington D.C. Consulate for most of February to perform technical upgrades - whatever that means. So, no applications are being accepted for now.

You know, it turns out this was for the best. We still had so much to do to wrap up from our sale and move. Years of documents to scan, encrypt and upload. Piles of SD cards, USB sticks and hard drives to destroy. Sleep deficits to restore and weak bodies to replenish.

Our friend L, cleared the way for us to stay at the beach for another month. Such a blessing and we give thanks for her multiple times a day.

Decades ago, we followed the writings and teachings of Leo Buscaglia. Leo prescribed frequent “hug breaks” as a requirement of daily life. We embraced his teachings whole-heartedly throughout our marriage and we took daily hug breaks no matter the location or hour. The connection formed by these breaks is one of our greatest strengths as a couple.

The last few months, our frenzied life became sorely lacking in hug breaks and it showed. We each had so many tasks to complete and worries to attend, that life became a forced march (or sprint at times). We found a frazzled doll head washed up on the beach and laughed that it was a physical representation of our psyches. (Picture above.)

Just yesterday, we awoke for the first time since September without a thing to do, or a worry to perseverate on. What an unfamiliar, yet glorious feeling. We looked at each other and truly saw each other again. I really and truly love this guy and I know he feels the same about me. Hug breaks have returned and feel as natural and comforting as always.

Making breakfast? Hug break.

Running to the store? Hug break.

Walking past each other in the house? Hug break.

At day’s end we took a leisurely walk, hand-in-hand on the beach at sunset. Hug break.

Okay, God…keep laughing. It’s all good.

And This is Where Things Go Off the Rails a Bit…

2022-01-30T18:06:00.002-08:00

Four days until closing…

My dear friend offered to rent us her family home while we wrapped up our lives in Salem. Unbeknownst to her and us, as it sat empty for a year, Mother Nature moved in.

Saturday evening at 4 pm, we arrived with a truckload of belongings and started the move in process. By 9 pm, we had the back of a pickup loaded with garbage, but the kitchen was clean and I was able to move that stuff in. John was moving things in and sanitizing the main bathroom. The spare bathroom had a thick covering of black mold in the shower. He closed the door and told me not to go in there. John changed the filter on the furnace, it was black. We left HEPA fans running overnight to air out the must.

Then on Sunday evening at 5:30, we brought the next load. The carpeted bedroom was still musty, so I figured we would use the one with hardwood floors. I pulled back the bed covers and there was carpet beetle larvae crawling in the bed. I freaked. (My dear friend had no idea about any of this and I hated to add to her already loaded plate.)

John went into superhero mode. Miraculously, he was able to get a U-Haul truck at 5:45pm on a Sunday evening, actually 2 trucks, the first one had a tremendous gas leak, and I drove back to Salem to get boxes, while John headed to the rental to start loading. We moved everything out and back into our garage. We had to sanitize everything. I was hysterical at this point and shivering uncontrollably.

I sobbed on the phone to our neighbor and she invited us to move in with her. I also called another friend and begged for the beach house. She called me back within a few minutes and said it was ours. More crying.

At 8 pm we arrived at our neighbor’s house. I just fell into her arms and sobbed. She fed us the most delicious dinner of homemade chili and cornbread. We drove home (three houses away-we were that tired) around 10.

We had to wash all laundry that made contact with the furniture in the rental. Our bed was gone, thanks to Craigslist, so we slept on the bedroom floor.

(Throughout this whole process, we were dealing with Craigslist sales, as well. It was great to make the money, but it was another layer of logistics. We had over 130 separate sales from Dec. 5 - 1/24 -We kept a spreadsheet.)

Monday, we switched to pitch mode and just started throwing out belongings we had planned to use in the rental. Lots of stuff to the Gospel Mission, Goodwill and a U-Haul truckload to the dump by 5pm. I made another Goodwill drop and Bottle drop. Then I picked up John at Uhaul, we got gas at Costco and drove home in the thickest fog we have ever seen. L was waiting for us at the house to take a van-load of belongings she could bring to the beach. We continued to pitch and purge and then discovered the pile of go-bag stuff at the back of the closet. John put the snow tires on the car so that we could get through the pass to the Coast on Wed. More papers to pitch and sort. Working in the garage until 1 am. Freezing cold and frenzied.

