Through a friend, I met Dan and Judith, a professional couple in their 50s who spent two fantastic years in Provence, after they traded their beautiful home against Toronto, a villa in southern France. Here is the story of the most exciting two years of his life, for experience, where they lived, how to prepare integrated with local and expatriate community. The adventurous couple have also undertaken a special project: the documentation of their local Frenchand its history, and finally turned into a book. Dan and Judith also about what it was like returning home after two years to talk significantly about their recent trip back to Provence, and what foreign firms can expect for their retirement.
Dan and Judith from her beloved village
First Please tell us about yourself, your interests, your personal and professional background.
Dan: I was born and raised in India. My family is Anglo-Indian (mixed European and IndianDescent), and culturally more British India. In 1960 my family moved to England. I studied at the London College of Graphic Arts.
In 1967 I moved to Canada with my first wife. I worked in graphic arts in advertising for the next twenty years in a variety of positions. Until the mid-1980s I was director of client services for a design studio. In 1992 I left to go on my own, as a consultant to graphic design.
I have a daughter and stepdaughter of his first marriage.Judith and I met in 1974 and married in 1981.
My interests are music (listening and playing jazz, blues and Old-Time Rock n 'Roll), travel, photography and golf.
Judith: I was born in Toronto and grew up in Peterborough, Ontario. I studied English at Queen's University, he taught high school for three years and then became a computer programmer.
For the next seventeen years, I held a number of IT positions. Until the mid-eighties, I was responsible for business systems inan insurance company.
In 1987 I quit my job, wrote a novel (never published) and was then free business coach, author and instructional designer / developer. My company, the interpreter ® concept makes complex business ideas - concepts, processes, systems and methods to understand - easy to learn and use.
I love reading, logic puzzles and watching competitive figure skating, hiking, golf (badly), and travel.
According From 1993 to 1995 had aOpportunity to spend two years in France. Please tell us the unique circumstances, as has happened.
Judith: I gave a course of three days. At lunch on the second day, one of the participants happened to remember that just moved to Toronto from Washington DC, but had lived in France for many years.
"Wow! France My husband and I dream of living there!" I said.
"I have a house for a year or so needed, and I have a house in France," he said. "Why do not we? Exchange "
Dan: When Judith came home and told me that Roxanne had said I was too excited and dubious. How could there be a year or more? Can we afford it? But both liked the idea and wanted to explore further. We set a date with Roxanne come to dinner, see our home, and talk of swap.
On the night of the dinner we had pretty much made our minds. When Roxanne came through the door and said: "I live here, we knew we were on our way, even if we had notIdea of what had rushed to his house or what was part of France, just three months after that night on, we came to France. We thought we were there for a year, we ended up stay for almost two.
Third Moving to another country for a long time away from home includes a wide range of practical, financial, emotional and otherwise. How did you prepare to be ready for your long-term stay in France?
Judith: It 's been a hectic three months. Even before the meeting withRoxanne, we would have our financial advisors, who consulted encouraged us to go to him. So, we have applied to France for long stay. To view, had the Federal Police RCMP [of Canada to investigate] and we confirm that we have never been in prison or in conflict with the law. We have demonstrated that we had enough money to support us, get a certificate signed by Roxanne that we had a place to live, care, whereas in France, and all sorts of other things. Then we discovered that, in EnglishUrban, Dan did not need a visa, only his British passport. So he took his passport and - after several visits to the French Consulate - I have my visa. Our two cats had to get their photos, documents certifying the new journey of health and cages. We talked with the provincial public OHIP [Ontario Health Insurance Authority] and obtained a waiver from the one-time 6 months out of the country to govern, and we took the additional health insurance.
Meanwhile, we packed all our belongings. We sent a couple of thingsFrance - Golf, bass Dan, winter clothing, some favorite books and CDs - and put the rest in our cellar. We had the house cleaned and painted. We decided to meet to do our banking over the phone and fax. (In 1993, we had never even heard, and emails, there was no such thing as a Web browser, debit cards were not working in Canada and international ATMs do not always.)
We were told to leave our customers and our clearance projects. We had a busy social whirl, seeto tell friends and relatives, our farewell. We were very excited about this adventure, reading, what we could, through France, and the plan of what we had to do with this unexpected but very welcome, even granted sabbatical.
