Julie & Julia & My New Goal

Has anyone seen this film yet? Julie & Julia? I saw it on Sunday with my Mom and I loved it. The movie was 2 hours and 3 minutes and I could have sat there for another 30 minutes without having to take a potty break. I really wanted to know more about what happened in Julia Child's life actually. The movie ends prior to (not a spoiler) letting us know about the televised cooking show. So yes, I recommend it. I also thought Meryl Streep was amazing...really...I know everyone talks about how she is one of the best actresses of all time...I have to agree. Love her.

Another thing it did, as you can guess, is make me think about my blog. When I started it I had a reason, I had things to share. Now it's just Susan in Houston. Living her life where she speaks the language, has no kids to make things interesting, has tons of friends she already knows, her family lives here and works at a job she has done before. Granted, the job is sales, so it changes all the time. But I'm selling the same thing I have sold before. Incentive Compensation Consulting anyone? Anyone?!

So now I sit here reflecting, as most ex-expat ex-bloggers do I think, and I wonder; "what now?" I like to have goals. Typically I have something going on in my life be it preparing for an MS150 bike ride, some kind of run, or as it was in Lille; learning to speak the language and survive in a new culture. Now my goals are things I don't really want to share with everyone I guess. Like trying to pay off my car. Is it interesting to post that I have three - count them THREE - more payments to go on my 4Runner? To me it is, but generally it's not that exciting.

I think I know what I want to do though. I want to keep on with part of what I was trying to do in France. I want to be fluent in French. I don't want to speak like an 18 month old child for the rest of my life. Or keep telling people how I love their horses when I am trying to say "hair". I also need to learn how to read and write the stupid phonetically challenging language. Therefore it has been decided. I have not even told my husband about this...but I have formed a plan and am putting my proverbial foot down!

GOAL: We are going to speak only French Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday until December 31, 2009.

Exceptions: 1- Emergencies, 2 - when we are around my family and 3- if we are with friends that don't speak French.

I am also going to make myself do at least 2 exercised in my French Workbooks every week. Yes...I know...I should do one a day right? But I don't think I would learn it. I would get through the exercise correctly and then move to the next. Like High School. I passed all my history classes with good grades but couldn't remember when the US was founded (yes - I know July 4th, but didn't remember 1776) until I started reading the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon. (side note - I have the new one, An Echo in the Bone, and I love it...mmmm).

This isn't even that long of a time period. I figure I will do this until Dec. 31st then take a language check. See where I'm at and determine what to do next.

So there you have it. Rather; there I have it! A goal. This need for something to shoot for must come from my over involvement with sports as a child...anyone else like this?

Where my head is.

No, I'm not going to talk today about what I am thinking or how centered I am, or even about how I bailed on the blogging for a while. Instead I would like to talk about a sales call I had a few weeks ago that makes me smile when I think of it. I'm even smiling right now as I type this. It's one of those crooked smiles with a nasally "Humph" attached to it at the end.

So I started this new-old job about 2 months ago. I say new-old because though the job is new, as in I just started working for this company, the job is in fact old because I have done this job with these exact people at a different company. The great thing is that this new company is the cream of the crop of the last place. So it's the smart folks, the ones you trust, the ones that you are (fairly) sure they won't be looking for every opportunity to screw you out of something. Plus I'm good at it. I know the industry and who the creeps are, what to watch out for, how to qualify a lead and how to close them to become my client. It makes me feel good to be talking to people and dressing up again.

After a few weeks on the job I was able to book a meeting with a potential client that everyone at my company has had a hard time with. He is a no-nonsense guy who makes quick judgments about people, is extremely self assured and has a lot of influence with the software vendor (which he no doubt likes very much this power). He is also the decision maker of what company gets to do their software implementation. Well I want that to be us of course. So we go to his offices for a meeting. It's me and one of our Partners who is technical.

We get there early, get everything set up for the meeting and the Partner turns to me and says:

"This guy really likes you. I can see that he likes working with you."

I am excited that he has seen this and my chest sticks out a few more inches. Which doesn't hurt the sales presentation I tell you...

The "guy" in question has left the room so we can speak freely. He had to get something from his office and said he would return in a few minutes, so I am to watch through the conference room doors to see when he returns because he might need me to open the door to the area to let him in. He doesn't have his security badge.

Not 5 minutes after The Partner has told me how much this guy likes me, the "guy" walks in, points at me and says:

"YOU need to get your HEAD out of your ASS."

I think he is joking.

"Oh, you caught me, we aren't working right now."

I'm also shocked, I can't recall ever being asked to remove my head from my ass. I also note that I actually don't seem to have my head up my ass. I know this because although I am not sitting on the most comfortable chair in the world, I'm not particularly uncomfortable and I can see him clearly. I am sure my vision would be impaired in the "head up the ass scenario", but I see him fine.

"I have been waiting at that door for 10 minutes. I made so much damn noise that a person down the hall heard me and had to come let me in."

"No shit sir? A thousand humble pardons!!"

Ok, that's NOT what I said, but it did cross my mind. I actually apologized, I could not believe I didn't see him through the glass, across the waiting room through the other door. I am also a bit shaken, so when he poses his next question I don't really give the best answer.

"So, I don't have time for you to do your sales pitch in this meeting so just tell me why I should use your company as opposed to the other one."

"Uh. Because you like me? Well, you used to. You see, I'm really a great person and the people I work with are great and you would be just an idiot if you went with those other losers. Trust me on this Sugar-Bear, I have hear stories that would make your chin hair fall out."

Ok, I didn't say that either, but I wanted to. I actually stammered, gave some newbie answer then The Partner jumped in. I spent the rest of the prep time trying to blow it off and pretend I wasn't upset. The meeting went well, we showed them we were smart. Then we left.

I asked The Partner about it a few days later. His response:

"Really? That didn't even register on my radar. I thought he was pissed at you for giving a short sales pitch during the meeting when he asked you not to."

Damn...whoda thunk?! I spent the next two days trying to figgure out which I should be upset about; the missed door thing or the 5 minute pitch to tell the group the name of the f-ing company I work for and what we are here to accomplish today.

