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. 

Can You Hear Me Now?

This week some other students arrived at the school. Our teacher told me that another family was coming, so I was excited that my kids would have some other kids to play with. Monday arrived and with it the new students— four women in their late forties/early fifties. They were having a girls trip to Sancerre. I didn't have the courage to ask which one of the four was the mom. 

Obviously the school got it wrong.

They are lovely— but I think they were feeling a little sorry for me being here by myself with my boys. I wasn’t even sending out that crazed mom vibe. You know the one when you make some apologetic comment about your kids’ behavior and than add a little shrug or roll of the eyes, and then offer up a little self-conscious half laugh.

I haven’t really felt overwhelmed by my kids since I’ve been here and I made this choice, a mostly educated one. So, don’t feel sorry for me. 

Their behavior was atrocious yesterday though. As I mentioned, the French don’t believe in ADHD. I read in an article previously that they think it’s a matter of bad American parenting. Friends, I think we have some converts! 

The school scheduled our classes for two afternoons this week. Yeah- for those of you in the know, their meds wear off around 3pm. Monsters. I was so pissed. Any self restraint they had mustered due to being in a foreign country and speaking with people who speak very little english had totally disappeared. They were on chaos island and they were having a blast. People shushed them, I was casting threats about their iPods. No effect.

If you’re on FB with me, you already know how I handled it. We ended class a little early and headed back to the apartment with me grumbling at them the whole way about embarrassing behavior and self control— the same useless speech I give over and over again, apparently in a dog-whistle type voice that my children cannot even discern as human, let alone worthy of their attention. I set them up in front of a movie (in French- ha, ha, ha!) in the living room. I pulled a chair into the sterile kitchen— with an amazing view, btw— and plugged in my iPod, opened a bottle of wine and got out some great cheeses. Just a little mommy time out. Not feeling sorry for myself, just stepping away for a moment to regroup.

Class was in the morning again today, so all went well and we had a great day. Bennett’s French emerged today and it was really great. Yay! He did tell me he was homesick today and I asked him who he missed the most— he said, no mom I miss the house. Oh.

Cooper created his own clay hamster house today in art class, but since we’re going horseback riding Friday instead of the art show, he wanted to take it home tonight. I suggested we take a photo, rather than the actual house because we can’t really pack up a clay hamster house. No. He wants the house. It’s made of clay. It’s not hard and the thing weighs 8 lbs. It is going to cost me $50 due to overweight bags and it’s going to end up a ball of clay by the time we get home.

Samuel and I made it into the small church here in Sancerre. No ashes because they don’t have their own priest, but the church was open. We offered up a prayer for a holy Lent and enjoyed the statuary. I was really proud of Samuel today. We had another great walk around town and took a lot of pictures. Tried to read all of the historic markers but we wore each other out. 

After dinner tonight I had a terribly upset stomach. I expected to have some troubles being in a foreign country. Of course when it happens, you start thinking—- oh, did I eat something bad? Well, my friends, everything I eat over here smells bad, so who the hell knows? Stinky cheese- yum. How do you know if it’s bad when it starts out with a moldy crust on it? Some tart with anchovies, tomatoes and kalamata olives- I don’t need to tell you that smelled bad- delicious. Ordered a croque-madame without the ham today— pretty sure it was a mayonnaise sandwich with cheese and a fried egg on top— what’s not to love? So in short, I have no idea what got into me, but I am feeling a bit better. 

Tried to use it as a sympathy play with the boys to get them to go to bed nicely, but it was whack-a-mole tonight too. And they kept coming in to the bathroom to find me (my mother warned me that might happen— not about the trip, just motherhood). What is with them and bedtime? Any time we are not in our own home, hotels, mimi’s house, etc. they are crazy at bedtime!— advice? Other than hiding in bathroom until they fall asleep (because that doesn’t work either).

Homeschool tomorrow morning before French class. Bon chance!

