Marcus Aurelius
This has been a good week. It has done wonders to my ego, not that I am really lacking any of the latter but positive reinforcement always cheers me up, even when it comes from strangers.
Every move comes with its ups and downs. The expats will confirm that you go through a great deal of roller coaster emotions in the first 3 to 6 months after arriving at your new destination.
Of all my expatriations I cannot, however, remember ever having a week like this past one. I kept finding myself smiling over and over again. Today I have come to the conclusion that I like Paris and therefore officially declare it my new home.
We arrived on August 30th, 2011, so five months ago.
But let me spill the beans...
Monday began with a friend asking me if I could be her guinea pig for a new character coaching method. Guess what, it was all about your personal strengths. I got to talk about myself for two hours while she pinpointed my positive sides. Trust me, we found lots of them. That was the easy part. The one question I could not answer was: "What do you NOT like doing?". This took me completely by surprise because all I could think of is: housework and standing in line. How bad is that?
The next positive incident was a huge big compliment about my Swiss blog posted on English forum Switzerland by a total stranger who recommends reading my Expat with Kids blog to help lift one's spirits while providing practical information about Lugano. It resulted in over 400 pageviews that day and thus a very chuffed me. Mille Grazie!
Wednesday I received my French car permit, therefore I am officially a Parisian driver now. That can only be a good thing, right?
Thursday I was submerged in my i-phone GPS looking for a Mac accessory store when a bunch of French teenage boys past me and asked: "Bonjours Madame. Vous êtes une cougar?". Believe me THAT put a big smile on my face. What killed me was the Madame-bit that they so politely added.
To top it all off, today my gym trainer who has seen me probably six times so far, shyly asked me: "Faites-vous beaucoup de sport?" (Do you do lots of sports?). "Oui" was my answer but why do you ask. Yeah, maybe I WAS fishing for a compliment there?!? His answer: "Vous avez des abdos bien faits! (You have nice abs!) ..... Wow, if the Cougar comment was funny, this just blew me away! Ok, so I do have abs but they are well hidden below a layer of decades-of-LOTS-of-chocolate-eating, honestly!
As a friend of mine commented: A "cougar" with "abdos bien faits" - terrific I would say :). I couldn't agree more.
Thank you everyone for making this a terrific week!
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