To bring you up to date:
It has been decided that I will be upset about neither one of these things. The truth is that I don't know if I want to win this deal. Ok that's a lie, of course I still want to win it, but if we do I hope I, along with our project team, can manage to keep our respective craniums out of our rectal areas for the duration of the project. If we loose it then I don't have to worry about it.

Is that the work-version of kissing a frog?

Unhealthy or Healthy Americans?

When I moved to France, and even now, many of my friends would comment on how thin and beautiful all the French women were going to be. I can not tell a lie; they were right. Most of the people are rather thin there, but you rarely see joggers or people exercising. At least they were not as common where I lived in Lille as they are here in Houston. Just a general observation on my part is that the French live a more active lifestyle. I don't mean they exercise, I mean they have to walk everywhere. Typically a person walks to the market and carriestheir groceries home. They just move more. Add that to smaller portions and you get smaller people. Not rocket science.

The thing is, when I lived there I only moved when I had to. When I worked I had to walk at least 45 minutes every trip. When I went to the market or to meet friends I had to walk to the tram or the store. But only once in 15 months did I lace up my tennies and go for a jog. However, I did walk with my good friend Lillian. We would walk about twice a week just around our neighborhood. In regular shoes. I always thought it was funny knowing that if I did that in Houston I would have changed and looked sporty. But she always just had on normal clothes so I matched by wearing jeans. It was always cold or at least cool so it's not like we ever broke a sweat.

I actually lost weight once I started working because of the increased walking. Well that and it took my body so many calories to keep warm on the way to and from anywhere. But I never changed my eating habits and I never once had a "light" beer. Living so close to Belgium I would think it a sin to even ask for a Miller Light. Actually I think you can only get Amstel Light or Heineken Light, but I digress. So I drank wine and dark beer and lost weight. But I never felt really healthy (shocker).

Since I have been home I have joined a gym and started a simple run walk plan. I even tried to swim laps last week! Who knew my ass was made out of lead? That sucker sank after the second lap. Solution: breast stroke and act like you belong there. I felt like a fish out of water while in the water! Let's just say I am not a natural lap swimmer. My point is though that I feel more healthy here now and have lost 9 pounds while living in Unhealthy America! Plus I really think Americans are looking more towards a healthy lifestyle, although that could just be in my neck of the woods.

Looking back I know I could have joined a gym and worked out, but I felt guilty spending 65 euro a month when I wasn't working. Then when I finally got my papers to work I had been there for 10 months and felt I needed to contribute to the bills, although Cyr always told me I didn't have to and to buy shoes. I married a good one didn't I?! Plus it was so cold from October until March that exercising outside was just too painful to think of. I didn't even bike because I just knew I would get in a crash and not be able to tell the people in the hospital what was wrong or that I would get lost and have to call Cyr for help. :-)

Lesson I learned: Looking back I did not find things to do or ways to exercise and feel healthy when I lived in Lille. I think it took me too long to feel comfortable with the language and I let that intimidate me and I sat at home too much. Thank goodness I met Steph and Marie Jose or I would have become a hermit! I should have pushed through it and found places to ride my bike. I used to ride an average of at least 40 miles a week here and then I did nothing when I moved. It was my own fault really.

Next Time: I'm going to get out more. Plus the fact that now I speak a little more French helps. But if any of you move to a place where you feel like you don't fit in, I would say take advice from Nike, Just Do It. I wish I had, it would have made my stay even better.

You can't keep me down! For long...

"Welcome home Susan!" screamed the streptococcal bacteria that has made it's home in my throat over the last week.

I forgot how bad strep is. I never hear about folks getting this in France, other than my Canadian friend of course. Always being unique she is (wink at ya Steph!). I had a small irritation for two days in my throat. Then on Monday night I woke up at 1:30am because I tried to swallow and thought maybe I was eating a cactus in my sleep. After a desperate call to my old doctor, and $75 later including $25 for antibiotics, it turns out I have strep.

The good thing is that at least now I know why I was so darn tired. I also have this weird eczema thing on a small part of my scalp. My friend Missy said her hubby has the same thing and suggested T-Gel. I went out and bought some. Turns out it works. Turns out I also smell like a dog that has just been washed with flea shampoo. I'm hoping I can use it every other wash so that I can have the Gee Your Hair Smells Delicious (am I dating myself here?) thing going on again.

So today I am feeling pretty good after three days of meds. So good in fact that I went to the little gym in our temporary corporate apartment complex and did a light workout for the first time in over a year. Oh my how the body deteriorates. I am on a mission though. I WILL have arms that look more like actual arms than legs before June. Do not expect pictures of this folks. The leg-arms shall be hidden until the unveiling on June 1st. Mark your calendars.

OH - we found a house!! We are going to rent for a while until we see what the future holds for us then maybe buy down the road depending on our stay here. We both love the house, it's big and in a good neighborhood. Although for the first time in my life I will be an "Outer Looper". Those of you in Houston know what I mean. We are not that far out though. Less than 2 miles actually...so I'm more like a "Close To The Looper".

This weekend is the International Festival (Ireland is the country this year - go peeps) AND the Spring Crawfish Festival. Not sure which, if any, we will do, but I'm looking forward to a good weekend. Did I mention that Cyr LOVES his job? It's a challenge but I know he will be a success.

Thanks again to all of you who have emailed and posted to me about continuing my blog. I love my internet friends and family. :-)

Back in H-Town

Well...after two weeks of being away from a computer, we are in Houston.

Egypt was AMAZING. We did a cruise down the Nile starting from Luxor and going to Asswan and back. We had 8 full days there with sun and nothing to worry about except making sure to meet the bus on time.

I'm currently trying to find the cable to download my pictures to my computer. With the move I can't find everything. Half of what I thought I brought with me I think the movers packed. Currently most of our belongings are on a ship sailing towards the port of Houston. They should reach here in about two or three weeks. Cyr's company has us in a corporate apartment until we find a place to live. I'm actually waiting for the Realtor now and going to look at some places.

