Well, Finaly!

No, I have not dropped the face of the earth to those who have asked, I have just been very slow to get around to things - e.g. communication with the outside world. It has now been just over two weeks since my arrival in France. This has definitely been a very changeling time in my life - wedding and a move to another country in the same week, with all of the peripheral things that surround that like leaving friends and family, my business, starting the assimilation into new culture and language, etc.

After the most poorly-planned move in U.S history (thank you to my angels, Angelique, June, Tim, Rick & Rob for all your help), I arrived in Paris with two suitcases of books, four suitcases of random items (including an economy-sized Nag Champra, a baby blanket and a pair of Old Navy flip flops), two livid cats and three cranky Frenchies. The flight itself was nice because Patrice and I had some great bulkhead seats on the Portland --> Frankfurt leg, due in part to a couple of well-placed tears at check-in noting that we were on our honeymoon but were not able to get seats together due to how we had to buy our tickets. So not only was it nice to sit together with lots of legroom, we got lots of free champagne, including two small bottles to go which I had to throw in the trash at security in Frankfurt due to 200 ml size. That situation alone reminded me of why I despise the Germans and always keep a choice WWII reference at hand for such incidents (e.g. 'Easy man, this ain't 1939 Berlin..."). Don't even get me started on the run-in with a roving airport veterinarian, Helga von Fuhrerstein.

The only major rough spot that day, which unfortunately carried over into the rest of the flight/drive home, was about 30 minutes into a 9 hour flight, I look at one of of my two in-cabin carriers and see Humphrey going all David Banner inside of his carrier, with his head and paw both breaking out the side of the case! He had managed to eat through the mesh siding and was escaping. We had larger cardboard Lufthansa carriers so I put him inside of that and he ate through that! He had been tranquilized that morning with a successful test run the day before, but apparently they were not working. Patrice was telling me to give him more pills, but I got a very nice French male stewardess (thanks for that outdated, sexist description, grandpa) to explain to Patrice that too much tranquilization can result in hyperactivity so we couldn't just keep giving Mr Humpy medicine.

NEEDLESS to say, coming from a country where cats are not the #1 most popular pet, Patrice was none too amused at all of this expense and trouble for these cats. (Franklin pulled the same stunt later on, but we managed to get him to stay in the cardboard carrier). Humphrey ended up having to be thrown,unsecured, in a stowage are for the rest of the flight. When we arrived in Frankfurt we had a buy a hard-shell carried that could not go in-cabin and Humphrey was checked in and rode cargo to Paris. The most awesome thing about having him go cargo is that there was a gate change for our flight that we did not know about (apparently only us and one other person!) and we discovered the change as the plane was about to close its doors. They held the flight for us - although our luggage had been pulled off the flight because we were missing.

Normally they would have just taken off with out our luggage and we would have to retrieve it later but (after making an announcement to the whole plane about the plight of the missing passengers and the live cat) they had to re-load our stuff because they could not leave a live animal behind. YEA - sh*itty, useless cat carriers from some chi-chi Pearl boutique saved the day!! But despite 900 hours of bumper-to-bumper Sunday traffic (that's Paris ), we arrived home and ready to just relax.

We live in an area of Vendome, 45 minutes southwest of Paris. The first few days were a real adjustment. Both of us were exhausted but fortunately, Patrice had a couple of extra days off of work so we could decompress - but we found ourselves being testy with each other over nothing. One gem of an argument started at dinner one night when Patrice accused me a loving Humphrey more than Franklin, duly noting that I hold and pet Humphrey more, and why is this? After I (naturally) laughed my head off about what the hell was he talking about, he was like, "Noooo, Shannon...I am serious!!" and ended up flouncing of to the couch. I mean, what??? Anyway, I made sure to give Franklin just as much love (especially after he got lost and three nights later we found him up at the top of a neighbor's tree)! But we work every day to work at getting this very stressful acclimation period - which it tough for both of us. We are newly married, there is a language barrier, there are cultural differences (I, for one, had to put the kibosh on toute suite to his mother just walking into our home unannounced when I was there alone and not dressed!) and just differences that all couples have.

I have definitely jumped into the domestic life here. I shop, I cook man-pleasin' meals (thanks, Carolyn Smithrud), bake bread and we have cute little candle-light dinners together every night his kids aren't here (oh my , I am a step-mother!!). He is definitely a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, which I am not, and he eats a pretty standard French diet (potatoes, steak, chicken, snails, cheese, bread, as well as assortment of barf-o-licious runny egg desserts and creamy ground-up meat things - urp). When we hit the canned and potted sections (yes, plural) I definitely try to make like a banana and split. I have made some vegetarian African dishes for him, for example, that he has really liked, which is great because he is open to new things and I can try different stuff. We are also both really picky about cleaning, he so more than me, I think - and we both like working together cleaning and taking care of the house. He sets and clears the table, I wash the dishes the next morning - those kind of routines we are getting into, which is nice.

The other day I was walking through the town center with my groceries in one hand, a baguette in the other, feeling very at home and comfortable and was trying to think of why living in some countries have work well for me and why other ones I never clicked with. It dawned on me that when I lived in London and now in France, I was immediately immersed in the activities of daily living with natives. In London, I met someone three days after I arrived, moved in with him the same day (oops) and had a home and a job an all of that routine. Same here in France. In Toronto and Germany, I never had that level of comfort, like I was "meant" to be there and I think it was because I was a student in Germany (albeit for 1.5 years) and in Toronto I was with an English boyfriend and we were like tourists, despite having jobs. But France, despite this very difficult entry period, it is a great place for me to be.

On the flip side of this "Starring Barbara Billingsly as June Cleaver" thing I have going on, I have also jumped into cultural side of things. I have been working for the political campaign of Ségolène Royal, who is with the socialist party and who is the first female to run for the president of France. It is very exciting, not only as an important and historical event for France, but for me is is exciting to see this process up close and to meet with other like-minded people. I am going to see her speak in person tomorrow and am very excited about that, despite only catching about 25% of what is said. My very traditional husband, needless to say, is not amused, so I throw in a "hello comrade" here and there just to keep things "phresh". Yes, it is that evil that keeps things lively between the two of us.

I am also starting to make plans with some American ex-pat groups in the area and I am REALLY looking forward to speaking a little English and just talking to other who are in similar situations (Americans married to French men, etc). I am anxious to start formal French lessons, too, because not being able to communicate deeply and fully can be very isolating and stressful. I am car-hunting, too, which is a little sad because I miss my cute Scion very much! I have found one called Citroen Berlingo that I like very much and am anxious to get that ball rolling. I also looking foward to getting adapter for my laptop so I do not have to use the French freakin' version of Windows anymore! I just want my own American keyboard with my own American things, etc.

Things are pretty much all-things-French here - except for my American books and BBC Primetime/World News on TV occasionally - but one one best things I did before I came back was order seasons one and two of "Lost" from Amazon in France. I have never seen any of the series and Patrice and I are just hooked on it!! It is so good but it makes me miss my Last Season of Six Feet Under and Desperate Housewives marathons with Hillary!!! The greatest things about most DVDs is that you can watch almost any language and with almost any language in subtitles so we can both enjoy it, I can learn a little more French through the subtitles and Patrice can (oops) finally learn the meaning of this strange phrase 'shut up' I say all the time.... :)