Is it winter or what?

I haven't blogged for a while. The weather here has been very unusual - we have had spring sunshine and warmth for about two weeks. Bud are swelling on trees, spring flowers are out (spring orchid pictured above), insects are coming out and about and my friend's tortoise came out of hibernation on saturday morning. Last weekend we were reading on the deck wearing our summer clothes. BUT ...it's not spring, and suddenly the weather turned cold yesterday. Rain, wind and a drop of at least 10 degrees C. People were looking at the sky and talking about snow (snow!!). The snow didn't come, but this afternoon we watched another storm rolling over the hills.

I had my medical for my Carte de Sejour today. Someone mucked up and I was sent for orientation classes with all the other immigrants, which made my appointment last a lot longer than it needed to. A video, a long talk from 3 different social workers (and then the translation into Arabic) and then a meeting with a social worker (it didn't last very long when she found out I was only staying for another 3 months), as well as a meeting with a nurse, a doctor and a chest x-ray (for TB - I'm clear - woohoo!) Whew, what an afternoon. All in French. For those staying on, the service is very good - you get 200 hours of free French language lessons (written as well as spoken), and two intensive days of orientation into French life - how to find housing, how to find a job, etc. The emphasis is on being French. If you are French, you are French, and you are expected to speak French, and behave like a French person.

After 5 months here, I suddenly realise I have become very fond of Aniane. Incomprehensible sounds have solidified into meaningful words, and I can have conversations with the other parents at school, the teachers, the other women at gym and pottery, the lady at the boulangerie .... I like living in a small town, we hardly go to the shops except for necessities, but we seem to be always busy. I like walking out the door and seeing people I know, at least well enough to call out 'bonjour' or have a short conversation about the weather. I like getting the 'local's discount' at the Aniane Co-operative Caveau (winery). I like the social event that is a visit to the butcher's shop - you wait in line, and chat with people you know while M.Caizergues serves meat and jocularity to the crowd. I like the way you are greeted whenever you enter a shop or restaurant, any establishment really, and bid farewell when you leave. The sight of Gignac and Aniane nestled in the plain as you come over the hill on the freeway from Montpellier. The hourly bongs from the bell atop the Chapelle des penitents across the road. Kids all over the place, playing in the streets, grandparents picking up grandchildren for lunch from school. Even the dogs, and the little cleaning truck that washes the crottes (dog poops) off the street. The grey and green hills not so far away. The dry soil and fragrant vegetation, wild leeks, wild asparagus, thyme, rosemary, juniper, santolina, and scrubby 'garrigue' (low growing wild shrubs and small pines and oaks that cover the hills around here).

Hmmm...


Chapelle des penitents - if you look closely at the tower you can see the bell on top (picture taken from our house)


Vineyard and garrigue just outside Aniane


Aniane, with hills in background