My bounty was abundant this year with life developments. Thomas proposed in early spring. By April, I had a job offer in France. We had our civil marriage ceremony as spring moved into summer (with plans for a do over with family and friends next year). I moved to Paris in time to experience summer in France. Thomas and the beagles finally arrived as Paris was waking up from its summer siesta in September, and with my family complete we started our adventures in Europe.
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| Dreamy Paris |
Lucky does not begin to describe how I feel about this opportunity. Outside the job (which I've decided not to talk about in this personal blog), we have been enjoying life. We are not only being tourists and seeing the sites of Paris, but also wandering around our little town of Garches and its surroundings markets, neighborhoods, and vast parks. We are making discoveries of new restaurants that serve Peking duck (Thomas is determined to find one as good as the
restaurant in Arlington) and book stores that are a bike ride away from us.
Obviously Paris has wondrous things to capture our attention, but we've always been drawn to quieter towns. We are truly enjoying Garches. We love the fact that we are a ten minute walk from the town center which is also the location of the bi-weekly market. The French will tell you that markets are the heart of social life in France. It is where neighbors greet neighbors and local news are transmitted.
Not surprisingly, market day is part of our new routine. Every Saturday morning, Thomas and I draw up our grocery list for the next four days. We have our usual purchases. The
charcutier Narquin Pere at Fils (a locally renowned purvey of all things ham related) is often our first stop. After pleasant smiles and small samples of the ham, we make our standard order - three hand sliced pieces of their house specialty,
jambon (ham). We occasionally get
jambon cru (cured meats) and maybe a homemade sausage or two. From there we go to the the crepe lady who is conveniently located next to the coffee guy. If we have time, we'll sit down at one of their two tables and have buttery crepes and café crème or fresh squeezed orange juice in the summer time before ordering fresh ground coffee to go. Ever since our US coffee maker over dosed on the french electricity, we have been using our French press... which ironically enough is an Italian invention (a fact some French guests pointed out at our first dinner party). We'll of course buy our vegetables at market as well. We get the sweet potatoes from the woman who specializes in West Indian cuisine and other legumes from the smaller vendors -hoping we are getting local products (we still haven't figured out how to identify local farmers in the market). The market day always ends at the bakery where Thomas goes for his daily morning croissants. Each Saturday, we patiently wait in line in their small but modern bakery (there is always a line). This gives us time to salivate over the freshly baked
macarons, decadent moelleux chocolate cake which is something in between a dense brownie and a moist American cake, and of course an array of familiar eclairs and croissants. The warm amity that wafts from the shop ladies drifts through the bakery like the aroma of their freshly baking baguettes. One thing I will say about our life in France at the moment, it is certainly less processed than it was in the US. Even when we buy our pre-made goods, they were probably made that day.
Scenes from the Garches Market
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| Church tower that overlooks the market. |
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| Vegetable guy |
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| Flower Guy |
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| Homemade pasta guy |
The less processed concept seems to have seeped into our daily lives as well. We are often found walking the dogs through Parc de Saint Cloud. Parc de Saint Cloud covers over a thousand acres and includes two restaurants, a formal garden, an animal farm, and miles of walking trails. And some of these trails are deep in the woods, get your hiking boots muddy, and walk up some serious hills trails. The dogs like it for sure, especially Scout who gets to walk off leash during the winter months when the park is not very crowded. On our to do list for 2013 is to discover the other parks surrounding our town. There are at least two others. In fact, if you ever drive around France you will frequently pass "domaine" this or "forêt" of that (their national or regional parks). The French are very proud of their natural spaces. I think every French citizen is within a twenty minute train ride to parks that lets you forget that you live in a metropolis.
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| Molly & Scout enjoying the formal gardens of the park |
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| Fall hike in the park |
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| Molly & Scout visiting their pony |
Change is certainly nothing new. But this year, those that came to fruition seemed to be entirely life changing. Thomas and I switched from being a "you and me" to an "us." We went from speaking English to French in our quotidian life. We shop at open air markets more often. We are choosy about the bakery from which we buy our baguettes (there are four in Garches, and we have ranked them by quality/friendliness). We give
bisou greetings instead of handshakes. We ride trains instead of metros. We are adapting to our new circumstances. With open eyes and open minds, we observe the new life around us, and we have made efforts to integrate as best we can and enjoy as much of it as possible.