It's the French way

Today is my father-in-law's birthday, because he has said that he loves reading my blog (he's just being nice), I am writing this entry strictly as a birthday present to him.  Happy Birthday Stan, I love you very much and am so blessed to have you in my life.

We have added the phrase "it's the French way" to our everyday vocabulary.  Everyday, because it seems we experience something that has no "American" explanation, so it is simply "the French way".

We know a wonderful couple at church who have suffered injuries that have required ongoing physical therapy treatments. Nothing French about that, right?  Well, this week they are in the south of France for a week receiving SPA TREATMENTS.  That wouldn't be terribly unusual, except that they are there on a "second honeymoon" because it is paid for by their health insurance.  Yep, hot rock massages, mineral rich hot pool therapies and mud therapies all paid for.  Talk about an "all-inclusive" vacation!!  It's the French way.

Many of you have had the privilege of giving birth to a child or two.  You have also had the pleasure of seeing your body after this miraculous event.  Having been stretched and expanded for 9 months, it isn't a pretty sight.  The French healthcare system (over generous as it can be) offers mothers of 2 or more children a free tummy tuck.  Yes, it is paid for by the French government.  It's the French way.

Moving on from French healthcare, lets consider vacation time.  In France, each employee receives 5 weeks of vacation.  Have I mentioned that the French work week is only 35 hours?  We know of someone who went to his doctor because he was feeling "tired".  After all physical factors were ruled out, the doctor asked about his last vacation….he had taken a 2 week vacation last year….BOOM, here is a DOCTOR'S PRESCRIPTION for a 3 WEEK vacation.  It's the French way.

David and I have been married for 23 years.  He once took a vacation from December 21 until January 6th.  That has been his record.  Here in France, it is perfectly normal for employees to take a 4 week vacation.  Yes, I said 4 weeks…..the entire month of July or August.  It's not only people.  There will be many restaurants, bakeries and even businesses that will close for vacation.  Not just a day or a weekend, but for several weeks at a time.  Can you imagine?  It's the French way.

How about sports?  Do you like to participate?  If you have kids, are they athletes?  I can remember every year that my kids would have to get a physical to participate in athletics.  It had to be dated AFTER May 1, and had to be on-file with the school before their first day of practice.  Just one physical good for the entire school year and it wasn't required until they reached 6th grade.  That seems normal to me.

Kids (and adults) here need to see a doctor for EACH sport that they'd like to participate in and age isn't a factor.  If your son/daughter wants to swim, play tennis, be on a soccer team and play softball/baseball, then you have to make 4 separate doctor appointments, paying for a "different" physical each time.

If you are an adult?  You don't get off any easier.  David just had to leave work last week to get his "physical" so that he could play on the company basketball team.  Now, as an adult, you may also have to get a "license" to participate in activities.  Have you ever heard of a GOLF LICENSE?  Not a PGA tour card or a club membership card, but an actual license that allows you to play golf.  If you don't have one, you will not be permitted on a French golf course.  They are actually surprised that they are the only country that requires one.  David has his basketball license, but he has refused to get a golf license.  It's the French way.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  You take the good with the bad (and inconvenient).  I would definitely sign up for the spa week and tummy tuck, but some of the other "differences" I can certainly pass up.  Who knows, by the time we relocate back to the states Obamacare might offer some of these same perks…..

Speaking of inconveniences, I will go to make what I hope is my final attempt to pick up my slow cooker today.  Say a prayer for me (and the clerk) that they have one to pick up and that the store is not closed for vacation!!

Weekend in Lake Como…George, where are you?

Have you ever seen the cartoon Popeye?  If so, then you have heard Wimpy say "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today".  He always walks away with a hamburger and somehow, Tuesday never comes.

I've been on the OTHER end of that scenario since June.  I wanted to buy a slow cooker. Yes, I have several at home in the states, but the wiring is different here and they won't work, so I forced David to go shopping with me on a rainy Saturday.  We found a store in a town about 15 minutes north of us that carried them and were on our way.  We found the last "mijoteuse" on the shelf, paid and headed home.

