A false start and a gift

I wish I'd posted a few days ago.  Here's what I might have said:

Transportation and lodging all arranged to go to Lourdes and help clean up after the flooding, then continue on to Lyon and to the mountains.  I'm excited and looking forward to being on the move again, active and engaged.

Then the next post would have said this:

Well, the best laid plans!  Looks like I'm not going to volunteer, after all.  I called the hotline again today and they said there are actually too many people, and if I'm planning to come just for that, don't bother.  I feel like the rug was pulled out from under me, and I feel frustrated when I think of the hours I spent figuring out how to get myself there.  Well, better to find out now.

Currently:
I'm still planning to go watercolor.  Until then, I'll just hang out in Paris (oh, shucks!) and maybe spend a little less time doing introspective writing and trying to figure out my life, and a little more time enjoying the fact that it's summer and I'm in Paris.

A gift:
Last night I was given the chance to open for my friend's jazz trio and vocal jazz group at a local wine bar.  She sang superbly.  I think I sang okay--I was mainly glad I didn't get super nervous and fall apart.  Music is an area of my life I'm actively expanding, and this was a really nice stepping stone.  I need a lot more practice with microphones, with being in front of people, with confronting the tide of doubt and self-critical thoughts that creep in if I let them and ruin my singing and my fun.

Now I'm off to take her out to birthday lunch and say thank you.

Honeymoon

Several days before the wedding, I learned that I could stay on for a week after the wedding was over and help my friends convert the groom's mom's garage into a bedroom.

I changed my plane flight from June 18th: Buenos Aires to September 3rd: Seattle, Washington.  Just to push it out as far as possible within the limits of my visa.

At the wedding, the bride's parents invited me to join them for a week-long watercolor workshop at their chalet in the mountains east of Lyon from July 5th through 11th, approximately.  I accepted.  I'm to provide musical entertainment, and I also offered to help cook.

Several old and new acquaintances at the wedding offered places to visit in: Paris, Brittany, Auvergne, Lyon, Marseilles, and another place I don't remember the name of.

I stayed a few days in the country after the wedding, then returned to Paris to attend a surprise birthday party and a ball this weekend.

My current plan after the aforementioned festivities is to check websites for volunteering opportunities in flood cleanup, as many cities in France have recently been inundated.  I might head, for example, to Lourdes to muck out the holy site and then to Lyon to catch up with the bride's family and head to the mountains for the watercolor workshop.

I am feeling rather pleased with how many fun plans have come out of not trying to plan ahead, but waiting to see what comes up.

Meanwhile, I continue writing and thinking and talking to explore what I'd like to do and be next.

Prologue

This is how I would have given my personal geographical history up until about 2 months ago.

I was born in New York state.
I grew up in Connecticut.
I backpacked around Europe.
I went to college in Massachusetts.
I studied my junior year in Kyoto, Japan.
I fell in love and moved to Portland, Oregon.
I trained as an English teacher and went off to Korea.
I went to Indonesia to teach, but I got ill and needed a rest.
I returned to New York and Connecticut.
I recovered my stamina and moved to Mexico for 5 months.
I moved to Poland where I had a friend and stayed for a year.
I tried out Portugal and Morocco before heading to Argentina.
I fell in love with Argentina and decided I was staying forever.
And there I lived happily ever after.  The end!

Then, after 7 months, I suddenly realized Argentina was not the end of my travels.
I had a plane ticket (round trip, back to Buenos Aires) to attend a friend's wedding in France. 
A few weeks before leaving I decided I was not in fact coming back to Argentina.
After a brief visit home to New York, I flew to Paris, having no clue what I'd do after the wedding.