Reason number one that I hate writing posts

I hate these damn keyboards! For instance, right there when I wanted to put in an exclamation point, it came out as a one. You see, in order to get a number from the keypad, not the 10 key, you have to press the shift key. So when I begin to type and press shift and then the 1 key I expect to get an exclamation point, but instead get the number one. It's damn annoying!
This will explain, perhaps, why you will not get anything out of me when I leave France. Once the keyboard changes again, that's it, I'm not gonna write1...I mean, I'm not gonna write!

Here is the keyboard layout from left to right:
&é"'(-è_çà)=
azertyuiop^$
qsdfghjklmù*
wxcvbn,;:!

Then in caps:
1234567890°+
AZERTYUIOP¨£
QSDFGHJKLM%µ
WXCVBN?./§

Then there is an alternate group of symbols that involve more than one key being held in order to get the surprizingly necessary keys like: #\ and @

What a pain in the ass1... ass!

The trouble is not so much that my hands hurt because I am pushing them in slightly different directions than they are used to, but that I am constantly deleting what I have written because in place of an A there is a Q. When I type my name and do not pay attention, I send emails to the principle of my school or the office of the préfecteur of the depqrtement, damn... departement that have my name spelled O'?eallie.

Nevermind that today I was at the préfecteur and was made to wait in what I imagine the "jails" in mid-sized airports must look and feel like... you're in a small room, there are many interregation rooms without numbers on the doors, you're locked in and there is no bathroom, every seat has somewhere where you can handcuff an aggressive drunk... or terrorist. That was not a problem§... problem! The problem is that even though I want to share my fantastical visions of acting as a drug mule and getting caught and wondering which room has that cold white tile and the barking German Shepard, I am hampered by the rearrangement of the letters on the keyboard.

Until next time I work up the pqtience... patience to write you again, au revoir.
- Patrick

Our address

I realized yesterday that I haven't told all of you that we have a place to live. We are living at the school where Patrick teaches. It is a small room (10 x 10), we do have our own bathroom and a shared kitchen. However, the rent is by far the cheapest we have ever paid or will ever pay so that is great. Our address is:

Patrick O'Meallie
Cité scolaire Camille Vernet
160 rue Faventines
BP 2137
26021 Valence cedex

In the event that any of you chose to send us anything please put Patrick's full name first so we get it, they sort the mail by name.

Photos to come soon!

Molly

28 Hours Total

Sleeping has always found a nice place in my heart. My father took a Polaroid of me when I was thirteen, maybe. I had just woken up, at about 2:00 in the afternoon, and told him that I had just had the best sleep of my life. I have this rockin' pony tail and this glazed look in my eyes that would make you think I had just discovered dope. The truth is that I may have discovered dope already, but I had not discovered that other kids got paid a thing called an allowance for domestic tasks like mowing the lawn... or the neighbor's lawn. This being the case I was not high and wouldn't get high for another year or so when I discovered someone to exchange grass for a meager sum.
But please stay with me, gentle reader, as I digress.
What I wanted to mention is that I had two nights in a row over the weekend when I slept for 14 uninterrupted hours. It helps that the French put shutters on every window they have and give this sense of importance to them as though all of your organs will be stolen from your body if you don't shut all the shutters. Thus, you sleep in complete darkness. Which is bad if you have an early morning rendez-vous (if you will), but great if you have just had three days of activity following a 30 hour day of traveling and could really use some rest. It may have been the best sleep I have ever had! ( a quick note: the pillows DO suck! and my matress is kind of like a hammock, but that did not matter until Monday morning-ish when I tried to walk more than a block... but they were French blocks, so it wasn't very far)

With that I leave you. Get jealous. or just hole yourself in a basement room with a small piece of old foam rubber as a pillow and an old hammock and live the sweet life!

