FrenchWards

Bon matin amis!

TGIV!

Automne has arrived and it is hot and steamy here in the Beaujoulais. It has been raining but seems to be averaging 70 degrees F. Great for the skin, weird for the season.

Most of my updates are of the domestic nature. Both kids finally have bikes. Micah's is purple and says "100% pour les filles". Jasper's is very big. He was set on gears in the front and the back. The fellow at the shop disapproved of the size; doesn't follow protocol. Alas, we followed American protocol, which is more of the Honey Badger nature, we takes what we wants.

We also installed some swings on the, up until now, empty swing set on the property. Good times for about 10 minutes. Now they sit in the rain lonely.

Jasper started his tennis lessons. He likes them, though they are "too easy". I disagree.

I have started my "French class" and my art class. I include quotation marks because while I thought this would be a language class, it is more a culture class. I may have mentioned that there are many emigrants from Morocco and Algiers here. This class seems aimed toward helping the women assimilate into the French culture. I am unsure of what is generally known or not known. We are going over some language, things like the days of the week and family names but all of these women speak French what seems to be fluently. Mind you they also speak "arabique". So, I don't know if they are unfamiliar with the french alphabet or if they can read in arabic or what. There is an age range from young to old and there are women who wear burkas and who don't. It is pretty interesting, the subject material a little easy, like Jasper's tennis class, but ultimately, I am pretty into it.

As for art. I have never taken an art class in my life so why not take one where I can barely understand the instruction? Pretty smart non? The other 3 women taking the class have had quite a bit of training I think, judging on their sketches of the bulldog statue. I will include my sketch in the photo section. I am proud of it but I think perhaps I should not be.

On other exciting fronts, Bob completed the "Run in Lyon" marathon. He got almost the exact same time that he had with the Top of Utah marathon that he ran 2 years ago. I think he was hoping for better. I am proud of him. I think he will be running the Beaujolais marathon in November. I will abstain from writing anything judgmental or smarmy about his choices as he reads this blog.

While Bob was running and running and running in the rain and running, etc. the boys and I went to the Museum of Miniatures. This is a museum full of props, costumes and paraphernalia from actual movie sets. And then there are the 2 floors of miniature rooms and scenes and silhouette art. It was a very cool museum. I have to include some of the millions of pictures I felt like I needed to take there.

I had my own sort of marathon trying to obtain my residency permit this week. Unlike Bob's marathon, I failed to finish. I will have to try again. I, however, won't make the same mistake of getting up at 6 am, riding the standing room only train to Lyon, standing in line for 2 hours with the other 500 people, getting a ticket, waiting in the waiting room with my hungry kids that joined me with Bob at 9, just to be denied. I'll just get there at 9, skip the line because I am a scientifique and bring all the stupid paperwork. I won't have to almost cry. I won't have to go to the mall of shame and eat McDonalds with my children to make up for the miserable morning they were forced to have.

I may have failed on the residency permit and parenting but we did get to discover the awesome park, Le Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon, which includes an African zoo and was overall delightful. We also attended a little soiré at a cafe for other hapless souls whom decided to take sabbatical in France. The kids got to meet other kids that actually spoke English and we got to exchange stories with others who were fumbling around having a good time living la vie français.

Other big news is that we have finally secured a car. It is a little sad to give up the motor free life but overall it will be a nice addition to the family. The 2 week fall break is coming up. Micah wants to go to Paris, maybe we will. Otherwise we feel that we are in a deficit of local castle exploration. We also want to check out the Massif central. It includes cliffs and rivers and caves and dormant volcanoes.

We continue to not know French very well, all of us. I continue to be frustrated that we are not learning more quickly. I am especially anxious about the kids' lack of French, especially Jasper, because alas that is how it can be being the first born. I have high expectations for him, then I remember that I can't even remember my name half the time, who the heck am I to judge? I will keep forcing myself to believe that it will happen, for all of us. I like to think that the frustration is born of concern. There are many lessons we are (I am) learning here, most of which have nothing to do with France. I hope that I will learn them well enough to keep them with me when we return home.

Alors, enough waxing philosophique, here are some fotos. I hope that you like them.

Bonne Week-end!!

Ballon de frommage

Oú est le chat?

Bob agreed that since he has already been shown in his speedo that I could show him in his camisole de courir.

TRAIN RIDE!!!

Who says the French have no sense of humor?

Sure is raining hard, glad I'm not running a marathon in a camisole...

Drummers on the marathon route

Running and running and running

Shout out to succulent lovers

Can I get just the face?

Gargoyle anyone?

Shout out Aunt George

Some signs are in English, sort of

Super creepy sets from the movie Perfume, The Story of a Murderer. Freaked the kids out for sure.

Shout out to RW :(

Had to watch the movie that night.

This b*$ch moved and growled.

Remember these guys?

HP's wand in the wood

Miniatures. All these rooms are about 1x2 feet

Aprés run coca cola

My epic failure in fotos

Catching the train

Standing in line

waiting room

mall of shame

At least some people were Happy

Le Parc Tête d'Or

Find the red panda

Lyon lyonness

L'ors d'or

Shout out TK(H), you're my hero(ine).
(You're pretty awesome too TK soon to be W)
(What are the chances of having 2 awesome TKs in your life?)

Le chien de resistance (never gets old for me)

I think I have reached the point that my posts may just bore you to tears. Life continues as it does on all continents, as we have crafted it in the decisions we make. Here we are plunging deeper into the local customs which we like to refer to as The Many Rules of France.

The predominant concern at present is signing up for stuff in Septembre. One must inscribe oneself (and pay) in whatever activities one would like to do for the entire year in the month of Septembre. This sort of all or nothing mentality makes for long lines, empty banque accounts and a lot of scrambling. Unfortunately we missed the climbing class for Jasper but managed to get Bob inscribed for the climbing gym. Jasper is has been successfully signed up for tennis after much miscommunication and stress pour moi and the young man whom resembled strongly Sacha Baron Cohen (especially when trying to speak english (which mind you was leagues above my trying to speak french, which I probably reminded him of Flo of Mel's diner)).

I managed to sign myself up for a gym, a first for me. Of course I need to find some appropriate gym wear because frumpy really doesn't go well here. I have also pseudo signed up for African dance, art and French lessons. I'm not sure how we are going to pay for it or how I am going to keep up with lunch, dishes and laundry. Did I mention that we have no dryer. Zero. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal right....try it sometime. Ps, it has started raining with frequency.

Other not so exciting to you, but to us news is that Micah has started swimming lessons on Wednesdays at school. My quiches are improving. We have finally long term rented a car that will start in the next couple of weeks. (I am slightly saddened in the prospect of not walking as much hither and yon. I am gladdened at not having to shop EVERY day and carry heavy bags through town because I don't want to buy the little cart thing.) Jasper is signed up for a Minecraft course in Lyon in a couple of weeks. Bob is running a marathon in Lyon this Sunday.

Bored yet?

Let's get to the pictures. We visited our local castle which we can see from our dinner table. We also visited a close by town called Villefranche. Lovely sight seeing. Fun shopping. Nice people, nice weather. We also got invited to our neighbors' house whom live on the same property, the brother and sister-in-law of our landlords. They are very locally active folks and spend much of their time running a non-profit organization that provides aid for Haiti. They lived in Haiti for 6 years have also spent years living in Cameroon and he (and our landlord) were born in Algiers. These folks have an AMAZING collection of Haitian, Cameroonian, and Algerian art in their basement. I had to take some photos of that as well.

A prochaine semaine!