On our way home from Barcelona, as we got closer and closer to our villa in Juan les Pin, I felt a heaviness come over me, a slight depression feeling really. At the risk of sounding snobby, I have to admit, I really don’t like living in the South of France. I know, I know, it all sounds so luxurious… sun bathing on the French Riviera beaches, French rose wine, frolicking among the lavender and sunflower fields, bike rides along the cote d’azur, listening to people speak the beautiful romantic French language, devouring French delicacies on our villa apartment terrace overlooking the mountains and the Mediterranean sea. Well, here’s our lives right now from a different perspective… the beaches are so crowded you can barely find a square inch of sand to claim for yourself, the ocean water is cold and crowded most of the time, I can’t drink any French rose right now because I am pregnant, usually we see lavender and sunflower fields only as we fly by them on the highway in a car and can’t stop to play in them or even take a photo, the French language is so hard to learn for me I can’t communicate with anyone here to save my life, the French people around here are very rude, the streets are so small and crowded with cars that bike rides are actually quite stressful and dangerous especially with a pregnant woman who is quickly loosing my sence of balance on a road bike carrying a 30 lb toddler on the back, and… well… I guess it isn't all bad... the dinners on our terrace CAN be quite nice. Too bad I can’t enjoy any of the wine Daddy G drinks each night nor can I enjoy any of the most popular delicious Mediterranean dishes due to lack of pasteurization and the risk of listeria and toxoplasmosis in pregnancy.
Sigh. I always feel guilty after a flood of negativity like the paragraph above. I usually try to keep my negative thoughts to myself only allowing them to detonate when I can finally truly laugh about the whole situation. Maybe a small part of me believes in instant karma, so I feel a strong urge to quickly convert any pessimistic attitude to cheerful, positive, bright. I should be grateful for these experiences and I am. Despite my frustration with the French language and French people, I am learning and so is Alexa. To compliment Alexa’s growing English language vocabulary, she understands quite a bit of French and Spanish and can count to 10 in both languages and to 20 in English. She says, “Merci”, “Gracias”, “Grazie”, “Adios”, “A bientot”, “Hola”, “Au revoir”, “Bonjour”, “Hello”, “Hi”, “Ciao”, "Bye" and “Bonne journee” perfectly. Just about every day over here is something new and different for Alexa and for me. And the access via road trip to so many amazing places near to here is absolutely amazing. We are truly blessed. And let’s face it, even if I can’t enjoy any of the wines over here this time, the olives, croissants and cappuccinos are to die for.