Leave it all behind…

Went for a picnic up in the mountains today. It was just an hours drive from the cutest little town where a friend grew up. Looking around I thought about how amazing it must have been being a kid in that place. Growing up around nature hiking, riding bikes, sitting by the lake. It seemed so peaceful. Life seemed simple. I now get why people hate the city and leave it for the countryside. Everything I wanted/ still want for the future like money and all the “stuff” seemed so pointless. I could imagine myself in a little house in a small town somewhere in the mountains with a small little pastry store. I think I would be happy. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t let’s see.

How I love days like these

Friggin France

The bloody French peop;e take their “time off” really seriously. For example there are no pharmacies open on Sunday at all. If you lose you debit or credit card on a saturday evening there is NO way to get in though with your bank till Monday morning.

I was supposed to go to Paris this weekend to see my dad. BUT, not but 15 minutes ago my ATM machine decided to suck in my card and not give it back to me. To get the tickets that I had bought online I had to go to the station and put in the card that I used to buy my tickets with and it would print out my tickets. No card, no tickets. And since it’s past 8 o clock NOTHING is open. Hence, I had to cancel my trip. I’m sorry dad.

So now I have 30 cents for this weekend. Awesome. Thanks France.

Just Another Day

So. Frustrated.

Life Calling

Being back in France and especially Perpignan has been really different this time. In a way I feel like I’ve come back home after really long where the place feels different and there’s new construction up all over the place but I still feel know how stuff works around here, the way the people think and it doesn’t seem all so foreign to me. I’m, not treated as a foreigner either. I have random mundane conversations about the days goings ons with the guy in the pizza van and how it was uncommonly windy last night with the woman at the grocery store. Life is settling down quite nicely and I’ve definitely turned into one of the quirky people who call Perpignan ‘home’ ( or well in my case temporary residence for a year).

Work has been getting along nicely. I’ve already had highs and lows, the courage to shout at people for not putting stuff where it’s supposed to go, laughed so hard that my stomach hurts, frustration to the point that I want to rip my hair out and nights out with everyone. So yes, I can definitely say that everything is going along nicely and it feels good.

Resurrection

Now that I actually have something going again I feel I should make up for lost time with my poor unloved blog. On the verge of starting a new chapter of my life again I’m happy to report that it’s not as scary as I thought it would be. There was a part of me that wanted to come back to France because I had nothing to do at home. Everyone was working except me and I lived my life weekend to weekend. I realised that the only point that I wanted to come back to France was when I was frustrated or angry. When I figured that out I was on the verge of getting on a plane and leaving for a year. So there I was on a plane heading to France scared shitless with tears brimming and a 24 hour journey alone to keep me company.

Now that I’m actually here and at the end of my first day I know I did the right thing. I have an awesome roommate, going to start working at a place that I love doing something I love. Not too shabby methinks. With that said, I would still kill to be back home.

Lyon

Well, since I’m now feeling a little better about this city here are some pictures to show you’ll how beautiful it is.

I’s likies

Drool

Warning: Dribble bowl is required

My passion in pictures… some of my favourites from the 20 weeks at Olivier’s.

Now you know why I love it!

P.S. No. 16 for Fed

Perpignan 66000

Before starting this blog I thought that I would perpetually be at a loss for words when it came to posts and I figured it would die a slow death over time. Now the more I think about it, the more I want to put down into words and pictures before it fades.

The first thing that comes to mind is the last 6 months of my life in France, my life in Perpignan which is now over. Perpignan, with its population of 30 scared the hell outta me when I first got there and I never thought I would survive it, let alone miss it. It’s definitely an acquired taste, but one that I really liked. There were times that I hated it… just how small and limited it was, but I think overall everything worked out for the best and I’m glad that Paris was not the direction that I was steered towards. Perpignan is definitely not the “centre of the world” as Salvador Dali called it. It’s a small town that you can get to know within half and hour, that you can walk from top to bottom if necessary. But it’s limited size has this feeling of comfort, that you’re safe in this random country where no one speaks the same language as you and the people seem to run on a completely different time table from the rest of the world… and everyone else just missed the memo. Perpignan had some of the most amazing skies I’ve ever seen and is now my home away from home.

And what would home be without a family. Perpignan gave that to me as well. It gave me my French mother, a person whom without I would have been lost, who kissed my ‘boo boos’ when I was hurt and who is one of the truly nicest people I’ve ever met. It gave me my dysfunctional “French family” of which only one person is French. I miss them a lot, they’re the people who made the last 6 months some of my best ever.

School… the real reason I was there was the craziest most roller coaster experience that I’ve ever gone through. There were weeks that I dreaded, where the hardest part was getting out of bed in the morning, but more often than not I didn’t want the week to end. I learned how to clean like a person with OCD and I would eat off that floor at ant point in time except during sugar week. Days that we had to create our own desserts were the most stressful but stand out the most for me. Those were the days that I stood up and walked by myself. Even though I fell, I am proud of myself.

Olivier himself is one of those people who can command a room when he speaks. A brilliant, talented, arrogant Frenchman who I’m really lucky to have learned from. He strikes fear in your heart but on the days that the bad part of his temperamental nature didn’t come out to play were the best days I spent in Perpignan. Evil laughs will never compare to his!

So, overall it was an incredibly productive 6 months…an experience I’m really happy to have gone through. All the homesickness was worth it.

View from my house

Testing, testing 1 2 3

So as all new bloggers right now I’m kinda thinking something along the lines of “was this even a good idea” and “what the hell do I write here?” But I figured if this all goes south the 1/2 half person reading this isn’t going to be too offended (depending on what later posts bring) and there isn’t going to be any significant loss to anyone. On the other hand if this does work out my friends can blog stalk me as I do them, keep tabs on me if they want and I can vent into cyber space (hoping of course no one from work ever sees this but even if they do they can’t understand it )

So as my reader..maybe there should be some guidelines of what to expect from this… let’s just call it… GOWEFT

GOWEFT 1. This is no literary masterpeice … just me being me.

2. I’m not going to talk about rare authors that practically no one has heard of to make me sound smarter.

3. I’m not going to write dark poetry about my soul and how misunderstood I am

4. I am going to yap on about my life so I can understand if I’m going to be reduced to no readers.

So I guess that’s pretty much it.. enjoy if you  can