You're moving where?

My favorite way to avoid a workout is to get caught up in an important activity that will make me "forget" what time it is. You  know, like organizing my closet. Then when I'm sure I've wasted the perfect amount of time, I will look out the window and damnit! It's too dark to go running. Works like magic. Having admitted that, I can't very well blog about my new running shoes and how I am going to get in the best shape of my life while wearing them. But I can blog about France.

When I received my work contract to teach in France, I hit google hard, trying to figure out where...and what Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule is. Much to my dismay, I could hardly find anything about this village, it is even absent on most maps! So..yikes. I thought. I'm going to be stranded in the French sticks, with no running water or paved roads. And then ah-ha! A website. Which led to another website, and so on. Slowly the internet convinced me that all was not lost, but life in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule is definitely quiet, with a population around 5,000. 

France is divided up into 27 administrative regions, 22 in mainland France and 5 overseas. From what I understand, these regions hold little legislative power; they levy their own taxes and are mostly responsible for building and maintaining public high schools. Each region is then divided into departments, which are divided into arrondissements, then cantons which finally consist of a number of communes. My town is identified in the Auvergne region, the department Allier, the arrondissement Moulins, canton Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule and commune Pays Saint-Pourcinois.

Not that any of that means much to me right now. For the moment I am much more concerned about finding a converter for my laptop and minimizing the weight of my suitcase. Twenty days til departure!