Pre-Christmas Mania

We suspended our usual "museum day" last weekend to take in some of the Christmas fever around town. Generally decorations are a bit subtler here than at home with the exception of Galleries Lafayette, one of the large fancy department stores not far from Matt's workplace. The giant tree made of large plastic blow-up items was a little too big to fit in my camera frame:

 

I can understand the peppermint swirls and stars, and even the pretzels (it's an Alsatian thing) but the giant doughnuts, pizza slices and CACTUS remain a mystery to me. ???

Père Noël, otherwise known as Santa Claus, was there too. The kids were a little dismayed that he didn't ask them what they wanted for Christmas so now we have to send him a letter. Theo never did tell me what Santa was saying to him here...

On the way home we paused to check out an ad for the new comic book series that's coming out. It's a good thing Santa is always watching as I'm not confident that letter to him will actually get written...

 

The next day it was time to pick out a tree! Luckily there is a garden store just across the street from us. I think Matt was happy to hear some encouraging words about our choice of tree.

 Normally people here just tell us we're doing it wrong.

 

Sam never looks for oncoming traffic this carefully. He isn't concerned with a car hitting him, but if his Christmas tree is threatened, look out!

Made it all the way across the street - whew!

When I was growing up we had to wait to put the star on last. Sam was too impatient for that, apparently. Note - no one was injured during the tree decorating.

Happy Halloween!!!

We had been contemplating how to give the kids a real Halloween this year as it's still a pretty fledgling holiday here and in our neck of the woods trick-or-treating as we know it does not exist. Luckily the boys got an invite to the U.S. Embassy's trick-or-treat night from some friends whose parents work there. Given that the 31st falls on the Paris school break this all took place on the 20th!

We gathered at our friends' apartment on Friday after school and somehow 2 of us managed to get 6 kids ready in their costumes despite the fact that they were all crazed with excitement. I had visions of a trip to the E.R. after Sam's friend Lachlan in all the excitement ran down the hall, slipped and hit head. Thankfully he was ok and we were not derailed!

We made our way by foot to the Embassy and got a kick out of people on the street doing double takes and giving us big smiles as our group walked on, all dressed up for the occasion.

 


Theo decided he missed his Halloween costume back in Seattle so opted to be a werewolf again. Sam opted for a do-it-himself alien costume, which got a little hot along the way, apparently. I'm the witch in the background ;)

 

Once inside the Embassy we were led around in a big group by a Marine and kids went from office to office collecting their candy.  Most of the staff who participated decorated their offices and it was generally pretty festive. I couldn't help but think it wasn't the same as being outside on a dark night going from house to house, but the kids were happy to collect their candy and that was all that mattered to them!

At the end of the line there was a spaghetti dinner for the kids, a haunted house, and a bar for the grown-ups - hallelujah! My vodka tonic tasted like something I drank in college, but after being herded around for over an hour through narrow hallways wearing a warm costume and trying very hard not to step on all the 2 year olds in our group, it was a welcomed treat.

We couldn't bring our phones into the Embassy so the only picture we have inside is one courtesy of our friends. Note Theo is staying in character as he howls at the moon. That's Sam in the front on the right. Even though he's an alien he brought a sword just in case his friend Lachlan, who is dressed as a knight, wanted to fight.

La Rentrée! ...otherwise known as Back to School

The nerves were running high in the weeks leading up to school. Theo was just generally nervous about joining the regular French program at school, stern teachers and lots of homework. Sam was nervous about a few things including "all the math", specifically times tables. We tried to reassure him that they don't do multiplication in 1st grade but I don't think he believed us.

Sam was excited, however, to have a brand new cartable (traditional French school bag) with a glossy lightening bolt on the cover. Both boys seemed to forget their nervousness a bit as they sped off on their scooters in the morning, but Matt did notice that Sam slowed down considerably the closer to school we got.

 

The only reason Theo is so smiley is because he doesn't have to start until 2:15!

 

Theo ended up having a great day, of course, because all they did in their whopping 2 hour day was organize their massive piles of school supplies (it was pretty insane the amount of things they had to bring). He thought his teacher was really nice and that his French was not as rusty as he originally had feared. Off to a good start!

Sam was not as thrilled with his first day. His teachers were nice but not THAT nice. He couldn't remember how to write the letter 'S' correctly (he seems to favor 'Z') and the girls chased him at recess. He calls these girls his enemies but I try to tell him that one's enemies aren't always trying to kiss you ; )

One of the highlights of Sam's day was finding a feather on the way home.

Rest assured Sam's second day was better and Theo's was just as good.
Then they were both home on Wednesday as if none of it had ever happened. Sigh!

