Living in France, somethings....

[Heckman]

never change...We found this gym within our first week here back in April.
It's 2 minutes from home!.Oh and its not really a Golds Gym..They just love American sayings and stuff here.....Life is good!

[Heckman]

A couple of the many new refeed foods we look forward to each week!

[LG1]

Great update! I was meaning to ask you how life has been in France for you.

I guess frog legs and escargot are not on the re-feed menu :-)

[phoenix13]

I am so happy for you! I hope to visit you there. Is this move permanent?

(First time I trained in France, I forgot they used the metric system. I blamed the French diet for my sudden disappearance of half my strength.)

[Heckman]

Great update! I was meaning to ask you how life has been in France for you.

I guess frog legs and escargot are not on the re-feed menu :-)

lol....None of that, but horse meat and rabbit is awesome...and duck! Quite a variety of different foods here...

I am so happy for you! I hope to visit you there. Is this move permanent?


(First time I trained in France, I forgot they used the metric system. I blamed the French diet for my sudden disappearance of half my strength.)

Yes, the move was permanent...We shipped a 20ft sea container here from San Diego at the end of March with all of our belongings..it got here May 17th, right when we found a permanent home.
We are in the south in Perpignan/Cabestany area...Just beautiful here..So yes, come on down
The metric system is tough to get used to..grams, kilos...liters...the gas is sold by the liter....the diet can get out of control really fast! So far so good though.

[46er]

Hey Heckman, good for you.

Do you or your wife have family there? What was your motivation for the move? Is it expensive?

Sorry, I am fascinated by your move. Hope that's not too intrusive.

[Heckman]

Hey Heckman, good for you.

Do you or your wife have family there? What was your motivation for the move? Is it expensive?

Sorry, I am fascinated by your move. Hope that's not too intrusive.

Not a problem, ask away. We have been planning this for about 8 years. My wife is a French citizen, so for her after 32 years in the states it was just a matter of coming back home...Lots more involved for me..

The motivation was at 56 & 57 years old it was time to slow life down a bit and that is what we do here..Move slowly and just enjoy ourselves..We don't get concerned about what time it is or what day it is...Call it taking the time to smell the roses!

My wife has a birth mother in northern France, but they don't have a relationship...

Last but not least, due to some health issues my wife has, the current system in the USA couldn't take care of or figure out in a 7 year span what was wrong with her..we knew she would get better treatment here and it has been wonderful for her. (she is also a 25 year cancer survivor)

[Ihaanator]

The metric system is tough to get used to..grams, kilos...liters...the gas is sold by the liter....

Don´t worry, at least it´s logical. 1000g = 1 kg. 10 dl = 1 litre, etc. But in U.S. you have ounces, pound, cup, u.s. gallon, mile and fahrenheit. Only an American can understand those.

[homonunculus]

Not a problem, ask away. We have been planning this for about 8 years. My wife is a French citizen, so for her after 32 years in the states it was just a matter of coming back home...Lots more involved for me..

The motivation was at 56 & 57 years old it was time to slow life down a bit and that is what we do here..Move slowly and just enjoy ourselves..We don't get concerned about what time it is or what day it is...Call it taking the time to smell the roses!

My wife has a birth mother in northern France, but they don't have a relationship...

Last but not least, due to some health issues my wife has, the current system in the USA couldn't take care of or figure out in a 7 year span what was wrong with her..we knew she would get better treatment here and it has been wonderful for her. (she is also a 25 year cancer survivor)

I sincerely hope she gets the help she needs, Heck.

Wondering - how good is your French?...

Do they speak a dialect or with a strong accent (relative to other areas of France) there?...

-S

[Heckman]

I sincerely hope she gets the help she needs, Heck.

Wondering - how good is your French?...

Do they speak a dialect or with a strong accent (relative to other areas of France) there?...

-S

PM sent regarding Kiki..

My French improves daily. Everyday here is like a French class. Where we are there is very little to no English spoken. Immersion works well! But Thursday I register for an accelerated French class to kick my language skills into high gear :-)

Where we are, the accents are very strong. So much so, everyone says Kiki sounds like an American who learned French and she is fluent..I guess 32 years in the States will do that. The dialect/accent can vary from region to region though..

[homonunculus]

PM sent regarding Kiki..

My French improves daily. Everyday here is like a French class. Where we are there is very little to no English spoken. Immersion works well! But Thursday I register for an accelerated French class to kick my language skills into high gear :-)

Where we are, the accents are very strong. So much so, everyone says Kiki sounds like an American who learned French and she is fluent..I guess 32 years in the States will do that. The dialect/accent can vary from region to region though..

So those accents are strong in the ears of the French, or do you mean that they have strong French accents when speaking English?...

(I'm wondering specifically about the dialect and/or accent in your area. When living in Germany, I was in the Bavaria a good bit of the time and my host family l lived in a small village where they more typically spoke a dialect. Germans who hear me speak now can tell I lived there, kind of like a foreigner who learns English in the deep South and then talked to someone from the Midwest. The accent is noticeable. )

-S

[Heckman]

So those accents are strong in the ears of the French, or do you mean that they have strong French accents when speaking English?...

(I'm wondering specifically about the dialect and/or accent in your area. When living in Germany, I was in the Bavaria a good bit of the time and my host family l lived in a small village where they more typically spoke a dialect. Germans who hear me speak now can tell I lived there, kind of like a foreigner who learns English in the deep South and then talked to someone from the Midwest. The accent is noticeable. )

-S

In the area where we are, according to Kiki, the accents are strong to the French ear when they speak French. Haven't run into anyone who speaks enough English other than a few words, but its still with a heavy accent in my ears :-) The French accent here, say versus Paris in the North, would be noticeably different, but always the same words..Damn, now I'm confused..lol

[homonunculus]

In the area where we are, according to Kiki, the accents are strong to the French ear when they speak French. Haven't run into anyone who speaks enough English other than a few words, but its still with a heavy accent in my ears :-) The French accent here, say versus Paris in the North, would be noticeably different, but always the same words..Damn, now I'm confused..lol

LOL - Sounds like rural Germany (and probably how it is in Spain and other large countries).

At least it's not a dialect (different words) so when you become fluent, you'll not need to then learn "normal" French when traveling....

-S