Tuesday morning was closing day. Up at 7. John had to have his blood test for his physical, then to the Fidelity Title closing office where everyone was sick and mostly unmasked, then to Starbucks for breakfast, then the Post Office to mail boxes to mom (they arrived damaged and contents broken…shit), then UGM to donate, then to DW to unload a box of financials, then home to continue.

John loaded carload after carload to C’s house as I frantically emptied the fridge and freezer. Our lovely buyers arrived at 1 and the house still wasn’t clean, but they absolved us of all obligation…thankfully.

We sat at the dining table and completed the truck sale paperwork. (The new owners even bought our pickup!) We apologized for the disarray, which they understood. They are angels.

At 2 we arrived in the garage at C’s house to unpack everything and re-sort AGAIN. Freezing cold, kind of dark and exhausted. At 7, she went to get a pizza for us all. At 8 we sat down to a pizza and salad and carrot cake. Yay, C!

From 10-11:30 pm, John did tech and I took photos of photos so I could throw away photo albums the next day.

We crawled into the cleanest bed and were joined by two beautiful kitties. Such a gift.

John lost 14 pounds, I lost 3, our hearts had been running on adrenaline, no showers, skipped meals, my lips were split, John’s fingers were split almost to the bone, aching muscles, frayed nerves, bone tired and absolutely exhausted.

Wednesday, after breakfast, I chipped the ice off the car and took papers to be shredded, another load to the mission and picked up the WIFI hotspot from the library. Meanwhile…John was continuing to back up tech stuff and consolidate items. We had a gourmet leftovers lunch. At 3:30 we pulled out of the driveway to head to the bank. At 4:48pm we began the drive to the coast. We have always been homeowners. We talked about how we felt adrift, unmoored and a little lost. We never got to say goodbye to the neighbors or the house. It was all just a frenzy. Every moment was a rush to do something before something else had to be done.

Driving past Grande Ronde and looking to the south, as the sun was setting, we were treated to a herd of 20-30 elk. First time we have ever seen them there. Such an appreciated gift.

A brief stop at Safeway for fresh fruits and veggies and home to the beach. A familiar, clean, happy place. Unpacked, showered for the first time in at least 4 days (sorry, C!), drugged ourselves, and fell into bed at 10.

We are sleeping and grabbing frequent naps. We have walked for miles along the sunny, 55 degree beach. Today was rainy, so we took a guiltless break from everything. We will take this time to recover and prepare for the next part of our journey.

We are so blessed things turned out fine. The home is now in the hands of the two nicest people we have ever met. (They even have kitties!) They promised to keep the trees, too. They have our precious truck and will take good care of it. The Miata is getting a new top and lots of love from its new owner and his daughter. Our friends all came to our aid in our hour of need and we are so thankful for the love and support from everyone. Thank you. You know who you are. We love you with all our hearts.

Now, we are going to spend time with each other. :-)

So, We’ve Been a Bit Busy…

2022-01-30T17:15:00.003-08:00

December 5th we arrived home and fell into bed at 8 pm. At 3 am, our eyes popped open and our brains began spinning…so much to do and so little time! We haven’t stopped moving or started sleeping since then.

We created self-imposed deadlines of:

Declutter, prep the house in December,

List in January,

Sell in February,

Visa in March,

France in April.

The more you plan, the harder God laughs.

Mid-December I jumped the gun and listed the house on Zillow for about 4 hours. Then I read all the things I was doing wrong and could tank the sale, so I deactivated the listing.

So many trips to thrift stores and consignment shops. Over 100 Craigslist sales. As a joke we listed a spare Miata starter and added, “For another $999 you could have a Miata to go with it!” That night, in the dark, during a snow and ice storm, a buyer came to look at the car. The doors were frozen shut and it was up to its knees (bumpers) in snow. Two days later, he drove away with our baby. Sniffle.

