The first word ever posted in this journal was bosser, (slang for "to work hard"). That was a promise! Ten years have passed and on a bossé comme on pouvait—we've worked as hard as we could. Time now to celebrate….
jour pour jour (zhoor poor zhoor)
: (almost) to the day
Joyeux Anniversaire French Word-A-Day! by Jean-Marc
((Listen )) to Jean-Marc's letter: Download MP3 or Wave file
Il y a déjà 10 ans, jour pour jour, Kristi s'installait sur une table d'étudiant dans l'entrée de notre maison pour démarrer French Word-A-Day. Joyeux Anniversaire, nous sommes si fiers de toi.
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It's already been ten years, almost to the day, that Kristi settled in at a student's desk in the entree hall of our house to start up French Word-A-Day. Happy Birthday, we are so proud of you.
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Au départ, elle exprimait beaucoup de frustrations liées à sa vie d'expatriée en mettant en lumière les différences culturelles entre la France et les Etats-Unis (l'Arizona en fait).
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In the beginning, she expressed a lot of frustrations tied to her expatriate life, shedding light on cultural differences between France and the United States (Arizona, in fact).
Our changes in life, and especially the period spent at the Rouge-Bleu winery, were important sources of inspiration, not to leave out the arrival in our life of Braise and Smokey. Of course our children and the family have been there all through the years and the numerous newsletters will be a way for us to relive our past. Finally, the books she has published will always be there, should one day the Internet cease to work.
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Et maintenant, comment voyez-vous l'évolution du blog de Kristi pour les 10 prochaines années ?
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And now how do you see the evolution of Kristi's blog for the next ten years?
Thank you, Jean-Marc, for the touching tribute you wrote! And mille mercis to you, dear readers, for continuing to read this journal and for your ongoing support. The letters you wrote in response to the "break-up" edition touched me profondément.
See the evolution of this blog, by reading through the online archives. (Stories posted prior to 2004 are no longer online, though some of these entries are published in the memoir Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France).
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Joyeux Anniversaire to French Word-A-Day and to you Kristi! I’m so glad I found you! Still enjoying your posts and beautiful photos!
Hugs to you and hope to meet you one day!
You are a gift and blessing in our lives. Congratulations! Stay, grow, and illuminate, wonderful moments together!
Felicitations! I look forward to the next 10 years!
Bisous,
Amber
Happy Birthday to you all! Have a very special day! Very best wishes for the next 10 coming years, we’ll be there to celebrate your success!
Hugs from Reunion Island.
Congratulations, Kristi! Through your efforts you give so much to those of us who have a love for France in our heart and soul. We have only found you in the last year but have read your books and follow you faithfully now. My husband and I lived in France when we were the age Jacquie and Max are now. It changed our lives.Your special gift at sharing your life is truly a joy. Thanks to you..and to your family!
What a lovely tribute by Jean-Marc and best wishes for the future.On a separate note, you have many American friends and family -some who write here in the comment box -thinking of you and hoping that you are all safe from Hurricane Sandy.So sad for lives disrupted and homes destroyed.
Congrats and happy 10th anniversary to French Word A Day! Plus, I learned a new word: ludic (playful). At first I thought that you had meant lucid and had transposed the letters. But when I looked at the French word, I thought, “I’d better look this up,” because I saw that it was a word derived from the French, as such a large percentage of our words are.
Merci for all those years. I started saving them in April of 2009 and have 400 of them saved! From time to time I go back and read them again…..going over the phrases again. I look forward to many more years.
I love having a glimpse into a life very different from my own. As a retired prof de français I love learning the argot you share with us. Thank you for sharing your experiences and family with us. Reading your blog is a real high point of my day!
Congratulations! Well deserved success. Thank you for providing a newsletter that assists in my never ending desire to speak French (I’m from Brooklyn NY, come on…French, really?), but the insight to your experience as an expat is an added plus that one cannot put a value on. Thank you for sharing your life and family. Jamie
Congratulations! You are truly a talented person with many excellent abilities. You have been an inspiration to me. Thank you for your hard work, and I hope you continue to have well-earned success.
http://WWW.AFrenchOpportunity.com
I love this site and feel a part of your extended family. Having lived in France as a student majoring in French, I relive that wonderful time in my life through reading your posts. I really like the pieces with each sentence in French with the English translation below. I see you making the French part in audio so we can listen along while we read!!!
What a great accomplishment, being in a foreign country, a wife and young mother, such a busy life yet such a lovely column and look what it all turned into!!
Success.
Félicitations, Kristin! I haven’t been a part of the entire 10 years, but it’s been at least 8 and I’ve always loved waking up and finding a post from you. Looking forward to the next 10!
I am a relative newcomer to French-Word-A-Day, so I have not witnessed the full evolution. Nevertheless, I always look forward to receiving it. I enjoy the photos and the stories of life in la belle France, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn some new words, such as ludique. Here’s to a brilliant future.
Thanks you for an entertaining and informative bit of France for all this time.
