Happy Holidays

Hey everyone,

I know that I promised most of you more prompt or frequent updates, but we’ve been in France for about 3 months and we only just got our internet connected. You see, everything in France works in an illogical manner...consider that our landlord was more than happy to buy dishes, utensils, linens, even roll-out mattresses for us (things that were listed on the lease) but the phone line, oh no, we had to have that installed on our own. It was kind of like getting a bank account...in order to get a bank account here, you have to have proof of permanent address. In order to rent an apartment here, you have to have a bank account. Don’t ask me how we took care of that one, I’m still not sure.

Anyway, most of the rest of our news is happy! We arrived on September 1st, and after a few weeks of itinerant homelessness, we finally snagged an apartment in Paris’ 16th arondissement. The 16th has a reputation of being bourgeois and ritzy, but we’re in a slightly less magnificent section of the 16th that’s a little more lively and less residential. Within a 3 minute walk, there are five butchers, four bakeries, three grocery stores, two fromageries (cheese shops) and the obligatory Partridge in a Pear-Tree. Nevermind that the guy who was renting this apartment before us decided that he didn’t want to move out after all, and that it took a little coaxing for him to give it up....Nevermind that when he did decided to leave, he made us wait for 3 weeks before we could move in. At any rate, it gave Kelley and I the chance to take our honeymoon!

For our honeymoon, we went to the south of France (because we weren’t allowed to leave the country with our visas). We stayed for five days in Montpellier, six days in Provence, and one day in Lyon. The weather was still warm, but turning autumn-like. It was still warm enough, though, to go to the beach and get a tan, but at night we had to put on a light jacket to enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of South France. Anyway, that was our favorite part of the trip: a different culinary delight at each meal, each accompanied by a good bottle of wine and a thick dessert. My guess is that we’ll never eat that well again for two weeks in a row, but its probably better for our health anyway. Montpellier was beautiful and lively, and in Provence we had the chance to take our bikes out and see the grape harvest, which was in full swing.

On coming back to Paris, we immediately found out that we had missed the first week of work, but nobody seemed to care, so whatever. The teaching has been going well enough, but French teenagers have the unique power not to be able to shut up when they’re in school, so it’s been an interesting challenge trying to keep them quiet. I’ve been spending most of the rest of my time doing research, and Kelley found a moneyed American couple that needed a babysitter for their two kids. In our free time, we’ve been taking in the sights and sounds of Paris, which would take two lifetimes to be even close to finishing. We’ll be staying in France for the holidays, but don’t feel bad for us, we’ve got plenty to keep us busy. We wish you all a happy holiday season, and look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Happy Holidays,
Kelley and Robert