Pack Provisions

Leaving for Avingnon meant leaving our house in Antibes for three days. Whenever I leave my house for a trip, even a long weekend, I start thinking about my refrigerator. What’s in it, what must be eaten so it won’t go bad, what do I need to get rid of in case I die on the trip and one of my girlfriends has to clean out my fridge. 

In the case of the Anitbes house, my fridge one quarter the size of ONE of my refrigerators at home, so the task was even more important. I can’t have a lot of stuff in there at all, much less stuff I don’t want to come home to after being gone for a while.

Emptying the fridge meant, well, an empty fridge, so I rushed the boys off to the train station Tuesday morning with no breakfast and the promise of croissants on the way. 

Now I come from a family where the first thing you pack is “provisions.” I pack food when I go to Portsmouth. Taylor will attest that my van is filled with cups and empty water bottles because I take supplies wherever I go.

On the way from Paris to Antibes a month ago, I was so interested in this couple sitting across from me. They pulled out linen napkins and silverware to enjoy the gourmet- looking food they packed for their train trip. I remember thinking how awesome that looked and that someday I would have a little train picnic like that. 

Well I didn’t. I hardly packed anything at all for our trip- I had one water bottle and two apples that I threw in my bag as an afterthought. My kids were griping about snacks 20 minutes into our two hour train ride. I went to the dining car and got a pack of cookies and threw it at them like I was a trainer at Sea World.

In search of... food!

The way back from Arles it was even worse. I had two sick boys and opted to take a cab to the train station, so I had no chance to stop at the dozen or so cute bakeries that lined the main street to pack a picnic. I picked up some chips and bottled water at the train station gift shop instead. Mom of the year. 

Worse yet, the train from Arles to Antibes was a local train— no first class and no dining car. My kids acted like Gwyneth Paltrow working 14-hours on set with non-organic craft service. 

We stopped to change trains in Marseille (a thought that terrified me, really), and what shined like a beacon of safety and cleanliness, there in the train station? Oh- yeah— McDonalds.

We had passed a McDonalds in Arles and my kids didn’t even mention it. I thought- yes! France is having a wonderful influence — they didn’t even ask to stop. Commence self-back-patting with both hands. 

Well, we know how this story ends— at the counter, paying 46 euros for not three, but four value meals. I had the filet o’fish with its ambiguous cheese and seedless bun. 

Now this is pretty bad, I know. I am not teaching my children much about French culture— but the McDonalds was packed! Other ill-prepared American moms? No- French people. Real ones. 

I have a few more train trips to plan for this journey, so I will not be making this mistake again! I will adding a new rule to our travel day guide: 1) No jokes during transition time (seriously, that is one of our rules!) 2) Stay with your family 3) Carry your own bag 4) Check your seat before you leave 5) Pack provisions!

Avingon- pont is in the background

Papal Palace- Avingnon

Searching for Roman graffiti on the Pont du Gard

Roman Baths in Arles

Kids goofing off among the ruins stored in the
cryptoportiques underneath Roman Forum (30-20 BCE)

Now this was an awesome picnic-- boulangerie around the corner had all we needed!

$1200 Train Ride

Train ride today from Antibes to Avignon. Usually I force the children to look out the windows periodically on the train ride, but they had been so good and were really looking forward to catching up on their video games. We had seen much of the trip through Toulon anyway on our way down to Antibes.  So I let them plug in for pretty much the whole train ride.
Luckily for me, two nice gentlemen came and sat across from us and I struck up a conversation. I got to speak more french today than I have on the entire trip. I figure from what I've been paying in schools and tutors, I got about $300 worth of lessons in conversational French from them.
As we were talking, I noticed an acquaduct over the man's shoulder. I asked him what it was and he casually said "oh, that's the pont du gard" I said "really, pont du gard? Right there?" I showed him the picture inside the cover of my guide book, just to be sure. "Oh yeah." I laughed and said "I'm paying a guide 300 euros to take us there tomorrow!" Of course he said "well there it is" and then asked me for 300 euros. I looked over at the boys and of course they were all looking down at their iPods.

