So, the girls and I took a walk toward Magny-les-Villers this afternoon, wearing short-sleeve shirts and smiles. On the way we passed a lovely older French man walking his dog. After admiring the dog, and talking about the weather, he asked me if we happened to be heading east on our walk.
Why yes, I told him. That's right where we are heading.
His eyes got big and intense, and he told me with great urgency that I would be able to find...something...there.
I had no idea what he was talking about. His intensity made me briefly think it might be the wild boar we've heard can be found in this region, or maybe some roving bandits, or even a wasp's nest or two.
So I asked him to explain, and he said the word... which I had never heard... again. Same excitement. Same intensity.
I looked confused.
Then he pulled something out of his pocket, sure I would be thrilled with what he had.
Again... nothing. It was some kind of plant. I have never seen it before. I leaned forward to smell it (and the jump back he gave made me think this was not the right move). He looked quite disappointed at my lack of appreciation, and said he was heading right home to boil some water and... do something... with it.
ARGH.
Not only do I have huge vocabulary gaps... but I suffered from a double blow of being completely ignorant in all langauges when it comes to plants. For the rest of our walk, I kept picturing the nice old man telling his friends he met this foreigner today who didn't even know what... something... was. Can you believe it?
Showing posts with label language woes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language woes. Show all posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
When North American eyes are smiling (in Ireland)
Happy Easter!
We started the day in Beauvais, a small airport north of Paris that has become a hub of cheap flights to other European destinations. We had in fact found very cheap flights (around 20 euros or so a person each way before taxes and fees) to Shannon, Ireland, and then had found a hotel near a castle that seemed to cater to kids over the Easter holiday with an amazing package deal for Sunday and Monday night. Yes, it's true that on Saturday, I wasn't so sure about the idea... but now that we've arrived, I am so glad we came.
None of the five of us had ever been to Ireland (unless Jack's been having more adventures than I know about... which wouldn't surprise me) and we thought it would be good to take advantage of the close proximity of all of these countries and see as much as we can while we are here. The same trip from Lethbridge just would or could never happen.
So off to the airport we went, a good two hours early. That turned out to be very lucky. It seems we weren't the only family heading out on a trip during the start of the school holidays. We were in line after line, only to discover at one point that they hadn't stamped our ticket in another place... so off John went to another line while the kids and I waited, and waited, and waited. We eventually made it on the plane with about seven minutes to spare, and the kids were stars in a stressful situation... patient, calm, and quick when needed.
While we were in line, we chatted a bit with the family in front of us... who turned out to be from Calgary! The father was a professor at the University of Calgary, the mother was a radiologist specializing in multiple births, and they were traveling with their three teenaged daughters, an older one and twins three years younger. We really hit it off with them... each of us enjoying a glimpse of the past and the future...and said warm goodbyes at the Shannon airport. What a weird, small and wonderful world.
We arrived and took a shuttle to our hotel, the Bunratty Castle Hotel. No, we are not staying in a castle -- but we are *near* one. Bunratty Castle sits on the edge of the Shannon River and has a storied past (murder, mayhem, the usual fun castle dramas). It is a beautifully preserved 15th century Norman fortress, with a folk park next to it. So (as part of the special package deal we got), we took our tickets to the castle and folk park and had a great afternoon exploring old houses, barns, pubs, schoolrooms and churches that have been moved to the folk park in recent years when development threatened to destroy them or reconstructed after development took the original away.
The first house to be reconstructed at the park, in fact, is a copy of a farmhouse that used to sit right in the middle of what is now the Shannon Airport's main runway. What an effort to preserve these great parts of Ireland's history...even if the originals of that history were lost.
I'll post more pictures of the castle (where we climbed up and up and up two of the towers and then had to climb back down and down and down... but it was worth it) and the folk park once we get back to our France home... but I wanted to add a few other funny comments before I forgot.
* Waking this morning, searching for cartoons, we were all intrigued to watch Elmo in Gaellic. Somehow it seemed as amusing as the Simpsons in French. Jack was quickly picking up words and trying to teach his sisters.
* The hotel has a great swimming pool (hooray!) but there were two differences here. First, children aren't allowed in hot tubs (which makes it nice for the adults, but hard on these three kids who love hot water) and second, swim caps must be worn by everyone in Irish swimming pools. Thankfully they were selling some (and for a reasonable price... they kind of have a captive audience and could have charged a lot more) so off to the pool we went. France has a few different swimming rules as well. Laura (our lovely landlady) has written a great essay about how and why men and boys are required to wear speedos at public swimming pools in France. Such interesting differences in a universal sport.
* The kids went to a "children's high tea" last night for children, followed by two movies, while John and I had free dinner in the hotel (also part of the package -- what a bargain!). We were a bit worried leaving the kids (especially the girls) in a room of strangers and a hotel employee charged with watching over them (and a dozen other kids of all ages) and we checked in a LOT. Our kids did great, and all of the short visits served as a different kind of reality check to remind us that there is a true range of buggerish behavior in the world in general and among children in particular. According to the kids this morning, there were some kids at the tea in there who were *real* handfuls... dumping food in the water glasses of others, physically fighting throughout the meal, even calling Ireland's version of 911 for a joke! "I told them it's against the law to call 911 unless it's an emergency!" Katie informed us with all the earnestness and seriousness of a law-abiding four-year-old. The beleaguered hotel employee let us know our kids were VERY well behaved. Good to have some perspective.
* Liv did decide to join us in the middle of our dinner date (she said she had a tummy ache, which is not surprising as she had eaten her whole dinner, plus all of Jack's "chips"). We had a nice visit with her while we finished our meal (which started with a Guinness, of course). At one point, Katie came running into the hotel pub where we were eating (and may I say here that ALL the children seemed very comfortable and calm finding their way around the pub, a place that was already crawling with children!) with an Easter chocolate for Liv. She then ran out just as quickly (needing help to open the heavy door) to continue the movie. A few minutes later, we said "well, that was a nice date, wasn't it Livie?" And she sighed, and said "Yes, until Katie interrupted us!"
* Jack has been very interested in language during this short trip. We told him most people here speak English, but he quickly noticed the accent was different (yes, we fear his English lessons in French school could now include a third bizarre accent). Then, at lunch yesterday, he was upset that his meal came with French fries (which he doesn't like) and not potato chips (which he adores). So we explained the difference between chips and crisps and fries and other words that are used differently in England and Ireland versus the U.S. and Canada (sweater/jumper, trunk/boot, etc... we were helped greatly by recent readings of the British version of Harry Potter). Since then, he'll say things like "Oh, I let Livie eat all my 'chips', get it, chips," and give a wink and a nudge, like he's in on some big secret. Waking up to a Gaellic-speaking Elmo just added another layer of intrigue!
