A very merry holiday season
I thought 2025 wasn't real when I was a kid. LOL.
What a year it’s been! And what a wild feeling to be writing in terms of having been doing life here for this whole year. I still sometimes feel like I’m new here, and maybe we are. I don’t know what qualifies as being “local” or at what time one becomes “not new”. A philosophical question for your New Year.
We have had a COLD AF winter so far and spent Christmas in Tignes, skiing in the Espace Killy in the Tarentaise Valley (Vallée de la Tarentaise). I love this place. It’s a relatively small area in the French alpine region of Savoie along the Italian border that packs a massive punch in terms of skiing, other outdoor activities, and sheer beauty. Multiple of my favorite ski stations so far has been within this valley, and I can’t wait to go back this spring and summer for hikes, climbs, biking, and getting onto/into the beautiful waterways.
As Christmas is a big holiday for tourists and it’s a resort after all, everyone working in the restaurants and hotels assumes we’ve come from literally anywhere but France once we start talking. So it’s funny when I tell them (in French) we live in France, just 2.5 hours away, and then the attempts to communicate in English, thankfully, generally stop. I haven’t figured out why exactly, but I’ve been asked if I’m Canadian, German, British, and a couple of times Dutch, but when I say American people seem almost universally surprised. It’s an interesting thing.
We drove into the Alps in a blizzard, in a rental car whose tires and other abilities I questioned. The guy at the rental counter really thought he was doing me a favor by giving me a Mercedes, but it ended up being a hatchback circa 2012, with no USB port, no navigation, a very strange transmission, and someone had put the car’s system language in Turkish, which meant there was no chance of getting it reset to something I could remotely understand.
We bought snow chains, though, and proceeded into the mountains, arriving without issue. The people of the Alps know how to regulate traffic and clear roads. 10/10 and many thanks.
Christmas was a little bit of a whirlwind because we got back from visiting friends and family in the US a week or so before we left for Tignes. I’m pretty used to the run-around but it can be a little much at times when considering laundry, re-packing, trying to eat and rest. So we were happy to finally be just skiing and relaxing.
Our trip to Nashville earlier this month was amazing and way too short. By all accounts it flew by, and I’ve sworn I’m never doing a one-week trip across the Atlantic by choice ever again. We’d voluntarily shortened it due to the last minute trip at the end of October—we mainly didn’t want to be away from the dogs for too long, Zoe is so old and frail. I’m not sure yet how we’ll manage it going forward, but we will be figuring something else out. We’ve also decided we’re going to be back home for the actual holidays next year, spending our first Christmas and New Year’s in the states since 2022. It feels like it’s time.
Christmas and New Year’s in France has a pretty different vibe than the US. There are gifts, large meals, gatherings with family and friends, but it’s not really on as big of a scale. New Year’s in particular is more chill, with many bars and restaurants actually closed on New Year’s Eve as people often gather with friends at home. There are enough places open to have a good time though, and we’ll be out ringing in the New Year and then promptly heading home.
Although our 2025 will definitely be more chill than any year since 2019 (2020-2022—the years that shall not be named, 2023—prepping to move overseas, insanity, 2024—settling into France, still insanity) there are still a few things happening and changes to tackle, which is exciting and sometimes daunting. Here’s what we’re up to:
I’m getting my French driver’s license in January or early February (the test is notoriously a pain in the ass, only in French, and you have 20 seconds to answer each question. A joy!) Wish me luck—my US license will become invalid mid-February so the time is now.
I’m changing up my work a bit, which will take some effort, but I’m really excited for this new direction. While Justin is fairly settled for the moment, work for me has been unmotivating since my last big project ended. It’s been lackluster this last half of the year particularly, and I finally faced the fact that I may be done with the line of public health I have all this experience in and have been focusing on in my job so far. So, I’m leaving it behind for now at least, and am pivoting back to what got me into public health in the first place—environmental health and sustainability projects, climate and health, and focusing on environmentally-linked conditions and systems.
Justin is moving from basic to more comprehensive beginner French. Everyone cheer him on!
We are both FINALLY enrolled in the French healthcare system (heyo!), so now have to find new doctors (I’d rather rip off a whole fingernail than start this process).
Lastly, writing to all of you over the last year has given me the nudge I needed to finally start travel writing in a more public space. The fact that I’ve wanted this for a while is maybe no surprise to those of you who’ve listened to me talk for years about traveling and all the related things. I know many of you aren’t here for that, so I’ve started a different substack called Near, Far, and Away that you can subscribe to if you like that kind of content, and some of you who I thought would tolerate another surprise email from me have received my first post already (tysm). If you join me over there, let me know what you think, comment, chat, share, engage! It should be fun.
We hope you’ve all had a wonderful season, and continue to do so through the New Year, end of Hanukkah, and any other remaining celebrations. Thanks for reading about our life, and better yet caring to read about it.
Sending love, best wishes, and strength to complete your Dry January challenges,
Leslie and Justin
Hey! I don't like the looks of all that snow! Environmental health, huh? I have it on good authority that environmental health is a good field. As I used to tell folks during new employee orientation, were first in public health, you know. Not sure you know, but I spent several years in the first half of my career with Env. and Conservation. I went around the state managing petroleum spills that affected wells and drinking water systems. The groundwater protection program originally was in TDH, because when I started there actually was no TDEC. (Yep, I'm old.) Hope you find something rewarding that you really like. Good luck with the new writing projects. Take care.