Champagne? Oui. Delicious food? Oui. Party button illuminated? Let’s hope so. I’m excited to try it out. Perhaps when activated, it causes a disco ball to drop, a DJ to appear and all the dirty party dishes are somehow magically cleaned.

The dreams of the French party button.

Will working in France be as exciting, thought provoking and at times, mind-blowing frustrating as working in the poultry processing plant was back in Mauritius? Thus far, all signs point to ‘oui’.

Tomorrow is another day.

As I was stooping down to snap these photos with my phone, the guy who is installing the phone and internet connections at the house told me that these particular mushrooms are very poisonous which begs the question:  Why would the smurfs or ‘les stroumphs’ as they are known in France choose to live in such dangerous quarters?

Happy Wednesday! What a whirlwind of a day it has been. Whew! Today, after months, weeks and days of waiting (again, who could possibly be keeping track?!), the house contracts were finalized and it’s all green lights, smooth pavement and feet out the window. Yeehaw!

And speaking of windows, this furry guy jumped to attention and was eyeing my frame while I casually strolled down the main drag (Rue Claude Monet – of course) in Giverny a month or so ago. If you are ever in France, I suggest a venture out to the sleepy village of Giverny simply because Claude did a bang up job on his house and gardens. Truely lovely.

And did someone say ‘job’? Why, yes, yes, I did because guess what, happy readers? Looks like some little Pilgrim is going to be getting her kicks at a job in a rather serious office in the not-so-far future. Ooo. Ah. It’s another set of fabulous paperwork. Working in France while not being 100% certain of the language, culture or customs? I’m so on it. In fact, I say, “Bring it, France.” Even if it takes me 8 hours – an entire working day – to respond to one simple email, I shall overcome and eventually hit the send button.

Oh, and paperwork? As an added bonus today, my passport with newly added pages was sent back from the US Embassy in Paris. Nice, nice work, guys! Bravo! All was done and sent back to me in less than 5 days. Big smiles and chin-chin, clink-clink (une coupe de champagne). The Pilgrim can now continue her travels and many numerous boarder crossings.

There’s so more more to explore, but all major exploration will have to wait for a few months because this afternoon we met with the painter, the kitchen lady and the fireplace gal, whom I suspect wants to move in with us – and really, who wouldn’t want to live with us? We do kind of give off that good energy vibe. Kind of like this dog in the window. Unless you find him scary, but it’s all how you choose to look at things, isn’t it? And today, I choose happy.

There was wild mushroom picking in the forest with an 80-year-old Parisian pharmacist who blessed our found fungus which we giddily placed into cheery wicker baskets, adults clutching champagne glasses while running and playing soccer with the kids, and a feast of a dinner served inside under the dark timbers once the sky turned black. 

In between sips of champagne, I kept looking around and feeling like I was in some sort of Brothers Grimm fairy tale complete with magical red foxes and giant silver toadstools.

Days like today kind of feel like kindergarten, but in a really good, I-deserve-a-gold-star kind of way. When you plant down in another country, you basically have to re-learn almost everything and if a new language is also in play, well then, finally being able to understand that it was, in fact, the green button after only having to listen to the recorded message three (maybe four) times, is like scoring a B+ on a test for which you thought you’d only ever get a C.

In fact, I was so impressed with myself that I hesitated for quite some time before making my ‘I’m confused and I need some help, please’ phone call to the Frenchman. I had made it this far by myself and I only had one final thing to do. But after getting to the final stop without any problems, I had absolutely no clue which mailbox I should use to post my letter.

It was only a small snag and I learned a bit more about French department codes (rather important little buggers), but it was all good and ended with success. I was wearing my snazzy new boots which, I think, kind of carried me a bit throughout the day and there was champagne later in the evening.

Not too long ago and just after I first crossed boarders into France, I went out for drinks with some friends.  Maybe I had been living on the island for too long or maybe I hadn’t frequented enough cool bars during my lifetime; but when the waitress set these bad boys on the table, I kind of had a mini-fit.  The French folk thought I had lost it, but I think they understood my complete fascination with these cocktails.  I mean, come on, now. They GLOW. 

And thoughts about these glow stick drinks came back to me as I was drifting off to sleep last night because right before turning out the light, I had read a blog post that hit a nerve or two and reminded me of my days of tropical African living.  I had those same conversations, knew of the stolen wires and cables and was familiar with an 8 month turn-around time.  The Africa Expat Wives Club is written by a British woman currently living in Kenya. 

Drifting off, I had the very satisfied feeling that since being in France not once have I had to worry about not having water or electricity.  It may be an odd thing to smile about while nodding off, but for those of us who have experienced these types of situations for lengthy periods of time, it is such a simple joy to be able to have faith in the reliability of some things.  A great reminder to be thankful.  In those moments of sleepy comfort, I thought that it really is rather lovely to be caught off guard by something as cool and insignificant as glow stick drinks.

The next time the Hindu celebration of Maha Shivaratri will be held will be on March 3, 2011. Maha Shivaratri in Mauritius is quite the big festival and is one of the most important Hindu holidays celebrated outside of India. It honors Lord Shiva.

The action takes place when people pilgrimage to the sacred lake, the Grand Bassin. This small video clip was shot at the north of the island at a temple in Grand Baie. The colorful parade float-type structures are called kanwars. There is always lots of commentary and debate on the radio and in offices on the island during this time of year because the pilgrims and the kanwars disrupt traffic flows.

A little Mauritius for your Sunday.