And I think that's about it for now. Check back for wonderful pictures in a few days... the castle and folk park really are something to see.
We started the day in Beauvais, a small airport north of Paris that has become a hub of cheap flights to other European destinations. We had in fact found very cheap flights (around 20 euros or so a person each way before taxes and fees) to Shannon, Ireland, and then had found a hotel near a castle that seemed to cater to kids over the Easter holiday with an amazing package deal for Sunday and Monday night. Yes, it's true that on Saturday, I wasn't so sure about the idea... but now that we've arrived, I am so glad we came.
None of the five of us had ever been to Ireland (unless Jack's been having more adventures than I know about... which wouldn't surprise me) and we thought it would be good to take advantage of the close proximity of all of these countries and see as much as we can while we are here. The same trip from Lethbridge just would or could never happen.
So off to the airport we went, a good two hours early. That turned out to be very lucky. It seems we weren't the only family heading out on a trip during the start of the school holidays. We were in line after line, only to discover at one point that they hadn't stamped our ticket in another place... so off John went to another line while the kids and I waited, and waited, and waited. We eventually made it on the plane with about seven minutes to spare, and the kids were stars in a stressful situation... patient, calm, and quick when needed.
While we were in line, we chatted a bit with the family in front of us... who turned out to be from Calgary! The father was a professor at the University of Calgary, the mother was a radiologist specializing in multiple births, and they were traveling with their three teenaged daughters, an older one and twins three years younger. We really hit it off with them... each of us enjoying a glimpse of the past and the future...and said warm goodbyes at the Shannon airport. What a weird, small and wonderful world.
The first house to be reconstructed at the park, in fact, is a copy of a farmhouse that used to sit right in the middle of what is now the Shannon Airport's main runway. What an effort to preserve these great parts of Ireland's history...even if the originals of that history were lost.
I'll post more pictures of the castle (where we climbed up and up and up two of the towers and then had to climb back down and down and down... but it was worth it) and the folk park once we get back to our France home... but I wanted to add a few other funny comments before I forgot.
* Waking this morning, searching for cartoons, we were all intrigued to watch Elmo in Gaellic. Somehow it seemed as amusing as the Simpsons in French. Jack was quickly picking up words and trying to teach his sisters.
* The hotel has a great swimming pool (hooray!) but there were two differences here. First, children aren't allowed in hot tubs (which makes it nice for the adults, but hard on these three kids who love hot water) and second, swim caps must be worn by everyone in Irish swimming pools. Thankfully they were selling some (and for a reasonable price... they kind of have a captive audience and could have charged a lot more) so off to the pool we went. France has a few different swimming rules as well. Laura (our lovely landlady) has written a great essay about how and why men and boys are required to wear speedos at public swimming pools in France. Such interesting differences in a universal sport.
* The kids went to a "children's high tea" last night for children, followed by two movies, while John and I had free dinner in the hotel (also part of the package -- what a bargain!). We were a bit worried leaving the kids (especially the girls) in a room of strangers and a hotel employee charged with watching over them (and a dozen other kids of all ages) and we checked in a LOT. Our kids did great, and all of the short visits served as a different kind of reality check to remind us that there is a true range of buggerish behavior in the world in general and among children in particular. According to the kids this morning, there were some kids at the tea in there who were *real* handfuls... dumping food in the water glasses of others, physically fighting throughout the meal, even calling Ireland's version of 911 for a joke! "I told them it's against the law to call 911 unless it's an emergency!" Katie informed us with all the earnestness and seriousness of a law-abiding four-year-old. The beleaguered hotel employee let us know our kids were VERY well behaved. Good to have some perspective.
* Liv did decide to join us in the middle of our dinner date (she said she had a tummy ache, which is not surprising as she had eaten her whole dinner, plus all of Jack's "chips"). We had a nice visit with her while we finished our meal (which started with a Guinness, of course). At one point, Katie came running into the hotel pub where we were eating (and may I say here that ALL the children seemed very comfortable and calm finding their way around the pub, a place that was already crawling with children!) with an Easter chocolate for Liv. She then ran out just as quickly (needing help to open the heavy door) to continue the movie. A few minutes later, we said "well, that was a nice date, wasn't it Livie?" And she sighed, and said "Yes, until Katie interrupted us!"
* Jack has been very interested in language during this short trip. We told him most people here speak English, but he quickly noticed the accent was different (yes, we fear his English lessons in French school could now include a third bizarre accent). Then, at lunch yesterday, he was upset that his meal came with French fries (which he doesn't like) and not potato chips (which he adores). So we explained the difference between chips and crisps and fries and other words that are used differently in England and Ireland versus the U.S. and Canada (sweater/jumper, trunk/boot, etc... we were helped greatly by recent readings of the British version of Harry Potter). Since then, he'll say things like "Oh, I let Livie eat all my 'chips', get it, chips," and give a wink and a nudge, like he's in on some big secret. Waking up to a Gaellic-speaking Elmo just added another layer of intrigue!
And I think that's about it for now. Check back for wonderful pictures in a few days... the castle and folk park really are something to see.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A quick Jack story
So, Elise was asking Jack at lunch what subjects he has after lunch. Le mathematique et l'anglais, he said. Math and English.
That reminded us of one of our favorite Jack stories which I had been meaning to write about. A few weeks ago, Jack was telling us about an English lesson, and he mentioned that the teacher always asks him to repeat a word after she says a word, and the class says a word. "Say it like Jack says it," she tells the class.
The only problem is this. In the midst of telling this story, he was giving us a few examples -- "classroom", "brother", or "friend" -- and as he did, he spoke with a CRAZY accent that was part-pirate and part-Scottish Highlander, full of rolled r's and lots of music. "Is that how you say the words to the class?" we asked him, horrified. He nodded immediately, and then when he saw our faces, said "Oh, no, of course not."
What to believe? I do *not* want to ask the teacher about it. But if, in 15 or 20 years, you encounter a young person from Burgundy who speaks English like a pirate, we will all know who to blame.
That reminded us of one of our favorite Jack stories which I had been meaning to write about. A few weeks ago, Jack was telling us about an English lesson, and he mentioned that the teacher always asks him to repeat a word after she says a word, and the class says a word. "Say it like Jack says it," she tells the class.
The only problem is this. In the midst of telling this story, he was giving us a few examples -- "classroom", "brother", or "friend" -- and as he did, he spoke with a CRAZY accent that was part-pirate and part-Scottish Highlander, full of rolled r's and lots of music. "Is that how you say the words to the class?" we asked him, horrified. He nodded immediately, and then when he saw our faces, said "Oh, no, of course not."