Unfortunately, when I opened it up, it was damaged.  RATS!  You can imagine David's reaction when I told him we'd need to go back and exchange it.  Now, you can't RETURN most things in France.  No money back in your pocket….even if it's DAMAGED.  We were essentially given a "rain check" for the same item.  Our "receipt" had on it the item we paid for, including the purchase price and we have 6  months to "redeem" it.

A big hassle, sure, but I want the darn thing.  Well, I've been back to the store that is a 30 minute (without traffic) roundtrip trek 3 times now.  Each time, there is no stinkin' MIJOTEUSE on the shelf and each time I ask a sales person to go and check in inventory.  Each time, I've gotten the same response, "we will have them in stock on TUESDAY".  Now you understand the Wimpy reference.  I will keep you posted on my progress….if the raincheck expires before they finally get one in stock, I am CERTAIN that you will hear me roar from across the pond.

After my last attempt at securing my slow cooker on Friday, I stopped at the HUGE grocery store off the same exit.  It's called "Cora".  Cora makes a super Walmart look like a gas station grocery store.  As I wandered through the housewares section, there was a display for cast iron skillets that caught my eye.  I have an induction cook surface, so I can only use metallic skillets.  These said that they would work on an induction surface.  

They were very expensive, so I decided against the purchase and pushed my cart along.  As I was leaving the display, an elderly French man spoke to me.  I had assumed that I had perhaps "cut him off" with my cart and quickly apologized.  He made another comment to me (in French) that I did not understand and so I used one of my best French phrases on him…. "Je suis désolé, je ne comprends pas" (I'm sorry, I do not understand).  He then asked me what language I spoke and I replied English.

He then proceeded to tell me in English that "this is the best pan to use to correct my husband".  We had a good laugh and he made sure to tell me that his wife never had to use a cast iron skillet on him.  I walked away smiling and wondering how on earth this little man knew David :)

We had friends who were here in our area on a biking tour through the Alsace wine country.  I'm certainly NEVER going to consider daily biking as a vacation, but that's what they called it.  I felt so bad for them.  The entire week was frigid and it rained every day.  We were able to drive south and meet them for a yummy dinner in a fabulous restaurant in Equisheim.  Of course, it was pouring rain when we left.

Mark and Nancy 

We headed south to Lake Como early Saturday morning.  It's about 450km from our apartment to the Northern part of Italy. The lake was beautiful.  The forecast wasn't so nice.  The crappy weather we had experienced in France all week was following us.  We ventured from our hotel in Griante across the lake to Bellagio and spent the day exploring the village in the rain.

View from our hotel room.  Nice pool and Bellagio across the lake.

David can always manage to find a set of stairs to drag me up.

Sunday was a sunny day.  Our first one in about 10 days.  We lounged by the pool until mid afternoon and then headed to the neighboring villages to explore.

Our hotel.  Who knew that with a name like this EVERY Brit in Italy would be at your hotel?

Each village along the lake is filled with restaurants, a church, a tobacco shop, hotels and then the residential housing.  If the churches didn't look different, I'm not sure that you would know when you left one village and entered another.

Monday morning we had arranged to rent a boat for 4 hours and tour the lake.  We were one of only a handful of boats to be seen.  If only we'd had waterskis!  The lake was like glass.

We passed the villa that belongs to Richard Branson, the Virgin Airlines CEO











and of course had to go past George Clooney's Villa Orleandra in Laglio.  We couldn't stay in front of George's villa.  He apparently was able to get a temporary law passed to prevent boaters and/or swimmers from stopping in front of his property.  I guess he doesn't want anyone to crash his upcoming wedding.

I see those 2nd story bedroom windows open.  I know you are home George.

There are so many lovely homes along the lake….I picked out this estate to visit next time….it's called Villa La Cassinella.  It is one of the few lakefront properties that can be rented.  It's only 90,000 Swiss Francs for the week.  ($101,000 in US dollars).

Ok, so maybe we could afford this one instead…

Monday afternoon we began the long trip home.  Again, the tunnel traffic was causing a long delay, so we took the detour through Gottard Pass, Switzerland.  The views are stunning and I had to promise my husband a return trip so that he could hike through the countryside.

