What I Learned in France Today

September 2009

2009-09-26T22:03:00.006+02:00

Life keeps humming along through another transition. After going to the cabin every weekend of the summer, we have not gone since Labor Day so we are getting used to spending all of our time here in Ashland. Irie quickly adjusted to her schedule at her new school, Willow Wind which is an alternative school within the public system. She has restarted piano lessons and we are getting a new (used) piano tomorrow. She is also taking a hip-hop dance class, and Lisa is still searching for a french tutor for her.

While Lisa and I both danced hula together in the park every Weds., the separate official classes have begun so Lisa is dancing on Weds. nights, I am dancing with the kane (men) on Thurs., and Lisa is teaching a beginner's class on Fri., all through our friend Andrea's organization Integral Dance. Last night we were delighted to have the world's oldest touring musician here in Ashland. Bill Tapia is 101 years young and plays the ukulele. Lisa, Andrea and a few other dancers got the honor of performing with him during two songs
.
Here are the videos:
Puamana
I Want to Speak Hawaiian

The unusual excitement in Ashland this week was a large fire on the south end of town that destroyed one house and threatened a whole neighborhood.
It turned out to be about 190 acres (while another 4 times as large raged in Medford the same day), and there are other fires in closer to our cabin that have caused smoky hazy skies all week. Our friends, John and Taylor, were not home so I raced over and rescued their two dogs, one bird, and a frog before they evacuated the nieghborhood. Luckily, our brave firefighters were on it and kept it from causing a lot more damage. I filmed from John's garage roof and here's that video. Warning: some foul language from my excited mouth :)

I start University classes tomorrow (finally), but have been keeping busy with a paintbrush. Last week I painted our house, something that was long overdue, and we are loving the new look.
This week I painted for someone else so actually made some money...how novel.

France seems a long way away, though we still think of our french friends and way of life all the time!

La Rentrée

2009-09-11T06:58:00.006+02:00

I love this time of year. September in Ashland is generous with good weather, not too hot, with the occasional nippy mornings. But I really love La Rentrée. It could be translated as a return to school, but in France it's much broader than that. After the lazy, vacation days of August, the whole of France goes back to work and school and gets down to business. That's what it feels like for our family as Irie started school this week. She changed to a new school, Willow Wind, which is within the Ashland Public School system but not quite like the other elementary schools. She has a core 4th grade class, 4th grade math and then some electives. This fall she chose a film-making class, a weather science class, and a couple writing classes focusing on stories and heroes.

Though Irie was nervous for her first day she looks more relaxed than she did a year ago when she started Hippolyte Fabre!

This time of year also sees us starting our withdrawal from Bon Pin. The work is completed and we are spying some projects to start next year. We're enjoying cool nights and mornings with the wood stove and assuming swimming is done. We'll only go up about every other weekend through October then close it up. Staying in Ashland allows us to focus on the goings-on here. Like unpacking, still!

While I started my practice up again in mid July it is really feeling on a roll now. I will shift my schedule to taking Wednesdays off, French style. Rick is registered for classes at SOU which start at the end of the month.

Both Rick and I were off and running on our hula endeavors shortly after re-entry this summer. I co-taught a session of Hula in July that Rick participated in. I will be teaching a beginner class this fall as well as continuing my own hula studies. I really miss my French hula dancers and the enthusiasm and beauty they brought to our classes. I feel fortunate to be able to return to a hula community that has grown in ohana and commitment. We thank our dear friend Andrea for her strength in holding hula in Ashland and creating and growing the hui Ka Pi'o O Ke Anuenue.

We're also happy to report that our copine française, Nathalie, has also gotten down to business with her new blog titled "From Frejus to Ashland. We are so touched that she has started this means of communication to us.

Goals for the next few weeks: get a smoothly running schedule hopefully only using one car, finish unpacking, purge clutter, sit in the hot tub with a glass of wine.

We're not in France anymore...

2009-08-25T05:20:00.010+02:00

and whether we can figure out whether that is good or bad is pointless, because we are HERE! And busy. I realize it's been 18 days since my last post, and I keep wondering when it will be my last. Because we're not in France anymore. Thus, I'm not actually learning anything "in" France today, or any other day. However, I may still be learning something today from being "in" France last year. I hope that makes sense.

The things I've learned are not simple or easily explained, but directly impact how I conduct my life on a daily basis. BE HERE NOW has become much more than a cliché, but in fact, a realized life mission. Communications, whether in person, on the phone, or via email, whether with a stranger or someone I know, have become something to cherish, an encounter from which something can be gained, and thus I am striving to be in the moment for each and every conversation. It's far too easy to find oneself dashing about and using that as an excuse to not make real contact when running into an acquaintance on the street, or even just buying groceries at the checkout. I know because that has been me. A smile or a few nice words can go a long way and I'm doing my best to be on the contributing side of human kindness. There is a very faulty stereotype in America about "the French" - and it is wrong! So many people in France made the effort: to get to know us...even when they knew we'd be leaving, to befriend us or our daughter, to make us feel welcome, to be helpful neighbors, to converse with me and work to understand my limited french. At it's simplest, they took the time to interact with us, strangers, and this relaxed state of living wore off on me in a way that I am trying to properly express right now. So there's a very big example of "what I learned in France yesterday!"

As for our lives here in Oregon, while it's been busy, I do feel that a rhythm is being established. Part of that revolves around our weekly excursions to the cabin. We have gone to Bon Pin en Oregon every weekend save one since we got home. In the interim since my last post, Irie and I stayed for 11 days while Lisa went home for 3 days to work. Irie had her friend Rachel for a few days,

went on a horse ride,
and biked around the lake.
Gary comes every weekend and we work our asses off! The remodel is almost complete, and what's left is stuff I can do on my own. We now have a working wood stove and washing machine, a somewhat more level foundation, a new open floor plan which has turned our tiny galley kitchen into a very functional space for food preparation and entertaining, a reworked dining room, and an enlarged back deck. I still need to get rid of the piles of brick and concrete from the old fireplace and loads of yard slash, plan on using the volcanic rock to build a permanent outdoor grill, and then we'll move on to the bedrooms and bathroom. Maybe next year. Here's a before and after:

Meanwhile, we have added a new member to our family. When Athena came to visit us in France she promised Irie a pet fish upon her return home. Irie never forgot and called Athena last week to remind her of her promise. Well...a fish became a hamster! A little black bear hamster that is now and forever dubbed "Pooh Bear" and who is already charming his way into our hearts.
He likes to sleep by day, when not being smothered in Irie's love, but gears up each evening and spends much of his night running on his wheel.

This weekend is our 1st Annual Fête at Diamond Lake and we're expecting about 5 families for at least one night. The weather is perfect with warm swimmable days and cool campfire nights. That's all for now.

Party Announcement

2009-08-06T00:47:00.007+02:00

Little time to post these days. Lisa working during the week while I run around getting supplies for another long weekend at Bon Pin. Leaving again tomorrow and the van is loaded up with a wood stove, a washing machine, 10 bags of concrete, more wood, and we still need to pack necessities. And this time Irie and I are staying for 11 days! Driving two cars so Lisa can return to Ashland Mon-Thurs for work. Looking forward to a week+ in the woods!

Anyway, with the crazy month of reintegration and work, it's soon time for a fun break, so we have only one thing to say: it's TIME FOR A PARTY!

Also, for notre amie, Nathalie, yes we do have "good pines" in Oregon!

très occupés

2009-07-27T23:13:00.006+02:00

Summer is always busy, even when one is not going through "reentry." Thus, it was another big week. Grandma and Grandpa Browne arrived last Mon. with Maggie and our "new" van. I dropped the parents off at the Medford Airport this morning at 5 am. Maggie, the world traveller, knows she is home and has been very relaxed! The van is making a wonderful painting rig. We actually went to Toyota to see what the deal is with the "Cash for Clunkers" bill that just passed and found out we don't qualify because one has to have had the clunker registered and insured in their name for one year, but the program ends Nov. 1 or when the billion dollars runs out. Oh well, they were all sold out of new Prius' anyway. It appears from the first weekend that this is a tremendously popular program so we hope they'll renew the bill next year.

I felt bad that we weren't better hosts, but my parents knew we were crazy busy between our jobs and moving in to the house. We took them to Roseburg on Tues.
for Music on the Half Shell by Hapa and two other Hawaiian guitarists. The city puts on major acts every Tues. right next to the river all summer...for free! We brought a picnic of wine, cheeses, olives, crackers, fruit, etc., and found a spot quite close to the stage. Lisa even danced a hula.

Thurs. we all went out to Emigrant Lake for some swimming as it has been 100℉ for over a week. Friday night my parents went to the Elizabethan Theatre and saw Much Ado About Nothing after Music Man was sold out. Meanwhile, I went out to the local hippie fair with friend Tony and immersed myself back into the local culture. The music was good, the freaks were a sight, and the place was full of a interesting smells :)

Saturday, besides shopping for cars (kind of), we also shopped for a wood stove for the cabin. Irie's friend Alex had a birthday party at the public pool in the late afternoon, and Lisa and I attended a 40th birthday party for one of her hula friends. Yesterday, we were invited over to our neighbors for a small pool party which was a very nice way to spend a hot afternoon. All in all, it was yet another busy week. Here's our photo gallery.

In between all these events Lisa and I continue to unpack boxes, find missing items, paint, fix things, and hang various decor on the walls. The culture shock is not severe, but constant. Little reminders of differences, things or people we miss, and good and not-so-swell reminders that we are indeed back in the U.S. This week should see a bit more normalcy as the house is without guests, Lisa and I are both working, and Irie is at Le Cirque camp. We will return to Bon Pin en Oregon this weekend which give some relief from the heat and it will be August already.

Settling in...

2009-07-20T03:15:00.009+02:00

We seem to be settling back in to our Stateside routines. Lisa finished her first week of work, and while feeling a bit fatigued at the end of the week she was also psyched to put her experiences and development of the past year into practice in her work and noted that it felt good to be earning money again. I amazingly already scored a painting job that will put me to work for the next 2 weeks and give an added boost to the finances. Meanwhile, Irie is happily exploring her old toys, books, and most importantly...friends. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but the reality is that her behavior is vastly improved since we returned home. However, she also now speaks longingly of France and her French friends and indicates she realizes what an experience it was for her. Better late than never!

Friday morning we again headed up to the cabin with a full Prius, but no Maggie, who is due to arrive with my parents tomorrow. The weather has really heated up, evidenced by the helicopters filling their buckets to fight a nearby forest fire (between us and Crater Lake), and by all of us swimming multiple times each day. Irie and I got a closeup flyover of a bald eagle, but I didn't have the camera on hand, and the same was true of a scarlet tanager that landed 10 feet away. Our friend and jack-of-all-trades, Gary, joined us up at Bon Pin for some serious work. He and I completely dismantled the huge fireplace in a 7-hour battle against ants, bats, concrete, volcanic rock, and dust. Amazing but I don't think two men could have been more whipped! Here's a before and after: The cabin feels so open now, and we are excited about the changes that will include a stabilized foundation, new wood stove, new countertop space, a washing machine, new linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, and a much more open floor plan. Then we'll move outside and see if we can use some of that fireplace rock for a big permanent grill. If only we could eliminate the mosquitos.

For the moment it's back to the real world...both of us working (I know, it's about time :)) The house has started to feel like our home again, though we have not resolved the issues of damages and missing items yet.

Houseguests, the return of our beloved Maggie, a Hapa concert on Tues., hula on Weds., and no cabin this weekend. Lisa wants me to add that hula on Weds. includes me. I too am putting into practice some of the aspects of my personal evolution learned spending a year in France, and that includes joining the kane (men's) hula group. I'm not sure how well I can dance, but I'm willing to find out. We are noticing that while we are surrounded by the old and familiar, we are seeing it with fresh eyes.

Back in the U.S. of A

2009-07-13T18:19:00.011+02:00

So it's been about 9 days. Where am I? How do I feel about the vast changes that have occured so very quickly? Or am I just too busy, and at the end of the day too tired, to reflect much about it? Yes and no. It has definitely been a whirlwind. I already wrote about our entry back into Ashland on the 4th of July and moving back into our house the next day. At times I look around our valley, and while loving the views of the surrounding mountains already drying out in the heat of the summer, realize this is certainly not the Mediterranean region of southern France. I drive around in my little Prius surrounded by BIG trucks and SUV's and vanity license plates, reminders of what I have not experienced in a year. I notice new businesses and buildings or old familiar haunts gone out of business in this sputtering economy. We are trying to find our culinary way as we replace French favorites that can't be replicated here. It was a joy to get our first farm box from the farm co-op! The most important of all is seeing friends and acquaintances...and making sure that I stop what I am doing to take the time to really connect with whomever crosses my path. This is something that we take from France that is very important for both Lisa and I - to be here now and treasure each human interaction, to revitalize our role as part of this community with newfound influences from the world, just as when we were in France we never forgot we were representing America and Americans.

Besides the insights and reflections it has been a week mixed with the unpacking of box after box after box and slowly organizing the house (which still has a long way to go), shopping to restock our completely empty kitchen, dealing with the issues surrounding the old tenants and the property management company, major yard work,
getting our car and scooter back and insured,
getting our new phones up and running and in turn making contact with old friends, helping Lisa get her office ready for today - her first day of work in 13 months, and planning for a weekend at our cabin.

I had visited the cabin for about 2 hours on June 10, 2008 with Will who was going to caretake the place and modernize the electrical system, but Lisa and Irie hadn't been up to "Bon Pin" since Oct. of 2007. We were all excited, and it was great to walk out onto our landing and see Mt. Thielsen standing guard across a calm lake, still holding onto a bit of snow. The cabin, like everything else in our repatriated lives, needs lots of work! That's OK, it is with enthusiasm that I see the changes that will occur and make the cabin an even greater place of repose.
We fell back into old habits quickly: coffee on the landing in the warm morning sun, interior cleaning and yard work (there is always wood to be cut and chopped) in spurts throughout the day intermingled with lounging in the sun, paddling around in the tahiti and swimming in a surprisingly not frigid lake. I put up the dock so that maybe soon I can get the boat in the water and go trout fishing. In the evening after grilling, we had a small fire outside in the fire pit and later played games before diving into our cozy beds for the night. Dirty and exhausted, but delighted to be back.

Today begins a new week of more of the same. Lisa is officially back at work and she seems refreshed and excited about it! I am bidding on a paint job, have a new shopping list a mile long after our cabin visit, and a laundry list of other items that need attending to. Our walls are still empty, except for the metalwork we bought in France which is the Frejus city symbol. I wrote about it here last fall. We also want to squeeze in some fun. Tomorrow, I plan on celebrating Bastille Day by going to a concert my friend Alice DiMicele is playing. Weds., we are excited about seeing the new Harry Potter film, and Thurs. we are going to dinner at Jason and Kim's who we are excited to see again! Then it will be off to Bon Pin again.

Have a great week everyone, and Happy Bastille Day to our French friends!!!

Overwhelm

2009-07-06T11:50:00.012+02:00

UPDATE: 4th of July parade

early hours July 5: That one word describes exactly how I feel right now. Why am I even awake? It's 4:30 in the morning and I have only had about 8 jours of sleep in the last 60+ hours, none of it good sleep as I have too much on my mind. Our journey was long, but not difficult taking 29 hours from leaving our hotel in Nice to arriving at our friends home in Ashland at 4 am on the 4th of July. Aer Lingus was clean, modern, and relaxed. United seemed dumpy and cheap in comparison. But somehow our good karma got al of our bags through (over the limit and over weight) without any charges. Huge thanks to Phaedra who drove to SF and back just to get us!

