Month: September 2016

Speaking French (and a pretty picture)

At this point, and not too surprising, G and L are speaking and understanding way more than me.  Yay for them. 🙂  Boo for me.  🙁   My impression is that if I don’t speak, people think the kids naturally speak French.  If I say anything, they realize it’s definitely not their native language (because clearly I’m not fluent :/ ), and most people are genuinely impressed with the kids’ language skills and happy to compliment them, which is very nice. 🙂  Below are a few anecdotes, if you’re interested. 🙂

Travel information office.  We’ve been to the Office de Tourisme three times now getting maps, directions, etc., and have talked to the same guide each time.  The first two times were on the same day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  G asked the questions the first time, and L asked the second time.  A week later, we stopped in again to ask about nearby hiking trails.  The kids wanted to talk to “Patricia” again, as she was there. 🙂  While G was talking to her about the trails, Patricia leaned over to get her colleague’s attention.  She wanted to tell her that these are the two American children that she had told her about who speak French so well. 🙂  She, of course, told her all this in French, so I got the just of the conversation, but G and L totally understood what she was saying.  They both were grinning from ear to ear and responded appropriately with “merci beaucoup.” 🙂

On the other hand, after we’d left the office, I remembered that I wanted to ask about a magazine highlighting activities for kids in and around Annecy.  G came with me, but I gave it a go in handling the conversation and promptly asked if she knew about the “magasin for kids” which translates to the “shop for kids”. 🙁  G immediately looked at me with a very confused look, so I told her what I meant, and she quickly corrected me, as did the tourist guide.  We all had a nice laugh about it!  

Shopping with G.  Last weekend was quite cold and rainy, and I decided the outerwear I packed wasn’t going to cut it, so G and I went shopping to find a coat for me.  We found the perfect one at a little shop in the city center mall.  I wanted to find out the return policy, so G helped with the question and translating the answer. 🙂  “La vendeuse” (the saleswoman) told her how good her French was, asked if she went to French school, and if she were teaching her mom. 🙂  (Note: I did understand most of what she said to G without having to have her translate it to me. Yay for me! 🙂 )

G and I went out shopping tonight, as it’s hard to just browse when it’s the three of us because L, not surprisingly, isn’t super interested in checking out shoes, clothes, etc. (Mike and L went to play ball in the park.)  Anyway, G spoke to most of the salespeople as they had information to share with us or asked if they could help us find anything, and so she confidently answered the questions/responded to the information, no problem.  

In one shop, I asked the saleswoman if she had another size for G, and the saleswoman didn’t break into English and checked on the size for me.  I thought I’d done quite well, but G politely informed me afterward that I actually asked for a U.S. size (which I did correct during the conversation to the European size) and used the wrong word for the color I meant. C’est la vie!  I’m trying. 🙂

At the last shop, G found a pair of converse-like shoes that she’s really interested in, but I told her she needed to talk to Mike before purchasing them.  That said, I told her that she could ask (in French) to put them on hold.  She did a great job.  I was just the woman of few words (ha!) standing beside side her. 🙂

Library field trips.  At the library yesterday, G used her French to ask questions about where the children’s section was, how to put the books on hold, what we need to get a library card, etc.  Today, both G and L did a great job talking to the librarians as they both got library cards and used the computers.

Cafés and brasseries.  While having an afternoon snack, G did the ordering and asked a few questions.  As the waitress walked away, she gave G a pat on the head and told her how good her French was. 🙂  L asked a few follow-up questions later on.  He was sitting on the other side of the table so didn’t get the pat on the head, but he was very happy to have avoided it! 🙂

What we’ve been up to…

Activities in Annecy.  Despite the rainy weekend, we walked down to Le Pâquier on Sunday afternoon to watch Color’Annecy — a 5km color race.  Surprisingly low key in terms of barriers and security compared to at home.  Fun music and a very family-friendly race.  Lots of kids, costumes, wigs, and even a drum corp!

Playing games.  One of my favorite card games is Hearts, so I thought it would be fun to teach the kids to play.  Mike isn’t a big board game/card game playing guy, and he describes Hearts as a game “where you try to lose” (similar to golf, I might point out!).  Despite his non-game-playing ways, he couldn’t resist joining the fun/offering pointers to the kids to try to beat me!