One last traffic back up was caused by loose animals on the autobahn.  Trust me, if your Navigation System is giving you this information, you slow down.

We finally arrived home and were able to grab a quick shower and watch some Bastille Day fireworks from our apartment window.

Not a bad weekend here in Europe.  I promise to stay out of trouble for the next two weeks and then I'm headed HOME!  Can't wait.  Hope to see as many of you as possible while I'm stateside.  Alternatively, YOU could visit US in September. 

Time flies….

I realized that I've been in France for just over a year now.  Time changes things.  I've heard that phrase many times in my life.  I honestly don't think that it has ever meant more to me than it has in the past year.

My first official week in France was cold and rainy.  That was okay, because David had left me a mountain of belongings to unpack and put away.  I seriously don't think that I left the apartment during those first 5 days.

At the end of that week we were invited to the 4th of July celebration at the American General Consul's house. We went.  I think that I had conversations with about 8 new people in the 2+ hours that we were there.  All were nice, I haven't seen any of them in the past 12 months.

We just attended this year's 4th of July "BBQ" while our Akron family was here last Saturday.  What a difference.  I was introducing our family to not only the General Consul and his wife (Evan and Mary Rose), who knew us by name, but to our friends and their families.  Mike and Cheryl met and had conversations with more people at this party than I did last year.  Probably the best surprise during the event was seeing the 3 teachers from North Carolina that we met last year.  They come to Strasbourg for the summer every year and teach English.  It was nice reconnecting with them.

Most of you who know (and love) my brother-in-law, Michael, will be pleased to know that we were not asked to LEAVE the event.  He didn't create any terrible scenes, he managed to get through the day without offending anyone (that I know of) and his day was made complete by taking this "selfie" in the Consul's bathroom….

Our home has always been open to anyone who needed a place to sleep for a night, or even to stay in for a few months.  We've had the occasional "vacationer" pass through, but let's face it, we've never really lived in a "tourist" location before.  Not many people clamoring to come to Indianapolis and no one has ever required a tour guide for their stay.

Living in Strasbourg has changed that quite a bit.  I just did the math as I was writing this blog.  We've had 20 different people stay with us in the past year.  10 within the last 4 weeks!!  I have come to learn my "host" lesson the hard way.  I cannot set the agenda for someone else's vacation….I do that for MY family, but it doesn't work for others.  Some visitors want to see everything and others just want to see one thing and spend the rest of the day at a cafe or shopping.  (Thank you Marcie and Lisa for being my guinea pigs and lovingly clueing me in on that lesson!) Meet our guests:

Harvard Din and Tonic men…Kevin and Justin

Luann and Kara Eiginger - Jacksonville Florida Youth group

Jaclyn Barker - Ben's fiancé then, wife at press time :)

The Moreno family

Our Akron family

Mary and Hannah

Our BFFs Marcie and Lisa…our guinea pigs :)

and these two arrive on Monday….

Janna and her friend (whom I haven't met in person yet!)

Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.  We love sharing the blessings that God has bestowed upon us, so, if you want to come to Europe, just make your reservation at the Sternasty B&B.

I am quite surprised by the number of people who actually look at my blog.  I truly only post so that my friends and family can feel connected to us and so that, in 20 years when I'm older and grayer, without any functioning memory, I can relive this awesome experience.

Along that line, I am SO VERY HAPPY when I log onto a social media platform and see that one of my kids has posted a photo or made a comment.  It makes my day and allows me to feel a connection to their life away from me.  At 50, I'm still my Mom's daughter, David is still his parent's son and I know that they love seeing the photos that we post and reading this blog.  This assignment has taught me that as much as I love getting a call or text from MY kids, our parents STILL feel the same way when they pick up the phone and their "child" is on the other end of the line.

If you are blessed enough to have parents on this side of Heaven, don't take them for granted.  Reach out and touch someone you love today.  Happy 4th of July America!  We will miss celebrating our Independence WITH you today, but will do our best to sing our National Anthem at an Americans in Alsace function tonight.  (During the French-Germany World Cup game….should prove interesting!!)