Week 7

It was such a joy to host my first guest and so wonderful to spend quality time with a friend. As I saw her off on the day she left, she commented on how strange it is to think that I live here now. I agree!

I woke up one morning after she left wondering why I had done this. Why did I move so far away from friends, family and familiarity? I got up and went down to my new local for a café allongé. I went for a swim, then sat outside and enjoyed a citron crêpe and tea for lunch. I bought fresh vegetables for a salad for dinner, and spent time noting events I want to attend over the next few days. All doubt disappeared.

Joy

• Joy is an afternoon on a Mediterranean beach. Surprisingly, it was already too cold to enjoy a swim, but I had to pinch myself to realize that this is my new reality.

• I bought my first piece of art in Pézenas! When I was here last year, I fell in love with the work of Sebastian Woznica. My guest offered to make a contribution towards a piece as a thank-you gift, so I bought one that I was drawn to. If he is agreeable, I have an idea in mind that I might commission him to make for me.

• My fibre optics internet is finally in place! It took 7 weeks but I now have strong wifi throughout the apartment.

• I’ve checked one more thing off my admin list. I’ve submitted form N45 to the Canada Revenue Agency – it will determine how much tax I will pay in Canada as a non-resident. I’ll be honest – in spite of all my research, I’m still not clear on how taxation works here and in Canada given my situation. At this point, I just see it as part of the adventure (while conveniently ignoring reality).

• I met more Canadians this week! I joined two women from Alberta for an afternoon beverage one day – they are visiting Pezenas and go home next week. The next day, I walked past a patio table of women who were speaking English. I introduced myself, found out that several were from Canada and live in or near Pezenas, accepted their offer to sit down and half an hour later was part of their lunch group.

Challenges

• My aching body is a challenge. My knees continue to be painful and stiff. I didn’t expect my arthritis to magically disappear, but I had hoped that being more active would help. I’m impatient, of course. But I feel old. I’ll continue to swim and walk, and will do my physio exercises the best I can. I’m also going to try to get a steroid shot. In the meantime, it’s humbling to accept that this is where I’m at.

• After a week of exploring the region by bus with my guest, I’m leaning towards buying a car. It’s not absolutely necessary, but some days we spent far too much time on the bus. Some places we wanted to explore were too hard to get to given the time it would take and the connections we would have to make. I’ll also look into renting, but there seem to be few options without jumping on the bus first.

Learnings

• I had a learning experience that makes me laugh. Last week, I decided to treat myself to a bit of nougat. There’s a store here that makes it in delicious flavours, so I popped in and asked for a piece with pistachios. The women cut off a hunk and put it on the scale to show me how much it would cost. I thought it said €8 and asked her to cut it in half. The scale showed several numbers and I guess I was looking at something other than the price. She cut it, wrapped it up and took it to the register where it came to €23! I am generally embarrassed by how easily I’m confounded by numbers, so I bought it and left. It was good, but $35 CAD for a hunk of sugar! I like to think it’s a lesson learned, but this is far from the first time something like this has happened to me.

• I guess this falls under learnings. Or at least it shows progress. In my week 2 blog, I mentioned that I was frustrated because I couldn’t figure out when things were open here. The timing of everything seemed so random. When my guest expressed the same frustration this week, I realized I no longer noticed it. Or maybe no longer cared. Does this mean I’m assimilating? Or just really leaning into retirement?

This weekend is Heritage Days in Pézenas. I’ve looked through the list of events planned and have plotted how I will spend my time. I’ll tell you about it next week.

À bientôt !