Many thanks, French Word a Day is a joy and I’ve learned alot. I look forward to following Smoky’s adventures too!
Hi Kristin, I have only discovered you in the last few months, but what a joy it has been to read your posts and see your pictures. I have looked back at your archives, and plan to do some more reviewing. For the next 10 years, I hope you continue your blog. It will be fun to hear what your children do for college, and about any new interests you and Jean-Marc discover. I hope also that you are able to publish more books. And one day I hope to meet you, as you have become like a friend I look forward to hearing from across the miles.
Karene in So. Calif.
Congratulations! Never change what already works, so well. I look forward to your next 10 years with delicious anticipation.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KRISTI –
I remember this day ten years ago. So many little events led up to this fateful day ten years ago. I remember the little desk/work station Jean-Marc had set up in the little hallway-entrance into your home in Les Arcs…it was orginally JM’s office space as he was busy working for a very large vinyard taking care of their marketing. Nobody paid attention to what you were doing, you would sneak a moment here and there on JM’s computer when he was at work. Then of course you hit the wall when everyone in your family said NO YOU CAN’T WRITE ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL LIFE AND FAMILY ON THE INTERNET! Except for me of course who was always encouraging you to be free.
Throughout your life you have surprised us all – you are truly the little turtle that could – and did leave the hare in the dust as he/she proded (sp?) along determined to follow your own path.
I enjoy reading your first years work – your inesense (sp?)and pure heart has been your greatest asset throughout this journey.
Of course as your Mother I have patiently been waiting for you to finally grab that brass ring waiting for you as you glide around your lovely merry-go-round – yes I still see a great fictional novel set in the forest near the sea in Provence. Perhaps this will come forth over the next ten years. You are finally in an area of France where the action of a novel could ignite all of our imaganations – the seedy and glamorous streets of Marseille, the enchanting village of Cassis, St. Cyr-sur-Mer, Bandol, Toulon, St. Tropez, Nice etc. The history of this area of Provence is a novel in itself. Oh Please Kristi – over the next ten years open up this project for your poor old Mom…!!!
O.K. I will stop ranting – it’s just that you have all of the skills to move into this level of writing, plus I have never known anyone with an imagination on par with yours, you had it as a young child…once you open up this pathway out of your beautiful mind we will all be enriched.
Oh Honey – I love you and your life and your beautiful mind.
XOXO
MOM
You blog has been a constant source of inspiration to me…please, another 10 years. Congratulations and love,
Mary
Congratulations! Well – that’s a tough question. I think your blog has a life of it’s own and may possibly evolve quite differently from what you expect. I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out. This come to you from South Africa
Joyeux Anniversaire, et merci. Vivian
Congratulations, Kristin! This is such a terrific achievement. We’ve all learned so much, thanks to your inspired jottings, beautiful photos and infectious enthusiasm. Thanks for allowing us the chance to glimpse into your life. A toast to your next ten years!
Kristi:
Congratulations! Looking forward to accompanying you in your writing life.
Thanks for sharing your stories and pictures
with us.
Edie from Savannah
I look forward to every posting, from both of you, and carefully save them. What no one has commented on here is the comment: “should one day the Internet cease to work.” This for me opens up a whole new part of life that hasn’t been discussed – the unsustainability of our financial system, and its implications in your life, which, by the way, are the same for many of us as well. I would so love to hear a bit more about what is behind that comment. Especially what is happening in your lives related to austerity measures, etc.
Congratulations on reaching 10 years! Be proud and enjoy your accomplishment.
Felicitations. I do hope you continue the blog and to write more books as well. It sounds to me as if Jules should write the novel that she wants you to write!
Dear Kristin, Thank you for giving of yourself while teaching us French. I enjoy your blog so much! It’s the only French lesson I can follow, as I sense it’s from a real person who lives in a real world with a real family. I hope that, in the meantime, you have created the community of ex-pats you lacked for, as they say, petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid. Merci bien!
Happy Day!!! Ten years goes by so fast and yeet look at what you have accomplished and created. Congratulation!
Kristi, your mother said it so well, all I can do is agree with her. Your area is so rich in history and endless real intrigue, that a novel could go in so many mysterious directions, and would be such a grand adventure.
Congratulations on ten years! Maybe if you need a change of pace, Jean Marc should take over writing the blog for a year! He is doing a great job.
Have a great day! Congrats! I always look forward to your posts. Please keep writing to us. And start that novel! Always listen to your mom!
Stay well!
Congratulations on 10 successful years of writing! Since the question concerning future blogs came up, perhaps writing about local places, people, and cultural customs in your area of southern France would be a possibility. My students and I enjoy the local pictures, recipes, architecture, plants, etc… Many thanks for all you do with French-word-a-day!!
Bises,
Julie
San Diego, Ca
Dear Kristin,
Thank you so much for sharing so much of what you experience and your thoughts and observations from your ‘corner’ of the world. I believe your work has made the world a smaller and better place. The more we learn and share with one another the more we discover how much we have in common and see that our differences are small and insignificant.
