We just returned from a 10-day visit to the U.S. to visit family. After enjoying the slower pace of France the past nine months, the U.S. feels rather overwhelming to us now. From the 24-hour news cycle reminding us constantly how bad things are to the insane number of commercials on television all hawking things we do not want or need (personal injury attorneys, prescription meds with side effects up to and potentially including death, fast food meal deals, expensive new cars, etc.) and tons of traffic and way too many people (like at Costco), I struggled to relax.

We did enjoy our time with family and many favorite restaurants across the spicy cuisines (Chinese, Mexican, and Italian) which are much more important than any trivial complaints I may have. We also enjoyed watching our Seattle Seahawks beat the Patriots in Superbowl LX which was very satisfying, even if the game itself was pretty boring. GO HAWKS!

It felt really good to return to Angers after all of that, to sleep in our own bed, and even to enjoy the new foods we’ve come to like here. As an example, I bought some gorgeous oranges from Spain called Sanguinellos that taste like a combination of a mandarin and a blood orange. A little strange, but delicious!

Before we left for our trip, we applied for a renewal of our French visa for another year to give us the most amount of flexibility in what we do after we finish our year here in May. As French bureaucracy is notoriously slow, we expected to wait until May to find out if we were approved. Luckily, our renewals were processed and awarded in just two weeks and we now have time to figure out what’s next. Looking forward to continuing to explore and enjoy our time here!