And then it was gone. 300 euros, $414 (the dollar lost 5 cents since we got here btw, what the hell are you people doing to our economy while I'm away? Is my not going to costco every week really that big a deal?).

Well, the guide is driving us to Arles ($21 train ride) and showing us the Roman ruins. I hope it's worth 300e. That's like two trips to costco! (One if I need gas).

Boys were awesome today. Upon the advice of Rick Steves and our waiter today at lunch (at restaurant recommended by Rick Steves, hmmmm), we skipped the tour of the Papal Palace and enjoyed the grounds instead. When I offered for the boys to go out and dance on the half-broken Pont d'Avignon, we all agreed it would be hard to get a better view than where we were. So I got a coffee at the garden cafe and let the kids play.

The walls of the city are very impressive, definitely more medieval looking than those in Antibes, cut outs for crossbows and dentil towers, so the boys were definitely loving it. Samuel said "now I feel like I'm in history" (although parts of the walls of Antibes waaay predate those of Avignon!). Funny. I think he just really likes the rocky outcrops in the park and all of the schoolchildren running around. There are lots of tourists here and he met two different groups of American highschoolers. He impressed the ladies with his French.
We had to cut our tour short because Coops has a little cold and ran out of steam on us. We settled into the hotel for a movie and well see how far we can venture out for dinner. Would love to see the old waterwheels on the Rue des Teinturiers but I think the kids are done with me and Rick Steves ...and our tours.

Rainy Day Blues

It was a rainy day — our first in Antibes. We got a bit stir crazy being in the house all day. 

Antibes, like Miami, is very oriented to the outdoors. Everything is open to the outside. I remember giving a tour of the UM campus to someone from the midwest who said all of our buildings appeared to be half-built. I asked him what he meant, and he pointed out that our hallways opened to the outdoors. Many of the places in Antibes are like that. They count on good weather all year round; their establishments just pour out onto the squares and sidewalks.  We’ve benefited greatly from this outward orientation. With three active (read: hyperactive) boys, we need to be outside.

We started the day at the movies. I’m not sure if all French cinemas are like the one in Antibes, but it was a bare-bones experience. No concessions except some vending machines— imagine our popcorn, only more gross. They don’t even pretend to pop in on premises. The theaters and screens were small by American standards— in fact, I’m sure there are some home theaters in the burbs that are bigger. Kids talked throughout the movie (another commonality with Miami). My kids were great; they enjoyed seeing the Lego movie in French. They had already seen it in English, so they didn’t get lost with the rapid-fire dialogue. 

This ain't no fluff-n-fold; hanging out our laundry in my "charming" house.
Cooper complained today-- "agh- mom! why are my socks so stiff??"
I said "Well, they've been hanging out to dry."
"Oh-- that is AWFUL!" he said.
Perhaps I should splurge and go to the fluff and fold- just once -- for soft socks.

The cave kitchen- on the ground floor.
Behind me is original hearth, now a stove.

The boys did pretty well, and I rewarded them with a day of videos and video games inside. All of this time cooped up gave me more time to consider our housing situation. Not that I am complaining….I selected this house because it was a charming old house in the center of the old city. Everything is so close. We are situated between some of the greatest pedestrian lanes in town, lined with boutiques and restaurants. I googled a restaurant recommended on trip advisor and it was 223 feet from our house.





















The kitchen of our house is cave-like, with a barrel ceiling and rock walls that end in a large fireplace that, even though now houses a modern stove, still features the hearth and chimney from its fire-burning days. We have charming wood-timbered ceilings and a small roof-top terrace. We open our windows to open air in the daytime and cover them with shutters at night. It is very, very charming. 

This little area at the back of the livingroom
is perfect for homeschool.