Things were crazy. And then…

Finally a sun-break on Wednesday, January 12th. We were cleaning the front yard and entry in preparation for the bark mulch crew that was due the next day, when a couple drove past slowly. I assumed they were a Craigslist shopper, but no. They pulled alongside the driveway, rolled down the window and said, “ We saw your ad on Zillow in December and really liked your house. Are you selling it?”

We invited them in. They looked for 5 minutes. No staging, house in disarray. We walked them around the yard. We immediately fell in love with them. We had so much in common. Then, they made an offer. We shook hands. It was over!

We were planning to list the house on the following Monday. All the worries about staging and colors and everything that had been keeping us awake at night were for nothing.

Friday, we met at the house for a leisurely lunch. How could this be? We liked them even more!

Their realtor called and scheduled the closing for 1/25. OMG! Less than two weeks to cull 25 years of belongings. Neighbors were so helpful. They took truckloads of items to the dump and Habitat for Humanity, they took compost from the garden beds that had been disassembled, they took excess food from our Covid stash, they loaned us trucks to haul big furniture and they sent meals over and had us over for meals. The love and caring from all corners warmed our hearts. We went to bed every night feeling exhausted but, incredibly blessed and moving ahead.

Then things took a turn…

Sad to Leave

2021-12-05T00:04:00.002-08:00

After much deliberation at the Delta counter this morning, I was finally permitted to fly. I was chastised for not having my maiden name in any ID…like any of that was my choice! Something, something patriarchy.

We were advised to arrive four hours before the flight and that didn’t leave much wiggle room! The terminal has some choke points in the flow, but it is mostly empty. I dread the days of crowded travel yet long for the freedom and openness of Covid-free life.

The TSA agent was puzzled as to my lack of a belt. (?) I explained that thanks to pastries, I didn’t need one. Ahh, he laughed and waved me on.

Here at the gate, we begin our readjustment to American life. The voices are louder and people are more gregarious.

Some final photos as we prepare for our flight to Seattle.

Truth in advertising? I don’t think I would trust “Adequate “ condoms.

A plant wall in the terminal.

The down arrow indicates straight ahead. It took us a while to learn that. Many unnecessary trips down stairs and escalators!!

Excited to see planes.

Empty!!

A Rose by Any Other Name…

2021-12-04T11:41:00.002-08:00

We cannot begin to describe how much fun it is to travel and have the correct Covid test and timeframe. The US government changed the requirements on the day we were to test and we had to scramble.

It was going to be a leisurely test in Angers, three days before our flight. No, no! The rules changed and now we had to take our test within one day of the flight. This meant testing at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris with thousands of other people. What confusion!

Fortunately I registered with the online French health scheduler, so we had a time to appear. Upon entering the airport we were greeted with the sounds of Frank Sinatra singing “New York New York”. Weird.

We showed up over an hour early at the airport test site for our appointment and barely made it in on time. When the number was called to get the brain poke, The system skipped over John’s number and kept going. Luckily I found the nicest person who was able to sneak him into a testing room and get it done.

I was required to give my birth (maiden) name. This is not on any of my travel documents or personal identification. When our NEGATIVE test results were emailed to us, mine were delivered in my maiden name with no mention of my married name. Crap.

Back to the airport again, this time to check with the Delta flight team to ensure they would take my test results when the name didn’t match any other travel documents. After being referred to three different people, we were assured I would be able to fly tomorrow. I still don’t feel totally confident.

We had a light lunch at the airport and debated whether to go into Paris to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up for Christmas. During this discussion a pigeon joined us in the cafe. The man at a table across from us kicked the pigeon and laughed, whereupon I yelled at him and called him an ass. He said it was just a pigeon and I said it doesn’t matter, you just don’t kick animals. His wife said he was afraid the pigeon was going to eat his food. The pigeon was on the floor his food was on the table.

At this point we determined we have had enough of people and decided to return to our room and call it a trip.

