An American in Provence

After months of waiting, she is finally here...

My Husband:



(photo courtesy of Yahoo!)

I just couldn't resist. A frog on a bright green motorcycle.
(and his name is Oui)

The instant I saw this photo, I burst out laughing. I showed it to Alain, saying "look! it is you! A frog on a green motorcycle!" He didn't think it was quite that funny.

Ah 2012. Goodbye.

January and February- quiet months. Me studying for my exam and Alain preparing for his habilitation.
March - my final exam and Alain's Habilitation, within days of each other.
April - the French presidential election, me voting in France for the first time
May - car troubles
June - another exam, in Paris
July- 14th of July celebration with Alain's sister and her family, my exam results, a last-minute trip to Taiwan for Alain
August- last minute trip to the US for us for three weeks, a much needed break
September - return to work, studying for my oral exam
October- oral exam in Paris
November - nothing of interest
December - holidays

Here are our plans for 2013:
January- nothing
February- nothing
March- nothing
April- nothing
May- hopefully meet up with Mom and Dad when they come over to Europe
June- nothing
July- nothing
August- vacation somewhere in France/Italy
September- nothing
October- re-take my oral exam
November- nothing
December- nothing

So hopefully it will be a quiet year with not too many exams for me.

We are passing some quiet holidays. We went to my in-laws for Christmas Eve, and stayed over. My mother-in-law hosted Christmas dinner. Everyone was there except pepe, who wasn't feeling well.  Manon was feeling sick and was rather out of it, Alain's sister and her husband were stressed because they are renovating their apartment (adding on a mezzanine level under the rafters) and are approaching the final days.

Now, here we are, New Year's Eve. Alain isn't feeling well, he thinks he has a pinched nerve in his lower back. He originally wanted to go out for New Year's (which is something we have never done), but due to our general exhaustedness and his back pain, we are staying in. He spent all day yesterday making ravioli for New Year's dinner, which will be at his aunt's house (the one to whom I gave the LAVANDE cross-stitch). Then, back to work on Wednesday.

Best wishes for 2013!

Yep, it is that time of year again folks.

Time for wives to write up lists of what they would like for Christmas, to give to their floundering husbands.

Alain needs help. Really badly.

Whereas I was able to knock out Christmas shopping for his entire family in an hour and a half, he doesn't know what to get me.

I finally took pity on him and wrote up a list with a few things I would like, as well as things I do not want. ie. do not buy me the one perfume I hate most in the entire world for the third time in a row.

My only problem is, there is not much that I want this year.
We need some big-ticket items, like a new CPU, as well as some un-exciting items, like a hot pot and a steamer, woohoo.

Otherwise, everything that I would like is really expensive (like 200+ € purses or an Ipad) or else really cheap, like a new nail polish color.

What is a girl to do?

Our Nativity scene (one figurine for every year we have been together, which is 9 for those who are counting):
Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, all bought the first year in Marseille 2005
The three wise men, bought in 2006
A (lying down) donkey, bought in 2007
(2008, 2009, 2010 nothing, catching up for the previous years)
A camel, bought in 2011 (also lying down, so he doesn't have to "stand up the whole time" according to Alain)

And this year.....(suspense)

An angel!


Previous posts about the Foire:
http://megankay4.blogspot.fr/2005/12/foire-aux-santons.html
http://megankay4.blogspot.fr/2007/12/nativity-scene-2007.html


Every year I set out our Nativity scene, and then we head down to the Foire Aux Santons. We wander around, trying to decide first what type of figurine to add. Shepherd? Sheep? Elephant? (though I'm not really sure elephants were present at the birth of Jesus. But I can't say for sure.)

Once we have decided on the type of figurine, we try and find the one we like the best. Which entails a lot of pushing through hordes of rugrats, and going back and forth between the booths of our final choices, always at opposite ends of the fair. Feel like asking a vendor: Do you mind if I just borrow this angel, so I can compare it side-by-side with an angel by another vendor? No?

We bought some roasted chestnuts, but there didn't seem to be any hot beverages, like mulled wine or hot chocolate. Bummer.