I'll post about Egypt and the trip later, I thought I would write a little about leaving Lille today. I think I already miss it a little. Of course there are things here that I am so glad to be back with such as family, friends and customer service. Now it just seems that life is right here in your face for some reason. Everyone is talking about the crisis and loosing their jobs. It's a much more talked about thing than I thought. People are really worried. I am too now. I also came home to some jerk writing a check on one of my accounts that I just found our about when I opened a letter from a collection agency. Looks like I will spend tomorrow trying to get that sorted out. Then I guess I will find a job. English lessons anyone?

I miss my friends there like Steph, Flo and K. A quick tale about the move. The movers came to pack us up in Lille and things didn't go quite like they did here when they moved us from Houston. Here three guys showed up at 9am and the truck pulled away fully packed and headed for the container at 4:30pm. In Lille we had 5 or 6 guys show up at 9:30am, take a two hour lunch, leave at 5, come back the next morning to finish packing and finished up at around 4pm. So twice the people and twice the time.

I was going to end with that thought, but I find myself wondering what I am going to blog about after we move into our new home. We are thinking about having kids, but I don't really want this to be just a summary of my ovulation cycle. ::yawn:: I wonder if I will have anything to talk about. But then I think of some of my favorite blogs and they are written by people in Utah and Austin. For some reason I think I might just not be that interesting anymore. I guess we will see. Hope you stick around. Maybe something fun will happen. I still have Egypt posts after all. :-)

A last visit...

Well, I have finished my classes at all my schools now! It's so strange, I even finished tutoring at my Big School for the faculty. I really liked doing that, the person I worked with was so nice and so much fun to talk to. It wasn't much like work at all. I do have one more thing to do though! I received an email yesterday from the Small School asking if I would please participate in interviewing potential students for their Fall Term. Ha...interesting. I said I would and it's on a day I am free so why not? Plus it's paid...

Tomorrow I am going to Paris to pick up my last visitor of this stay in France. My friend Shari is coming for a week long visit and we have a full schedule! Paris, Brugges, and even a VIP tour in Reims at some winery! She is in the know of the cool peeps one should know. I'm an acquaintance but am more than happy to come along for the ride. I will take photos and let you know what that is like. That is planned for the first part of next week. I have never been to Champagne so I am eager to see what it looks like. According to mapquest and GPS it's just under 2 hours from here.

There is also a big party of some sorts here in Lille on Saturday that we are going to go to. There are some CRAZY statues on the streets I will make sure to photograph and post. Just to give you an idea, they look like black lacquer babies with dragon tails. And they are wearing diapers. Some have wings like bats. They are about two stories tall. I'm intrigued.

So everyone have a great weekend and I will post on Monday!

Random thoughts on Friday night...

Well it's Friday night and I'm on my way back to the Land of the Living after a visit to the Land of the Can't Breath Because of Lung Infection. Maybe it's because of this I find myself pondering some little things about life. I was just sitting here looking at my little cat Duncan and noticing how much he has grown.

I was also staring at his face and wondering; "Does he have a friendly face, or a face that says 'I would eat your liver if I could find it'?" I find him very friendly, but he is a cat. I have never had a cat, can you trust a cat? Really?

This train of thought lead me to the idea of human faces and if you can tell by a face what a person's personality is going to be like. Cyr has said something like "people with puffy lips are nicer people". Actually he said the negative thing about thin lips, but I was trying to be positive. And on the other hand I think my Mom has said "people with puffy lips are good kissers." I don't know, I think maybe there is something about "kind eyes" or a "strong jaw". This kind of makes me sad though. I hate that my packaging determines some of who I am. This is probably because I would like to change my packaging a little though. I also think maybe most people don't really know how others see them. This could just be me, but have you ever heard yourself on a recording or seen yourself speaking on camera and thought "Oh please, I do not sound like that" and then quickly added "Do I?"

End of ramblings for today, see you over the weekend!

Velcro, thy name is "Crazy Nigerian Flu"!!

So...turns out maybe I had an excuse to be glued to the couch!

My husband was in Nigeria four days last week and returned Thursday. On Saturday he came down with fever, chills, cough and all kinds of nasty symptoms. He called his doctor who booked him in for a 10:30 appointment. All you American's reading this, yes, it's true! They work on Saturdays! AND...Cyr spoke with the doctor, who answered the phone, not a nurse or a receptionist. Crazy stuff I tell ya.

We went in and Cyr got meds for his flu. I thought I was escaping it as I didn't really have any symptoms. Then Monday I started getting the fever thing, my asthma started acting up, and my neck hurt so bad I couldn't look left or right, I had to do that all too irritating to be witness to full body turn thing. Cyr had another appointment with his doctor to pick up a note for him for work. Yes...here doctors give notes to work and you can miss as much work as you want as long as a doctor says it's ok. I laid on the couch napping and somehow pulled myself up to go.

Turns out it's not something crazy, just flu. I have different symptoms because of my asthma; respiratory infection being the big one. The doctor saw both of us, treated both of us, and only charged us for one visit; 26 euro. He also did this cool neck-pinching-torture thing to clear out my muscles a little. In the words of John Cougar Melencamp; "Hurt so good". Oh yeah...so now, two days into antibiotics, mucus thinners, pain meds and steroids for my lungs I am feeling a little better. I did have to teach yesterday though. He gave me a note to get out of it, but since I teach one day a week I didn't think they could get a replacement and I didn't want to have another bad mark against me after the complaint about my letting classes go early and then loosing the stupid key (which was found).

Since Cyr was home he drove me and picked me up so I didn't have to take the Metro and walk. Ahh...l'amore. Classes were ok, though the student that complained about me letting classes go did sit in the back row, head up with his eyes closed almost the entire class. I didn't even call him on it because I thought I might loose it. I did however try to breath on him as much as possible.

The sticky couch

I am fairly certain that I must have velcro on my butt because I can't seem to get it off the couch.

