A view of our village

French schools are closed on Wednesdays, which suited us all just fine. The kids got a very good night's sleep at last (and slept in a bit, too), then lounged around this morning, watched French cartoons (which feels both culturally and linguistically worthwhile!), ate, played, and hung out.

This afternoon, we walked through our village to Mont-Saint-Victor, home of  a 12th century Roman chapel and a cemetery. The walk started in village, took us past the Mayor's office (he who was required to sign so many papers for the kids to go to school), and went straight up some wooden steps to the top of a beautiful hill. Tall trees and a sunny day made the hike take on a bit of a magical feeling, and all five of us walked home agreeing it was a great walk.

 

 

I love old cemeteries. When I worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer all those years ago, one of my favorite stories I did was on old graveyards in New Jersey. Just as I did back then, I wanted to know all of the stories behind the tombstones and people buried below. One of the tombstones showed at least three (and maybe more... the etching had worn off) members of the same family who all died in 1915. Was it an illness? A fire? Really bad luck? It couldn't have been the war -- not all of them seemed the right ages for that.

 

 

 

And there are so many stories that could be told from this place -- and not just the ones found in the cemetery. When I wrote earlier that this village seems old, I wasn't kidding. The village is mentioned as early as 761 AD! Laura and Franck have left a bit of a history of the village (and in English) and I am just going to go and quote most of it to let you know a bit about our new (and temporary) hometown.

 

According to Laura and Franck's history, the village "has long served as a natural gathering point. No less than five Roman roads converge in the village and its surrounding area. In 761, the village is mentioned under the name 'VILARE' which signifies 'rural habitation'.

"The word 'FAYE' became associate with the village due to the trees in the surrounding forests, known in local parlence as 'FAGUS'. In 1200, the village was referred to in written documents as 'VILER LA FAIE", which then evolved to its modern name of 'Villers-la-Faye' by 1740.

 

"The Mont-Saint-Victor which dominates the village used to go by the name the 'Mont de Villers.' This hilltop has known a long and varied history, and has over the years been the home to both a Gallo-Roman village and a fortified house in the Middle Ages. In the cemetery at the top (which was our destination during our walk today), you will find a little Roman chapel from the 12th century. A statue of Saint Abdon (one of the many patron saints of Villers) from the 15th century is still to be found in the chapel's edifice.

 

"From the deck of La Maison des Chaimes, you can see a round stone tower which is one of the remaining vestiges of the village's chateau (that was the Rapunzel tower that Katie and Livie liked so much).

"The Knights of Villers, a very eminent family of knights in the Middle Ages, built a large castle here in the beginning of the 15th century. It consisted of three large buildings flanked by four towers (the only one remaining is the one you can see from our deck, Laura wrote -- and is the one we walked by on Sunday), a chapel, and of course, a grape press. The whole ensemble was protected by a deep moat and drawbridge. If you walk down there today via the rue du Chateau (which is where we walked on Sunday), you can walk along waht used to be the moat wall (Jack REALLY liked that idea... and just wished the moat was still here).

 

"Traces of Roman and other ancient inhabitants of Villers can still be found all around the village. Laura wrote that many winegrowers in the region would find old Roman coins in their vineyards but kept it quiet because nobody wanted the government to expropriate their vineyards and start a dig... after all, she wrote, "Then what would they drink?"

It's a pretty village, too. John and I drove around a bit yesterday and actually found some scenery in and around neighboring villages that WASN'T breathtaking and beautiful. We returned home feeling even luckier to be perched on the side of our hill, surrounded by vineyards and forests and old stone houses and history everywhere you look.

My kingdom for a portable coffee mug?

Well, we're finding our groove more and more each day, and on the whole it's wonderful (says someone who just, for a little snack, scarfed down half a baguette with real butter from the world's best boulangerie).

But we're not fully there. For one thing, I still find it hard to get to sleep at a decent hour, which means I am not waking up as early as I should to get myself and kids ready for the day. And that means (horror of horrors) that I am not drinking enough coffee before leaving home to take the kids to their various schools.

And that's NOT a good thing.

Yesterday, Kate and Liv started preschool (maternelle) and they did SO well. The teacher was terrific, the girls played with dollies, playdough, AND paint (a trifecta of preschool fun), and they were so happy with themselves and their school when we picked them up for lunch.

It was a rockier start for me. I didn't have the same emotional meltdown that I did with Jack (having a built-in best friend in class with your children clearly makes things easier from a mother's perspective)... but I didn't have time for breakfast, much less un cafe au lait before we left the house. Despite this, after making the various rounds that morning and receiving even more paperwork to fill out -- and then meeting with the woman who runs the school cafeteria program (an experience that merits a post unto itself) -- John and I decided it would make the most sense to get some groceries sans enfants, which is clearly the best way to do it.