Laundry in France

Another great day. After French class, the littles went off to art class. Although there was only one other child in the class, the teacher has a very adventurous spirit and was happy to make it a fun time for all. They don’t speak much English, so Bennett and Cooper were forced to play along in French. Oh- and apparently there is no indoor plumbing in her studio— sorry I missed that. Bennett told me about going to the bathroom- that is something he won’t forget soon! 

Boys playing with the light table in the art studio. 

Samuel and I got a chance to do the historic walking tour of Sancerre. I could go on about the history of this fortified city on a hill that overlooks the Loire, but you can look it up yourselves. 

We stopped at a local restaurant run by a winery. The hostess was very friendly and helped us learn a little more French. She was excited to hear that we were with the school and happy to help us talk about the weather in French. We compared sayings about the month of March: hers was « May wind and April showers bring May flowers; » we taught her « in like a lion, out like a lamb. »

Some other students arrived at our school this week, which helped create a more festive environment than last week. We have a pretty busy week now that we’ve added the art after school for Monday and Wednesday— oh no! Our French life is starting to look like our American life. Oh— you can take the girl out of America, but you can’t get her to slow down. Or something like that.

Yes it seems the panic that my children weren’t learning enough was taking over. Feeding into that « Race to Nowhere. » I get it. I compromised with myself and only added two extra classes for the days when we had French in the morning. Friday I am taking the kids horseback riding for our last day in the truly rural country of France. 

That is something that I am definitely getting in touch with on this trip. One always thinks of Paris, but most of France is farmland and we are here in the heart of it. Not just wine country, but the beautiful Loire Valley. I look forward to our train ride through the country this Saturday to see more of the countryside. 

OK — that’s it for today- boring- and I did laundry. But I did it in France! 

You Never Know What You'll Find

Today I thought we would walk through the town of St. Satur.  Having seen the town from above, from the overlook at Sancerre, I wanted the kids to see the aqueduct up close (even though our taxi driver told us on the way through that it wasn’t that old- only about 200 years). 

Boys by the aqueduct in St. Satur

This was a great introduction to the idea of wandering around to see what we could find. The kids complained a bit and thought we were lost. I kept saying "let’s just see what we can find." We saw a an old cathedral, which looked like it wasn't finished. I didn’t even take a photo of it because it was sort of pathetic. Did they run out of money? Then I noticed that the sculptures on the cornices had their head knocked off. Some of the exterior walls appeared to be interior walls, strange. I wanted to explore it more, but the kids complained, so we kept going. 

We made it all the way to the canal at the edge of town. It runs parallel to the Loire, but the river is still about a mile away. I was satisfied, so we headed back through town and tried to find a restaurant for lunch. The only place open required reservations, so we pulled out the chocolate croissants we bought at the supermarket and picnicked in a park that was on the side of the road, but carved into a little roundabout and surrounded by a little waterway that was redirected from the creek. Weird, but it had tables and chairs, so I said “go for it!” 

I am hoping the sense of adventure is contagious because my kids are seriously lacking!

We had a great afternoon back in Sancerre. Weather was awesome and the village was filled with tourists— almost bustling for Sancerre! We went to our favorite creperie.

More crepes!

Samuel and I looked up the St. Satur church when returned from our late lunch. It wasn’t that the cathedral was never finished. It was had been partially destroyed in the Hundred Year’s War, some 300 years after it was consecrated in 1104. WOW. Now I am sorry I didn’t take pictures of it! Samuel and I were amazed. Of course I had a big I TOLD YOU SO moment about keeping an open mind and blah blah blah. I have three months for them to get it. Hopefully they’ll have a little faith next time.

I have to admit, though, it’s happened to me before when traveling. You are happy to wander around, but you can’t help but get the feeling that something really awesome is one street over. There are no guidebooks for St. Satur, so I really had to wing it. I am hoping to get my kids over to see the Loire at some point so they can reference it later. It’s about 5 miles from here. Guess we have to work our way up to that distance. We did about four miles round trip today and they were very slow coming back. 