So, if Delta decides my documentation is good enough and I don’t get in a fight with another animal abuser at the airport, we should be on a plane home tomorrow. :-)

Pigeons are people, too!

John managed to grab an image of a few of the armed soldiers. They walked by with their trigger fingers at the ready. They must’ve heard about an altercation between an animal rights person and an idiot in a café in the airport. :-)

France has banned single use plastic and takeout cutlery is made of wood which is pretty cool.

Time Flies, Will We?

2021-12-03T04:48:00.000-08:00

Has it really been a week? Wow.

Thanksgiving at the library was delightful. The next morning was “Conversation Group” where the first folks mingle and practice English, then the second hour they practice French. Such nice welcoming people…without exception.

Our confirmed and paid AirBnb for the coming week never gave us check in information despite repeated messages and calls from me. Airbnb provided no assistance whatsoever. (Jean-Noel with the garden apartment next to the Château, you are a jerk.) I am sharing that here because there was no way to rate him on Airbnb. After realizing we were going to be homeless, and Angers had practically zero vacancies, I was able to find a guesthouse 2 blocks from our current location followed by 4 nights at the place we first stayed.

Arnaud at the 2 night location let us in super early to beat the rain. Turns out he worked with the folks at the Bibliothèque Anglophone to make masks at the beginning of the pandemic. John and I agreed that he was one of the most genuinely kind-hearted people we have ever met. And that is saying something, because overall the French have been incredibly generous and helpful.

We spent an afternoon volunteering at the BA with a group of 19 students from a local agricultural college to help them with their English. If they don’t pass The their English exam with a score of 550 or higher, they don’t graduate.

Almost every student lived on a farm. Most farms were 100 hectares (250 acres). The dairy farms had between 80 and 120 cows. Family farms are alive and well in France. This is so much better for the farmers, the animals, the environment and the consumer. The quality of food here has been consistently high.

Remember when I mentioned we would be discussing noses? Here we go… I have decided that noses are the ugliest part of a face and when people wear their masks blow their nose, the nose becomes their predominant feature. When worn properly, the predominant feature is the eyes. Much more appealing.

75% of young people here wear their masks below their noses and they are SICK. Cause and effect people!! Now with Omicron, we have seen far fewer noses, even on the street.

Another nose thing, if you are in line and leave more than a foot of space, quite often, someone will step in. (In Italy, this is more like 2 inches.)

When a French person is talking and taps the side of their nose, they mean they are being clever.

Smells haven’t been much of a problem (perfume, smoke) but 🛵 scooter exhaust reeks! They are incredibly high-pitched, loud and lay down a plume of gassy stink that is an assault to one’s senses and they are allowed in pedestrian-only zones. They sound like wound up chainsaws and smell like old boat motors.

One thing that is rare to hear is the beep, toot, honk, chirp of car alarms being set or disarmed. Yay! Also, there is no idling when arriving or departing. 6€ a gallon gas may have something to do with this, but it really cuts down on fumes. Nice!

We are on the TGV (high speed train) to Paris. There is to be a national “perturbation” (protest) at 5. I would like to see it from the sidelines, but we have Covid tests tomorrow, so we will pass.

Failing the Covid test means isolation in a hotel room for 10 days. My dear mother asked what happens if one of us fails, then the other fails 10 days later? Egads. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Where is the door? Angers’ tram wrap

Angers’ Château

View from our “rescue” gîte.

In a retail store in Angers.

A cat coffee shop. So many kitties 😍…and people😤.

Sexiest man alive!

Angers’ football team mascot!

“Toaster”

Fashionable folks

Hérisonne (hedgehog) we didn’t know they live here.(or technically, die here.)

My mom made a New Years outfit from the same material in the 1960s!

Soleil d’Hiver Part of the winter lights celebration.

Angers

Soleil d’Hiver

View from our room

The Mia…a one-person van not to be confused with the Ami.

University students role-playing in English.

Soleil d’Hiver

A pizza vending machine!

Love these animals! Zoom in.