{Home}

It has been a long few days, but I have made it home! We left Avignon (near the village where we were the past two weeks) at 6:30 AM. This meant an early morning. The shuttles left the villa at 5:15AM...you do the math. It is about a 3 hour train ride to the airport from Avignon. I slept most of the time. By that, I mean dozed which is a new term while on vacation. At the airport, we said our goodbye's to the students. Maggie, Reed, Sabrina and I went to check in which takes a LONG time. It was much like waiting in line at Disneyland, but no scary ride at the end. Anyway, after making it through the ticketing line, the baggage line, the passport line, the security line we had lunch (another line). After waiting about an hour we got in the check in line.

The 8+ hour flight went well. It felt like 8 hours. Sabrina sat adjacent to me and Maggie and Reed were in front of us. I watched a movie, ate parts of the meal provided, listened to music, and dozed. (I might have even slept for an hour or so). Once in Detroit, we had another meal. At this point, I am not sure what I would call it...lunch or dinner. I guess it doesn't matter. We took Sabrina to her gate (she went to Colorado) and shortly there after, boarded our plane to Seattle. Now this time, we ALL slept. We were out of it. Finally, shortly before 10PM we landed and did the usual waiting to get off the plane and waiting for luggage.

Richard picked me up and wanted details from when he left France. This was rather fun since he knew the students and their personalities. We went to grab a bite to eat even though I didn't feel great because of pure exhaustion, but it was the right choice. I came home to a clean house, a bed that was made, a pillow that felt great, a mattress that had some substance, and blankies tucked under the covers. Ahhh.. that is what I call a good night.

Today (Sunday) even though my watch says Monday (France time), I was able to sleep in until 8ish which was not enough. I went back to bed around noon for a "nap" and ended up sleeping until 5. There was no dozing, just pure sleep. The good news is that I have a few days to recover and hopefully I will be back to feeling normal. Whatever that means.

Home, Sweet Home.

{South}

Euro Disney with the "kitchen crew"

Richard drinking a brew at McDonald's

As my adventure in France is coming to an end, I am in shock that I have been away from home for almost 6 weeks. I think the first half flew by because I was anticipating Richard's arrival and the excitement to see France with him.
I am thrilled that Richard came to see what this gig is all about. We were able to spend a day in Paris together. I was able to show him the Lourve and another musuem that I loved last year where Monet's water lily painting are displayed. We also had a blast at Euro Disney with a few friends from the trip! Thanks, Seth and Alex!
We have been in the South of France for a little over a week now. It is a tropical oasis here. There has been more time to unwind, but we are still constantly busy. There is less driving that we have to do here which makes a huge difference as well. I am mastering the manual transmission car and the round abouts have nothing on me at this point! (I will be happy to get back to an automatic)
There was a rain storm the other night. Thunder, lightning and my room flooding. Thankfully we caught it in time and were able to stop some of the water. Amanda, the owner of the villa, was not the least bit concerned. She says it happens whenever it rains. Perhaps she should check into having that fixed?
Laundry is done in the machine and then hung on the line to dry. It dries so quickly. I swear that by the time you get the last piece hung, the first is dry! Someone's clothes are hanging from the railing as I type...I guess the clothesline works in some cases and not in others. It looks like a yard sale from here.
The past few days we have been listening to LIVE music from the comfort of our villa! We are so lucky to have Amanda's friends around and wanting to play their instruments. It all started a few ngihts ago with two guys jamming out on their guitars after their dinner. (By the by, Amanda lives in this villa in an apartment so she entertains here as well) It turned into another jam session with a guitar and accordian and finally last night a concert with three guys playing and singing for hours. And, typical France, the concert didn't start until 11PM which meant a late, late night. I am not complaining though because it has been dreamy falling asleep the past several nights with a live band playing outside my apartment. It's a rough life.