What to believe? I do *not* want to ask the teacher about it. But if, in 15 or 20 years, you encounter a young person from Burgundy who speaks English like a pirate, we will all know who to blame.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
No, it's not always quite so amazing
The last few posts have been a bit larger than life, and I realized that it may look like our existence right now is made up of big sunshiney trips to Paris and seven hour gourmet meals every day.
It's not.
In fact, a lot of our life here looks much like it did in Lethbridge. So much of the day is focused on the routine and admittedly boring (but necessary) jobs of preparing meals, cleaning up from meals (marveling each time at just how messy the floor can get -- it never got that messy before kids, and without a dog, it is worse than ever), doing laundry (which we do quite often as we didn't bring that many clothes), keeping the house clean, getting groceries, doing our work, driving kids to and from school on school days, emailing or calling family when possible, paying bills (almost all of them online, thankfully), and the countless fun and not so fun jobs of life with three kids (wiping bums, helping wash hair, trimming nails, resolving (or avoiding) sibling conflicts, taking walks, helping with homework, trying to help them write thank you cards, finding favorite toys, building Lego, reading books and more).
But as much as I love the rhythm and routine of these parts of my daily life, I woudn't want to write a blog about it -- and I am not sure that anyone would want to read it!
In addition to the mundane, there are parts of life here than are, in fact, less than perfect.We just found out today that Lauren, the eldest daughter of our friends who came to play Sunday, broke her wrist when she fell running down from Coconut Mountain with Jack. It didn't swell up and she was able to move it some on Sunday, so everyone (me included) thought it was just a sprain. But one trip to the ER this morning after it continued hurting, and Lauren returned home with a cast, some pain medicine, and a good story to tell.
Another less than perfect part are the language struggles. It is 1000 times better for me than it was in Japan, and for that I am grateful. I take every opportunity I can to practice with real French speakers (the nice matron across the street who was gardening while I waited for Jack's bus, the grandfather walking home from dropping his grandchildren at the bus stop, the baker at the boulangerie, the parents of Jack's friends, the kids' teachers, just about anyone) and I have found I can keep up with quite a bit of any given conversation.
But there is a big difference between quite a bit and all... and what happens in those missed parts ranges from the amusing to the possibly serious. For instance -- I know for sure that I agreed with the grandfather walking home today that the Quebec accent is quite difficult to understand (I found the same thing to be true). But I may have also agreed that Canada's prime minister, or maybe it was France's prime minister, was a horse's behind. Or perhaps simply that one of them was riding a horse once. I'll never know, but I was nodding enthusiastically.
On the less amusing side -- Jack came home from school today and reported that his teacher said there were two men wearing sunglasses and driving a white car in the village where he goes to school who were possibly kidnapping children. But as soon as those words were out of his mouth, he added that he wasn't exactly sure about that. He doesn't think anyone HAD been kidnapped -- yet. It may have just been a lesson in not talking to strangers, and then two men in sunglasses *could* be riding around the village looking to kidnap children. The teacher, Jack added, did tell them to not talk to strangers.
Ah, such clarity for everyone. We will be asking the mother of Jack's friend who is coming to play tomorrow exactly what the teacher said -- and in the meantime, John kept all three of them in closer range this afternoon when he took them up to Les Chaumes to play (just in case!). While they were there, John reports, three of the four cars that passed by happened to be white -- including one that looked especially sketchy to newly paranoid parents. (As John stared the car down, Jack reassured him with exasperation and a smile that "it doesn't mean they're ALL criminals, dad!")
Also on the less-than-fabulous side is that things are very expensive here. Aside from baguettes and wine, almost everything here seems to cost more than it does in Canada, and much more than it does in the U.S. (We are especially aware of this as the girls' shoes are getting tight and replacing them will not be a cheap endeavor). But a blog complaining about that would quickly grow boring (I think), so we just do our best with the budget and figure we'll have lots of time in Lethbridge to build our savings account back up.
There are other parts that are less-than-perfect. I think we have all at one time or another had moments of being lonely or homesick or exhausted or frustrated or annoyed and more. But thankfully those have been just moments, and not days (or weeks or months!) -- and when they happen, we try to remember that even if we had stayed in Lethbridge, we would have all had moments of being lonely, or bored (and wishing we were travelling), and exhausted, frustrated, annoyed, and more.
It might be because I'm definitely a glass-half-full kind of person, or maybe because I like to write the kinds of stories I also like to read (the funny stories, or the unusual stories, or the French stories) -- but at any rate, you can be sure that in between the burning of straw bon hommes, between trying smelly and stupendous cheeses, between making the kinds of friends you want to stay in touch with always, and seeing great sights... there is a lot of regular life happening here.
Or at least as regular as life in a small French village can be. Did I mention how, on my way home from a run yesterday, I met a man walking his tiny dog and his ugly donkey down the street?
Really. And that's just not something I'd ever expect to see at home.
It's not.
In fact, a lot of our life here looks much like it did in Lethbridge. So much of the day is focused on the routine and admittedly boring (but necessary) jobs of preparing meals, cleaning up from meals (marveling each time at just how messy the floor can get -- it never got that messy before kids, and without a dog, it is worse than ever), doing laundry (which we do quite often as we didn't bring that many clothes), keeping the house clean, getting groceries, doing our work, driving kids to and from school on school days, emailing or calling family when possible, paying bills (almost all of them online, thankfully), and the countless fun and not so fun jobs of life with three kids (wiping bums, helping wash hair, trimming nails, resolving (or avoiding) sibling conflicts, taking walks, helping with homework, trying to help them write thank you cards, finding favorite toys, building Lego, reading books and more).
But as much as I love the rhythm and routine of these parts of my daily life, I woudn't want to write a blog about it -- and I am not sure that anyone would want to read it!
In addition to the mundane, there are parts of life here than are, in fact, less than perfect.We just found out today that Lauren, the eldest daughter of our friends who came to play Sunday, broke her wrist when she fell running down from Coconut Mountain with Jack. It didn't swell up and she was able to move it some on Sunday, so everyone (me included) thought it was just a sprain. But one trip to the ER this morning after it continued hurting, and Lauren returned home with a cast, some pain medicine, and a good story to tell.
Another less than perfect part are the language struggles. It is 1000 times better for me than it was in Japan, and for that I am grateful. I take every opportunity I can to practice with real French speakers (the nice matron across the street who was gardening while I waited for Jack's bus, the grandfather walking home from dropping his grandchildren at the bus stop, the baker at the boulangerie, the parents of Jack's friends, the kids' teachers, just about anyone) and I have found I can keep up with quite a bit of any given conversation.