But after a day stuck inside, this house is losing its lustre. Of course, it’s not very spacious. It’s hard to clean; and you can’t really tell what’s clean and what’s not. The charming rock-lined walls drop sand and mortar dust into the kitchen all of the time. The tile floors and countertops have a patina. Nuff said. There is no corner nearing a 90 degree angle as far as I can tell. And I need a little more space, especially on a rainy day. With three boys.

Front half of living room--
an extra desk for homeschool.

Stairs up the back of the living room to the bedrooms,
one on the third floor and one on the fourth floor. Cooper hates these stairs
because they are hell with socks on!

I am done with charming. I am so happy I haven’t booked our place in Florence yet. Taylor and I were looking at some very CHARMING homes, but I can tell you that now I am hoping to book an ultramodern flat with clean lines and frankly— clean. 

With five travelers, we need to go with apartments; hotels are mostly out. Now I am on a mission to take a break from charming. Sorry Taylor. 

So — kid update. We went out to dinner tonight. This is big. My kids usually cannot handle late night outings. I prepped them a bit— perhaps a little too much, because Samuel was totally anxiety ridden when were seated and it took a bit for him to settle down. They were great. 

They made a few noisy outbursts, and the older couple seated directly behind my boys turned around to make overt gestures to alert me to their noise— thanks, because I hadn’t noticed. Anyway, I thought they did great, despite the looks shot my way by the older couple. When we left I turned to the couple and apologized for the noise and wished them a good evening. The lady said, “of course, they are just being boys. You have a good night too!” This has happened a few times when I make an effort to apologize for my boys’ behavior here. I guess if I had not apologized, they would have thought I was just being rude, but once I acknowledge it, what can they do? I’ll take their kindness, whether they are sincere or not. It’s true, they are just being boys and maybe I need to lighten up on them as well. 

The Beauty of a Picasso

Today we went to the Picasso museum. After being in Antibes for nearly two weeks, it was time to hit the town’s biggest attraction besides the beach. The collection of actual Picassos is not too huge so it was perfect for the boys. The greatest aspect of the museum is that the works are displayed in the very space in which they were created. The boys thought the view was beautiful and the unique perspective of Picasso was not lost on them. 

Crowds of Italian teenagers passed though several times while we enjoyed the museum and I have to say that my kids were the best behaved ones of all! 

I was feeling sort of guilty for not doing too much sight seeing after a friend asked if we had been to the museum and I said no. And we hadn’t been to Cannes, and no we didn’t visit Nice yet, or the other museums in the Cote d’Azur. So much to see, I know.

Once again I am questioning my approach. Should I be worried that my kids aren’t seeing everything? Today when I mentioned it to my yoga instructor, she said, “have they been to the market?” yes. “have they been to the beach?” yes— OK then. That’s a yogi for you!

Then I added— and I go to the bakery every morning for fresh croissants. 

But I have been wondering about our boring routine: home school in the morning and the going to the park in the afternoons. What stories will my kids tell when they recall this trip? It’ll probably be the little things that I haven’t even noticed. I doubt it’ll be the big activities I plan for them anyway. 

This comes out loud and clear when we call home. They tell their dad about the dog poop on the sidewalks and they laugh to my mom about games they play with each other and which playground is better. 

I orchestrate this trip and present this beautiful vision to them and they turn it all around, presenting it in some absurd way that resonates with them. Kind of like the Picassos we saw today. We don’t see the beauty the same way. For now I trust that they see it at all.

Settling in—

Had a great day today, St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of our second full school week in Antibes. I’ve got it down now as far as getting everyone set up with their work. I am spending more time with Cooper. After working with Samuel who is so independent, I wasn’t quite prepared for the seven-year old version of homeschool. I had to back up a bit, doing more reading aloud and redirecting. As I mentioned previously, everyone seems to benefit when I read aloud- especially in this small house, because there is no escaping it! 