We awoke after 3 hours of sleep to attend the parade which is always a big event here in out litttle burg.
I didn't feel too bad considering the lack of sleep. What a day to repatriate! Walking down the closed main street, Siskiyou Blvd,, lined on both sides by people waiting for the parade, was like Napoleon making a triumphant return to Paris, I was a on mission to get 2 dozen donuts for our group (not french pastries these, just good ole American fried dough and sugar), but ran into dozens of friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who I knew. Lisa and I walked down to see her hula sisters preparing for their dance entry in the parade and the surprise, the tears, the joy of seeing Lisa was so very evident.
Between the parade, staying at John and Taylor's (who have been so welcoming and generous), going to a picnic in our neighborhood, and a pool party at the Feinberg's we had a glorious and busy first day home!

morning of July 6: Then there's our house. With a few down-time hours in the afternoon before the neighborhood picnic we went to our house for the first time. The cleanliness factor wasn't bad considering our tenants have been out since early May, however, there are some bigger issues here that will be addressed today. We pulled up to see a huge bundle of cables snaking up the front of the house and along the gutters to a satellite dish for which we were never asked permission. Broken kitchen cabinets hinges and entertainment center door. A long florescent-tubed light removed from the ceiling of the garage. Missing shelving units, ironing board, paper towel holder in pieces, and a huge binder of all our appliance warranty info (WHY?). Our yard looks like it was completely ignored all year: yard dead and waist-high, dead plants, automatic drip sprinklers not turned on, no clipping or raking of any kind done. And then we discovered that one of the cabinets in our bedroom to which I had applied strong keyed-locks had been pried apart and the contents stolen! Luckily, they left the other one alone and that was the cabinet that had our iMac and safe in it. Sadly, we haven't even yet figured out what is missing. The property management company seems to have missed all this, but we will be filling them in today.

Yesterday we had great support from so many friends! We essentially emptied our locker of it's contents which are now all filling our house (or Lisa's office). The house feels much better with stuff in it, even if it will be weeks before things are in their proper places.
I hurt from head-to-toe, mostly my back from going so hard on so little sleep, but it sure felt good to be so productive and get so much done yesterday. For a reward we took ourselves and The Nabes out for mexican food and stayed again at their house so we wouldn't be surrounded by the chaos.

Today, Lisa is off to get our phones and internet up and running, and to get her office ready for her return to work one week from today. I want to get our beds put together, get some groceries in the house, and start on the yard. Luckily the 99 degree temps of the 4th and mid -90's yesterday are lowering to about 80 today. We are back in the U.S., and yet I've had very little time to reflect on that yet. Last night I downloaded over 100 photos from the camera and it was a mix of our last couple days in France and our first 2 days here - a very interesting conglomeration of our week. I would like to do more about these last few days: both our goodbyes and our hellos, parade videos, etc., but that will have to wait until the next post when I have more time and internet up and running at home.

Last post in France?

2009-06-29T08:18:00.018+02:00

This is probably our last post here in France. I plan to continue posting at home as long as our experiences are relevant to this year abroad. Philosophically, that will be the rest of our lives, but for this blogs purposes that will mean continuing through the transition from France to Ashland, Oregon, ie. the reintegration into our home and what that constitutes.

We had a fantastic weekend!! The fête at Bon Pin was everything we expected. They certainly know how to create an atmosphere around a table here in France. It starts around noon with the apero's, in this case, rum punch, specialty breads with olives, sausage, cheese, etc., Lisa's cornbread, Nick's calzone, guacamole and chips, One could fill themselves on just this course, but no...then appears the merguez (sausages), tomato tarts, and god knows what else I'm forgetting. Of course by now, the bottles of vin rouge and vin rosé have been decorked. Then Laurent, the Grillmaster, starts pulling the pork chops off the fire, and out comes the couscous, salads, bread - the "main course." Everyone takes their time with the meal, talking (about every topic under the sun), taking photos, drinking wine, and the kids go off to swim, while some clear enough space to keep the food and drink coming. Laurent soon appears with a tradition that is always a big hit, the fire-melted camembert cheese. Damn I love that stuff!

Ahh, time to give our stomach's a break. It was a beautiful sunny day and the pool was full of kids all day (I think Irie spent 10 hours in the pool) and the water was a delightful 81 degrees. Everyone moved down to the pool area, where Lisa and her hula girls gave a final performance for the guests, many of whom had never actually seen a hula dance before. They looked radiant and happy together!

Edouard, who makes documentaries for a living, brought his projector, speakers, screen, etc. so at some point near dusk we all settled in on the back patio to watch the DVD I made of our year in France. Everyone seemed to love it, and the recurring theme is that we've seen more of France this year than most of the French have seen in their lifetimes.

Time for dessert. Out came the fresh fruit, followed by tarts of all kinds: apple, berry, etc. and coffee of course. Meanwhile, the bottles of wine were steadily disappearing. Slowly some of the guests began to trickle home, but it was well after 10 pm before the core friends departed. We were the lucky ones who got to spend the night so Irie and Abbie were still out swimming with Laure and Fanny in the dark and having a blast. When it was just us and the Bruzzone's, after the tired girls finally went to bed...we finally moved inside and finished the night with a digestif before crashing hard from a very FULL day. As exhausting as any fun party can be, listening and speaking in French all day is alone incredibly fatiguing so I was wiped out!

Michelle and her family (minus Abbie who stayed at Bon Pin with us) kindly got a ride home with other guests so we could drive ourselves home on Sunday. We spent the day lolling around the pool, and of course the table. About 5 pm we finally left as we had another outstanding engagement. We were invited over to Laly's grandparents apt for an "apero" which of course turned into a full meal and drinks. Laly really reached out and made Irie comfortable here in France and at her school, and they became fast friends. Her grandparents, Guy and Annie, have become our surrogate Mamie and Papie. Laly's parent, Karine and François, are very relaxed and enjoyable as well, and we will miss their family too.

We are much loved here and have become part of a larger family of kind and generous human beings. I believe we could come back in 5 years and fall right back into the closeness and way of life with these families. There have been many tears, but also tons of laughs, and we are all truly richer for the experience! We are happy here and I think this photo represents that well:

I don't think words will ever do justice to the year we've had, but I need, at some point, to acknowledge all these wonderful people.

That will have to be another post. Maybe, time permitting, I'll sneak one more post in before we leave...

1 week to go!

2009-06-26T08:09:00.004+02:00

I've got nothing. At least for a blog post. But I feel I should put something down before we leave town for our last weekend in France. We've got piles of "stuff" everywhere. Suitcases out and open on the extra twin bed in Irie's room. Clothes that we know we're taking home but don't need are in vacuum bags, clothes we might leave here if we run out of room are in another pile, and of course we are still wearing summer garb. We've taken anything that is ours off the walls and bookshelves, out of the cupboards, and are trying to sort out the rest.

We have the airline regulations down in writing: 2 checked bags each with at total weight of 36 kilos or 80 lbs. Carry on bags must be under a specific size and can weigh no more than 6 kilos or 13 lbs. That's 93 lbs. each, which may seem like a lot to someone going on a vacation, but after a year of living here we have accumulated a few things :) Just think if Brenda hadn't taken Maggie home, as well as 2 bags of our purchases and some winter clothes. Books are a big question mark. We don't want to part with books we love and books we still haven't read. Then there's the breakables and the technology gear. I'm leaving behind all the skiing clothes I bought, and our landlady is buying our bikes and helmets which is nice of her.

We have been having a week of "lasts." Last French classes, last weekend volleyball, last hula class, last sailing lessons, piano lessons and sleepovers for Irie, even last foods that we know will disappear from our regular menu. Luckily, we haven't had our last day at the beach just yet.

So here's our remaining schedule:
Tomorrow Irie has school, then after school Nathalie is driving us up to Bon Pin where we will spend the night alone as a family. It reminds us of our own cabin (that we are deeply excited to return to), but instead of a lake, it has a pool. And occasionally sanglier, or big wild pigs.

The big Bon Voyage party is Saturday up at Bon Pin, and I think they are expecting about 20 of our wonderful French friends. We have had a few fêtes up there, always fun, so we know well what to expect and appreciate, yet know that this time will be different. Hopefully it won't actually be the last time we see most of them. In any case, Lisa and I have spent the past week staying up late putting together a movie of our Year in France. We just finished it this evening (minus the burning part) and got our year condensed down to a jam-packed 48 minutes. Sunday we will return home from Bon Pin at some point, but will be in no rush.

Irie still has school this week on Mon., Tues., and Thurs. Monday she is going to Michelle and Abbie's for lunch then Laure is picking her up from school. Lisa and I were originally planning on hitting Nice one last time, but may actually hop a train someplace we haven't yet visited. Tuesday is packing day. As is Wednesday, though we also need to be packed enough to clean the apt. as our landlady visits Weds. afternoon to finalize our departure. Thursday, our last day in Frejus...hard to believe! Irie has school, and after school our friends Kurt and Stephanie are driving us and all our stuff to a hotel near the Nice airport.

Friday morning the big return trip ensues. Flying Nice to Dublin to Boston to San Francisco - a total of 20 hours - arriving into SF after 9 pm (PST). A friend from Ashland is picking us up in her van and driving us home with an expected arrival at The Nabes at about 4 am. We have every intention of crawling out of bed 5 hours later to attend the 4th of July parade. What a homecoming. Assuming all goes as planned. So there it is in black-and-white. Yikes. So much for having nothing to say...

What a weekend!

2009-06-22T18:32:00.009+02:00

It was our 2nd-to-last weekend in France, and our last one here in Fréjus. Next weekend Nathalie and Laurent are throwing a goodbye party up at Bon Pin. Lisa, Irie and I are staying there alone on Friday night, then the big party on Saturday and we again spend the night, coming home sometime Sunday.

Friday night was Irie's reward for playing in the piano recital. She had 3 girlfriends spend the night - Abbie, Laly, and Théa. Our friend Kurt had a belated birthay picnic at the Base Nature that night so we took the girls there to hopefully get out some energy on the playground and to avoid feeling cramped in our small apt. In the video you'll notice them playing "Zombie" with some of the other kids from Kurt's party/picnic.
On the way home, walking through the port, we stumbled upon "gondola jousting" (my term) and had a laugh at their expense. We bought the girls ice cream, then headed home tired. Ha, between Irie's meltdowns from feeling excluded (there are always language issues) and the excitement of 4 girls in two twin beds in one small bedroom, it was 1:30 am when I finally dared lay down.

Sat. and Sun. mornings I played my last 2 days of beach volleyball with the regulars who show up every weekend morning. I met them through Edouard and there are some very fine players. I will miss the exercise, their kindness toward this foreigner, and jumping into the sea between games to cool off!

Saturday night we had Irie's teacher, Khaled, and his girlfriend AnnaPaula over for dinner. We were both tired from the night before (and volleyball) and found ourselves not wanting to have guests. As usually happens, we ended up having a great time! We started at our apt. with the customary Apero, ie. drinks and snacks, then we headed to the beach at dusk for another picnic. They were both très à l'aise and we found ourselves sharing the evening in 3 languages: french, english and italian. Another great thing about Europe one learns after awhile is that there are so many languages in such a small geographic area, that people find ways to communicate through their differences. AnnaPaula was born in Italy but lives and works in Paris now and speaks french just fine, and they both speak english to some degree so we all spoke in whatever language worked at the moment. Not that Lisa or I speak any italian, but just as they like to practice their english we like to try on other sounds and words. What I've found with my still-limited french vocabulary is that often I don't have a word in my repertoire so I'll find a way to say something with the words I do know. Irie got to play a game of freeze tag with her teacher (and all of us) and we enjoyed being seaside well after dark. A fine evening!

Sunday night was the Fête de la Musique which takes place throughout France every year on the Summer Solstice. We headed down to the plage about 7:30 and they had blocked off the street along the entire bord de la mer.
They had stages set up every 50-100 meters and we heard all kinds of music. A DJ, rock-n-roll, reggae, various dance groups, Sinatra-style jazz, and as you can see in the video New Orleans jazz and even country music with the line dancing that is surprisingly popular here. It makes me laugh that the French were so villified by the right-wingers a few years ago, yet here they are wearing their red-white-and-blue and proudly kicking up their heels to American country music. I think there is a lesson in there somewhere. Anyway, we met up with Laurent and Nathalie and spent the evening walking from Frejus plage to St. Raphael and back milling about, listening to the various bands, and just watching all the people.

We even caught a rainbow
It was yet another night that we were all out after midnight and today we are all feeling it. Here's a collage of events from the weekend.

Crazy Times

2009-06-19T08:38:00.005+02:00

Well, I guess it's time for another post. We leave in exactly 2 weeks, hard to believe! So many things going on at once that posting on the blog isn't at the top of my list of "things to do," but I'm going to pound one out right now, first thing in the morning. We passed a year away from home on June 16. Working on a video year-in-review for our going-away party next weekend.

1st: It's HOT! Yesterday was probably around 90. We face the problem of the French not believing in screens for doors or windows so if we choose to leave them open then every night we go on a mosquito hunt so we don't get chomped in the night.

2nd: Irie had her last day of sailing on Weds. - an all-day affair that left her tired and her face slightly sunburned. They sailed their little boats way out to Le Lion de Mer island,, around to a beach in St. Raphael, and back. Her instructor said she was excellent. Here she is!

3rd: June 5th was World Environment Day and they showed this film - HOME - on TV throughout France that night while also showing it on a big screen under the Eiffel Tower. The first 5-10 minutes are the least exciting, basically a quick summary of where we came from, but after that it is fantastic! The visuals are simply amazing! It's 90 minutes long and free at the link above. Give it a watch.

4th: Busy weekend ahead. Tonight is Irie's reward for doing her piano recital. A sleepover with 4 girls in this small apartment should be an interesting night for all of us. Irie, Abbie, Laly and Théa. Irie's question of "should we watch a movie in french or english?" is indicative of how this is no ordinary sleepover.

Tomorrow we are having Irie's teacher and his girlfriend over for dinner, then on Sunday night is the France-wide event Fête de la Musique. Every year on the night of the Summer Solstice, "the longest day of the year," they have music and dance performances throughout the country. Paris, I assume will be a complete madhouse with big-name acts. Here they will have multiple stages along the plage and according to friends the beach will be packed. Should be fun...

5th: Logistics for returning home are falling into place. A friend, Phaedra, from Ashland has incredibly offered to drive to SF, pick us up at the airport in her van, and drive us home. Assuming no disruptions, we will arrive at John and Taylor's about 4 am (after 30 hours of travel) and crash in their extra room. The 4th of July parade begins at 9;30 am and we plan to be there.

6th: I've mostly left the politics off this blog with the exception of celebrating Obama's election and how much that meant to us. However, I am deeply interested in what is happening in Iran right now - this could be the most important global event in years! These are my thoughts: This is the Iranian people's chance for true democracy and I support them 100%. They are not our enemies! The multitudes of peaceful demonstration and opposition are an inspiration to the world. I also support Obama not meddling and letting the Iranians solve this themselves. I do believe his approach is best, and unlike his Neocon predecessors whose hardline stance solved nothing but ratcheting up tensions and distrust around the world, I believe his own election and Cairo speech were a direct inspiration for what is taking place in Iran right now. Countries revolt and change from within, and these brave millions thronging the streets are human beings who desire much the same things we do - they are not faceless enemies to be bombed into submission. Bon courage and godspeed to them!!!

Mainstream American news sources are not doing their jobs on this historic event, so if you are interested in reading what is happening over there, I suggest http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

Irie's piano recital

2009-06-14T21:05:00.009+02:00

Saturday, June 13, 2009 and Chez Bailey-Browne is full of nerves. We talked Irie into participating in the "concours de piano" about a month ago and it took some serious persuading. Now the day was here and she was very nervous. Who could blame her? Elisabeth came in the morning for a specially-scheduled practice, mostly to explain how the event would proceed and give last-minute tips. Irie knew the song by heart and was ready, but she was anxious. We took her out to lunch along the beach, then headed into town via the bus. From the bus stop we walked into the park that is home to the Villa Aurélienne as well as the remains of Roman aqueducts. When we arrived at the Villa we could hear the strains of advanced students playing their pieces which only increased Irie's anxiety. She repeated multiple times: "I can't do this" while we assured her that she knew the song, and tried to calm her nerves. Problem was, Mom was almost as nervous. Finally it was her group's turn and the little room was packed full. Only when Irie's name got called did I experience that same feeling, silently rooting for her to "nail it" which she did. Then it was all smiles, the nervousness gone. She did a great job! Here's the video.

