Kyle is legal!

Last week l'OFII  (Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration) finally called Kyle in for his medical exam. About freaking time. We leave in one month and this exam is supposed to happen within the first two months you are living in France. It is an absolute MUST to get the medical exam done and if you miss your appointment you're pretty much toast. I got called in back in January but wasn't able to go--long story--but I had legitimate proof and they let me reschedule but I still haven't been sent a letter telling me when to come in. I'm secretly hoping I can just fly under the radar because 1) we're leaving the country in 1 month and 2) my exam costs 350 euros plus a 20 euro train ticket. Cross your fingers! I tell you what, France is expensive. And the paperwork is so inefficient, it's a nightmare. If you want to get a taste of how it is, read this post. You can't help but cry and then laugh at the whole process of becoming legal here. Don't get me wrong though, I love France... Just not all of it.

The exam took about 20 minutes and Kyle left with a little souvenir...chest x-rays, yay! I'm kind of jealous now that I don't have any.

Since we had a mandatory appointment in Bordeaux (an hour and a half from Perigueux) we decided to take a mini vacation and explore the city. We went back in November to see the new Harry Potter film in Enlgish, but it was only a half day trip, not nearly enough time to soak it all up. Plus it's finally spring here and the weather was for-mi-dable (amazing in French). Get ready, here comes lots of pictures.

Mollat is a Librarie (bookstore) in Bordeaux that is huge. They have rooms dedicated to just one subject. It was super cool being a book-lover and all. I've fallen for these French recipe books and I think I just might have to splurge before leaving and buy a few...

This arch was part of the defense that surrounded the entire centre ville back in the day

Whoa, KFC made it into France

Trying to get creative with our pictures

Cute...

Best part of our trip was almost getting locked in the Musee D'Aquitaine. We didn't realize the time and all of the sudden lights just started turning off. We then ran into a lady and she apologized saying everybody was gone...

I definitely have mixed feelings leaving in a little over a month. I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends. I miss Mexican food. I miss my job. But I know I will miss France and all its charm too. I will miss the feeling of "did that just really come out of my mouth and they understood me?". So cool. I secretly hope that Kyle gets accepted to the International Law Program he wants so we'll be able to move back for another year. At least then I'll be prepared for all the paperwork and not stress about it.

Last night Kyle came down with a pretty bad sore throat so today I made him stay home from church. I was so proud of myself for going without him. I spoke French and managed everything on my own. Everyone kept telling me how much I've progressed in the language and it made me feel real good. I will miss our sweet little sometimes nonfunctional branch here in Perigueux. It has been the first real ward that we've felt apart of and I've learned so so much. 

Well mesdames and messieurs, I must get back to pampering my husband while he's sick and make him a cup of infusion.

Rambling then paintball with Frenchmen and Kyle

Do you ever just not feel like blogging? Well, not that I'm a regular or anything, but blogging is a lot harder than I thought. I had high hopes for this blog ever since moving to France. It was going to be awesome! Posts about everything French! The food, the culture, the language, the art, the history, the works! And then it just didn't happen. I'm disappointed in myself. Everyday I see something cool, hear something hilarious or think of something witty and I think "hey, I'm going to blog that". Then, at 9 o'clock  at night, I look at my computer and think "is that really worth sharing? Other people will probably think it's stupid" and then I just curl up on the couch with husband and play sudoku (I'm addicted). By nightfall my creative juices are running on empty. For example this post on paintball (see below) was started 10 days ago. But I just didn't finish because...because...I can't remember why. This is my daily battle with the blog. I could give you a million excuses "I have to plan the lesson for primary", "I need to look up dental hygiene jobs", " I'll have to download pictures from my camera, oh it's so hard", "I need to clean my bathroom", "I need to make a dessert to take to the ward meal", "I need to this", "I need to that"  . . . sheesh I'm getting a headache. What I think I'm trying to say is that I guess what it comes down to is write the blog for you and no one else Ariel! Who cares what other people think. And that's all I got to say about that. For now.

A couple weeks ago we drove out to the middle of nowhere and went paintballing with the youth. Actually it was supposed to young men and young women but I ended up being the only girl. I said the middle of nowhere but it was more like a field next to a shed next to a bigger shed that had a secret motorcycle clubhouse inside. I love that one of the members in our little branch is the leader of "The Rockers"--a motorcycle club in the south of France. He's also a tattoo artist (I have it on good authority that President Hinckley's picture is hanging up in his salon). Everybody, even at church, calls him "Canard" which means duck in French. Yes, this guy is awesome. He let everyone come out to his place for an overnight activity. We paintballed, played darts, pool, cards and  ate "sandwhich americain". 

Mattieu giving the thumbs up

bullseye

hot husband

hot husband #2 sporting paint on his face

hot husband represents

Moi

I think I got someone

Kyle going in for the kill, I mean, knock out as my dad would say

Mattieu got the worst of it, owie

Kyle playing a serious game of darts

Clemont looks like he's going to be sick and oh, I spy a dancing pole...

what a bunch of tough men

Yay, I finally posted it! Now I have to run off to Clara's to learn how to make a French soup while Kyle enjoys Branch Presidency meeting. Au revoir!

The Countryside of France

We had such a lovely time yesterday visiting small towns about the French countryside with some new friends of ours, Diane and Peter Block. Originally from England, they moved here 8 years ago looking for an adventure. As Peter said, after retiring he didn't want to sit around twiddling his thumbs waiting to die. So they sold everything they could, packed up the rest in an RV and drove around France until happening upon Brantome (Venice of the Perigord) they thought that living near here would be very nice indeed.

Diane took me into a tiny shop literally built into the mountain rock side. Every square inch was covered with antiques from dishes, glasses, clothing, fabric, buttons, brooches, furniture and figurines. VERY French-like.

The charming little town of St Jean Cole with its very own castle and church built in 1083 (uh, our blessed America hadn't even been discovered yet...crazy!) What fascinates me about these small French villages is the architecture. It's absolutely incredible. I can't help but wonder what it looked like a couple hundred years ago, if there were markets in the square everyday, if a lot of people attended the local church, what people did to survive. 

Brantome, St Jean Cole so magical. I felt like these towns came right out of the story of Beauty and the Beast. Kyle and I decided the rolling hills of Dordogne could be for us someday too...