A long overdue update!

OK, it’s been about two weeks (now three since I “wrote” this a week ago, but never posted) since the last blog.

Which means I’m long overdue after the move. A lot of the excitement faded, and some of the Paris life struggles reared their head. But overall I would say we are doing well, especially after our beach reset.

For starters, it has been an epic pain to try to get our internet installed. Our installation technician came and delayed the install yet again. Additionally, our dishwasher is broken, and the landlord refuses to repair it. I did not think it would come to us in a non-functioning state, but here we are.

Other than that, we’ve been unpacking, rearranging, and organizing the house. In fact, that took the bulk of the 10 days after the move. Last weekend, we had a pretty low-key couple of days of unpacking and organizing, and then on Sunday, we took the opportunity to go to church and visit a nice café in the area.

I think Hailey would say that was one of the best meals she’s had in Paris, and the waiter and wait staff were very friendly.

Last week was a bit of a shock to the system. I think the stress of the move—and just the stress overall—was very overwhelming, and I personally struggled with feeling overstressed. I had to take a day to do nothing, which is very hard and unnatural for me. I think Paris and this move will teach me, if nothing else, how to have patience.

But overall, we are most looking forward to a three-day trip to Normandy, where we can escape the hustle and bustle of Paris and relax.

Which is where I am dictating this blog from today—the beach at Ouistreham. As we get ready to head back to Paris, we are visiting the beach one more time.

I will say, this is and was a much-needed break from the hustle and bustle of the city. It’s calm, relaxing, and very reminiscent of the beaches at home. I will do a full recap of the beach trip at some point, it really was a highlight!

Well, life has a funny way of getting in the way of things, and I never actually completed this blog post.

So I will add to it with another week having elapsed.

First back to the beach—overall, we really enjoyed Normandy and can see ourselves going back. In fact, we planned a trip in October to enjoy several beaches in the Normandy region and decided that we need to invest in a small car to escape the city on weekends whenever possible, without the hassle of having to rent and install car seats. Now comes the joy of trying to empty out our parking spot downstairs. A full itinerary will be coming soon

OK, so we drove back to Paris on Sunday, did our typical movie night, and kicked off a new week.

It felt like it went by so fast and so much happened. Regarding the internet, we found out that we won’t be able to install fiber in the immediate future, so we switched to a 5G airbox, and that is mostly settled for the time being. We do hope to upgrade to fiber at some point—check that off the list.

I had the bright idea, in order to make space, to return my e-bike and fix up my old road bike for commuting. That worked great for a day, and then the tire popped, and I realized that for Paris, my old road bike with the small tires is not the way to go. So—a cheap commuter bike it is. Check that off the list.

Another big, overwhelming item was the dishwasher. The landlord said he would not replace it, so I could either try to repair it or buy a new one. Given the age and the issue, I decided to buy a new one and have it delivered. At home in Houston, with a full tool set and plenty of space, this probably wouldn’t have been an issue—but in Paris, everything is a little more complicated. That said, the dishwasher arrived Thursday night, and by 6 PM I had it installed. Now I just need to add the decorative door on the front to match the rest of the cabinets, but we can check that off the list.

This morning, they will come to pick up the old unit, and then we will be off on a mini vacation again.

This time, we are taking the train to Rouen, a small town outside of Paris but still in the Normandy region. We decided to try the train system with a short trip and see how this city is as another escape from the hustle and bustle of Paris.

I am most looking forward to taking some time to relax and enjoy the timbered houses, some of the parks, and of course that Norman food—in particular mussels (last week I ordered them twice), crêpes, and plenty of ice cream.

Okay, that was a quick update spanning many weeks. I hope to get back into the routine now that we are in the house and mostly unpacked. There’s still a fair amount of work with my office stuff and the garage, but I’d say three of the four rooms are done!

Au revoir!