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Retirement at a half a year

One of my loyal readers asked how 6 months of the expat life has been. So it is a good excuse to reflect and post.

Some things have definitely been hard. The French bureaucracy is complex, and mostly in a foreign language. We have had two projects to complete. The first was to get on the French health system. This is available to all residents of France regardless of nationality or how long you have lived here. (So un-American!) It is administered through their social security program so we had to first get a social security number and then apply for a “Carte Vitale” We each had to apply by providing translated documents of birth and marriage certificates, proof of residency, and so on. In order to do it and not go crazy, we hired a young bilingual man who has a little business helping English speakers navigate the system. I think he is one of the wealthiest businessmen in Nice. My application went pretty smoothly but B (and I) had to make a trip to the embassy in Paris to get a notarized letter explaining that she was actually the same person as the person on our apartment lease agreement (don’t ask). Fortunately we were able to combine it with a pre-planned trip to Paris to see the David Hockney exhibit at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. But still…

The second thing is to extend our visas. One would think that the visa extension would be pretty simple as not much has changed. But you would be wrong. Now, documents had to be translated to French. There were different “proof of income” requirements, and more delays. Again, our “administrative assistant’ has proven invaluable. Bs visa expires at the end of August and we seem to have a September wedding. If we don’t have the correct documents…I don’t know what we’re going to do.

It has also been hard to get away from American politics. Even thought we don’t live there, the internet and American news outlets provide a highly addictive brew of steady information. I flipped out in the late winter over the exchange rates. Because of Trump’s handling of the economy, the exchange rate fell from $1.03 to €1.00 to $1.17 to € 1.00. Suddenly all my careful calculations were thrown out the window and I felt suddenly immiserated. I have since re-allocated some of our investments and the added dividends will more than cover any real or perceived shortfall. But it was stressful and not fun. This dark background noise seems to be unavoidable for the next three 1/2 years. What I have learned from watching Trump for the past 10 years is that no matter how bad you think it will be, he will make it worse.

Now for the good part.

We have been able to get out and travel a bit. Amsterdam, Paris, Corsica this past spring, Edinburgh last month. We are going to Iceland on a cruise in August. Back to Washington briefly in September for a wedding. And perhaps to Bologna and Venice in the Fall. We have booked a trip down the Nile in late November and will be back in Paris briefly in December before ending the year year in Nice. So that’s a lot of travel. We love the airport in Nice and the twenty minute tram ride from our apartment. We still hate the airlines though and hope to take more trips by train as we settle in. We like not having a car for sure. When we need one there are plenty available. In fact B is off to Provence for a couple of days to see the champs de lavande and sunflowers.

Nice is nice. I’m quite comfortable here. Walking and taking the tram is healthy and easy enough. Skiing this winter was a blast. I have enjoyed the pickleball group and lately have spent the evenings on the beach, three blocks from the apartment. Pretty sweet. B has found a Sheltie to walk and keep occasionally when her owner is out of town. Ohana spent three nights with us at the end of the June.

Nice has food for every taste. Haute Cuisine served in Michelin starred restaurants is available as well as the best street pizza I have ever had. On a sad note, our pizza guy Riccardo, has sold his joint and is moving back to San Remo. We’ll miss him. In spite of the delicious food we have both kept our weight down and I have been able to keep up a pretty regular routine at the local gym.

Until last week.

Started French classes last Monday. Ugh… I freely admit a dysfunctional adolescence. If I only knew then what I know now. I had a step-mother who was a fluent French speaker who was willing to help me in High School but I would have none of it. I wonder if part of my unconscious motivation to live here is a chance to learn this language as a penitence for my stubbornness as a young man. Or maybe it’s not so unconscious. Hahaha. So I’m taking the tram down to the Universite de Côte d’Azur and sitting in an un air-conditioned room with 5 America college students, one student from Singapore, another from Japan, and a firecracker of a French teacher. It is much more rapid than anything I remember from high school. As an example, on Friday we were conjugating reflexive verbs. I have “studied” French on Rosetta Stone for about a year (off and on) and am able to bring something to the current effort. So if I pay attention I should learn quite a bit this summer. I’m in school for the next three weeks. Then a three week break (so I can go to Iceland) and then a final 2 weeks ending late August. Depending on a number of things, I am thinking of taking another semester next January. We’ll see.

Of course, I have to give a shout out to the people we’ve met. The Americans in Nice who are retired have all had full and often demanding careers. They are excited to be living in the south of France and bring that excitement wherever we go. We have met retired doctors, bankers, executives, artists, therapists, business owners, architects, priests, nurses, and professors. All are a little bit kooky (in a good way) and all seem to be Democrats. It’s hard enough to live here that it takes a healthy dose of “joi de vie” to succeed. It has been harder to meet native French people for all the understandable reasons. People are busy with work and raising families. We have met one Frenchman, Ohana’s owner, but I doubt the cultural divide can be bridged on anything close to a deep level, despite our best wishes to do so.

On the home front life goes on. #1 son is engaged and is planning a wedding in September. #2 son is now divorced and adjusting his professional life. He is leaving the Air Force and starting a Master’s program in Nursing in Septmber. He did fantastically well in the AF and will continue to “moon-light” as a respiratory therapist while completing his next course of study. I suspect he will end up as a certified nurse anesthetist or running an ICU for the Air Force somewhere with his training, experience and qualifications.

186 days into this experience and I’d give it a solid B. If we only had a kitty cat…