Living

Pictures:
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A bit over one week ago, Shereen and I left the US, final destination Orleans, France. The last several days we have lived in our apartment in Orleans, adjusted to jet lag, and made liberal use of the GPS to navigate the stores in the area. Last Tuesday we picked up the company lease car we will use for the next year: a brand new VW Golf. A much nicer car than the Cavaliers we ditched in the US! Fortunately it’s an automatic, so Shereen is free to roam, which she has taken full advantage of. On several days she has dropped me at work and taken the car to explore during the day. Last week this included a trip to the nearest Ikea (not very near, there are several Ikea stores around Paris). Unfortunately the Ikea’s here are not as nice as the ones in the US and we decided to purchase furniture for the apartment elsewhere.

As I mentioned before, the apartment is unfurnished, which means it is virtually bare. So the first priority is getting some semblance of furniture. Working within the budget we were given, Shereen has done a great job of almost filling the apartment with purchases at But and a local used furniture store. It will take a few weeks for the kitchen cabinets to be delivered, but we should have a dining table and chairs, china cabinet, 2 sofas, bookshelf, entertainment cabinet, dresser, and wardrobe by the end of the week. The container with our stuff from the US arrived this Monday; we are in the middle of unpacking everything. We have been given several items by my American boss, Matt (he is actually 2 steps up, I have a French direct manager), including rugs, lamps, and a small table.

The one major aggravation is that we have not been successful in setting up internet access yet. We received the “Livebox” (modem) last week, but we’re not sure if we are doing something wrong or if the phone line has not been activated yet. Unfortunately my office contacts who could call the company have been in Germany the past few days. We hope to clear this up soon.

We have had some success finding food to Shereen’s liking at the local stores. She dislikes French food, so we have minimized visits to French restaurants and had dinners at Asian, Algerian, and Arabic restaurants. There is a nice store that sells exclusively frozen food near our apartment. The milk at the store comes in small bottles that are stored at room temperature. Only after opening does the milk need to be stored in a refrigerator. We guessed wrong with our first milk purchased and bought whole milk in a red bottle. With advice, we now know to pick the milk in the blue bottle if we want something closer to skim.

On Saturday we stopped at Matt and Julie’s house (they have been living in Orleans since last December). We were planning to just pick up a few items, including a toaster and coffee maker, but ended up staying the entire morning. They have two small children, a 3 year old boy and a 20 month old girl. We had an interesting time building a track for their toy train while the Olympics played on the Slingbox. I’ve been getting all my Olympics news from the internet, so it was nice to see some events live. In the afternoon they escorted us to some nearby stores.
At the third store, the boy was getting tired and obstinate. At one point Shereen and I were left alone with him as he began a fit. We stood helplessly for a few minutes as he stretched face down on the tiles screaming in the middle of a store about the size of Walmart, a Walmart crowded with shoppers. An older Frenchman pushing a cart stopped and spoke French to the kid. Hearing something strange he put his head up to see and then back down to continue screaming. The man smiled at us and moved on. Next a mother and her young son came by and tried to help. She bent down and actually grabbed the kid to help him up. This produced no change in the situation. Then the French kid grabbed him by the arms to help him up. I thought this might guilt him into behaving, but only briefly did the screams stop. After this nice French lady gave up, I grabbed him off the floor and we began walking to another area, hoping that Matt and Julie would come to our rescue soon. The kid is screaming loud enough to reach all corners of the store, I’m looking sheepish, and all the French are turning to look with disgust. Not the favorite moment of my day! Fortunately Matt came around the corner soon and he quieted down once back in his dad’s arms.

On Sunday we drove southwest toward Tours and visited 3 chateaus (castles). The Loire region of France has many castles; one could easily spend a year visiting nothing but castles. We visited 3 of the more famous: Chenonceau, Cheverny, and Chambord. These are very different castles, but impressive in their own way. Chenonceau is built over a river and was home to queens and mistresses during its heyday. The castle was given as a gift to Diane de Poitiers, one of Henry II’s mistresses. After Henry II died, his jealous widow Catherine de Medici forced Diane out into another chateau, moved in herself, and became famous for the huge parties that she would hold here. This is a very impressive place, both in architecture and the story behind the chateau. Cheverny is more of a large mansion than a castle. It is still owned by the family that built it hundreds of years ago, and was lived in until 20 years ago. The rooms are fully decorated and have the almost lived in feel. After Chenonceau, we were not too impressed and passed quickly through. Chambord is a monstrous place, fitting exactly my mental image of a castle. It was built as hunting palace and is surrounded by huge grounds for hunting deer and boar. The large rooms are located in a cross pattern around a massive spiral, stone staircase that goes up 4 stories. There are over 300 fireplaces in Chambord, but it has a distinctively cold feel: large rooms made of stone, with high ceilings. Big enough to house an army.

I had another French lesson today that went very well. I’m far from being able to speak French, but at least seem to be retaining what little I’ve been taught so far. On Thursday Shereen and I have a 3 hour “orientation” where we will learn about French culture and have a chance to speak English. We hope to find out more about the opportunity for Shereen to work at the language center after this orientation. I brought it up again today and Isabelle seemed enthusiastic about having Shereen assist.

This weekend I think we will visit the French Riviera. Shereen is a fan of sun and the beach, of which the Riviera has plenty. It is about a 6 hour drive, which we plan to do on Friday, and then camp overnight through Sunday. We picked up information on campsites at the tourist information center in Orleans and I have found a few nice websites for camping also. Apparently campsites in Europe are very nice, usually with hot showers and camp stores. We shall see…