how the months end

We've already reached the end of another month. I don't know where the come from. I turn around on Valentine's Day, and we're already in a bar full of crowded French people singing Celtic songs & chugging Guinness. I've reached the point in our France-dwelling phase where I get sad turning the calendar. I don't want July to come. I want France to somehow overlap the United States, so that I never have to leave & never have to miss my family.

Reasons why the end of March is a good thing:
1. I have put away my winter coat & intend never to get it out again. It is SUNNY & glorious. Right when I began typing about the weather, a bird started singing. Yellow buds are lining the streets–in flowerbeds, on trees, stuck to windowsills. This means that my time between classes is spent sitting on the campus lawn with my co-workers. I love my job.

2. We have two big trips with friends planned for April–one to the Vosges, a mountainous area near us, & one to Montpellier, where I will finally be reunited with my friend Jon. We traveled to France for the first time together, with a horrible stop in Montpellier just before returning home. This time will be different, as he's living there now & we will NOT be trapped in a hostel.

3. PAY DAY.

Joe & I are far from living paycheck to paycheck, but we've set up a good amount of savings–a portion of each month's euros being reserved for our return home. We don't like dipping into that. So as the end of the month draws near, we start to see the back of the cupboards. Today, the cupboard contains dried figs, Maggi sauce, vinegar, oil, crackers & honey.

"When in France, do as the French" has become a bit of a joking motto for my blog posts. When speaking about food, it largely applies. We go to the grocery more frequently, buy more fresh things & have a lot more dairy. This means that the fridge holds celery, radishes, pasta sauce, carrot salad, milk, five containers of "fromage frais" (a bit like sour cream & yogurt mixed together), another cheese, & some miscellaneous sauces. Not a lot to work with, but a rather French line-up of ingredients.

So why not make a pizza? Yesterday, we did a lot better putting together a normal-looking pizza. Today, it's morbier, radishes, onion, mushrooms & a yeast-free crust. We need to go grocery shopping. This is only partially due to our determination to make our budget stretch. (I honestly can't remember the last time we did full-out grocery shopping.)

Our schedules, though not overly full, are rather opposite. Joe works in the mornings. I work in the afternoons & into the evening. We've had a lot of social goings-on, & we're feeling worn down. So when it's sunny & the window is open & we have no obligations until 2 p.m, it's hard to get motivated to leave the apartment. We're working on our individual to-do lists (reading, cleaning, statistics, staring at a pile of laundry that needs to be washed) & enjoying have a gorgeous morning together.

"We'll be out of food tomorrow. We'll go in the afternoon. We'll go between classes. We'll grab things from a shop on the way home," we tell ourselves while settling back into our novels. I'll admit it: I miss being a student, when I could just skip classes when the weather was this perfect, or when "group meetings" could be held on a restaurant patio with a pitcher of beer.

I would just have class outside with my five students that turn up... but somehow I don't think France is as down with that as my humanities department was in the States. How do we know unless we test the limits though, right?

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a year with(out), part two

To procrastinate the more important things I have to do today (laundry, groceries, studying math...), I've been fixing things on the blog: mapping out how the blog will function when we're no longer in France, editing our "about" page, & adding a new page.

In a year with(out), part one, I addressed the things Joe & I have been doing without. I'm really proud of the way we've been saving. No, we haven't traveled as much as our friends have. No, we don't go to fancy restaurants. Yes, we have a great time out at pubs & getting to know our region. The places we visit are important to us, are extra special because of the effort it takes to get there (2 weeks until Italy!). Yes, we've been saving money: rebuilding our bank account for life in the States, cutting our college debt by more than $700 every month.

We stress about money. We talk about budgets & extra ways to gain cash. We take on tutoring jobs. We don't often say how well we're doing–but we're getting it. We're leaving France with less debt that we came with. We're having fun & exploring new things, all while living on basically one average salary. To keep myself on track, I'm made a page to prevent impulse purchases to give myself something to look forward to. Instead of jumping toward the first book sale I see, I'm going to stick to this list, save up & reward myself with useful things.

I'm proud of us, & we are excited to do even better in the States. Here are a few small things we've gotten started on here that hopefully will carry to the States.

A Year without Washing Machines
Joe & I have gotten very, very good at washing things by hand. We've gotten even better at wringing them out without getting blisters on our shriveled fingers (a problem for me in the beginning). The laundry mat is a long walk & a room full of inefficient dryers. The laundry is heavy; we don't feel like paying; we don't want to walk back with loads of semi-damp clothing. This means we wash small loads in cold water in the sink, using hot water only to treat things that really need it. We save trips to the Lavomatique (the cool French for "laundry mat") for towels, sheets & shirts that really need the hot water.

