Friday 12 October 2012

Two years on...

Yesterday was the second anniversary of our move to La Croix Blanche, Braye-sous-Faye.

So two years down the line what's changed and where are we now?

Well...
The house we fell in love with is now a home.
The once empty shell is now full of 'stuff'
We know where to buy 'Bois du Chauffage' and roughly how much to order each year.
We have learnt the best places to shop and where to avoid.
We have carte de fidelité from every store within a 50km radius
Our vegetables come from the 'Potager'
Passers by are now 'neighbours' and 'friends'
The 'Mairie' is no longer held quite so much in awe
We talk of 'Gazole' instead of diesel
We know the difference between a 'Brocante' and a 'Vide Grenier'
And we know what a 'Vide Armoire' is..
Driving on the right is second nature
Driving on the left in the UK is challenging
Bloggers are not a breed apart but some of our closest friends
Bloggers are now called 'Fellow Bloggers'
We use machines with names such as 'Motobineuse' and 'Tondeuse Autoportée'
Our rubbish goes to the 'Déchèterie' (or 'Déchètterie', depending which sign you read!)
We greet everyone we meet and shaking hands is a daily activity no longer reserved for meeting the boss
'Faire la Bise' is done with confidence and aplomb

So what's not changed..???

Our mastering of the French language... It's a lot harder than we thought!  We get by, but are far from fluent. Our use of gesture is improving and telephones are best avoided!

Would we do anything differently??

NO! We wouldn't change a thing... (except the language difficulties!!)

10 comments:

GaynorB said...

Congratulations!
We hope you are having a glass of sparkles. We shall certainly drink a toast to all you've achieved and wish you good luck with mastering those things you find more of a challenge.
Love from
Gaynor and Tim xx

Susan said...

Hip hip hooray !! :-) As a serial international relocator, I have to agree that the language is the big challenge here. In the UK it was the health and banking system.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Ah yes, Gaynor,
I hadn't thought about a glass of sparkles... but now that you come to mention it.... Yes, I think we might!!

Thank you for your good wishes xx

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Susan, we wouldn't have got on half so well if we hadn't had the benefit of your experiences through Days on the Claise blog!

Anonymous said...

I can agree with everything on that list. By far the best thing I did though was work here... that makes you learn the language really quickly!!

Abbé Henri Proust said...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249410.php

Well done you two!

Abbé Henri Proust said...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249410.php

Well done you two!

Tim said...

Many happy more! T&P

Colin and Elizabeth said...

That's an interesting article, Abbe Henri Proust, thank you!

I think our life style would score highly on "Approach motivation" which explains the sense that the last two years have flown by. With regard to the acquisition of the language to any degree of fluency....if time is flying (in the approach motivation sense) then it's not surprising we've not got as far as we'd hoped; time has simply got the better of us!

Better try and balance it out with positive, but low motivation activities and see if that stretches time and improves language skills.... !

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Thanks, T&P!