But there is a big difference between quite a bit and all... and what happens in those missed parts ranges from the amusing to the possibly serious. For instance -- I know for sure that I agreed with the grandfather walking home today that the Quebec accent is quite difficult to understand (I found the same thing to be true). But I may have also agreed that Canada's prime minister, or maybe it was France's prime minister, was a horse's behind. Or perhaps simply that one of them was riding a horse once. I'll never know, but I was nodding enthusiastically.
On the less amusing side -- Jack came home from school today and reported that his teacher said there were two men wearing sunglasses and driving a white car in the village where he goes to school who were possibly kidnapping children. But as soon as those words were out of his mouth, he added that he wasn't exactly sure about that. He doesn't think anyone HAD been kidnapped -- yet. It may have just been a lesson in not talking to strangers, and then two men in sunglasses *could* be riding around the village looking to kidnap children. The teacher, Jack added, did tell them to not talk to strangers.
Ah, such clarity for everyone. We will be asking the mother of Jack's friend who is coming to play tomorrow exactly what the teacher said -- and in the meantime, John kept all three of them in closer range this afternoon when he took them up to Les Chaumes to play (just in case!). While they were there, John reports, three of the four cars that passed by happened to be white -- including one that looked especially sketchy to newly paranoid parents. (As John stared the car down, Jack reassured him with exasperation and a smile that "it doesn't mean they're ALL criminals, dad!")
Also on the less-than-fabulous side is that things are very expensive here. Aside from baguettes and wine, almost everything here seems to cost more than it does in Canada, and much more than it does in the U.S. (We are especially aware of this as the girls' shoes are getting tight and replacing them will not be a cheap endeavor). But a blog complaining about that would quickly grow boring (I think), so we just do our best with the budget and figure we'll have lots of time in Lethbridge to build our savings account back up.
There are other parts that are less-than-perfect. I think we have all at one time or another had moments of being lonely or homesick or exhausted or frustrated or annoyed and more. But thankfully those have been just moments, and not days (or weeks or months!) -- and when they happen, we try to remember that even if we had stayed in Lethbridge, we would have all had moments of being lonely, or bored (and wishing we were travelling), and exhausted, frustrated, annoyed, and more.
It might be because I'm definitely a glass-half-full kind of person, or maybe because I like to write the kinds of stories I also like to read (the funny stories, or the unusual stories, or the French stories) -- but at any rate, you can be sure that in between the burning of straw bon hommes, between trying smelly and stupendous cheeses, between making the kinds of friends you want to stay in touch with always, and seeing great sights... there is a lot of regular life happening here.
Or at least as regular as life in a small French village can be. Did I mention how, on my way home from a run yesterday, I met a man walking his tiny dog and his ugly donkey down the street?
Really. And that's just not something I'd ever expect to see at home.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Weekend update
I wish I had taken a picture from our house on Thursday night. It would have shown John on Skype, talking on to Franck (one of the owners of this house), who was on his computer in Canada and who then did a conference call with his father at his computer in a house in our little village, who was (thankfully!) talking on his phone to Monsieur France Telecom about our telephone and internet woes. It was an impressive feat of technology – trying to solve our technological problem.
Apparently, it is a problem with the line to the house, and France Telecom will need to fix it. Now, we’ve only been here two weeks, but already I know enough to not hold my breath that France Telecom will be able to do that any time soon (I figure if you set the bar of expectations VERY low, you can only be pleasantly surprised). And I am so grateful to Laura and Franck for arranging a native French speaker to talk to French Telecom on our behalf. I am feeling pretty OK about my language skills for most conversations (and am remembering so much more French every day), but the telephone is SO hard. So three cheers to Franck's father!
And no one knows why we still can get Skype when we can’t get a dial tone on the phone or a regular internet connection – but we do seem to have Skype (lisnjohn1) if you need to reach us urgently, and a French cell phone if the schools need to reach us. I figure it’s a bit of a safety net to keep us connected to the world, and I'm not going to complain about it even if no one understands why we are getting it.
In the meantime, Franck and Laura have hooked us up with an internet connection at another location, where John or I go (briefly) once or twice a day to check in with the outside world. It’s working for now – and one unintended consequence is that instead of turning to my usual daily must-reads (The New York Times online, The Globe and Mail online, etc.), I have looked instead to the many wonderful books in this house and started devouring those.
Oh yeah, books! I remember you! First I enjoyed a fluffy and fun read called Entre Nous about finding your inner French girl (full of lots of useful tips including how you can’t really buy coffee to go in France (no kidding!), advising buying fewer items of clothing but the best quality you can afford, and extolling the virtues of sayin "no" (or "non") from time to time). Then, I picked up the wonderful writing guide/inspirational tome by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird. You know how there are books you need to read at a certain place and time? Well, this is one of those books. She strikes just the right note of teacher/friend/editor/fellow writer sharing the lessons learned... and it was just the bit of inspiration I needed – the kick in the pants to get back in the habit of writing *something* every day. We’ll see how long her pep talk lasts – and feel free to email me and encourage (harass?) me as I try to get back into the world of writing again.
The kids had a good end of the school week, although we had more snow which meant that the bus for Jack was cancelled Friday (he had taken it for the first time on Thursday and loved it) and that the kids are not properly shod for the moment. I had considered long and hard what winter wear to bring and, it seems, I made the wrong call on this one. France is generally more temperate than Canada (I can't help laughing a little as a write that -- most places in the woirld are a bit more temperate than Canada!) and often there are winters with very little snow. This, however, appears NOT to be one of those winters. So we have been putting the kids in lots of layers (which works) and sending them to school in their rain boots and two pairs of socks (which mostly works, sort of). I know I could go buy new snow boots – but what if it doesn’t snow again?
We braved the snow and bad roads to go to check email briefly Saturday morning and then (more importantly) to head to the Beaune market. At several points I thought we should turn around and go home – the roads were quite slick and it was looking worse by the minute. But when we arrived at the market, I swear you could almost hear the harps of heaven strum and the angels sing as the grey skies broke and the sun and blue skies cascaded down on all the market goers! Clearly we were meant to be there -- and we had a wonderful outing. The kids and John returned to the carousel (bien sur) and I did a quick tour to pick up a few things we needed. It wasn’t as big of a haul as last week, but still pretty good considering how little time I actually spent there (we wanted to get home as we didn't think the blue skies would last long -- and they didn't).
Pictured above, you can see the haul: six apples, eight pears, four avocados, four containers of strawberries (on special this week because the vendor wanted to go home), tapenade, walnuts, hazelnuts, dried apricots, dried strawberries, olives, a new cheese of the week (again, I didn’t catch the name... I need to bring a pen next week!), salami dried with goat cheese (DELICIOUS!), a quarter of a roasted turkey and some French beans, a Florentine baguette, the most delicious tomatoes I have ever had in January (grown in a nursery in the south of France), an umbrella, and local honey. Pas mal, n’est pas?
