french

Well, Julian is finally letting on to the fact that he hears french all day... he has told me how to say three things in french! I'm sure he's getting much more than that, just as I''m sure he does more all day than he can ever remember to tell me, but for now, he has told me that in french banana is "banane" and that blue is "bleu" (both pronounced very well in french despite the hilarious fact that the first 2 words he's chosen to tell me are practically identical to english- but still, he recognizes the difference!) and today he said, "you know how they say I'm coming, I'm coming quickly"? -J'arrive" wow. cool. maybe he'll actually learn the correct genders of things without even knowing it. Miette, though she is speaking french like she's been here forever (really, she sometimes has to think for a minute before she describes things from school in english because I think she remembers them in french) she still has trouble with le and la. But nevertheless, she's acing spelling tests, even with all those pesky accents and silent letters and her teacher says she's better in grammar than many of her classmates! Not the be the proud mother or anything...

evening walk

these are just a couple images from our evening walk last night.

must blog....

It's getting harder to find the time to write this but there is even more to say! Now I am jotting words and notes on random pieces of paper so I won't forget the tidbits about what we've done, discovered, thought and the list gets longer and the scraps of paper multiply and I still haven't blogged. But for now, though it is late and I have a new book and bed calling to me, I am going to try to at least recap a few things before the clock strikes midnight and my coach turns into a pumpkin. Not that there is anything monumental to write about, only just the little things that make one day different from the next!

I must say that our 2 most exciting finds of the week were the "bus de mer" (a boat-bus that crosses the La Rochelle port) and a dumpster being loaded with the remains from the IUFM (Institut de Formation de Maitres, I think that's what it's called, it's the teacher's college) which must have been from the 50s because we found very vintage-y teaching tools like fridge magnet type things in french cursive letters, geometric tiles for pattern making and geometry, old wooden puzzles, and cigarette tins that looked like they had been used as a school project because they were covered with a super-cool vintage contact paper that had been hand cut to cover the front of the tin. Anyway, Miette, Jules, and I trash picked and brought our favorite treasures home, cleaned them up and i think they will be some source of creative inspiration for me! After that, which was last weekend, we were heading toward the Mediatheque and just when I thought the kids wouldn't make it walking any longer, we saw that we could hop on the bus de mer and cross straight over there! The kids thought it was amazing, and as Julian is currently obsessed with anything having a motor (or fire), he was riveted by our little boat adventure, taking mental notes on every detail.

I've been noting the funny names everywhere that until recently I hadn't really noticed until one day, riding a bus, I looked out at the bus stop and noticed it was named "Patte d"Oie" which is more or less, goose-foot. Can you imagine an american bus stop being called goose foot? I need to write them all down, because there are funny names everywhere but the only other that pops into my mind at the moment is a kind of apple we just bought called "clochard" which means a bum/tramp/homeless person.

Yesterday we finally celebrated something resembling Thanksgiving. We met another american guy who is here doing his master's degree but did the same job as me last year and decided to get together and do "the meal". He and I were the only americans (and the kids of course) but there was also his russian friend Svetlana, his german rommate Felix, his french friend Juliette, and my australian friend Stephanie. i made mashed potatoes and brought bread and cheese, he made an apple pie and turkey, and there were also peas, corn, salad, and the closest berry-jam that france has anywhere near resembling cranberry sauce. We feasted and talked and felt at home with each other at by the end of the night, I felt closer to home and in the spirit of Thanksgiving. We even went around that table and said what we were thankful for before dinner. (Miette said she was thankful that daddy was coming soon and that we won't be staying here forever and also, she added, that we had enough money because everything was so expensive here.... heehee, I guess she's overheard enough conversations about he weak dollar....)The kids even watched Frosty the Snowman.

Today we woke up to the La Rochelle marathon passing outside our front window (All-ez, all-ez, all-ez!!) Next we went outside so Miette could try out the rollerblades she checked out from the Ludotheque in the church parking lot out back. When we came back, we dove into our respective books, mine being a new one Ryan sent me about motherhood and creativity called Mamaphonic, and Julian had a rare nap. We had a lovely evening stroll in the foggy moist air of the day and wandered back home as the sun set.

This one's for you Greer

Jules was being "Greer" yesterday.... Thinking of you Gree-lo !! (For those of you who don't know Julian's little soulmate Greer in Chicago, she always has to touch a neck while she sucks her thumb. So Jules was channeling her the other day by touching my neck and sucking his thumb)

The French Gym

I had a gym date this morning with a mom from Julian's school. Her daughter Lili (short for Clementine) is one of Julian's friends, the first one he pointed out to me as "not feeling shy around". Anyway, Lili's family is new to La Rochelle- they moved here from Angouleme this summer and Lili, like Julian, was missing her friends from before so maybe they sensed that in each other and bonded a little. Her mom joined a gym and invited me to come along so we went today to a group muscle toning class. The place was hilarious because everything is english- the place is called "Garden Fitness" and the class is called "BodyPump" they also have step aerobics- called "step" and yoga-ish classes, one called "Stretching" and the other is called "BodyBalance". Hilarious. I can't even pronounce them correctly beacuse it just feels weird to say english words with a french accent. Of course the teacher was a totally french guy and all the instructions were in his hyper-enthusiastic french shouted over the accompanying american pop music! It felt good to have a proper workout and it was actually pretty hard. Though I've been quite active here I haven't gotten the kind of workouts I was getting at Bally's back in Chicago. I must have gotten weaker in the meantime!

