this blog post is a midnight study break

By Dan

I’m back in the grind at school, working long hours this week and not seeing enough of the family.  Fortunately i am more than half-way done with this class and have a three day weekend coming up.

Last Friday we went to a wine tasting at the Louvre.  I got free tickets from a friend, and we got a babysitter for Joseph.  Danielle and I went in the afternoon, with Rachel tagging along in the stroller.  It sounded like exactly the kind of event I imagined us doing when we decided to move to Paris:  French wines, the Louvre.  In reality it was fun but not that overwhelming – it was sort of more of an expo.  But we tasted some great wines, and by 3pm had sampled probably half a dozen very expensive champagnes.  So that was nice. 

We met an American who was manning one of the booths – the one where we had a connection through my friend – and he told us quite a bit about the wines we were tasting and where to go to sample some unique French wines that aren’t too common in the U.S.  All in all it was real nice, but it wasn’t long before we were hungry and the wines were starting to taste the same.  It was only later that I discovered that it was supposed to be a wine tasting, not a wine drinking.

This was also the weekend of Beaujolais Nouveau, and I have now learned that if you blink you miss it.  I thought it was a festival that went all weekend, but actually the only events happened on Thursday night (always the third Thursday in November.)  That is when wine stores open the bottles of that year’s Beaujolais for the first time – from grapes that were hanging on the vine just six weeks ago.  Though it is a red wine it is supposed to be served chilled, and is considered low-end but enjoyable.  We bought a bottle and liked it.

Friday evening Tara and Freya arrived for the weekend visit - unfortunately leaving Luke and Nick, who was sick, behind in London.  We had a great visit, and as I told Tara any traces of homesickness evaporate when an old friend shows up.  The two main events during their visit were the Cite des Enfants (sort of a massive kids’ museum) and Pompidou Centre (lots of escalators and elevators and a big kids’ room that makes it good for two year olds.)  Both outings were a success. 

Freya was an angel, very talkative and cute and good-natured.  Joseph was a terror for much of the visit, being very possessive of his toys and assertive, pushing and fussing a lot.  I think he started to improve on the second day of their visit, and he was fine whenever I took him off on my own to play with him or distract him.  I guess this is the beginning of a long campaign we are embarking on to teach our kids how to share and play nice.  Anyway it was great to see them, and it has sparked more talks about a trip to London one of these days.

enjoying a pretty relaxing week for a change

By Dan

My parents left on Sunday after a very nice visit.  Joseph has been more fussy and difficult since they left, and I suspect part of the reason is the lack of attention, and the confusion about their departure. 

I was hoping that day trip to Disney might be a special day with lots of attention on him, which it sort of was, but it was also pretty tiring and the weather wasn’t great.  It really wasn’t any worse than I expected though.  We had planned to go with some friends of mine a week earlier, and when we couldn’t go we ended up with tickets that had to be used.  (Normally it costs 60 euros – or about 80 dollars per adult – to get in, which is staggering.  We paid a fraction of that.)  Anyway that’ll likely be my only trip to a Disney park ever, and I can now report that I rode Space Mountain and was unimpressed.

On Tuesday I went climbing again, this time with a new climbing partner – the boyfriend of someone Danielle met through language exchange.  He is exactly at my level, speaks decent English, and was very tolerant of my feeble attempts to speak French, so all in all it was a great success.  And I am slowly starting to pick up French climbing terminology.

After a few days of having the apartment to ourselves we are bracing for a weekend visit from Tara and her family tomorrow.  Four adults and four kids in a three bedroom apartment – should be interesting – but I am really looking forward to the visit.

Also, this is the weekend of Beaujolais Nouveau in France.  I am not even certain what that means, but hopefully by the next blog post I will have figured it out.

It’s a Crass World

by Danielle

One of many things I share with my husband is a disdain of crass commercialization, especially in relation to children’s products and characters. So it is ironic that we spent the day at the EuroDisney theme park about an hour outside of Paris.  