Finally decided on this angel, which was not from the same vendor as any of the other figurines. Oh well.

Came home and set the angel in place. Alain solemnly informed me that I had it wrong: the angel is supposed to be placed right over the crib. Never heard of this before, so I am wondering if it is a French thing.

So there you have it folks.



Next year, I'm holding out for an elephant.

Oh, and this is as far as our Christmas decorating gets.

By the time we got back to the apartment, Nicolas had already boarded the bus back to the base, checked in his equipment, and driven back to Toulon. We ordered some pizzas, and chowed down. Alain and I left a bit after 10, and saw some fireworks from the car on the way back.

Happy four (teenth) of July!

Another 30 minutes left of 2011, a year I'll be glad to see the last of.
For some reason, even years always seem better for me than odd years.

We didn't do anything exciting for Christmas this year. I didn't take any time off, as I want to save my vacation days for further exam studying and perhaps a trip to the US this summer.

Christmas day we spent at my in-laws. Alain's parents, grandparents, aunt, and cousin were there. Alain's sister Lucie, her husband Nicolas and their two daughters were not though, as Anna the youngest had chicken pox and Alain's grandparents had not had it.

Tomorrow we are going to his aunt's house, as Alain's mother and aunt trade off Christmas meal/ New Year's meal every year. I suppose at some point Lucie and I will have to take over. I hope everyone likes spagetti and tuna.

Happy 2012!

Happy Easter one and all.

After having seen the movie "Chok-Dee" about a French former inmate who moves to Thailand to learn Thai boxing and turn his life around and ends up being a star, Alain wanted to see real Thai boxing. He was embarassed to mention it to the others, but I went ahead and mentionned it. My sister had never been to a match either, so she was up for it.

She found out where the matches are held and when, so we had the option of Tuesday night, Friday night (Christmas eve), or Saturday night (Christmas night). The tickets ranged between 1000 and 2000 Baht (about 30 and 60$ for ringside seats).

We were recommended to go with the ringside seats, so that we wouldn't be squished in the standing-room only section with all the Thai men betting and drinking. So Alain, Dad, Leah, and I bought ringside tickets for Christmas eve, starting at 6:30 and finishing at 10:30.

We arrived and were shown to our seats, front row. There was a match of western-style boxing, then the Thai boxing started.
It was quite interesting.

They arrive with their brightly decorated shorts, red or blue, with a ring of flowers around their neck, feet protection, gloves, and bands around their heads and upper arms.
Each match began with the fighters going around the ring in a sort-of dance to the drum music, honoring their teachers and each other, as well as a warm-up. Here is a video I found on Youtube of the Wai Khru (not mine).



(By the way, the music you hear is what they played for each round. As the rounds advanced, the music got faster and faster.)

After that, they removed the ring of flowers and the thing on their head, and the rounds began. It was, if I remember correctly, five rounds of three minutes each.

One poor guy got knocked out and they took him, still dead to the world, off the stage in a stretcher.


<-- They had an exhibition round, where it was more of the old-style costumes and fighting (lots more jumping up in the air) that was only a few minutes.
The match ended around 10:30 pm, and we left to find a taxi.

Alain and I both bought authentic silk Thai boxing shorts. Mine is purple with Muaythai written on the front, and Alain's are blue. No, no way am I posting pictures.


Certainly a Christmas Eve to remember.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wai_khru_ram_muay

On the Wednesday before Christmas, my sister Leah and her husband Larry held a Christmas party for her work colleagues and their friends.

Guess I should come out of my hole and say that we made it back to France, and into 2011.
We had a great time in Thailand, for which I shall dedicate several posts.

First off, I am going to start with the flights, there and back.
Let me preface this by the past two times we have gone to see my family (in Colorado, 2006, 2008) the trips have been hellacious.
Christmas 2006
Christmas 2008
After these above two trips Alain sternly informed me "Never again are we going to your parents' in Colorado for Christmas. Unpredictable weather plus overbooked flights plus two or more connections is a no-can do." He commented that we had a 100% Christmas travel problem rate, which was not looking good. I argued that it was only a 50% rate, as the return trips for those two trips went well, but he said it was the overall trip that counts. I disagreed.

