Final Days in France

It's official ... I no longer live in France. I've been back in the States for a week and a half now, and am still adjusting to the culture shock. When I drive, I constantly reach for the stick to shift gears (my car's an automatic here), and I have to be careful to remember that my car is muuuuuccchhh longer here, compared to my adorable Smart. I was shocked by the huge portions when we went out for dinner last night, having forgetten just how out of control American portions are. But there are some things that are nice, such as easy-to-control grocery carts, polite shoppers and courteous drivers.

There are things I miss about France ... especially the people. Most notably, Philipp! He needed some extra time to organize his things, sell our cars, etc., and will arrive next Thursday. I know this is a tough time for him, as it's always stressful to move, but this is extreme moving! I wish I could make it easier for him, but I remind him that soon he'll be here and can take some time to relax.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about my final days in France. They weren't too exciting, as I spent my time packing. As I already wrote, that is stressful. I had to decide what to take immediately, what to pack for shipping in December, and what to get rid of. Philipp's family was a great help in moving furniture and boxes.

On Sunday, May 31st, there was a little event downtown entitled "The Country Comes to the City", and I convinced Philipp that it was a good way to take a break from packing. I packed a picnic, we went to our favorite bakery for a loaf of our favorite bread ("pain au mais"), and we had a picnic along the banks of the Maine River. Then we walked over to check out the fair. I was excited to see some beautiful cows and the most massive bull I've ever seen! Here are some pictures:

The next day, we emptied the castle. The entire family (except Philipp's sister and her family, who live in Normandy) came to Philipp's parents' house for dinner. I appreciated the opportunity to spend time with all of them, as that has been such an important part of life in France. Not surprisingly, the goodbyes were very difficult. But as Philipp's brothers and sisters have said, they see him more when he is in the States (on MSN Messenger) than when he is in France! And they all know that once we are settled and have a guest room, they are more than welcome to come visit.

Is this my last post on this blog? Maybe. I can't promise that I'll add anything else to it, but it can't hurt to check back once in a while. I think Philipp and I are going to begin a bilingual blog about our new life in Charleston, so I will be sure to post that address when it's up and running.

Thank you for checking in with me and for your interest in my French adventure!

Catching Up

I've been meaning to update the blog for several days, but I just haven't seemed to find the time. Between running and dinner parties, sorting papers and teaching those last few classes, there aren't enough hours to accomplish all I'd like to. So this morning, before tackling my sorting / packing, I've sat down with a cup of coffee to let you know what Philipp and I have been up to.

The weather has been nice here, even reaching the mid 80s last Sunday. (more about that later) On Thursday of last week, which was yet another French holiday, Philipp and I had our first lunch outside in the back garden. It made me excited for many more outdoor meals in Cincinnati this summer and --of course -- in Charleston!

That afternoon, Philipp needed to move his truck, which he'd left outside the gate of the castle. And so I got my first driving lesson (for a standard transmission) in the truck! It wasn't too difficult, and I think I'd be able to get the hang of it eventually, but I still prefer my automatic. When the lesson was over, Philipp offered to have me park the truck in front of our place, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting too close to one of the neighbors' cars, so I hopped in the back ... and did a little truck rodeo ridin'!

Sunday, I ran La Course de Timo, a 10K race in nearby Seiches sur le Loir. The weather was hot and muggy ... already over 80 degrees in the morning. I wanted to improve my time from last year's race, and I started with the 50 minute pacing group. The course includes one small loop and three big ones. Here I am after the first of the big loops.

A loop later, my smile wasn't quite so big. Shorter distances mean faster speeds, and my body prefers distance to speed. Still, I wanted to push myself and try to finish in under 50 minutes. One of the pacers stayed with me (the rest of the pace group was a little in front) for the last two loops and coached me all the way. He continually encouraged me and gave me reminders to use my arms on the inclines, catch my breath in the descent, etc. In the third loop, we were joined by another runner who took over the coaching. I was so touched by the fact that these two guys were so supportive ... and they really pushed me to keep going.

In the end, I finished with a new PR (Personal Record) for the 10K, and memories of the kindness of strangers. My time for the course was 49:53, but it seems that the course was just over 10K. According to my Garmin, my 10K time was 48:11. I'll take either one! :)

After the race, Philipp's brother Dominique (who also ran the race ... in 43 minutes!), his wife and their son Maxence -- along with Philipp and I -- were all invited to the home of some friends who live near the town where the race was held. They have a beautiful home along Le Loir river. (not to be confused with La Loire, the more famous river which also goes through the area) After showers for Dominique and me, and a delicious lunch, we piled into a canoe, two kayaks and a row boat for a gentle paddle down the river. The afternoon was absolutely lovely.

So that's been the excitement over the past week or so. Now I'm full-force into sorting papers and my stuff, deciding what comes now, what comes later, what gets given away and what gets recycled. Tuesday morning is the big departure, and I have a feeling it will come too quickly.

So ... back to my boxes!

Tic-Toc-Tic-Toc

Time is passing ... the days are slipping by ... and my time in France is coming to an end. In excatly two weeks, I'll be in a plane, just beginning to head over the Atlantic, on my way back to America. It's all coming so quickly! And I'm far from being ready. At the same time, it's too early to start packing.

I've finished teaching at the university, graded the final exams and turned in my grades. I've got a handful of individual classes with adults this week and next. I'm running, enjoying the spring weather and getting ready for one more race -- a 10k -- on Sunday. More often than not, I'm cleaning and cooking. We're still having lots of dinner parties, and tomorrow we're having over the 30 or so people who have leant a hand to Philipp and Bernard during the chateau renovation process.