(Oh, and Katie and Livie are in tank tops because we were doing their laundry and pretty much EVERYTHING else was dirty.)
And a few other observations from the week:
* We passed by a high school at some kind of morning break and were surprised (although perhaps we shouldn’t have been) at the number of students smoking. Crowds of teenagers, all wearing black and grey jackets, of course, but also school backpacks, were huddled in the cold, smoking, smoking, smoking. It feels like the U.S. and Canada are quite different in this area... even when I was in high school (way back then), you wouldn’t have seen this kind of number of students with cigarettes. I wonder if they are taxed as heavily here? It would be interesting to find out if there have been any changes in who smokes (and how much they smoke) over the last few decades.
* Like in Lethbridge, it is not always easy to get details out of Jack about his day. But we did manage to ask just the right question the other night to elicit a response about the behavior of kids at school. He said the kids are wilder on the playground but calmer in the classroom. He said he’s been a little surprised at some things – seeing kids (boys and girls) throw snowballs at each other, fight, kick, wrestle, pull hair, etc. – but all of the kids involved seem to *want* to be wrestling/fighting/throwing snowballs, etc., and no one seems to be upset about it. He said none of it’s been directed at him, either, and that he’s been happy to be playing tag, hopscotch and other games with boys and girls. He added that the students are unsupervised for most of their breaks. The flip side is that he said things in the classroom are very, very calm. There has been only one time where one student was acting out in a way that Jack noticed this last week and where the teacher had to raise her voice a bit. His own classrooms in Lethbridge have been pretty calm, I think (when considering have twenty children together in a confined space), so for him to comment on this is pretty telling, I think.
* On Thursday, when I was waiting for Jack to catch the bus, I was talking to a girl in his class. She told me (unprompted... I had only asked how old she was and hearing she was almost eight, asked if she knew Jack) that Jack is a quick learner and hard worker... that there is something he doesn’t understand one day, and then he does the next. Bravo, Jack!
* We pushed our luck a bit with Kate and Liv and had them try heading back to preschool for an afternoon on Thursday. The afternoon program sounded wonderful – lots of time spent reading books and painting and playing. While they were fine, they were SO tired when we picked them up. So for now, we will have them go only in the mornings. They both are having so much fun there. We are feeling VERY lucky about how well it’s all going for all three kids at school.
* On Monday, I will get to accompany Kate and Liv on a field trip to Dijon. In the morning, the class will go to the museum. They will have a picnic lunch, and then see some kind of puppet show (I *think*... I could be completely wrong about all of it, too!). They are very excited about this, and I am excited to get back to Dijon.
* Speaking of the beautiful city to our north -- I have exchanged emails with the Harmels, the family I lived with in Dijon in 1993, and am going to try to get together with their daughters (who have many children) this week and with them in a few weeks (they have been travelling quite a bit lately). I am so excited to see them -- I look back at my time in Dijon and so many of the wonderful memories took place at their apartment, at the kitchen table with Christine, as I learned about France, French, and more.
* Two of the kids (Jack and Kate) have picked up the cold I heard actively in both classrooms when we went to visit our first week here. Sigh. I know it's inevitable (between travel, weird sleeping schedules, and new germs they haven't encountered before), but I don't like it anyway! Kate had a rough night but seems to be a lot better this morning. Jack had a rough night and seems to be about the same today. Neither has a fever, headaches, or body aches, and Jack's doesn't sound like it's tranformed into his asthma cough (and he says it doesn't feel like his asthma cough)... so I am hoping it's just a regular old cold. Fingers crossed for their quick recovery!
And I think that's about it. Sorry for such a long post... and apologies, too, if you email and we don't reply right away... we are mostly just checking in and making some travel plans (Jay and Judy are coming to visit next week!), and hoping for the best for France Telecom to fix the phones.
Apparently, it is a problem with the line to the house, and France Telecom will need to fix it. Now, we’ve only been here two weeks, but already I know enough to not hold my breath that France Telecom will be able to do that any time soon (I figure if you set the bar of expectations VERY low, you can only be pleasantly surprised). And I am so grateful to Laura and Franck for arranging a native French speaker to talk to French Telecom on our behalf. I am feeling pretty OK about my language skills for most conversations (and am remembering so much more French every day), but the telephone is SO hard. So three cheers to Franck's father!
And no one knows why we still can get Skype when we can’t get a dial tone on the phone or a regular internet connection – but we do seem to have Skype (lisnjohn1) if you need to reach us urgently, and a French cell phone if the schools need to reach us. I figure it’s a bit of a safety net to keep us connected to the world, and I'm not going to complain about it even if no one understands why we are getting it.
In the meantime, Franck and Laura have hooked us up with an internet connection at another location, where John or I go (briefly) once or twice a day to check in with the outside world. It’s working for now – and one unintended consequence is that instead of turning to my usual daily must-reads (The New York Times online, The Globe and Mail online, etc.), I have looked instead to the many wonderful books in this house and started devouring those.
Oh yeah, books! I remember you! First I enjoyed a fluffy and fun read called Entre Nous about finding your inner French girl (full of lots of useful tips including how you can’t really buy coffee to go in France (no kidding!), advising buying fewer items of clothing but the best quality you can afford, and extolling the virtues of sayin "no" (or "non") from time to time). Then, I picked up the wonderful writing guide/inspirational tome by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird. You know how there are books you need to read at a certain place and time? Well, this is one of those books. She strikes just the right note of teacher/friend/editor/fellow writer sharing the lessons learned... and it was just the bit of inspiration I needed – the kick in the pants to get back in the habit of writing *something* every day. We’ll see how long her pep talk lasts – and feel free to email me and encourage (harass?) me as I try to get back into the world of writing again.
The kids had a good end of the school week, although we had more snow which meant that the bus for Jack was cancelled Friday (he had taken it for the first time on Thursday and loved it) and that the kids are not properly shod for the moment. I had considered long and hard what winter wear to bring and, it seems, I made the wrong call on this one. France is generally more temperate than Canada (I can't help laughing a little as a write that -- most places in the woirld are a bit more temperate than Canada!) and often there are winters with very little snow. This, however, appears NOT to be one of those winters. So we have been putting the kids in lots of layers (which works) and sending them to school in their rain boots and two pairs of socks (which mostly works, sort of). I know I could go buy new snow boots – but what if it doesn’t snow again?