I had my classes Tuesday and should be grading papers and planning for my Small School classes. But I just can't do it. I know this means that Monday will be a cram session, but the though of grading papers and oral exams...well I can't even come up with a witty end to that sentence. I don't want to do it (work that is). Maybe if I go grocery shopping and get out a bit I can make myself grade/prepare this afternoon.

Nothing like a day or two of avoidance to really throw you into a good fit of procrastination. Maybe it's the clouds in Lille these days. Any one else out there feeling like this lately?

Progress. I think.

So yesterday was a full day. It started with giving oral exams to a class of my students at the Small School. I took them in pairs and had them talk about/present an unethical activity for 10 minutes. It was not so bad really. Some were interesting, like the ones about abortion, prostitution or euthanasia. Some were dry, like the ones on using office supplies for personal use, but they did well overall.

After the exams I met with my supervisor. We talked about the person taking over for me next week with the start of the semester, but he needs to sort his schedule out so it looks like I will be teaching here until the end of February. Oh well, the extra money won't hurt. Much. She also mentioned that she is meeting with the student that complained about my letting classes out early. What...come on people. I spoke with the kid, it's settled. She is going to meet with him though. Who knows what will come out of his mouth. At first I thought "oh no, what if he complains more and I get fired?" Then I thought..."I wish" and moved on to "Ah, it's France. Virtually impossible to fire someone here. I think." Who knows. I refuse to be upset about it any longer.

So I should be done with all my jobs in March and ready for our move back to Texas. Which we still have no idea what that is going to happen. If we end up here through May I am going to see if I can continue at the Big School, I really enjoy those classes. We had a class last night and it went really well. I actually enjoyed the class and we ran over the time! Crazy what a syllabus can do for a teacher...

The day ended with a quick dinner with my friend K from London and then we went to see the moving Twilight. Yes...I am a lemming and have read the books. And I thought the movie was fantastic! I thought they did a great job reflecting what was in the books. Though there is a good possibility I am biased because I read the books so I know everything already. I don't know if the movie stands well on it's own, but after the book I thought it was it was great. Jacob is smokin...along with all the vamps of course...and I was really impressed with the girl who plays Bella, I thought she did a great job.

This morning I was all ready to visit my friend Marie and her daughter. Her daughter likes to practice her English and is really sweet. I was looking forward to it. I grab my keys and get to the car but am having some difficulties with the GPS. It's falling all over the place, has come unplugged and is seemingly smeared with olive oil because I keep dropping it. A very 1990's Chevy Chase couple of minutes. I ended up pulling over right as I got out of the garage and got the Inspector Clouseau moment under control. Then I thought I remembered something sounding funny as I drove out of our parking garage. I decided to take a look. Sure enough...front driver's side tire is completely flat. Not a breath of air in that puppy.

Uh. No big deal, I'll just put the old girl back in the garage and go make some coffee. I back up and am prepared to break the rules of driving (see how well integrated I have become!) by entering the garage the wrong way. Oops, there is a car coming out. It's being driven by the man who was standing outside our spot glaring at me because I had, temporarily I'm sure, lost the ability to see through concrete and I didn't know he was waiting to walk behind me. I smile sheepishly and pull the car out of his way. In retrospect I should have rolled the window down and yelled; "Hi yall!" in my best East Texas accent. I say East Texas because I have family there and, in my humble but I am sure correct opinion, they have the best accents in all of Texas. (Shout out to S., S. and Aunt H!)

After blocking the street (twice) with my flailing while holding my breath skillful three point turn and pulling in the lot up the exit ramp successfully, I came back home and decided to let you all know how my week was going. Not too bad really. Though I do hate that we might have to buy new tires right before we friggin leave the country. What a waste of money. If gas were cheap I would make sure to drive a lot and use up our (soon to be) new tires, but at over $7 a gallon I don't know if that will happen. BUT...I am having a visitor in March so we will be doing some driving for sure!! Yeah!!! My friend Shari is going too come over for a week and has already bought her ticket. It's perfect timing since I might be done with work at that time.

Well, I'm off to see if I can watch Obama's inauguration speech from yesterday!

Feeling the pressure

Grab a beverage and a snack, this is a long one.

As I scroll through my favorite blogs I see that almost everyone (except Steph, but that's because she just likes to be "edgy" *wink-wink*) has posted about what they did in 2009 so I think I might do that too.

Ok, let's be honest. The ONLY reason I want to do this is because finally, after three years of crap-on-a-cracker I finally have a bunch of good things to talk about. It's actually purely self serving that I do this. It's like people who send out Christmas cards with pictures of their family on it. They don't want to wish you "Merry Christmas", what they want is for you to see their family and know that they are happier and better looking than you are. Ok, maybe not everyone thinks this way, but I am sure there are some out there. You can be damn sure that if I ever have a child, and if that child is cute, all my friends and family will be getting Christmas cards all of a sudden. "Look what my uterus did this year!!" is what my card will read. Oh, and "Merry Christmas". I digress yet again...here are some highlights of my 2009 for those of you on the edge of your seat:

January was spent in Houston getting ready for my move to France to live with the love of my life and going out with all of my friends for dinners and drinks to say goodbye. Cyr (the aforementioned "love") was in Lille already so it was just me trying to get my fill of American and Chilean wine. And Shiner Bock.

February 1st I arrived in Brussels with three suitcases and proverbial bells on. I never posted this...but when I arrived I was soooooo excited as you can imagine. I even changed clothes on the flight so I would look cute for Cyr, brushed my teeth and everything. After collecting my luggage, clearing immigration and checking my hair, teeth and eyes in a mirror I nervously shuffled casually walked through the doors into the Brussels Airport. I eagerly calmly looked around, but not too much because I wanted Cyr to run up to me like in the movies. But alas...no Cyr. Huh. Well surely he is just around the corner. Nope, not there.

Half an hour later: I have no euros, don't speak French or Flemish, have no working cell phone. Am sure I have been left to fend for myself in Belgium. I figure out how to use the credit card payphone after (not kidding) 25 minutes of trying. I reach Cyr. There was a strike in Lille and he couldn't get out of the city, he's 20 minutes away still. It's like the whole country wanted to welcome me in the most French way they could. Merci France...Cyr made it to pick me up and after I drank two beers while waiting it was a fantastic reunion at last with one of the best welcome kisses in history. It all worked out.

