December 2004, Marseille

We have now been in France for about 2 months. Winter is beginning to set in and the Mistral is arriving. The Mistral is a very cold, strong wind that blows during the winter. If the Mistral is not blowing Marseille is beautiful and warm. However, when the Mistral blows be prepared to wear everything you own because it is fricken cold!!
When the mistral is blowing, you can go surfing. It is very different from San Diego. In San Diego you only want to surf in the morning when there is no wind. However, in Marseille it is best to wait for the afternoon when the wind is strongest creating a wind swell. Yesterday the waves were about shoulder high. Unfortunately, since the shipping company broke my surfboard I have nothing to ride. I am subjected to running now since I have no bike, surfboard or basketball court to exercise on.
I did have the chance to play basketball the other night. They have professional and amateur leagues here which travel all over France. They always seem to need people to help them in their practices so a friend of mine ask me to come the other night to play in the amateur league which is the equivalent to a small college team (probably division 2 or 3). It was a lot of fun. I definitely was able to keep up with them but I could only last for about 15 minutes at a time. Thank god they play a zone defense. It felt great to play again. I would like to go on a normal basis but it is a bit difficult right now. Hopefully sooner or later we will be more settled so I can join or play more often.

New Years 2001 

Cabo 2002

Napa 2003 Robert Mondavi

Who We Are

Valerie and John met in August 2000 in San Diego at Longboards Bar and Grill. A rather unlikely success story as one might say when meeting in a bar. However, 4 years later our blog begins as well as a new life in France.


John
A native Californian, born and raised in Sacramento.
Age: Forgotten
Hobbies: Basketball, Snowboarding, Surfing, Reading and walking on the beach or in the mountains.


Valerie
A native Savoyard, born an raised in a small province called Bonneville in Haute Savoie, France.
Age: Less than John
Hobbies: Skiing, Hiking, traveling and irritating John.


Late August 2000, Longboards Bar and Grill, San Diego, Ca.
John is drunk trying to locate the bathroom yet again. He surveys the crowd once more to verify that everyone is still standing. Brian dances to the music of the live band with 3 woman hanging on his side. Seeing that everything appears to be normal, John turns to head to the bathroom. As he turns two beautiful girls cut him off. The girl with a mix of blonde and brown hair says, "hello" in heavily accented English. It is obvious from the heavily accented English that she is French and has had a few drinks. John keeps in mind this isn't the first time he has had a French girl try to pick him up. The first time, except for a rather entertaining evening while bartending, didn't leave much to tell since the girl spoke absolutely no English and he spoke no French. That story will be told another time. However, this evening beauty has caught his attention.
"Hello", he says back.
In the next few lines John learns his first tidbits about French culture.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No."
"Are you dating?"
"Yes."
A normal response for most Americans who don't have a girlfriend, however, this response provokes a whole different image to French person. Dating in the normal sense is not exercised in France. It appears that most French become entwined after 1 meeting. A very strange phenomena to an American. How can you know after 1 date if this is the right person for you?
Following that quick change of dialogue. The girls walk off in search of new accommodations.
John, remembering he must go to the toilet before his bladder explodes trudges forward through the crowd.
Around half an hour later, John had resumed dancing with Brian and the girls. None of which are very attractive but nevertheless friendly and fun and at the point of intoxication nothing else really matters. Being a little oblivious to what is going on around, John does not realize the two girls that interacted with him earlier have begun dancing right behind him. One of Brian's friends screams out to the two girls, "don't you think these two guys are cute"?
They respond, "yes".
At that instance John realizes this girl doesn't understand dating in the US. So he decides to make an attempt to explain what dating really means to an American. During the next drunken hour he realizes that not only is she beautiful but she can speak fluent English. As always when things are going well the evening ends way to quickly but he takes her number and the rest is history!