Spring has Sprung - Betwixt and Between

While there's nothing too original about my title (and the French equivalent doesn't quite roll of the tongue in the same way), springtime in the French countryside is probably my most favorite season in my most favorite place. The rolling fields of colza form a gorgeous patchwork of yellow nearly everywhere you look. A simple ride to the market for baguettes on a Sunday morning is one photo-op after the next. (And while we're on the subject - Sunday shopping ??!! In France??!! Bienvenue to the 20th century, mon amour!) Oh the sweet pleasures we take for granted in the U.S.

I've just started my third year in France and my third year of marriage. has passed at the speed of light and I can't believe three years have come and gone. As I am getting closer to my whopping nine-week summer (working) vacation in Portland, it's really struck me how many roots I have put down here. My first year I would have been jonesing for the first flight out of Charles de Gaulle but now the thought of leaving my French friends and routines - not to mention my husband - leaves me a little sniffly.

So what have I learned in these last three years?

• I really don't need 24-hour copy shops, fitness clubs, grocery stores or Taco Bells (although a taco would be nice, now that I think of it)
• French lessons might have been a good idea
• Spending $90 in postage to ship over Red Vines, Cap'n Crunch, cheese popcorn and Baby Ruth bars is worth every bloody penny
• French women do get fat
• Suddenly $5 a gallon gas seems like a bargain (when I spend $90 to fill up a 13-gallon tank here)
• I may actually prefer Petit Pré double-cream cheese to sex
• Yogurt is a dessert
• You are truly French when you complain that your husband only gets five weeks of paid vacation
• You can't fight tractor season
• Facebook is a blessing and a curse
• Desperate Housewives in French is just wrong (but any Steven Segal movie dubbed into French might actually be doing the viewing public a service)
• 2:30pm really is the start of the afternoon
• The only good viper is a dead viper
• If I am going to need emergency medical services, it would be a good idea to notify them 30 minutes in advance
• #1 French Meal Law: No Baguette - No Meal
• You don't tell your husband to baise the television
• Cold lunches don't count
• The French way of life really is the way of life
  

I'm looking forward to many more lessons in life.