My friend Karen came to visit in April and I was so excited! We had amazing weather. Until she showed up of course. Then it snowed for 3 days. But her visit really lifted my spirits and I found myself loving Lille and wanting to go back to Amsterdam. Then Mom came to visit and we had a fantastic time in Paris and Lille. My friend Bonnie even stopped by for a weekend during her tour of Europe!

In June I took a French course that saved my life. Plus I met Olga there who I love but moved back to Canada. :-( July 16th was Cyr and I's special day at the Marie. Just us and his best friend, best friend's wife and Olga.

Then the church wedding planning began and didn't stop until October 25th. It was a dream day. I really loved every single minute of it. I walked down the aisle with my Mom and though I know my Dad couldn't be there, he was in a way. The whole day was perfect. The champagne, the food, the man, the dress, my family and a few friends. I would not change a thing...it really was my perfect day. And I'm so glad it's over.

November brought my Carte de Sejour and the ability to work, not to mention Duncan our little black cat. Work turned out to be teaching English. Not really my passion, but it's work. December was great with a visit to Gent, Belgium and Aachen, Germany. New Years was special in Lille and then here we are in January and it's looking like we might already be headed back to Houston in 2009.

Of course we are...I can finally speak a little of the language and know where everything is. Not to mention I have friends now. But that's ok, we'll be back if we really want to. Now the hard thing is that I feel like I am in the waiting room of life waiting to be called so I know what happens next in life. We don't know when we will move. Could be quick, could be summer. I actually found myself standing at the grocery store yesterday pondering if I should buy a bottle of balsamic vinegar because "if we move soon we won't use it all". A simple choice I know, it was 3 euro or something. For some reason it seems so important at the time. There was a voice saying "Deal? Or no deal?" over and over. I seriously couldn't decide. I ended up not buying it (what!?). Now I just think I was being an idiot and I want some stupid balsamic vinegar. What a maroon...

I think 2009 will be a year of few yet large changes once again. A move to Houston and who knows what else. Maybe I'll take up knitting and start a business selling tea cozies. No one knows for sure. But the sure thing is that I can't imagine spending it without Cyr. My life will be forever changed for the better not so much because of living here in France, but because of the man from Valenciennes who I will love until the day I cease to be.

Don't know if you are out there, but thank you Shari for making me have a glass of wine with you on March 6, 2007 at Sonoma...that Tuesday changed my life.

Balance??

Ok...so I stopped working in February and didn't work again until November. I had 10 months of moving to France, decorating, friend visits, wedding planning and other things that didn't actually take up too much time. Now...I have three jobs (5 classes) and a kitten. How come I can't find a happy medium?

I must admit, I am typically a peeks and valleys kind of gal but this is nuts. This past week I taught everyday but Friday. This may not sound like much, but it has taken over my life! I guess I forgot how much work actually goes into teaching. It wouldn't be so bad if my school with two classes provided a syllabus or lesson plan, but there is NOTHING. This is what the description of my class says I should teach my students:

Business English around the following areas:
- Human Resources
- Corporate Structure
- Marketing

That's it. That's all I have. I have talked with the other 1st year teachers, but I have not really gotten too much. Everyone teaches something different. How in the world these students get out with any sort of similar education I don't know. The good thing is that they are going to implement a structured English program next year. By next year I mean Fall 2009. When I will probably be back in Houston because of Cyr's job.

Oh...did I mention that yet? Looks like we will be headed back to Texas in 2009 rather than 2010. We don't know when yet but I will keep everyone posted. At first I was really upset and dissappointed. I have been here (of and on) since February and I am still not fluent in French. I feel like I have wasted so much time and have not committed. I was waiting for free classes from the government and I have not even gotten my social security number yet. It take so long to get anything done here I will probably be back in Texas by the time we get the approval for the classes. But now I am warming up to the idea. Houston really does have a lot to offer, plus I can speak the language so I don't feel frustrated all the time when I need to try to do something myself.

Plus...the plan is for us to be in Houston for somewhere around 3 years. After that we will probably end up back in Lille for a while. Cyr also promises that we will try to speak more French with each other when we move. Plus there are so many people in Houston who speak French (get ready Jeanne, Marine, Ann and Ari) that I will be able to use the language a lot. Plus I will get to spend more time with my family, which is always good. Not to mention my friends and all the new babies they are having (Jen and Missy hello!). Silver lining. I'm looking for it...

A new addition....

Well...we were hoping to have a "family" of course, but we thought it would be while. We just got married less than a month ago. I still have my wedding dress out in the guest room!

Last Saturday Cyr and I went to his mother's house to celebrate her birthday. We went to eat lunch at a Greek restaurant in Belgium and then went back to the house for the afternoon and had a light dinner there as well. She really enjoyed her presents (three large wooden owls and a bracelet) I think.

When we arrived everything seemed normal. Once we said our hellos and did all the kissing cheeks we headed into the kitchen (which seems to be the meeting area in all countries). Both Cyr's brother and his mother were talking about what I thought was an accident that one of the cats had. "Ewe" thought I. When we got to the kitchen Cyr's brother picked up a little black furry thing and said, "c'est la petit merde!"

Annie found 3 (or 4, not quite sure) kittens at her office in a some machine thing last Wednesday. I think one of them died, but two were adopted and then she still had the little black guy and was looking for a home for him (or her). He was so cuddly! I have never had a cat and didn't really think much of the little guy until Cyr said; "Uh oh, I think Susan might have found a home for the little guy." I actually never thought we would take him home, I just thought he was cute and liked to hold him. Of course I jumped on the boat though and we stopped by a pet store coming home from lunch and bought all the necessities. One thing I can't handle is a house that smells like a cat lives there. So far we have been pretty good. But when the little guy goes...you know he goes...I'm a fairly immediate pooper scooper. Thank goodness it only happens once or twice a day. I'm hoping the poop will mellow with his age, but I'm thinking this is actually the opposite of the developmental cycle of cats. But hey...our house doesn't smell! It actually smells better because I'm so paranoid I am lighting candles and such. Before the kitten the candles just sat around, now they are being used.