After much arguing, begging, and pleading, I got him to agree to go to Thailand this year, as it will be our last opportunity to go, as my sister and her family are leaving this year. He is not the best of travelers. He was worried that the plane would crash, that he would catch some horrible tropical disease, that he wouldn't be able to get his work done on time, etc.

Anyway, we were scheduled to leave from Marseille on Friday afternoon December 17th, to Munich, then to Bangkok.
When we tried to check in, we were informed that the flights to/from Germany were experiencing delays due to bad weather in Germany. They weren't sure when our flight would leave. We were scheduled for a three-hour layover in Munich, so we had a little leeway, but not too much. There was some confusion as well, because there were two flights Marseille-Munich scheduled about 2 hours apart, and almost the same numbers 2556 and 2558. We decided to wait until we found out whether there was actually going to BE a flight that day before surrendering our luggage. However, due to the similarities of the flight numbers, we almost missed the last check-in for our flight. We were forced to check-in, without being sure we would get out on Friday. I guess if you have to be stuck somewhere, it is better to be stuck at home, but when you have a squirrely traveling companion, it is best to get them en route so that they no longer have a choice of whether they will go or not. At least if we were stuck in Munich we would be almost forced to go on, but if we were stuck in Marseille for a day or two, I would have had that much more trouble to get him on the plane.

We checked in, went through security (next to the noisy Russian on his cellphone for 30 minutes), and got in the puddle-jumper, leaving about 2 hours later than scheduled. It was not the most reassuring plane for bad weather. They tried to stuff the passengers from both flights onto the one plane. I think they succeeded for the most part.

We got to Munich and went through passport control. They saw in my passport that I had been out of the US for awhile, so asked what I was doing here (in Europe). Don't arrest me, it's his fault. I showed him my carte de sejour (luckily I brought it with me), which I guess was acceptable. Alain went through next and was told "I guess you don't need a carte de sejour."
It turns out that our flight to Bangkok was delayed as well. I was hoping we would have some seats around us empty, but no such luck. We were seated in the middle 4-wide row of the huge plane. I was next to some German women who wouldn't shut up. After the meal I asked if they could please lower their voices as it was 1 a.m. and most everyone around was sleeping. They got all huffy and did not.

We arrived on Saturday, around 3 in the afternoon. It was quite a thermal shock, going from the blizzards of Germany to the heat of Bangkok. We got off and followed the hordes to customs. While filling out the customs form I saw the indication "Visa Number". Oh drat. Honey, um, I hope we don't actually need a visa.... Was a bit nervous that we would be sent back to France (for which Alain would never forgive me and I am sure we would never be going anywhere for Christmas again, or maybe just ever.) I guess tourists don't have a problem though because we were waved through without any problems. My sister was there waiting for us, and our luggage even came through!

Our return flight was on New Year's Eve. As I generally despise New Year's, missing this did not bother me.

We were scheduled to leave for the airport at around 9 p.m. for our flight at 11:50 pm. A little before we left, my brother-in-law Larry got a phone call from a buddy (Orlando) of his (whose wife works with my sister Leah). She is American and he is from the Dominican Republic. Her parents, brother and sister-in-law were in town for the holidays, and I guess he needed to get out of the house. In response to the question of what we were going for New Year's Larry told him that an airport run was scheduled and jokingly said he could come along if he had nothing better to do. Orlando accepted (I guess he REALLY needed to get away from his in-laws), so a little after 9, Alain, Larry, Mom, Dad, Orlando, and I piled into Larry's van, and we drove to the airport. It was a bit weird saying goodbye to family with a complete stranger there, but he moved away a bit to give us some privacy.

