What's this adventure ?

Haven't you ever wanted to just pack up your bags and move somewhere interesting ? Well, after 39 years in the San Francisco Bay Area we thought that time had come. The Bay Area was getting a yuckier place to live, and Steve just so happens to work for a company with engineering offices around the globe.

So, after about a year of organizing and getting software out the door before we could leave, the family was ready to move to the South of France ! When your boss asks if you want to transfer to the Sophia offices and you ask if that is in the South of France and your boss says yes, on the Riviera at the base of the Alps, you'd be pretty crazy to say no.

On September 28, 2000 all of our belongings were packed up and shipped off to France. Now it was just left up to the family to catch up to it. We will be France for 2 to 3 years and this Web page is dedicated to documenting everything that happens.

The main reason we came was for the experience of living in another country, another culture, another continent. We wanted this experience to be as different from our California living as possible. So far, except for the weather, we've accomplished that. We wanted to struggle learning a new language since so many people coming to the Bay Area go through just that.

We wanted to stay for an extended time so that we could fully absorb the culture, both French and European. We wanted to have extensive opportunities to travel, and we wanted our sons to learn French as well as be exposed to a different lifestyle. They will hopefully get a worldliness that will serve them well throughout the rest of their lives.

And most of all, I had a sneaking suspicion that I needed to be grateful for what we have in the US, and we were missing that. A few years of living in a place like France should more than teach us that life is pretty good in America. It didn't take long as looking for a home to rent here proved that we have a very nice home, indeed, in California, even if our carpet is old and worn and our yard full of weeds.

But most important of all, it should just be damn fun ! Though Patti could tell you some stories, I think so far it has been.

So as we struggle through trying to watch French TV, or understand why the French just refuse to pick up their dog crap in the middle of the sidewalk (I doubt we will ever understand that particular custom), and figure out all the different types of cheeses, we will keep this Web page chronicling the big adventure.

Oh yea, and eat croissants until we puke !

Updated Tue Oct 31, 2000 4:52pm EST