05.07.27: A new adventure

For our next adventure ... Jen and I are moving to France for the next three years.

I have accepted a new position with my company which will take us across the pond. I will be supporting the same engine model that I have been working on the for the last several years. For this engine model, we build half of the engine, and our French partner builds the other half. I will be stationed at our partner's facility in Villaroche, France, working as an on-site focal for Engineering.

You can look for Villaroche in mapquest (oú viaMichelin.fr, if you want to feel a little french-y), but you have to zoom in real close. The town I will be working in is essentially a small village supporting a few industrial facilities.

But ... it is located about 45 minutes south east of Paris. We could do worse.
What's the timing? I wish I really knew, but right now it looks like I will be starting over there sometime in August, and Jenny will stay in Cincinnati until early November. We have filed the paperwork with French Immigration, and are now at the mercy of the bureaucratic paper mill. We do get to go to the French Consulate in Chicago to be seen in person before they will give us our visas, and I also have the pleasure of taking a physical from 'un medecin du republique' to be granted a work permit. I'm sure these are just a few of the interesting experiences ahead.

As for our house ... we will be keeping it. We will be returning to Cinti, and we really enjoy our house and our neighborhood (and it was the only condition upon which Jen would agree to go). In the meantime, we expect to find some house-sitters to help us keep the house occupied. For the first go-round, we have been corresponding with a couple who are geologists at a university in Spain, and who will be coming to the University of Cincinnati for a sabbatical, starting this fall. Stop by this winter, si usted quiere hablar español.

Where are we going to live over there? Not sure yet. After we get our visas and the work permit looks like a go, we begin to look for some housing over there. Right now, we are leaning towards looking for a small house to rent just outside the 'peripherique' on the east side of Paris. Should be accessible enough for me to get to work, and also close enough that we can enjoy what Paris has to offer.

Do we speak French? Of course not. We're Americans, for godsakes! Well, hopefully that can change without too much pain (and that's an American 'pain', not the french bread variety.) What we know now, is that sitting in French class for one and half hours is enough to generate a pretty good 'mal de tête'.

When will we be back? I plan to re-enter the US on 21-Jan-2009. Should be a change in mood in the country by then. I expect Jen will arrive several months prior to ensure that transition occurs.

Those are some brief answers to most of the questions we are typically asked. The other question is: what's Jen going to do? Still an open question, and needless to say, Jen is giving up quite a lot to support this move. If anyone has connections for an English speaking psychologist in Paris, don't keep it to yourself.

That's all for now. We'll try to keep you updated, and we'll remember to post an update from time to time for some of the more interesting experiences ahead.

Jenny will maintain the same e-mail address (and she is better at actually replying to the letters she gets).

Love to all (et bon courage),Pat