France – Page 2 – Creative Meanderings

Europe Phase II Part 2a

Going Mental, Meanderings Abroad 1 Response »

May 162021

Bonjour from France again! 🇫🇷

So… the Universe heard my pangs of frustration and loneliness by providing us with our plan of action for Phase II Part 1 and 2.

Part 1 Recap

I already covered most of Part 1 in the previous post. We ate as a coping mechanism, but thankfully it was only one real meal a day in early afternoon applying daily intermittent fasting so that our bodies could use as much time as possible to digest the tasty offerings of the Italian cuisine.

Basically, our visa situation both got simpler and more complicated at the same time. Our Internet woes were only really remedied by taking advantage of cafe culture, which generally works best for me anyway, but isn’t as good for running an online magazine as my big screen iMac. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Our plan to move to a bigger place has become reality, only in a different country….

Part 2 – The Visa

It seems that the procurement of the mystical Type-D visa is reasonably straightforward from the Italian embassy. Since our last “residency” is considered France, thanks to M’s ability to get it swiftly and my dependency (not so thankful), we think we don’t have to consider the US aspect for me.

Although we were led to believe that we could simply go to Nice, which isn’t far from where I wanted to be based anyway, to be near my friends, we learned that thanks to the Pandemic C, all consulates have been closed and the only place we can do this visa processing is through Paris.

The upside is that we get to visit Paris. It’s a city that I’m not all that enamored with after visiting it once on my own for a few days in a very cold and wet November a few years back. M loves the charm, which I deem cliche and over-hyped. So, he is determined to show me the reason why it is considered a city of love 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 …. We shall see. 😜

Unfortunately, the earliest appointment we could get is for June 10th. This is about a month away. Luckily, the consulate is communicating quickly and clearly via email, so I feel a bit more at ease with that.

So, why are we in France now?

Well, M has to travel around the EU for work. Now that the borders are open again with just a negative PCR, he is eager to go away. As it has been about 15 months since we spent a night apart, I’m equally eager for him to go away. 😉

Since M wants to travel and I really cannot go across borders unless by car, where the likelihood of being checked is slimmer, (have done two crossings now and not been stopped 🤞🏽) I felt that it was safer for me to be in France should anything happen as at least I am in the system here for my residency application. Plus, I have friends here and can speak some of the language. I could not say the same for the tiny town that we were living in; and the dark stone-walled apartment that I would end up hiding away was not conducive to stability in my mental health, which is a bit on edge as it is with the stress all of this is applying to my carefully constructed sanity. 🤹🏽

Therefore, we have rented a lovely place near where we were before (and my friends) for the next six weeks. At the time that we rented, we didn’t know that it would be possible to get our visa on the same day as the appointment as we had heard it could take a couple of weeks. So, we wanted to be safe….

We will have to be out the day before my birthday, so am not sure what we will do as that is a long way away and our plans are ever-changing. However, I am already a million times happier having only been here for about four hours. I’ve got my friends on notice and plans in motion. 💃🏽🥂

I’ll share some photos next time. For now, I’m just reveling with lighter air! ✨

~T 😀

Europe Phase II

Going Mental 2 Responses »

Apr 272021

Six months ago, we landed in France planning to rent for a few months and then finding a place to put down roots long-term.

As life continues to remind me, most things rarely go as planned…. First, there is COVID with lockdowns and difficulties in being able to explore areas. Then, there is a lack of knowing exactly what we want. More importantly, there is the Footner element that requires fluidity and flexibility in any type of planning.

It doesn’t mean that there isn’t eventually follow-through, it just means that the timing and commitment to a decision may not happen as one (I) might prefer/desire/hope/dream!

Therefore, for various reasons, we leave on Sunday for what I’m now calling Phase II of our European settlement adventure.

Where are we going?

We will be heading to a small town in the province of Umbria, Italy.

Why are we going there?

Well, the short answer is because we paid a good chunk of cash to ensure that we can get visas. Although, by some weird twist of fate, M has already gotten his French visa, I have yet to hear anything regarding mine. My “free” 90-days stay has long passed, which causes me a bit of strife even though I do have a registration number and can be here as a former EU citizen’s spouse. However, the complications of Brexit, etc. make me less comfortable with those mere threads of bureaucratic legitimacy, so off to Italy we go where I already have an agreement for a residency visa there for at least the next five years – renewable.

What does that mean exactly?

