Wow, has this week ever been a whirlwind.
One week ago, I had just finished two days of decorating and celebrating the arrival of 2008, and then lounging in the sunshine of the Finca in Colombia with Javier and his family. We ate salted potatoes, fire-roasted beef, fresh picked fruit I've never seen before, and guanabana-flavored meringue cake to name just a few of the star dishes for New Year's Day. For the rest of my trip we visited a Salt Cathedral, ate dinner at a fine French restaurant at the top of Bogota's nearest mountain, shopped for beautiful leather goods and capped it all off with a whole night of dancing and dining at Andres Carnes De Rey - the kitschiest, craziest, most popular dance hall/steakhouse/entertainment place anywhere near Bogota. It was wonderful!
On January 4,I flew back through Miami to Chicago where I was able to spend the next morning celebrating a belated Christmas with my family, including all of its newest additions - Mia (2), Sophia (2), Christopher (1) and Madeline (1) - and next year we'll have two more as well! It was such a treat to see everyone, even if the visit was quick.
That afternoon, I took off for France, and after a long flight and an even longer layover in Paris, I finally arrived in Clermont-Ferrand were I'll be living for the next eight
months. The town is a charming maze of winding streets that spread out around the Cathedral (Philippe and I are standing in front of it in the picture below). We can walk everywhere; the school (Groupe ESC-Clermont, a prestigious French business school) is maybe 15 minutes a pied from my current home, which is a studio that's part of a student-housing complex. Within the next week or so, I'm hoping to find a place that's a step up so that I can really get settled.
One week ago, I had just finished two days of decorating and celebrating the arrival of 2008, and then lounging in the sunshine of the Finca in Colombia with Javier and his family. We ate salted potatoes, fire-roasted beef, fresh picked fruit I've never seen before, and guanabana-flavored meringue cake to name just a few of the star dishes for New Year's Day. For the rest of my trip we visited a Salt Cathedral, ate dinner at a fine French restaurant at the top of Bogota's nearest mountain, shopped for beautiful leather goods and capped it all off with a whole night of dancing and dining at Andres Carnes De Rey - the kitschiest, craziest, most popular dance hall/steakhouse/entertainment place anywhere near Bogota. It was wonderful!
On January 4,I flew back through Miami to Chicago where I was able to spend the next morning celebrating a belated Christmas with my family, including all of its newest additions - Mia (2), Sophia (2), Christopher (1) and Madeline (1) - and next year we'll have two more as well! It was such a treat to see everyone, even if the visit was quick.
That afternoon, I took off for France, and after a long flight and an even longer layover in Paris, I finally arrived in Clermont-Ferrand were I'll be living for the next eight
months. The town is a charming maze of winding streets that spread out around the Cathedral (Philippe and I are standing in front of it in the picture below). We can walk everywhere; the school (Groupe ESC-Clermont, a prestigious French business school) is maybe 15 minutes a pied from my current home, which is a studio that's part of a student-housing complex. Within the next week or so, I'm hoping to find a place that's a step up so that I can really get settled. 
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