Sick as a French dog...

P: ...that would be me, Phil. My sinus cold came in full force overnight, complete with froggy throat (no pun intended), runny nose and sinus headache, so today I lounged about in my pajamas blowing my nose. I'll spare you the pictures.

However, all was not lost! Over the last couple days we've continued to see God's favor on this move:

• We think we have the customs thing figured out with our UPS shipment. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow, all 17 boxes, duty-free.
  
• Kathy's USPS shipment of Ben's toys (2 boxes) showed up today, happily. A third box is still expected...see a brief video of Ben reunited with his toys at our dropshots website.
  
• Kathy and I spent some time Monday getting our first full load of groceries (134 euros!) and Tuesday cleaning the apartment, which needed it badly. The white tile floor everywhere shows everything.
• Today while I was sick I managed to guess the username/password combination into the wireless modem and figure out why we couldn't connect. So that's fixed.
• We're starting to look at apartment listings. Housing is expensive here. Expect to pay at least $1200/mo. with utilities for a smallish place. But we'll be getting a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) paid that mostly offsets that expense.

K: (Kathy here)

I continue to be amazed at how easily things are going for us! All considered, we are finding our way around, making connections, eating amazing food, and enjoying the peace and quiet that comes with no cell phones, no TV, video options or heavy traffic. The biggest challenge for me has been shopping. Shopping used to be such an empowering experience for me in the USA (Phil decided it must be my high "J" tendency - liking to finalize decisions as quickly as possible). Here, however, I toggle back and forth between entertaining Ben (and being entertained by him) and looking up to a sea of words on products I don't recognize!

For instance, we couldn't find soup in a can, but found this soup-like stuff in a box (made by Knorr), amazing really, and I could eat it every day! It tastes so healthy. That about sums up everything we've sunk our teeth into. Even Phil said, last night, "This salad tastes really good!" I said, "The salad dressing?" "No," he said, "the lettuce!" And the red peppers were very yummy and the grapes tasted more grapey (had seeds, oh well). The plain yogurt tastes decadent and dare I mention Muesli? Breakfast here is dangerously good. And the fruit compote (jam) with whole cherries in it. The cheese...just today I bought another brand I had never seen called "Leerdammer". It's white with holes like Swiss cheese, but more mellow and softer too.

Kathy with Ben at the kitchen table Monday night with her first self-cooked meal in a month (stuffed peppers).

K: We get 17 boxes of our belongings tomorrow. Phil and I have been spending a lot of time cleaning up here (Phil vacuumed and I wiped up spider and fly poop from the floor), so we'll be ready for our "stuff". What we really need next is our own place to get set up, but we don't want to rush into something that isn't right. We have one place that's furnished we hope to visit for approx. $1,400 (US currency) per month. It's about the size of the apartment we left behind. Yes, things are more expensive here.

God is continuing to cover for us...I see his wink almost every day and feel settled and calm inside. I am sure at some point soon it will hit me that I'm not on vacation. Or perhaps something will really frustrate me with the language barrier, but I'm excited about practicing French. I feel I have time now for that. Life doesn't feel so overwhelming as it did before the move. Once we get our desktop computer set up, I'll have more time to send individual emails again.

Ben on the living room floor happily playing with his toys

P: Ben is still having a little difficulty overcoming jet lag. He's been waking up around 10:00 - 12:00 p.m. after a few hours sleep.

Also check out our previous post, I've updated it with appropriate pictures.

Bon soir,
-PKBD