So then there was the naming thing. Apparently there is a cat/dog naming convention that I was not aware of. Each year has a letter of the alphabet (as opposed to another kind of letter. Why do people say that?) ascribed to it and you are supposed to name your animal a name that begins with that year's letter. This year is "D". We don't really know if it's a boy or a girl, things are really small down there, but we think it's a boy. We went through a few rounds of names, but then we settled on a strong Scottish name from the Highlands...Duncan. Because there can only be one... Check out our newest addition!!
So far he's great. Very friendly and playful!

As for teaching...today I had The Class and Zee Class both. The Class was first. I went in with the same lesson plan I did last week with Zee Class. Low and behold...it went great! The class ended and we had finished the lesson (advertising campaigns) and I really felt they had learned something. I went to a meeting for the language classes during lunch (chicken baguette sandwich) then went on to Zee Class. We had to finish up the lesson from last week, which we did. After much prodding and poking. Then we moved on to some grammar work. Then all hell broke loose. Seriously...35 kids in this class. A few kids are completely fluent, most of them are conversationally able to survive while speaking English, then there are about 8 of them that are really, really behind. I'm going to have to split the class up next week and plan two lessons because the fluent kids are going crazy with me trying to work with the slower ones and the material I am supposed to use for the class is WAY over the heads of many of them. I am so glad I had the first class because I would have left feeling like a total failure. Blah, blah...I'm not in the mood to be all dark and pissy tonight. I get so irritated when I read blogs that do nothing but complain so I am going to reserve my "oh woe is me" post for another day. Things really are not that bad. Other than the fact that I have to go back to Zee Class next Tuesday. :-(

JAY-OH-BEE!!

That would be a job!! Though sometimes it seems to take forever for things to happen in life, sometime things just fall into place and in the blink of an eye you have a whole new part of your life taking shape. Since Thursday at 10am my life took a nice little turn.

I received an email from Mari about a university that was looking for someone to teach 1st year Business English. The class is to familiarize students with things like human resources, company structure and other business type of language. I didn't think I had much of a shot, but I called the woman and left a message. She called me back and said that they had actually found someone already for the role but that she had a schedule conflict with one of the classes. By the time the conversation was over she asked for my resume and thought maybe I could take one of the classes. They were going to move the class so the other person could teach it, but if I could do Tuesdays then it would work out great.

I sent off my resume and received and email right back asking me to come visit with them today. Oh how I love having an actual reason to shower and put on clothes that match...In my usual American fashion I arrived 30 minutes early for the interview. I was to meet my contact at a specific Metro station and it was sunny so I just kind of wandered around a bit. Then I realized I didn't have her phone number in case she didn't turn up or I was at the wrong station. Let's all give a great big "YOU ROCK, THANK YOU SO MUCH!" to Mari in Lille!! I called her and she pulled up the original email and gave me number just in case.

Turned out I didn't need it, she showed up right on time. But if I would have needed it...I had it! We went to the school, I met the dean and they offered me the job right there. It's just one class, but hey, it's a start! I am really looking forward to it. Now every Tuesday I have a place to be at 2pm! I'm meeting my contact again tomorrow at the book store to buy a book for the class. To be honest I don't really think it was my amazing teaching prowess that impressed her so much as the fact that I am a native English speaker and I am breathing. Meaning I think they were pretty desperate. But hey...I'll take that!

I am also super excited about this coming week. I meet friends on Sunday then family on Monday in Paris. I am also hoping to get the chance to meet up with some fellow blogers Leesa and Ksam (of former Sam de Bretagne fame) while in town. I'm feelin a rhumrhum coming on...

Oh...I also got my hair cut and it looks pretty good. There are a lot more layers than I am used to but I think I like it. At first I was a little scared I had a fancy-mullet (if there is such a thing) because it is shorter around my face, but I think I like it. One of my friends said it didn't look that much different, I hope that doesn't mean that I already had a fancy-mullet...

A few good things...

I went to order the flowers yesterday for the wedding. I'm not putting them in the church or anything, I just need a bouquet and some boutonnieres for the people in the wedding and the mothers. I waited until 2:00pm (14h for those French folks) to walk down because I figured they would be closed for lunch. As guessed; they did have a lunch break, but apparently florists are extra hungry folk and they need more than the normal 2 hour lunch break. They take 3 hours and 20 minutes for lunch. So alas I would have to return at 3:20pm (15h20) if I wanted flowers.

I was really glad I returned because I just love the florist! He is a slight man with kind smile that is a bit lopsided, olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes who had no problem with my child-like French. I told him what I liked and didn't like, "S'il vous plait, pas des roses rouge" (please, no red roses). He immediately began briskly walking around the small shop and grabbing things, making a bouquet right then and there to show me what it would look like. I love the colors (will post pictures after the fact) and the fact that they will be made by kind hands also makes me feel good. A little good karma on the day would do me fine. Ahh...the sweet smell of success! I pick them up the day before the wedding. I thought I would pick them up the day of, but he said they would still be fresh for Saturday. I'm sure they will, he seems to know what he is doing. I also have no idea what it is going to cost, probably a car payment...oh well...at least I have flowers! Plus we have even more money to spend because another person is having to cancel the visit. She is sick though, I can't blame her, the flight is hard enough when you feel good. Guess we can put her meal money to the flowers. Ha...

I'm having my British friend (who will be on vacation and won't make the wedding) over this evening for dinner. She has cooked a few times for me and I'm trying to return the favor. I'm planning chicken breasts stuffed with dried figs and blue cheese. Just some simple sides and some sorbet for desert I think. Not getting very fancy, but it will do along with some wine of course. Not too much though, I have a coffee thing tomorrow morning I am planning on going to. I realize I am really going to have to find some sort of work after I get my CDS (November 12 here I come) and so I'm going to bump up my networking attempts. I don't really care what I do here, just a job...

I also got to see Cyr this morning via web cam. Ha...I love those things. He had to make a trip to the Middle East and will be back Sunday. The same day I leave to pick up my friends in Paris...he promises to meet me at the alter though.

Actually we will be back Wednesday so I will get time with him for a few days prior. Plus we have to have dance lesson number 2! Cyr...the waltzing Frenchman...

Great Sunday Food

Although I still have a completely clogged up nose, the weekend was pretty good. Sunday we went to Cyr's Mom's house and had lunch with her and his brother C. Lunch is always good at the belle-mere's, she's a great cook.

I think I mentioned once before how time here seems to move faster than in the US, it's really strange. Somehow we left our place with 15 minutes to spare, stopped by the bakery to pick up a desert and then were almost an hour late for lunch. How does that happen?! Very strange...

Our tardiness was not a big deal though, we arrived just before the rain started. I really like meals at the beau-famille (in-laws) because we always have a bunch of little appetizers. We started with a glass of Champagne with little toasts that had chevre and bacon on it that were grilled in the oven. Along with that there were some banana peppers stuffed with some sort of cream cheese like filling and of course saucisson. Not just any saucisson either, my favorite; St. Agaune. It's soooooo good. It seems to have a lower fat content and the meat is tender and a bit salty and somhow even juicy. Can dried sausage be juicy? Probably only if it's really fattening.

She also had what looks like a layer cake but is in fact (I found out after I was eating) cow tongue with layers of foie gras. It's a specialty of the city where they live. Don't cringe, I know it sounds awful, but it's actually wonderful. She also made some gelatin to go with it and cut up a few figs. All two million calories were fantastic. Lunch was a lamb stew with carrots, potatoes, beets and peas with a great bottle of red wine. I think I could talk with his Mom more this visit. My French is getting a little bit better each time I think. Her English is really good though, so she can always save me when I don't know what's going on. I'm also a bit limited on topics I can talk about because I don't have a wide variety of words to choose from. I wanted to ask her about work and a few things but didn't know the words. Maybe next time.

We hung out most of the day and then came home and tried to get things done for the wedding. Everyone clap your hands in appreciation of Cyr's first dance lesson!! I think I fell in love all over again...he's a natural waltzer people.

I love the waltz. It's a dance that always makes me think that maybe I was a princess given away at birth to protect me from the evil doers of my land. To be raised by a nice family to maybe one day be brought back to rule in my castle and have the stable of horses I so deserve. I also don't really look like my parents which has always aided this fantasy. But I do act like them. Guess you can't get away from the DNA too much. Plus I wouldn't give them up for anything, not even a castle. But if they threw in a stable of horses...well it would be tempting...naw. Not really.

Difficult French

Currently I am trying to type but I have a very strong urge to blow my nose. Which by the way, won't blow when I blow it. I just end up forcing air to the top of my throat, then my ears threaten to pop. Of course there is that odd running thing every now and then so you have to keep a tissue near so you don't drip on yourself and offend the people around you.

Cyr took me to the pharmacy and I got some kind of spray and some pills to take. These are serious pills too! Four times a day then one at night for four days. Maybe tomorrow I won't be the irritating mouth breathing person you can actually hear.

Inhallllle....exhaaale.

Ewe...that's me.

I also discovered something interesting about the French language. It's virtually impossible to speak French as a non-native speaker (ok, complete beginner) when you have a stopped up nose. It's like my mouth can't form the words because the pressure is off or something. I have suddenly forgotten how to form the words. Example: We went to lunch and I wanted a hot mint tea. You would have thought I was trying to order a 5 course meal. I could not get it out, I had to say it I think three times before the waiter got it. Cyr was so patient, he just smiled and let me talk loud and spray spittle on the waiter. I think the waiter thought it was amusing. He had that raised eyebrow (both of them) look and a smile. Like I was a three-year-old trying to do a magic trick. For a person who really doesn't like three-year-olds.

Cyr didn't try to order for me because he knew I was already irritated at the lady who sat us and offered "Shall I bring you a menu in English?" said in French very quietly to Cyr. My poorly tied scarf must have given me away as being non-French. Cyr declined, saying; "No thank you, she understands." (in French of course) Then the lady says; "I'll bring you one anyway."

What....Did.....You....Say?

Granted, maybe I'm a bit touchy because someone filled both of my nostrils with cement glue last night, but I was offended. Seriously lady, guess you people don't get the "no means no" thing here eh? When she came back with the menus I gave her the one eye brow raised look and Cyr reaches out and takes the English menu. Ha...how sweet is that?! Low and behold I was even able to find my agneau (lamb) without a problem.

Of course she was not our waiter, that was the guy mentioned above. Darn it...I would have felt much better getting a little spittle on her and forcing her to hear my stuffy nosed French. Oh well, maybe next time. Even if I feel fine. :-)

Rozoy Continued...

I have now recovered from my lunch with Mr and Mrs Belly and am ready to post the other pictures from the weekend. Of course today I did meet my friend Irina and her new husband for lunch to talk about how the quest for a carte de sejour is going for them. She is Russian and he is French and they are going through the same process that Cyr and I will go through in November with getting a work permit and a residence card. More on that fun stuff later....

This is the garden she has. It is in a sort of valley I guess you could say. Above the garden floor to the right is a very old church and then further to the back there is a wall remaining from a castle that was there in the 1600's I think. Check out the tree looking thing on the left side of the photo.

Everyone was finding jobs to do, I decided to pull weeds. Once I was done with my wall I asked about the odd tree that looked to have been taken over by ivy. H told me that it was actually a very old water pump that was taken over by plant life. "Oh! Do you want me to try to cut it away?" I asked hopefully. She agreed and my treasure hunt began!! I clipped away and found brick, then on one side I found a pump. It took hours just to uncover one side. After two days of work, this is what was underneath!!


