Deux Points

While we have been to the doctor a few times already here in France, Summer also got the opportunity to visit the ER late Monday night. She was about to go to bed and banged the top of her head into a very sharp corner of a nightstand. While I stayed home with a sleeping Samantha, David and Summer drove 25 minutes to Grenoble's ER. David's very helpful coworker, Philippe, met them there to help translate. Summer was very brave and left with two stitches ("deux points" in French). She will get them out next Wednesday. We are definitely ready for things to calm down a bit!!!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

On Friday, the circus came to town for three days, and today we decided to go check it out since it was on our street and only half a mile away. As I recall, I've only been to the circus once when I was a little kid. Since I was much smaller then, everything seemed so much bigger.



There were two kinds of tickets: "chaises" (chairs) and something else we didn't recognize for 5 euro less. We decided to pay the extra 20 euro just in case we were stuck standing holding the girls up for an hour and a half. It turns out the other tickets were for bleacher seats at the back of the tent, whereas we were in the front row with the bigwigs, close enough to see the dust crack off the end of the whip, smell the lions and feel the gentle mist of mud on our cheeks when the camels ran by. The show started off with the animal tamer with two lions and a tiger. It was too intense for Samantha, Summer, and Allison because they were only four feet away from us, and one of the lions kept snarling and swatting its paw. I thought it was the best part of the show.



After that there was a juggler, a girl who climbed a rope and did tricks, two boys riding unicycles, two large horses that could run in circles, a donkey, a llama, two girls with hula-hoops, two snakes that the kids got to touch, a clown that directed members of the audience in a performance of Romeo and Juliet, the aforementioned camels (which were huge), and Allison's favorite, the monkey riding on the back of miniature pony:



The show concluded with a bunch of suckers paying ten euro to get their picture taken with a lion cub:



It was a small scale production, but we had a lot of fun. The show had the same intimacy that makes the Austin Zoo so pleasant.

Park of the Golden Head

We've received lots of packages from back home with things we can't get over here. Today, we got one from my mom, and the girls were excited especially with black beans, which is a staple of their diet in the US but isn't available here. Most of the day, Samantha on her own would say "Tay-you Wowwie" (translation: "Thank you Grandma Callie.").



I took today off from work since it was Summer's last day of winter vacation. We had planned on going to Milan for the weekend, but Samantha has a cold, so we decided to stay closer to home by going to Lyon. We first set out to buy Summer a Buggy Board. It is basically a flat piece of plastic on wheels that attaches to the back of Samantha's stroller and lets Summer "ride" on the back of the stroller. She loves it and has already paid off during our Lyon visit. However, Samantha had to have her turns as well.



We ate lunch across the street from the baby store at a Carrefour. I eat lunch at Carrefour in Grenoble two or three times a week, so eating at a different Carrefour was especially a treat for me. The food was about the same, it was more spacious, and the waiters were not nearly as fun.

Carrefour is the second largest retailer in the world, and the two that we've been to are an enormous cross between a grocery store, a clothing store, a Best Buy, and a cell phone provider. They include a strip of stores along the front that most resemble a mall, and include a few restaurants. This was a good choice for us because Samantha doesn't have the patience to sit through a normal French lunch, so we could easily take her into the store to wreak havoc while Allison or I ate.

After lunch, we drove another hour to Lyon through a few tunnels and past what smelled like a fertilizer factory. We had a few things on our agenda, but the only thing we got to was the Parc de la Tête d'Or (Park of the Golden Head). I've never been to New York City, but I'd guess it was like Central Park but on a smaller scale. The park surrounds a lake, and we decided to circumnavigate it. We started off by taking a tunnel under the lake to a small island.


But the real fun was on the other side. There was a small zoo with giraffes, which we don't have at the Austin zoo, cotton candy, and some small bumper boats. The girls had a lot of fun.



On the way home we hit a lot of traffic but eventually made it to IKEA. We only got a few small things, but it felt a little bit like home, well as much as a Swedish Furniture Warehouse can. We didn't leave the store until close to 9:00, which is well after the girls normally go to bed and still had over an hour ride home. We've been a little bit more relaxed about getting the girls to bed early. Last weekend we had dinner at a colleague's house and Summer didn't crash at their house until 11:00, and we didn't get home until close to 1:00. On the twenty minute ride home, Samantha was awake and very excited about driving around when it's dark and going over so many (elongated) speed bumps.

Saturday in Chambery

We spent Saturday in Chambery, which is about thirty minutes away from Barraux. We got off to a rough start, as I backed over the curb on the way down the long drive way. I'm used to driving to work in Mark's Citroen AX, which is shorter and more nimble than the Xantia. The front wheels spun out on the gravel as I tried to make it back up over the curb. The girls were a bit freaked out, but since this wasn't the first time I'd done something like this here, I didn't panic. It took several tries and some creativity to get us on our way. The only casualty was a small solar powered light. [Sorry Mark and Nathalie. Where can I get another one of these?]



