New apartment, french lessons......

I'm back!!

Sorry for the delay in posting but life has a funny way of catching up with you.

For the last week it seems as if we have not had time to breathe, let alone post to the blog.

Now time to report on the happenings in Paris and London.

First of all Diesel is doing well. Samuel is continuing to change everyday and keep us grounded with what is really important in our lives. It is not diesel in a petrol engine, or all the boulangeries being closed or a french teacher who will not answer questions but raising our wonderful little Samuel.

Samuel is less than 4 months old and has just returned from visiting his 3rd country. We spent a long weekend visiting friends and family in London. Samuel was finally able to meet his godmother Poonam and her wonderful children, Tara and Max. Samuel and Max got along splendidly. We placed them side by side on an activity mat and they spent an hour exploring each others hair, ears and arms. It was quite cute. Pictures will be posted later as we have not had the time to download the pictures. Looking forward to seeing everyone again over the holidays. Hopefully we will be able to spend more time with each of you.

Samuel will soon be visiting his 4th country. P & G continues to amaze me as they have asked Julia to attend a meeting of western European finance directors from September 1st-3rd. These are the first days that Julia will be returning to work full time so she is very anxious about having to leave Samuel for 3 days. P & G has offered to send Samuel and myself to Frankfurt with Julia. This is not the best for me as I am adapting to Paris life(lessons have begun, but more on that later, and leaving for 3 days will be a setback for my adaptation). However, as usual we have to make the decisions that are best for Samuel. The best thing for Samuel is to be with his mother so that he can eat breast milk on(or near) his regular schedule. So we have gratefully accepted P & G's offer. While Julia is in her meetings, Samuel and I will be touring Frankfort and possibly tasting a few German beers.

We took possession of our apartment on Madrid on Wednesday morning. We were very disappointed in the quality of the work that was done after we first saw the apartment. Fortunately the representative of the owner was equally disappointed. So all of our concerns are being addressed. We hope that they will all be corrected before we take possession of our sea shipment. It is a relief to finally have a place to call home for the next 3 years. Julia did have lunch at eh pub around the corner and they do televise EPL(english premier league) matches so Samuel and I will be able to view Chelsea matches(Pictures to follow. You do not want to miss them. Guaranteed to be oh so cute(Samuel, not me))

Julia has had a very stressful week as she has begun driving in Paris. The quickest route from the temporary apartment to Madrid is to drive the arc d'triomphe roundabout. Very, nerve racking, Even at 8AM in August. Julia had to manage the delivery of our rental furniture and our electronics from Darty. The Darty shipment was stressful in that they delivered some wrong items and Julia had to return to the store to correct the situation. Our shopping experience was hilarious as our salesman saw ex-pat written on our foreheads and everything he tried to sell us was the most expensive of its line. I was amazed when he tried to sell us a 1,500 euro stove. I was even more amazed that Julia was actually interested, until I pointed out the price. Then we moved on.

I started my french lessons at Berlitz this week. I have had 6 45 minutes session each day. Sometimes I feel as if I am making progress. At other times I feel completely and utterly lost. But as the week progressed I have felt more and more comfortable. Today I actually started having conversations with the instructors, albeit on a very, very basic level but It is good to know that I am beginning to think in french. I am not sure how much P & G is paying for the lessons but they have to be expensive. The Gucci store is next to the berlitz office and the aston martin dealership is around the corner. Tres cher neighborhood.

I was the ugly American this week as I was unable to connect with one of my instructors. The first lesson she tried to teach me I had her questions and her responses were always along the lines of, "It is what it is" or "you should not be confused. It is the same in english". I had to go to the admin and ask that this instructor not be assigned to me in the future. Very bad American.

Had my first solo lunch this week. Of course, I had to go to Pizza Pino(The franchise where we had our ex-pat lunch). I think the only mistake I made was when I was asked if I wanted to sit inside or outside. I said outside but pointed inside(I meant to say inside).

I also was shy this week. Our temp apartment company is unable to provide us with a second set of keys. So this week, since we have been in both apartments I have had to return to the area of the temp and wait for Julia to return with the keys(as since she has Samuel she needs to have the keys in case of emergency). I walked around looking for a cafe to have a beer. I saw quite a few and chose the one that had the fewest people sitting outside. Ostensibly so that I would not embarrass myself when ordering. of course, then I pulled out my french lesson book and worked on the exercises and had many people staring.

Saw a wonderful beggar trick this week. As I was sitting in the cafe waiting for Julia there was a couple to my right and a beggar came and stood directly in front of them until they gave him money. Not that I endorse begging but I have to admire the creativity and ambition.