a little vitamin D

It's Monday morning, and I don't work until 2pm, so here I am, updating Mr. Blog. I had a wonderful weekend with mon chéri and I'm sad it's over. But France decided to suck a little less this weekend, and we've had sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 14 degrees for the past few days. Spring is slowly trying to roll in and I couldn't be more happier about that. It's amazing what a few days of sun and warm air can do for the morale! Max and I didn't get up to much, but we spent a lot of time together which is the most important thing for me. Saturday night was spent eating poulet roti and frites watching TF1 (when did we become his parents? I'm not too sure...). Sunday we were both up by 9am, and decided to take advantage of (the perhaps fleeting) weather by taking Pinch on a long walk in a park along the canal near our house. For the first time in a while, I wasn't wrapped from head to toe in warm, winter clothes and managed to sneak out with just a fleece jacket and scarf. Pinch loved his "walkies" and spent the rest of the evening passed out on the couch while Max and I ate my homemade tarte aux poireaux (leek and zucchini tart) which I decided to make thanks to my friend Emma who made one last weekend when I was there visiting her and I got inspired. It turned out surprisingly well for a first time, even though I had to google how to prepare leeks, lol.

Max is finished with in-class lessons for the next 3 months and will be doing an internship now at a police station near the school. He starts today at 2pm, so he slept here last night and left this morning at 8am. He's very happy to be out of the classroom and working in the station because it's a lot more interesting for him. Unlike a lot of the students at the school who didn't have previous police experience, Max had already worked for the police for 2 years before going back to school, so a lot of what he will be learning during the internship are things he knows already, but it will give him an advantage over the other students. He'll finish the internship at the end of April, then will have 3 more months of class before finishing the entire year at the end of July. From what he gathers, July is pretty much a write-off though and the students spend more time playing frisbee on school grounds than sitting in class. He has a week off in June for holidays, and we plan on going to Nice, Aix-en-Provence, and Marseille (if there is time). I haven't seen this region of France yet, and it won't be peak tourist season yet, so the cost of renting an apartment or hotel for the week will be a lot lower. We'll pack up the car and the dog and head to the south of France for a week along the mediterranian coast. I can't wait! When we get back from holidays, it will be time to start packing up our house, tying up loose administrative ends, and moving to wherever he gets stationed. I'll have to quit my job in July (boo hoo) and apply for chomage which will allow me to earn money for the first few months in our new home while I look for a new job. I know I talk about this pending move a lot in my blogs, but I'm very excited about the prospect of packing up and moving somewhere to start over. Maybe once I get settled somewhere nice with a better job, I'll start feeling better about my life here in France and be able to view the future with optimism. Fingers crossed all goes according to plan!!