On the way to Chambery, we saw a lot of traffic heading toward and away from ski areas. This time of year, French children are off from school for two weeks for a winter break, which most people in the country use to go skiing. The specific two weeks vary by the zone of France. (Summer was off from school last week and this coming week). Anyway, Saturday is a heavy travel day as some people finish up their break and others are just starting it.

After parking at the Palais de Justice in perhaps the nicest parking garage we'd ever been in, we set off in search of lunch. With Samantha, the stress of eating anything inside a restaurant is usually not worth it. So we bought some panini from a small shop that opened to the street and a two very small pizzas from a boulangerie, and we ate them in a small park that was reserved for 3 to 6 year olds. We decided to risk it and let Samantha play there too.



To get the girls away from the park, we promised them dessert, but when we went back to the places we'd seen earlier they were closed--we're getting used to the fact that most things close from around 12:30 to 2:00. We did eventually find a chocolatier where we quickly ate our desserts and coffee before Samantha tore the place apart.



We decided to just walk around the city center until the stores reopened. The center of Chambery is quite old, full of beautiful buildings, alley-ways, and is generally open only to foot traffic, which allows us to let our guard down a little bit with a four year old who loves to remain exactly ten feet behind us.



Once everything came back to life, Allison wanted to do a bit of shopping. In France, sales ("Les Soldes") are heavily regulated and only permitted twice a year: once after Christmas and sometime in the summer. We're nearing the end of the winter sales, and there's very little left, but that doesn't stop a woman from searching for the one thing that she wants and is a steal. She finally found some 11 euro shoes for Samantha that originally cost at least 60 euro. Having filled her urge to have spending money feel like making money, we were able to head home after a quick carousel ride.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day didn't feel the same this year, probably because I was running around town that day trying to find David a gift. Late that afternoon, the girls and and I drove to Pontcharra's Centre Ville to visit the chocolatier. We had driven by before but had never seen it open and were hoping it would be open then. Luckily it was, and we parked at a much bigger post office that I discovered and walked down the cobblestone streets to the shop. The lady inside was very nice, and I was able to tell her in French that Summer is allergic to nuts and to recommend chocolates and desserts without them. We picked out an assortment of chocolates, eclairs, a piece of chocolate truffle cake, and the girls' favorite, bugnes, which remind me of small pieces of funnel cake. David enjoyed the chocolate and we will definitely go back there soon. We received many Valentine's gifts and cards from family and friends, and the girls had fun playing with their goodies. We love getting mail and appreciate everyone sending us things from home!!

Real Snow!!

I am feeling more confident driving the stick-shift here and drove David and the girls this morning up a snowy mountain (about 40 minutes away) to take the girls sledding. They both had a blast, although Summer is starting to complain about motion sickness while riding in the car. Summer saw many kids skiing and wants to go skiing very soon.

Ou est la poste?

I have yet to go to the post office but finally discovered it on a walk with the girls through the village. I have a stack of cards that I have been wanting to mail since we've arrived, but the post office is only open two hours a day and is closed on Wednesdays. I can only buy stamps there and cannot send mail from our home, so I am hoping to make it there sometime next week. We were very excited to find it and were surprised at its size. We love the mountain views all around us!

Catching Up

This post will be lengthy, as we have been without internet access for almost two weeks. I am quite happy that I can once again email family and friends.

The Plane Ride(s!!!): Overall, the plane rides were on time, and our luggage was practically waiting for us in Lyon, France, when we arrived. However, traveling with a 22 month old and 4 ½ yr. old was quite overwhelming and tiring. We left Austin in the late afternoon, switched planes in Washington, D.C., and then flew overnight from D.C. to Frankfurt, Germany. The first leg of the trip was quite fun...Summer was excited to be on a plane and Samantha was relatively good as long as she was watching a Dora DVD.



The overnight flight was ok. Summer slept almost the entire flight, but Samantha only slept two hours, and I was constantly trying to keep her from screaming and waking up the sleeping passengers. The flight from Frankfurt to Lyon was only about an hour, but both Summer and I got sick on the plane due to lack of sleep, lack of food, and a very bumpy ride. Everything got better from there, as we were greeted by two very cheerful French coworkers of David's, who happily pushed our seven Texas-sized suitcases to their cars. We were welcomed with lots of snow and enjoyed the hour-long drive to our home in the small village of Barraux.

We were very glad to get to the Craig's home and were amazed by the beautiful scenery and breathtaking mountain views from almost every window.






Settling in: It has taken a couple of weeks for us to feel like we are finally settling into some sort of routine. We got to Barraux Thursday, and David went to work on Monday. During the past two weeks, I have been learning how to drive a car with manual transmission, trying to remember some useful French phrases from college, entertaining the girls all day, and taking care of Summer while she has been sick (read more below about our doctor visits!).

