I Hate France Day

We were about 2 weeks into school when I picked Theo up and he was acting quiet and moody. I ask if he had a bad day? No. Are you sad? No. Are you mad? No. Did something happen? No. Do you not want to tell me because you think I will be mad? No. Do you think it will make me worried? No. Do you think it will make me stressed out? Yes.

Who, me?!

The moodiness continued. We picked up Sam and were walking to the park on the way to the Metro when Theo stopped, turned around and said 'America is that way'. Ah ha....

I told Theo that I had been missing home a lot that week too. I said I missed seeing friendly and familiar faces, I missed being able to get my groceries in one place (see post for Dinner, Plan D) and I missed the comfort of being in our own home. Sam chimed in that he missed our old house because one of the neighbors had passed out fake hands filled with candy for Halloween, which apparently makes our old house much better than the new one we moved into right before leaving ;)

I then proposed to Theo that maybe we should have an "I Hate France Day", which we get to declare when we are feeling really down and missing home. On that day we get to choose something special to do. In my case it would be going out for dinner! Knowing Theo I suggested we go home and make popcorn and watch an hour of Star Wars. I would have suggested getting a special treat at the patisserie but we are pretty much doing that on a daily basis as it is!

Theo was intrigue by this idea and by the time we reached home he was feeling better about things. I told him it stressed me out more not to know what was going on with him so he told me that school was hard and tiring. He said he doesn't understand any of the French and so doesn't know what's going on most of the time (3/4 of his school day is in French, after all). On top of that he thinks that his teacher, Madame Noël, expects him to know what is going on now that he's been in school a while. Mind you, at the time this occurred he'd been at school just under 2 weeks - ha! I assured him that it would take a few months for him to know what was going on. As luck would have it I had a meeting with his teacher the very next day so I could ask her and indeed prove to him that he had some time.

To date, we have only had one I Hate France Day, so things are not so bad! Theo has finally learned to say to his teacher "I don't understand" in French, which has helped his situation quite a bit.

The yummy pastries definitely make the whole experience a little less painful too.  :)

Hall of Bones

Theo was very excited to show Sam and Matt the Paleontology Museum (part of the Museum of Natural History) that he and I visited in November. Even the second time around he insists that "it's the best museum ever".

Amused that the pelican skeleton still had it's beak sac.

View from above

The blue whale is spectacular 

Sam was particularly interested in the two-headed fetal lamb and "cyclopes" cat fetus

 

Theo was impressed by the Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish).

Sam checking out the whale fin

I told Sam this was what his early ancestors looked like. He seemed confused and then asked if it was Grandpa Shaw (more specifically he asked if Grandpa Shaw had died - did he think they'd stick him in this museum?!).
There is a bit of a resemblance, however. ...must be the hair.

Dinner - Plan D

While I am loving the availability of foods like duck (one of my favorites) and rabbit (cooks like chicken but seems more interesting) I am generally feeling quite frustrated with the dinner situation here. Try as I might I am finding it difficult to cook enough at one time to last for 2 meals like I am used to doing at home. If I find rabbit at the store, there is only enough for 1 meal. If I go to the butcher and say I want enough duck to feed 7 people (the kids count as half a person), he tells me he only has enough to feed 4. Then as I am leaving I notice an extra magret in his case! Je ne comprends pas - I don't understand? Is he saving it for someone else?!

On this particular day I was feeling confident that my plan for dinner that night should solve my conundrum, however, and give me a break from cooking the following evening. I saw some trout at the fish market earlier in the week. It's easy to cook, the kids get a kick out of playing with the fish head on their plate, and it always serves more than you think! Problem solved. Or so I thought. I head over to Rue Martyrs (a street of dreams for those who really like food) as that's where the two Poissoneries (fish shops) are. The first one is closed so I head down the street to the second, just in time to see them shut their door for the day (it's really more like a garage door, so pretty obvious).

Ok - time to change gears (Plan B). I know the Boucherie (butcher shop) sometimes has some ready-to-cook things like meat and veggies wrapped up in a little wheel that you just stick in the oven. Easy! As I walk up the street I notice that all of the butcher shops are closed - all of them. I'm not sure what's going on as it isn't Sunday, when everything is closed, or even Monday...when everything is still closed. Not to worry. I'll go to the butcher at the end of our block. So I walk back home and down the other end of the street to find our local guy is closed as well. Sigh

On to Plan C. I decide to make life easy on myself and go to Franprix (grocery store) and get what I need to make carbonara, one of my easy "go to" dinners. Now even though there is supposedly no American style bacon in France, I've found some at the Franprix across the street from our apartment. It's not very good, but it works. Except for today - because there is none. There isn't even any pancetta or any other kind of smoked meat I can fry up in a pan for flavor. It's probably for the best as I would be inclined to go to the Fromagerie for the parmesan cheese and that just might do me in.