Today was great because we were reading about some of the Celts who managed to give the Romans some notorious beatings— appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day I guess— and my favorite the bodacious Boudicea. Samuel already knew all about her thanks to Horrible Histories (where he gets most of his history knowledge from— no apologies). And of course because we are in France, we’re learning about some of the Gauls who put up good fights too. 

I found an Irish pub in Antibes where we could celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

The boys started with a new “tutor” today. I am not proud of this, but I’ve basically hired someone for my kids to speak French to. I mentioned before, many people think they’re helping us out by speaking English. Actually, they’re helping themselves out because they don’t need to hear us stumbling along in French! Anyway- our “tutor” meets us at the park twice a week to guide my children in speaking French. We'll have her for a few weeks until the kids have their other language school here in Antibes for one week in April. Today she helped Bennett and Cooper talk and play with another little boy at the park. She took Samuel to a comic book store around the corner and helped him talk about comic books. Tomorrow, as a bonus, we’re also having a picnic with her and her two little girls. I am hoping to get the kids more conversation experience.  

Cooper and Samuel also started karate today! Samuel picked up a brochure at the tourist office, but the dojo was too far and we don’t have a car. I made a wrong turn heading home Saturday and passed right by a karate studio- one block away (and these blocks are very small). We went by today to get more information and Cooper’s class was starting right then. I asked him when he wanted to start and he said “right now!” OK then. Since we’re only here for six weeks now, the director is only charging us “licensing” to cover his insurance- 34e. I observed Samuel’s class and the kids are so kind and of course it’s all in French. The kids really liked having an American in class. Yeah— my work here is done.

That only leaves Bennett, who is my contrarian. He never wants to do what his brothers want to do. But he is my middle. I fight it all of the time, but not this time. Unfortunately, just like karate in Norfolk, my boys aren’t in the same age groups, so only one boy is there at a time, and we now have karate for two and a half hours twice weekly. But, since it’s so close— Samuel can walk to and from by himself. Today Bennett picked up Cooper for me because I had already committed to yoga. All of this is like five houses away from ours. I could not have asked for a better set up.

Good for my boys! They jumped right in. I asked Cooper how it went and he said— mom! they let you fight with each other right away! Another bonus- my kids recognized some of the kids from the park at karate. After one week, I feel like we have a little universe forming. 

Notes from the sidewalk.

I’m not pretending to be a world traveler, because my experience until this point has been pretty limited. These are my observations from Antibes. I already know from the Sancerroise that they are the true French. In fact, they claim they have no accent (sort of like our Ohioans). And not to be confused with the Parisiennes who are a different breed altogether.

Cafes really don’t care if you buy only one drink at a cafe and then sit for an hour. I had read this and as an American, I feel guilty occupying a table for too long if I’m not ordering a meal. Here it is no problem. This comes in handy when you need to watch your kids play in the park and you’d rather not sit there and pretend to watch. Now I can watch the people stroll Rue Republic and be within earshot if one of my kids breaks something.

Leather jackets, no matter the style are always in fashion. I hung mine in the closet after deciding it was out of style, but everyone here looks great in theirs: trench, bomber, rocker with zippers, long or tight fitting. Consider it done. It's an investment to buy a leather coat, so why not wear it?! I may even buy another while I'm here. 

For Women:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/leather-jackets-fall_n_3779987.html

For Men (sorry guys):

http://www.details.com/style-advice/rules-of-style/200611/men-shouldnt-wear-leather-jackets

Scarves are omnipresent. Even on men. 

If you go someplace twice, you are a regular. I love that. It's like you have instant friends in this town. Believe me, my loyalty has paid off. The butcher stayed open late for me as I dashed in to buy some eggs late night. We got extra macarons at the restaurant and they didn't kick us out for being loud Americans. 

