We arrived in Victoria on Friday evening, thanks to a ride to the ferry from Amy and ride from the ferry from Jim. The house was neat and clean and all the beds were made up and our neighbours and Stefan had provided basics and more in the fridge. Such a treat to come back to. Noëlle and kids went straight to Stefan's and although we expected them to stay overnight with us, the cousins ruled and everyone had a sleepover in Fernwood. So Les and I had a quiet evening, and walked around touching things and trying to adjust. Unlike returning from other holidays, where we usually park our suitcase by the washing machine, we couldn't in this case as we had no back up clothes in drawers or closets. We spent Saturday strolling the market, gardening, and making some effort to find some clean t-shirts! For the first few days we felt quite disconnected, but after Les had his Tuesday morning walk with friends, and I mine, plus being with another group of women on Thursday at Government House, pulling ivy and weeds in the Woodlands, I began to feel more "with it". Our friends, Dick and Merran, had invited Les and I to come round at 4pm for a glass of wine on Thursday and when we did, what a surprise. All my Fairfield car pool members and some of the husbands were there to welcome us home. The prosecco flowed and we shared many, many hugs.
As you know, we really enjoyed the eating and cooking in France and I had made up a little brochure with recipes that were new to me (except the tapas) and had visions of printing them up and handing them out to friends. Well, that is not going to work, so instead I have added them as a page to this blog, if anyone is interested, just press this link.
FAQs
I thought I'd close this blog with some FAQs from this year.
Would you do this again?
We would, but not for 10 months. Too long to be away from family,
friend and Victoria. Three months seems long enough.
What kind of travel insurance did you have?
None. We went naked! If you look into the coverage that your
province offers you'll likely find, as we did, that there are forms you can
fill out, to be attached to a receipt, for any medical services required in a
foreign country. The amount billed will be reimbursed up to the amount that it
would cost for the same procedure in your province. For instance, I saw a GP in
Montpellier to have the wax in my ear syringed out. Total cost: 23€.
($31). In BC , the same service would have cost $75. I also saw a cardiologist:
45€, had other tests, all of which were much less expensive than BC. I
did the research on the medical costs in France and Spain before we left.
I think because of our proximity to the U.S. border, Canadians tend
to over insure and certainly if I went to the states for a weekend, or an
hours, I would buy travel insurance.
You must be fluent in French now.
Not so much. To become fluent you need immersion, which means 'all
the time', but since Les does not speak French, I spoke English with him. Any new acquaintances were also English speaking. My comprehension
is much better and I am more at ease with strangling the language (my accent is
awful), but besides speaking with shopkeepers, and giving directions (often,
weirdly enough), we spoke English. Oh, and then there was the Spanish problem.
Last language learned etc. Spanish would come out of my mouth at unexpected
times.
No comments:
Post a Comment