Tomorrow the teachers are on strike so none of us have school. France is striking everywhere at the moment! Luckily I don't depend on any public transportation for work (I go everywhere by bike or foot) because it sounds like hell for commuters to Paris....

Thanks to everyone sending me warm fuzzies from abroad in response to my last post. It helps and means a lot to hear the outpouring of support and affection. We'll try to call and touch base with the family groups on Thanksgiving and try and feel the togetherness via telephone! (Obviously it is not a holiday here so we'll be at work and school during the day! I may try to find a couple americans and have them over for dinner though!)

Life is not bad but....

I am missing everyone so much today. Not much else that I'll include in this post but just wanted to say that everyone feels far away and very much missed. You will all be together with family and friends for Thanksgiving next week and we are here so far from home.... The comforts of family and good friends are precious. I don't know why it hit me today, I think there is a relationship to the cold coming in strong for the first time. I think of this time of year as preparing for hiberation when we don't have as much extroverted energy and need to be around those people with whom we are very close. Love you all.

stream of conciousness update!

Long time no post, that's vacation! Funny that i have more time when I'm working than on vacation to do things! But now we're back into the swing of things and I am ready to spew out an update. I don't have all that much to report about our trip to Fouras. It was nice to be at the beach in autumn and to have a change of scenery but feel like it was a distraction from sinking my teeth into things here in La Rochelle. The kids need to be with other kids at school and I am enjoying teaching and am happy to be back at work. I realize that I will probably not have many opportunities to teach part time like I am doing and that I have a lot of freedom without the burden of responsibility that come with being a full time classroom teacher so I will do my best to enjoy it while I can. I feel like I am getting the hang of being in front of the class and thinking on my feet while doing a lesson. The first few times it literally made me sweat but now I know the kids and teachers and what does and doesn't work. It's fun to think of interesting and creative ways to teach what are simple concepts to a native english speaker but always harder than I expect for the little ones to grasp.

I did lessons on the english alphabet to some very beginner classes last Thursday and Friday and brought in a song called "The Alphabet Rap". I wasn't sure if the kids would think the song was lame- (Give me an A-A, Give me a B-B, .... let's snap, let's clap, now get ready for the alphabet rap) but they started bopping in their seats to the tune and snapped along happily (some kids still can't even snap that well yet!) If I'm into it, they get into it. I also read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (an alphabet book) and the kids liked to repeat the words chicka chicka boom boom. Never underestimate the power of simple things.

On Friday I teach in Miette's school where by far they do the most creative things! I get to do one session of "arts plastiques en anglais" which is my favorite time of the week. They were creating a prehistoric moquette using clay, sticks and ther natural materials collected from outside in their courtyard. I work side by side with the teacher because we're going around giving a hand where needed and answering questions. This teacher lived in the States and has by far the best english (and american accent) of any other teacher with whom I'm working so it feels comfortable to do english together. She is doing english with them in class at other times during the week with them so I don't have to worry as much about them getting specific concepts and can just enjoy doing art and expose them to a more casual natural language experience.

Miette's class is doing lots of different work using the story "The Little Red Hen" and another called "Poulet Pizza" using the same books translated from the english originals into french. Her teacher uses the texts side by side in both languages to to compare grammatical structures, expressions, and vocabulary. Now she has created a "jeux de famille", a kind of card game, with the english text from the story. I will be in the class working with small groups playing the game where they have to ask their classmates (in a group of six) in english for the cards to complete an episode of the story. All the classes at her school seem to do a lot of comparative work between languages which is fun for me too because I am also seeing it from the other side and finding new insights into french.

I do have other classes where I have the floor entirely. This is very satisfying while also more challenging. I have to do more discipline and speak more in french to explain activities, clarify directions, translate vocabulary, etc. I also have to plan these lessons from a-z. These are the classes where I am learning the most about teaching by being thrown in there and having to make it work. One of these classes has dream angel students who never have discipline issues and generally seem to love when I am there. (Last time half of the girls in the classes gifted me drawings of hearts!). Another class has 30 students, 21 of which are boys and they are really a handful. If I don't have a very firm hand and a rapid-fire pace they start to go nuts.

