That's a great question, friend! Jason was offered a job here and since being a Spanish teacher is a little more flexible than being a specialist on digital cardiac modeling, we go where he goes, especially when that place is in Europe.
Jason is a gem of a human being. They say that when you meet the love of your life, you know it right away. Jason says that he knew. I, on the other hand, was 23 when we met I and was still trying to "find myself." I was finding myself, all right. I found myself in a lot of bars and in one mercurial relationship after another. Totally friend-zoned for the first year and a half that we knew each other, I did notice I always seemed to have a great time when Jason and I hung out, platonically, of course. We ended up spending a lot of quality time together during the Snowpocalypse of 2010 because that's what happens when you live four doors away from someone and there's nowhere else to go. Thanks to a lot of white russians and school being cancelled for the rest of the week, we spent some "real quality time" together (earmuffs, Mom) and the rest is history.
"I thought you lived alone right now. Where is Jason?"
A good point of clarification. Yes, we will both be here eventually, but Jason is still finishing his PhD. He's had a few obstacles to overcome, such as having his whole lab relocated from Tulane to Baltimore after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, but it looks like things will be wrapping up in January of this coming year.
"Got it. So are you guys, like, gonna get married, or what? Seems like a pretty big deal to move across an ocean to be with someone."
Indeed it is a big deal. We have been talking a lot about this lately and it has made for a pretty cute story. A week before I was scheduled to leave for Bordeaux, Hurricane Sandy was on a warpath up the east coast. Jason and I were enjoying a relatively quiet Monday inside but we had been following the storm's path on the news all day. At the peak of the storm, Jason got up from our game of backgammon, disappeared into the bedroom and reappeared with a small box and a smile. It was the perfect moment. In the middle of this terrible storm, it was so clear what needed to be done. And since natural disasters brought us together in the first place, it seemed only fitting.
I swear I tried to focus so I could remember his proposal but all I could hear in my head was "EEEEEEEE!!! THIS IS IT THIS IS IT THIS IS IT payattentionpayattentionomgomgomgomg I love this man." He said some nice things about me and how there's no one he'd rather spend his life with and then I'm crying and I think we both said "I love you" at least 20 times each and I couldn't get over how much I loved the ring he picked out for me oooooohhh...itisjustsoSHIIIIIIINY.
Once we both regained out senses, we went right back to our game. He didn't even let me win.
"That is a pretty cute story. So who do you hang out with since he's not around?"
Jason is a thoughtful man and he shot my email over to a guy who already works in the lab here in Bordeaux. This guy, Steve, contacted me when I got here and invited me to dinner at his house on my first Sunday in town. I felt like an ass not bringing a bottle of wine or something, but nothing is open on Sundays. (Note to self: Stock up on champagne before trying to make mimosas on a Sunday.) Steve came all the way out from his home in the 'burbs to pick up me and another one of his colleagues, Rick. Rick and I are practically neighbors and I look forward to seeing him more often.
There are few things that can turn your frown upside down like a home-cooked meal with friends. Well, friends-to-be, I guess. Saturday was a bit of an emotional roller coaster and this was just the thing I needed to re-ground myself. Steve's wife, Steffi, made a delicious carrot ginger soup, a pasta with spinach and roasted hazelnuts over ice cream for dessert. Triple yum. Steve and Rick are both from the UK and Steffi is from Germany and all three of them speak English. Beautiful, comfortable, music-to-my-French-filled-ears ENGLISH. And you won't meet a kinder and more welcoming bunch than these guys. They gave me lots of tips about how to get set up in France and we lamented about some of our shared difficulties in the process. They filled me in on a typical day at the lab and allayed some of my fears that Jason would be bombarded with French at work. (He doesn't speak it... yet.) And then we talked about things other than logistic and it was so nice to not be researching or planning or relocating for a change. We were just four English speakers, two dogs, two cats and a baby, enjoying a lovely meal together.
"And what are you planning to do with your time while he's working this new job?"
I enrolled in a French language program at Esarc Evoltuion, partly because it would get me a student visa, but mostly because my immediate career goal is to return to the US when we're done here and teach both Spanish and French. I figure I'll be more marketable with two languages. And who doesn't want to know French? C'est la langue de l'amour, n'est-ce pas? I am also interviewing with a company called Baby-langues next week so hopefully I will be able to earn a little money, too. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
"Will do. Best of luck to you in all these new endeavors. You must be pretty amped."
I went from having a lovely but fairly quiet life in Baltimore to having a really fresh and exciting life in France, so yeah. I would say I'm pretty amped. I get to live in Bordeaux with the love of my life for a couple years or so. We'll have opportunities to travel all over Europe, maybe go visit his friend in Sierra Leone... It's the opportunity of a lifetime and we couldn't be more excited. Even when this sucks, it's going to be great because we're in France we we have each other. Doesn't get much better than that.
Next time: Back to school
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