Red Pants For Madison

While on a trip back to the U.S. this summer, Minnesota specifically, I was treated to an afternoon with The Girls.  Cousin Madison, Aunt Laney and I spent a morning shopping, followed by a nice lunch out at one of our favorite places - yay! While walking through the men's section at Macy's, I mentioned that we would have to come back with Matt as he needed to buy some pants - red pants. As soon as I mentioned Red Pants, both Lane and Madison stopped and turned to look at me as if I were from another planet. Whaaat?!?

I tried to convince them that the men in Paris do not dress the same as the men back home. Men don't where baggy khakis here.  They where things like...well fitting red pants. I told Lane and Madison that Matt had already purchased some bright blue pants in order to "French-ifiy" himself, but that he was looking for a pair of red ones to round out his wardrobe. I got the distinct impression that Madison and Lane didn't believe me!

On our way back through town we were able to have one more visit together and this time we decided to let the boys come out with us. We headed back to Macy's and helped Matt try on all the different red pants that were available. Yes, he finally found his pair. I think he's a bit disappointed they are a little more of a brick red than a bright red, but they'll do!

 After all that, Madison was still doubtful that Matt wasn't crazy, or at least had really bad taste, so she asked me to take some pictures of Parisian men wearing red pants - proof that I wasn't completely exaggerating it all! At first I didn't think I could do it without being overly conspicuous and causing myself a lot of trouble. But after I dared to take my first couple of photos, it quickly became an exciting secret mission!

The Proof (mind you some of these were even taken in the same day):

 


 

 

This last one was where I finally got busted. Not by the guy in pants, but by one of the women I was with who exclaimed in a very loud voice (imagine this in a heavy Spanish accent) "What Are You Doing?!?" Turns out she thought it was weird that I would be taking a picture of such an ugly building. Feeling sheepish at finally being outed, I figured it was time be done taking pictures and just get the blog post up!

On a side note, when I shared my story of the red pants with the group of women I was with, they all admitted that each of their husbands had a pair of red pants as well. What's more, they informed me of what's coming down the pike in terms of men's fashion: pink pants!!!

Kind of like the color of this guy's shirt! Madison's never going to believe it....

Floods, Strikes and Other Things

We went to look at the Seine last week (along with the rest of the city) and saw that it was indeed flooded.

Normally you can see this guy's feet.

...and this is supposed to be a sidewalk.

I had seen on the news earlier in the week that the garbage collectors were now among the many groups of workers on strike here in Paris. I found this strange as our garbage had been collected as usual. Maybe it's in a different part of town, or maybe there are different groups of sanitation workers like in Seattle? Satisfied with my assumption, I went about my business. By Friday I started seeing the garbage piled up next to the trees on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. Matt saw a notice posted in our apartment building asking everyone to refrain from filling up the garbage and recycling bins. But what are we supposed to do with our garbage?! Turns out it wasn't a problem. Later on that same evening a big truck pulled up next to the sidewalk out front and took away every pile of garbage. A few blocks in each direction and folks weren't so lucky. All of this goes to show that we have no idea what the hell is going on.

I wonder if they only strike when the weather is warm to enhance the smell?

As far as all of the protests and demonstrations are concerned, I avoid hanging out in the part of town where they are taking place. At my age it is no longer cool to be tear gassed.

We have not been immune to drama though, as there was a recent raid on Google's Paris office by French police. Matt was pretty unaware of the whole thing until he unknowingly asked a detective if he had the proper Google badge necessary to enter the building. Apparently it was a bit embarrassing. All in all the raid sounded very polite, despite the fact that all the cops showed up donning bullet-proof vests and machine guns. You never know with those engineering types....

As for me personally, I deal with protest, drama and civil disobedience every day no matter where we are living:

I won't come out unless you meet my demands!

A Week in Provence

While Provence is not my favorite part of France (I prefer the lush, green spots to the arid ones) we keep going back because there is so much to do and see there. I think we really could spend A Year in Provence and keep ourselves quite busy. As it is, we had a week this spring and that was great!

Given that Provence is filled with cultural and historical significance, we weren't surprised when Theo and Sam discovered their favorite museum there: Le musée du bonbon Haribo. Translated, it's the Haribo Candy Museum.

Yes, outside the little town of Uzès there is a museum dedicated to the making of candy. No matter that Haribo is actually a German brand of candy, there's a plant in France so we're calling it French!

While not the most exciting place for Matt and I, Sam was thrilled that instead of the paper variety, our entry tickets were actually bags of candy. The museum also gave detailed explanations of the history of candy, the different ways all of those gummies are fabricated, and the packaging process. Of course our kids enjoyed watching the video presentation the most.

Sam wants it all for himself!