Thanks to her friend Laly's grandparents for showing up and supporting her, even though Laly had to be somewhere else. And to Michelle, Abbie and Nicholas who also came to give their support (and help take pictures). Afterwards, we all stuck around for a "goûtée" (snack) then went back inside for the awards. They had 3 categories: assez bien (rather well), bien (good), and très bien (very good). Irie received a "bien" and seemed genuinely pleased and interested in the other prizes she got with it which included some piano music, a coupon for shopping at a local store, and a rose. Her excitement in playing the piano in the last 24 hours has been noticeable so we hope she will want to continue lessons back home. We have promised to buy a piano if she does.

Laly's grandparents have really adopted Irie (and our family) as if they were HER grandparents. Besides Easter dinner and a beach picnic which were fun family-wide events, they have included Irie in many other activities with Laly. Today, after the recital they offered to drive us home, and on the way we made a stop at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple and war memorial for France's own Indochine war which occured before the U.S's involvement. The grounds of the temple were very peaceful and relaxing and a perfect way to wind down from the tension of Irie's big day.

Villa Mauresque

2009-06-12T11:31:00.005+02:00

Our friend Katell works at this "lux" (as in luxury) villa just outside of St. Raphaël along the Sea.
We had heard much about the place, but had never actually seen it. Weds. we got a last-second email saying that noone was staying that night and we could come hang out and swim in the pool for a couple hours if we wanted. With only 3 weeks left here, we (and our friend Nathalie) gladly took advantage of the invitation.
It has two big villas full of suites, two pools, and a beautiful tree-filled property.
The night after we visited she had a soccer player and his entourage staying there partying it up. Starting next Tues. for 3 weeks they are filming the European version of The Bachelor here with one lucky (or maybe not so lucky) guy and 14 women vying for him. While I never watch such rubbish, it is interesting nonetheless since we now know the place. I'm sure Katell has some stories she could tell.

Villa photos

Whoosh - the week in review

2009-06-08T08:49:00.013+02:00

It's all speeding by now, it seems. As they disappear, each week takes on added importance. So many events and gatherings, even the scheduled weekly appointments are laden with the knowledge of an upcoming finality. Bien profiter, bien profiter, bien profiter!

Last Monday was a holiday which would normally mean beach time, but it rained so we caught up on organizing the apt. and packing some stuff. Tuesdays are always busy for Lisa as she has her own French class in the morning and an arts class in the afternoon.

Irie and her friend Abel spend lunch together each Monday or Tuesday, switching homes, this week they were at Abel's. Since their teacher was absent we let them have the afternoon off and I took them to the beach with Irie playing in the water and sand while Abel goaded me into playing paddle ball for hours. He was calling himself "Rafal Nadal" as the French Open was midway, me reminding him en français that Nadal lost, but still, Abel is pretty good at it.

Already Weds., no school, but Irie sails from 9-12, so we usually show up about 10:30 on the beach to watch, have lunch, and swim. Then we need to get back home for my french lesson (with Pascale)
and Irie's piano lesson (with Elisabeth). She has her first-ever recital this Sat. playing a song called "Got the Blues."

Thurs. mornings Lisa is off to yoga/exercise/hula, and Irie went to Abbie's for lunch so Lisa and I had the whole afternoon to ourselves so guess what we did? That's right we went to the beach.

Friday, already the end of the week! 4 weeks left. I went to Lisa's hula class in the afternoon to videotape. Her class has grown and they have now learned 4 dances I believe. They are so beautiful and graceful, working so hard with this dance style and language that is so foreign to them. I am not normally present for these classes and it makes my heart burst seeing Lisa in her element, à l'aise and beaming with pride. Here they are doing Honomuni which Lisa choreographed.

Saturday, June 6, D-Day. We took special interest in the proceedings on TV (see last blog post) with the Obamas arriving. We read in the news the next day that they hit Paris like a storm: getting a private tour of Notre Dame, Pompidou, and then having dinner somewhere near the Eiffel Tower. There were cheering throngs of people everywhere they went, they are probably even more popular here than back home. We were going to take Irie to the Aqualand water park here in Fréjus but realized that they don't open for 2 more weeks - just one more thing to squeeze in. The winds had really picked up, so we took Irie and Abbie to the beach (oooh, big surprise :)) and had some fun in the big waves. Irie has become a strong swimmer and just can't get enough of the water. Fighting these waves caught up with her as she came home exhausted and fell asleep quickly (which is rare). There was also, amazingly enough considering the winds and waves, a regatta happening further out in the bay.

Sunday, another bright sunny morning, and the winds had died down. Lisa was on a mission to bien profiter from the big Sunday market while I went to the beach to play volleyball with Édouard and his cast of players who show up every Sat. and Sun. mornings to play. There are multiple players who used to play in professional leagues here in France so I just try not to make a fool of myself. Great exercise! And a warm sea to cool off in, then home to get ready for our next fête. It was Mother's Day here in France and we were invited by our friends Kurt, Stéphanie and Charlie
to an informal gathering with them and other friends who we hadn't met before. We still aren't exactly sure of the connections, but everyone met up at a private domain up in the hills with 3 pools, tennis and basketball courts, and a restaurant. We swam, I played pétanque for the first time, and we had a very nice meal. It was dusk (at 9:45) as we left for home.

Onward to another full week ahead...

D-Day

2009-06-06T13:11:00.005+02:00

Last month we got the chance to see Sarkozy on a very important day here, May 8, the day Germany signed an unconditional surrender giving France it's country back. Today, in Normandy, Barack Obama and his wife came to honor the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy, France. The number of veterans from WWII are shrinking each year, and like them and most historians, I believe these efforts are worth remembering if only so we can avoid a repeat of such a monstrous loss of life. Over 160,000 Allied troops stormed the shores that day with almost 10,000 of them losing their lives. This event led directly to the retaking of France from the Nazis and 11 months later to the defeat of Germany.

I know that we have felt very honored to be in France watching Barack make history back home! It feels good to have an intelligent diplomatic leader and watching him and Michelle on TV this morning, along with the Sarkozys, here in France made us feel connected to these two countries we love. We stayed in Normandy for a week upon our arrival last summer and visited Omaha Beach and the massive cemetary so I have a few photos.

Irie is always so excited to see BarrackO, and as you'll hear on the video she can't get over how "pretty" Michelle is. The video is simply Irie filming the TV so the quality is not great, but for those of you interested enough to watch, you can get a glimpse of french TV and how events like this are covered here.

Fête!

2009-06-01T09:20:00.012+02:00

fêter--to celebrate; une fête--festival, party; un fêtard--reveler; être en fête--to be in a party mood

Though not yet June 21, it's summer in the South of France and tout le monde has woken from hibernation to be outside and celebrate something. Sometimes it's an organized event, often it's celebrating life with loved ones. Photos from the past week

May 26 was the Fête de Voisins (Festival of Neighbors). We enjoyed an apéro out in the garden. We reminisced about Maggie and brainstormed with the neighbors about coming back to France. And of course Irie made a new friend.

This weekend we went down to St. Aygulf to catch the kite surfing championships.
Rick had 2 lessons in kite surfing last fall and I can see his reluctance to take it up again. There was wicked wind and all the spectators were lined up along the back of the beach, semi-protected from the wind. Interestingly, the kite surf beach shares territory with the nude beach. It reminded me a bit of the seal beaches found in Northern California....

With the extended light and warm weather we were able to bien profiter with Édouard, Marielle, and Séréna out on their patio and its gorgeous views. The nice weather also sees the "opening" of Bon Pin; Nathalie and Laurent were ever welcoming and we enjoyed a typical French Sunday of too much libation and the ensuing drowsiness. There was a bit of work as well: Rick helped Laurent with the pool cover and mowed part of the lawn. When Laurent teased Rick about knowing how to work a lawnmower (la tondeuse) they all got the story of Rick's first encounter with Norm.

We have been seriously celebrating the beach, and living near the beach. It's really a treat to get in a hour or two of swim time after Irie gets out of school. Both Abbie and Laly are eager swim companions. And since Rick and I don't work... well, let's just say we're tan. La Méditerranée has warmed up to a refreshing 23°. Rick continues to play basketball with Édouard pretty much weekly, and has started playing beach volleyball too. See if you can notice the effects of sun and sea on Rick and Irie's hair!

38 days

2009-05-26T09:45:00.010+02:00

...and counting. The days are rushing by now. Where did the year go? We are in such a groove, feeling like we belong. It's now OUR town too. The French is flowing more freely from all our mouths. We see familiar faces at school, on the beach, at the market. Friends wanting more time with us as that time disappears and vice versa. Lots of talk of a return; when and how? Irie is having regular play dates and sleepovers. She talks of wanting to come back for a month every year to see her friends. She says things like "we need to go home NOW or I might not want to leave." We talk of our "network" here and the possibilities of work.

Part of the rush of time is typical of the seasonal changes, no different from at home, or probably anywhere else in the world. Winter brings a slowing down, hibernation behavior; spring equals rebirth, longer days, more activity. Days at the beach melt away in the daze of sun, picnics, wine, swimming, paddle ball, reading, and conversation. Every weekend brings invitations - to dinners, picnics, volleyball and basketball games, Bon Pin - or another springtime festival or event of some kind.

Fun, joy, amazement, and yes, sadness and struggles, and learning as we go . Such an old country, but alive with new experiences. The return to old haunts, the excitement of new places. I'll never forget the Queen Mary 2 voyage, Mont St. Michel, a month in Paris, the vineyards of Alsace, boating the Canal du Midi, our amazing odyssey to Morocco, skiing the Alps and driving a team of dogs, Carnaval, Menton, the ride in the glider, the chateaux region, and living in the French Riviera! I absolutely love living near the sea! The connections to home through the visits of familiar faces, the joy of discovering new wonderful friends who have filled our lives here and created a new place to which we now belong. We have been welcomed into homes of people who didn't know we existed 9 months ago, people who will miss us, as we will miss them.

Life is a balancing act, but how to balance two places we love that are so many miles apart? Our lives will never be the same! We planned our Year In France for a year, now we've lived most of that year, very soon we will reintegrate into our lives in Oregon...for how many years will this year impact us? Forever I imagine. How can one not be permanently changed from living in a different culture? Language dissolved to the basics (for me at least) and seeing how the use of language, the turn of a phrase, the specificity of word choices, the importance of syllabic emphasis or facial expressions changes our perceptions of all that we experience on a daily basis. The joys of la vie en France: the food and wine that has changed how I want to eat and drink forever, the spreads of diverse cheeses, dried saucissons, olives, breads, tapenades, etc., the à l'aise pace of eating and conversation, the massive array of world class wines; also the activity of daily life - I've never walked or ridden my bike so much (at least since childhood), I swim in the Mediterranean daily, the devouring of books, the pace just feels right. I truly feel that HOW I live here in France has left me healthier in both mind and body.

Of course, we will return to work, I to school and Lisa to her private practice, to home ownership, cabin ownership, the reality of managing rentals, to Irie's extracurricular activities, to having a car and needing one. The pace will quicken, but I seriously desire with every fiber of my being to stay in the here and now, to relish each conversation, each chance encounter, to make time for breathing and the joy of a long meal or a morning in bed with a book. 38 days...

Cannes

2009-05-22T13:48:00.006+02:00

Yesterday was a national holiday here in France (Ascension) so Irie didn't have school. We decided at the last minute to go to Cannes (our photos) since it's only 30 minutes down the tracks and the world's most well-known film festival was happening. When we arrived, at about 11:30 am, we walked around the Festival grounds, which are directly on and next to the bord de la mer. It was still early so not much was happening.
Lisa and Irie did some window-shopping, while I did some eye-rolling people watching. Cannes has an up-scale exclusive feel to it anytime, but especially now with all the movie stars and wannabe's in town. Plenty of gaudy glitz and interesting apparel, and later in the day (as we were heading to the train station) more tuxedos and gowns. Lots of big yachts out in the bay, and helicopters coming and going as well. We didn't take in any movies, but every night after dark they show a classic on the beach for free and that would have been fun to do.

We found a sushi restaurant for lunch and had our first sushi since we left the States. Good, but pricey. Then we hit the beach, which by mid-afternoon had to be the most crowded beach I've ever been on. Film Fest + National Holiday + warm sunny day = EVERYONE AT THE BEACH!
The water has really warmed up so we did plenty of swimming, more people-watching, and headed home. It's great to be able to hop on a train (for about $7 each) and take in a place like Cannes or Nice, but one day here was plenty. No we didn't see any stars (that we recognized at least), but when we saw big crowds we beelined in another direction.
Another example of what one can do living here on the Côte d'Azur.

Un autre bon weekend!

2009-05-18T17:28:00.008+02:00

Now that the weather has finally become all that we had hoped for, the weekends are jam-packed with pleasure. The weekdays are just as nice, if not nicer, because the beaches are not as crowded when all the kids are in school and the majority of adults working. Not us! Irie gets a bit jealous when she sees us packing for the beach and she is heading off to school, but she knows she can always go on the weekends, and Weds. when she sails.

This weekend the city's Club Nautique, where Irie takes her sailing lessons, held its annual Fête de Nautisme. They had music playing on the beach, the "toys" were free to be tried out, and lessons could be had. Saturday we got a 45-minute catamaran lesson, and Sunday morning I headed down early to try out the planche à voile (wind-surfing). The typical weather here these days is mid-to-high 70's and very calm in the morning with the wind and waves picking up in the afternoon. The catamaran was a blast in the afternoon winds as our ace instructor whipped across the bay. On the other hand, my wind-surfing experience was colored by the breezeless morning making it difficult to pick up any speed. I was also interested in some sea kayaking, but we were invited to a picnic with Laly's family.

Laly is probably Irie's best "French" friend and it was her family that had us over for Easter dinner. The grandparents treat us like extended family, and the parents are easy-going and relaxed. We headed over to the Base Nature beaches where we were treated to a wonderful lunch of salmon pastry appetizers, big salad nicoise type sandwiches, yummy cheeses, rosé wine, coffee, and our contribution, an apple tart. Meanwhile, the girls used the multitude of sticks that had washed up on shore (from a heavy rain on Friday whose runoff turned the bay's waters from their normal blue to brown) to create their own beach shack
while the rest of us got sunburned and (Lisa and I) swam in the ever-warming waters.

Another great weekend! And, here's the video.

Up, up and away

2009-05-14T08:29:00.010+02:00

Lisa: One of Irie's birthday presents was a parasailing ride. Since Rick had recently been up in the glider I got to go with her. The parasailing boat left out of the port, Rick got to drive a little while the captain hooked up the parachute. He reports the little motorboat handled easier than the penichette we took last fall. Irie and I sat on the back of the boat, harnessed in and the captain let loose the winch. The wind picked us up and we were gone. The typical ride is about 20 minutes, but because we were the only customers that day and the captain and Rick got to discussing politics, Irie and I spent quite a bit of time up in the air. Plus, he knew it was Irie's birthday present. We had quite a bit of line, so were very high up, with fantastic views of the beach, downtown Fréjus, St. Raphaël, St. Aygulf, and the Esterels behind it all. As evidenced by Irie's giggles and smiles, she loved it. I was a bit motion sick, probably from handling the camera. Yet another experience in the books for our girl of many adventures.

Rick: Meanwhile, Irie has become très à l'aise (relaxed), speaking more French, talking about missing her friends here and wanting to come back to visit them, even having a bit of a springtime crush. She is sailing her own boat now in sailing class, and walking to and from school by herself. Turning 9 seems to have been a turning point of some importance for Irie! Of course, it doesn't hurt to have some cool new Converse high-tops.

Speaking of spring, the weather has been consistently nice, low 70's, regular beaching, even some swimming as the Mediterranean slowly warms up. We are feeling the time slip away (7 weeks and counting) and I know I'm wanting to get the most out of living near the Sea.

