Tuesday Thoughts from a Guest Blogger

I thought that it was time for me to make an appearance on this adventure. It is hard to believe that we have now been in France for a week! We have really settled in and I feel great about where we are at so far. Here are a few musings and observations from me from our first week.

Food: I remember well searching for 45 minutes in a Chinese grocery store for oatmeal when we were in China 4 years ago. Each minute brought further angst and frustration. Attempts at communication involved gestures and my entire ten word mandarin vocabulary. I left empty handed and wishing for home. We have had no such difficulty here. Our grasp of french combined with the familiar brands have made it easy to stock our kitchen. There are some tastes that the kids need to get used to. For Grace it is extremes such as "This is the best cheese I have ever had" to " French milk is the absolute worst! I wish they had black and white cows in France". My romantic visions of eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season have come to fruition somewhat as a visit to a provencial market reaped rewards with extremely tasty melons, tomatoes and lovely olive tapenades. In addition the local grocery store has the same Pink Lady apples from Chile that I can buy at Safeway in Mission. The globalization of our food supply is well at hand here.

Space: Needless to say there is a lot less of it here. Our 400 square foot apartment is a far cry from our house back home. No grass to run on or outside area to let off steam. There is a comforting feel though to the close quarters as there is a sense of security having my family so close to me. It is a little difficult for the girls without their comforts of home but they are doing well. Watching Grace skip rope down the little lane by our house gave me a sense of being at peace to see her adapting so well.

The French: The numerous books that we read to research for our trip talked extensively of the rudeness of the french and their impatience with foreigners. So far we have found that people are very accommodating and helpful. From the staff at the School Registration Office (who decided that the fact that the girls had the same last name as me was good enough proof of adoption) to the security guard at the local municipal pool that gave me my very own tour of the pool (including an introduction to the director) as well as Joe at the local telecom shop that walked us through buying our mobile phone (not a technology that I am familiar with).

So one week down and we are in a better spot than I ever could have imagined.