...et encore une fois!

…and one more time! I’m back in France, and I’m so happy! The first day here my heart was so excited to be in my old grocery store where everything’s French and overpriced. Last Sunday was my first to go back to my church, Cornerstone, and I actually started crying when I saw the pastor’s wife and many other friends – I was home. I got to take the bus for the first time again, and the bus driver immediately began to joke around with me. I feel so comfortable here.

The original plan was for me to stay with my friends Gilll & Mark, as they’ve remodeled their house into a bed & breakfast, but Gill found me a great apartment, newly built, beneath the home of her friend Jackie. My next door neighbors in another apartment are Rick, an American who was in my Bible study, and his new wife Carole. My apartment has minimal furniture and a huge living room, which suits me perfectly as my art studio. Jackie took me to buy canvases from a really cheap art store (wow, they exist in Europe??), and I set up my studio on Tuesday and have been painting ever since! It’s quiet here with gorgeous views and a bus stop just down the road. Again, this was exactly what I’d had in mind way back in January when I started thinking about this trip. Amazing what happens with just a few thoughts and prayers…

Jackie was so sweet to get me a working TV, and I know my former French tutor Christele would be happy that I’m faithfully watching it. I had so much fun the first evening, seeing the same weather and news people – silly, I suppose, but again I was thrilled to be home. And then Plus Belle la Vie was on, and truly my Life is More Beautiful! It is my favorite French show, a ½ hour evening soap opera set in Marseilles. I started watching it because it had subtitles available and I could learn more useful French than by watching drama series (important words like “pregnant” and “affair”). So then I was hooked, and I was happy to see that not too much has changed. The Blonde Bombshell who was kidnapped by a Columbian drug lord who became the love of her life two years ago is now lesbian – although I haven’t figured out if it’s just to get back at her father for something or other, since he’s the Marseillian mafia boss equivalent (MBE). Of course then he goes to the Devastatingly Gorgeous Architect with the blue eyes whom the Blonde Bombshell blackmailed into marrying her (before the Columbian, if I remember correctly). The MBE dad bribes the Devastatingly Gorgeous Architect with the blue eyes to seduce the Blonde Bombshell and convert her back to heterosexuality. And I won’t bother with the Debonair Police Chief who was just framed for assault by his son’s real father in order to get back at his mother who’s now living with the Debonair Police Chief who was himself previously murdered, wanted for murder, and the savior of the town when a contagious epidemic broke out… Good stuff! Better than going down to the Festival de Cannes which has been ongoing since my arrival here. I have been watching it on the news, entertainment shows, and a favorite French talk show that broadcasts from a set right on the beach in Cannes. Most of the talk has been about the rain (it always rains during the Festival – wonder why?) and how it’s harder and harder for regular people, even the French, to gain access to the movie features and the red carpet – even the paparazzi are having to pull rank to get into parties and near the red carpet. The stars are getting bigger, and more American. Brad & Angelina, pregnant with twins (hasn’t she been pregnant with twins for 3 years?), showed up. Puff Daddy (who is now just P. Daddy) has made quite a splash and an a** of himself. He walks down the red carpet with a bodyguard, shows off his big sunglasses and equally big ego on the popular talk show, then kisses the hand of the big-time gorgeous snotty French actress who joins the show later while even his sunglasses can’t disguise the thoughts in his head. But for me it’s all good. I get to watch all this, plus a Richard Gere movie and House (yes, House has immigrated to France!) until midnight – all in the name of learning French!

So now as I type, I’m watching Toulouse lose the Rugby World Cup to Munster and the rain coming down on the lemon tree outside. The views from my apartment are so provincial, so I took a few pictures to show you (in addition to some pictures of Mark & Gill’s kids and grandkids – just because they’re so cute and make me miss my niece!). The paintings will take awhile before I’ll post those, but I’ve already gotten some gallery leads. Time to get working again, and I’m thrilled!

France