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:
