Reference points for any new people-
One of my chronic health condition posts is HERE if you wanna learn about near death experiences (and we won't judge you for that sort of thing).
If you want to check out my farewell post to Shanghai it can be found HERE
Life is crazy and takes us on many different adventures. One day I am tethered to an IV pole for a year, 6 years later I'm scarfing down baguettes like its my full time job. The fact that I am fortunate and so very blessed is not lost on me. The fact that I can call Paris home and be healthy enough to walk 7 miles a day to run errands in this beautiful city is something I will never take for granted. Okay, enough with the trip down memory lane, I just had to set a tone for the future.
We arrived in Paris on June 29th, 2023. It felt like a whirlwind. I have a sacred tradition when we relocate to somewhere new. It is called ugly crying at take-off on each of our relocation entry plane rides. It's very fun. I sit there for 20 minutes, (okay 4 hours) and ponder about my next 3(ish) years. Will my kids have friends? Will I have friends? Where will I buy food? I have to find a hairdresser....and a nail salon...and a dentist...and a doctor...and a gynecologist...and a therapist...IN THAT ORDER! I told you it is fun. My husband really enjoys it.
We get to our new (to us) apartment. There have definitely been other renters. We purposefully chose a place that has huge and elaborate crown moulding and paneling. There are fireplaces in most rooms and a fully closed brick oven in our dining room that Samantha thought was a barbecue. We wanted the Parisian adventure! We live on a very busy street, which is entertaining and loud all at the same time! I hum along with the drunk man on the sidewalk below, I listen to the tourists trying to find the Starbucks and I love hearing all the ambulances. All joking aside, I absolutely love being in the heart of the city close to the Arc de Triomphe. The traffic below has come to be background noise at this point.
The interesting thing about Paris in the summer is that people leave for about 6 weeks to vacation. Usually someplace in the South of France or Europe where it's a cooler temperature. It is custom and very normal for the city to clear out and many many shops to close with a sign on the door saying "Be back in September! Merci!" I admire this about them. They cherish their vacation time. Everyone takes it together and then you get to come back and talk about all of the adventures. But, I will be honest there was a few times when I didn't love this little tradition. Like when I went to my favorite patisserie and saw they were closed for 4 whole weeks. Like, how dare they keep me from the macaroons and Madelines! They should've consulted me. But, life went on and I found another patisserie a block away. This is the life I live right now.
We've spent our summer making new friends that already feel like family, exploring a little bit of Europe including Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Finland and PARIS. This kids started school at the American School of Paris, and they absolutely love it. We have oriented ourselves with the metro system and have successfully not lost our children on it yet. We are getting acclimated to church being in French and still trying (unsuccessfully) to ram all of our stuff into closets!
I can already tell you that there won't be enough time to do it all, and there won't be enough prayers for my French to become fluent. But one thing that there will be- will be growth and change and croissants. Many croissants.
I don't use Facebook as much anymore, but you can find me on Instagram at catherinebuhler
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Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteSo now it recognizes me! Welcome back to blogging - and welcome to Paris - hope our next visit finds you there still - never sure how that is going to work out.
ReplyDeleteYou'll see me at church at least!
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