October!? How did that happen!? Of course, this can only mean one thing: we’re just over a month away from election time. I stayed up last night/this morning to watch the debates and I have to admit to have been pleasantly surprised by JK’s performance. Of course, that means very little if it doesn’t translate to actual votes in November. Meanwhile, I’m more than a bit anxious because I have yet to receive any kind of confirmation for my absentee ballot!

On the brighter side, this week I received the document that states my request for residency is in progress. It’s really just a fancy receipt with one exception: I don’t have to wait until I get the actual resident card to be able to legally work . It would seem this is a big deal because although I should get the residency card in December, the kind ladies at the city hall said there is a severe backlog in the office that handles that and I shouldn’t be surprised if it takes longer. Fortunately, that won’t affect me either way. Also, despite being married to a French citizen, it seems that what has really helped speed things along is that I am applying as a US, and not Honduran, national. Apparently, brown people from third world countries have a hard time finding their way to the welcome mat regardless of what door they knock on.

So anyway, here we are at the end of week four. This past week has been full of diverse activities. Over the weekend we hosted some of Steph’s cousins for dinner. Despite both of us fighting an ongoing cold, I was pretty optimistic about being able to hit the clubs afterwards. What I hadn’t counted on was the power of a French dinner.

To make things easy for ourselves and not have to spend the whole day in the kitchen we decided to have what is called a « raclette » for the main course. The name comes from a particular type of cheese that is melted and then poured over potatoes and an assortment of smoked /cured meats. The reason its so easy to prepare is that aside from the potatoes, there is no more cooking to be done. There is a device that amounts to basically a broiler on your table into which you insert small individual trays of cheese to be melted and subsequently poured over the rest of your fixins. After killing off a bottle of champagne during the compulsory exercises (read: predinner cocktails) and completely shunning the salad, I dove in to the main event with an enthusiasm that would only be satiated by copious amounts of wine meat and cheese. After gorging myself in an obscene display of debauchery, I realized I had made a terrible miscalculation. I hurt myself real good with no room left for desert. I can’t recall ever being so full in my life and I was reminded of the explosive scene at the end of « Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life ».

The next day we headed out to take in some much needed outdoor activity. Angers was hosting a leg in the European powerboat racing circuit on the Maine, the river that runs through the city on its way to join forces with the Loire. It was pretty nice to get out and about and stroll about on the riverfront. While all the racing stuff was pretty interesting, what caught my attention was the distinctive sound of live music coming from a stage perched atop the riverbank. The local reggae band playing was pretty tight, with the bassist laying down a groove so fat you could drive a truck through it. Meanwhile, the horns (yes, horns!) punched through with a power you can only get with brass. Not bad, not bad at all.

After the weekend, we spent the next couple of days helping Steph’s younger brother and his girlfriend move. I was really glad to be able to give them a hand because we’re so indebted to them for their tireless efforts in preparations for our wedding last year. While nothing compared to all the hours and dedication they put at our disposal, it’s always nice to do nice things for nice people. As simple as those words sound, contained within are profound implications for how we experience society and perceive « the other ».