I'm beginning to reflect on the past three years I've spent in France. At the same time, I'm not quite close enough yet to my departure for it all to sink in. I'm sure it will hit me like a ton of bricks one of these days.

Till then, I'll just keep on going about my business ...

Pellouailles - Angers 15k

Under gray skies, 513 runners took to the street this afternoon for the 61st edition of Pellouailles-Angers, a 15 kilometer race between the two towns. As always, Philipp was there to support me and cheer me on. As one of his brothers was also running (although much faster than I ran), there were lots of in-laws and nieces and nephews along the way, too. It was fun to see them all.

This is the first time I ran a 15k race, so I knew that no matter how I did, I'd set a new PR (personal record). According to my times in training, I figured I'd finish around 1 hour 20 or 25 minutes. I was sure that I wanted to avoid what happened in the Amsterdam Marathon last year ... pushing myself too hard in the middle of the race, and struggling at the end. That can even happen at a shorter distance. So I paid very close attention to my heart rate, and was careful to slow down a little whenever it got too high (and my GPS started beeping at me).

As a runner, it can sometimes be a real challenge to hold back and not allow the excitement and adrenaline -- and fear of finishing well behind your target time -- to make you push beyond your limits. So not only am I happy with my time -- 1:21:17 -- but I'm also happy with my overall performance. At a certain time, I was running alongside two other women, and although we were all at the same speed, they were both huffing and puffing. I was fine. And after a while, I pulled ahead of them and didn't see them again.

It felt great to push myself and sprint in to the finish. As I wrote above, I was proud of how I regulated my performance, and satisfied with my finishing time. And now that I have a PR for the 15k, I'll have to find another race of the same distance ... and break my own record! :)

Here are a few of the pictures Philipp took:

A week in Provence

After years of saying we’d visit the South of France “someday”, Philipp and I finally made the trip down to Aix-en-Provence. We wanted to visit some close friends who live there, Philipp wanted to show me the place where he’d worked for 13 years, and I was excited to discover a new region of France.

The drive was around 10 hours, but through the mountainous center of the country, which is absolutely beautiful. We even saw snow on some mountains ... not too surprising, as there were areas that had 10 feet of it this winter!

While in the South, we spent time with our friends, drove through tiny mountain villages, explored the gorgeous shore, walked through the outdoor markets, ... I don’t know how many times I said, “It’s so beautiful here!” but it seemed that everything I saw was more and more beautiful. So here is a small sample of some of the many photos I took.

We made a little detour on the way back to visit the famous Viaduc de Millau. The structure is impressive. And so was the wind. Philipp decided to use his wind meter (for kite surf) and see how fast the wind was blowing. (max over 42 knots). We are both so happy that we went to see it.

Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire

A few days after the Junior bike race, we had the pleasure to see some of a 5-day professional race that came through Angers. In the morning, while I was teaching, Philipp and Bernard went to see the peloton’s arrival. Philipp got a picture of my favorite cyclist, Thomas Voekler. It was his first race following surgery on his collar bone.

In the afternoon, we went to see the “contre la montre” ... the individual time trials. I was excited to cheer Thomas on.

The nice thing about this race is that because it’s much smaller than the Tour de France, you can get up close to the cyclists during their warm-up. Philipp and I walked around to the various teams’ busses and watched them prepare for their turns. It would have been cool to see Lance Armstrong, but he’s still injured so he wasn’t there. We missed Thomas’ warm-up, as we walked around after he’d done his time trial. We did see Franck Bouyer, who is also on the Bouygues team, and had been the special guest at Bernard’s bike race.

Tour Cycliste de Loire Layon

Philipp's friend Bernard, with whom he is renovating the castle, has another interesting hobby ... he rides his motorcycle in bike races, either to ensure the security of the cyclists and the crowds, or with a cameraman on the back. His son is an accomplished cyclist, and attends a special school that allows him to pursue his studies while training for a career as a professional cyclist.

Several months ago, Bernard and the other members of an association that provides motorcycle safety teams for bike races started planning a bike race for Junior competitors (17-18 years old). We’ve witnessed the process of planning, seeing to all the details, and their excitement as the registrations started coming in. After months of planning and preparations, the race was held on April 5th.

Bernard had asked Philipp and me to lend a hand on the big day, and we were happy to help out. After two weeks of beautiful sunny weather, we were all disappointed to wake up to rain the day of the race. Luckily, it subsided before the afternoon race, and the cool conditions were perfect for cycling. We arrived early for our briefing and a light lunch with the other volunteers, and then Philipp and I took a little drive to explore the area (not too far from Angers, but little villages I hadn’t seen before).

We watched the beginning of the race, and then headed to our appointed area to help direct traffic when the cyclists arrived. Philipp looked so official in his reflective vest. We cheered on the group of leaders, then the peloton. Several minutes later, some stragglers passed, and finally the broom wagon came by and we knew we could go. So we jumped in the Smart and followed the race route to the finish. The race ended with three loops, se we were able to park and see the last two passages, including the finish.

Following the finish, it was my turn to do my job. I’d been asked to be “podium girl”. This is a very difficult job, which involves standing on the podium and presenting flowers to the winners. And – as this is France – kisses are de rigueur. (A tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.)

We were both really happy for Bernard that his race was such a success. They’re already looking forward to next year’s event.