Catching up!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, as I adjust to taking 3 graduate courses! I knew it was going to be tough, but it's been harder than I thought! I've spent most of the last week reading, trying to get papers started, etc.

As a result of my new full-time status, I really need Alexa to be in school in the afternoons. We've done it twice now, and she seems to be doing ok! They basically just take a nap and play, but at home I can never get the child to nap. At school, she sleeps, so I'm happy. Of course, all the French kids are there all day. For French families it's very serious stuff and starting full day school at age 3 gets them ready for their academic future. For me, it's a really long day for a 3 year old. There seems to be such a push for independence at such a young age. The 3 year olds are expected to completely wipe themselves after potty (yes, #2), cut their lunch with a fork and knife, stay in school 8 hours....but yet EVERY kid, except Alexa, has a pacifier!! It's completely normal to see even a 4 year old with a pacifier. I think it's to keep them from crying all day in school! Check out the pic of Alexa's bathroom at school - they all go together!

Alana is already correcting my French. She can pronounce words like a native, and is all too happy to point out my accent! In France, kids learn to read in the 1st grade. Since Alana is an advanced reader, she is already reading the little books her teacher sends home. Her teacher is quite impressed with Alana's reading skills, and predicts that she'll be one of the top readers in her class, in French! She's making lots of friends, and even attended her first birthday party this weekend. She has such curiosity about the world, loves to meet people, enjoys travelling, and will always try a new food - she's really an amazing kid.

L'Estaque

This past Sunday we visited a neighborhood of Marseille called L'Estaque. It's on the opposite side of town from us, but still on the sea. Without a car we had to take 3 buses to get there, but fortunately the kids love the bus! L'Estaque is well known in the art world as one of the most important places of modern painting. Cezanne was its most famous resident, living there between 1870 and 1882. While many other impressionist painters lived in L'Estaque at some point, it was Georges Braque who gave birth to the cubism movement while living and painting in L'Estaque. Okay - sorry to bore you with a brief art history lesson....

Visiting L'Estaque you can see the draw for the artists. The mountains, the sea, the port full of boats...

The day we visited was a festival, and we wandered around the many arts and crafts, then got to take a free boat ride along the coast. There was also a tournament for the ancient Provencal sport called "Joute Nautique." Basically there are two boats, and the "player" stands on the top, back end of the boat and holds a very long stick (see photo above). As the two boats approach each other, the two players raise theit sticks and once they are withing reaching distance - they try to knock the other one off and into the water! The one left dry and one the boat wins. It's fun to watch!

L'Estaque is also famous for a special treat called a Chichis Fregis. It's basically a long, cresent shaped doughnut with a hint of lemon in the dough. It's either sprinkled with sugar or coated with chocolate. We opted for the sugar - it was divine!

We decided to do the Sunday afternoon sit and eat lunch for 2 hours bit- so we found a great cafe along the waterfront. As an appetizer I tried the local fish soup, which is served with breath-killing garlic sauce. It was absolutely fantastic! Alana, always being one to try new foods, tasted it and loved it. I let her finish it up. We also ate huge prawns, salt cod with aioli, warm goat cheese salad, chocolate mousse, flan, and a nice carafe of wine...Paul and I are still full days later...

School updates

OK, so I need to get in the habit of updating this blog a bit more often!

Alana's last two days of school were great. She is continuing to make friends, and understanding a bit more French every day. On Friday, she stayed a school for lunch, which means she was there from 8:30-4:30 - quite a long day! When I picked her up, the first thing she wanted to tell me was what she ate for lunch. Let's just say it's not quite the cheese sticks that count as an entree in Ithaca! Her lunch consisted of - fresh watermelon, fish with shrimp sauce, celery puree, white cheese, french bread, and chocolate flan. She loved it! It's no wonder the French appreciate good food...

Alexa, again, was not quite as successful. Both Thursday and Friday mornings were fine, it was the pick-up where she was crying. Her teacher said she did much better on Friday, and Alexa also wanted to bring a flower to her teacher that day, so at least she is making a connection. On the bright side, I learned that she does not have to go to the afternoon session. The little kids can go home in the afternoon, since they just nap and play outside. So I am going to just send her in the mornings for now, and hopefully we can work up to the afternoons. With my grad classes starting this week, I'll need that extra time! I have already prepaid for the girls to eat lunch at school on Mondays and Thursdays for this month. So tomorrow I'm going to see how it goes with Alexa staying until 1:15, instead of 11:30. I'm hoping for the best!!!

