Mathieu is not to sure about Santa Claus. Christmas morning in Ft Lauderdale at our favorite hotel the Marriot.

Christmas morning in Ft Lauderdale. Gotta love our Christmas tree. You have to give up some things when you vacation over Xmas. No complaints here.

Back from Florida

We just came back from vacation in Florida where we did a home exchange in Ft Lauderdale. My mother came out and spent her first Xmas with Mathieu and family. Mathieu of course loved it and he doesn’t stop asking for Mamie. I think he wants more presents from her.

We spent our days at the pool lounging and happy hours at the cabana on the beach. Unfortunately, I found out there is really no surf in the area so that was a bit disappointing. On the other hand, we went over to Naples, Ft Meyers, and Sanibel Island and there were some nice waves but I didn’t have time to surf.

I got in touch with an old friend from high school, Mike Harris who lives out there. It had been 20 years and he still looks the same. We spent New Year’s Eve at his home in Boca Raton and had a blast listening to live Brazilian music and drinking Sangria. I had to practically drag Valerie out of the house at 3am. Thank you Facebook, for that.

We went to the famous Le Tub restaurant “supposedly the best hamburger in the country”. It was a really cool dive bar-type setting right on one of the canals. It was bit cold to sit outside but the interior was all about fishing. The hamburger was giant! it had to be over a half pound of beef. The hamburger was really good but I found it to be too big. Maybe I am becoming too French (small portions) or I just can’t eat like I used to.

As always the trip was too short but we left at the right time since the temperature hit all time lows a few days later. The last few days that we were there we actually had to wear pants and jackets. What crazy weather.

We had a bit of a problem on the return unfortunately. We took a train from Geneva to Lyon and when we got off the train in Lyon I forgot my backpack. I realized it about 15 mins later so I ran back to the station and the agent told me it had left for a cleaning depot. This was good news since that means the train was empty. 30 mins later the agent told me a cleaning crew found the backpack and that they would send it back on the next train. Well, when I picked it up I noticed that it was awful light. I looked inside and found out that someone had stolen our camera (all our vacation photos), my iPod, our American telephone, 30 American dollars, 2 bottles of alcohol purchased at duty free and some cards for Mathieu. The agent said it was probably a passenger and not the cleaning crew. Personally, I call bullshit. How would a passenger have had enough time to go through every little pocket of the backpack? Only the cleaning crew had the backpack long enough. I filed a police report but I highly doubt anything will happen. I am going to watch all the selling sites for the next month or so to see if my iPod and camera show up.

Anyway, luckily my mother took some photos. I will post those as soon as possible.

DINGGGGGG

Well the driver's license test didn't go well. Looks like I will be retaking it in February. I am definitely pissed about that but there is nothing I can do and I need to stop stressing about it.

Anyway, there are some new pics available on the left from December.

Driver’s License Update

It’s not over yet. Just to give a little update on the agony of my work to get a driver’s license in France. Yesterday, I took the actual driver part of the test. Of course, they don’t tell you right away if you passed or not. The only way you would know if you failed is if the inspector hits the extra brake in the car. The good news is that he didn’t have to use his extra brake.

I did do something that didn’t make him happy. There was a “roundabout” type of intersection that I kind of hesitated when exiting. The problem with this intersection was that it wasn’t a normal exit. The inspectors like to use this type of intersection to trick you. Luckily I had already done this type of intersection a couple of times before so I knew what to expect but when I exited I hesitated a little too long and a car arrived behind me and I kind of slowed him down. It wasn’t really bad but the inspector told me that I had caused the driver to slow down and that I shouldn’t have hesitated so long.

Besides that issue, at one point the inspector told me I was going to slow and should drive normally. Otherwise, I successfully answered all the questions he asked me and I successfully navigated the “French right-hand priorities”. So now I am awaiting the results. Unfortunately, even though these were not big errors it could cause me to fail the test. Obviously, I am a bit stressed out about it. I should receive the results in a couple of days and then I will know whether I have to take the test again in a couple of months or I am officially a French driver.

New Photos Available

Check the photos albums on picassa section on the left. Mathieu just had his 2nd birthday and his first pumpkin carving experience, even thought the neighbor's kid did most of the work (it was his first pumpkin carving as well).

Otherwise, Mathieu is really starting to come into his own. He is starting to say a lot of things even if we don't understand him half of the time.

On my side, I am still working on the drivers license. Apparently, my bad habits will make me fail the test since they are very strict. I don't necessarily agree with all the things they say I am doing wrong. Most of my issues center around the fact that I don't look around enough and that I use the clutch too much. Because of these things I will fail the test so the monitor says I need to continue taking course until I have fixed them. Of course, each course is 62 Euros which means more money in the school's pocket. I am definitely going to spend more than I planned.

I can't believe that they aren't more lenient for people who have driven for 20 years! Pathetic.

French Drivers License

Well, after 4 years of driving in France, it is time to get a real French drivers license. Unfortunately, that means devoting a lot of time and money to the cause. Getting a drivers license in France is not easy. First off, the success rate for the test is below 70% and we are talking about French people taking the test. Second, the test comes in one language, FRENCH; meaning foreigners are at a disadvantage with the language barrier. The test is 40 questions in which you can only miss 5 and to make matters worse they place trick questions on the test. You really have to pay attention to every little detail in the picture to answer the question. On top of that each question may have 2 parts and there maybe more than one correct answer but never all correct answers. So tell me this doesn’t sound stressful. Well, if not I haven’t even begun to discuss the cost which is a bit cheaper for me since I already have an American drivers license. The minimum cost is around 600 Euros and each time you fail a test you have to pay an additional 80 Euros and wait a month before you can take it again! Well, with a success rate of less than 70% imagine how many people are paying additional costs. I have talked to many French people who paid over 1000 Euros for their drivers license.

