Recent aquisitions and one happy lad.

Michel is Alec's new hero.
He took us to a Brocante last Sunday
where Alec purchased this sabre.   He
tells me it is British, late 1800's.  Oh,
and the hat Michel is wearing is also
a new to Alec purchase.

Later in the afternoon we went to another
Brocante with Rachel, Ludo, Yaelle and
Paul.
Here is Paul sporting another aquisition
of Alec.


And finally, these items share OUR
bedroom.


I have started a wee collection of very old items;
fossils.  Stay tuned.

The One Left Behind

I haven't mentioned Jeff lately, you remember,
my husband and the father of Alec.  Jeff
has traded me for Titus,, (Ave Titus we say).


Titus is a handsome and intelligent
service dog for St Francis Service
Dog Foundation
http://www.saintfrancisdogs.org/

He takes the smart bus every day to
Tech and teaches with Jeff.  Before
he takes the smart bus he stops
in at Bread Craft (the best patiserrie
in Roanoke).


Thanks Jeff for holding down the fort
in Roanoke while we visit the real
forts here.

Senate Elections do not favour Sarkozy

Alec came home from school today with news
of a teachers strike tomorrow.

  Les professeurs sont en grève. 

 I wonder if this has anything to do with the recent
Senate elections where the Socialist Party gained a majority of seats in the upper house
for the first time ever.

Why are the teachers striking?

"Top of the list of grievances are job cuts, with 11,200 jobs already slashed and another 13,500 to go this year. Strikers are also protesting against plans to cut 3,000 jobs among professionals who specialise in helping children who have difficulties in nursery and primary schools."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/29/strike-france-teachers

More militaria

Michel took Alec and me to a flea market about 40 minutes from Lessy.
Alec has no trouble bartering in French, asking the age of swords, what
country they were made and most important, if he could get it for
less.  We returned home with a saber from the late 1800's, German
British he thinks and a hat that looks like it if from the French Foreign
legion.

Our room-remember we share a room- is becoming more like
a military museum every day. Needless to say Alec was floating on
air.

Parent/Teacher Meeting

I hit a wall this past weekend;  no, not a real one, though this
is quite possible while driving in between ancient  walls.  My
wall was emotional.  After attending the parent/teacher meeting
where I understand about 10% of what was being said,
I came home and crashed.

Picture this;  the teacher's desk is raised on a two foot platform
that runs the length of the whiteboard in the front of the classroom.
The desks, one surface with two chairs, are aligned in neat rows;
no small, interactive groups in this classroom.
I felt I had stepped back in educational time to about the 60's.
Upon viewing the platform all I could imagine was me,teaching;
 acting out a charade, doing a little dance or standing on a
chair to clarify a point.   I would certainly break a leg teaching
in France.

Alec tells me the teachers rarely leave their seat  and have
 students pass out papers.  "They never come to your desk
mom to see what you are doing."

 It is one thing not to understand all the
French that is being spoken, it is quite a different thing
to watch how the French is being spoken.  One teacher
after another would enter the classroom, give a mini-talk
about what to expect for their class, ask if there were any
questions, then leave.  One teacher talked to the ceiling,
another would talk from one side of the room to another,
avoiding all eye contact, and several spoke lightening fast while
barely opening their mouths.

After my 1 1/2 hr experience at John 23 I became more
sympathetic to Alec who sits in class all day long "listening"
to his teachers.

Saturday, the day after the conference, I slept.

 The honeymoon is over, reality has set in, we are here to
stay and learn French.  Piper seems to be adapting
quite well to French;  she knows attends, coucher,
fait un bisou, tu as soif, tu as faim....anything for a treat.

Tomorrow is another day and, as Alec says,
Broconte day or marcher au puce  (flea market).

 

Parent/Teacher Night

The French school schedule is absolutely
crazy and neither student nor family

friendly.

http://www.petergumbel.fr/en/the-book

I definitely want to read this book.

What educational system would have
a parent/teacher night on Friday
evening?

Rachel offered to come with me but I declined;
I thought I would experience exactly what Alec
is experience, everything in French.