This cuts down on soap use (small loads get by on small amounts of soap). It's better for the color of clothes. Less things are being damaged in washers or dryers. We use less water. PLUS we save money. When our change jar fills up, we do a load of laundry & still have enough to get two pints out at a nice pub.

We'll definitely keep doing SOME laundry by hand at home, mostly our delicate things or pieces I would never want to have ruined. We'll definitely put our drying rack to use & avoid using a dryer as much as possible. I used to get annoyed with the drying rack sitting in the middle of my bedroom in college. After having laundry draped literally over every surface of our studio, I'll never complain about it again.

A Year (almost) without Processed Foods
We eat a lot of dairy. I eat more pastries than I've ever let myself. We'll stop for fries or kebabs on ocassion. We buy these cracker things for breakfast; usually I smother them with Nutella. We eat tons of baguettes, which are basically classy white bread.

But here's the difference. The ingredients in our bread are wheat, yeast & water. This year, our natural food intake has increased & our processed food intake has drastically decreased. We eat fast food once a month. The only thing we buy in a can is ratatouille, a vegetable stew of sorts. The cheeses and butters come from farmers, & the packaging says so. While this SOUNDS logical, you'd be surprised.

This will be the hardest adjustment in the States. Cheese, fresh bread & butter–even produce, since it's grown in the country (which is like buying things grown only in your tri-state area, when you think about size)–is much more affordable here. To continue eating the fresh foods we've been eating here will be a challenge, & it will require a lot more reading of labels.

But we're determined. We have ourselves on a regular rotation of meals, with new things added or tossed out each week, & none of the prep time is too cumbersome. Even when we both have real jobs, we should have time to make our own food. When it's something important to you, you find ways to make the time.

I think this series will continue, as a way to keep reflecting on our experiences here & think about the ways to get even better when we head home. Joe mentioned last night that we're really only about half way through. We still have more than four months. This was a relief to me, since as you have read I've been thinking too much about what our return will look like. I tend to do this, & I want to focus on enjoying the next four months.

For now, I'll leave you. I'm off to do some laundry in the bathroom sink.

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a year with(out), part one

In case you haven't noticed, Joe has been absent from the blog for a while. I mentioned this to him today. "Yeah, I'll do a two-euro cents soon," he said, "I should probably give a dollar."

I'm looking forward to his post, & I'm looking forward to a lot of what's coming for us in the near future–not that I'm in ANY way. We have a lot more adventures to cram into the next four months. I was reading today, & I was completely distracted. The words weren't processing. My mind was floating between scenes of the coming months & to-do's, the things I'm struggling not to write out again.

We can' look forward without looking back, & that's what most of today has been: reflection. We've done without a lot this year, & I'm excited to think about what this means for our life's mission statement, to have as little of an environmental impact as possible. We've had a lot of great experiences, but let's look at what we've done without over the first part of our year in France...

A Year without Cars
We invested in bikes & comfortable shoes when we got to Nancy & have gotten used to heading out 30 minutes early in order to arrive at a friend's on time or the grocery before they close for lunch. Let's be honest, though: when you're driving in a city & dealing with parking, traffic & one-way streets, you're leaving just as early.

That's also a quick 581-gallon of gas dropped from our lives, & about 11.5 thousand CO2 emissions. See other emissions saved on the EPA's page about car emissions. Want to see what your carbon footprint is? Check out this truly outstanding Guardian interactive carbon calculator.

Now on days I don't walk enough, my hips & legs feel tight. I feel pent up. I can't wait to get to the States, buy some nice storage space (like this & this) for my bike & use it more than our vehicle. This will be easy, since we've sold my car to my sister & I am terrible at driving Joe's truck.

A Year without Doctors...
...so far. We haven't even taken medicine. I would like to attribute this to our diet & exercise, but we've also been good about letting our bodies do the work for themselves. I'm a fan of all-natural treatment plans & giving my body some time to figure things out. With extra sleep & extra fruit, we have bounced back from the few germs that have tried to get us this year.

What's unfortunate is that this year we have health care. We don't know what the future will bring–especially as the country is poised to take away women's rights to birth control (among other things), even when it's for medical & not just contraceptive purposes, which is the case for so many of us. (I digress, but TAKE ACTION HERE.) We should be letting ourselves soak up the meds for now & fasting in the States. We're going to try keeping ourselves as healthy & without medicine–even headache medicine. I realize that with a cup of coffee or tea (several times a day) we don't really complain about headaches.

