A Re-Cap of French Bean's 2012

1) Celebrated the New Year amid my family in Miami.

2) Greatly progressed in writing the first novel of my trilogy.

3) With much hoopla, celebrated my 25th birthday among family and friends.

4) Got attacked by flying cockroaches and locked self out of the bathroom.

5) Got tired about being fat so joined a gym.

6) Got lazy about working out. Kept gaining weight.

7) Continued writing the first novel in the company my dear friend May and some Repo Guys (their presence was, albeit, unwelcome).

8) Helped May move out of Miami and found that Cadbury's drinking chocolate has more than 600 calories per serving.

9) Said good-bye to May before she left U.S. to teach English in Korea.

10) Felt kinda lonely without my friends to keep me company.

11) Hung out with Coffee Bean and therefore felt less lonely.

12) Got uncomfortable wallowing in unemployment. Began pining for my former independent life in France.

13) Still pined horribly for France.

14) Received an e-mail from a French school offering me a job to teach English and Spanish. Accepted the job post-haste.

15) Moved back to France to reside in the small city of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, right in the Loire Valley.

16) Realized the severely-limited dating pool in Sablé-sur-Sarthe was probably not the most promising place to find a hypothetical future husband (welp, ya can't win 'em all).

17) Started losing weight once more.

18) Visited friends in Sens and Dijon.

19) Starred in a few videos of the pedagogic English-language series Overseas Impressions. Described in the "Smoothie" video as being a "sporty friend" (oh, that's rich when you consider my relationship with organized sports) who claims to love smoothies.

20) Dressed as Belle Doctor Who for Halloween.

21) Made new friends with colleagues and lots of horses (who I fondly refer to as my neigh-bors).

22) Binged on alcoholic chocolates on November 6th.

23) Went to Nantes and had my third OFII doctor's appointment. Found out that my BMI is categorized as obese. Trainer Barb vowed to kick my ass into shape and the croissants out of my hands.

24) Celebrated a turkey-less Thanksgiving with some raclette and some homemade coquito, then went to a school costume dance that was conveniently scheduled the same day.

25) Unwittingly had my memory permanently scarred for life when I saw some stallion junk.

26) Became quite ill with bronchitis. Lost my voice to a cat stuck in my throat. Got to experience the impressive French health care system in full force and got sick leave. Let a huge pile of papers and tests to grade pile up.

27) At a school Christmas party, asked colleague who had dressed as Père Noël (Santa Claus/Father Christmas) to bring me French citizenship for Christmas.

28) Spent Christmas with Mom in France. Future blog post to surely grace TBONTB (time-permitting).

29) Keeping fingers crossed with the hope that I will have a permanent carte de sejour someday.

30) Still letting the huge pile of papers and tests to grade pile up...

Stats:
Number of wedding invitations received: 2, one of which I was asked to be a bridesmaid!
Number of ex-boyfriends: Big, fat goose egg (That leaves my total count to 2. Whoo!)
Number of flights across the Atlantic Ocean: 1 (Hellz yeah!)
Number of train tickets bought: Too lazy to count...
Number of pages written for the first novel: 299 and counting
Number of days spent teaching with circles under my eyes: Every single damn day
Number of times cried over students: 3
Numbers of pounds I need to lose: Enough to make me give up if it weren't for my pride and vanity
Number of rainbows seen from my room: 4

No, seriously. The view from my room is a prime rainbow-spotting area.

Ooh, aah. So purty.

Number of times I've had a big smile on my face knowing that I'm back in France: approximately 131 times (it happens at least once a day, minimum)

Here's an example. 

All-in-all, I'd say that 2012 was a pretty Kickass Ninja Squirrel year, just as I had hoped! Here's hoping that 2013 turns out to be a Karate Chop Ninja Squirrel year for you all!

Bonne Année, Happy New Year, Feliz Año Nuevo from Barb the French Bean

A Tour of Sablé-sur-Sarthe

Happy France gives you an approximation of where things are

Sablé is, technically, a city, but with a population of a mere 15,000 residents, it's quaint, quiet and absolutely charming. The perfect conditions to inspire some serious writing sessions.

Boat on the Sarthe River

The most impressive aspects of Sablé are its church (with its monument to Sablé's fallen soldiers and citizens)...

...The port along the Sarthe river...

...And the Château that proudly overlooks the city.

Still, not all is the idyllic paradise I make it out to be. Indeed, there is a scourge in Sablé-sur-Sarthe that strikes absolute fear into my heart.

There is...graffiti.

Thug Life, yo.

All joking aside, everyone that I have met here has been friendly and good-humored. They all lack the permanent scowl that comes from the grind of living in a large city day in and day out. Still, I'll admit that after residing in Miami and Dijon, Sablé does feel tiny. It lacks the big-chain clothing stores that I would normally find all over France, something that, for the time-being, my wallet can thank.

There is, however, a McDonald's right across the road from where I currently reside. I honestly cannot make this stuff up, people. When I think about how I once complained last year that all I had to see in Miami was a McDonald's...

In case I need to go on a shopping spree, I would be required to travel to the nearest large city to Sablé-sur-Sarthe: Le Mans.

Yes, there is actually a French city called Le Mans. I have yet to visit but I will undoubtedly end up there at some point during my stay in the Loire Valley. Here is an arrow pointing in its direction.

Now, to answer the most burning question that has been on everyone's mind...

Yes, French stop signs are in English. Who would have thought it?

And since I promised you all horses, here are some more horses. Lots and lots of horses.

Trotting along

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Barb the French Bean

When Trainer Barb Means Business

This is the internal exchange that happens whenever my do-gooder conscience, which I refer to as Trainer Barb, makes me come to grips with my life and confronts my love of ice cream with a no-nonsense attitude.

*I wish I were making this up.

She may be a tough cookie, but Trainer Barb knows what she's talking about. I should have listened to her several years ago. And trust me when I say that I won't even think about getting ice cream, no matter how much it makes my taste buds tingle with desire.

Barb the (Blubber Butt) French Bean