i'm baaaaaaaack!

Yes, yes, I missed you too! We truly must have done something right, because when France Telecom came to install our second line and hook up the phone on Monday, we learned that we didn't have to wait an additional ten days for internet! So the last couple of days have been spent catching up on emails and stealthily catching up on blogs.

I'd like to thank my guest Nung Nung for making me weepy posting while I was gone. My sister actually has a legitimate excuse - she's now writing a column for the newspaper she works for, where she's already a copy editor (I think that's the right term) and I couldn't be more proud of her. My third guest has gone MIA which has me slightly worried.

There's been a lot going on (obviously) the last week or so, but here are some highlights (most of which I'm sure will be expanded into full posts):

The Move
Thanks to the professional moving skills of oldest-brother-in-law, super-human skills of Doc's husband (seriously, he picked up the stove - granted it's not a giant American stove, but still - and carried it to the truck himself!) and way more friends and family than we actually needed, the move went freakishly well, and all the cars and the Big-Ass Truck were unloaded by 12:30. I am so thrilled to be in this new space that I find myself getting emotional at odd times - like watching tv in the living room!!! I know, it's the little things.

The Mammogram
Yes, I had my boobies squished real good last week. Everything's fine. I had a good little scare for a minute though: during the pre-squishing interview, the tech asked why I was having the procedure done, and I replied that I was under the impression that there wasn't anything wrong and that the doctor just wanted to have a record of my healthy boobies on file. The tech replied that this is actually quite odd, as the normal age for a first mammogram is 40, just like in the states. Then I started to wonder if I didn't understand the doctor well and she had found something, so I was in a panicked state for the next twenty minutes. Luckily, the Radiologist took a look at the x-rays right away and told me that there was no problem at all, which almost sent me into tears of relief (I seem to have been more emotional than usual these past couple of weeks!).

The Riots
For friends and family: We're fine, whatever is happening is happening rather far from us and as we have an extremely small population of minorites in this village I don't expect to see any here. As for the politics of it, I'm going to leave that to people that are way more informed than I am (A Fistful of Euros is a good place to start). All I can say is that when they talk about the rights of immigrants, I don't think they're talking about white, middle-class Americans who have never known what it is to starve or not be able to get work (yes, I know, I bitch and moan about getting a job, but let's face it, I could get a job at McDonald's if we were really desperate). My hope is that the violence does not escalate further and some real, practical solutions can come from this.

OK, that's enough for now. Now it's time to catch up on my American news...