I would describe it as a smaller, crappy version of the Disney World I visited as a child in the 70s (which I have fond memories of, thanks mom!).  Joseph went on a few rides like the spinning teacup one and the flying Dumbo, but was not too engaged in the experience and we left after only a few hours.  I suspect he thought the whole thing was a little bizarre… Which of course, it is.

Slaying the Dragons of French Bureaucracy

by Danielle

I wish I could write that I have spent my spare time visiting some fabulous museums or historic monuments. Regretfully, I am trying to make progress on a number of French administrative tasks such as obtaining a “numero securite sociale” for the family (which is necessary to get a “carte vitale” -practically free medical care), my “certificate nationalite francaise” (needed to apply for Dan’s citizenship), Dan’s carte de sejour (a residency card) and so on. My mother got  me started on all of these tasks in September but all paperwork here is a work in progress.

They are all frustrating processes on many levels. You can go to a center with paperwork, be told you are missing some papers (you will always be told this), have to go back another time when you will talk to a different person who wants different papers… There is no consistency to what the requirements are, it is completely maddening. Sometimes you are asked for something obscure. Can you think of any American agency that would ask you for the birth and marriage certificates (dated within the last three months) of your grandparents? These are the kinds of things I have been tracking down. I never thought I would reminisce fondly about the Department of Motor Vehicles but sure enough, I am.

On the plus side, I’ve had so many visits to certain agencies that the people who work there recognize me, and I’ve found a person at “secu” who speaks perfect English and is helping me in my plight (they lost my dossier). Also, I had one occassion at the Mairie (town hall) where having Rachel with me got me instant access to the front of the line (in an extremely crowded busy office). I wish that happened more often.

Rachel’s getting bigger!

By Dan

I am enjoying one of my more relaxing moments of the last few weeks.  I just finished several major projects at school and don’t have much to do for a week before more classes start up again.  My parents are visiting this week and right now Mom is reading to Joseph and feeding him dinner.  Rachel is asleep.  Dad is napping.  Danielle is out at conversation group, which I suspect is a social/drinking event where she also tries to work on her French language skills.

We’ve spent a couple days in the neighborhood with my parents showing them the local parks, Joseph’s pre-school, and the markets and cafes.  On Armistice Day we went the Champs-Élysées and L’Arc de Triomphe, thinking there might be parades or activity of some sort, but there wasn’t much to see.  You wouldn’t have known it was a national holiday except for those flags in the middle of the Arc, and more people than usual on the metro.  We walked from there down to Trocadero and enjoyed the views of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. 

We also spent a day wandering around the Latin Quarter, stopping at Arenes de Lutece and the Panthéon, and we found a nice cafe where we had a great lunch with lots of wine and cheese and salads and pomme frites.

Rachel turned six months old a few days ago, and I took a bunch of pictures of her but was too busy to upload them at the time.

Rachel on her six-month birthday. Nov. 9, 2008.

We must be commenting a lot about how big she is getting, because Joseph now regularly says “Rachel’s getting bigger!”  She is also starting to vocalize more, cooing and singing quietly.

I’ve uploaded a bunch of picures to the web site, mostly in the November folder.

Election

by Danielle

The chain grocery stores (Franprix, Monoprix etc) are plentiful, but they are naturally quite a bit smaller than the grocery stores we would frequent back home.  They are vigilent about guarding against theft. Each store has a rather menacing looking fellow standing by the checkout clerks (even if there is only one on duty), and often another patroling the store.

Yesterday one such guard (a big burly African man) was assisting me with batteries, which were under lock and key. He noticed my accent and asked if I was American and I said yes. Our exchange went something like this (in French):

Guard: Who do you like, Obama or McCain?

Me: I like Obama a lot.

Guard: Ohhh yesss! Me too! I don’t like McCain he’s just like Bush! They like war, that’s no good.

Me: I agree completely. We need Obama to win.

