Eh-Su-Tuh

Thought I should give this section an update so here I go...Been living along the south coast of France since April and although it's absolutely beautiful with the most stunning view from my balcony, up until a week ago (today's 8/11 I think) I could only say I, uh, liked living here. The reasons being: I was still getting to know the place and kept thinking of all the things it didn't have compared to LA, I hardly had anyone to practice my french with and I'm too shy to sit around at cafes to strike up conversations with randoms, and the biggest reason of them all...my husband's busy summer season of work started a month earlier than usual and so I was pretty much living here and experiencing the place all by myself. Well, I just spent 5wks visiting LA and during that time, I got to catch up with lots of family and friends (unfortunately I didn't have the chance to catch up with everyone I would've liked to), spent some time working at my old job, took trips out to Vegas, Seattle, SF and got to go blading at Venice Beach and eat loads of whatever I wanted that I've been missing. It was great being back. I just got back to France last weekend and I realized during this week that I like living here more than I thought I did. It's just that it took me going back home (which, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love) to appreciate the difference of lifestyle and culture this place has to offer. It was because this time I was coming back to something familiar and although I spent my time in LA catching up on the things I missed here and avoiding things that I got too much of here, now I could revert back to it with pleasure. After sitting on my butt so much driving around in LA, I love walking everywhere again here and taking public transport. As much as I enjoyed rooming with my best buddy Jane, it's nice to be back in my own place again. I'm back to enjoying salted dried meats and steak tartare but when I was in LA, I was getting my fill of Brazillian, Mexican, sushi and Starbucks soy chai lattes...oh and Wahoo's Fish Tacos. I'm finding new places to explore and relax each day. James is still not really around but we've only got one more month to go before we start living a normal life and can wake up and end the day with each other everyday. I'm doing a helluva lot of reading here which is great. I did try my hand in the food service industry and loved it so will hopefully be doing that again soon. I unfortunately don't have much of a night life here when James and all the guy he works with are away but I'm finding other ways to entertain myself. I just finished reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and got to thinking maybe this is my lesson in learning to live in solitude. Hahaha. Ok, I'm not always a loner here but I never wanted to live in an apt by myself and here I am living in an apt by myself since James is away. Alright, will end it here. It's always a long one for me...can't seem to help it.