Quelle semaine!

Whew. What a week! I've been inundated with phone calls and emails... I didn't know I'd gotten to know so many darned people in the biz. I had lunch with a friend lunchtime and am now going for drinks with some current and past co-workers... there's an official farewell riot at a local pub next week... if you want to ramp up your social life (at least temporarily), just resign.

Uh, that's like, Ronniecat-resign, not Alberto Gonzales- resign. I'm guessing there weren't a lot of elbow-benders in his honour among his co-workers.

I've gotten myself a good French text and have begun working through it just to re-acquaint myself with all the details, to make sure the rules and vocabulary are in front of, and not in the back of, my brain. I'm watching French TV (pas mal) and listening to French radio (assez mauvaise).

I'm in negotiations with a couple of people for chambres en ville.

One major drawback - I've had to stop taking the Spanish lessons. I can't risk muddying my French with Spanish right now. Husband's continuing them, so I guess he will have to chat up barmaids as well as chatting up the barmen on my behalf. Or something.

The irony of the situation isn't lost on me - in a way, I am following in the footsteps of the hundreds of immigrants I've known or worked with or for over the years... moving to a new place and learning on my feet to operate in a new language. I have a lot of benefits they didn't have - a home base that's familiar and safe; a working knowledge of the new language; a well-paying job to fund the transition. So I'm privileged to count myself as someone who is now going to see if I have the skills to make it. They almost invariably do.

ronnie