A Mélange of small thoughts

This week I was part of the French census. I don’t know why I thought this was awesome… it was really just another official form I had to fill out for the French government (I’m honestly surprised it didn’t require a passport sized photo and a copy of every piece of identity I have). But just like when I got my bank account, it made me truly feel like I’m a part of this. It’s just one of those times where I stopped and thought “whoa. Right now my home is France”.

As good as the census made me feel, two slightly awful things happened to me this past week…

1.     I lost my wine opener
2.     I used the last of my stash of peanut butter (deemed a necessity for the 50 pounds of luggage I was permitted to bring from the good  ol’ USA )

… It’s been a bit of a slow week. 

Let’s talk a little bit about wine in France. Just to let you know how I’ve been spoiled… the other day at the supermarket I picked out what I thought was a 2euros bottle of Bordeaux. I was appalled at the check-out to learn that this bottle was nearly 5euros instead. I bought it nonetheless because explaining to the cashier that I didn’t want it was more complicated than I wanted to get into a) this has to be done in French  b) it’s a little embarrassing that I am refusing a wine because it is priced at 5euros instead of my usual dirt cheap choice. 

I have recently been informed that if I splurge on a bottle of 3 euro wine, the quality difference is exceptional and I will not suffer from any sort of headache the next day.

3euros is less than $5. For a Bordeaux. How oh how will I ever return to the United States?

PS. I found my wine opener. I had left it in a friend’s room.

Mélange Point # 3

I have been told by multiple friends to wait to read “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series, or to see the movie, until I am no longer living alone in a foreign country. In fact I was specifically directed not to read this story until I was living with Joe and we had a dog (that would no doubt love and protect me). These people know how out of control my imagination can get, and how just reading about or watching crime scary scenarios can mess with my head. 

Example 1: last summer my family rented a vacation house on Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Out on the balcony one night, looking out over the ocean we are fairly certain that we saw some UFOs. The national UFO hotline was called (Have I mentioned how much I love love love my family?). Later that night, everyone had gone to bed except my brother and me. We were chatting on the balcony when all of a sudden we noticed some movement near the stairs that connected our house to the beach. Oh… just a cat. Or was it? My over-active imagination convinced itself that this cat was an alien disguised as a cat and sent to observe us. It just kept looking at us like it knew that we knew it was truly an extraterrestrial. I had to go inside. 

Example 2: The one time I watched Dexter while living in Cincinnati I was so terrified I could not sleep, and when my roommate was walking around and getting ready for bed I was convinced he was an intruder outside my closed bedroom door. 

You can see why my friends worry about me reading scary books alone. 

Well I met up with a French friend for lunch and a movie on Saturday. She suggested we see the movie Millennium. Not knowing anything about the film, I agreed. Guess who saw “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” under a new sneaky French title? This girl. No worries, I so far have not been overly terrified in everyday general life, but fortunately I rarely have to go anywhere alone in the dark and my room is the shape of a box with no places for scary murderers to hide. 

Now here’s a bit of typical Ohhh Steph…

My friend and I were saying goodbye at the end of our day’s adventures… She went in for the “bises”, the endearing and here-normal double kiss on the cheek way of saying hello and goodbye to friends. I misread these signals and gave her a big American hug. You can take the girl out of the Midwest but I guess you can’t take the American Midwest out of the girl. It was awkward. Sometimes daily interactions here remind me of being that oh so odd high school girl who didn’t know how to act around boys. Except here I don’t discriminate against any gender, it’s just with everyone. 

 In my defense I haven’t had a hug in about a month now. Its one thing America has got right… hugs are great. The bises give the impression that you are closer to the person, kissing their cheek like that, but really it’s just two quick air kisses… a hug is for real human contact. Do any of you remember when I came home from study abroad and couldn’t stop hanging all over anyone and everyone who would stand next to me? Oh wait I can still be like that? It’s a side effect of living here…After living alone for however many months, in a country that doesn’t hug, one gets a little anxious for human physical contact.

Speaking of America stuffs, I bought a flight home. The decision has been made, the ticket purchased… and there’s no going back. It was not an easy one to make. But that’s right people, you can stop worrying that I will somehow find a way to live here forever. Which I could, honestly. Besides the people I love (which is a HUGE thing don’t get me wrong), there isn’t much more that I miss about living in the USA.

Ok, maybe I miss the hugs… 

 But now that I have a flight I have been dreaming a little bit of what I will do when I return home… besides the whole awful looming job search… I will drive in my cute little red car with the sunroof down singing as loud as I want without worrying that a neighbor will overhear. I cannot wait to go to the Beer Engine in Cleveland with le boy and devour a real, delicious hamburger and a giant craft beer. When I do my laundry I won’t have to scatter every article of clothing on every possible surface of my room to dry for two days.  Cars, hamburgers, a dryer… all things I could technically live without here forever, but it is nice to be positive about coming back stateside. Plus I get to see you. And that is a wonderful thought.

Ok maybe not all of you. I just recently figured out how to look at my blog stats… which I am pretty sure are quite low and when it comes to blog fame, I don’t have it yet. But Hey! There are more of you than I thought! And some of you are reading not only from the US, but from France, Kuwait (thanks Glue), the UK, Spain, Brazil & Morocco (merci loveshines), Latvia, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Dear world… You are neat.

See you in May my American friends, family, my little red Focus, and the Beer Engine.

I can’t wait to give you all a hug.

Bisous (even better if they're awkward)

Steph