We’ve had an entire month without major travel, except for a quick 5 day trip to Paris a few weeks ago. It’s wild that a 5 day trip to Paris feels like a walk in the park compared to the huge travel we had been doing for a few months!
That Paris trip was mainly for a visit to the Swedish embassy, and we tacked on some days to be able to spend time with friends. Similar to our last trip to Paris, Mara just came along for the ride, and she loved it. Cafes, bistros, museums, strolling around, etc. The museum visits were actually kid friendly activities we chose for her, but they were still enjoyable for us too!
We’re feeling a lot more settled in Toulouse, and just in time to change countries again in less than a month! We’ve continued to be so pleasantly surprised by how nice people are and how family friendly it really is. The title of this post, c’est gentil – c’est normal, really captures it. I’m often out with Mara by myself navigating Toulouse with a stroller or baby carrier or both, and anytime someone goes out of their way to give me a hand (which is frequently) I’ll respond with “merci” (thank you) and “c’est gentil” (that’s so nice), which I picked up after hearing people say when someone would hold the door open for them or something like that. But the response to my “c’est gentil” is the most telling – in a very kind tone it’s either “c’est normal” (it’s nothing it’s normal) or “vous avez priorité” (you have priority… because I have a kid!). Even though there’s still this massive language and culture gap, we feel really welcomed here. It’s pretty great that this feeling continues from New Zealand.
Toulouse has not been without its challenges though, mainly because we’ve had zero external childcare for the last two months. So Wylie and I have been playing schedule Tetris every week to take care of Mara and continue each of our full time jobs. Luckily we both have flexible work arrangements so we can make it work, but it’s still tough. And add to that potty training and alternating nights of sleeping in a big bed with her because she started climbing out of her crib! Some days it feels like we just have to hold on but others are really fun days of lots of together time.
Our last few weeks in Toulouse will be very busy, but all for things that we’re really looking forward to! More to come!
Wander & Nest 
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