My name is Anna, and I was born and raised just outside of Springfield, Oregon, USA. I started learning French when I was 11 years old, and fell in love with the language and culture — our teacher had visited France often, and her own passion for the country came through in all her lessons. I continued my studies through university, earning a Bachelors in French language and literature, minoring in music (piano and saxophone performance), and also studying a good deal of anthropology and comparative literature. My senior year was spent as an exchange student in Lyon, France, from 1997-1998.

At the time, I had a boyfriend from Lyon who had been hired by Nokia in Helsinki, Finland. I went along, not only because of him but because my parents had worked with Finns during my childhood, and had visited Finland themselves, so I was curious to learn more about the country and take the chance to live there. While in Finland I was a freelance English, French and cross-cultural instructor, giving courses to CEOs and managers at major Finnish businesses.

Two years later, in 2000, my then-partner and I decided we’d like to move back to France. He was an IT engineer, and I had started doing translations, so we agreed to move to Nice, with its proximity to Sophia Antipolis (France’s Silicon Valley) and Nice’s central location for my own freelance purposes. I’ve been in Nice since, remaining despite a difficult breakup several years ago. I still work as a translator, copyeditor and technical writer, but have been an employee since landing a job with my favorite client in 2006.

My blog actually began some time in 1995, while I was still at university in the US. A friend and I had become captivated by the World Wide Web and its possibilities in 1994, and had created a site for our university’s marching band. A few months later I decided to create an online journal, as well as a personal reference site on France (now defunct). My journal has changed along with me over the years, to what you can read now. Every few years I remove older posts that I no longer feel attached too, which is why you won’t see the entire past in my archive.

On this site I write about what’s important to me currently. At the present, that means photographing Nice and surroundings, gardening, slowly renovating the apartment I purchased in 2008, and occasionally posting about my two furballs. I don’t delve much into my personal life, since privacy is important to me, and for the same reason, I don’t often mention other people either. Writing can be fulfilling and interesting, but the Internet is not the same as a book.

While I enjoy sharing knowledge about France, there are certain things I will not address in detail: how to move here, how to get a visa, how to find a job. Anyone curious about these matters is best served by looking up their nearest French embassy or consulate. Also, while I would love to share the cultural aspects of working in France, I don’t, since I work in a consulting firm with several clients, some of whom read this site! I wouldn’t want any misunderstandings to arise.

Phew! After working out a solution to the privacy issue, and with enough time to be able to post once (maybe twice) a week, I’m back to writing here.

This is Grey a month after his arrival — he’s much healthier, happier and more playful. I’ve also finished cleaning the original terracotta tiles (tomettes) in my living room, and will write about that in another post.

Following in the footsteps of his ground-breaking predecessor, catblogger Malo (author of the very first cat blog on the net, now defunct because it’s too hard to control spam comments…), Kanoko has joined Twitter: http://twitter.com/kanokokitty

For several reasons, including time and privacy, I’m going to stop posting here. I will continue taking photographs (my flickr stream).

All the best to readers, and many thanks to those who have contributed personally — it was and is much appreciated.

I’m still available at my email address on the right, under the “Meta” header. (That said, I won’t answer if it’s just to ask how to become a translator, how to find a job in France, or how to move to France. There’s a reason people are paid to give that kind of advice.)

Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave.
- Excerpt from Hamatreya, Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a flower from one of my cyclamens. I’ve had four cyclamen plants for three years now, managing to hibernate them successfully in summer. It’s always a pleasure to see them return to life in winter and enjoy their blossoms throughout the cold months.

My Larousse etymology book and the American Heritage Dictionary entry for cyclamen note that cyclamen, Latin, comes from the Greek kuklaminos, from kuklos, circle. The dictionary theorizes it may be due to the bulbous roots. Methinks it’s a bit more obvious than that (and to be very pedantic, a cyclamen bulb is spherical, not circular).