Time Warp

Ca y est!! I'm here and 11 days later, I am experiencing my first hour of internet at my new home. So I just took a peek here and want to say thank you to all for your good wishes and responses posted on the blog.
It's been a joyous, hectic, exhausting arrival.
As I type, Guillaume and I are camped out in our new apartment, surrounded by little piles as we unpack five years of our history together, suitcases from the U.S., and boxes that have laid sleeping in Paris and Normandy. We are listening to the news on the radio, and the wind, which is ramping up after two or three gorgeous days here. Gorgeous days are bad news during ski season. So, the prediction that we will receive the front that has swept through the U.S. is welcome.
Too tired and too long to give all the thousand details, surprises and discoveries of these first days, at least right now, but here is a little portrait of our adopted village...
Today, Guillaume and I had the opportunity to walk around a bit. La bibliotheque (the library) was open, so we stepped in. The library is probably about 10 x 15 and presided over by a madame who is a reservoir of information and best guesses, a true character. "Applying" for a library card consisted of letting her know that we were new in town and were year-rounders, and filling out a form that consists of name and address, no ID, no proof of address. She then gave us the petit tour of the library, her opinon on Barcelona (fabuleux), the region (magnifique), the village (if you don't mind the cold and making less money than in Paris, there's no reason to live anywhere else) and personal relationships in a small town (soyez prudent! be careful who you befriend, take your time) and other helpful hints. We chose three books on the region and she "checked out" the books--meaning she wrote down the titles in a little spiral notebook. As we turned to go, as an afterthought, Guillaume asked when the books were due. Her response, "Ah, we could say two or three weeks. And if I run into you and you have a problem because of your work , then you can let me know and I can open up for 10 minutes at other times... (The library is only open 8 hours total throughout the week)......

Guillaume has gone downstairs to do store closing. We live in a residence above the superette, so going to work consists of walking down a flight of stairs, exiting the lobby of the residence and entering the superette next door. If we are scheduled to work at the epicerie (which I pretty much never am), we have to walk 5 minutes "uptown"...Last night we were listening to the radio news, which was announcing a partial strike on the RER in Paris. Guillaume and I passed a silent raised eyebrow between us and then both burst out laughing. La vie est belle!
We have two huge windows in our apartment, which look east and most mornings, we are greeted by a sunrise like a lava flow.
Much more and fotos to come in the days, weeks ahead. Much love to all...