Step 2: Tie up loose ends

I'm happy to report that the #1 thing on my to-do list (find a tenant for our apartment) and the #2 thing (find a new home for our two cats) have been completed!! I don't know how it happened, but I managed to find a seemingly together, trustworthy, and tidy renter who will happily mother our cats for the year that we are gone! This is a HUGE relief and now that the deal is done and the damage deposit is in my hand I am feeling so much better about everything! Now, the focus of my attention is: what the heck am I going to do in a tiny little french town in the middle of a forest? The cheese and the bread and the wine immediately spring to mind, but aside from becoming an overweight (and diabetic?) alcoholic, I am trying to figure out ways to make this year as productive as possible. The obvious answer would be to work, find gainful employment, perfect my french. But truth be told, I'm happy with my less than par language skills, and I am very familiar with the attitude that some french people generally have with foreigners who botch their language. The problem with the first part, is that my french visa actually forbids me from working in France! It appears that the easiest (and fastest!) route into the country on such short notice, is to get a "long-term-stay-wife of a student-with-a-EU-passport" visa, that essentially allows me to be a wife in France and nothing else. Luckily, I am a graduate student with a hefty thesis to complete, and the bizarre fact that I can't actually work even if I wanted to is, as it turns out, a huge relief. I can actually focus on finishing it, and doing it well without worrying that I am missing out on some fabulous job opportunity. Hopefully next time I write I will have a substantial list of new ideas.. for now, as long as wine and cheese are are on there somewhere, I'm sure it'll be a good year.