Last weekend, there was a Terroir du Vin at the Base, so went to do some wine-tasting. They had wines from all over France, as well as French food specialities such as saucissons, tapenades, viandes, etc.
While it only cost us 2 euros to get in, we left having lightened our wallets considerably. As with my wish for profiting from being 3 blocks from the beach, I plan to make the most of the gourmet smorgasbord available to me while I can, so "eat, drink, and be merry" will be my guiding principle for the next 7 weeks. Or as the French say: "bien profiter."

VE Day

2009-05-08T20:44:00.009+02:00

EDIT: Here is an english transcript of Sarkozy's speech we heard that day. Quite moving.

Irie's piano teacher works for the Mayor of Frejus (who is also a French Senator - they are allowed dual roles here), and she informed us at her last lesson that she had reserved 3 tickets for us to go see President Sarkozy give his VE Day speech in St. Maxime. We were delighted and jumped at the chance! Victory in Europe Day is a national holiday in France as it was the day Germany signed an unconditional surrender ending WWII in Europe. While most Americans are taught in school about the storming of Normandy, France (on June 6, 1944), they are less aware that we also invaded France from the Mediterranean in the south. The Allies invaded on beaches that are in neighboring communities of Frejus, near Dramont/Agay to the east, and St. Maxime and St. Tropez to the west. This invasion, Operation Dragoon which took place on August 15, 1944, helped push the Germans out of France and to eventual defeat.

Today we left our apt. at 7:20 am, as we had to walk to Frejus centreville to catch an 8 am bus full of Frejusians who, like us, had invitations to this event. St. Maxime is less than 30 minutes along the coast, and we were dropped off at 8:30 with a lunch and told we would be picked up by the same bus at 2:30. The event was extremely well organized with various groups being put in various, pre-arranged spaces. The event was taking place directly on Le Nartelle beach where one of the Allied landings took place. There were rows of chairs for special guests, mostly veterans and their families, and behind them, rectangular corrals. We were there so early that we walked right to the front railing of our corral and stayed there for the next 4+ hours. We had a remarkable view as the crowd filled, the band played patriotic songs, the various military outfits marched into place, and volunteers handed out free water, cookies and madelines, and collected our trash. Like most of our experiences in France it was very civilized and orderly...and in this case, gratuit.

Two days ago, while on the beach in Frejus, we had seen large military ships heading west and knew they were moving in for this event.

Today, they could be seen out at sea, standing guard and ready to display France's naval power. Sarkozy entered right on time, reviewed the troops lining the beach, shook hands with vets, and walked directly in front of us on his way to the podium. He gave a short, but poignant speech about war, how it is to be avoided, but sometimes cannot be, and thanked the allies for helping France save their country. Lisa said she got about 95% of it and that it was very Camus-like. After his speech he was helicoptered out to the big aircraft carrier where he, with all of us, watched a display of naval and air force maneuvers. It was a dramatic day, one we felt honored to be a part of, as well as being unofficial representatives of the U.S. A couple different cameramen focused in on Irie standing at the barrier with us, and after the event Lisa was interviewed by a major news source en française. Here's the video of our day. Thanks Elizabet for the tickets!!

Irie's Birthday

2009-05-05T12:13:00.009+02:00

Irie finally got to have a birthday en française. She puts a lot of importance on holidays, something we're not entirely pleased with, as her expectations always aim for the moon. She waited, rather impatiently, for the almost 11 months since we left home, watching Lisa have her birthday, then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day went by, and finally my birthday. We've been hearing about how hers was "next" ever since then. She must spend a lot of time worrying in her head because she has a serious need for everything to go just exactly perfectly, which as we adults know, never does.

Anyway, we thought she had a great birthday yesterday. Her Nana is here (Terri too), the weather was perfect, and loads of people remembered her. We sent out invitations before the school vacation to 8 friends to come to our apt. for the two-hour lunchtime this first day back to school. 7 of them were able to make it:
Thea, Lily Rose, Laly, Noame, Abbie, Assia, and the lucky boy, Abel.
Marching this troop the two blocks home from school was a riot, and as was true for the duration of the party, they all had tons of energy.
Poor Maggie was exhausted after the party (as were we adults).
We set up a table and blankets in the courtyard where they manged on fruit, candy, chips and drinks
while Dad cooked pizzas. After the pizza, Irie opened up all her fabulous gifts, and then it was time for cake and ice cream. They even sang Happy Birthday in english We thought the party went great, to have 7 French friends show up with smiles and gifts, but Irie felt it was too short and thought she was being ignored. We tried to point out that they were excited by an American birthday party, the dog, the food, going to a party at lunchtime, that everything about it was new to them, even the climbing tree was a hit.
The guests all had a blast!

After school, we were going to surprise Irie with her first parasail adventure but it started raining so that will happen tomorrow. Meanwhile, she got skyped by lots of family members in MI, a dozen emails from friends in OR, and a phone call from our French friend Nathalie. Despite all this attention, as bedtime approached she was incredibly sad that her birthday was "so short." We are hoping this is just a phase and that we know she misses her friends back home, but our continuous message is that she controls her own happiness. Today, she seems to be realizing that it was a special day and is back to making set-ups and telling stories with some of her new presents.

Enchanting Chateaux

2009-04-29T22:13:00.010+02:00

We capped off our week of vacances with 3 days in the Loire Valley. In 1996, when we were last in France, Rick and I toured the Château de Chambord, a magnificent example of Renaissance architecture that Francois I had built as a hunting lodge. While the outside of this castle is scrumptious, the inside doesn't hold much interest, except for the double helix central staircase. This escalier was designed so that lovers could go up or down a floor and not be seen by passersby, including their spouses. Ribald!

There are dozens of châteaux still standing, many restored thanks to becoming patrimoine heritage sites, others kept safe, through wars and revolutions, by the families who inherited them. I was always amazed there were so many châteaux in the Loire Valley--if there was only one royal family, why have so many homes? Well, this trip I learned that the royal court was enormous. Thousands of people hung out with the royal family--relatives, religious powers and others of whatever import. These thousands would traipse about the countryside amongst "the court" and all needed a place to stay.

We chose to stay in the little town of Amboise (our pics), centrally located just east of Tours. I found an apartment online, across the street from the Château d'Amboise, with magnificent views of it.
This apartment, with some of its wood paneling dating back to the 16th century has been newly renovated and is completely modern. We were only the second tenants. Its 2 bedrooms felt very spacious compared to the cramped quarters of our Paris hotel. The town of Amboise is charming--set on the bank of the Loire with the lovely gothic and flamboyant facade of the chateau overlooking the little streets.

The Château d'Amboise is called a "château royal" because it indeed housed several kings. In fact Charles VIII was born there and also died there, after bumping his head on a doorway after viewing a tennis match. Once the court moved closer to Paris, however, the château fell into ruin. Only 1/5 of the original remains, the rest of it was sacrificed to rebuild what stands today, under orders of Napolean. The chapel on the grounds houses the tomb of Leonardo de Vinci, who lent his talents to French kings interested in Renaissance style and spent his last years in Amboise.
This château also served as a house arrest for an Arab emir and his retinue who were captured when France decided to colonize Algeria. He was released after 4 years but several of his household died while living here and they have their own burial plot on the manicured grounds.

After pouring over websites of the other châteaux to visit, we selected Chenonceau for its uniform rave reviews and its close proximity to Amboise. After seeing this delicacy we've decided Chenonceau is the gold standard of Loire Valley châteaux. It has everything: a sugary façade, formal manicured French gardens, and exquisite furnishings. In addition to period furniture this château houses original tapestries and paintings. The attention to detail with each room went from the monogrammed ceilings to to the fresh flower arrangements. As this castle was built over the Cher river, supplies could come via river and be deposited right to the kitchens, which seemed so well equipped it was like the staff only had the day off. This château is not huge and so most of the rooms were available for viewing. During WWI the entire château was used as a hospital. It was a beautiful day, the only thing to mar it being the ubiquitous scaffolding. Here's our photo gallery.

Château de Chenonceau is called le Château des Dames because it is known for the women who lived there. Diane de Poitiers was given the château by Henri II, her lover, and she is responsible for the grand place that it is. But when he died his widow Catherine de Médicis kicked Diane out and moved in. She made a few changes including building a gallery over Diane's bridge, and designing her own rival garden. Other queens, daughters and daughters-in-law lived in Chenanceau as well, all leaving their mark, but the creepiest of all was the room dedicated to Louise de Lorraine. After her husband Henri III was assassinated she withdrew to Chenonceau and spent the rest of her life in prayer. Her room is a veritable house of mourning.

Our whirlwind trip up north ended with taking the TGV back home. We were whisked south in a bit over 4 hours from Paris. We went to get Maggie from Chez Katell, where she spent a happy week getting spoiled with several walks per day, including some marathon balades in the Esterels. Today, a week later, we found a juicy tick--her souvenir from her vacances.

Back to Paris/New Experiences

2009-04-25T08:25:00.017+02:00

Our trip to Paris was a 3-day cyclone of activity. Since we were taking Brenda (and Terri who had been before) for her first visit to this fabulous city, there were obviously repeats such as the Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, etc., but we also were able to experience some new things. This started with getting on the train at 8:30 pm for an 11-hour night journey. Lisa and I both traveled at night on trains back in college, but this was our first time this year to do this, let alone with a kid, too much luggage (what's new?), and two extra adults relying on us. While the train was nice enough, the seats reclined but did not go flat, and the lights stayed on all night (we still can't figure that one out, we even asked...), so none of us except Irie slept worth a damn. We pulled into the Gare de Lyon in Paris at 7:30 am, piled all our stuff on to the Metro, and made our way to the Les Argonautes Hotel. We had been told we could leave our luggage, but the rooms wouldn't be ready until early afternoon. The rooms were actually available so we all took power naps until about 10 am, then started our day. We love this little hotel in the Latin Quarter! Small, personable, friendly, cheap, and ideally located, but yes it can be loud at night with the bar scene in the alley. It was raining so we walked across the river to Notre Dame. Then the girls wanted to shop on the Ile St. Louis, after which we had a fabulous lunch.

The next day we went to the Catacombs, which was on our list of things to do last summer, but somehow had not happened. It was really a trip! You walk down through these narrow passageways of what used to be the city's quarry mines, past amateur sculptures , and finally into the actual tombs where they moved 6-7 million of Paris' dead in the late18th-early 19th centuries. They were moved under cover of night by priests because cemetaries had filled up and poor burying practices were resulting in disease. The bones and skulls are stacked incredibly orderly, sometimes with a bit of artistic flair like skulls in the shape of a heart or a cross (see photo gallery).

After the Catacombs, the sun was finally starting to peak out from the clouds so we headed over to the Eiffel Tower and took the elevators to the top. Always a spectacular view! Then on to the Arc de Triomphe, and a walk down the jam-packed sidewalks of the Champs-Élysées. Speaking of new experiences, I certainly would never have stopped for a drink in this incredibly pink brasserie if I hadn't been with 4 women!

Later this night, Brenda realizes her Passport is missing. Being a Sunday night there is nothing to be done about it until the next morning at which point Lisa and she head off to the U.S. Embassy to get a new one. It turns out to be a very easy process, but the unknown of "where is it?" is unsettling. We got home to Frejus to find her original sitting on the table, so at least it wasn't stolen, and Lisa got another new experience. Meanwhile, I took Terri and Irie on a leisurely stroll along the Seine River, over the Pont Neuf into the Louvre courtyard and the Tuileries Gardens where we met up with Lisa and Brenda.

After lunch in the Gardens, Lisa and I got away for a little alone time strolling the Luxembourg Gardens (Lisa's #1 garden in the world) while the ladies and Irie went shopping again. Later that evening, we took them all to St. Chappelle for a stringed performance of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." While this was something Lisa and I had done on a date last summer, it was well worth the repeat - a different sextet, front row seats, and afterwards the ladies got to meet the "hot' lead vioinist, buy the cd, and get his autograph.

We then hit a fun Latin-themed bar in our hotel alley where we scored some Havana hats , and did a little dancing before heading to a Moroccan restaurant that was excellent.
Lisa, Brenda and I even headed out to catch the midnight dazzle of the Eiffel sparkling on the hour. All in all, a fun-filled three-day tornado of sights, sounds, tastes and activities that left us all feeling spent...as the length of this post can attest!

Giverny

2009-04-23T10:25:00.007+02:00

I will have to write a post on our 3-day whirlwind in Paris later. Right now I'm sitting in our bedroom of our apt. in Amboise looking at the marvelous chateau here. Yesterday we toured the castle and grounds and enjoyed the ambience of this town, but as with Paris I will write more about it later. Today, I'm going to focus on Giverny.

Giverny is a very small village a little over an hour west of Paris, and is where Monet lived. He created the ponds and gardens from which he created so many of his masterpieces, and it easy to see from where his inspirations came. I love Monet, he is possibly my favorite painter ever, and as we walked the grounds his paintings where ever-present in my mind's eye. There's the ponds and the bridges,
the flowers,
the colors.
It was sunny and warm, and to be here in spring when the tulips and so many other flowers were in bloom was perfect timing and delightful. I took full advantage of the surroundings and the light to take hundreds of photos. Here they are.

Visitors from Michigan

2009-04-17T18:46:00.008+02:00

Just a quick post before we hop on the train for Paris. Lisa's mom, Brenda, and friend, Terri, arrived safe and sound Weds. afternoon. Nathalie was kind enough to drive Lisa to Nice to get them , and they came bearing American goodies. Reese's peanut butter cups, peanut M&M's, microwave popcorn, and mac & cheese and Poptarts (both Irie requests) filled the table. They've had quite the changes in weather: from beautiful and sunny Weds. afternoon, to heavy rain yesterday, to a mix of sun and rain today. I think they've been eating very well, they've been to the beach
, the market, and downtown Frejus.

Irie just got out of school and has the next two weeks off. It is her last real school vacation of this year and she is très excited. "Nana" is here, we're going back to Paris, and doing it on a night train, something she has wanted to do since she found out it was possible. We are bringing the computer so hopefully I can get a post up from Paris and from Amboise in the Loire Valley where we will be touring famous chateaux. Until then...here's a few a gallery of Terri's photos so far.

Le Pâques Weekend

2009-04-13T17:23:00.015+02:00

What a wonderful weekend! Friday, as was written about in the last post, we played Loto (bingo) in the packed school gymnasium and even had a little luck.

Saturday, we had our friends Edouard, Marielle and their très jolie daughter Serena (who turned 1 today!) over for dinner. Edouard and I play basketball, one-on-one, almost once/week and it's always a rout. He is, after all, probably 6'4" and this is his sport! A guard v. a center is hardly a fair contest, but it's really about exercise and a chance for both of us to speak the other's language. Anyway, as is custom in France, one shows up to another's house with some kind of cadeau in hand, usually a bottle of wine, flowers, or dessert. In this case, not only did they bring a bottle of Rosé, but he brought me a brand-new basketball! Not only that but he personalized it with little french sayings from our games: "prêt?" (ready?); "dommage" (too bad - and always said with a bit of sarcasm after a missed shot), and "à bientôt" (see you soon). I love it! Bonus: Irie is now interested in the game so we have been going outside for dribbling and passing practice (no hoop here at the apt.). For dinner, I went out on a limb and dared make magret (duck breast) which is a distinctly french dish. Turns out Edouard's mom makes a magret that he has wonderful memories of, so the pressure was on. We also made fresh green beans with mushrooms and onions and baked potatoes, and Lisa made parfaits for dessert. We were a bit surprised that they didn't know what a "parfait" was as it is a french word (parfait means "perfect"), but now they know! Lisa made them with granola, yogurt, maple syrup and fresh strawberries, and the joke the rest of the night was that the parfaits were parfait. They also kept complimenting the duck so hopefully they weren't just being nice :) It was a very à l'aise (relaxed) evening and Irie got to practice her future baby-sitting skills with Serena.