Alec recited to me a list of his teacher's
names and after most of the names he
said "he or she is insane."    This usually
means that they yell.

Alec is taking European Spanish and told
me  his teacher told him  he needs to
work on his accent.  Thankfully Alec has
a great sense of humour;  "I'm learning
Spanish via French from a French teacher.
I think I just need to roll my r's, rrrrrrrrr,
when I speak Spanish,"

He seems to be making friends;  "some
students follow me around like I am an
anomaly.  They buy me croissants during
break."  He tells me that he may continue
pretending he doesn't understand any

French as it could be advantagious,

I will let you know how parent/teacher
night goes.

From above a vineyard in between
Lessy and Scy Chazelles

Artist inside a Fort?

Imagine walking by this Prussian Fort from the 1860's.
 Ludo says, "Jude,let's go inside and see some paintings."
 I thought he meant graffiti.  After walking through a dark
 hallway we entered into cavernous rooms.

Here, within these rooms, within this
abandoned Fort Diou, within the history
of war, art lives.

the colours are much more vibrant than they appear here

I have a whole new appreciation of the word gallery.

Difficult to post every day.

I can choose to post or to work in Rachel's studio;
alas, the studio wins out.   I am making clay masks.
Have no idea how I will finish them or fire them as I
do not have my materials or kiln with me.  It is an adventure
in clay, forcing me to think outside the box (what's new
you say).  I will take photos of work in progress and
post them here. A tout a l'heure. 

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

                              Neale Donald Walsch

A certain vulnerability sets in when you quit your job,

pull your son, your dog and yourself out of a very

familiar environment, leave your husband behind and

hop on a plane to a country where English is rarely

spoken and the only thing written in English is STOP;

yes, the stop signs say STOP, not ARRETE.

This morning, while feeling vulnerable and slightly

unmoored,  like a row boat without oars, my pottery
 bowl of yogurt-oatmeal-all bran and sesame seeds
 slipped from my hand, fell to the tiled floor and
crashed into pieces, yogurt splurting everywhere;

 a  rather visual representation

of how I was feeling.  If "life begins at

the end of your comfort zone," and I feel that

 my comfort zone had ended, there is only one

thing to do;  return to the kitchen

to make a nutella crepe.  Ah life is so much better,

even with pseudo chocolate.

Just a little mantra

Sunday's adventure.

Gee the opera is fun!

What a beautiful building.  We had
a self guided tour today but signed
up for a guided tour of the entire
building in October.

inside the theater looking out

  

Next we went to the Palace of the Governers.  Alec wanted to lift a few swords

 and helmets off the walls for his own private collection.

No smiles here

le granouilly

a little gift from the Russians.

And now we go the chapel of the Templars (Alec tells me

the teutonic knights were more interesting).  

All I know is that

I loved this chapel.

the oldest church in France

Quite the weekend.

porte des allemandes

During only one weekend a year in Metz many historic buildings
are open to the public.  We took advantage of good weather,
a great guide (Rachel) and time to explore on Saturday and Sunday.

through the door is Metz

When I look at the cobblestone roads and courtyards
 I wonder,
     who has walked here,

what feet have pressed down upon these stones

"Romans, mom.  Romans!," Alec says.

Rachel will have to tell us the legend of the dragon of Metz.

Life can be exhausting.

After taking Lisa, Yaelle and Alec to school this
morning I returned to Piper and our apartment.
Piper likes to share her fur;   all over the floors.
I borrowed an "aspirateur", a vacuum cleaner,
from Michel.  After two hours I figured out how to
release the canister, replace it and turn on the machine.
And this had nothing to do with not understanding
the language.  By the time I made it to Rachel I felt like
I had cleaned all day.

Wednesday afternoon off at Fort Diou

Alec and Ludo have Wednesday afternoon off from school.
With Nathalie and Paul we walked up to Fort Diou.
I will let Jeff post a comment on the history of this fort.

fort diou
1860's Prussian  Fort

                         Alec's treasure, a chimney cap from the fort.
                          "Seriously Alec, you are not bringing this home."
                         "Of course I am mom, this is amazing."  The chimney

                          cap has joined the Roman Soldiers in our shared
                          bedroom.