La Belle Vie

I have heard from several people that our blog is missing a bit in terms of what our day-to-day life is like. My entry here is an effort to fill that gap. It ain’t gonna be as entertaining, but maybe it will help you folks conjure up an image.

I used to think that our house in Vancouver, built around 100 years ago, was old and full of character. I am afraid the house here has kind of put that to shame. I don’t really know when it was built, but near as I can tell it could have been anywhere between 1300- 1700. Much of the main part of the village was built in the 1300. The first record of Cotignac was from about 1000, but there is also evidence of a large jewish community in the area from the 6th century. Most of the “houses” in the village here are tall (usually 3 stories) and thin. And while I call them “houses,” they are really more like ancient townhouses. They are all attached, sharing walls, rather than stand-alone structures. Our house is like this. The walls are all around 2 feet thick. There are two loooong flights of stairs between the front door and the main living floor. The first floor has Jasper’s bedroom (with an en suite bathroom), a large storage room and the garage. The second floor has Maddox’s room (with an en suite bathroom) and our bedroom (with, you guessed it, an en suite bathroom). The third floor is the kitchen, living room / dining room. There is also a small fourth floor / loft with a TV and a couch and a little office area. There is a lovely enclosed courtyard and garden (with doors opening onto it from the kitchen and dining room and from our and Maddox’s bedrooms). There is a small pool as well which we plan to make full use of as soon as it is warm enough. On the other side of the courtyard is a 2-floor one-bedroom guest cottage.

We have settled into a pretty nice routine here.

I think Mark has written a bit about the schools. Jasper is adjusting well. While she had the best command of the language coming in, I am still a little surprised, and very pleased with how quickly she has adjusted. Jasper is now going to the “cantine” most days for lunch. Judging from the menu, I often wish I could join her. Anyway, this means she is at school from 8:30-4:30. We have been walking her (about a 3 minute walk up the hill) there and she walks herself home.

The adjustment has been harder for Maddox. Frankly, l’ecole marternelle (where Maddox goes) has been of an adjustment for all of us. For one thing, it is clear that he is truly attending pre-school and not daycare. From what la maitress said during our hour-long introductory meeting (mostly in French, so I must admit I didn’t catch all the details) I think school is compulsory here in France at this age. It is much more strict and structured than what any of us are used to. Drop off time is between 8:30 and 8:40. Parents are allowed to come into the classroom to deliver their kids, and help them get their coats off etc, but are not encouraged to linger. School ends at 4:20. Oh, and there is a locked gate around the school grounds. It is kept locked at all times except for the 10 minutes at drop off times and about 5 min at pick up time). The kids get a morning recess and an afternoon recess (at very specific times). It was made clear that being late is not appreciated. In addition, kids are not allowed to be taken out of school on the whim of the parents, but only for appropriate (illness) reasons. A vacation is not an appropriate reason.

I was rather shocked when on one of his first days of school Mme Blanc informed us that his fleece was too dirty. How embarrassing! All I could think was, “You think THAT is dirty? That’s NOTHING!” luckily, I had no idea how to say any of that in french. Since then we have been very careful to make sure he has clean clothes. We have even gone so far as to change his clothes midday on a few occasions. I really don’t want to suffer the extreme embarrassment of being told TWICE that I am unable to keep my son appropriately clean.

So far, in order to give Maddox a linguistic break at midday we have been bringing him home for lunch (between 11:40 and 13:20). I am also a little worried that the “cantine” will be a little more challenging for Maddox food-wise. On the one hand, I want him to be exposed to different food, but on the other hand I also recognize that it will mean he would probably be operating on few calories. I don’t want to make things any more difficult than they already are for him. He is an easy-going kid and seems really quite happy when we pick him up from school. But the language is a challenge. He is making progress though. He is getting more willing to repeat some of the simple French phrases we use with him, and he is learning to count and say the alphabet. But Sunday nights and Monday mornings are a bit hard. Last night, as we were having our good-night snuggle he told me, tearfully, over and over again that he “really, really, really, really” misses us when he is at school… it kind of breaks my heart, but I know he will be OK in a matter of weeks, and that, in fact, the majority of the time he really is relentlessly happy.

Once we have walked the kids to school, we have 3 hours before it will be time to pick up Maddox for lunch. Mark almost always gets right to work on whatever manuscript he is hammering at. I usually read a little fiction for a bit while eating a leisurely breakfast and drinking beaucoup de café. Typically, I try to spend an hour every morning and an hour every afternoon studying French on my computer. I am bound and determined to leave here with better French than what I got here with. So far, I don’t really feel like there has been much improvement. I feel more like everyday I learn more about what I don’t know than what I do know.

Everyday we will visit at least one bakery for some fresh bread. I love this daily pilgrimage. Many days we will also wander around and do a little shopping. I will put up another blog soon about food. Sometimes, on warm days when the sun glints invitingly off the Mediterranean colours of the village, Mark and I are tempted away from our computers etc and we go for a little walk along the cliffs and the fabulous old troglodyte dwellings.

And at 4:30 the kids both come home hungry and excited about their days. We sit around the dining room table together and listen to their stories (Maddox doesn’t usually have much to say, but Jasper is usually up to sharing something). If the kids are lucky they get a treat like bread and nutella (!) or a fabulous pastery called sacristain, with their fruit and veggie. Soon after that Mark and I get into the wine (so cheap! so good!) and start thinking about dinner. We have made a conscious effort to eat all of our meals together and to force the kids to get more flexible with their eating. This also means Mark and I are being more flexible too, finding middle ground in terms of what we are ALL willing to eat.

So, that describes a bit what are life is like on most week-days. Curiously enough, the French school-week is only four days long, Monday Tuesday, Thursday & Friday. Everbody gets Wednesdays off every week. From what I have been able to gather this is sort of a “sport day” so kids have more of an opportunity to engage in sports classes and lessons. Perhaps since the school day goes until 4:30, they felt the need to add these. It was cool to hear that all working mothers get the Wednesday off. Gotta love that!