Sunday was Pâques (Easter) and on Friday we got an invitation to dinner at Laly's grandparents at noon. Laly is one of Irie's classmates who has spent the night here once and had multiple playdates here and Irie there. This, however, would be our first time hanging out with the parents and grandparents. Their apt. is only about 5-6 blocks away with a nice view of the beach and sea. The complex has a small garden area and they hid a bunch of chocolate eggs that the two girls hunted. It was yet again, a very relaxed atmosphere with the grand père sharing some homemade wines - one a vin du noix (sweet and nutty), and one a vin d'orange amer (bitter orange) - they went well together. Grand mère had the cooking flowing like a professional. Perfectly arranged individual appetizer plates that included our first taste of blood sausage. Like foie gras, this was not something I anticipated liking, but was delicious! Just don't tell me what's in it (though I have a pretty good idea). The dinner was also très bon with a starter course of asparagus and fava? beans, a tasty meat though we still aren't sure whether it was veal or lamb, au gratin potatoes, a cheese plate, and an apricot/meringue/custard dessert that melted in my mouth. Laly's mère and père appear to be our age and were easy-going and convivial. At 4 pm we rolled out of there content and full, and walked home along the beach. As with any of these get-togethers I was a bit spent from the energy of listening and parlez -ing en français.

Today we awoke to bright sunshine and warmth, one of the nicest days of spring. Considering it was a national holiday, the timing couldn't have been better. We noticed over the past week that our apt. complex and the whole Fréjus Plage area has been steadily filling up with people and cars. Not only was it Easter weekend, but we understand that the Paris-area schools are already on their spring vacation (Irie's starts next week), so people are heading south in droves. The grocery store lines were huge all weekend and the cars along the plage were moving at a snail's pace, everyone looking for parking. It makes us all the more happy about the location of our apt, and not owning a car. It is also a marked contrast with the quiet we have experienced all winter. Today, the beaches were packed! I went for my first swim in the Mediterranean since last fall, and we all enjoyed a real beach day like we haven't since last October. It was a weekend that seemed to typify how we have become Fréjusians.

Now Irie has 3 days of school, a morning of sailing lessons, Lisa goes to Nice on Weds. to get her mom and Terri, and Friday we are on our way to Paris.

Le Loto

2009-04-11T09:35:00.005+02:00

Irie's school had the French version of the bake sale to raise money for extracurricular activities. We wrote about the Christmas Loto we went to in a previous post. We got to the door a few minutes late and were told there were no places left. Wow, rockin' start to a 3 day weekend! We went in anyway to say hi to friends and Kurt and Steph figured out how to squeeze us into their table. The acoustics were terrible so hearing the announcements and the numbers called was a strain, especially since we were socializing too. We've also learned that when the numbers (1-90) are called they are often prefaced by the associated département. (The Var, where we live, is 83, Paris is 75). At some point in school one must memorize all the departments and their numbers, as we do the state capitals. So amidst all the commentary en français we were straining to hear the numbers. But all our table mates were cheerful and helpful and we all provided each other auxiliary ears. Loto is like Bingo, only you call out " Quine! " (pronounced KEEN) and have to stand up and flail your arms. The teachers and principle of the school were the volunteer verifiers of the Quine callers. I won the first game! As the night wore on people left and so we took over their cards, but alas, though we had some close calls we didn't win anything else. My prize, "Tea Time" was a basket stuffed with glasses, coffee cups, a tea pot and cup, coffee, teas and other little hoo-ha. And a plant. Quite dramatic carrying that stuff out of there.

Happenings in the south of France

2009-04-08T15:00:00.008+02:00

In two words: "not much." But it's time for a post, so here goes...

While the weather is pas mal, it's rarely très bon either. Everyone keeps saying this has been the worst winter they can remember. Figures. Though the weather, even in this "terrible" winter, was probably better than it would have been in Ashland. I do know the wet cool weather made for great skiing in the Alps, whereas at home, Mt. Ashland suffered from not having enough snow. In any case, it has kept us out of the Mediterranean, but hasn't stopped the bike rides, the sailing lessons, the markets, or yet another trip to Bon Pin.

Sunday, we went up to the Bruzzone's chalet for the third time, this time under the impression that we would be working, perhaps helping them get ready for the summer season. Instead, we all sat outside on the patio enjoying a fine spring, typically French lunch of meats, breads, cheeses (melted-in-the-fire camembert is The Bomb!), tartes, wine, and even some guacemole and tortilla chips, all followed up later by fresh strawberries and chantilly (homemade by Nathalie).
I think the only work that got accomplished was Laurent cleaning all the leaves off the pool cover, but they didn't seem to care.

In the meantime, it feels like everyone is preparing for the two-week Easter vacation that begins a week from Friday. This is the last school vacance of the year and we are going to Paris then the Loire Valley to tour some of the famous chateaux. Lisa's mom, Brenda, and her friend Terri, arrive next Weds. and they are going on this last adventure with us, before setting off on their own trip to Italy. They will then return here to celebrate Irie's birthday before heading back to the States. Proof of our dwindling time is that we are in the planning stages of how to do it. Maggie is flying home with Brenda, then my dad will drive Maggie out to Oregon in July when he delivers the grandparents van to us...a very thoughtful cadeau since we sold our van before we left. We, especially Irie, will miss Maggie, but this makes the most sense.

Irie has also continued asking friends over for lunch. The latest was a bold new step for her as she asked a boy, Abel (pronounced "a bell"), and he was a lot of fun and very polite. She is going to their place for lunch next week. That's all for now.

Patience

2009-04-03T08:01:00.006+02:00

French bureaucracy is legend. I've already written about our adventures with the Préfet and obtaining les cartes de séjour. After 7 months in Fréjus and 9 months in France I've become used to waiting. It's not a bad thing. Waiting can be maddening. For example if you're blindfolded in the back of a car, motion sick, waiting for your spouse to become unlost. Or if you're in line at the grocery store and you have 5 minutes to get to school to pick up the kid and the check out lady is blabbering away with the guy in front of you who is taking way too long to bag his wine and cat food. Waiting can also be humbling--in certain situations there is nothing you can do because someone else is in control of what you are trying to do

The washing machine. We moved into our apartment on August 30th and by the time the owner came down (a week later) I had already broken the door of the washing machine. I tried to force open the door when the cycle was not done. With good humor Christine, the landlady, began the process of ordering the part, instructed me how to pick it up and mentioned something about how we could install it ourselves. After 3 more re-orders because the part had been sent back (1), the order had been lost (2), and the wrong part came (3), we finally got the right part (a door handle) in mid March. I looked at the door and figured we could install it ourselves. Then I removed said door, figured my way into the section to attach the handle and realized after I removed the springy thing that if I couldn't do this it would be a real pain to haul the clothes off to a laundromat while I waited for a tech to install the thing. The broken door was working just fine. A flat end screwdriver opened the door, no problem. But my pride was at stake, I really wanted to install this handle. No Gary (our fix-everything friend back home), just our two sets of hands and our meager apartment tools. We did it and it was a proud moment. Now on to the gate opener thingy.

The post office. I've learned to bring a book, or the iPod, or both. I now look forward to those minutes to myself. One time I was about 10th in line and I was lucky enough to catch an argument. A lady in line had had enough and started complaining loudly about how the post office was running things. Though she was thoroughly annoyed to see workers behind the desk but not actually working the desk, it all was really good natured. She looked around enough times to gather some murmurs of support and the guy at the desk who was working skillfully paried with her. Front row seats to French theatrics!

Transportation. A year without a car presents challenges, but owning a car has many challenges too. It's refreshing not having to pay car insurance and replace tires but we have to stop and consider things we previously took for granted, like running to the grocery store. Walking, biking or bus time is now built into the schedule. Michelle has been very generous with her car. Nathalie and Laurent as well have taken us many places, including home after a late night. But we don't assume we will have a car for the vast majority of situations. This week Irie went to a birthday party. When I finally figured out how far away the house was neither Michelle nor Nathalie could get back to me in time for a ride. So I figured out the bus system. A 20" car ride became a 80" adventure--walk to bus stop, wait for bus, get on bus, realize I should ask if this is the right bus, learn it's the wrong bus, thankfully get on the right bus just in time, figure out the stop at the other end, find the house.
We were on time. This was not a party I was going to hang around at, I wasn't friends with the parents, so I left, assuming I'd catch another bus home. Luckily I only had to wait 5" and it was the same driver who dropped us off. I was the only one on the bus so we chatted. Once we got into town the driver must have assumed we were good friends by now because she did some very unusual bus driver behavior. She circled the same block 3 times, talking on her cell phone, then explained to me that she had to pick up a friend. She had to tap a button so that her bus would read "out of service" so that waiting riders wouldn't be mad she wasn't stopping. She finally found her and apparently friends don't have to pay a fare. I never did see her tap the button again to put her bus back into service.

Friends. Joëlle, my French teacher in Ashland, counseled us that Irie would be silent for 3 months, then like a computer she would "click on" and French would stream from her mouth. That hasn't happened, though her French is arriving slowly and surely. What we are seeing now, however, is a real interest in her. Taking Irie to school everyday we see the same parents over and over. Some barely notice us, others look curiously, others are friendly, smile and say bonjour. Irie's first lunch date with Laly opened the door to more invitations, as her friends want to be invited over and Irie urges us to talk to the parents to make it happen.
Our network of who we know has exploded in the last month. And we face going home in 3 months. Zut.

Tweaking the blog

2009-03-28T19:53:00.013+01:00

With the semester over, it feels good to have some free time for whatever catches my interest. Lisa and I have been fantasizing about how to get our work visas so we can come back to France. It might be 3 years down the road...or 10, but we feel deep down in our souls that we belong here. I even went so far this week to apply for a few part-time jobs I found on an anglo site. One bite so far, but it wasn't really something that I felt was worth my time. While a little money would help, it's not about that, but more about making contacts, networking, finding out how things work, and what it could lead to. In other words, two things I love - socializing and learning.

I also decided to play around with the blog a little bit. As much as I know it is a good way to update family and friends (and whomever else might stumble upon it), it is also our public journal of this year in France. So you'll notice a new feature on the right hand sidebar, below the videos, a chronological listing of all the towns and places we've visited since leaving the U.S. All the names are clickable, usually taking you to the home of that town's tourism website. In almost every case I chose the countries home language version of the website: obviously almost all are in France, so almost all are en français. However, most have a small british flag near the top that allows all you english-speakers to switch to the language you can read. For us, it's an easy way to remember the year without going through all the old posts. Let me know what you think of it. I also added a French>English translator since we like to throw in French words sometimes, and a French news/euro>dollar currency converter.

We are enjoying the incredible spring weather lately! Irie is spreading her wings, having friends over for lunch or playdates, and spending a lot more time out in the common jardin hunting for coccinelles
and papillons which find themselves in a new home - Irie's insect palace.

Next on our agenda is figuring out where we want Irie to go to school next year back in Ashland, planning for Nana and Terri's visit in 3 weeks (we want buttery microwave popcorn!!), and figuring out how to get Maggie home.

Lisa: At this point we are at the time of year where we were just arriving when we had foreign study in 1985, so we're not too discouraged yet at the remaining time. I'm squeezing out all the French I can, and squeezing in all the bread and salted butter I'll never be able to take home, and squeezing into my size 4 jeans.

P.S. We are now on Daylight Savings TIme so have gained back that hour with all you Americans.

Mon anniversaire cadeau

2009-03-26T09:20:00.009+01:00

As I wrote in my last post, my wonderful wife pulled off an excellent surprise party that left me feeling grateful for the friends and life we've developed here in France. I also noted that they had all joined together to buy me a 30-minute flight in a glider. Wow!

I awoke to a cloudless blue sky on Sunday...perfect! The flight was at 5 pm in Fayence, one of those classic European hill-top villages.
View Larger Map
Laurent and Nathalie picked us up, and we took our time getting there, stopping at Lac de Saint-Cassien for a short hike down to the lake. I had some stomach butterflies, nervous excitement, but was really looking forward to it. I like thrills and adventures, but sadly, I also have an issue with getting somewhat motion sick on boats, in planes, even sometimes riding in the backseat of a car. I took a pill before we left, but they make me a bit fatigued, so I had a weird sense of pumped-up anxiety mixed with the pills effects. Irie was all excited and wanted to do it herself...I almost let her.

As we approached the air field, we could see other gliders in the sky. After checking in, they took us out to the glider, put my parachute on (a first for me!), explained what I needed to do en français if it was needed (yikes), and put me in the glider. So if I have this correct: in case of emergency, open the transparent bubble that separated me from space, unlatch the seatbelts, and pull the cord (after I'm out of the glider of course). Okay. Within minutes the small plane had pulled in front of us, latched us to it with a cable of some sort, and was pulling us into the air. I've only flown on big passenger airplanes, so being pulled into the sky was a trip. After 5 minutes or so, when we were high up in the air, the plane detached the cable and we were on our own, no motor, just me and the pilot floating (or was it being pushed around by the wind currents?) in space. He did lots of circles and figure-8 types of maneuvers and would occasionally do steep embankment turns where I was looking down the wing straight to the ground. While feeling a bit of the motion in my stomach, it wasn't too bad and I was videotaping and snapping pictures left and right. I was thankful that there was a small sliding window that I kept open for some cold fresh air. A couple times, the pilot asked me "ca va?" (OK?) and I replied "oui!" Other than that it was silence and the sound of the wind. And beautiful!!! I could see the snow-covered Alps to the north and our town of Frejus and the Sea to the south.
The pilot slowly made his way back towards Fayence and I really enjoyed circling low over the town. It was clear he was inching lower in altitude getting ready for our landing. As we came in, I could see Lisa, Irie, Laurent, and Nathalie waving. The landing approach was steep and fast, or maybe that's just a visual trick as the ground gets closer, but it seemed like the ground and the plane came upon each other trop vite and that is the one moment when I almost tossed my cookies. I was also filming the landing, but at the same time telling myself: "no, you made it this far, you're not going to get sick damnit!"
I felt like we were landing on little toy wagon wheels, but in a heartbeat we were stopped and it was over. Here's the video: My glider flight.

After disembarking, I helped him turn the glider around and it was light as a feather, then they hooked it to a golf cart and pulled it to the hangar. What a fun little business they have going! What a great experience and present!!! Thanks to Lisa for wanting to make my birthday in France special, Nathalie, who had the idea for this present, Laurent for driving, and everyone else for pitching in...it was really fantastic! Here's the photo gallery.

My birthday weekend

2009-03-23T10:02:00.013+01:00

I'm pooped! What a weekend! I try to downplay my birthday (I've had a lot of them), but my daughter can't contain herself. I knew Lisa was up to something, but didn't know what. Because of Irie's exuberance and desire to be a part of it all, I figured I wasn't being taken away for an intimate weekend with Lisa. My best guess was a small party involving the Bruzzone's and Michelle and Abbie. As it turned out Irie was in on the secrets, and even though I was teasingly trying to get her to tell, she did a great job of not spilling the beans.

Friday, we had a long-planned dinner with some new friends we met at Irie's school. The dad, Kurt, heard Michelle and I talking in english and introduced himself. He is an American who has been here 20 years, married a french woman, Stephanie, and has a son, Charlie who is a year younger than Irie. We had a delicious dinner at their apt., and a very nice time. Even before the dinner, Irie's excitement resulted in her giving me her card and present...a day early. That's my girl!