Grocery Store Adventures: It has been quite an adjustment getting used to the grocery stores here. We have only gone grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons, which is probably the busiest time to go because most stores are closed on Sundays. We are all enjoying how much the French love chocolate. There are many different types of chocolate pastries (Summer's favorite is pain au chocolat, basically a rectangle-shaped croissant with chocolate inside), breads with chocolate chips and chocolate fillings, chocolate puddings and yogurt, and chocolate cookies. Where we would find many different varieties of sandwich bread, there are numerous varieties of bread with some sort of chocolate. This is also the same with the yogurt and cheese. In one store, there was an entire aisle with different flavors of yogurt, including raisin and rhubarb. In the meat section, there is a selection of horse meat, which David says he will try but I refuse to buy. Much to my enjoyment, I discovered that Old El Paso has many "dinner kits" and have already made tacos, chicken fajitas, and guacamole more times than I can count. Overall, the food here is very fresh and seems to contain less preservatives than food in the US. If any of you have a good horse meat recipe you'd recommend, please let me know. :




Salmon vs. Seulement: We have been enjoying the very good and very inexpensive French pizzas. While eating with the girls in a café, David ordered two pizzas with "seulement" (it means "only" in French) cheese and tomato sauce. After a few questions from the waiter, David realized that he didn't pronounce each syllable of seulement distinctly enough, so it sounded like he was ordering salmon pizzas, which were on the menu. While we did get cheese pizza that day, David picked up some pizzas for dinner a few nights later, and we were greeted with two very smelly salmon pizzas (with lemons on top!).

Three Visits to the Doctor: Summer has had three visits to two local doctors, who speak a little English. We were surprised at the differences between the doctors here and in Austin. The doctors we go to share an office in the bottom of an apartment complex and act as their own receptionist during the appointment. They answered their phones several times during our appointments to schedule other appointments. They were nice, and we were able to communicate using simple phrases and gestures in both French and English. We paid cash for our visit and were surprised that without insurance, the visit cost 24 Euros (about $31). Summer's doctor visits included getting a TB vaccine (required in France) in order to attend preschool. She went back for a third visit this past week for a cold, pinkeye, and an ear infection and is back to her normal self now. We're hoping to stay healthy for a while, although David came home today from work with pinkeye. We were surprised and lucky that the doctor was able to see him at 8:15pm.

Summer and the Ecole Maternelle: Summer and the Craig's youngest daughter, Diane, also swapped preschools. The kids here don't go to school on Wednesdays but go on Saturday mornings. Summer's school goes for three hours in the morning, and all kids go home for two hours for lunch and then return for classes until 4. We are sending Summer only in the mornings, and she is slowly adjusting to not being able to speak much English with anyone at school. She has been singing English songs to her class and has already made many friends. Summer has been quite interested in speaking French and was overheard the other day speaking it while playing with her Barbies. The view right outside her school is amazing.



Help!!!: Many people in Barraux have been very helpful already, including Nathalie's good friend, Kathryn. She stopped by on our first day and has been available to answer all of our questions. Kathryn is British, and her husband is Scottish. They have three daughters. Their middle daughter, Samantha, goes to Summer's school. She has been very sweet to Summer and has been introducing Summer to her friends and also waits for her everyday at school to play on the playground. Kathryn's youngest daughter, Emma, is two days older than Samantha. We recently had a playdate with them, and they are also coming over next week.



Various other mothers from Summer's school who speak English have approached me and have offered their phone numbers and their help if we ever need anything. Everyone here seems very excited to meet us and even more eager to help.

Things We Miss: While we feel like we are getting adjusted to a new life here and know that the five months will pass quickly, there are still many things that we miss (in no particular order):

• Television shows in English: We are planning on watching our favorite shows online, and I was excited to discover the first season of Grey's Anatomy at the Craig's house. David recently found out that his work rents videos (some in English) for very cheap, and we have started watching the first season of the Sopranos.


• Certain foods: Summer tells us at least once a day that she misses her soymilk. They have various brands of soymilk, but none of them taste the same for her. She will only drink water and occasionally juice, and when she's especially grumpy, she wants to go straight back to Austin to drink her soymilk. We have yet to find raisin bread, popcorn, black beans, cottage cheese, macaroni and cheese, and a good snack cracker, like Goldfish or Triscuits. These are mainly foods that the girls miss, so I am bribing various family members to mail these to us.


• The obvious things we miss include speaking English while out running errands, etc., our family, and our friends.

We are sleeping pretty well here. Summer is still sleeping in our room, and Samantha has adjusted well and is sleeping in a crib in the bedroom next to ours. The girls are going to bed a little later than they did in Austin but are luckily sleeping later in the mornings, too.

Here a few other pictures from our first two weeks here: