For my Family

After 2 and a half years of living abroad, my lovely sister brought it to my attention that i have a communication problem. So this is my present to her, and my family. My goal (although small) is to write at least one sentence a day to keep those at home aware of my life out here, in france.

Two weeks ago, Philippe and I moved into a new apt. and we have been finishing up the last touches on our new place. There are a few problems such as some parts of the floor that bubble up, and for awhile, the washing machine would flood the house. We quickly had these problems resolved (with a minor expense to the wooden floor.) The apartment is two bedroom and 75m2. We have a gorgeous view on the mediteranean sea and the mountains (which are still lightly snowcapped this time of year.) my neighbor Mr. Georges is like the neighborhood watch. My first day in the apartment i locked myself in the bathroom. Philippe was at a golf tournament, wouldn't be home and as golfer's courtesy, he turned off his cell phone. Luckily i had my cell phone and bathtub cleaner, so i was pretty productive for the first two hours. Going on the third hour, i was getting dizzy from the fumes. My friend Luba called, wanting to know if i would like to have tea with her, so i told her that i was trapped in the bathroom. She and her husband came to the building and tried to pick the lock in the front door to rescue me. Mr. Georges thought they were robbers and called the police. Luckily, the police are slow and came 20 minutes after Luba and Eder gave up on trying to pick the lock. About 4 and a half hours later philippe came home and freed me. He did not notice how clean the bath tub was.

I have another neighbor who happens to be a homeopathologist. I visited him once in February and made an appointment for accupuncture a month later. I freaked out the day before the apointment, because I kept thinking about the needles that he would be putting all over my body. I canceled the appointment and never rescheduled. I thought since i spent most of my days at school, i would never run into him, and i would never have to talk about accupuncture again. A week ago i received a letter in the mail, informing me that a book i had ordered was left at the homeopathologists office for me to pick up. The books, that are titled 'transformation soup' and 'the bodacious book of succulence' were not in the package, free for all to thumb through. Apparently the writer is like a 55 year old woman going through a midlife crisis and has published these books, which are kind of like big coloring books. I cringed when Philippe handed them to me ( i made him pick it up) and then cringed again when i started to read them here are some quotes: 'this is a book about questions and discoveries...I am eccentric and ordinary streaked with a garden variety neuroses. Let's explore together, holding hands and see what healing is all about' another 'beds are our adult cradles. we need soft respite from our stumbeling..a bed is a sacred land..etc' 'look in the mirror and cry..or turn into a bird'. Needless to say i am pretty sure the homeopathologist thinks that i need more help than accupuncture if i am subscribbing to these adult coloring books.

Otherwise, I am almost finised with this semester : O. Then i have to enter into the real world France. I don't even want to talk about that right now.

I am in the middle of planning my wedding, and as usual i am way behind. Philippe and i just received our wedding invitations and have been preparing them to send. Last week i received mom's list of invites and i hope that as many people from St. Louis as possible can come. It gets rather lonely out here, i would love to see a familiar face, and i would love help teaching the french about the tie limbo and the duck dance. I think its imoprtant to ellaborate that all are welcome at any point. We do have a fouton. Last sunday, I met the wedding planner, elodie form 'riviera marriage' at the reception sight. Her mother met us there, telling us how beautiful the place is. But once inside, things changed. She gasped when she saw that the restaurant had 4 different types of chairs (sizes and colors) somethinng i honestly did not take note of before. but honestly, now that i see it, its bad. We are looking for chair covers. Tomorrow, i will be meeting with Elodie to meet up and interview a DJ, photographer, and hairstylist. Normally we wil be meeting with someone from M6 France who will be covering the outing, but I am not holding my breath. The whole M6 thing is a little bizarre in my opinion. a few weeks ago, Elodie and i were supposed to meet after my tuesday morning class in Nice, An hour before our rendaz-vous she called saying that we couldn't meet up because a camera crew was following her. The next day we had a lunch, and she asked me to be in the documentry. That day i had an allergic reaction to tuna and had to go to the emergency room. A lunch i will never forget. Anyway, the next meeting was set up a week later, but the day I was supposed to meet the reporter, Elodie told me that he had to go somewhere else. Tomorrow, is apparently the big day. I have an out fit picked out, that has been sitting in the closet anticipating my TV debut. Hopefully i can wear it tomorrow, but my big concern is that we have been putting off hiring a photographer, a DJ and a florist until the interview with M6. I will be sure to put an update in my sentence tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning, Philippe's friend will be visiting. I am preparing a tiramisou, lamb, and a salade nicois. I also have a literature examination i should be studying for.
So her is a brief introduction to my two weeks in review and i will try to be constant in my daily sentences.