Saturday morning was heaven as I got served coffee and breakfast in bed, and Lisa gave me her present and card. She told me I needed to be ready to go "somewhere" about noon. Before putting me in the car they blindfolded me. Little did I know that an hour later I would still be in the car, and feeling a bit carsick from the curvy roads and not being able to see. After getting lost and having to call Nathalie, Lisa finally got us to our destination - the Bruzzone's country house, Bon Pin. I had a feeling, based on the driving time and winding roads, but what I certainly didn't expect were all the guests! Here I am, less than 9 months in France, and we have 17 people at my birthday party. I am humbled and deeply touched at how we have been welcomed so warmly in France, how generous and caring the friends we have made, and how our french lives have developed in such a short time. (Those of you who worried about whether we'd come home have legitimate concerns :))

We have had glorious spring weather the past few weeks, but Sat. March 21 was cold and cloudy with a few raindrops even. Despite that, our friends drove an hour into the country to spend my birthday with us, and there they all were: Nathalie, Laurent, their girls Laure and Fanny and Laure's boyfriend Aurelien, Michelle and Abbie (who came with us, it was their car afterall), Edouard (my "employer" for the CERS ad he made), his wife Marielle, and their precious baby girl Serena, Hélène, Pascale (my french tutor) and her significant other Eric, and Jerome who supplied everyone with his music-making all afternoon and even got Lisa and I to sing along on separate occasions. We had a wonderful meal that left everyone gonfler (full). Then came dessert with champagne (frozen), 3 delicious gateaux and a group card. Inside was a trip in a glider the very next day! In Michelle's great photos I think you can see the surprise on my face. Thanks to Michelle for the continued use of her car, and for taking photos all day! Big thanks to Nathalie and Laurent - not only did they open up Bon Pin to all of us, but Nathalie was a major help to Lisa in getting this party together in every way , and Laurent slaved over the fire cooking up the chicken, pork chops, veggies, and the melted Camembert that disappeared in a flash! And the biggest thanks to my lovely wife for going to such extraordinary lengths in a foreign country to make this an unforgettable birthday!! She even topped off the evening with one more courageous surprise, dancing my favorite hula, Pua Hone, with everyone a witness of her love for me.
Thanks Hon!!!

I will get to my amazing day yesterday in the glider, however, that will need to be a separate post. Needless to say, I came home exhausted and discombobulated, and fell fast asleep.

Sailor Irie

2009-03-18T22:40:00.006+01:00

Irie started her sailing class today. "Faire de voile" = to sail, en français. Every Weds. morning from 9 - noon, until June 17, she will be learning how to sail her own small boat. She seemed excited when I signed her up last week, but today she did not want to go. I think, like when school was about to start, she gets nervous about new things, more so because it's in french, and it brings out the worst in her behavior. Of course, we forced her to go, and by the end of class she admitted it was fun, she made new friends, and had a good time. As the only true beginner she shared a boat today, doing the steering, but the instructor said within 4 weeks she'll be a pro - he was very outgoing and encouraging. The little boats all sailing in a row are so darn cute. The weather was fantastic, so it was a perfect excuse to hang out on the beach all morning.

Meanwhile, while we were sitting on the beach watching the lesson, a fire-fighting plane did a few practice runs, picking up water and dumping it out. I saw three of them in a row practicing last week, but didn't have my camera. Today, I filmed two of his practice runs and they are in the gallery at the top of the post.

Living the French life!

2009-03-15T19:23:00.010+01:00

3 1/2 months left, and we're trying like crazy to fight off the pull to get sucked into all the hoopla that will surround our return. We have plane tickets to SF, and a lease here that goes through July 3. But so many other things must be dealt with: how to get Maggie home, how to get from SF to Ashland on the 4th of July of all days, arriving to an empty house whose contents are in a locker 15 miles away, getting our one car back, Lisa reopening her practice and going back to work, taxes, the cabin, the rentals, the mail, phones, and that's on the U.S. side of the Atlantic. Over here, we will be packing and figuring out how to get everything home without going broke (oops, too late!), selling anything we can like winter gear, bikes, etc., cleaning our wonderful little apartment, Irie finishing school the day before we leave, and most important, saying goodbye to our new french friends and our french way of life.

We feel that we are in full stride here and are not ready to go home! We remind ourselves that our foreign study at Kalamazoo College in 1985 (Lisa went to Caen, France and I went to Hannover, Germany) went from late-March to late-June, so that wouldn't have even started yet. We've got 3-plus blessed months still in front of us and want to make the most of them! Lisa is making the most of every minute with regard to her french skills, whereas I'm still working hard just to get the drift of full-speed conversations, but I get by. Irie got about 6-8 inches of hair cut off this week and looks so grown up. She is also starting a beginner's sailing class this Weds. morning that goes until mid-June. I don't think she is fully aware of it, but she is one lucky girl. She's had more experiences by 8 y.o. than many of us get in a lifetime. She also had her spunky little french friend Laly over for a sleepover on Fri. night and watching them play we realized Irie has more french language skills than we ever knew.

Spring has truly arrived. We've had dry warm weather for over a week, and everything is in bloom, so one of the things we did with the two girls was go out and collect all the different flowers we could find, then Lisa helped them press them. Today Laurent and Nathalie picked us up and we went out to le Rocher de Roquebrune for a hike to find "L'Ermite" who supposedly lives in this classic-looking mountain ridge. On our first hike we found old Roman ruins now ingrown with trees and vines, and some fantastic views. On the second hike, not only did we find his cave/home, but Irie ended up inside with a few other brave souls. After climbing around outside I decided I better go check on her, and when I went to his door, he asked, en francais, if I was "le pere American" and there sat Irie right next to him. He is 86 and has been living in this cave for 43 years. It was actually quite cozy with a table, foam mattresses on natural benches for beds, and builts in shelves for books, etc. But I would imagine it's difficult to be a hermit when your home is a hiking destination. Here's some pics from our day.

Bienvenue Les Fouts !

2009-03-13T17:16:00.021+01:00

The Fouts Family and spring arrived simultaneously to the south of France. After flying into Frankfurt (fares were cheaper) and driving and sightseeing some of Germany and Switzerland, my step-brother Ken, his wife Jan and their girls Maddie and Rachel joined us in the Alps. We had no address to give them to Google map the location, just some descriptions and landmarks--"across from the parking VVF" and the reassurance from Nath that the chalet would be très facile to find. Though WE found it easily, Rick found Ken driving around town headed toward the next town. They unloaded and exploded into the chalet and were quite the troopers, having already adjusted to the time change. Rick took Ken down to the village to rent skis so they could head out early, and it was clear Ken was chomping at the bit to get going the next morning. We had another blue sky beautiful day and the girls lazed about and wandered into town late morning to rent skis. After a typical French lunch of bread, sausages and all sorts of cheeses we headed across the street to get on the slopes. From our chalet we walked across a parking lot, skiied down a small hill, had to ride a teleski then skied down to the resort to get lift passes. We have assigned Ken and his family to write their own post, so for now I will just say that the Michiganders/TimberRidgers faced some challenges. Though Ken had a bit of soreness from his morning with Rick, he was grateful for it, as he didn't ski much during the afternoon. Rick, Irie and I ended up splitting off from the Fouts' so they could get the hang of the mountain as they saw fit. The afternoon ended with Rick and I being the last ones off the mountain, it was so gorgeous.

The next morning we motivated to get the place cleaned up and cars packed. We first stopped at a nearby fromagerie, highly recommended, where we hoped to gorge on Alps' cheese. Zut alors, the restaurant was all booked and we had to settle for buying cheese instead. We then stopped in Sisteron, a town that tempted us on the way up, as it had some sort of, well, old building, built into the hill. We had lunch and continued on, arriving in Fréjus late afternoon to some heat and sunny skies! We swung by Picard, one of our favorite stores, that only sells frozen food. The Fouts girls were anticipating trying escargots and Picard makes it so easy! Rachel loved them, Maddie was a good sport. The girls stayed with us, Ken and Jan stayed at L'Oasis nearby. On Sunday we went to the market then had a picnic lunch on the beach. The girls shopped for junk while the dads rolled their eyes.

Later in the day, I participated in La Journée de la Femme by being part of a living art piece where me and 300 other Fréjusiennes lay "allongées" for an hour. The rest of the family joined me later, after a trip to the Roman Coliseum, and Rachel even made the front page of the paper!
On Monday the parents sent the girls off to school for the morning. Maddie and Rachel were a hit--they brought Tshirts from their soccer team for all the kids and the teacher in Irie's class. We let Irie have the afternoon off and we all headed to a little beach cove that Rick found on one of his bike rides, called Tiki Plage. We sought shelter from the wind! It was a toasty afternoon and each of the girls earned a Euro from Rick for going all the way into the Mediterranean. That evening we went to Nathalie and Laurent's for an apero and Jan got to practice some French and we all got to discuss how to do a proper bisou. Then we went to dinner for moules-frites--bravo again to the girls for trying all things French! or Belgian, in this case!

We had a great time, Irie was sad to see them go. In fact she cried, and I wrote a note to her friend Laly asking her to cheer her up. I know the Fouts had a whirlwind Europe adventure and we so appreciate them coming. It takes a lot of motivation and curiosity to haul yourself and 2 young girls to a foreign country and we're so pleased they made the effort to see us. (We also appreciate the things they brought--tylenol, motrin, microwave popcorn and Harry Potter 6). They packed a lot in and I know they are still digesting it all. I can't wait to read their blog contribution. We were also proud to show them the life we are leading and introduce them to the friends we have made.

Mush!

2009-03-10T10:28:00.015+01:00

As many of you know, our daughter is a complete and utter dog fanatic. We have always had dogs in the family, including our current beautiful snow dog, Maggie. Irie is always ready to give love to any dog with which she happens to cross paths. For years when we've asked her what she wants to be when she grows up, her answer is either "working at the pound" or "being a veterinarian." She also loves any movie that involves dogs as main characters from Eight Below to Snow Dogs to Underdog. We have wanted to take her on a sled dog adventure for years, but it never quite worked out. Well, as chance would have it, through our newly acquired french network of friends and their acquaintances, we ended up in a chalet for a week in the beautiful southern Alps of France ,
and there were multiple teams of well-trained sled dogs willing to make Irie's dream come true.

On Thursday, March 5, we showed up for our reserved adventure at 11 am in the little town of Ancelle, and had an absolutely fantastic experience! It had snowed about 8 inches the night before so the entire surroundings were dreamy white, but that also meant the dogs would be working extra hard. We watched as the trainer picked his teams. He picked 7 dogs for the big sled he would be driving with Irie as passenger. 3 dogs for Lisa's team, and 4 dogs for mine. He gave us a brief rundown on starting, stopping, and staying balanced. Lisa learned real quickly about the balance trickery, but as always was a fast learner. I became pretty adept at filming while also controlling my team, and at one point asked Lisa if she had anything to say. Her comment: "I'm speechless"...followed shortly thereafter by "Who needs heaven?" It was blissful. I will let the video tell the rest of the story: Our sled dog adventure.

I also made a fun little video of the three of us skiing.

Les Alps (UPDATED!)

2009-03-02T18:00:00.005+01:00

UPDATE: We are home in Fréjus, so can upload lots of pictures and video. We had an absolutely fantastic week in the Alps. Sunny days skiing with Lisa
and Irie.
A day at Orcieres all by myself.
A wonderful powder day after 6- 12 inches of fresh snow. And guests, both our french friends from Fréjus, and our family from Michigan.
We also had a dreamy day running dog sleds, but I will do a separate post on that experience.

We are now in Les Alps du Sud in a small village called St. Leger-les-Mélèzes. Our chalet is perfect for us and a few guests, with wonderous views, a nice wood stove, and the ski area is literally across the street. Maggie, our snow dog couldn't be happier lounging on the snowbanks in the yard. Mélèzes is an evergreen that goes orange in the autumn and then loses its needles for the winter. I asked someone on the ski lift because they looked like dead pine trees, and I couldn’t believe their forests were mostly dead. I’m glad that isn’t true. We arrived on Saturday to a beautiful blue sky day in the mountains, but awoke to a rainy snow yesterday. I skiied anyway as that is why I’m here. It is not a big resort, but the elevations goes from 1260 meters up to 2000 meters and I spent my day up in the clouds. Today, the fog lifted so Irie and I went skiing in the afternoon. She hadn’t skiied since sometime last winter on Mt. Ashland, but like riding a bike she was confident and comfortable after the first run. I did a little video of her, but haven’t uploaded yet and since we don’t have internet at the chalet, this will have to do for now. Our friend Nathalie and her daughter Fanny arrived today, and we’ll all ski tomorrow. Weds., I am going alone to a bigger resort about 9 km away, and on Thurs. the three of us are going to have a sled-dog experience. Later that day, Lisa’s brother and family arrive here for a couple days before we all head back to Fréjus. on

Carnaval in Nice

2009-02-25T15:26:00.010+01:00

It's a day late, but HAPPY MARDI GRAS! Or Fat Tuesday in english. We celebrated on Sunday with a full day in Nice. They do their Carnaval from Feb. 13 - March 1, and it includes many events including balls and parades. The three main repeating events are the daytime Carnaval parade, the illuminated nighttime Carnaval parade, and the Flower parade. We were originally going to go for 2 nights and catch multiple events, since it is another 2-week school vacation, but we ended up booking a chalet in the Alps for a week, so decided to go for the day and catch the daytime parade. It was absolutely perfect...we had a fantastic day!

We got up early on Sunday, left the apt. at 8:30 am and walked to the St. Raphael train station. We were in Nice before 10 and strolled down to the Bord de la Mer under a blue sky. We walked along the beach, found the Jardin full of kid activities where Irie got her face painted, then headed to the grand ferris wheel for a look from above. The parade wasn't until 2:30 so we took a leisurely and deilcious lunch, then headed back to the Promenade Anglais where the people were really starting to congregate. Vendor with carts were selling crazy hats, masks, balloons, bags of confetti and cans of silly string (by the case load). Little did we know what we were in for...full on silly string wars. We were feeling festive so bought hats, masks, confetti, a dolphin balloon that you will see make repeated appearances in the pictures and video, and many more cans of silly string than I ever would have guessed.

Let me just say that I love New Orleans, but I've always gone there for Jazz Fest in early May, and have never attended Mardi Gras. That town knows how to party hard, so I can only imagine how absolutely crazy the parades must get with everyone boozed up and treats getting tossed from every float. In Nice, I felt completely comfortable having Irie front row on the parade route. If anyone was drinking you wouldn't have known it from their behavior, and they don't toss anything but confetti and silly string from the floats so there was no mad rush to collect booty. The floats were first-rate, the people were friendly, and we never felt crushed or crammed by the crowds. As the period neared the latter stages we were able to walk easily against the grain catching the floats we hadn't yet seen.

Here's the video:

We love Nice for all it has to offer so we then headed into Old Town for some post-parade treats (ice cream and crêpes) and a little shopping before walking back to the train station for the relaxing ride home. We were perfectly sated from a day of eye candy, good food, and loads of fun and laughter. What a great start to spring vacation!!

Our busy lives

2009-02-23T13:05:00.005+01:00

We are now on school vacance #3. Irie has 2 weeks off so we are in the midst of all sorts of fun events. Luckily, the weather has been très agréable, the best in months with beautiful sunshine and temps in the 60's! A friend I graduated from high school with, Brad Hettinga, married an Italian woman, and they have been living in northwest Italy for 13 years.
They rented a house down here in St. Raphael so we have had a chance to catch up after 25 years. He has two adorable girls, Julia 12, and Sophia 8, who speak english so Irie was in heaven. We had dinner at their place on Saturday night (thanks Anna!) and this morning they came down here and we took them on a tour of the port, our favorite bakery, and some play time on the beach.

I have been busy with my two psychology classes, while Lisa is heavily involved in various classes around Fréjus. Yesterday we went to Nice for the day to enjoy Carnaval in all it's glory. We had an absolute blast, but will write a separate post on that in the next couple days after I process video. Here's a little taste:

This Saturday we are renting a car and heading into the Alps for a week. We are staying in a small village called St. Léger Les Mélèzes. We are renting a chalet, I will do a lot of skiing, and we are hoping to do a sled dog run one day. On Thursday, Ken (Lisa's step-brother), Jan, Rachel and Maddie are arriving to join us, then driving down to Fréjus for a few days. We are all looking forward to their visit, but Irie is counting the days.

We have one more 2-week school break coming (late April - early May) and Lisa's Mom and friend are flying over. We are all going to Paris for 3 days, then touring some Loire Valley Chateaux for 3 days then heading back here before Brenda and Terri take off to Italy for some fun.

