As the title of this post indicates, I have moved to Paris for the semester and am successfully installed in my apartment – am typing this from there – great to be connected to the world again… So good to get away from the Arctic cold of the mid-west of the USA also… So what is the topic de jour? Gratitude. Why gratitude? Because right now we are pretty focused on what is wrong with the world, so much so that sometimes we do not stop to think about what we should be thankful for. So I am going to share my list(s) with you, in the hope that you will also take some time to reflect on what is important to you.
So, what do I have to be thankful for? Lots of things! Here are the big ones:
a. Good health. This is a big thing that we all often take for granted.
b. A significant other who understands me. While he is not with me while I am away, nevertheless the mental & emotional connection is there. He is also looking after the cats. :)))
c. A great work environment with smart & likeable colleagues – both here in Paris, as well as at home at IU. It is always good to try and hang out with people who are smarter than me – excellent intellectual stimulation pushes us to all be better scientists…
d. A terrific place to live – both here and in the USA. My apartment here is really beautifully decorated & it is in a terrific (non-touristy) residential area. I have 2 excellent landladies – let’s call them Madames X & Y – who do not speak much English, but make up for it in kindness & mindfulness. Turns out they have a Buddhist philosophy to life.
e. Communicating in the local tongue. Understanding people is relatively easy and speaking, of course, is more difficult. I am grateful that I spent the last year pretty much trying to do something in French every day – such as reading or listening to French news programs and also documentaries. What do I recommend for those struggling with French? Here are a couple of suggestions: First, check out the phone app called ‘News in Slow French‘ (see https://www.newsinslowfrench.com/). These are weekly news programs – you can choose which level of expertise – beginner, intermediate or advanced. Second, there is a monthly bilingual magazine (at least in the USA) called ‘France-Amerique‘ (see https://france-amerique.com) that features good reading on culture, food, politics & many other interesting topics. Third, our cable TV service in the USA gives us access to television channel ‘TV5 Monde‘ – a French TV channel that broadcasts around the world. It has terrific documentaries as well as movies and TV series. Four, the French TV channel TF1 has online streaming of their programs – there is a good nightly evening news/commentary program called ‘Le20H‘ (or ‘Le Vingt Heure‘). Of course, now I can see it on TV here locally.
So then there are the little things in life – things that nevertheless make a huge difference:
- I have worked out the appliances in my apartment – most importantly, the espresso machine works well.
- Turns out my apartment building is next to a fromagerie (cheese shop) that also sells wine. Now how cool is that? Bakery and patisserie are also a stone’s throw away, as is a seafood/fishmonger & supermarket. This is great since I will be a pedestrian/public transport user while I am here.
- I have a 20 minute walk to work (or 2-stops on the metro). Walking is definitely nicer & also better for keeping up the step count.
- I can actually see the Eiffel Tower from my living room, bedroom & kitchen windows! – it is quite in the distance (see red circle below), but it looks really terrific lit up at night.
So, these are my lists of things to be thankful for. What’s on your list?
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