by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: September 02, 2008

I came to France chasing a dream. I was unsure if I would live in France, although my romance brought me to a part of rural France which was to enchant me for the past twenty years. Little did I know about the wonders that lay before me, though the years of discovery leave me forever surprised by the wonders which await those who choose France as not only a place to reside, but to become a part of.

It wasn't easy at first. My knowledge of the language was confined to that taught in a classroom environment and hadn't prepared me for the practicalities of life. You don't learn all the building phrases when you are at school, and taking on an old house which had been neglected by time, it took a little cunning and a lot of patience to get to grips with what life really was about.

The language in this part of France is different, in that not only do Breton people speak the French language, but they also have a language of their own. I learned words and phrases and at first the hardest thing was being able to converse in a two way conversation. Little by little with a combination of hand signals, body language and an increasing skill with vocabulary, I arrived at my destination as an accepted resident of another country.

The roads in the part of France where I live are empty of traffic, and you can drive for miles and wonder at the natural flavor of the place. Hidden away chateaus, and riverside abbeys that take your breath away wait for you to discover them. The markets call out for you to taste the flavor of local delicacies and home made cheeses, and the street cafes make you welcome. One of the aspects about living in France is that people have time. Of course they have to work as in other countries, though nowhere have I ever found another country where people stop and talk and are not in hurry.

Even upon visits on a regular basis to Paris, the center of activity in France, people don't have the same sense of urgency. A coffee is an event. No-one asks you to leave because you have finished your drink, and Paris's open avenues mean that the city is filled with light and open air, much different to capitals across the world where the narrow streets block off the skies. I love the atmosphere of France and the attitude of folks who have that "Je ne sais quoi", a quality hard to define, but so typically part of what France has become to me.

Now fluent in the language and at teaching level, I wonder sometimes at the magical lure of the place. I am no longer tempted to

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