A Year without Wal*Mart...
...& there's no going back. I realize that Wal*Mart provides jobs. However, their corporate culture that results in no support for American farmers, coupled with fewer rights & opportunities for American women, is not something I care to buy into any longer. Their convenience comes at a serious price–buying produce from foreign countries & leaving our farmers with only corn to grow because "it's cheaper". I'll stop here. This is the topic I rant about most. If you're interested, let me know & I'll expand on this later.

So what that means for us is shopping at a fruit & vegetable store, operating like a very organized farmer's market. We're lucky that France is still considered the breadbasket of Europe*, because that spreads to more than just grains. France has one of the most varied agricultural systems in the world & could feeds itself without imports (though, granted, without tropical fruits or tomatoes year-round).

Stores, even the Carrefour we go to (a small grocery), MUST post where the food came from. They MUST tell you how the meat & eggs were raised. (In metal cages? On a real farm?) This means that, even when shopping for plastic-wrapped veggies or meats we try to avoid, we're buying French goods produced by smaller farms. It means our food is traveling less, which has two proven benefits:
1. smaller carbon footprint (test your knowledge of on food's CO2 here)
2. more nutrients (because 1/2 of the nutrients can be gone within a week of harvesting*)

We're looking forward to participating in food co-ops, farmer's markets & shops that let us buy all of our grains in bulk. I realize that this is a lot to ask you to join in on, but take a minute to look about what you bring home & what happens in your community. Is there a way to buy even one thing differently? For example, my family enjoys Subway sandwiches, but that's some seriously processed meat. We were lucky enough to have a new sandwich shop come to town that has few options but hormone-free meat that travels less–PLUS we're helping a local business. I get jealous when my family tells me they've gotten sandwiches from the Cheese Cottage.

What are small changes you've made this year that make you feel better–lighter, eco-friendlier, healthier, happier?

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camera envy

Look at it. I mean, how can I not? It's huge. It's crisp and fast and able to take more than one picture every five seconds. I look at the pictures of France that fill travel guides and calendars. I think of my point and shoot that would slow and freeze and die on the top of every hill and in front of every house that I wanted to capture.

I look at the pictures this baby can handle... and I know that they'll breathe. They'll be shown to loved ones with the scent of the street market and the feel of the light shower or morning sun still sticking to them. They'll have depth. They'll catch things that I didn't even know were there.

I found a refurbished camera on Amazon, a steal. I'm holding out, hoping it will still be there when someone older and more responsible tells me it's okay to invest in her.

Joe was not that person. It's funny. We always joke that I'll handle the finances. I'll keep us on a budget. Then I get so excited about a real purchase, and he reminds me that no, I shouldn't. It's not a good idea.

I'm still not convinced.

"the dress," for today

Ok, this wasn't exactly what was supposed to happen today. I bought my dress for the summer happenings online, a month ago, spending way less than I was expecting. Then, I went to Kohl's and saw the Simply Vera sale.

The smocked dress looked like a mix of watercolor and pen-and-ink. The bold splash of orange and the strip of purple, the mix of structure and flow, reminded me of summer in France. I thought of the sun on my big glasses, sitting at cafés and watching the girls walk by in their slim bodies and flowing skirts.

I can't wait to be back. I pictured myself in my dress (before I caved in and made it my dress) walking me across the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower, holding hands with my new husband speaking only French.

I was supposed to by shorts today. I was supposed to save my omeny and budget for the summer. Then Dad decided to let me out. Chloe found a frock that reminded me of a page from French cookbook. She looks adorable. Dad helped her out, so he decided to help me out too.

I still felt guilty when I swiped my debit card. It's hard for me to accept money help from my parents. Every month, I try to sneak money for my cell phone to my dad. Every month, he tries to fill my gas tank from the drive home.

I swiped my card and stuck the money Dad slipped me into the wedding jar. It's almost like I bought our wedding license instead. Almost. In a way. In any case, it makes me feel a bit better.

We're so close... to so many things.

"Soon." Joe says it's our mantra, and it's never felt more true than today.

one hundred fifty-six

It feels like spring. It took me five seconds of standing outside to get the shopping itch. I found all sorts of justifications:

1. Most of my skirts are from Goodwill and the wrong size.
2. Most of my shorts are too short or too small.
3. Most of my money comes from loans, which is like Monopoly money, so you might as well spend it.
4. Most of my life will be dedicated to paying off college debt, so what's $50?

Then I realized this was ridiculous. So, I did some play-shopping instead. How sweet would these look on a cobblestone street in France? (My mind is so there it's pathetic.)

The Professional

 

The College Student

The Wife

Oh, Forever 21. You are far too distracting. And inexpensive and trendy.

Oh, the things I could do... if I had a little money.
It's a rich man's world.  –Abba