The year till now

France is such a lovely country that I have finally decided to blog to share some photos in an easy way with all of you.  After sharing my first year in France with you in my letters last year, I do not want to bore you with more.  All I can add is that this year has passed very quickly until now - I got my new Citroën C3 in April this year.  Having to drive the car from the west of Paris through peak holiday traffic to Verzenay, 1.5 hours north east of Paris, I was grateful for the many hours I had to spend in peak traffic between Pretoria and Johannesburg in my life.  Thanks to Madeleine and Anita who have arrived just after me receiving it, I could get use to the built-in Madame (which I've insisted to be set on English rather than French) and the narrow nerve wrecking countryside roads.  Then my mom arrived and I had to use toll gates and drive along highways as we've explored Alsace and the Loire and went shopping in Troyes, where you can buy clothes from famous brands at a huge discount.   We've gone through the endive season, eating endive salad with walnuts and comté cheese, to our joy the asparagus season arrived and we ate big fat tasty white asparagus from the beginning to the end of the season, sometimes half a kilo or more per person!  Artichokes, strawberries, other berries, currently our fig tree is producing huge ripe purple figs at a slow, fortunately consumable, tempo.  I went picking cépes, huge wild mushrooms, in the forest with my friend from Verzenay earlier this week (at 30€/kg on the market we felt rich by the time we left the forest) and as a bonus found some chestnuts too.  The list can go on and on. 
I utterly enjoy the seasons in France, even though I do not look forward to winter that has started to creep in with force as from yesterday.  The food is really an experience and visiting the different regions always reveal some cullinary surprises and pleasures.  After almost two years I can say I adore foie gras in whatever way the chef prepares it (brave enough to do it myself - no, not yet, only a foie gras sauce with chicken, the foie gras coming from a tin).  Even though the wines vary from region to region, I think my favourite wine is a Pessac Leognan (easier to drink than to pronounce...) - one of the many types of wines from Bordeaux, a region so complex for many South Africans to understand, I'll have to give you a lecture on another day to fully appreciate the different Bordeaux wines - and the AOC system of France.  Living in the champagne region vastly expanded my knowledge about this bubbly and merit a lecture on its own.  At this stage I can just say I appreciate sipping champagne on a weekly basis.
My French is improving in phases, I get less tired during a conversation, understand more, talk faster (according to others), although some days I am a complete blank.  We've watched a few French movies during the year and even though I didn't understand all, I could follow the story.  One of my biggest victories was watching an Iranese movie with French subtitles.  I feared that the subtitles would be too quick for me to read.  Fortunately it went well and even though it was an excellent movie (Separation, if you can get hold of the video or it is still in the cine, do yourself a favour and go and see it), I think I've enjoyed it even more just because I could follow it!
We've been watching French television series on French history, on their patrimoine (their culture, their heritage, interesting stories on small villages, restoration works, etc).  Wonderful programmes I've throroughly enjoyed watching.  And of course, all helped to improve my French (and knowledge and appreciation of France).
We've been to quite a few places, either to escape miserable weather, to take a short holiday or to visit family.  I'll share these with you over the next week or two with some photos.  We've also had our share of visitors during the year, with more to arrive.  So I've explored our region even more and discovered some gems (so those of you who were here earlier will have to return...). 
I've got used to cars pulling off the roads at inconvenient places to take photos of this beautiful region but I cannot blame them, as I sometimes have to drive faster as cars are piling up behind me while I am admiring the surroundings.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of this region! It helps when one gets homesick!!