This picture is Alexa walking home from school with our baguette in her backpack!

First day of school!

Yesterday was the kids first day of school. Alexa goes to the "maternelle" or preschool, and Alana goes to "primaire", the primary school. The two schools are right across the street from each other, and about a 15 minute walk from our apartment. The school schedule is very different here. They go from 8:30-11:30, then home for lunch, then go back from 1:30-4:30. You can choose to have your child pay to eat lunch at school, then they are there all day. Also, there is no school on Wednesdays.
Alana's first day was a great success! She loves her teacher, made some friends in her class, and practiced the alphabet and days of the week. She is very excited to go back tomorrow.
Alexa's first day, on the other hand, was a bit more emotional. Surprisingly her drop off went very well. There were lots of crying kids, but she was ok. We reminded her that we would be back soon and we would all have lunch together. However when we picked her up at 11:30, she was crying. The teacher said she did well and only started crying about 10 minutes before we arrived. At lunch she said she did not want to return to school. We managed to bribe her with a trip to the pastry shop and a bus ride downtown to the carousel after school. So again she did ok on the afternoon drop off, with visions of chocolate in her head. But, at 4:30 pick up she was crying. Again, the teacher said she had a good afternoon, took a nap, and only started crying about 10 minutes before we arrived. I suspect this "10 minutes" thing is what they tell all parents! I think she may have been crying longer...
So of course off to the patisserie we went! The girls chose chocolates in the shape of little pigs, and we hopped on the bus to go to the carousel!
Paul and I enjoyed our first free morning, and walked around our neighborhood and enjoyed some espresso at a cafe. It was our 8th wedding anniversary, but we don't yet have a sitter, so we decided to postpone our nice anniversary dinner!
Alexa tells me today she is ready to go back to school tomorrow - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed - there may be lots of chocolate pigs in our future!

Our first week in France

It's been a long and crazy week of sightseeing and adjusting. When we first arrived at our new apartment, our landlady (who lives in Paris), along with her two daughters, welcomed us with a wonderful lunch on the balcony. She then took us for a walk around the neighborhood, pointing out the best boulangerie, butcher, fruit stand, etc, and the schools for the girls. We are in a really nice residential area, but still only a 15 minute bus ride from the city center.

Marseille is a very hilly city, and our apartment is at the top of a big hill. Leaving the apartment is easy...all downhill. But the return home is quite a workout!

Paul finally has set up his "office" in our bedroom, after numerous visits to local electronic stores and some interesting language barriers. Surge protecter in NOT in my dictionary!

During this past week we have toured much of the city, spent time at the beach, and consumed too many chocolate croissants (they're just so darn good!). Paul generally works from about 1:00 on, to stay on east coast time, so it's the girls and I in the afternoons. Fortunately they're at ages that make it easy to get around, so they are already used to riding the bus, holding my hand on the narrow sidewalks, and looking out for dog poop (it's everywhere here on the sidewalks!)

Over the weekend we took the bus to the nearby port town of Cassis. It was a scary bus ride, following a narrow and winding road up and down the mountains. Cassis is a beautiful little beach town, with cafes and ice cream shops lining the port. We took a boat tour of the Calanques, which are the white cliffs that go in and out of the sea between Marseille and Cassis. They are simply beautiful, and many of them have little sandy beaches. These are only accessed by boat, or by hiking in from more than a mile away, and rock climbing down to the beach!

The girls have been amazing and are adjusting very quickly. Alana has been very outgoing towards other kids at the beach and playgrounds, and has had no problems finding someone to play with. She's very excited about learning French and going to french school. It think she is the perfect age for this year abroad. Alexa is having lots of fun just out and about. She loves to be outside and exploring. She could care less about the french language, and I think she will understand a lot before ever really speaking french. For me, my French is coming back very quickly!

Welcome!

Okay - so we've been in France for a week and have been planning this trip for a year - you would think I'd have started a blog sooner! But those who know me know I procrastinate, so the blog is finally born!
We are in Marseille for 9 months, until the end of May. We have rented a beautiful apartment overlooking the sea and the mountains, and have decided to toss our English-speaking kids right into the French public school system. Check back often for glimpes into our crazy new life!