Guard: I think Obama will win, but I am very worried for (makes gun/shooting gestures with his hands) something bad, like Kennedy.

I wish I had thought to ask this man how he was so well informed about American politics. I am sorry to say that I am in a media bubble and never get to watch French news on TV (it is on when I am putting the kids to bed), nor do I ever read the French newspapers (again, lack of time). But this small exchange made me happy, and made the world feel a little smaller to me.

Dan and I sent in our absentee ballots weeks ago, but I admit I lost track of time and forgot today was election day.  We are considering waking up in the middle of the night to watch election results over the internet, or one of us might go to a friend’s house and watch CNN. I hate feeling left out of such a major event, and can’t wait to find out what happens.

Bad mommy

by Danielle

For the most part I think the French people are very nice and don’t deserve the reputation they have for being rude. They might not be overly smiley people as Americans tend to be, and that’s fine, we have cornered the market on friendliness and don’t need the competition. I find that the people who work in customer service (esp for the government) are often cranky- just like back home! If you go into a situation knowing this and try to find the humor in it, it become a little more tolerable.

It seems that when I have the children with me (read: always) I tend to get unsolicited advice. Usually regarding the weather, and how inappropriately my children are dressed. And mind you I am not taking the kids out in bathing suits during a snowstorm. They wear plenty of fleece and big warm jackets and hats etc, but it is never enough as far as the French are concerned.  I just smile and nod. Oui oui, I’m a horrible parent. C’est vrai!

Today at Joseph’s garderie I got a tongue lashing from the cleaning lady, who is forever mopping the floors after the pousettes (strollers) which forever enter and leave the facility. You’d think this woman would love the parents, our strollers (with their filthy, dog and pigeon poopy wheels) are her job security. But no, she is filled with seething hatred and loathing, at least towards me.

I have gotten more than my share of nasty looks from her but today she cornered me in the bathroom as I came out of the huge handicapped stall (a rarity in France, it might be the only one that exists) with Rachel in the stoller. “Madame!!! The children should not be in the bathroom! The germs, the GERMS!” screeched in French with a pointing finger.

Call me crazy but I swear I see this woman cleaning the bathroom every day at the center… Is it really all that dirty, or is she just bad at her job?  Well anyway I didn’t want to get into an argument about sanitation, my vocabulary isn’t up to that… But I did manage to ask her where she thought I should leave my five month old baby while I was in the bathroom, and she said I could leave Rachel in the hallway, and if she was around she’d keep an eye on her. Not sure I’m going to take her up on that one!

my birthday

By Dan

Thursday was my birthday, and I celebrated by studying all day and calling my parents so they could say happy birthday to me without paying for it. 

The highlights of the day were rockclimbing with a classmate – just the second time since I’ve been here – and going out to dinner with the whole family for the first time.  We’ve been to a few bars and cafes but not dinner, primarily because most restaurants in Paris don’t even really start serving until 8pm.  But in our neighborhood some of the ethnic restaurants appear to open earlier.  We walked down a street that Danielle calls “Pho Row” and had Vietnamese.  The food was good, Joseph was very well behaved, and Rachel slept for half the meal, so overall it was a success.

So, next year I will be 40, and as I told Danielle that means I have one year to prepare for a real mid-life crisis.  I’m not sure how that will manifest itself – I might quit my job, move to another country, or do something generally riskier and more impulsive than whatever I’m doing now.  She seems unfazed.

Yesterday I had a test, which was uneventful, and then had the last class to be held in the original building of my school in over a century.  That too was uneventful.  Monday we’ll be at the new building.

Everyone in this house is sick – head colds, coughing, fevers, aches, stomach bugs, and more.  I have it the least – just a slight cough, and have been trying to pull extra weight in the childcare department.  The weather is lousy – cold and rainy – we’ve barely been outside.  I made a good vegetable noodle soup for lunch, and have tomato soup on the stove now for dinner.