francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
August 2015 | To the ends of the earth
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To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Saturday, August 8, 2015. Living in the past. I've moved from a modern light-filled apartment in a town to a 36 year-old sombre house in the rural countryside and it's full of surprises from the long-gone past. Houses in France tend not to have any storage at all built in; no cupboards or wardrobes unless it's a very modern building, and even then. The bedroom with my furniture in it contains a wardrobe from the era of King L...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
The cradle of my family | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2011/06/cradle-of-my-family.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Saturday, May 21, 2011. The cradle of my family. The story of my family and the establishment of New Zealand’s only French settlement begins in 1840 on the banks of the Charente River, Rochefort, France. School, one year at Canterbury University, three years at Teacher’s College and then initiate a programme of including French language into my teaching class at Tawhai School in Wellington. The parents were so pleased with re...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
French women don't wear (much) makeup | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2013/10/french-women-dont-much-wear-makeup.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Tuesday, October 22, 2013. French women don't wear (much) makeup. It's a trifle difficult to reconcile what I see everyday with what one might expect from such a large cosmetics industry in France. France is synonymous with beauty products, fashion, haute this and that, and all those makeup companies but I ask myself, where's the evidence French women are buying the stuff? It's extremely rare for me to see a colleague wearing...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
Back in the saddle | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2012/04/back-in-saddle.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Back in the saddle. The setup of the presentation area meant everyone was tied to using the microphone by the lecturn and scrolling through slide presentations. No walking about, certainly no connecting with the audience. Many researchers, businessmen and professors are poor communicators, even worse motivators and seem obsessed with trying to fit as many tiny words as possible on one slide. The prog...
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mariage franco-américain | Almost Bilingue
https://almostbilingue.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/mariage-franco-americain
My life in franglais. August 4, 2014. About a month ago, I posted about wedding prep. Well, the big day has come and gone! It definitely seems to have just flown by. I’m going to try not to ramble on too much here so as not to bore you to death. My mom (along with an aunt and an uncle) arrived in France a few days before the wedding, and we spent a few days exploring the area with her as it was her first time in France. More on those adventures another time. Saturday morning, I was up and off to get my h...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
May 2015 | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Monday, May 18, 2015. How to create a potager: aka what a man will do for a woman Part 2. It started out being a potager. Decorative French veggie garden but the project grew into a complex of five beds after JC became convinced I knew what I was doing: potager, annual flower bed, tiny rose bed, raspberry bed, currant and gooseberry bed. At this point I should add that we needed to install a dog deterrent system because Baika.
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
Steamroller | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2015/08/steamroller.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Saturday, August 1, 2015. Ever felt like you are being shunted from behind by a Terminator in a big rig? Not for many people, including me. It's an apt analogy for what continues to happen. FATE; change of life, tighter restrictions, fewer options and no matter what I do I can't stop this process; it's driven by something exterior. JC explained that otherwise I'd be moving during the long summer holidays and nothing 'moves' d...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
Chateau de Maintenon | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2013/06/chateau-de-maintenon.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Saturday, June 29, 2013. Photographs may not be taken of the interior of the chateau, unfortunately. It's a little run down in places but still shows a glimpse of what it must have been. My favourite room is the Gallery. This spectacular room, entirely decorated by Duke Paul de Noailles shows the history of the Noailles and Montmart families who were later owners of the estate. The chateau was severely damaged by Allied bombi...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
Life on board a cruise ship... | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2012/09/life-on-board-cruise-ship_18.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Tuesday, September 18, 2012. Life on board a cruise ship. Early starts from well, start to finish were not negotiable. We left our lodgings which were a good distance out from Athens then bused for what seemed like forever, picking up passengers at other hostelries until we reached the port of Pireus, the port of Athens. Louis Olympia has twelve decks, eleven of which are accessible to passengers. Crew spaces, gangway. Before...
francesbigadventure.blogspot.com
July 2015 | To the ends of the earth
http://francesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html
To the ends of the earth. My adventures in my quest to live and work in France. Wednesday, July 1, 2015. Learning new skills in accepting a new life. Did I jump at it? Immediately, the registered letter was written and sent to the landlord. No going back. Change was coming whether I wanted it to or not. The details were now my choosing. Time for action-woman. Photos show me in my garden at JC's, scenes from my apartment (note the Monet impressionist painting bed linen - francophile me), JC's place. Disco...