Trains, plane, car

The worst part of traveling...wonderful people.  You shouldn't envision a world where you drag your friends and family along with you everywhere you go but it is tempting.  Thank you FaceTime and the Internet for making long distance friendships bearable.  But still I'll have to wait another few months in order to hold my cutie pie nephew again, sigh. My brief teaser of a visit with my family was a nice little reboost and I do declare it is difficult to spend more than a few months without seeing them.  But on the flip side when I'm back in the US I want my frenchies, can't have it all can we?  

They all surprised me with a surprise dinner in Elkhart with my grandparents and to quote my grandma 'I started cooking but I don't know what happened I just kept going...!'  I got to bring back a lot of clothing and the like and do some important paperwork while I was back.  I also got an animal fix as well,  although my crazy kitten Elby doesn't recognize me anymore, but he is now a giant chubby poof ball so I guess it's reciprocated.  But the real cherry on top of this vacation was getting to see the Blauvelts of Indianapolis and Everett stole the show.  

The week went by fast with them and can I say what a cutie pie again?  Now I'm off with some friends (haha dragged along) for a week in Paris and England and back down to the south west.  Here's to the first stay at a hostel!  

To be continued...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saint Jacques de Compostelle

Image
Hitchhiker, vagabond, drifter...pilgrim?  That's not a word you get to use every day.  In the very religious land that is France...psyche!  France although very catholic is not very religious anymore but do you remember the old French adage assume to never assume?  Every year pilgrims, not the buckle mayflower ones, make a trip to north western Spain.  The goal of the pilgrimage is the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela where supposedly lies the final resting place of St. James also known as James the son of Zebedee.  Spanish tradition goes that after preaching in Spain, James was subsequently beheaded in Jerusalem where apon his fellow disciples returned his body to Spain.  With the muslim moorish invasion of Spain the tomb of James was kept miraculously safe there apon beginning a pilgrimage to the very cathedral.   Its one of the 3 major pilgrimages the other two being Rome and Jerusalem starting in the 10th century.  Along the marked pathway the pilgrims find boarding houses wh
Read more

Chitis Cuisine

Image
 Just some pics to make you start drooling. La Carbonade Flamande La celerirave rapé Un Welsh La biere   Les endives (les chicons)  with ham and cheese, as a raw salad, or carmalised   Le maroille-and anything it touches Spéculoos   La chicorée   Les Frites
Read more

I'm on welfare, what!?

So I've mentioned a little thing called 'CAF' in the past, it's a little way to get some of your rent paid for by the government.  What hit me this time while I was filling out some of my paperwork was the differences between American welfare and the French social welfare systems.  In fact welfare isn't even the right word.  Welfare is what happens in the US, it's looked at as being for people in DIRE need and it isn't seen in the best of light, it's great if you can figure out some good programs but France is very different.  It's looked on as a sign of being savvy if you can figure out how (and the patience and diligence it takes to jump through bureaucratic hoops) to get reimbursed by the government, because in basis that's what it is.   Taxes in France are much higher than the United States, somewhere in the 40% income tax range and France loves to add on other taxes as well.  In your taxes you automatically have CAF, work accidents, care for
Read more