It means that we have to have a ‘residence’ in Italy to legitimize the visa and all other paperwork and status comes through Italy instead of France, as we had originally planned. Thus, we need to head to Italy for a month or so to get the paperwork done and to move forward with our settling in Europe. We have a place rented, though we may find a larger space as our aim is to have a “winter” home there as well as an address to send our stuff that is still in Japan. There are worse things to plan, I’m sure! 😛

I have made M promise that we are coming back to this area of France as my new friends are here and I don’t want to just disappear. Though, he has put some typically “Footner” twists into the Phase III plans, but since those could change by the time I finish this post, I won’t bother to put it down into print just yet. 😉

So, Europe Phase I has been lovely and definitely worth the Japan departure six months ago. My French is coming along fairly well, though I have started an online class to improve my speaking and listening. I figured it was a good time to do so since I’ll be away from any chance of being exposed to it while in Italy and I don’t plan to learn more than a few words in Italian so as not to get too comfortable!

~T 😀

Hoping for the Best!

Going Mental 2 Responses »

Nov 242020

We are in the middle of the fourth week of lockdown 2.0 in France 🇫🇷. Tomorrow, there will be another update from the President (Macron), who is rumored to announce an extension of the period with some exceptions. Some have even suggested that the current state will be enforced until the new year.

While our day-to-day lives, especially during the week, have little to no change since we can go out for groceries or drives without any interference (thus far), there is a bit of claustrophobia felt on the weekends and in those moments when we consider escaping our computers for a while.

Mostly, though, it’s the lack of knowing what we can “get away with”. I imagine those who never consider challenging the ‘rules’ are bothered by this conundrum. Rather, their issues might be not being able to do anything even though this would not actually be true. We can do quite a lot depending on where we are. In our area, there seems to be little enforcement of staying at home or concern with people like us going for long drives on the backroads.

Since we are boundary-pushers, we find frustration in the fact that we do not know if we could actually make it to the beach or another town where we want to explore for our future home. We are kept away by not wanting to risk the initial fine of €175 (or thereabouts 💶) since we don’t know if it would be both of us that gets fined, and it’d be a waste of money 💸. On the other hand, we do not know anyone who has been fined, nor have we heard of many who have even been stopped. Still, I’m not willing to spend money on something like that even though we might ‘waste’ money on other things.

So, it is with fingers-crossed 🤞🏽that we hope that tomorrow’s news will be positive in that we can at least explore a bit even if it means we cannot enjoy cafe culture or restaurants for a bit longer. We shall see! 🙏🏽

~T 😀

Settling In to November

Going Mental No Responses »

Nov 022020

We are already 20 days in to being in France! How did the time go so quickly? Can it really already have been 20 days? 🤷🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

My husband says that I have been walking around with a permanent smile on my face since we arrived – or at least once the travel fog lifted. 😁

It’s probably true.

I am SOOOOOOO happy we are here. 👏🏽 Our little Stone Cottage rental is perfect for the time-being. There are ways it could be better in terms of our work stations and the sofa, etc., but these are just minor things in the grand scheme and we can most definitely live with it. So, with the tiny complaints out of the way, let’s focus on the major positives! 👍🏽

I’ll be writing up a more thorough and informative account of the actual trip over, but that will come later on another platform – at least that’s the plan. 🤞🏽

For here, though, it’s been an amazing almost three-weeks. We actually think we hit the timing just perfectly, really, as we are now four days into a month-long second round of lockdown across most of the major European countries in hopes of curbing the COVID-19 case numbers enough for people to be able to celebrate Christmas without restrictions. However, that is really anyone’s guess on how feasible it will be. 🤔 We aren’t holding our breaths when it comes to that.

Anyway, we are located near a smallish village called Lorgues. It is about 1.5 hours drive to Nice or 40 minutes to the beaches of Frejus. The biggest town nearby is Draguignan, but really we have all our necessities nearby.

Our cottage is a small gite owned by our neighbors who usually rent out the space during the summers as their side income. We have a private pool, though the water is currently far too chilly for swimming. The main perk is the outdoor terrace/patio area where we eat many of our meals, spend most of the afternoons, and generally appreciate the fresh air and chirping birds every day. ☀️It has only rained one or two days since we have arrived and the temperatures are daily in the low 20s C°/ upper 60s F°. This means that the mornings are cool, but the middays are perfection for working outside, reading a book, or just enjoying the moment. 🧘🏽‍♀️

Our kitties are also truly loving French life. Their personalities have shifted into what we deem as “normal” cat behavior with Chloe changing from being skittish to a lap cat and Momo being a generally lazy Garfield to exploring the area all day long.

November has started and it barely feels like fall or that the end of 2020 is coming at last in two months. However, we are settling in and truly loving life!

With that, I’ll stop gloating for now as it’s just about time for a glass for rosé🍷!

