We Made It a Whole Year!

Whitney and me celebrating our 1-year anniversary in France



Jeff giving moral support while I roll the pasta dough



Me, Whitney, Lorriane, Jeff, and Nico eating our homemade pasta

Getting Back on the Blog Horse

Well, I've successfully evaded blog-posting guilt for the past 8 months, but I've resolved to change my ways. Now that Real Life is starting again after 3 months of stupor-filled vacation, I feel a little twinkle of motivation to write again. Wow!

I'll try to do a quick catch-up so as to not waste time:
I eventually returned to France after finishing up a cold week in Prague and another cold (but better) week in Vienna with Jeff. I taught all the way to the end of June, when my contract in the schools ended, although I did make a surprise visit to my family in Minnesota during the spring vacation at the end of April. At the end of July, I moved to a bigger and waaay better apartment a few blocks away from my old one; it happens to be in the same building as Whitney's apartment, so it's been almost like living in the dorms again.

My apartment from the mezzanine (that's right, I have more than 1 room!)

Two days after I signed the lease and dragged all my stuff up the stairs to the new place on the 5th floor (n.b. the definition of "my stuff" has dramatically shifted from a squat pile of clothes and books to a mountain of bags and boxes and suitcases of clothes, books, dishes, a TV, and much, much more...sweaty work, indeed), Jeff and I went to Tuscany for a week with a couple of friends. We rented an apartment in Florence and did the museums, bridges, and gardens there, and every couple days, we took day trips to places like San Gimigiano, Lucca, Sienna, and Pisa. It was beautiful and humid, and I don't believe I've ever eaten so well in my life.

Jeff and I in Lucca, Italy

The summer job that I had counted on as a gardener fell through at the very last moment in June, so I ended up doing odd-jobs for my old landlord, the American woman. I scraped, sanded, painted, and varnished windows, furniture, and doors. I think I could learn to be a real handy man someday if everything else falls through. I barely earned enough money to scrape by, however, and for the first time in my life, I've had serious financial stress. It's been a valuable and painful lesson in budgeting and humility, which isn't lost on me.

Whitney and me in Roussillon in July

The good news is that as of October 1st, I've once again begun earning my keep as an English teaching assistant. Whitney and I found out at the end of August that our contracts were renewed for this school year, but this time only for 7 months rather than 9 due to national budget cuts. We had both already planned on staying since finding out in June that we were accepted to a Masters program at the university in Aix-en-Provence starting this fall. Last week, we began our classes at the Fac (French talk for "university"), the same week we also began our re-orientation as teaching assistants. After such a slow-moving, deathly-hot summer, things have been picking up quickly! It's going to be a really busy year, but I'm ready to be finally productive again.

Vineyard in Pertuis - May '09

Also, I have two new additions to my French family : Eleanor and Harriett, baby Hermann tortoises. I never imagined that I could fall in love with a tortoise, but I'm in deep for them both. I fixed up a nice little place for them in a [new] litterbox, and I sing them songs while I feed them their delicious lettuce. I'm positive that they love me, too. I haven't introduced them to their older brother, Marcello the beta fish, because frankly, he would kill them both in the blink of a fishy eye. Sometimes siblings are best when kept separated.

Eleanor and Harriett

I'm still with Jeff, my teacher Frenchman à moi since January, and if he receives his renewed passport in the mail soon, he may be coming with me for Christmas to the USofA, his first visit. I really want him to come along, but I'm more than a little worried to bring a guy from the sunny South of France to snow-blown, frozen-tundra style Minnesota for his first visit to my country. He'll hate it. Ah well, I guess that's the hard reality of dear ol' Minnesota in December; just have to man-up and get used to it.

J&J at la Fontaine de Vaucluse

In other great news, my family's coming to visit for the first time in a couple weeks. Even though they're only planning to stay for a few days (Oct. 15-19), I'm thrilled to show them around my adopted home and show them what good wine is really about. It's going to be psychologically good for me to finally join these two lives --American and French-- so that there's more wholeness to me. That sounds corny, but it's been a real struggle for me lately to have such different versions of life with different sets of people who don't know each other. I guess that's what I get for moving to France by myself, but it's going to be a treat to finally mix the jennifer pieces up.

Poppy field near Pertuis - June'09

Since I'm doing the Masters program now, I've signed up for another two years in France, assuming everything goes according to plan. I'll have to find a job other than being an assistant next May, but I'll deal with that hurdle when it comes. Sometimes, I really wonder what I'm thinking, making all these grand efforts to stay in this strange, backwards country when I could be back in the States, comfortable with my friends and family and earning real money. There's no one forcing me to stay here, where people look at me like I have glittering horns when I refuse to eat frog legs or tell them no, I've never tried rabbit before and I don't even want to. I'm in over my head now, can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. I love France, but it wasn't until I came here that I realized how much I really love being an American more than anything French. What to do now? My answer for the moment is to stay and see what happens. :)

That wasn't so quick. I promise to write again before next June!