And Jules and Mimi finally? I am happy to say that overall, I think they are doing fantastically. I really feel like Julian has found his niche at school and has reported the past few days since we've been back from vacation that he's had a lot of fun at school. Yet when I ask "What did you do that was fun?" he says "I don't know". So it's hard to get a inside view of his day but he tells me things about his friends and just the fact that he refers to having friends makes me happy. He no longer seems totally exhausted at the end of the day and hasn't once chewed his sleeves during the past weeks. He still doen't want to go to lunch at the "cantine" but that's the least of my worries. Even when he complained about having to go last Thursday, he told me he had fun there anyway. I also feel like either school has influenced him and/or he's made a developmental leap because he's made a lot of progress in his graphic skills. He made the coolest drawing this Sunday of an airplane, helicopter, and boat. Of course, he is also quite a perfectionist and gets very mad when his drawing don't turn out how he intends and will scratch them out and thrown them down if something isn't right.

Miette is totally into marbles and plays with them at school every day thus winning them, trading them with her classsmates and adding to her collection daily. She has started mixing french words into her conversation with me at home- tonight at dinner she said "mama, after dinner can we faire the puzzle together?" I notice her playing with language all the time: rhyming, comparing, joking, talking to herself. She goes up to kids at the park or wherever we may be and asks them to play and it seems like the timidity is gone. In fact I think she is so much less reserved here now than she was when we were in Chicago.

Our australian friend Stephanie is also a saving grace and is starting to feel like an extension of the family. The kids love her and I think it has been really important to have another anglophone adult with whom they can bond. It is also great to have clicked with someone and have that security of feeling like I have someone I can really call a friend, who's also new here, with whom we can speak at ease in our native language! I read this article on culture shock that talked about the importance of finding people of the same ethnic group to socialize with to ease the sense of isolation that comes with being totally plunged into another culture and language. When people go abroad there is always this pressure to "hang with the natives" but the reality is that as human beings we need to have people with whom we can connect and irregardless of language, we connect more easily with people who are also strangers in a strange land too. Having someone to call a friend who is in a similar situation makes it easier, in fact, to reach out to others that are native! So. Funny that she's from even farther away than France but feels closer to home.

Another fun thing I started is a french-english conversation exchange with Valerie, my landlord's wife. I feel like I may have included this earlier in another post so I won't write more about that now.

I feel like the floodgates have opened and I could write for hours. I'll spare whoever's reading from that and stop myself before I lose all sense of what actually might be interesting!

Topics to come:
How much I adore, really truly love, the Ludothèque: part 2.
The wonders of free (or almost free) institutions: Why I love the Mediathèque.
La Rochelle is beautiful all the time, we are unbelievably lucky to be here.
We finally found another wonderful big playground.

Fouras

We just came back from a little vacation in a nearby town in Fouras which is on a "presque-île", a little peninsula abut 40 minutes away from La Rochelle. These pictures are just of the beaches at sunset and also one from the Hallowen party we went to this afternoon right after we got back into town. (Yes, I know it's not Halloween anymore but the family who threw the party was out of town for the school vacation and so had it today after their return.) I'll write more later about our time there- for now just the pictures!

Toussaint

Today is Toussaint, All Saint's Day. It was absolutely the most magnificent fall day imaginable. See picture above where I tried to capture a sense of the sky. Everything was closed and so we had slow home day then went to the park and thankfully saw kids from school there. Miette played with Léonie, from her school, and they were shouting rhymes for Miette to each other on the swings- "arrete, je suis une baguette de miette- arrete- baguette-miette- arrete- baguette- miette!!! They made a boulangerie selling cakes, bread and tea from sand, acorns and leaves.

Though vacation in theory is great, being with the kids 100% day and night by myself is making me feel a little crazy at the moment. We all need some more human interaction (and I desperately need a backrub!) Yesterday we went to the Museum of Natural History which has recently undergone serious renovations and reopened this weekend so we took advantage of our vacation time to have lunch in a cafe and spend our afternoon at the museum. Miette made lots of sketches of animals that interested her. Julian was very interested in the creatures displayed there but was a little frightened by some such as the stuffed bison and lion. We also discovered a great playground in the botanical gardens behind the museum and the kids had a blast there. Most playgrounds we've run into here are for preschool age children and they don't have monkey bars, big swings or other things we think of as standards in U.S. playgrounds so we were happy that this new one had some structures geared also towards older kids.

It's been feeling like autumn inside and out- we've gotten local apples and made our own applesauce (thinking of Grandma Katie), made a batch of potato soup, collected autumn leaves and have been drinking tons of tea (in fact, I've switched back to tea in the mornings too! Without Ryan here to share the pot of coffee my heart just wasn't in it anymore!). I'm hoping that since La Rochelle weather is supposed to be mild that maybe it means we'll have a sort of prolonged autumn... It really is my favorite season!

p.s. I added picture of me since I there was a request... but it's not very interesting. You can see me, I am still looking pretty much the same, I think! I will try to hand over the camera and get something with me and the kids in some sort of interesting location next time, If I remember!