Theo is shocked at the new spring line of candy wrapper fashion

The best part of the museum came at the end, when the boys got to put the magic coins that they received upon entry into a machine that would distribute and package up a bag of candy right before our eyes. Problem is that each boy was given two coins, and each machine spit out not one, but FOUR bags of candy. You do the math. I'm sure you can also guess who got to hold all of that candy after it was all said and done. I looked like the Michelin Man with bags of candy puffing out my coat pockets.

Finally, it's my turn!

And, as if that weren't enough, Vanna White's French counterpart was there to great us at the end of the tour. Sam spun the wheel and it landed on...you guessed it, more candy! A LARGE bag this time, in case the multitude of small bags falling out of my pockets weren't enough.

Wheel. Of. Candy!

Like any good museum, this one placed the exit door at the very far end of the gift shop. It was like Costco in there, except all the merchandise was candy.

Candy - as far as the eye could see.

 And people were buying giant tubs of it!

Really???

While the museum didn't quite live up to my Willy Wonka fantasy, there is a certain joy that comes with being showered in candy! If you ask Theo and Sam about Provence, I'm sure the candy museum will be the first thing they mention. After all, it was much more interesting than going to see this old thing:

Two thousand year old Roman aqueduct or a museum full of candy - which would you prefer???

Visitors!

Looking at the date of my last post, it's apparent that I fell off the blogging wagon for a while! School vacations, visitors and language school have kept things busy enough that typing at my computer sort of fell by the wayside. Now that things have settled a bit, I am ready to get back at it.

The month of April (and earlier) we were blessed with family and friends coming to Paris to share the experience with us.

Emilie, Rick, Graham and Ruby paid us a visit from Finland before moving back to Seattle. Emilie and Rick's move to Finland was the catalyst to our whole crazy move to Paris. Matt and I had long had the goal of living abroad, preferably in France. When Google opened an office in Paris 6 years ago we knew that our move could be a reality, but it was still something that we just talked about. After learning that Emilie and co. were actually making the move to Finland (with Microsoft) we decided to really consider Paris as an option. One year later and here we are!

Watching our kids chase each other around beneath the Eiffel Tower last February was surreal. It was so cool that I didn't want to miss it by stopping to take a picture. I did get some pics at lunch the next day though when everyone stopped moving for a moment or two.

Note that Emilie's child is the one without a napkin on his head.

Emilie discovers the joy of a
Café Gourmand - you get a
sample of three different desserts
along with your coffee!

My parents, known in our house as Grandma and Grandpa Shaw, stopped by Paris for a few days after their trip to Hungary.

At least no one is wearing a napkin on their head this time.

One of the things my kids had been missing was jell-o! So Grandma Shaw brought several boxes for us in her suitcase, along with baking soda (surprisingly hard to find here), crushed red pepper (equally difficult) and measuring cups & spoons (I'm tired of converting to metric!).

Mascha and Felix had been neighbors of ours in Seattle up until we had the brilliant idea to move into a new house right before moving out of the country (as an aside, it's not the greatest idea!). We were fortunate that they took a couple days out of their trip to Germany to come see us!

Commuting by metro makes everyone a little nuts.

...and ice cream calms them all down ;)

Mascha and Felix inspired me to truly embrace the spirit of France.

Matt's parents, a.k.a. Nana and Bubba, came to Paris for a while and traveled with us 2 hours south of the city for a few days to visit Chateau Guédelon. We call Guédelon the "castle in the making" as it's a new castle being built out in the countryside using medieval techniques. A thank you to Matt's Aunt Laurie for recommending it to us!

The human hamster wheel used to pull heavy loads to the top of the wall.

Chipping away at a log with a hatchet
in order to make a plank takes a long time!

Sam now wants to be a blacksmith when he
 grows up. I think he just likes the open flame.

Theo wants to be a wood worker.

We spent some time in the little town of Briare, which is known for it's canal.

Family photo along the Canal de Briare.

I love being in and on the water, so a boat ride on the canal was a must. When I mentioned to my mother-in-law that the kids didn't enjoy the boat ride around Strasbourg, she asked "...then why exactly are we doing this?" Because this canal was different! We were out in the country so we'd see more nature this time. We'd get to go through a big lock and watch our boat rise and fall with the water draining out and rushing in. Plus, this canal stretches OVER another river below and how cool is that?! The kids would love it, I assured her.

Well - this is what Theo and Sam thought of the trip on the Canal de Briare:

 

I have a plan to do a multi-day canal trip somewhere in France before our time is up. I'm sure that if we're the one's driving the boat and we get to go where we want and do what we want, the kids will really love it. Really, it'll be different next time! ;)