We braved the snow and bad roads to go to check email briefly Saturday morning and then (more importantly) to head to the Beaune market. At several points I thought we should turn around and go home – the roads were quite slick and it was looking worse by the minute. But when we arrived at the market, I swear you could almost hear the harps of heaven strum and the angels sing as the grey skies broke and the sun and blue skies cascaded down on all the market goers! Clearly we were meant to be there -- and we had a wonderful outing. The kids and John returned to the carousel (bien sur) and I did a quick tour to pick up a few things we needed. It wasn’t as big of a haul as last week, but still pretty good considering how little time I actually spent there (we wanted to get home as we didn't think the blue skies would last long -- and they didn't).
Pictured above, you can see the haul: six apples, eight pears, four avocados, four containers of strawberries (on special this week because the vendor wanted to go home), tapenade, walnuts, hazelnuts, dried apricots, dried strawberries, olives, a new cheese of the week (again, I didn’t catch the name... I need to bring a pen next week!), salami dried with goat cheese (DELICIOUS!), a quarter of a roasted turkey and some French beans, a Florentine baguette, the most delicious tomatoes I have ever had in January (grown in a nursery in the south of France), an umbrella, and local honey. Pas mal, n’est pas?
(Oh, and Katie and Livie are in tank tops because we were doing their laundry and pretty much EVERYTHING else was dirty.)
And a few other observations from the week:
* We passed by a high school at some kind of morning break and were surprised (although perhaps we shouldn’t have been) at the number of students smoking. Crowds of teenagers, all wearing black and grey jackets, of course, but also school backpacks, were huddled in the cold, smoking, smoking, smoking. It feels like the U.S. and Canada are quite different in this area... even when I was in high school (way back then), you wouldn’t have seen this kind of number of students with cigarettes. I wonder if they are taxed as heavily here? It would be interesting to find out if there have been any changes in who smokes (and how much they smoke) over the last few decades.
* Like in Lethbridge, it is not always easy to get details out of Jack about his day. But we did manage to ask just the right question the other night to elicit a response about the behavior of kids at school. He said the kids are wilder on the playground but calmer in the classroom. He said he’s been a little surprised at some things – seeing kids (boys and girls) throw snowballs at each other, fight, kick, wrestle, pull hair, etc. – but all of the kids involved seem to *want* to be wrestling/fighting/throwing snowballs, etc., and no one seems to be upset about it. He said none of it’s been directed at him, either, and that he’s been happy to be playing tag, hopscotch and other games with boys and girls. He added that the students are unsupervised for most of their breaks. The flip side is that he said things in the classroom are very, very calm. There has been only one time where one student was acting out in a way that Jack noticed this last week and where the teacher had to raise her voice a bit. His own classrooms in Lethbridge have been pretty calm, I think (when considering have twenty children together in a confined space), so for him to comment on this is pretty telling, I think.
* On Thursday, when I was waiting for Jack to catch the bus, I was talking to a girl in his class. She told me (unprompted... I had only asked how old she was and hearing she was almost eight, asked if she knew Jack) that Jack is a quick learner and hard worker... that there is something he doesn’t understand one day, and then he does the next. Bravo, Jack!
* We pushed our luck a bit with Kate and Liv and had them try heading back to preschool for an afternoon on Thursday. The afternoon program sounded wonderful – lots of time spent reading books and painting and playing. While they were fine, they were SO tired when we picked them up. So for now, we will have them go only in the mornings. They both are having so much fun there. We are feeling VERY lucky about how well it’s all going for all three kids at school.
* On Monday, I will get to accompany Kate and Liv on a field trip to Dijon. In the morning, the class will go to the museum. They will have a picnic lunch, and then see some kind of puppet show (I *think*... I could be completely wrong about all of it, too!). They are very excited about this, and I am excited to get back to Dijon.
* Speaking of the beautiful city to our north -- I have exchanged emails with the Harmels, the family I lived with in Dijon in 1993, and am going to try to get together with their daughters (who have many children) this week and with them in a few weeks (they have been travelling quite a bit lately). I am so excited to see them -- I look back at my time in Dijon and so many of the wonderful memories took place at their apartment, at the kitchen table with Christine, as I learned about France, French, and more.
* Two of the kids (Jack and Kate) have picked up the cold I heard actively in both classrooms when we went to visit our first week here. Sigh. I know it's inevitable (between travel, weird sleeping schedules, and new germs they haven't encountered before), but I don't like it anyway! Kate had a rough night but seems to be a lot better this morning. Jack had a rough night and seems to be about the same today. Neither has a fever, headaches, or body aches, and Jack's doesn't sound like it's tranformed into his asthma cough (and he says it doesn't feel like his asthma cough)... so I am hoping it's just a regular old cold. Fingers crossed for their quick recovery!
And I think that's about it. Sorry for such a long post... and apologies, too, if you email and we don't reply right away... we are mostly just checking in and making some travel plans (Jay and Judy are coming to visit next week!), and hoping for the best for France Telecom to fix the phones.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Small victories, and how we ended up here
Among the small victories of the day were:
1) signing up for a cell phone
2) getting *almost* all of the paperwork for the kids' school in order (and introducing them to the thrill of having a picture taken in a photo booth)
3) filling out paperwork for a grocery store's loyalty program (and sales); and
4) buying insurance
Now, these tasks are not what you would call especially thrilling. When done in your own language, none would take very long, and it's doubtful that any would merit a phone call to your parents (or a posting to the world). But in a second language, all of these mundane things become so much more challenging -- and so when you have accomplished them, it actually does feel like a victory of sorts.
It's kind of a weird victory, but I'll take whatever I can get!
We returned from a day of sleeping late and running errands to the beautiful Maison des Chaumes, and I continue to feel so lucky that we found this place. It happened in a roundabout way. A year ago, when John needed to decide if he was applying for the grants, etc., needed for a study leave out of the country, when we were still jetlagged from Japan and didn't want to go anywhere farther than the grocery store, we arranged to meet for coffee since we weren't making any good plans at home. The idea of organizing another BIG trip sounded horrible -- but we had also heard from enough of John's colleagues that time away to do research (and recharge) is one of the best benefits of what can be an often gruelling, never-really-ending job. We had been talking about France but weren't sure where to go -- and so said "why not Paris?"
And indeed, why not? It's a wonderful city that we had both visited several times back in 1993 (and on earlier trips), and we loved the museums, restaurants, music, and nightlife. And that became our mantra for a few weeks -- why not Paris?
