More positivity

Plus, this talks about my life in France instead of just my life in my head ;) This is copied and pasted directly from an e-mail I wrote to my brother yesterday:

I'm with enjoying the unseasonably warm weather (which for here is upper 60's and low 70's- we hit 77 yesterday, which is slightly above the average high temperature in the summer). I've adjusted to the cooler temperatures, so anything above 65 and sunny, and I'm fine to be in short sleeves in the sun. Lows are usually in the upper 30's and low 40's, so a sweater and jacket is still necessary at night. The days are getting longer, and now it doesn't get truly dark until around 10, though the official sunset time is probably around 9:15-9:30. The longest day of the year, there will be over 16 hours from official sunset to sunrise with 17.5 hours of visible light. It's a real trip. My sense of time is totally thrown off. The flip side of that is that we get REALLY short days in the winter. Flowers are in bloom, and there's one (that I don't know the name of) that is everywhere and smells lovely. The upside of a kind of miserable winter is an even bigger appreciation for a lovely spring. People are having drinks on patios everywhere. People are going for walks and having picnics and lying around on the grass, soaking up the sun. One of the things I like about France is a continued connection with the rhythm of life that we seem to have less in the US. You change your habits with the season. Lots of people say things like, "I eat less in the summer. It's so hot, you just want to eat a salad or something light and fresh." Really? We don't say things like that. For Texans, there's never a bad time for enchiladas or queso! They're less likely to eat (and sometimes can't even find) fruits and vegetables when they're not in season. People go out and talk to each other and sit in cafés. Julie and her friends are 23-25, but some of what they do reminds me of what mom experienced in San Antonio or you at St. Stephen's...I somehow missed out on it. They see each other regularly. Even in high school, they got together and did stuff, took trips. They were a group of 20ish and were always together. It's totally common and not really taboo for people to drink in high school here, so they did a lot of that too. They have a bond that fascinates me. So, that is the positive news from France.