It’s true that the French are nicer than the old stereotype, but I have experienced some rudeness. On the bus today, we met an English woman who was very friendly and told us about places to go and how long shed lived in Antibes, etc., all in English. As she said her goodbyes she called out to the driver in French— Merci, ou revoir. A grumpy man said in French “finally she speaks french!!” I spoke French to my kids for the remainder of the bus ride. 

English speakers have terrible French accents! Most of my language issues are putting things together— proper verb conjugations, pronouns in the correct place— but at least I try with the accent. You can be marginally successful if you learn to mimic the Rs and the intonation. I thought it was more stereotype, but no. I’ve heard many English speakers speak without even trying the accent. It’s like us torturing our teachers in high school french class! Last night we watched a movie portraying the English and their accents were hysterical. It’s like us imitating the French- so glad we got to see the other side of it. And it made an impact on my kids because they saw how silly people can sound when they don’t try. 

I asked the boys to chime in with their observations-

Samuel adds: French people are put off by Americans being noisy, which sucks for us (because we are noisy even by American standards- adds mom). 

Don’t ever think that I am not loving this. I finally kissed a girl! (he had to do the bise-bise when greeting a girl, so he says that counts!)

Bennett adds: French people know how to dress- I’ve seen five people dress very fancy. One lady was dressed in a full-on sailor suit just to work in a gift shop! (I love his interpretation of fancy!).

Cooper adds: In Sancerre I thought this place was really country-y but when I went to Antibes I saw beaches and palm trees and lots of stuff I would never think of about France.

I am really happy in Antibes— it’s just gritty enough to be inviting. Everything is smaller than it appeared on the map before we came (is that because their maps represent km instead of miles? I don’t know). This city is very easy to navigate and everything is so close to where we are. So much of life is outside here— much like Miami. It’s heaven with three boys because I can shoo them outside whenever. I am comfortable letting the kids go to the park by themselves for a few minutes. There are no cars in our neighborhood. And as you can tell by my former blogs, I need to be around people. I could never be a country girl, even though the Loire Valley was so beautiful. Nice to visit, wouldn’t want to live there. I guess part of my plan worked out! 

Scenes from our hike around Cap d'Antibes

Our picnic spot

a view of the cliffs

The hiking trail looks like this for much of the hike

Foreground, an overlook on the trail; background Ft. St. Marguerite off the coast of Cannes
-- I think that's the Man with the Iron Mask prison

kayakers-- what a great idea!

beginning of millionaires bay- where brazillionaires have their summer homes

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Soooooo tempting! (I kid).

This quote is attributed to Albert Einstein, who never actually spent time with his children. 

Big Friday night and I wanted to go out for dinner. It’s a chance for us to speak with the locals and experience French culture, so I’m big on eating out once a day here. Usually it’s lunch, because my kids have a little popper like the butterball turkeys. When it pops up, it’s done. As I mentioned in an earlier post, that’s usually the peak dinner hour in France, so I have avoided going out like a werewolf’s girlfriend. The boys convinced me they would be on their best behavior, so I relented and took them to the place we first went to a week ago when we arrived. The servers recognized us and were so kind, but the popper popped and it was a disaster. 

I ushered them out to run around outside in the square with strangers rather than make any more noise in the restaurant. I am sparing the details friends. OK— one detail. Cooper thought he saw ice in the bottom of the blue wine bottle used as a water carafe, but it was just the concave bottom poking up from the bottom, which was not blue, but clear. He had a loud fit, we all started laughing, which just made it worse. It escalated from there and the hits just kept on coming!

Anyway— I knew better!!! What was I thinking?! Dinner at 8— ! Who does that?

Today I succumbed to another exercise in insanity. Based on my experience in Sancerre, I can go it carefree and easy for about 4.65 days before caving in to the sense of dread that I am not doing enough for my children. In Sancerre, I found art classes for them; today I interviewed a tutor. With us homeschooling each morning in English and speaking English at home each night, my kids are not getting enough experience speaking French. Our French speaking is mostly going out to lunch and playing at the park. I figure instead of spending 30 euros on lunch, which for my kids is pasta with butter and french bread, with a crepe or waffle for dessert (all white food groups represented!), I can spend 60 euros on a tutor, not waste a bunch of food and perhaps sneak in a glass of wine for myself in the afternoons! 