After our goodbyes, we went through passport control again (on a tourist visa must leave the country within 30 days or else there is a fine), then security, then went to the gate. The plane left a little before midnight, and was still in the ascent at midnight. They didn't make an announcement, or pass around champagne, or anything. No chatty Germans this time, for which I was thankful. I took two sleeping pills, put on my sleep mask and ear plugs, and managed to sleep a bit. On planes, I prefer to put my head forward, either on the tray or else against the back of the seat in front. However, as the person in front put their seat back (and we were in Economy) I couldn't lie straight, so had to lie in a neck-twisting position. Got off the plane (in Frankfurt this time) at 5 a.m. with a stiff neck.

Again through passport control and security, but no customs. I was worried that we should have picked up our luggage then re-checked it, but it made it to Marseille, so I guess not.

We were wandering around the Frankfurt airport, waiting for a damn coffee shop to open, when Alain ran into a former PhD student (Ivan) of his. Ivan is French-American and finished his thesis in October, then moved to Chicago for a post-doc position. He went to Budapest to see his girlfriend for the holidays, and was on his way back to Chicago. Very strange. Ivan didn't have much time before his flight, so they didn't chat long.

We got our flight to Marseille at around 8:30, getting back to Marseille at 10. We got our suitcase and were about to exit the secure area when a controller stopped us. He asked whether we were coming from Bangkok. We looked at each other and said yes. He asked if we had anything to declare. Um, no? He let us go. Alain was terrified that when leaving Bangkok we would get arrested for drugs that someone slipped in our suitcase and that we would be throw into Thai jail for 20 years. When we were stopped, the thought briefly crossed my mind. Noooo!! I'm an American!!! My sister works for the Embassy!!!

We weren't as exhausted coming back from Thailand as we were going. New Year's dinner was moved to the 2nd, at our request. I thought we would be too tired the day we arrived, but it turns out that we were somewhat awake. It always seems easier to adjust going from east to west than west to east (unless you cross the international date line). I wonder why that is?

Anyway, it was our best Christmas travel experience yet.

After our trip to San Remo, we had Wednesday, the 14th of July, off from work.
We were a little tired from our trip, but wanted to get out of the house a little bit.

As Alain had been pining over his lack of motorcycle for four whole days, and had been coveting all the motorcycles in Italy (Look Megan! It's an Aprillia 1000! Umm, okay dear.) he was itching to take it out for a spin.

I suggested that we go to my favorite overlook spot, near where I used to work.

I found this spot quite by accident.I used to have 2 hour lunches, which was too short to go back home in Marseille for lunch, yet too long for just sitting around thumb-twiddling. I joined a gym, and would go there several days a week, or else would just go to the mall and walk around (Auchan- how fun.) One day, I took my car and just kept wandering until I found this large park. I kept following the road up and up and up until I arrived at the top and wow! Great view of the surrounding area.

I would go up there about once a month, bring my lunch, and read a book. It helped me to clear my mind, to keep in mind that yes, one day I would find a job that I really liked, and to forget about all the frustrations of work.
So I suggested to Alain that we take his motorcycle and go up to the Outlook, then come back down and have a drink somewhere in the town of Gemenos. He agreed and we were off.

There were some people out enjoying the park and the summer with their families, but not too many. We road up to the top and took a few pictures.
We then headed back down, and found a small café. We went in and ordered some beers. It was a nice shaded terrace, not too crowded.

We spent a nice moment sitting there, then headed back to Marseille. We didn't go to see the fireworks. There are always way too many people down by the Vieux Port, and they always start several hours late anyway. As Alain had to work the next day, we decided not to go. I took the entire week off, and spent Thursday and Friday running yet more errands and straightening up the apartment a bit. The last few months I really went into a see-no-housework, must-pass-my-exams survival mode, and something had to be done.

All in all though, a pleasant 14th of July.

