One Month and Counting

Today marks one month since I left the grand old United States for la belle France. What a month it's been! Hours of travel, apartment searching, paperwork galore, and scrambling for lesson plans. Now that I've survived the initial process of living in France, the lovely French government has decided to reward me (ok, and all the other teachers and students) with two weeks of vacation. I've got three hours of teaching to go and then it's off to Marseille and Paris! 

As I tugged my groceries home yesterday it hit me once again that I'm actually living here. Maybe it was because I had to buy toilet paper for the first time here. A very wise friend (you know who you are) once told me that you know you've moved to a place when you've bought toilet paper. It's not only the mundane things that remind me that I've moved here...I have my bus route to work, a church I attend, a choir I joined, friends that I run into in the street...all in this beautiful city. 

This month has also been marked by the distinct change of seasons from summer to fall here in the South of France. A week and a half ago it was 80 degrees and I worked up a sweat walking downtown. Then the mistral came. For those of you unaware of Provencale legend and tradition, the mistral is an epic wind that makes occasional visits only to the South of France and often reaches 90 kilometers and hour. The name comes from a Provencale word meaning 'master' as it really brings people to their knees...literally. I saw a little boy at a bus stop blown over by the wind. So here I sit on my day off sheltered inside as my shutters shudder in the wind sipping hot cocoa and planning just how to instill the days of the week into my students brains. They'll probably forget during vacation anyways...