Péronne, first impressions

I'm stationed in Péronne, a hamlet of 8 or 9 thousand inhabitants 80 km north of Paris.

There is one main street flanked by a central plaza. From the plaza, where I'm sitting now, you could be in any decent-sized town in France (albeit on a side street on Sunday). There are 3 and 4-story buildings, very pretty, all with different character. However, if you walk a few blocks south, the town just. . . stops. You'll be looking at 4-story buildings crammed together, then when you turn around you're looking at pure nature. It's a little sudden. The "pure nature" is pretty, at least. Very pretty.

There are a lot of young families and elderly people. The people I've encountered have been incredibly nice. In that respect, I am lucky. They also like Americans here. There is a store called American Stock that sells Guess and Levi's. There was also a game atd the carnival last week that was advertised by a picture of a cowboy, an Indian, and Clint Eastwood. I imagine that, being in the country, cowboys are pretty popular here.

So, other than the occasional struggle with boredom or homesickness, I'm doing well.

P.S. They're packing up the market, and a van just rolled by literally within a few inches of my table. I had to move a chair so he didn't hit it. He leaned out the window and said, "Merci!"