Finally, we booked our tickets home. It was kind of sad, as it indicates our year is rolling along, but there it is. On July 3, we fly from Nice to Dublin to SF. Will probably stay overnight so will arrive back in Ashland on July 4. Not sure how Maggie is getting home, but we hope to send her a week or two ahead of time.

Mimosa (Lisa)

2009-02-21T13:30:00.006+01:00

At home Mimosa meant an orange juice heartily fortified with sparkling wine, usually drank to ready oneself for a long day of celebrating--Thanksgiving or Christmas. In the south of France, Mimosa is a flower that illuminates winter. This plant, which grows into substantial trees, was imported from Australia in the 1800's by wealthy English who settled themselves on the Côte d'Azur. It has adapted well to the dry and sunny Mediterranean climate. Villages and towns celebrate the blooming, which seems to peak in February. It is used in perfume; the scent is mild and pleasant. In Menton the Mimosa was a close second to the lemon, and it's the exact same color. The sprays of puffy yellow flowers, are unfortunately short lived once cut. Branches that are brought indoors begin with puffy clusters of tiny suns that progress to tight globular balls within a day. Like forsythias, green branches not yet in bloom can be forced. There is a route du mimosa stretching 130 km, starting at Bormes-les-Mimosas and ending in Grasse.

As my friends and I discuss our spring fever and our impatient waiting for warmth and continuous sunshine they also tell me that many people have allergies to mimosa, as they emit a very fine pollen. I think I am one of those, but I'm treating it locally --honey and a dab of Chartreuse!

Menton

2009-02-16T08:50:00.013+01:00

Rick surprised me with a Valentine getaway to Menton. This little city is just about at the end of the road where France borders Italy. It is another little gem along the necklace of charming places that make up the Côte d'Azur. But unlike Cannes (glamour), St. Tropez (faded glamour) and Nice (big city), Menton had more of a residential yet touristy feel. Very much like our hometown of Ashland. Menton is built up on a steep hillside but has plenty of flat area close to the sea. The beaches are rock, much like Nice, and give the water its fantastic azur hue. The climate is the best in France because the town is tucked into these hills, protected from the wind. I commented I could live here, and I think Maggie could too! While it had its share of ports and expensive boats it is also intimate and friendly. For example, our room service breakfast was delivered and the woman walked right in, not blinking an eye that Rick only had his pants held up to himself. She laughed as she got a glimpse of his buns, muttering nothing was new to her, and something about a 16 year old granddaughter. What?!! I can't remember if she wished us a happy Valentine's day.

What drew Rick to plan this weekend here, however, was war. Yes, even though it was Valentine's. (We believe love always wins in the end.) Our friend Edouard (he produced the ad with Rick's voice over) made a film about soldiers from Madagascar and Senegal who came to fight for France during World War I. They trained in Fréjus, as it most approximated their home climate, before being sent to the cold northern fronts. Menton became a receiving place for the many who were injured, ill and/or died. Beautiful old buildings that had previously housed visiting European royalty were turned into hospitals to treat TB, wounds, or psychological injuries. The soldiers would arrive in the dead of night, as the Mentonaise had virtually no previous exposure to Africans. To treat facial injuries a new technique in rhinoplasty was developed. The recuperating soldiers participated in some of the local agriculture production. They wrote or dictated touching letters home, never complaining about their injuries or pain. The Cimitière du Trabuquet has dedicated space for these soldiers, hundreds of whom died fighting for France métropole. In the picture you can see the various religious symbols. I learned from Edouard's video that these Malgache soldiers were often stacked 7 or 8 high underground. We accessed the Cimitière by climbing the many winding stairs and passageways that snaked through the old town. The views are amazing. The Cimitière accommodates numerous graves, as it has many terraces. In addition to the soldiers' memorial we saw numerous Italian families, some Germans, some graves in English, some in Russian. Menton is very international.
Photos of city and cimetière.

This lively Garden of Eden is proud of its citrus. We were lucky enough to catch the start of the annual Fête du Citron. This was the 76th year of celebrating lemons, and other citrus fruits. This year's theme was celebrating world music. Up in the cemetery we picked some oranges, which were extremely sour and would have made a good marmalade. The night we arrived we strolled around an illuminated garden featuring giant size citrus sculptures, within various themed musical areas, and tastings of local lemon products. We weren't there long enough to attend a parade but from what we could gather this is a smaller scale version of the Rose Parade. On Valentine's night we attended a concert--act 1 was Russian singers and dancers, act 2 was an all-girls high school marching band from Japan. They also included some cheerleading moves but no majorette. Photos of Fête.
We ended the weekend with tastings of Limoncello, a lemon liqueur, and purchases of various citrus products.

It's always fascinated me how France came through 2 devastating world wars. This country has been razed and decimated but has returned with pride, and much to be proud of. Many believe de Gaulle to be responsible because of the strong positions he took in post-war planning. I believe a bigger force are the French citizens themselves. War heroes are honored with street names; military cemeteries are beautiful; every town has their own war memorial thanking their fallen sons. And with all this life is celebrated and savored, sometimes with something as simple as a lemon.

Biking the coast

2009-02-10T20:49:00.009+01:00

When we arrived in Fréjus last fall, we got in as much beach time as possible before the weather changed. I took some kitesurfing lessons and swam as much as possible, but since then my main form of exercise has been biking (faire de vélo). My favorite bike ride is a 22-25 km ride along the coast to Agay and back.
View Larger Map
Leaving our Frejus Plage apartment I am on the coast in 3 short blocks. From there I head east along the Mediterranean as it takes me through St. Raphael, and past their 3 ports. It has some slight ups and downs, nothing serious, and takes me past great coastal views and a host of small inlets and beaches that will be great stops for a mid-ride swim once spring arrives. Of course, even when that happens it will take awhile for the water to warm up, the locals say May, but I bet I'll be swimming again before that :) There is also a war memorial in honor of Operation Dragoon that was part of the allied invasion of southern France in August of 1944.
Past that is my favorite little beach that I call "Tiki Plage" because of the Tiki restaurant right there on the beach. It is a beautiful eyelet cove with a narrow outlet to the Sea, perfectly calm for snorkeling and young swimmers like Irie. Shortly thereafter is the beautiful bay of Agay with its striking backdrop of red hills.
As you can see from the photos, it was a great day for a ride. Spring is coming.

Ready, Set...Soldes !

2009-02-07T19:35:00.015+01:00

Les Grandes Soldes in France are a big event. Sales are nationally regulated, occur twice per year, and last about a month. The January sales started on the 10th and will end February 10th. We caught the tail-end of the July soldes while in Paris. If you’re coming to France outside of the Soldes periods, don’t worry. Many stores get around the regulated sales by having “promotions” or “fin de series” markdowns. The information I gathered about Les Soldes is from asking my friends, reading the newspaper and watching TV. On the eve of Les Grandes Soldes I caught a panel discussion on TV on the topic. They discussed the merits and drawbacks of the countrywide markdowns. Issues raised, including questions posed by consumers, were: Does it promote more consumerism and blind consumption? Is this system better for competition and consumers than that in the US, where sales occur at the whim of the store? If a store can start out a sale with a 75% markdown, why did they charge so much in the first place? Can’t stores just price goods competetively in the first place and then the soldes don’t have to take place? The newspaper article had interviews with Average Persons on the street: Some wait for the soldes to snap up an article they’ve been eyeing all season but didn’t want to pay regular price; Teens who go out with their friends for a day of shopping and looking around; Those who wait til the bitter end, taking their chances that by the 3rd week and the 3rd markdown there will be something decent left. It seems these big sales are government regulated so that it is fair for all involved--the stores mark down at the same time, the consumers know when it is happening. I asked my friends if stores were required to mark down (that sounds like communism, doesn’t it?) and they said No, a store can keep their stuff at regular price, but shoppers are likely to pass them by.

My information was also gathered first hand: I shopped the soldes. In July I was so overwhelmed by the choices of stores and goods in Paris that that we really didn’t take advantage. Irie got some much needed shoes which lessened some of her Paris complaining. I found some unusual red shoes and still can’t decide if I like to wear them with socks. Rick found some shoes, jeans and green Benetton pants that were 10€! He has since really changed his look--he left the Birkenstocks at home and I haven’t seen any Levis since our boat trip. He wears the trim European look very well.

I didn’t really anticipate much for the January sales, considering we spent freely on exotica in Morocco. Irie was limiting her clothing choices to one pair of cords so we headed to Monoprix for some kid’s clothes. We came away with some pants, a beret and some ski gloves. I also knew that Rick was planning on buying ski clothing and a new bike during the sales. I still couldn't help myself and surprised Rick with a soft cachemire sweater he had spotted but didn’t want to pay full price for. I thought that would be it, but during the first week into the soldes I was invited on a girls’ roadtrip to Nice. In my exuberance I forgot the camera. My friend Katell was interested in finding reasonably priced items for some things she needed for work. Nathalie hadn’t been to Nice in years and was happy to look around. I, of course, already knew my favorite boutiques and was chomping at the bit to go back and see what tempting items might be marked down. I found some divine hair treatment at L’Occitaine and Katell worked it so we all got a free hand cream with our purchases. My favorite shoe store no longer had the grey boots I was eyeing, probably for the best! The Italian lady who has the shirt shop (I splurged on one with Athena) and calls all her customers “Princesse” did not mark down the way cute jacket I’ve been wanting. I again refrained from paying 240€ for it. My favorite pottery shop, Faïence de Moustiers, had NOTHING on sale. I was getting pretty discouraged but I still had Custo. This is a store Athena helped me discover--they have very unique things. Yahoo! New raincoat! (I later found matching hat and gloves on sale in Fréjus). It was a long day, weather wasn’t great, I had a blister on my toe, but I scored a Custo raincoat at 40% off. Nath liked that store too, she left with 2 new shirts that give a shot of brightness to her wardrobe.

By the end of the second markdown I was invited back to Nice on another girls’ roadtrip, this time with Nath and her two teenage daughters. I was warned this was mainly for the girls. I wasn’t sure what they would be looking for but imagined we’d be going to our equivalent of DEB. The quality was a smidge better, but you get the idea. We also spent some time in righteous skateboard shops and gazed in the window of the piercing parlor. This time I brought our (new) camera and got some shots of girls on a mission. I found the grey boots I had been looking for but they weren’t on sale, so I passed again. But I then dropped some cash on some sweet Puma tennies that were not on sale. I managed to find a cute little top at one of the teen stores (on sale) and am giving myself a little push out of my fashion rut of plain turtlenecks and Tshirts.

By this time, with only a few days to go, we are down to the braderie (clearance), which is mostly junk. The other day in Toulon I checked out the last of the sales at Galeries Lafayette and while I didn’t find any bargains I did see the new spring line of another favorite brand, Desigual, coming out. Oh no!.....

C'est Février déja !

2009-02-02T13:45:00.006+01:00

We have 5 months left. It feels like our year is going so quickly. Weren't we just in Morocco? Now Janvier has come and gone. Maggie turned 5 yesterday! Today is Groundhog Day, a movie we love so much we brought it along. Sorry all you folks back home, Phil saw his shadow so it's more winter for you. I know with the winter you're having that's the last thing you want to hear. We're ready for beach weather too - it's rainy, windy and cool here. I guess that's good because it keeps me here doing my school work (when I'm not blogging :)), but it's bad because I'm not out in public practicing my French which has hit a wall. Anyway, here's a really nice Fréjus pic I've been wanting to share. Taken from the port a couple blocks away, looking at Centreville:

Many of you may have gotten an email from me this morning about The Best Job in the World. If you haven't heard about it yet, it is a 6 month job "caretaking" an island on the Great Barrier Reef! They want someone to push tourism by touring the area, being adventurous, and blogging about it. Since the job starts July 1, it seems meant to be, though I am a realist about my chances. Anyway, the application video is below so I'm asking a favor: go view it and give us a high rating. One of the 11 finalists is a wild card based on rating so send it on to all your friends too and shamelessly beg them to vote for us. :) Rick's video application

We also got motivated late last night, while most of America was probably watching the Super Bowk, and made a photo montage of Lisa doing Hula through France. Watch and enjoy.

Skiing Valberg

2009-01-29T12:15:00.004+01:00

I finally went skiing! There is a local Côte d'Azur Ski Club which does a bus run every Sunday to one of three ski areas: Isola 2000, Auron, or Valberg. They have a sign-up on Fri. at a restaurant on the beach strip. It is 45 euros for the bus ride (about 2 1/2 hours each way) and the ski pass for the day, but as a non-member I had to wait to see if the bus got filled by the members. Luckily, it did not. I could not have gotten luckier with the weather - after 2 days of rain here, and fresh snow on the mts, we got a blue ski day! Incredible!

As was the gorge we drove through. Like John Muir, I always feel like I'm in church when witnessing a great natural wonder such as the Grand Canyon, Zion Nat'l Park, or Yosemite. Gorges du Cians felt just like that to me: breathtaking, sheer cliffs, steep drop-offs down to the river, and a road unbelievably built into this narrow tight gorge. Hairpin turns, low overhanging rock, tunnels chiseled through the rock in places - the bus seemed far too big for the road, but the driver knew what he was doing, and we made it. For me a big part of the amazement was the fact that modern technology made navigating this gorge possible at all, and once we popped out the other end, the beautiful snowy Alps awaited us.

Sadly, the day ended on a bit of a bummer. I set my camera on the bus seat and while reaching up to get my coat, it disappeared. Baffling. It was there one minute, then gone the next. I don't believe anyone purposely stole it as everyone on the bus was a local, but maybe it fell on the floor and someone thought it was their own. We searched the bus high and low, and it had vanished, and along with it the 100 or so photos I took. Thus, the pics and links above are not mine and just a taste of what I had hoped to share. Maybe it will still get returned, but seeing as it was our only camera, today Lisa and I went out and bought a new 10-megapixel one. So the next post will be coming with pics from our new camera.

Becoming Legal

2009-01-27T12:26:00.010+01:00

France is very fussy about who gets to stay here. State-paid items such as (universal) health care, education, early retirement, extensive maternity leave, and unemployment benefits are pricey. Unemployment is high. Immigration is high.

A non-European Union passport allows one to stay in France (or other EU country) for up to 3 months. Longer than that and you need a visa. A visitor visa is different than a work visa. Either requires application in one’s home country many months prior to entry.

We had our visa appointments in February at the French Consulate in San Fran. I read the website carefully for the documents required and brought an overabundance of copies. Each consulate operates independently but within the bounds of French law. What that means is the consulates have fonctionnaires that follow the rules but bend them to common sense or the situation sitting in front of them. Our visa process went smoothly and a February appointment for a July departure was not too early. Our passports were held and mailed back to us within the 2 month window. We were allowed an exception for applying for the Carte de Séjour (one must begin this process within a week after arrival in France) as we wouldn’t be at our home address until September.

We applied to the Mairie in Fréjus within a week of arrival. The Office des Étrangers is actually in an annex of the mayor’s office, in a rather ugly area of town, but right next to a bright little flower shop. We were given a list of more papers and photos to bring in. Slightly different list than those for the visa. We had to have even more passport photos. The local megagrocery store has a photo booth for such a purpose. Unfortunately our photos look like criminals. I gave them a mixed selection of photos--the new hideous ones and the ones we brought from home which were much more attractive, and hoped for the best. We walked out with a paper and photo stapled to it affirming what we had submitted. Too bad the photos were the good ones, what a waste. We were not asked for any money. What a surprise.

After a couple months we hadn’t heard anything. I do believe the Lady at the Desk told me we’d be getting a receipt in the mail. At this point in the year I dreaded talking on the phone because it’s so difficult to decipher, I hate asking for constant repetitions, and then usually getting the info wrong. So we headed back to inquire. Same Lady at the Desk who looked into it and something happened because I got my medical appointment in the mail.