Today, I finally managed to drag Alain out to Rue St. Ferreol (walking street downtown Marseille) to get our Christmas shopping over and done with.
I really really hate Christmas shopping- too many people. I normally like to have all my shopping done by the end of November- I gather ideas all year long, pick things up as I go and squirrel them away.
But this year, I had no idea.
Last year was easy- I just brought back some porcelain and stuff from Korea. (Which, now that I think about, I haven't seen in his relatives' houses since Christmas.)
We went to Virgin Megastore (absolutely stuffed with people). Right before we got to the front of the line, the computers started going down. Couldn't scan the items, couldn't charge the credit cards. Yikes.
Finally managed to make it out of there alive, and went for some hot chocolate at La Folle Epoque.
Alain bought himself a watch, which he feels a bit guilty about now. He isn't the type to buy non-essential stuff for himself. But he deserves it.
Now, everything is wrapped and ready to be distributed.
Still need to do my Christmas cards, but I will wait until we get to the US to send the ones to everyone I know in the US, and for the French, I will send them New Year's postcards (the French don't do Christmas cards, they send New Year's cards).
Didn't buy a santon this year- the past years we have been going to the Marché de Santons and picking out a new one. So far we have Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three wise men, and a donkey. The Donkey was our latest addition. It was a struggle between us whether to get the donkey (him) or an elephant (me). Next year, I'm getting my elephant darn it. Because I am certain that an elephant was there for the birth of Jesus.

I always know that winter has arrived here once the first Marrons Grillés stands start going up. These are roasted chestnuts, which I had never tasted before coming to France. They are great in winter, to buy a cornet to share with someone while Christmas shopping...

Should we ever move back to the US, I will have to start doing this in the winters.

Sorry for the blurry picture.

Picture below on the Canebiere in Marseille. It is a small stand shaped like a train. There are numerous stands in Aix, but I haven't yet stopped for roasted chestnuts because the weather has been rainy and terrible.

Alain loves chestnut cream.

I haven't actually started Christmas shopping yet, these pictures are from last year.

Easter was rather quiet this year. Alain was away in the US, Pepe wasn't able to come because he was feeling poorly (bad back), and Lucie, Nicolas, and Manon celebrated with his parents and sister.

Yesterday, we celebrated the national holiday. I must say, it seems much less of a deal than in the US. No Flag apparel, no home town parades, no cakes decorated like flags. Perhaps some people have BBQs. I saw exactly one house with a flag hanging from the window, and the buses had little flags attached to their tops. That's it.

December 31st was the day of a football game in Denver, so mom did not want to go through that to get back home, so we decided to go up to Boulder for a few hours before heading back home. It was only a few miles away, and it was where she went to college so we went. (Gregg and Jill had in the meantime rented a car, so we were able to take two cars there).
(<-- Alpha Phiers) We went to Boulder and walked around the town, ate yet again, a grand total of an hour and a half I think after the huge brunch buffet at which we were all stuffed. Then we drove up into Boulder Canyon a bit before returning to Boulder and stopping again, this time for ice cream. Jeez, one would think that all we do is eat.
(Rudy fascinated by the pizza making process and playing with a hunk of dough --->)
We then drove back home. We had great difficulties staying up until midnight, with about half of the party crashing out with a feeble instruction of "Wake me before midnight". So we did, watched the Times Square celebration and the fireworks shot off the top of Pikes Peak, and said goodnight about fifteen minutes after midnight. New Years has never been a really favorite holiday of mine. It seems so arbitrary to me. Why is that date and hour the start of a New Year? Oh well. In French, everyone sends cards for New Years, not Christmas cards.

For Christmas, there were only Mom, Dad, me, Alain, and Doug and Patricia. On their flight from DC. to Denver there were 150 people on the waiting list, two days before Christmas, left over from the big storm. They got in at midnight and were told that the baggage system was working, and that it might be four hours before they got their luggage. To leave a claim and have it delivered the line was very long, so they decided to wait. About half an hour later it started working, their luggage was the first off. Way to make the city proud DIA!

(<---- practice for fatherhood)

This was supposed to be the "no gift" Christmas but we all ended up getting several presents each anyway. We brought several CDs of French Christmas carols to add to the Polish/German/Italian Christmas carol collection. We had "Thanksgiving for Christmas" meal as a special request per Yours Truely.
Gregg, Jill, and Rudy arrived on the 27th and had slightly better luck getting in to town. We celebrated Gregg's birthday (on the 26th). Then it started snowing again.