So I started looking on a website that, to anyone who loves real estate and travel, is a bit like how I'd imagine taking cocaine would be -- addictive, thrilling, and with the potential to be very expensive (why stop at France? Look at what's available in Italy! And Greece! And London!). It's called Sabbaticalhomes.com and lists short and longer-term rentals around the world (usually furnished, often but not always posted by other academics also on study leaves). I started looking in Paris. There were tons of beautiful places there -- but many of them were, at most, one-bedroom and more importantly (as we had been living in a one-bedroom place in Japan), many of them stated explicitly that children were not welcome.
We did find a slightly bigger and child-friendly place we liked just outside of Paris, and started looking around at what it would cost for Metro tickets for five (as the girls are *just* old enough to require their own tickets), where they might go to school, what daily routines might be like, etc. And we started thinking more practically about what our life is like these days -- not one of dashing to museum openings and concerts and late night dinners with friends, but rather one filled with long walks and family meals and day-trips.
And we decided that if you are young and in-love and childless, Paris is probably THE place to be. But if you are not-so-young (but still very much in-love) and have three energetic kids... it might be wise to expand the search.
So out of curiousity and because I loved it 17 years ago, I plugged in DIJON in the Sabbaticalhomes search engine. And this website came up. It looked perfect. I got in touch with Laura and was thrilled to find out the place was available. She and her husband immediately began helping us as we made our plans. Laura (who I've never met in real life but feel like I know quite well thanks to her blog about life running four vacation rentals in Burgundy (as well as wonderful stories about her husband and children)) is a Canadian who went to France right out of high school and fell in love with a French man. I believe we were both in Burgundy around the same time (I like to think that we passed each other on the street or in a smoky brasserie); we both have three kids, write, love Burgundy (the region and the wine) and juggle family and travel and more.
And everything just fell into place -- but even so, all of the pictures and descriptions and emails didn't prepare me for the beauty that awaited us in Villers-la-Faye and at La Maison des Chaumes.
The village of about 400 is a 10-minute drive north of Beaune (which, when I was Dijon, was described to me by many French people as the wine capital of the world... not France, but the world) and probably a 30 minute drive south of Dijon (we haven't made the drive yet... so I am not quite sure). It's nestled in vineyards, and to get here you wind up a hill along a twisting road bordered by rock walls and grapevines for a few miles. Laura has left some history of the village that I will add later -- but just walking through town, you get the sense this place is OLD. Apparently, it was built at the intersection of five Roman roads... and that sense of history, of life and stories and tradition -- all of that is evident by stepping out the front door, or looking out any of the windows over the valley of villages and vineyards below.
And about that front door and those windows -- well, I don't know the whole story of this house, but I know that Laura and Franck had renovated much of it and made it their own family's home while running their other vacation rentals in Burgundy (and before returning to Victoria last summer). It feels like a real home. It is sunny and bright, with lovely tile floors and huge windows that open up onto a large wrap-around deck and amazing views in every direction. The kids felt at home immediately here, and John and I did too.
Well, if I ever hope to get past this jetleg, I should probably leave it at that for the night. Tomorrow's big plans include a trip to the Mayor's office for that necessary signature and a meeting with the directrice of the schools tomorrow evening to make sure all of the paperwork is in order. We're hoping Jack can start school quickly -- maybe Thursday? -- and we will ease Kate and Liv into it perhaps next week (if all goes well of course, and given French bureaucracy, I am counting on a few things perhaps not going quite as planned).
Bon soir!
1) signing up for a cell phone
2) getting *almost* all of the paperwork for the kids' school in order (and introducing them to the thrill of having a picture taken in a photo booth)
3) filling out paperwork for a grocery store's loyalty program (and sales); and
4) buying insurance
Now, these tasks are not what you would call especially thrilling. When done in your own language, none would take very long, and it's doubtful that any would merit a phone call to your parents (or a posting to the world). But in a second language, all of these mundane things become so much more challenging -- and so when you have accomplished them, it actually does feel like a victory of sorts.
It's kind of a weird victory, but I'll take whatever I can get!
We returned from a day of sleeping late and running errands to the beautiful Maison des Chaumes, and I continue to feel so lucky that we found this place. It happened in a roundabout way. A year ago, when John needed to decide if he was applying for the grants, etc., needed for a study leave out of the country, when we were still jetlagged from Japan and didn't want to go anywhere farther than the grocery store, we arranged to meet for coffee since we weren't making any good plans at home. The idea of organizing another BIG trip sounded horrible -- but we had also heard from enough of John's colleagues that time away to do research (and recharge) is one of the best benefits of what can be an often gruelling, never-really-ending job. We had been talking about France but weren't sure where to go -- and so said "why not Paris?"
And indeed, why not? It's a wonderful city that we had both visited several times back in 1993 (and on earlier trips), and we loved the museums, restaurants, music, and nightlife. And that became our mantra for a few weeks -- why not Paris?
So I started looking on a website that, to anyone who loves real estate and travel, is a bit like how I'd imagine taking cocaine would be -- addictive, thrilling, and with the potential to be very expensive (why stop at France? Look at what's available in Italy! And Greece! And London!). It's called Sabbaticalhomes.com and lists short and longer-term rentals around the world (usually furnished, often but not always posted by other academics also on study leaves). I started looking in Paris. There were tons of beautiful places there -- but many of them were, at most, one-bedroom and more importantly (as we had been living in a one-bedroom place in Japan), many of them stated explicitly that children were not welcome.
We did find a slightly bigger and child-friendly place we liked just outside of Paris, and started looking around at what it would cost for Metro tickets for five (as the girls are *just* old enough to require their own tickets), where they might go to school, what daily routines might be like, etc. And we started thinking more practically about what our life is like these days -- not one of dashing to museum openings and concerts and late night dinners with friends, but rather one filled with long walks and family meals and day-trips.
And we decided that if you are young and in-love and childless, Paris is probably THE place to be. But if you are not-so-young (but still very much in-love) and have three energetic kids... it might be wise to expand the search.
So out of curiousity and because I loved it 17 years ago, I plugged in DIJON in the Sabbaticalhomes search engine. And this website came up. It looked perfect. I got in touch with Laura and was thrilled to find out the place was available. She and her husband immediately began helping us as we made our plans. Laura (who I've never met in real life but feel like I know quite well thanks to her blog about life running four vacation rentals in Burgundy (as well as wonderful stories about her husband and children)) is a Canadian who went to France right out of high school and fell in love with a French man. I believe we were both in Burgundy around the same time (I like to think that we passed each other on the street or in a smoky brasserie); we both have three kids, write, love Burgundy (the region and the wine) and juggle family and travel and more.
And everything just fell into place -- but even so, all of the pictures and descriptions and emails didn't prepare me for the beauty that awaited us in Villers-la-Faye and at La Maison des Chaumes.