- Patrick

Pillows and bread: Life in France so far

Pillows and bread: Life in France so far

It has been almost one week since we arrived in France and I am not sure where to begin. I guess I will begin with our 30 hour journey here. Good god it was long and the person in front of me on our flight to London was a complete space hog. It was as if he needed more room than anyone else in the plane, which made it difficult to do anything. However, I would like to take this time to express how much I enjoyed the British Airways instructional video for flying information. Of all the people who have traveled internationally not a soul has mentioned these delightful videos. When we fly to France it was the same video only it had French subtitles. They were great for the chessy entertainment it provided. When we finally arrived in Valence we walked around for a while and ate at a Kebab restaurant. We went to bed around 7pm to wake up at 3:30 in the morning. Needless to say it has taken a while to adjust to the time change.

For me, France is different and the same in many ways. It is different in obvious ways such as language. I wish I would have taken a more intensive French class before we left. I am very frustrated by my inability to communicate. I can understand some of what is going on around me but I mostly get by reading peoples' body language. Alas, I didn't take a class and Spanish comes out of my mouth before I even have time to think in French. I have decided to find a tutor or class or something to help me with this situation. I also have been relying on Patrick a lot to help get me around and I thank him for being the main French speaker at this time.

For the most part Valence looks like any modern city in the States except that it has incredibly old buildings where ever you go. It is a little weird to walk around and see Ford cars parked in front of buildings from the time of Napolean. There is a lot of graffiti and trash in the city so it is like walking around New York in some ways. The amount of graffiti surprised me especially since most of it looks like crap. When I find artistic graffiti I will take a photo of it and post it, we will see if I find anything worth capturing via photo.

Yes, French bread is amazing as is cheap French wine. However, the French pillow sucks, big time! Also they have no jalapenos!

I will write more later this week. Topics I will cover: French parking, moving to a new country and what you should bring (in addition to pillows) and odd people I see around Valence.

Until I write you all again.
Love,
Molly

A quick note

We arrived.

Prologue

Dinner was nice.

With just enough saved and trying our best to not spend money, yet still attempting to see people, Molly and I are trying to get ready for a trip. It's kinda weird packing clothing for a year when you really don't know too much about what the weather will really be or what activities you may actually be doing.

I set up, I hope, some housing for the first month we will be in Valence. We will not have a kitchen so there may be more comments about restaurant food in the beginning than the end as we chronicle this year.

I am trying to harness my anxiety for leaving (in 8 days) in a word that most people call 'excitement.' "Are you excited," people will ask... then the black ball of anxiety swells in my chest, restricting my breathing. Is this excitement?
I guess. Perhaps I should begin using the word, "excitement."

I am excited. There you have it.
- Patrick

I guess I will start where Patrick left off. I am excited, just not yet completely. Maybe on the plane to France from London is when I will get excited about France. Things I am excited about in no particular order. First, I am excited that I have not worked in 10 days. Second, I am excited that I have seen so many people I love before we leave. I wish that my life consisted of these two things. God that would be great! The only thing that would be better if I got paid to hang out with the people I love, although that might make me a whore.

I am not excited about all the little things I have to do before I leave or that everyone I want to see lives an hour away or more from one another. I would like to take this time to push the importance of a public transportation system that runs the entire I-25 corridor and I-70. I will right a draft of the bill if someone is willing to push it through.

As for preparing for France I worked on my French today with Patrick. We went over the basic vowels today. I had no idea that speaking French is all about the position of your mouth and lips. Maybe all languages are like this, but French is the first language I have noticed that it actually matters, the position of your mouth.

I can't wait for people to come and visit us in France. Please let us know when any of you would like to visit so we can plan for your stay. I look forward to see all of you. I am excited to travel around and see new places. I am just a little worried about the pace of it all. I speak to Patrick how he likes to travel and it kind of scares me. I am a McKellar and as a McKellar travel is relaxing. We see one thing a day and then hang out. We will see and you will all know about it through this blog.

Dinner was great tonight.

Over and out.
Molly

Preface

We'll get right to that. Let's eat dinner first.