France, here we come!

It's official. We're moving to France on Feb 1st 2007!!!! Oh My Gawd! I can't believe it's finally happening. Dave and I have been working towards this for 5 years now, and his company has finally committed to supporting us in this adventure.

Now comes all the planning. We started trying to learn French this weekend. Have you seen the new Steve Martin Pink Panther movie? If not, have you seen the trailers for it? Do you remember the scene where Clouseau is trying to learn how to pronounce, "I want to buy a hamburger" like an American? Now imagine that in reverse. That was Dave and I on Saturday. Every time we tried to speak we both broke out in hysterical laughter. It made actually talking very difficult.

The first thing we learned is that the French speak as if the have a static disturbance in their voice. Pardon is something like Pa (static) doh (like Homer Simson says). That one word provided over an hour of entertainment for us. Dave does an amazing job with what he calls the French dial tone. You know how when we are thinking we say "uhm"? Well when a Frenchman thinks he says "uuuuuuuuuu" which sounds like the phone is off the hook. Pucker lips, then open them, now go "uuuuuuuuuu". It was very distracting. Every time Dave got stuck on a word he would do his French dial tone, and I would fall off my seat laughing. We are in such big trouble. I hope the French are kind to us. I've melted many a Frenchman's heart with my sweet innocent big brown eyes look in the past. Do you think that trick will work for a whole year? I guess we'll find out.

Okay, so the language thing is on its very precarious way. Now to think about other logistics. Where are we going to live? City, burbs, country? How the heck are we going to find a place? What should we do with all of our stuff here? How about our cars? Should I sell my adorable little yellow Mini (how will I live without Minibabe)? I don't think I should take a car with me if we are going to live in Paris proper. So much to think about! I'm in overdrive!!!! Help! Any advise you wanna share? Let me know.

I'll keep you updated as the adventure progresses.