4 Weeks To Go

We leave France 4 weeks today. I can't believe we have been here almost a full year already. Since we moved in, we have always referred to this house as home, partly because it felt like home and partly because we wanted Fiacra and Ailbhe to feel settled here rather than in transition for a year. As we get closer to leaving, the idea of home is starting to shift back to Canada for me. I am looking forward to seeing my very good friends dishwasher and van, as well as of course, all our people friends.

With 4 weeks to go, we have

• Booked our flights back to Canada. We leave Wednesday December 14th. We fly from Bordeaux to Paris at 10am, have a 2 hour stop in Paris, and then fly direct to Toronto. So great flights - costly though. 
• Given notice on our rental house. In France, rental agreements are typically for 3 years. In order to leave early, the notice period is 3 months. The notice period can be reduced to 1 month for a job transfer which is what we are claiming. To give notice, you must send a letter by registered mail.
• Booked a hotel for the last 2 nights so that we can finish clearing out and cleaning the house. We will stay at the same hotel as when we first arrived.
• Booked a van for the last few days to do the final running around and to get our 8 massive bags to the airport.
• Started packing. All our summer clothes are packed and we are starting to pack items we think we won't need in the next 4 weeks. Of course once something is packed, we need it immediately. I have already pulled back out my running shorts, I had switched to half tights but it has been so warm. About a week ago, I mentioned to Connell that I was going to start packing, he seemed to think this was completely reasonably, so I know I am, in fact, starting WAY TOO LATE. We are rarely in agreement on when packing should begin.

In the next week, we are going to try to get rid of anything we are not using and not bringing back to Canada. There is a Kijiji equivalent in France "le bon coin" which we are going to use.