“… my brain is so cluttered with strange and conflicting ideas about what a blog should and shouldn’t be and what I’m trying to do, in general, with this kind of writing — because, I do think that blog-writing is a different kind of writing than edited printed-matter writing– that I’m having trouble figuring out what I even want to say. I keep doubling back and second-guessing and tweaking my word choices and my grammar in even the most basic (i.e., m-dash-free) of sentences. I’m rereading everything to see how it looks through the eyes of some half-imagined critic — a critic who, no matter what I do or say, will always think that I got here, wherever he supposes that to be, by dint of something other than hard work and skill. There is no pleasing this critic, I know. Also, he is (half) imaginary. But I can’t get him out of my head.” “Truths to be self-edited”, Emily Magazine
That being said, here I go:
I have been lucky to spend several lovely Sundays with the family. Last Sunday, I went with Sophie, Bertrand, Jeanne and Julien (Antoine marched off to his friend Alex's house to attend a birthday party; he relishes being allowed to walk the half-block to his friend's apartment alone--what a big boy!) to "Parc Grand," a lovely, grand park outside of Lyon. We were supposed to meet up with some friends, including the small little boy who melted my heart when I first congregated with the Roanne friends by saying to his mother, "She said 'bonjour,' but now she is speaking in English!" and then he stood, proudly looking up at me, and sucessfully told me his name en anglais before colapsing in a fit of giggle. Sadly, the family forgot their cell phone so meeting up did not happen in the huge park, but it was a beautiful, sunny, lovely day and I am luckily not an inch over 5'3" and thus was able to fairly comfortably ride Antoine's bike around the park. Then, we sat in some grass (my favorite activity, bar none) and ate a snack of baguette and white chocolate. "I do not have any black chocolat for you!" Sophie said apologetically. It's so cute how they all say "black chocolate" instead of dark chocolate... I guess it really does make more sense, but it's funny. If and ever I am fully fluent, I know I will make the same sort of "mistakes" (if they can even be called that!) and I have to hope they will be also viewed as "cute!" As I sat with Sophie and watched Bertrand play with his youngest children near the lake, I was again (as I so often am) struck by what a perfect life this seems to be for them. It is honestly picturesque. Maybe some dirty laundry will be aired in the next 8 months but I can't imagine what it could be! So lucky to be so charmed!
This Sunday, I had the honor of enjoying a delicious meal of "moule and frites" avec Sophie's "belle mere" and her "friend." (At least they keep the "friend" designation constant; it was the same word used for Bertrand's father's "friend," the one whom he goes on 7-week-long roadtrips with... ha!). It's funny to me (perhaps because I really did grow up in a house where the art of cooking was pretty much ignored) how healthy Sophie can be about her own diet and the diet of her kids, but on Sundays its pretty much a free-for-all. They even brought out the deep fryer for fresh fries! (My as of yet still abysmal understanding of the language leads me to believe this device was borrowed from a friend.) Three servings of mussels and fries later, we then ate salad, bread, and cheese, natch. THEN for desert was a huge chocolate "birthday" cake and a fruit crumble. All so delcious!
After lunch, the kids were excited to "cut" the pumpkin I had tracked down at Carrefour on Friday. Thankfully, Bertrand stepped it up and assumed his man role because, as I scooped in the innerds from the cute, round gourd, I realized that I have actually never put a knife to a pumpkin myself! I think the entire exercise was a success, and our vampire pumpkin may not look very scary (leading me to think his given name of "Larry" is more appropriate than "Scary Pumpkin"), but it was a good time. On every window of the house, there are blinds that I thought were just to keep light out at night but I realize now are to help keep the cold out! By shutting these on the kitchen windows, the glowing pumpkin (Bertrand inserted the candle successfully) was able to shine. Now, the seeds are drying out and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to successfully give them a true "taste" of American Halloween! The rest of the day was spent rang-ing ma chambre (I was horrified by the state of my living conditions when asked to show Jaqueline the au pair accomodation, as she had never seen them before!). Now things are clean, and I have made up quizzes for Antoine to practice for his next English test. Julien picked some rosebuds in the garden and they are sitting in a cute glass bottle on my table. Tres jolies! It has been a good day and I am looking forward to this week, studying for and doing well on Thursday's French test, TURNING IN MY GLIMPSE APP (!!!), and plotting for Halloween in Nice. Thank goodness Claire's is an accepted American chain here (though possibly because it's American origins are not known--"'Claire" is a French name! My sister's name is Claire!" Sophie told me when we went to Part Dieu and she picked out hair ties for Jeanne and Jeanne's enthusiasm over the large fountain the escalators was a joy (these are tiny things I want not to forget but have already neglected to write!).
