44 ways to improve your health and happiness
07.21.2010 
21h0744 ways to improve your health and happiness (from Wise Bread)
An interesting read, if only for reminders to take the time to live life instead of just focusing on the goals. Here are the top 11, to give you a taste:
1. Hug
2. Give a gift
3. Meditate
4. Be grateful
5. Forgive
6. Spend time with your family
7. Share your feelings
8. Walk in nature
9. Sit in nature
10. Youtube
11. Watch a movie
the story of the stolen glasses
07.21.2010 20h55The pool never called, so my glasses are gone. Either stolen or thrown away, they were gone for good. Luckily I have a backup pair, which I've been wearing since, but they don't have all the bells and whistles that my other glasses did.
On July 15, I went to the store where I'd bought my previous pair over three years ago (Optic 2000 on place de Jaude) and I explained the situation. The woman was very nice, but she explained that I wouldn't be reimbursed at all if my prescription was more than 3 years old, which mine was. The problem? In order to see the eye doctor to get a prescription, you have to make an appointment 2 to 3 months in advance. I was hoping to get an appointment AND new glasses before we leave for the US on July 26.
But luck was on my side that day. The woman we were talking to explained that she had been seen at the same time as her son the week before, so she needed to call and cancel her appointment for July 21. She offered me her appointment, which I gladly took. Coincidentally, her eye doctor is part of the same practice as my previous eye doctor!
I went to see the doctor this morning, and my eyesight hasn't changed too much. Immediately after getting my new prescription, I went back to Optic 2000 and ordered my new glasses, which the salesman assured me would arrive by Friday afternoon. They're quite pricey (luckily I get part of it reimbursed), but they're very chic and I think they'll be a good change.
This time around, though, I need to make sure to take better care of my glasses. I can't afford to have to buy another pair of new glasses anytime soon!
muffins that taste like donuts
07.21.2010 17h56Just made these donuts and they're delicious!!
a sad trip to the swimming pool
07.13.2010 22h57Did you know that British people tend to say "swimming pool", whereas Americans just say "pool"? I always thought it sounded weird to say "swimming pool" all the time, when "pool" gets the point across just fine.
Anyway, back to the story at hand. I've recently started swimming as a means of getting some exercise and seeing my friends. Going to the pool in France is pretty social, as a lot of people do laps as they chat with each other, or they hang out at one end of the pool to chat. Ciara, Celine and I tend to swim laps, stopping briefly for a chat before another set of laps. I'm not a very strong swimmer, but it's good cross-training, especially when it's too hot and humid outside to go for a run.
[Side note: As I'm typing this on the couch, Damien is sitting on the opposite couch reading stuff on the Internet about upcoming comic books or something, and he just said, "Trop cool Raoul!", which made me laugh out loud.]
After our swim, we changed back into our street clothes. I was finished first, and was waiting for Ciara and Celine to come out. As we started to walk out to the car, I realized that my glasses were not on my face, and I started to freak out. "Shoot!" I said to Ciara and Celine, "I left my glasses on the changing room bench." I ran back inside and looked inside every single changing room ... and yep, you guessed it, my glasses were nowhere to be found.
I ended up asking the woman at the front entrance, and then i went back inside and asked the helpers in the changing rooms, and then inside again to see the lifeguards. Nobody had turned my glasses into lost and found. As I frantically searched the changing rooms again, I had that sinking feeling in my stomach that my glasses were gone forever. And since they never called me today to tell me that someone turned them in, well, I'm pretty sure that I can kiss those glasses goodbye. And the cherry on the cake? I had also forgotten my keycard in the locker door, and I had 7 entrances left on it. I called them and they blocked it, though, so for 2E I can get those 7 entrances left. Although this whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth.
I mean, come on, who sees a pair of prescription glasses on the changing room bench and thinks either "ooh, i'm gonna throw these away!" or "nice, i can take these home with me." The keycard i can understand, because the person thought they were going to get free entrances to the pool. But my prescription glasses?!
Luckily i have a backup pair, and I was thinking about changing my glasses anyway (it's been three years since my last pair), but now I have to try to get an appointment in the next few days - which is next to impossible, especially since tomorrow is Bastille Day - and then try to get my new pair of glasses made before Saturday, July 24. I think i'm going to be wearing my backup pair until we get back from the US, since I get a 200E reimbursement from my insurance if i buy my glasses in France.
moving update
07.09.2010 0h19Damien and I went to Vichy this afternoon to sign a lease on our new apartment, and let me just say, we are pretty lucky. We found an amazing apartment, and even though we can't move in until the first week of September, we're pretty happy.
The details: first of all, it's located on Boulevard des Etats-Unis (Boulevard of the United States), which is pretty coincidental, right? It's in an old building that became pretty well known during World War II and the Vichy regime as one of the main buildings taken over by the Gestapo.