I realize I am racing to nowhere and filling up our time with more structure, but I compromised with myself (just like in Sancerre) and only scheduled two sessions per week. Hopefully it’ll boost their French without overloading our schedules.

I wish there was a box to put that mommy panic in, but I carry it around with me. I try to expose them to everything; don’t want to pass up any opportunities. Most of the time they just want to be left alone! But I am not happy with the choices they make on their own, so I keep filling their time with my choices until they can learn to see a little bigger picture, a little longer view. Isn’t that what moms are supposed to do? (please say yes, please say yes).

Homeschool got easier as the week went on. I’ve learned to get Samuel (12) on his independent work first thing to get him out of my hair. Then I put Cooper (7) on a workbook for ten minutes so I can get Bennett (9) up and running, then I go back to Cooper. I’ve been reading out loud to Cooper for history and that is going swimmingly. I think no matter how old they are, they still enjoy getting a story read to them. Best thing is— and I know more seasoned homeschoolers already know this and Montessori teachers too— as I read to Cooper, Bennett is listening in. Although Samuel is working on his own stuff, he often chimes in with facts (or in his case, corrections of facts I get wrong! or sidebar facts he learned in a podcast!). The curriculum I use advocates repeating the same four-year cycle three times so that by the time the child progresses through, he or she has heard it three times. Cooper caught up with his class today for math via their on-line supplemental program, and I think he was really proud of himself. I also think it helped him feel connected that he was doing the same work they are. He is not doing much with French right now because the curriculum is over his head, but he’s been a little champion at the park everyday. He already has a little gaggle of friends and they play soccer together. He doesn’t speak too much to them, but he is right in the mix. He said he can’t tell them his favorite joke, because they don’t understand why it’s funny. I can’t remember the whole thing but the punch line, so I’ll have to ask him and post next time.

Planning Fort Carre tomorrow— kids vetoed my plan today in favor of picnic in NEW park with tarts for Pi Day. Hopefully some great sea views and Fort pics tomorrow.

Pi Day en France: les tartlettes. I explained Pi Day in French to the lady at the Patisserie and
either I did a very good job or she was laughing at me. Thinking I did a good job!

Enjoying Pi Day at our new park. So glad we have so many to choose from; this one was nicer,
but not as many kids to play with, and not as close to our house.

The drunks love us in this town.

It's five o'clock somewhere! 

Our daily schedule goes like this (so far, it’s been just a week): homeschool 9-12:30, then we go out for lunch and walking around, perhaps an activity planned by me. Play at the park around 4-5 (the locals get there around 4:30pm after school). Gelato at 5. Dinner at home around 7 and bed by 9.

Homeschool math lesson:
measuring in metric!

As Americans, we have an early evening schedule compared to the rest of the city. I know when my kids ability to behave wears off and it’s usually about 9pm- peak of the dinner hour here, so no thank you.

We end up wondering around all afternoon. You may think that with all of the kids in school and the adults at work, we’d have the place to ourselves, much like Sancerre. Not so. There are lots of tourists here, including families, and lots of adults who don’t work. And drunk people. 

Seems whenever we go to a restaurant or park, or even yesterday at the beach, we get approached by very friendly drunk people. On our first Sunday afternoon here, we went to a pizza place (that has since become “our place,” thanks to nice waitresses and giant nutella crepes)— we were approached by someone who was trying to communicate with us, but he wasn’t even speaking French. I have a tiny bit of Italian and it wasn’t that either. 

This leads me to the same question that comes up when I go out with a group of girlfriends and I am the only one who gets hit on- even when pregnant—— what is it about me that is so approachable by drunk people? Was I a bartender in a previous life?