It is sunny and 5 degrees in Beautiful Joliet.
Happy Anniversary! Congratulations! and Happy Halloween!
Kristi, As I’ve said on more than one occasion, you and French-Word-A-Day bring more joy to my days than you could every imagine. Your lovely, heartfelt stories and beautiful photos are my escape. And, yes, I enjoy your books too. In fact, I go back to them often, just for a quick read. Thank you for sharing your talents and your life. I look forward to many more years of this joy!
Myra, New Orleans, LA
and, For your Dad: 64 degrees and beautiful sunshine here in our fair city!
I agree with everyone else — joyeux anniversaire, and felicitations! You have taught me French words that aren’t in the formal textbooks, that can be learned only by local conversation. Plus your wonderful insights into French culture. Congrats on your achievement, and may it continue another 10 years at least.
Congratulations, Kristi. I’m not sure how long I’ve been reading FWAD. I can trace when I first figured out how to save audio files to 2006, but that wasn’t the beginning. I like Mom’s idea of your writing a novel, if that appeals to YOU, of course.
I read Jean-Marc’s story all the way through in French before going back to the translation. These days I’m getting a good sense of written material in French, if not too slangy, even though not an exact translation. Since I’m of an age where I practically forget my own name, it surprises me that I seem to be absorbing more and more French (although I get tongue-tied at a direct question).
May you have ten years and more of bringing us vignettes from your life.
Yes, Kristin, Oui .. !!!
What I find perhaps most attractive about this journal, Kristi, is your openness and courage to risk disclosures of your adventures and feelings as your lives proceed on “day by day”. I appreciate also your family’s willingness to be part of this disclosure.
I can’t predict at all what might happen in your lives, or in our lives here, over the next ten years. I think what makes life interesting is its very unpredictability and I’m glad about that. I hope to keep reading your Word-A-Day journal. Thanks for the privilege, Kristi, you wonderful lively young lady you.
Our dear Kristin,
I was fortunate to join the FWAD family over six years ago, and in that time,each of your wonderful posts(and pictures!) have remained as fresh,vibrant,and entertaining
as the first one I read. You have a gift–not only for writing,but for making us aware that we constantly need to view our lives through fresh eyes.Never stop cherishing our loved ones,laughing at ourselves, cring when we need, and giving thanks for every day.
THANK YOU,dear friend,for such a glorious gift.CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! We share your joy
and pride. Love, Natalia XO
Each of your posts is a contemplation that I take into my day Kristi. You put into words observations (with both natures) of life’s adventures in experience that I can clearly relate to. The comments from “Rompre” moved me deeply. Thank you and follow your inner nudges from day to day as always.
I FOUND YOU A FEW YEARS AGO WHILE SEARCHING FOR FRENCH POEMS OR PHRASES TO IMPRESS A BEAUTIFUL EIGHTY SIX YEAR OLD GIRL THAT I AM COURTING. I WAS AMAZED AT THE WAY THAT I BEGAN TO FEEL AT HOME WITH YOUR WRITINGS. THE PICTURES AND STORIES MADE ME WANT TO BECOME A PART OF YOUR FAMILY. ON THOSE DAYS THAT YOU SHOULD APPEAR AND DO NOT, I MUST CHECK MY E-MAIL HOURLY. THE BEAUTIFUL GIFT THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN IS MOST APPRECIATED . I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR CONTINUED SUCCESS IN ALL OF YOUR ENDEAVOIRS
Kristi deserves all your sweet notes. She has been working hard on those post and nobody could replace her
Congratulations on the tenth anniversary of FWAD! It means so much to so many people and brings us great pleasure. It is your wonderful gift to share your life’s experiences with us through your writings and photography. Thank you so very much. May the next ten years and many years beyond be as happy and interesting as the last ten. With best regards for all, Cynthia
…and it is good to see you here as well JM! Your input adds yet another dimension to a World Class Blog! Aloha, Bill
Happy Anniversary Kristin! I have been reading this blog since 2004 I believe and I have enjoyed it immensely. I just read your post for October 26 and can not believe how incredibly mean this “friend” is, just mean, mean, mean. Can you imagine the damage she is doing to others? I say good riddance, and what goes round, comes round. You just keep being yourself. There are plenty of us out here who like you.
I forgot to ask, why is Jean-Marc writing for you these days. Are you okay?
Hi, Kristin and Jean-Marc – Congratulations on your success! Nancy and I wish you so many more years of even greater adventures and successes! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Hollywood waits for you with open arms!! Your story would make a wonderful movie. Huge hug to each of you from us! We will be in Paris in August this year – perhaps we can connect again then. XO
Ah, the sweet scent of your success! On this joyous occasion {blessed anniversary!} I took a moment to pull out the café letters you had written me from Le Grand Café in 1999! Feeling grateful for your presence in my life and that you are still writing. You have just grown more beautiful and cherished over time.