My life has suddenly become busy – hence the lack of blogging for the last month. However, it has been all good things that have started to fill my time, so there are absolutely no complaints. Here is a month in pictures and quick memories.
-Snowy Provence: Before last year, it hadn’t snowed in southern Provence for nearly twenty years. With two years in a row of light snows, the locals are starting to get a bit weirded out. While I haven’t appreciated the cold morning walks to school, the dusting of white did make the hills of Provence where I live come alive in a new way. You can see the resident snowman at my house in the picture above.
-We Shall Overcome: Three of the teachers I work with who teach the youngest age level recently came to me with an English song that they wanted to teach their students. They knew it had something to do with Obama (with whom the French are in love) and racism, but of course the actual English lyrics were all Greek to them. Thus I found myself in the company of eager six year olds belting out words of hope and peace. I was in awe that I could then so easily share with them that the words were actually taken from a sermon of Martin Luther King Jr. This choice of song could not be timelier as the French debate on identity occasionally travels down the paths of racism.
- Extended Celebrations and a Windy Photo Shoot:
Zach came down for a long weekend towards the end of the month. Having spent the beginning of our engagement apart, it was, of course, so good and too short. However, it was so nice to be able to celebrate our engagement in Aix as two different sets of friends popped open some champagne in our honor. You’ve got to love how the French celebrate. Then, we capitalized on our time together by having a friend from Marseille come up and take some informal engagement shots for fun. With the Mistral fiercely blowing we had a fun (and windy) photo shoot.
- Vacation Again?: I just had Christmas break and am off again for winter break. One could definitely never complain about the French school calendar. I’ve spent the first part back home in Colorado blitz planning my wedding and will soon return to Paris for some calm before returning to work in a week.