This one guy from England was trying to adopt Samuel on the beach yesterday. Not sure if he was drunk, but he was obviously crazy.

OK- so just so my mom doesn’t worry, there aren’t a lot of drunk people roaming the town like OV after the parade or anything. 

My kids are getting better at wandering. It’s hard to discern where their discomfort comes from. Is is that American sense of urgency in everything? No they are total slowpokes most of the time. Is it fear that we’ll get lost— very valid when traveling with me, but not based in reality thus far. Do they think they are missing something else? Well, I may have passed that down to them, but for them they often would rather be at the house watching TV and playing video games. 

I am so glad that I had the chance to do this with my kids— to leave the mini-van and the crazy schedules and the millions of toys and all of the stuff— and get away. 

In spiritual circles, this is known as dehabituation— an aesthetic practice that is grounded in the idea that when you are out of your habits, you can be open to the presence of the holy. When everything that you know and are comfortable with is gone, what will you encounter?

My kids are clinging to the familiar, and of course they are just kids. But I am really hopeful that this experience- drunks and all— will open them up to new things.

Today I plan to take them on a very long walk to the16th century fort on the edge of the harbor. 

My new laundry room, hanging clothes to dry

My three little wanderers inside a sculpture at the harbor "Nomad"

Ah-Antibes

So much to report from our first days in Antibes——

First of all- quelle difference! We left goat farms, chateaux and hillside vineyards and arrived to orange trees, Spanish tile roofs and bustling alleyways. It’s a hubbub and we hardly stick out in Antibes. In fact, I would venture to say we aren’t even considered loud here!! 

The kids were great on the 6 hour train ride from Paris to Antibes. It was so quiet on the train. We went first class because it was such a long ride and we had a table among the four of us, so I made the kids do school work to catch up. When we got down to the coast, the train hugged the shore and kept giving us glimpses of the Mediterranean. 

The kids were a little shell-shocked, having had the town of Sancerre to ourselves and encountering very few people in the streets. We walked from the train station to our house with the help of our hostess. Nothing reacclimates you like a 6 block walk rolling your suitcases over cobblestones and getting caught in the swirl of people out enjoying the great weather on a Saturday afternoon. The boys didn’t quite know what to make of all the humanity at first. Now they’re strolling the busy streets like locals.

While our hostess was showing me around, Samuel and Cooper decided to check out the roof top terrace. Apparently, that wasn’t the view they were looking for, so they climbed out onto the roof of the house—onto the Spanish tile, and over to the neighbor’s roof. Now this is funny in hindsight and actually, not really. A neighbor yelled to our hostess that the boys were on the roof. She freaked out, now my French is getting muddled as I try to assuage her fears, that my children can smell it when I am distracted and seize such weak moments to lose their minds and do something so impulsive that neither medication nor threat of bodily harm can prevent their bad decisions.

I have since fashioned a lock out of zip ties and my luggage lock.

Sunday we checked out the town, but Cooper was insistent that we go to the beach. From the train we saw kids swimming at the beach, so Cooper was dead set on getting in the water. I forced them to walk around for two hours, then we headed to play on the beach. It was a little chilly, but it didn’t stop Coops. The family in front of us had a little folding table, kneeling size, set with china and they were having tea, but it was very diverse. College students and families with small children. We encountered so many Italians all walking in the direction from Italy- weird- it was like they really walked from Italy, and maybe they did. 

One downside to the diversity is that many people have experience speaking English, so when they hear you trying to speak French, they want to help you out and speak English back to you. This is not helpful if you are here to learn French. There is a large ex-pat community — mostly English and Aussies— from the yachting industry, so everyone seems to have a little English.

