back to my French life

Getting back to France from Canada yesterday was long (plane, train, car), but thankfully, uneventful (the same cannot be said for the trip to Canada, but that seems forever ago now, so I won't rehash). I had a window seat AND no one in the seat next to me for the whole flight. This has never happened to me before on a transatlantic flight, and let me tell you - being able to actually lie down over the 2 seats does wonders for making a night flight go all that much better. And because I'm pocket-sized, I was able to curl up quite comfortably on the seats and actually sleep a little. These couple hours of sleep made it possible to get through the next day which involved lots of waiting for my TGV Paris-Lyon, and then the 2-hour drive back to my town with Max.

The pets were overjoyed to see me, and Mini hopped right back into her routine of falling asleep on the couch then coming to snuggle under the covers with me at 4am. Max told me that she didn't sleep in our bed once while I was gone, but she clearly recognized that Mommy was back last night and dove back in. She's been all over me since I returned, and I dare say that it appears Mini is happier to have me back than Pinch. Granted, I'm doing my best to keep up the good habits Max started with the dog while I was gone, and part of that basically requires that I ignore him (channeling Cesar Milan: No touch, no talk, no eye contact.) It's so hard for me, but I can see it's working (must. stop. anthropomorphizing). We've got big plans for little Pinch in February, but more on that in another post.

I was put on the schedule to work at the museum today, even though I got back home around 7pm last night. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be however, and despite being tired and a bit sick (something I picked up on the plane or just the result of being over-tired), I had fun at work talking about my trip and passing around the maple cream cookies I brought back for my colleagues. What's even better was the the director of the museum was waiting for me to arrive this morning so she could talk to me about my contract. As you may remember, I'm working part-time at 50% of another employee; basically she does 50% of her hours and I am replacing her for the other 50%.  My contract is until March, but the director wants to offer me an extension until the end of September, and I'll move up to 70%. She cannot offer me a full-time position because one has not become available, but due to some maternity leaves and whatnot, I can work a day or 2 more per week and still get the complement from the unemployment agency. Sounds like a good plan to me! I'll be able to enjoy my summer even more because I won't be trapped in a full-time position (Pinch just breathed a sigh of relief behind me), and I won't be losing money because I'll still get the difference in pay from the unemployment agency. It's a win-win! I'll be giving English lessons to my colleagues once a week as well in order to prepare them for the influx of English speaking tourists this summer. It'll be limited to role plays and a lot of oral practice/listening skills, so no annoying lesson prep or boring grammar lessons. Plus, being able to teach my colleagues as well as working the front desk gives me a bit of an edge over the other part-timers and makes me a good candidate to keep on staff. Things are looking good for the moment!

Going back to work the very next day after returning from Canada turned out to be a good thing for me. I had never done it before, but found it prevented me from sitting at home feeling sad and homesick and generally sorry for myself (like I had tendency to do upon my return). I did feet pangs of sadness at work as I described my lovely and relaxing trip 'home', but it was a lot easier not to dwell on these feelings considering I had things to keep me busy. I may have woken up at 7am this morning jet-lagged and with a killer sore throat, but my mind was a lot more at ease than it has been in the past after coming back from Canada and that was a good feeling overall.