Finishing up my forty before forty list…
I have been very busy this year, trying to get better at the things I already do. Up until leaving Canada my life was a whirlwind of mediocre achievements and rushed work at a rapid fire pace. I promised myself during our new life in France, (which started as a sabbatical), I would give myself the time to get good at a few things I really enjoy. I love to cook, write, garden, play music, sing but above all I have a natural inclination to share.
Circle of friends
Moving to a new place is hard. I left a fabulous circle of friends back home, a family support system and loads of activities that kept me busy.
When we moved to Europe I hoped to strengthen my ties to our family back in Hungary and find a group of friends. We spent loads of time in Hungary and we loved bonding with the family we normally only see a few times a year and spent far more time together. I love them.
Once we settled down in France I made a few quick friends, but it was really only the last year that I found my little group of ladies that I spend the most of my time with. Once a week they come for English hour where I speak French and they speak English. We also have a family that we like to travel with and another family that is the closest to us that we spend about once a week together doing various activities. I feel grateful when I think of my new friends and the more French I learn the better I am at communicating with them. Life in France would not be happy for me without friends.
Playing Piano
I have been working on Sarah McLachlan’s In the Arm’s of an Angel on the piano and finally got to a point where I can sing and play it at the same time. A person goal that I wanted to accomplish since watching my friend Jane Nelson play the piano when we were six-years-old. I thought she was amazing, her delicate English features, tall and back straight at the piano as she played; her long fingers rolling across the keyboard with grace and ease, with pretty cords and flowing tunes. Meanwhile there was me, built for strength, I looked more like a German polka star, playing my full sized piano accordion and no matter how I tried to make it sound beautiful it always sounded like a circus act.
Now, I can finally read the base clef on the piano songs and tap out a few bars. I am proud of this old brain of mine to be able to learn a few new tricks and even sync both hands and sing. I won’t be the next Diana Krall any time soon, however I will entertain myself on occasion trying…
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Building a Website
Lastly to complete my 40 Before 40 list, I have to mention my long time love That’s Hamori. I started the website to keep in touch with my friends in Canada, but it has grown to thousands of people reading about us each month for nearly three years. The internet offers people like me a venue to share experiences visually through storyboards made up of photos, videos and stories and the website is the best template to do just that. When I started on the web over three years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about webpages, how they worked or even what Work Press was. It has been so much fun, and a constant education learning about social media, SEO and website building through WordPress. It has turned into a passion and with every website I put together I learn more and feel my creativity growing.
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