Checklist

We’ve been here a week so it’s time to go through our “getting started” checklist to see how we are doing.

- Drive from Switzerland to Provence, stopping at my favorite wine shop in Burgundy to pick up a few tasty bottles?  Check.

- Make the rounds of all the local markets to stock up the house?  Check.

- Begin our weekly French language classes and learn that I am still le cancre (dunce)?  Check.

- Have our first real French ham sandwiches on delicious baguettes with rich French butter?  (This may be Val’s favorite part of coming to France).  Check.

- Watch the French election returns and laugh at how ridiculous French politics are, and then stop laughing when we remember American politics?  Check.

- Take our first bike ride up up up to the Val d’Enfer (Valley of Hell), all the while huffing and puffing so loudly that the locals wonder if a steam train is chugging through their neighborhood?  Check.

- Get together with Sara and Christian so we can taste the latest vintages?  Check.  Ok, maybe better check that one twice.

- Start reading books in French?  Check.  I should note that Val’s is a deeply philosophical tome written by an esteemed member of the Académie française, while mine comes with crayons.

- Go to our first course Camarguaise so Val can watch her beloved young men in their tight white pants?  No.  But that’s tomorrow.

Excellent progress!

KVS