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Long time no see

My friend Paul wrote to me today and told me that I had not written on my blog for quite some time. He's not wrong. I think what is happening is that Paris is become the new norm for me. I don't see exciting changes to my life at every turn because this has become my life.

There is absolutely a change in how the Parisians react to me as well. For instance, the man in our local convenience store used to speak to me in English, no matter how I spoke to him. Now he only speaks to me in French. A slight change but important. I was in a kitchenware store and when I checked out, they wanted to enroll me in a promotion. He turned to me and said, "You live here, don't you?" (in French of course). Bien sûr! I am not sure what they are reacting to, but it feels right to me. I was also stopped and asked directions once. Now, for those who know me, this is strange since I can get lost in my hometown, but in this case, I knew what to tell her! Wow.

The language is lagging a bit behind, though. It used to be that I would get lost in a conversation and there was no going back. Now, I can go in and out and quite often I get the subject. Fluent? Hardly, but better all the time. I had a tutor for a bit, but our schedules just do not line up, so that isn't helping. Sure, I should be reading the French paper every day, but I still go for The New York Times or the Huffington Post. I need to address that very soon.

There was a big change for me in my perception of work. I was half-heartedly looking for technical work here. You have to remember that by 45, the French think you should be halfway on your way to the Rivera for your retirement. So, at 58, I am a dinosaur. But Helmut turned to me one day and said, "you know, you are not really a 9-5 kind of guy." (This was news to me, since I had been doing that successfully since the 80s.) "And, you know, you are already working on your quilt. That is your job right now." Holy cow, he was right! This realisation was really when Paris became real and I stopped having cravings for NYC. I had a "job" and have family and friends.

I am home.

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