A little note: Valerie renewed her California drivers license in May. She failed 2 times on the same day and passed the 3^rd time all at a cost of $20???? Why can’t it be that easy here?

So, when I first started taking practice tests I was missing 20 on each test. As of a few weeks back I was hovering right around 5 mistakes. Some days I would miss 2 other days I would miss 8 or 9. I decided it was time to take the real test so I signed up to take the test last Monday. Anyway, last Wednesday I took a practice test at the school and missed 11. CRAP, this got me really stressed out. The thought of failing and having to pay another 80 Euros was killing me. So every night I came home and took practice tests on a software program I downloaded. It got better until Saturday when I took 5 practice tests in a row and failed all of them. Once again, more stress. Really has to do with my state of mind. So Sunday, I spent another couple of hours taking tests with better results.

Come Monday morning, I was really stressed out. I had to meet at the school at 9am and a bus transported us to the testing center. No one said a word on the way over. The driver tried to assure us that it would be ok but nobody was buying it. At the center we waited almost an hour. Of course, this only compounded my stress. Once we were checked in and seated they handed us a remote control to answer each question that flashed up on the movie screen. The test took about 20 minutes. Overall, I felt it there were some difficult questions but most I had seen before on one practice test or another. Finally, the moment of reckoning came. They called my name I went up to the front of the room "in front of everyone" and they handed me a piece of paper. I took the paper and walked out the backdoor. The Driver immediately asked, well? I said I don’t know I haven’t looked. He took the paper and looked and said, YOU PASSED!!They only tell you how many you missed if you fail so I have no idea how close I was.

Out of the 9 students who went 6 of us passed. HAPPINESS, I never have to take the stupid test again, unless they take my license away…

At this point, I have spent 450 Euros with no additional costs needed but I still have to take the actual driving test. I took a course recently with an instructor and they said I have a lot of bad habits that need to be fixed before taking the test. Hopefully, I can fix them soon so I don’t have to continue shelling out 60 Euros per driving course.

French Naturalization Procedure

Since I am on a roll today, here is a little update on the process I am going through to obtain dual citizenship (French/American). Finally after 4 years of living here and being married to a French citizen I have the right to request dual citizenship like my son who already has it. Lucky him. So back in July I presented my dossier. Basically it takes one year to go through an approval process and yesterday, I cleared the last big hurdle.
Valerie and I had a interview with the National Police. They needed to verify that we lived together and that I have a job and can speak the language. Speaking was the simple part however, I also had to write a paragraph that he dictated to me. Talk about miserable failure. I am really bad at writing in French and even worse when someone is dictating the French to me. Anyway, apparently that didn't affect the outcome. He said he was going to pass along an approval from the National Police and he even told me where to get the best pizza in town. Pizza came up in the interview as my only religious belief when he asked me if I was part of any religious cults. So now all I have to do is go get a pizza and wait for the response from the immigration. Assuming all goes by next July I should be a French/American citizen.

Holiday in the South

We spent a few days down south visiting our old haunts (Marseille, Cassis and La Ciotat). Every trip down to Marseille involves two things these days. Hiking in the Calanques and eating at our favorite restaurant on a small port called "Au bord de l'eau" (not to be confused with the picture below of another restaurant on another port).
We took a boat ride out to the Ile Verte. A beautiful little island where we spent the afternoon swimming. Look at the formation of the cliff behind. It looks like it is about to fall over.

This is why Marseille and Cassis are so well known. There are several Calanques (cliffs dropping into the sea) that are only accessible by boat or by hiking in. The cliffs extend up to several hundred feet above the water in crazy formations, not to mention the breath taking clear blue water below.
We have gone to the Calanques by boat and by hiking but everytime we go to Marseille visiting the Calanques is a must. Isn't it beautiful? Swimming in these little oasis' is like a dream.

We met up with some friends Eric and Aramide from Marseille, and spent the afternoon at Parc Borely, the beach and at our old hangout, the Red Lion, in Point Rouge for a drink. Salome is close to Mathieu's age. What a great picture of the two of them.

This photo was taken at dinner in Saint Cyr sur Mer. The dinner wasn't that good but the view was spectacular.

Atlantic Coast of France

In Montlivet they had a little kids carnival every night. However, I think Val had more fun on the rides than Mathieu.
Montlivet is a small surf town not far from where we were staying.

Atlantic Coast of France

Val took a Sushi course one afternoon in Soulac sur Mer and the results were amazing. I am still waiting for her to make it again.
We also took our bike up to Soulac. They have tons of bike trails that pass along the ocean and in the forests. Well worth it.

Atlantic Coast of France

Little late be better late than never. We did the annual French pilgrimage/vacation in August. However, instead of going to the sea (Mediterranean) we went to the ocean (Atlanctic) for a bit of surfing, wine tasting, visiting the tourist attractions and lounging on the beach.
Here is Mathieu's first attempt at surfing. He wouldn't get off the board. Someday he will be doing the real thing.