
Since this was my 7
th voyage to France, I thought I knew what to expect. I prepared myself mentally for certain things yet found myself quite surprised at how much I didn't see coming. For record keeping purposes, I thought I'd write down several surprises about living here for 3 months, with 3 kids, to complete the renovation of La
Maisonnette du Coteau. If you are considering renovating a home in a foreign land with small children for an entire season, read on :)
I didn't expect...
1.
The loneliness...not speaking the local language fluently is socially isolating; how I longed to have a casual conversation in English with a good friend.
2.
Beds + bed skirts = total living nightmare...combined travel time for acquiring the proper size
bed skirts,
box springs, and mattresses came to somewhere around 40 hours; and it's all more expensive here too. To think, I could pick up a simple
bed skirt for $20 at Target back home!
3. It would take so
long...did we seriously just extend our trip 2 months?
4. It would be so
difficult...I'm going to leave it at that :)
5. Finding
good workers would be as challenging
6. That once you found the good workers, it would be difficult to
get them here more than a few hours at a time considering how busy they were and the short work week here in France.
7. Only
one leather sofa in France would fit through our second story door!
8. I would be required to do so much legwork
by myself; meaning I would have to try and speak French on my own about house-related subjects! It's one thing to ask for a bunch of onions, but another to discuss the dimensions of a room and how old something is in a foreign language. If only I had a nickel for every time I made a complete fool out of myself!
9. I would see my
adorable neighbors and meet
a lovely blog reader right here in
Beynac.
10. I would meet an old friend of my stepmothers' in Paris--and that Natasha would become my
angel for a day11. This project would be so
challenging (I said that already though, right?)
12. How much
joy I'd feel knowing our first guests enjoyed themselves immensely
13. How much I want to stay here now...
with just the Husband; La
Maisonnette is quite romantic and honestly made for 1-2 couples.
14. I could get used to "
bising"
without blushing15. Produce could
be as good or better than what you find in Northern California
16. To
receive mail...thank you Christine for everything!
17. The Husband was so
handy!
18. To gain a whole new appreciation for
quiet