Note the coincidence of the 4 of us playing and a 4 of hearts on the table. Truly, it was a coincidence!

Recess. We definitely include recess as part of the schedule at L‘École de Félix Petit! It’s so nice to have a beautiful park to walk to for a 2-person “match de foot” or playing catch, or just running around.  While taking a break on a bench at the park, we watched a class from a nearby school playing rugby and captured a picture of the beautiful sun rays coming through the clouds!

Enjoying various French food.  While shopping last evening, I spotted a packaged croque-monsieur, so we decided to try it.  I enjoyed my fair share of croque-monsieur lunches while working in the Kincaid’s building before having kids and wanted to share their yummy goodness with them.  The packaged version doesn’t compare to the ooey goodness of Kincaid’s, BUT now we have a mission to find a great croque-monsieur!  The best must be in France…but where?

Getting out and about during school.  Field trips are also a large part of the L’École de Félix Petit curriculum! 🙂  We finally made it to the library this afternoon.  It’s been on our agenda for several days now.  We asked (en français) where the children’s area was and were directed to the deuxième étage (second floor).  The kids were looking for information on historical figures for a history project they want to do.  G and L both had ideas of who they wanted to research but after reading a bit, they both decided on different people than originally selected.  Stay tuned for further reports on their historical figures project.  

We found two items to check out, but we don’t have a library card.  After talking to the bibliothécaire (librarian), we found out that the kids can get their own cards for free that are good for 6 months as long as they have a passport and an address to provide.  Fun! We’ll head back tomorrow to get them library cards and pick up the books they put on hold.

My favorite part of the library field trip was watching the kids reading French books as they decided which ones would be useful.  They both had things to say about what they read in the various books, and it didn’t phase either of them to be reading in French and then talking to me about them in English!  So cool!

Taking time to do crafts.  Oh how I love crafting, and despite not having a sewing machine…perhaps this has already been mentioned…we have found ways to keep crafts going. I made one washcloth and have started another.  Grace and Leo each make a cross-stitched bookmark and now have made patterns for cross-stitching friends and family!

Trying new recipes.  L’École de Félix Petit offers cooking as a extracurricular activity that the kids enjoy. 🙂  Converting measurements to the metric system requires a bit of math, and it’s fun to see what we can do in our little apartment with limited resources.  G wondered what we were going to have for dessert tonight as there wasn’t anything on hand. As a result, we whipped up a batch of dark chocolate brownies. Oh la la!  They were magnifique!

A rainy day in Annecy…

but we still found lots to do and see!

Le Château d’Annecy…

Streets, canals, flowers, churches, and the lake…

Le chocolat chaud for the kids (café au lait and beer for the parents)!

Watching the waiters’ race — La Course des Garçons de Café!

What We Are Like (also in Rhyme)

Here’s another post on myths and stereotypes,
Similarities, differences, and potential gripes.
But this time I’ll try from their point of view,
To talk about us, but again in rhyme for you.

Yes, prevalent smoking is new to us here.
And some in the U.S. do go shopping in gym gear.
Americans are often very casual, the story goes,
But not all of us wear our PJ’s as clothes.

We often work way too much.  Lunch is not an event.
Even though it’s proven that breaks are time well spent.
We’re awarded vacation, but some people lose it.
They crave more free time, but then just don’t use it.

But the myth that we all only know English is untrue.
Many of us strive to speak the language, and other ones too.
We are DEFINITELY, as a U.S. culture, just plain far too loud.
We know. I keep reminding our kids to tone down in a crowd.

Most of us eat much better than McDonald’s and free-refill pop.
And would LOVE to have a nearby bakery and butcher shop.
Yes we know we should walk, but usually default to car.
‘Cause America is really spread out, and places are too far.

As a country we are fat, that’s clearly true.
But not all of us are (although I could sure lose a few).
We drink tap water at restaurants, bubble water is too bold.
And we love our A/C – not too hot, not too cold.

Europe’s not a country, as MOST of us know.
But an OLD place with many cultures, languages, and the Euro.
We’ll learn lots as through these other countries we roam.
And we can enjoy things here, but still really love home.

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