At the park this afternoon, a mom started talking to us and when she heard us speak English, she started speaking English. She told me and Samuel that in Antibes, they are used to hearing a British accent, to which Samuel then responded— oh I can speak in a British accent for you if it’s easier—IN A BRITISH ACCENT. He went on for the remainder of our conversation. I finally got frustrated and told him— Samuel- we can here to improve our French, not your British accent! Too much Monty Python for him. 

I am going to need to get creative for more immersion for my kids. Our French classes aren’t scheduled til Mid April when they start their youth program.

Ok— homeschool. Really this blog is trying to do two things (because I am too lazy to maintain two blogs)— keep my friends and family updated on my happenings, but to help my homeschool friends who are interested in the whole homeschool-abroad thing. Someone from a  homeschool list-serv recently reached out to me via a link to my blog! She is actually going to the same school in Sancerre. So glad we connected, now I can give her some advice that I would have liked to received in advance! Love it— small world, getting smaller. Even smaller homeschool world I guess.

SOOO:  non-homeschoolers, avert your eyes, or read below and have an appreciation of how great/challenging it is to orchestrate intentional learning experiences for your kids.

Full-on homeschool started today with three boys and three subjects in three hours. Coops is the X factor, but I found that reading to him for parts of it really helps. He’s 7— if there are some moms with advice for me and that age group— bring it. Today he made the connection that the ancient Greeks founded Antipolis (Antibes) and that some of their walls are still here. That was worth all of the effort. Do love how TSOW tells the story. Also using BBC-History primary web site.

Bennett (9) started measurements (to keep up with his school’s curriculum) but of course we included metric system. He had a little aha-moment at the grocery store today when he noticed the apple juice was in CL— hmmm. 

Tomorrow, we go to the Archeology museum in Antibes to put it all together before we move on to the Romans for two weeks to prep for our trip to the ancient sites in Arles and Nimes. 

Never having done homeschool for three at once, it was like after school homework on amphetamines. No sooner did I get one set up then somebody needed me to check something or needed a material. Electronic books and materials: upside— I didn’t have to pack more books (we already have way too many, then we got more at French school); downside— we have one mac and two kindles, so we are always switching devices, or one needs something the other one has, etc. Kindle Fire has web, but it’s not great. Also— effing passwords are going to kill me. Every site requires a log-in, and because we are in France, our stuff is not always recognized or saved. And here’s news— there is a lot of content that is unavailable for viewing outside of the US. It’s against US copyright (and, I am sure, because of piracy laws). I have gotten around some of it by purchasing the episodes/movies. Then, everything needs to load— good lord- wish we could just open a book! Alors, half of my homeschooling has been IT support thus far, but hopefully I’ve troubleshotten all of that shot. 

Also— Bennett and Cooper aren’t really independent for homeschool yet. Samuel knows the drill; he checks the syllabus and gets his materials and gets going. Part of it is that I have only one hard copy of the syllabus. I was trying to save the amount of paper I brought. Really each kids needs his own for independence.

More about our binders later— but they’ve been a pain. I can’t seem to get comfortable with a workaround, but they are so heavy and cumbersome!

That’s all the news for one blog— it’s going to be called a blong if I keep going! 

We say goodbye to Sancerre…

Today we finished big with a little horseback riding for the boys. They loved the goat farm so much, I thought I should get them out in the country again before we headed to the coast. Little did I expect how much they loved running around with the dogs and the geese. Hell, I could have just taken them to Suffolk and saved a lot of money! 

Loire region is full of chateaux, but Chateau de Boucard is the only one we'll see.
At least is was from horseback! Tough to beat that tour.

Off to Antibes tomorrow, and although I am sad I won’t have the daily support of the school, I am ready to get to a bigger town. This place was a little too sleepy for me and it’s hard to get an immersion experience when you’re just talking to yourself in bad French (and yelling at your kids in loud English). Perhaps they WERE hiding from us!?

Spectacular “clean out the rental house fridge” dinner tonight. Hope to report some fun from Antibes tomorrow! 

Good bye lunch today at our favorite cafe.