We've got 118 square meters, which is more than double the size of my current apartment. Add another 22 square meters of balcony/patio/terasse, and that's a pretty impressive apartment! There are two toilets, a bath, and a shower - all in separate rooms, as the French love to separate the two. There are three bedrooms: our bedroom has an en-suite shower and is pretty big. The second room is just as big, and we'll make it a guest room. The third room is slightly smaller, although still a good size, and that will become our office. The kitchen is big and open onto the 46 square meter living room. To top it all off, there are tons of closets, so we'll have plenty of storage space.
While it's pretty far from the train station (about a 15 minute walk), the balcony looks out over the parks. We're literally steps away from the beautiful parks along the river in Vichy, which means that my daily run will start up again, and in a more beautiful setting than here in Clermont (where I run past the Michelin factory). The apartment is away from the street, so it's a lot quieter.
The funny thing is, both Damien and I will be paying less next year for our apartment than we were paying for our individual apartments. The new apartment is almost 200E cheaper per month than the 2 bedroom, 55 sq meter apartment that Damien and Marie-Laure were renting in Paris. The only problem is that heating that big of an apartment might be expensive, but luckily there are lots of doors to close off different parts of the apartment.
I've only got pictures right now of the apartment with other people's stuff in it, but you can go to century 21's site and see some pictures there, if you're curious.
Update (July 11): I've posted the pictures I took of the apartment, which you can view here
moving
06.28.2010 19h09Damien found out a few weeks ago that he'll be teaching in a middle school in Thiers (pronounced "tee air") in September 2010. He's not being sent to the middle of nowhere, and he's not a replacement teacher, so we're pretty happy. It's about 40 minutes east of Clermont, but based on my position next year (which is still not sure, more on that in the next few days as decisions are made), we're thinking of moving to Vichy.
I've always loved Vichy. It's a very small city of about 20,000 people, and it's well-known as the capital of the French government during World War II. Damien grew up in a suburb of Vichy and his parents still live there, so we'd be moving pretty close to the in-laws, but I'm ok with that. I enjoy visiting his parents! They have a beautiful house in the hills, so it's always nice to go for a run when we stay with them.
We started our apartment search this past weekend, and let's just say that there's a reason that certain online ads don't post photos. One ad said that the apartment had been renovated "like new" (refait a neuf) and when we showed up, it was like walking into a time warp back to the 1980s. We both knew right away that it wasn't what we were looking for! We'll look more when we get back to Vichy next week. We've got a few different appointments with rental agencies.
This week is Damien's last week in Paris. He's already brought quite a lot of stuff back to his parents', but his dad is driving up on saturday to bring the rest of it back. Luckily his dad has a small moving van, so we don't have to rent one. Friday and Saturday will be dedicated to helping Marie-Laure and Damien move, and then we'll be in Vichy from Sunday to whenever we find an apartment! We hope to move in before we leave for the US at the end of July, but for the right apartment, we can wait to move until the end of August.
happy blog-i-versary !
06.21.2010 16h48Today my blog, wickedfrenchkiss, turns 9 years old. I first started my blog to document my adventures and travels while studying abroad in Toulouse, France, in 2001-2002, and I can honestly say that I never thought it would be around this long. But I have a pretty broad audience, and I enjoy writing about my life in France (although I haven't been writing as often as I used to!). It'd be cool if some anonymous readers would post a comment and let me know who you are, where you're from, and why you enjoy my blog.
Blogging turned into a huge phenomenon shortly after I started my blog, for a number of reasons, and I chose to study blogging and its effects on politics for my graduate studies. In a few years, I hope to have my doctorate in American studies (with focuses on communications/media and politics), so hopefully I'll continue blogging for a long time.
Thanks for taking the time to read what I write and to comment when you have something to say. Thanks to my blog, I've been able to interact with some very interesting people.
Happy blog-i-versary, WickedFrenchKiss! I hope that we'll have even more to celebrate together in the next few years.
Best college in Maine
06.16.2010 14h40Bowdoin College was named best college in Maine in a recent survey of Maine residents: the list of "top" things to see, do, and visit in Maine
Guide for US citizens living in France
06.16.2010 14h12I just came across the following information thanks to another blog, and thought it'd be worth sharing with my readers. It covers a lot of questions about moving to France, getting a visa, healthcare, etc etc.
The US embassy guide for US citizens living in France
A guide to Auvergne
06.12.2010 1h18Most people have never heard of Auvergne, and those that have have only heard negative things. Kim posted this link on her profile, and I thought i'd share it with you, in case you're curious as to where I've been living all these years.
The Telegraph (UK) - article about Auvergne