But what about the coffee (or lack thereof)? We didn't bring a portable mug with us to France (limited luggage and all) and, bien sur, La Maison des Chaumes is stocked with plenty of beautiful ceramic mugs, but nary a plastic portable mug to be found (not a complaint, Laura! This is clearly my own issue!). So we thought we'd look for a coffee at or near the grocery store. Alas... France has NOT been overrun by Starbucks (which I know is GOOD in the big picture) and so there were no drive-through latte windows on the way to the store and no smell of Pike Place Roast to tempt us as we shopped.

Headache growing, we got the groceries and returned to the car. There was not quite enough time to drive all the way into the center of Beaune before we needed to pick up the girls. So we drove around the outskirts of the town a bit, passing a few places where one could go and SIT and linger and have a coffee... and I know there are other places where one can stand at the counter and slam a shot of espresso (but I usually see men doing this, and always feel a bit intimidated joining them)... but in our short search, we found no where (that we could tell) where one could buy a coffee to go.

And this reality seems so very French to me. If one is going to have a cup of coffee, one should clearly be sitting (not driving or grocery shopping or dropping children at school), lingering, enjoying, and indulging in the act of coffee drinking. One should not be simply trying to mainline the caffiene straight into the blood stream!

I like this idea in principle. And if I finally start sleeping like a normal person, I should even be able to plan to wake a bit earlier to have enough time to linger over the morning cup of joe. That's the hope anyway. On verra (we'll see!).

In other news -- we took a great walk on Sunday afternoon from our house to the neighboring village of Magny-les-Villers. We walked past an ancient chateau (with Katie and Olivia shouting "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair" as they admired the stone tower -- as in Japan, I feel like our children are much LOUDER than everyone else. Sigh...). We then wandered through vineyards to a small shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary in it, past a mist-shrouded cemetery and then up the hill into Magny. After a short break for the kids to snack on Petit Ecolier cookies, we wrapped around tiny, winding streets of the village where Kate and Liv go to school, and then headed back on a different path through more vineyards. We figured it was about three kilometers (give or take), and the kids were great hikers.








Sunday night, we also discovered the coolest low-tech gadget I have EVER seen. It's called a Pèle Pommes and Laura (our landlady) wrote about it here on her blog, and you can order one here if you want to experience the fabulousness for yourself. It's magical! With very little effort, it peels, cores, and perfectly slices apples, pears, potatoes, and more! We had so much fun with it and peeled so many apples that I had to make applesauce for dinner that night -- and we have been enjoying perfectly peeled pommes every day since. (NOTE: as cool as this gadget is, if you are someone with whom we exchange Christmas presents (Mom -- I'm talking about you here), don't go buying one for yourself, because you just might be getting it under the next Christmas tree!)

Jack continues to enjoy school. He said all of the girls want to hold his hand when they stand in line to head in or out of the classroom to play. Personally, I am amazed that his 7 and 8 year old female classmates are so, well, French! In just three short days, I have seen perfect shoulder shrugs, sighs, pouts, and many flicks of hair with an "eh"... well, it's kind of amazing to witness in person. I haven't yet asked him if he notices this difference... I kind of think (like always), he is pretty oblivious to it.

As far as the actual classroom goes -- well, his class is going to a movie in Nuits-St-Georges this afternoon and he was very excited about that. He is working on cursive writing every night and that seems to be Maitresse Nathalie's biggest worry (and it's not a worry for us... although we do want him to be able to read his teacher's writing at school). His French (at least according to Jack and to his teacher) is actually pretty good!

Katie and Livie are very happy at school -- although Katie has been reluctant each morning to leave the house (this was often true in Lethbridge, too, as well as in Japan) and both girls have had some meltdowns each of the last few afternoons (which thankfully pass). But Maitresse Maud says they are doing great. They play well with others but also are (she said approvingly) very independent. They love riding bikes at recess, painting and coloring, and learning songs. Their teacher has been working with the class on a few English songs... and John and I had to control our laughter last night as we heard Liv walking around the house singing "Clap your 'ands, one two three" with the perfect accent of a French person speaking English (no "h" in hands, and the same lilting tone of her teacher!).

John has done just a small bit of work and writing so far. Now that the kids are in school (and I have now braved the tiny French roads twice to pick up Jack... talk about needing courage!), he should be able to actually do what we came here to do -- his work! Again, I can only say on verra...or perhaps, on espère (one can hope!).