~T 😀

Change in the Air

Going Mental No Responses »

Oct 012020

As if a switch was turned the summer temperatures dropped 🌤 , humidity drifted away 🌬 , and leaves began to fall off the trees 🍃. Welcome to autumn.

Not to be outdone by the natural changes, we have our own seasonal movement happening. In 13 days, we will be on a plane to France 🛫🇫🇷. Assuming no major obstacles (knock on wood 🤞🏽) keep us from getting on the flight with the cats, we will begin the next phase of our lives near the Mediterranean Sea.

WHY ARE YOU MOVING TO FRANCE?

Many people have asked us this and, recently, my mother wanted to clarify to be able to explain to people this seemingly sudden move. After all, it feels as if we just got ourselves settled in Japan.

Well, two words explain in short: Brexit and COVID19.

FIRST, WHY FRANCE?

France has been our “next phase” (aka retirement) destination. We don’t say ‘retire’ because that suggests that we won’t be doing anything productive, but neither of us are likely to pass the days away leisurely – or at least, we can’t imagine that yet.

However, M has always wanted to have a vineyard 🍇 ➡️🍷and some land to putter around on in the French countryside. We have talked off and on about having a larger place to offer yoga retreats or conference centers or some kind of service-oriented type side business.

Either way, I fell in love 🥰 with the area when I visited in 2015 and agreed that it was somewhere I could happily spend the next phase of my life in. Despite my general dislike for the French language 🤦🏽‍♀️😂, I started to study it via the Duolingo app so that I would not be completely lost someday in the future when we moved there.

Besides, France is a great spot to launch from for travel as I have not done that much traveling through Europe as I always knew I wanted to see it when I could afford to enjoy it and not experience it like the typical backpacker. 🤷🏽‍♀️😇

NEXT, BREXIT:

Back in 2016, when the wheels of cray cray began to spin globally, we did not know what the effects of Brexit would be in a practical sense. It seemed for a while as if nothing would change, but then finally dates were set and actions were taken to declare that after December 31, 2020 British citizens would no longer be treated as EU citizens in France.

When we heard this, we began conversations around going sooner than later. However, at the beginning, we weren’t necessarily rushing to go as M pointed out that we could still move there, we’d just have to do more paperwork.

THEN, THERE WAS COVID19 –

The world went into this surreal state with no one really knowing that it was going to continue to an unknown future date. With the enforced and encouraged social distancing measures that have led to us both being able to work from home using video-calling programs and online systems, we realized that we could be doing this in our own open space, poolside, without neighbors within arms reach outside the windows, and just a train ride or car’s drive away from getting away from the ‘mundane’ things more freely (and cheaply).

OTHER DRAWS TO HAPPINESS:

Now, don’t get me wrong. Some of this is possible in Japan, and we have thoroughly enjoyed living here (haven’t left yet!). I admit that this time I have had the best time of all my stays here because I have been able to see it through new eyes.

However, it felt like this was the right timing and it all feels right. Japan was never meant to be for forever, though we did think that it was going to be for a bit longer than it’s turned out to be.

It’s just that we are both ready to live in more familiar lands where the culture and mindset are slightly more Western than we have been in since we met. There are seemingly small things like language barriers, cultural clouds, and a sense of transience that we face regularly here that will still be experienced in Europe, but at a much smaller scale.

We are looking forward to visiting the local boulangerie 🥖🥐, making friends that we can invest time and energy into 🥂🍻 knowing that we will be around for a while, taking side trips to neighboring countries 🚙🚆, and putting down some real roots together. 👩‍❤️‍👨.

So, together, we head off to a new phase and start the next part of the adventure of our lives. We are excited and I’ll be, hopefully, posting more regularly as I’ll finally be focusing on writing more and being the free-spirit I know I was always meant to be! 😝

~T 😀

The Blanks

Going Mental No Responses »

Aug 052020

An entire month has passed as my attention has been divided and my words have drifted in the blank spaces of my mind.

Where has my attention been? Well…

I’ve just released the third issue of The Universal Asian.

It’s growing in readership and content, which gives me a sense of satisfaction and conviction that we are building a community and space that I have been envisioning.

Changing Seasons…

Going Mental No Responses »

Nov 222012

16-Nov-2012 15:23, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.7, 11.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100

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Something I hardly notice having lived in a warm climate for nearly four years is the changing of seasons. For me, the seasonal change includes allergies and a reduction in the A/C temperature. Sometimes, it might even mean opening a door to let some cool air come in, but not too long or else the dust starts to settle inside.

So, last week, I was able to attend a conference in Paris and felt the sharp contrast of the wintry weather. I can’t say that I have been missing it.

However, I also got to feel a bit of a reminder of what this time of year brings… joys of the holidays –