Fourth Please tell us something about the area and the small town in southern France, that moves. Please describe the house he moved into
Dan: Roxanne house just outside the city, Le Bar-sur-Loup, inland of the Costad'Azur, about 10 minutes north-east of Grasse, the perfume capital of France, 30 minutes north of Cannes, and about 45 minutes northwest of Nice. It is about an hour after Monaco and just a little 'more to the Italian border. This area, the Riviera has the most temperate climate in France and is a destination in the world of glamor. And we decided to live there!
The house is called Mas Ste Anne. This is a house of 250 years, French, mas, with ais a modern wing, Roxanne and her first husband, when bought in the middle 70s. The ground floor is a large hall, guest bathroom, a kitchen and a living / dining room with beautiful antique furniture and a baby grand piano. Upstairs there are three large bedrooms, a small single room, we used for storage and two bathrooms. From the landing, halfway up, is a storage and laundry. There is a balcony of the bedroom and a covered terrace facing the frontDoor.
The area consists of almost an acre of terraced hills, just outside and above the village on the hillside on which sits Le Bar. There were thirteen of olives, a) Laurel (bay leaf tree, and fruit trees, which gave us lemons, oranges, apples, pears, peaches, cherries, crab apples courtesy, and - the branches of overhanging trees the next - even figs. rosemary hedges and the avenue the steps below the house, sidewalk andMeasures was a bower of vines. We had flowers all year round - mimosa, magnolia, bougainvillea, wisteria, roses, oleanders, daffodils, violets, iris and many others we have not seen. We also had a couple of date palms, yucca and a small stand of bamboo.
Fifth What were your impressions and feelings come first? How do you spend your first week?
Judith: We arrived in France in early August, exhausted by all the months of preparation and last-minute floodfarewell. It was very hot. For the first few weeks, we cleaned the house from top to bottom, what is really necessary. We spent hours outside the clothing as little as possible, to do nothing, sipping rosé cool pastis on the terrace, enjoy the view, sleep in the garden swing. We went to the village and have our purchases, then blew on the way back up the hill (a 25% gradient) for the home. We spent hours to find the French words for things weto buy (used litter boxes for cats, printer cable for your computer), looking for shops right in Grasse and Nice, and explain what we need in our very rusty French. It seems trivial, but we found it very exciting.
Dan: first impressions and feelings were basically pure sensory overload: the spectacular scenery of the village 380 meters (1,200 feet) above sea level, the view north to Gorge du Loup, Gourdon with - the nearest village, 15 Cars minutes - continuedTop of a mountain 760 meters (2,500 feet) above sea level, the "hand" of the cicadas began 9:00 every morning, building as heat is increased throughout the afternoon, about 6 place was colder, the smell ubiquitous in Provence - taste rosemary, thyme, bougainvillea, jasmine, intense local products, cheese and wine. And besides all this, it was an air of unreality about all this. It was difficult to see that this was not just a short holiday, wewere actually going to live here.
Sixth Once settled in, there is a certain routine to spend your days? What kind of activities that have pursued?
Dan: Yes, we need to develop some routines. At first, even if they did not fit with the lifestyle in France. Time and again, after breakfast on the terrace, unite us to go shopping - and we are arriving in stores as They Were in the completion of two minutes at noon for three clock. We finally learnAdaptation to the French procedure. Shortly after he began the larger grocery stores are open all day. It 'was nice, but not so strange - and we lost the excuse of going to lunch and half a bottle of wine while waiting for stores to open!
In the evening after dinner, we had to make a point, only 08 clock news on television. At first we did not understand anything, just a wave of unusual sound. Gradually we began to distinguish words and phrases, evenif we do not know what they meant, and finally we realized most of what was said.
Judith: The days were, however, very different. I do not remember much of a daily routine. I am an early riser, and I liked sitting on the terrace in the morning. Dan would join me when we got up. Some days we spent at home. I will write, and clean the house, Dan would cook and wash, playing the piano (he has taught to play while we were there), and photography. We would like to use for catstheir litter box and let out. We read a lot of both. And, especially in spring and autumn, we shaved the terraces.
On other days we went shopping or exploring. We have almost everything together, we ate a lot - you can call it food and drink of our great hobby! Occasionally golfed. We went to every event in our village. Later, when we had more social life, we visited and at holidays. Once a month, we went to play in a club where Dan took a jam session,3 or 4 clock
Dan: Our routines were interrupted when the family and friends came to visit. The first spring we were there, we had guests nearly every week from early March until the end of June! We loved every minute of it, to show them all the places and things we had to discover and learn to appreciate us.
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