It was amazing! If we could have stayed another day I would have tried to figure out how to reach the top part. Do you remember the really big and tall brown muppet that had the HUGE mouth and would dance during The Muppet Show? I felt like I was cutting his hair. I actually talked to it while I was clipping away. I think it helped. H was so excited too, she said since we cut through the large roots that she was hoping the top part would die and be easier to remove after a few weeks. I don't know about that, the thing looked like an animal ready to spring back to life and devour the pump again, but maybe not.

This is the view from where we were burning some of the brush we cleared. That is the church up top. I just kept getting carried away with the thoughts of a castle being up there next to the church. You can see H and B very small at the bottom of the photo.

So it was a really fun weekend. I typically don't do much gardening other than killing the small plants I buy or people try to give me. Really, unless you hate a plant specifically, don't give it to me. I will kill it. I won't mean to, but it will happen. Plants and Susan are like Lenny and small mice. It's completely unintentional, but it happens. That is why I stick to fresh cut flowers. I know from the moment I pick them out they are going to die. Plus no one expects me to be able to make them live longer than a week so that I look less like the Jeffrey Dahmer of horticulture and more the like the Florence Nightingale of flowers trying to help her patients live as long as possible.

Rozoy Rocks...

So there was no sex trade to sell me off to so feel free to breath the sigh of relief I am sure you have been holding. I'm back and safe and sound! Turns out I didn't even have the right story with the other two guesses either. H, who owns the house and garden now, inherited them from her Grandmother. Her Great Aunt (Grandmother's sister) still lives in the town. She came over and had lunch with us both days. They said she was 97!! She walked over from her house without a cane and seemed to be all together. Man, what a lady...I tried to speak with her a little, she was so sweet and very easy to understand. I think the older generations here are much easier to understand, they speak slow and seem to really enunciate their words.

Here is the house...

It was built in the 18th century. Crazy eh? So about the time the Declaration of Independence was declaring my country a country; they were putting up wall paper. H said that much of the house was built using older materials taken from older houses, so the wood used for the stairs and some of the floors dates back to the early 1700's and maybe 1600's. Nutty. It's just so strange to wrap your mind around the time.

I stayed on the 3rd floor with my Brit friend Karen, there were 6 of us and there were multiple beds in the upper room so we decided to camp out together. Every time my feet would walk down the stairs (barefoot because I am completely aware of my propensity to slide down stairs on my arse when I try to walk down them with socks) I would wonder how many other feet had touched them. They were beautiful. I tried to capture the warmth that the stairs held, but I don't think the pictures do them justice of course. I don't know why I was so captured by the stairs. I loved how smooth they were from the wear of over 200 years of use. If you look at the pictures you might be able to see that in many places the nails showed through and were worn as smooth as the wood that surrounded them. Sometimes I would see a scar in the wood and make up a story of how I thought I was made. Maybe a young girl was trying to carry a tray of food up to third floor for her sick uncle and dropped it. When the tray hit the soft wood on the second floor it scared the wood it's still there today.


The house had a great back yard with a bridge made out of concrete and cave built into the side of the house that kids could play in. When H was a child she and her sister drew buffalo cave drawings on the raw rock and mud walls. You could still see two of them. I would have done the same...


I can't seem to upload anymore photos so I will have to post others tomorrow...I will make sure to include the cave as the first one!

We worked in the garden that she has on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. It's about two blocks from the main house. The garden is a lot that backs up to an old church and what used to be a castle with three towers. It is nestled in at the bottom of a slop that the church sits on and where the castle used to be and is in the shape of an L. There were tons of apple trees that were just bursting with fruit. As I type this I am wondering what all I can cook with all the apples I have. I have a few ideas, one of the girls there AS, she is an amazing cook and we had apple tart, apple cake, chicken with apples and even red cabbage and apples made by Karen!

We worked really hard in the garden and ate fantastic food all weekend. It made me wish to live in a simpler time, where people worried about keeping their land and storing enough food to survive the winter, not failing economies and wars in other countries. I know it must have been very hard, but they all had focus. Even if the focus was just to get a crop in. Ah, I have been reading too much Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series. But if you have read the books, I did feel a bit like Claire working in her garden while Jamie (Cyriaque) was off hunting...although Jamie didn't hunt in China (where Cyr currently is) and Claire didn't have a hot shower to go back to. Now that I think about it, 2008 has been one the best years of my life. I think I'll stay...

Hurricane Ike

As most of you have read, I am a Houstonian transplant here in Lille, France. Most of my family in friends live in Houston and are now either weathering the aftermath of Ike without electricity or have scampered off to other cities to avoid the hassle.

From the looks of the pictures I have seen in the news and the internet, Galveston was just devastated. It sounds like my family is alright though. My Mom went to San Antonio and is staying with friends. I hope she stays there for the rest of the week at least. Word is my little pink house has survived without any obvious damage. Everything I read says that roads are blocked with trees, electricity is out in most of the city, gas is scarce, ice is rare and some fo the stores are price gouging and selling bags of potato chips for $10. Bastards...

Dad, Sandy and my half brother Ralph weathered the storm at their house that is about 30 minutes north of Houston. They lost electricity on Saturday and have been told it could be 3 or 4 weeks before it is turned on. Everyone clap your hands for propane grills and my step-mothers propensity to pack her freezer for a two month shut in! Sandy's son is coming down all the way from Minnesota with a generator that they can use to power the garage apartment. And yes, they are smart enough to ventilate it so they don't all die from carbon monoxide poisoning. So far one child has died because his parents put the generator in the garage.

I hope everyone I know and love is safe. So far everyone I have emailed with or spoken too has just missed the worst. Two houses on my Dad's street were badly damaged with trees coming through the roves. I'm so glad his house is ok, with his healing broken arm and other things I don't know how he could have handled it! Thank goodness Ralph is there to help out. He is such a great guy. I have tons of photos and plan to blog everyday this week to tell you all about the fun things I did last week, but I don't feel right boasting about my good times today when so many are having to worry about their lives right now back home in Texas.

My prayers are with you all in the affected areas. I especially hope the Torres family in Groves (Port Neches) is ok, I think you guys were in a pretty hard hit area.

Hugs from Lille...