I turn around and see what looks like a couple of flank steaks in the case across from me. Theo's favorite meal is flank steak and I remember he said he was missing it - perfect! So Plan D is underway as I pick up what I need for the marinade. I saw some soy sauce and cilantro there earlier so I knew I was set! (yes, I really should have known by now that it couldn't be this easy). I get home, pull out the recipe and realize that I need sake (it's been a while since I made this). No problem - there's a liquor store just a block and a half away. I put my shoes and coat back on and head to Nicololas, which is a chain store in Paris. I wait the 10 minutes it takes for the proprietor to finish discussing the intricacies of champagne with a women who isn't even buying anything and then I ask him if he has sake. He tells me he's out, but the Nicolas in the next arrondissement over should have some. Ugh. I know where there's another liquor store a few blocks away and I head over there. No sake. I go to the Carrefour (the other grocery store in our neighborhood) across the street and while I find every other kind of alcoholic beverage on the shelves, there is no sake.

How important is the sake? I'm not sure, but since I don't exactly know what kind of meat it is that I bought and my kid is missing his favorite meal, I just wanted it to taste as close to what it always tasted like at home. At this point, however,  I had to say "screw it". I begrudgingly grabbed a random bottle of white wine as a substitute and headed home.

By the time I get everything ready to put in the oven, I can't figure out how to turn it on. I've turned this thing on every day for the last few weeks, but every new day I forget how I did it the day before! What can I say? ...it's confusing. I'm exhausted and frustrated and beyond annoyed. In fact I'm so busy being annoyed that I forget about the steak once it's in the oven and it overcooks.

At least we have wine. :)

First Day Jitters

Theo was a little excited but mostly nervous to start his first day of school. We all got up early, not knowing for sure how long it would take us to get from our front door to the metro and then to the school. Sam complained loudly at having to wake up 'in the middle of the night' as it's still dark at 7:00 am when the alarm goes off.

Showing lots of enthusiasm for his first day ;)

We get to school in plenty of time, despite the fact that the metro was so packed we had to let a train or two go by before we had the nerve enough to push our way in. After arriving at school we had to squeeze past another mob (this time all the other parents dropping their kids off) and check in with the office. There was a moment of nervousness as Theo was not on the list! Turns out there was a separate list for the Language Immersion program which Theo is in, so no big deal. However, the initial list had 'Sam Cary' on it.

Now, when we inquired in early November as to whether Sam could join the preschool offered at Theo's school, we were told by a couple of different people that there was no more space available, but we could apply to the wait list. So we applied a week later and right away were told that they would have a spot available for him in late January and that we should let them know when we arrived so we (and Sam) could meet the director. Great! That was the last that we heard, until we show up on Monday and find out they are expecting him to start that morning! How so very French - the first time you ask for something, the answer is no; it's too difficult, impossible, etc.. Then you try again, and it's a maybe, a roll of the eyes and a sigh. Then it next time it's 'but of course, by all means!'.

None of us were prepared to have Sam start that morning so we held off until Thursday. I should have checked his horoscope 'cause it turns out Thursday was not a very auspicious day to start.

I don't think Sam wants to go to school

Our apartment is on the ground floor, which generally isn't a big deal except that the windows are all frosted so folks can't see in. Problem is that we can't see much outside and couldn't tell that it was raining. REALLY raining. By the time we arrived at our metro stop Sam's shoes and pants were soaked. If you know Sam well you know that he is one of those kids who is ultra sensitive to physical discomfort. He complains when a sock is bunched up under his shoe, whereas Theo won't even notice if he's wearing socks at all or not.

But Sam, you HAVE to go to school

So to say Sam is very unhappy that his clothes are all wet is an understatement. There are tears (many tears) and lots of loud complaining along the way and I'm fearing a full-on melt down by the time we get on the train. Luckily a kind stranger took pity on us and offered Sam a seat and somehow I was able to talk him down. By the time we arrived at school he was 'happy enough' and walked into his class without any fuss. Whew!

Waaaa!

Of course when I picked him up that afternoon he said his day was terrible as he didn't get a turn with some drumsticks and bean bags and he didn't get a sticker for sitting quietly when all kids were supposed to get a sicker if that sat quietly.... I told him some days are like that, even in Australia. That got him to smile. The highlight of Sam's day surprisingly was lunch, where he apparently tried all sorts of new foods. I'm not convinced he wasn't just pulling my leg.

Yay, we are finally going to school!

Theo seems to enjoy his class so far. After a week he's learned a few french words and knows how to count to 12. Not too bad! There are a few kids in his class that speak English and those are the kids he plays with at recess. He misses the playground at Madrona, however, as there is no play equipment of any kind available to them at his new school. They are expected to make up their own games or play marbles. So very Old School!

The next couple of days went better for Sam, although he still complains about having to go to school at all as he doesn't like having to get up in the middle of the night. ;)