Just what have I been doing since June?

Yikes!  No wonder my father-in-law asked me if he'd been removed from my blog mailing list.  4 months?  It doesn't seem possible that it's been that long since I've sat down to write about our lives in Europe.

Why haven't I blogged in that time?  It isn't because "nothing has happened".  During these past 4 months of my silence, David and I have:

• been back home to the states twice, once in June and then in August to help move Sarah to Chicago for Grad school and DJ back to Purdue.
  
  
  
  
• spent 10 days in July traveling the Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Capri
  
• travelled to the south of France for a weekend visit
  
• enjoyed having two of our Hedge friends (Marcie and Dave) come to Europe and we visited Paris and the Bordeaux region
  
  
  
  
• just returned from a visit with our French/American friends the Lucks touring Dijon and Beaune.

  

  Outside the Hôtel-Dieu

  

  Enjoying our mustard tasting

  

  David mixing up our mustard

  
  

So maybe I haven't had the time to sit down at my computer and blog? No, but life has certainly been adventurous and full of fun.

There are so many things that I could share that I don't know quite where to begin.  David's comment to me was that I have "become French" and that is why I haven't blogged in so long.  He is somewhat correct in that I have become accustomed to so many of the things that I found so odd/frustrating when I first moved here nearly 2 1/2 years ago.

I accept the fact that as I walk down the French sidewalk pedestrians are not going to move over....I continue to "ram" shoulders occasionally, often eliciting a "gasp of surprise" (maybe even sometimes pain because they weren't expecting it).

I am no longer surprised when I show up at a restaurant or boutique and they are "closed" from 2:00 until 4:00.  Everyone needs a lunch break, right?

I know that a dinner out will be a two hour event.  There is no such thing as "fast food" here.

So what does shock/surprise me?  What makes me say "what the heck?".

Cute little Cameron going for his 3 month check-up and being told that he is "growing like a mushroom"? That is apparently a common French saying.  Are mushrooms weeds?  I don't know.

Baby Cameron in his Halloween costume...cutest Lobster ever

How about googling the "best rosti restaurant in Basel, Switzerland", driving 2 hours so that Marcie and Dave can try rosti (think hash brown potatoes) and then finding out that they aren't open at 3:00 in the afternoon?  Ok, so maybe we were at fault there, but really? We tried no less than 5 places before we found a hotel diner that was serving food in the middle of the afternoon.

Dropping off a birthday present for our downstairs' neighbor and being greeted with "I'm full of microbes"...yes, that meant that she was sick.

Vive le différence!

We have new friends (both just born and newly moved to Alsace).  Baby Noone (Cameron),  baby Lee (Andrew) and two new basketball families; the Weems (baby Kyrie expected in December) and the Coles (Kayda Belle).  Aunt Teresa is certainly getting her baby fix. Yes, I am old enough to be the parent/grandparent to all of these newcomers.

While some "new" transplants are able to adapt to the differences, all are not. (The aforementioned families are all adapting well)  I think that the term "ugly American" comes directly from people who are either visiting, or have relocated to Europe and expects that everyone will adapt to "his/her American" needs/wants.  It doesn't work that way!  How many times have I heard my mother say, "if you expect to live in America you need to speak English"?  While she and I have had many heated discussions on this topic, in essence, she is correct in the main concept...MAKE AN EFFORT.

Adapting to a different culture and a different language is difficult.  Does that mean you shouldn't try?  I think not. Be observant, be polite and humble, don't just bully your way through and expect things to go the way you want them.  I certainly don't expect that people here in France can speak English.  I am always THRILLED when they do, but it's ultimately my responsibility to adapt to this culture and this language while I am a guest here. Trust me, my bad French coupled with a smile and a humble spirit has gone a l-o-n-g way.

No, I canNOT have chips with my sandwich at lunch, they won't bring me a glass of iced tea and I certainly won't get a free refill.  I WILL be seated next to someone who is puffing away on their cigarette and probably has a dog sitting beside them inside the restaurant.

I can find veal, rabbit and horse at the market and inside the grocery store.  I can see a 60+ man walking through the market in tight leather hotpants.  It's an adventure and I am blessed to be living it!!