The village of about 400 is a 10-minute drive north of Beaune (which, when I was Dijon, was described to me by many French people as the wine capital of the world... not France, but the world) and probably a 30 minute drive south of Dijon (we haven't made the drive yet... so I am not quite sure). It's nestled in vineyards, and to get here you wind up a hill along a twisting road bordered by rock walls and grapevines for a few miles. Laura has left some history of the village that I will add later -- but just walking through town, you get the sense this place is OLD. Apparently, it was built at the intersection of five Roman roads... and that sense of history, of life and stories and tradition -- all of that is evident by stepping out the front door, or looking out any of the windows over the valley of villages and vineyards below.
And about that front door and those windows -- well, I don't know the whole story of this house, but I know that Laura and Franck had renovated much of it and made it their own family's home while running their other vacation rentals in Burgundy (and before returning to Victoria last summer). It feels like a real home. It is sunny and bright, with lovely tile floors and huge windows that open up onto a large wrap-around deck and amazing views in every direction. The kids felt at home immediately here, and John and I did too.
Well, if I ever hope to get past this jetleg, I should probably leave it at that for the night. Tomorrow's big plans include a trip to the Mayor's office for that necessary signature and a meeting with the directrice of the schools tomorrow evening to make sure all of the paperwork is in order. We're hoping Jack can start school quickly -- maybe Thursday? -- and we will ease Kate and Liv into it perhaps next week (if all goes well of course, and given French bureaucracy, I am counting on a few things perhaps not going quite as planned).
Bon soir!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Five suitcases...
We braved the storage area under the stairs to dig out the suitcases yesterday to get started on packing which has made the whole trip suddenly seem more real (it also makes for one nervous dog... Kaia does NOT like to see luggage). For this trip, we can only bring five large suitcases (and who knows how many carryons -- the rules seem to be changing by the day and country!).
I am eager to pack light(er) this time around. We shouldn't have the extreme changes in weather that we did in Sapporo, bike helmets are not a rare commodity in Europe as they were in Japan, we won't have any of Jack's homeschooling books as he will be attending school in France, the house we are moving into has some children's books and videos, and we also just realize each time we travel how little you REALLY need. And whenever I start to get worried (maybe ONE more sweater?!), I just think about how much easier it will be to go into stores to ask for anything essential we may have left behind.
My knowledge of French -- although admittedly rusty -- has been bringing me great comfort lately. I made a reservation today for a hotel in Dijon for the night we get in (we don't want to have to search for our new home in the dark after 24+ hours of travel) and I had to write a note explaining that we may be a few minutes later than their stated check in time. I was able to clearly explain what I needed to explain, in French, and it felt SO good. Such an email -- or even conversation -- would have been impossible for me the whole time in Japan. And there are so many examples like that. Today, some friends gave us a French guidebook, which I was able to read. Again -- that would have never happened in Japan. While the experience of being illiterate (and yet still functioning fairly well) in society was a good one to have, it is such a pleasure to think of heading somewhere where I will be able to read, write, and speak (at least basic thoughts!)
The kids are excited and don't seem too worried about leaving Lethbridge. John finished one big work project before Christmas and has one more project to finish before we go. I have finished both part-time jobs (teaching and editing) and so the preparations this time around are much less stressful. Our Lethbridge friends have been incredibly kind and have been inviting us to lots of lunches and dinners, so we aren't spending too much time cooking (and when we do, we're using whatever weird items we have left in our pantry... it has made for some curious meals!).
Here is our plans for the next few days:
* Leave for Helena, MT, on the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 8 or early morning of Jan. 9. We will (briefly) visit with John's parents and leave Kaia and our minivan in their care (and the care of John's sister), while the wonderful Lori housesits our Lethbridge house.
* Early Sunday morning, Jan. 10 -- fly to Denver and (briefly) visit my parents and brother, sister-in-law and their kids.
* Wednesday evening, Jan. 13 -- fly nonstop! from Denver to London.
* Thursday morning, 9ish -- arrive in London
* Thursday afternoon -- take the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel (hopefully!) to Lille, in northern France. Connect on the high-speed TGV to Dijon, arriving at 9:40 p.m.
* Friday, Jan. 15 -- head to our new home, La Maison des Chaumes in the village of Villers-La-Faye.
I need to get back to work -- more soon (I hope!).
I am eager to pack light(er) this time around. We shouldn't have the extreme changes in weather that we did in Sapporo, bike helmets are not a rare commodity in Europe as they were in Japan, we won't have any of Jack's homeschooling books as he will be attending school in France, the house we are moving into has some children's books and videos, and we also just realize each time we travel how little you REALLY need. And whenever I start to get worried (maybe ONE more sweater?!), I just think about how much easier it will be to go into stores to ask for anything essential we may have left behind.
My knowledge of French -- although admittedly rusty -- has been bringing me great comfort lately. I made a reservation today for a hotel in Dijon for the night we get in (we don't want to have to search for our new home in the dark after 24+ hours of travel) and I had to write a note explaining that we may be a few minutes later than their stated check in time. I was able to clearly explain what I needed to explain, in French, and it felt SO good. Such an email -- or even conversation -- would have been impossible for me the whole time in Japan. And there are so many examples like that. Today, some friends gave us a French guidebook, which I was able to read. Again -- that would have never happened in Japan. While the experience of being illiterate (and yet still functioning fairly well) in society was a good one to have, it is such a pleasure to think of heading somewhere where I will be able to read, write, and speak (at least basic thoughts!)
The kids are excited and don't seem too worried about leaving Lethbridge. John finished one big work project before Christmas and has one more project to finish before we go. I have finished both part-time jobs (teaching and editing) and so the preparations this time around are much less stressful. Our Lethbridge friends have been incredibly kind and have been inviting us to lots of lunches and dinners, so we aren't spending too much time cooking (and when we do, we're using whatever weird items we have left in our pantry... it has made for some curious meals!).
Here is our plans for the next few days:
* Leave for Helena, MT, on the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 8 or early morning of Jan. 9. We will (briefly) visit with John's parents and leave Kaia and our minivan in their care (and the care of John's sister), while the wonderful Lori housesits our Lethbridge house.
* Early Sunday morning, Jan. 10 -- fly to Denver and (briefly) visit my parents and brother, sister-in-law and their kids.
* Wednesday evening, Jan. 13 -- fly nonstop! from Denver to London.
* Thursday morning, 9ish -- arrive in London
* Thursday afternoon -- take the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel (hopefully!) to Lille, in northern France. Connect on the high-speed TGV to Dijon, arriving at 9:40 p.m.
* Friday, Jan. 15 -- head to our new home, La Maison des Chaumes in the village of Villers-La-Faye.
I need to get back to work -- more soon (I hope!).
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