I mean this this time: A DEMAIN!
In conclusion, I am going to make more of an effort to update this blog because I think it will be fun to look back on. I am going to try not to worry about how fascinating it is; practice will help me learn to cut the crap!
That being said, here I go:
I have been lucky to spend several lovely Sundays with the family. Last Sunday, I went with Sophie, Bertrand, Jeanne and Julien (Antoine marched off to his friend Alex's house to attend a birthday party; he relishes being allowed to walk the half-block to his friend's apartment alone--what a big boy!) to "Parc Grand," a lovely, grand park outside of Lyon. We were supposed to meet up with some friends, including the small little boy who melted my heart when I first congregated with the Roanne friends by saying to his mother, "She said 'bonjour,' but now she is speaking in English!" and then he stood, proudly looking up at me, and sucessfully told me his name en anglais before colapsing in a fit of giggle. Sadly, the family forgot their cell phone so meeting up did not happen in the huge park, but it was a beautiful, sunny, lovely day and I am luckily not an inch over 5'3" and thus was able to fairly comfortably ride Antoine's bike around the park. Then, we sat in some grass (my favorite activity, bar none) and ate a snack of baguette and white chocolate. "I do not have any black chocolat for you!" Sophie said apologetically. It's so cute how they all say "black chocolate" instead of dark chocolate... I guess it really does make more sense, but it's funny. If and ever I am fully fluent, I know I will make the same sort of "mistakes" (if they can even be called that!) and I have to hope they will be also viewed as "cute!" As I sat with Sophie and watched Bertrand play with his youngest children near the lake, I was again (as I so often am) struck by what a perfect life this seems to be for them. It is honestly picturesque. Maybe some dirty laundry will be aired in the next 8 months but I can't imagine what it could be! So lucky to be so charmed!
This Sunday, I had the honor of enjoying a delicious meal of "moule and frites" avec Sophie's "belle mere" and her "friend." (At least they keep the "friend" designation constant; it was the same word used for Bertrand's father's "friend," the one whom he goes on 7-week-long roadtrips with... ha!). It's funny to me (perhaps because I really did grow up in a house where the art of cooking was pretty much ignored) how healthy Sophie can be about her own diet and the diet of her kids, but on Sundays its pretty much a free-for-all. They even brought out the deep fryer for fresh fries! (My as of yet still abysmal understanding of the language leads me to believe this device was borrowed from a friend.) Three servings of mussels and fries later, we then ate salad, bread, and cheese, natch. THEN for desert was a huge chocolate "birthday" cake and a fruit crumble. All so delcious!
After lunch, the kids were excited to "cut" the pumpkin I had tracked down at Carrefour on Friday. Thankfully, Bertrand stepped it up and assumed his man role because, as I scooped in the innerds from the cute, round gourd, I realized that I have actually never put a knife to a pumpkin myself! I think the entire exercise was a success, and our vampire pumpkin may not look very scary (leading me to think his given name of "Larry" is more appropriate than "Scary Pumpkin"), but it was a good time. On every window of the house, there are blinds that I thought were just to keep light out at night but I realize now are to help keep the cold out! By shutting these on the kitchen windows, the glowing pumpkin (Bertrand inserted the candle successfully) was able to shine. Now, the seeds are drying out and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to successfully give them a true "taste" of American Halloween! The rest of the day was spent rang-ing ma chambre (I was horrified by the state of my living conditions when asked to show Jaqueline the au pair accomodation, as she had never seen them before!). Now things are clean, and I have made up quizzes for Antoine to practice for his next English test. Julien picked some rosebuds in the garden and they are sitting in a cute glass bottle on my table. Tres jolies! It has been a good day and I am looking forward to this week, studying for and doing well on Thursday's French test, TURNING IN MY GLIMPSE APP (!!!), and plotting for Halloween in Nice. Thank goodness Claire's is an accepted American chain here (though possibly because it's American origins are not known--"'Claire" is a French name! My sister's name is Claire!" Sophie told me when we went to Part Dieu and she picked out hair ties for Jeanne and Jeanne's enthusiasm over the large fountain the escalators was a joy (these are tiny things I want not to forget but have already neglected to write!).
I mean this this time: A DEMAIN!
In conclusion, I am going to make more of an effort to update this blog because I think it will be fun to look back on. I am going to try not to worry about how fascinating it is; practice will help me learn to cut the crap!
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