Wait til they get to the six story walk up in Paris!!!  

Boys enjoy the hub-bub of beautifl weather in Sancerre; above left, Samuel in front of vineyards; above right, our house 

News Roundup From our First Week

Here are some random thoughts that didn’t fit nicely into previous blogs, so I’m putting them together as a wrap up from our first week. I know it seems like we’ve already been here forever (until you hear our French— then you are reminded that we’ve only been here one week). 

My husband always complains about the shitty knives and pots and pans in rental houses. I am here in the food mecca of the world— and I can tell you that this is universal. Uber crappy knives, pots and pans in our kitchen; however, no matter how crappy, this kitchen also came with things the French expect you to need: a rolling pin, a crepe pan and a quiche baking dish. No vacu-vin however, I brought my own. No French person can imagine that you could not finish a bottle of wine. Believe me with three boys on my own, putting down an entire bottle of wine myself is tempting, but alas, inadvisable. Also Corelle Ware is obviously required in all rentals.

If you ever think the waiters switch on you in a restaurant, don’t say anything! We went back to the pizza place and were told there were no places for us, even though I could view an available table from the door. They think I’m a crazy person; it could have been that when Samuel short-stopped in front of a waiter balancing three plates on his arm, it really pissed him off.   

I read through several “what I wish I knew before going” threads on the Trip Advisor forums— here’s one I didn’t see: bone up on passe compose, imparfait and the future proche. Bonus— two of them are the easiest tenses. There’s your French lesson for today. 

Fashion status update— winners are Robyn Mathas (cute coat) and Colleen Hagan Egl (boots). So glad I took your advice and brought those. It’s cold here— not as cold as Norfolk, but my cute coat and boots are in heavy rotation here. Good call.

Other good advice I got before coming- if you have some good bread and good cheese, you don’t need to go to find a good restaurant. So true; if I wasn’t worried about exposing my kids to the language more, I’d stay in more. My kids are having so much fun doing nothing (they’re very good at it BTW). They are totally on board with the bread thing. Done.

After getting turned down by the pizza guys, we went back to the first restaurant we ate at when we first arrived (where my children were shushed). We had the same waiter and I told him we were at the local school and we had just finished our first week— he said- ah yes! your French is much better! I’m glad he sushed my kids right off the bat- it made an impact. 

One of the reasons I wanted to come here is that Sancerre is a small town. From the literature and videos about the school, you get the impression that the whole village is “in on it.” They are patient and help you get through your French immersion experience without too much humiliation. When I went to the wine shop today, the woman there was answering my questions, a little in French and a little in English, when I told her we were with the school, she said “oh, I will answer only in French then!” So nice! But I have no idea what I bought. Except is cost $80. Kidding— totally kidding. Understanding is not my problem and good wine is so cheap here, I feel guilty.

I put the kids down early tonight and watched TV. Samuel figured out how to run the closed captioning, which is very handy. If you don’t quite understand what they’re saying, it’s scrolling below. They use a lot of American music and slang on their TV shows. My kids look at me like, mom, why are you making us learn French when they’re using English!! Not fair. 

We met a kid at the park today who was nice enough to kick a soccer ball around with my boys. He asked Samuel if he was from England. When Samuel told him he was from the US, the kid said— the US is soooo much better than here. Samuel told him he thought France was better than the US. I told Samuel he was just being a surly teenager—it’s as universal as Corel Ware. With much wisdom, later Samuel said “people always think they’re going to be happier somewhere else, then they end up moving all the time!” 

We’re supposed to have good weather tomorrow and I’ve tried lining up a horseback riding trip for the boys. The guide hasn’t gotten back to me- which is one thing about the French I can’t understand. They don’t try to win you over or make a sale. If it works for them, they oblige, if not, you can go somewhere else -kind of like the pizza place. I’m sure they were thinking, why stress ourselves out by making room for four more people? We’re doing fine as is. That’s a saying I’ve learned since being here: “ca marche” that works. 

OK- stayed up too late writing- again.