While in California, I sent my downstairs neighbor a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge. I sent it the day after the election. Being somewhat numb, I couldn’t think what to say so I wrote “Greetings from Oakland” or something banal like that. When she received it, she texted me “Merci Sara pour la très belle carte du pont de SF qui sera toujours là après les élections….(thank you Sara for the lovely card of SF’s bridge which will still be there after the elections…”)

I had similar thoughts the morning after I returned. Sitting at my table, looking out my window on to the Seine and the Pont Neuf, I thought “this scene doesn’t change. It has survived bad kings, the french revolution, the terror, the commune, World Wars I and II, surely the left can survive four years of the right led by someone who is going to have to take a speed course on the doings of US government.”

And so my numbness slowly went away. My jet lag has been relatively mild, just sleeping a lot. I haven’t turned on the news. I was hearing horror stories of teens doing very questionable things to non-white teens in their schools. That was enough. I’ll get back into my daily life here and sooner or later, things will be very clear on how the wind is blowing in the United States.
I’m told one of the first politicians to call and congratulate Mr. Trump was Marine La Pen, she who would very much like to be the next President of France. We’ve called her the French Trump because of her stand on immigration. After Brexit, she was ecstatic and called for a referendum in France. She wants France to leave the EU. I don’t think she’ll be called the french Trump anymore, too superstitious. The French elections are in five months and eyes will be turned this way to see if bad things come in threes. Ms. La Pen has been building power as immigration becomes the most important issue for almost everyone. The choices, so far, are not great.
It’s a strange time. I was born in the aftermath of World War II, grew up in the Kennedy years, became a hippie in my university years and now have watched politics swing as far away from those years as it could possibly get–at least in a democracy. I’ve been extremely active in politics and I’ve been asleep. Right now, it seems to me that what is called for is living the best possible life I can lead. To do random acts of Kindness — because I can.
There is an opinion piece in the New York Times this morning written by Nicolas Kristof titled: A 12 step program for responding to President-Elect Trump. I thought it inventive and smart. I pass it on to you:
A bientôt,
Sara
Protests in Oakland, California where I am at the moment.
United Lounge at Charles De Gaulle airport
My cute little beagle at Dulles International!!
The game was so unpredictable, so closely matched and, in my opinion, so overly managed by Joe Maddon, that the Chicago Cubs won in spite of him. Not that this is news to anyone. Everyone in the world must know that “Wait till next year” came this year. The Chicago Cubs are 2016 World Champions–although the word world is a bit euphemistic. It was thrilling, it was worse than a horror film. At one point, I changed the channel, I thought my stomach would never survive the back and forth of scores between the two teams. But the Cubs had God on their side Wednesday. There was a seventeen minute rain delay and in that time, the Cubs held a team meeting without any of the coaches and boosted themselves back on board as winners.
Excitement and joy are contagious. I’ve been to Wrigley Field once in my life. But I had no trouble jumping on the bandwagon of exhilaration and felt so grateful that these moments allowed me to forget my trip and appreciate that I got to watch the game. And what a game!!!!!











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My day of the appointment arrived. It was hard. The woman who looked at my documents looked at everything very closely over and over. Then she finally wrote a list of things she wanted me to bring back for another appointment in about seven weeks. Meanwhile she gave me a temporary card. When that appointment came, she didn’t look at any of the documents she had asked for. She told me to come back in two months to get my Titre de Sejour. It turned out that almost every American I know was asked to return for a second appointment. Maybe it’s a test of some sort







