8 weeks later....

8 weeks ago today we signed on the dotted line and bought our French house. When we started looking for it, we put everything in a box file, and on the side of the box file it said "Our French Adventure". 8 weeks later does it still feel like an adventure?

Well, yes I think it does. Some days we could be in any country. Those are the days when we stay at home just the two of us and spend the day in the garden or doing stuff around the house.Other days we go out and mix with a group of ex pat Brits and we could still be in the UK. But at other times it's really clear that we now live in another country. Today was one of those days.

Today we went to a local French market for the first time. Parking was difficult. No different to the UK there then! The food section of the market was in one area and the clothing was in a different area. The food stalls were fascinating to us, and leant towards artisan type food, such speciality French cheeses, and very fresh meat, fish and veg, with the highlight on freshness. The salad stuff looked as if it had only just been picked out the garden. The mussels and clams were still live. 

I have to say that the clothing part of the market was quite disappointing, much like any market in the UK, but it was very quiet with not many shoppers. Only one stand appeared busy and that was the one that sold a multitude of different aprons. Aprons are still very much de rigeur here in France!

And all around us, all we could hear was French people chatting, shouting, talking and sharing. All the ladies carried baskets and everyone had at least one stick of French bread.

So today felt quite French. Hubby doesn't speak hardly any French at all which means that dealing with any thing involving someone French falls on me. Mostly it's okay and one way or another I get there, but the one thing I would say is that communicating in a language that you are far from fluent in is exhausting and frustrating in equal measures.

So my advice for today is....

Practice the language as much as you can before you move, and buy a shopping basket and an apron!

Oh, and did I buy anything? Yes, I bought a sage plant for 2.50 euros!