Next came medical appointments. After being here 5 months it was now time to go to the public health office and prove we weren’t infecting the country with TB. I got my letter for an appointment in Marseille. For the next week. Rick had no letter yet. With Laurent’s phone help we changed the appointments to Nice, and had them both on the same day. Back to Nice! Michelle helped out with Irie, who did not have to deal with any of this. (Like all cultural events, kids get in free.) At the public health clinic (ugly building, ugly part of town, but actually a beautiful mountain backdrop) we sat with 3 young Asian immigrants who appeared to be monks-in-training, with their mentors. There was a very efficient rotation between nurse, doctor and radiologist. A chest xray is required. We did not have immunization cards but they took us at our word for our last tetanus shot. Nor do we have livres de santé, which I guess is a book of health each French citizen keeps, to note such. I have a chart. It is in my doctor’s office. I have insurance papers. They are called Explanation of Benefits and are in a file cabinet, in a storage locker, in the outskirts of Medford, Oregon. But those missing notes were really no big deal, this is, after all, the south.

I did not pass the chest xray. I had a spot on my lung, the size of a small raisin. I told the doctor I believed it had been there a long time, based on vague memories of a chest xray done long ago. Records of which were in Oregon. She said it didn’t look worrisome, but that she couldn’t pass me, and that I had to see a lung specialist, in Nice. We didn’t have to pay anything for these appointments and I was told there would be no charge for the visit to the pulmonologist. Rick passed and got his medical ok. As much as I love Nice, this is getting to be tedious.

We go back to Lady at the Desk in Fréjus. My carte is ready, but I can’t have it because I haven’t passed the medical yet. Rick has his medical ok but his carte isn’t ready yet because he needs proof of income. What? We did that to get the visas! In San Fran! We didn’t press the issue about “Why didn’t anyone notify us?” and instead posed the curious question of why my carte didn’t require this. It seems only the husband has to have enough money!! Since we proved the income for the visa I was surprised we had to do it again, buy hey, we’re not working, what better to do than dowload and copy off our bank statements. The current rule for income is $1800/per person/month, adults only. We’d now been here 5 months. Did we have to prove we were worthy back to July? Just worthy from here on out? I gave them June and November and hoped they’d figure that the gross reduction between the two meant we were living it up and spending it up in France, and boy, were we welcome guests. This visit was worthwhile in that we did receive our receipts that we had applied. We thought it would be nice to have something official since we’d be travelling to another country/continent and we really hoped to get back into France.

An aside: Unlike previous visits we had to wait a couple minutes at this one. I used the time to straighten the pathetically hung Christmas garland. It seriously looked like they had just grabbed handfuls out of the box and whipped them onto the tree.

Back again to Nice, thanks again to Michelle for loaning the car, and managing Irie. The pulmonologist is located in a pretty location in the center of town. Before the appointment I was able to track down the reading of a chest xray I had in 1997 that described the small granuloma (scar) in the same location. The pulm. was glad I had that info, looked at my xray, talked to me, and cleared me after reassuring me it was nothing to worry about. After a bit of tourist activity (another beautiful day in Nice), we then went back to government-ugly public health to get the valuable health ok form.

Back to Lady at the Desk. Yes, she does recognize us by now. We check to make sure Rick’s carte is ready, it is. And she reminds us we have to bring our tax stamps (275€ each) with our health letters to be able to get the cartes. She’s got them in her hand, they’re right there, just over the counter.... But now it’s time to pay.

The receipts (and I gather the whole application) expire January 22nd. It is tempting to never pay the stamps, let the cartes sit at The Desk, and leave in July knowing the bureacracy won’t catch up to us by then. But there is something about being a legal long term visitor, that we are worthy of it, openly and bureaucratically accepted in France. France, the most notorious country in terms of red tape, and we figured it out!

We finally find the Hôtel des Impôts and write a check for 550€. Rick dutifully attached the stamps (5 each) to our forms. Back to Lady at the Desk. We hand over our stamps and health letters, she gives us our cartes. With the criminal pictures. I have until July something to get out of the country, or reapply, which I would have to do in May. Rick’s carte is good until October. Why?

Nathalie says “La bureaucratie n’est pas une légende” meaning it’s not a myth or a fable. It’s real. Oh yeah, it’s real.

BarackO

2009-01-22T10:24:00.007+01:00

Last minute we decided to have a small fête for Obama's (or BarackO as Irie calls him) Inauguration. We invited our small band of loyal friends who all came: Nathalie and Laurent, Michelle and Abbie, Hélène, and Katell. The festivities started back east at 11 am, which is 5 pm here, perfect for an after work/after school get-together. We put out a bunch of appetizers, wine and coffee, and later a bottle of Alsacien champagne. Here's the photo gallery.

Obama's election 2 1/2 months ago has been a source of good will here, in Morocco, and I assume in most of the world, thus his Inauguration was also a bigger deal than most would be. Quite honestly, with the festivities at around 9 am PST on a Tuesday, we are usually at work and not watching no matter who is taking the Oath. I asked our French guests if showing a U.S. Inauguration was typical and the obvious response was "no." But this was no ordinary event so French TV broadcast the festivities live for 3 hours. "Tout le monde regarde" - the whole world is watching. It was great to be able to watch it happen, this extraordinary occasion, extraordinary man, facing extraordinary problems, and following on the heels of a chapter in U.S. history many of us would like to forget. To the world, we have saved face in a big way after the debacle of reelecting The Constitution Shredders, and they are openly rooting for us to succeed and solve the immense problems we, and the world, currently face! We feel hopeful about the change taking place, but know the immense tasks ahead so remain realistic.

On a curious note, Inauguration Day back home was, by chance, also the day we finally received our Carte de Sejours and became legal visitors.
Lisa will write more about that process later.

Best Job in the World!

2009-01-19T10:05:00.009+01:00

I'm not sure if the title refers to my current "job" of dad, husband, blogger, student, and voice-over specialist, or the job that I (with thousands of others) am applying for as caretaker of an Australian island. Here is the website for the Best Job in the World. Who wouldn't want to caretake an island, travel around the island(s) and Great Barrier Reef, feed the fish, take pictures and video and blog about it, and keep the pool clean? I think we are eminently qualified! As well, the job commences July 1st, which perfectly coordinates with when we are leaving France.

I put together a 60-second video as required for the application. Unfortunately, their site has been so inundated that I can't get my application to upload, and I've been trying for days. I did send them an email with my info and a link to the YouTube and this blog. So, favor time, if any of you think I/we are perfect for this job, go to their site and send them an email about us.

Since I'm on the topic of jobs, here's a download of the commercial that was made with my voice: CERS commercial. This is not a television commercial, per se, but one that will be sent to major soccer teams and other sporting organizations throughout Europe to attract their athletes here when injured. Pretty strange hearing my voice like this.

I am also back in school. Officially enrolled in Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. Taking Gen. Psych 202 and Lifespan Development, both online courses with the same teacher that so far require a lot of reading and writing. I like both classes and being back in school, the only downside being the reality that time spent on these classes is taking away from time learning French.

Lastly, since January is a state-regulated "Sales" month, I went and bought ski clothes and a new bike, and with the good weather I have been enjoying some nice bike rides both along the coast and up in the hills.

Oh yeah, one last thing: we are having a little get-together tomorrow to watch Obama get inaugurated since they are showing it on French TV. We are excited and hopeful, but also realize he is getting handed a ton of problems. Bonne Chance!

À la campagne

2009-01-14T21:29:00.007+01:00

Our friends, Nathalie and Laurent, invited us to spend Sunday afternoon at their country house about 30" from Fréjus. They don't use it much in the winter. It doesn't get the snow our cabin does, in fact none--Diamond Lake today has about 6 feet of snow and is 24°F--after all, we're still in Provence. They go up for the day from time to time to check things out or maybe celebrate a holiday. They spend 2 straight months up there in summer. The house, called Bon Pin because that is what the neighborhood was called, is centuries old. It has been in Nathalie's family for generations. She spent summers here with her grandparents. She showed us her room where the wallpaper from the 70's is still up! The house is made of thick stone with a tile roof. It is built into a small hillside so one enters on the top floor from the drive way, but the main living areas are down below and open out onto a good-sized flagstone patio shaded by deciduous trees. The house is completely modernized except for central heat and telephone. The walls are so thick that the house stays cool year round, and was decidedly cooler than the mid-50s day outside. The water source is incredible--they have 3 pools, they call them "sources" of pure water. Not wells, but springs, right there to draw from. They have a worry that neighboring property owners will build and divert their water supply "upstream." Laurent told me that water sources are a crucial part of Provençal history, and adeptly described in Marcel Pagnol's Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources. The swimming pool is filled with this water.

I could picture them in summer, a giant table under the shelter of the trees filled with fresh veggies, grilled meats, wine and fruits. Some people beating the afternoon heat in the pool, others napping behind shuttered windows. Laurent had a far-away dreamy look when he described the summers there, and kept sighing and saying "à la campagne." Reminded us of how we feel about our cabin.

After touring the house we took a walk around the countryside. There was a bit of development, but mostly open fields and untouched woods. We went to see the neighboring horses and Irie made a pal. The horse got past his wariness of the electric fence to munch the grass she offered. We left the horse after spotting a sheep drive (?). A Provençal shepherd was directing ~50 sheep, a ram, and a few goats, with the help of a dog. They made their way across a field, crossed a street, and into another field. The dog was very effective at corralling the sheep, but got distracted trying to play fetch with Irie, and the shepherd had to call him back to work to keep the sheep out of the road. Laurent mentioned that the shepherd used to have a border collie who was amazingly smart and fast, but that dog died and this one wasn't quite as good. The ram was a little scary--note its horn--but behaved like a regular sheep--a follower.

After the fresh air and exercise we went back to Nathalie and Laurent's house in town for a treat of Galette du Roi (traditional for the New Year and made by Nath) and Rick had the slice with the prize. But there was no crown, nor did he have to do the dishes.

Driving Morocco and Essouira

2009-01-12T13:48:00.010+01:00

I was slightly leery of driving the roads of Morocco. I read how high their accident rates are and knew we would be driving over the Atlas Mts. in winter so wondered about renting a “compact” car for this adventure. All turned out just fine, except for the speeding ticket on my last day, which in Morocco is paid on the spot! 400 dirhams, or about $50. We had been warned of being stopped at multiple check points, but were always waved through previously. I had learned that the speed limit was 60 km/hour in urban areas (unless otherwise noted) and 80-100 outside the cities. Not sure where the dividing line was but I got pulled over well outside the city doing 87. Oh well, just another part of the experience. I’m on a mission to see in how many countries I can get a speeding ticket :) That makes two.

Actually, after driving in and out of Marrakech’s medina, I figured I could handle anything. The roads were in decent condition and once outside of Marrakech the traffic thinned dramatically since we were heading toward the mountains. and the interior. Yes, there were still donkey’s pulling carts occasionally, old trucks loaded 10 stories high, plenty of scooters, bikes and pedestrians in the small villages through which we passed, as well, roadside vendors hawking fruits, gems and crystals, etc., and shepherds tending flocks of goats or sheep. However, it was not wet or icy so the drive through the Atlas was uneventful but striking.
The mountaintops were covered with snow, deep gorges cut into them creating steep drop-offs along the windy road, and earthen dwellings were forged into the sides of the red cliffs. It was all very stark, isolated and beautiful in its own way. After completing the mountain passes, we descended into the Draa Valley. The dryness of the countryside was now contrasted with this river valley and literally thousands of palm trees. We drove through this for hours even as the mountains became desert - on one side remained this long narrow oasis of fertile soil, plant life, and the palms. Here’s our photo gallery from driving Morocco. 

After 8 hours on the road we arrived at Sahara Sky, our hotel, after dark so only got a glimpse of our surroundings. In the morning, we were fully surrounded by desert, but the rest of that is covered in our post Christmas in the Sahara. After our bivouac and reentry into civilization, we drove back through the Draa Valley, over the first set of mountains and stayed in Ouarzazate for the night. The next morning we hit the road again right away as we had a full day of driving ahead of us, going all the way to the Atlantic Coast and the town of Essouira. We did make a short stop at Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the site of many famous films including Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. Onward, we again had to drive through Marrakech (though not the medina) and from here to our destination traffic was mostly congested and busy. In fact, we had a one-hour wait at one point which turned out to be a nasty bus accident that involved multiple fatalities. This part of the drive was not nearly as pretty as the drive over the mountains and to the desert, but we did drive through a small sandstorm, some rain, and got a rainbow.

Upon arrival in Essouira we were faced with knowing the name of our Riad and that it was in the medina, but that was it. All my preparations and not even a phone # - I’ll blame it on not having a printer here. We figured it out and were told to park in the public parking down at the port and someone would meet us with a handcart for our luggage. We got a glimpse of Essouira’s busy medina, as we followed the cart handler, but it was dark and we were tired so we didn’t dawdle. Irie didn’t want to go back out after a long day in the car, so we joked about how they didn’t have delivery pizza in Morocco only to be proven wrong by the Riad manager. We ate in our suite, in front of the cheminée, as Irie ran around, glad to be back in a Riad haven again.

Lisa: The Riad Watier is owned by a Frenchman and has a helpful staff who brought us coffee or tea whenever requested, sent out our laundry, arranged for a medical housecall, and traipsed about town looking for an open pharmacy on a holiday. There is a massage room onsite and we all had a much needed massage after too much time in the car. Irie had her first massage which lasted about 15”. Our comfy riad rooms never had TVs (probably what makes them tranquil) but we had a great show outside our window. We could look into the alleyway and see stray cats feasting on entrails. On the Muslim New Year this was accompanied by children drumming through the streets. Another “delicious” draft to the senses came after the rain. We didn’t have much to dampen our shopping, strolling and dining during the day. But the morning after a rain we were treated to a large puddle at the end of our alley, caused by a bouchon (cork) plugging the drain. Workers were out there diligently sweeping the sluice back into said drain, which was slowly accepting it now that the rain stopped. I have some jeans that are too long and drag--yummy cuffs!! Given all that, Essouira is a lovely town.

Back to Rick: After the craziness of the Marrakech medina, the long drives to and from the desert, and the incredible Noël camel trek, Essouira’s coastal feel was a nice contrast. It was still very much Morocco - the walled medina, the busy Souks, the hawking salesmen, the cats, and the doors to more tranquil resting spots - but it was all tamped down to a slower, calmer, less aggressive version of Marrakech. We ate very well (wonderful rooftop breakfasts, more tajine and couscous and some great fish), took shopping strolls through the medina, walked the beach , got henna tattoos, and met some nice people. The medina was small enough that we kept running into the two American girls we met at dinner one night. We bought a painting from the actual artist at an artisanal market, and Irie just loved shopping for the Thuya wood products, which come from a tree that is indigenous and unique to a small region of Morocco.

One of our days looking in a Thuya wood shop, Lisa and I (mostly Lisa as it was in french) got into a conversation with a young man who worked there. He got very emotional about what was going on in Gaza and was clearly moved by Lisa’s compassion and take on the situation. Ayoub asked us if we’d like to have coffee later after he was done working and going to the gym, which we did. It was nice to meet someone who wasn’t trying to sell us something, who could share a bit of his life with us, give us an idea of what an ordinary Morrocan faces in their daily life, and who was just another genuine human being. Here’s our photo album from Essouira.

As it turned out, I feel really good about the way our trip was planned. We jumped into the fire in Marrakech, trekked into the world’s largest desert where we enjoyed a very unique Christmas together, relaxed in the coastal town of Essouira, then dove back into intensity of Marrakech with expertise and a very international New Year. It was a symbolic and joyful way to end a year that has seen us, in every sense of the phrase, travel great distances. Best of all, we were returning "home" to the south of France, with 6 months of adventure still before us.

Marrakech

2009-01-08T20:33:00.016+01:00

Marrakech is truly a wild, vibrant city! It would be easy to get overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, and smells but that was also what made it so unique and exciting. The city has a population of over 1 million people and there is action everywhere, but the medina is truly the heart and soul of the city. The medina (which means "town") is surrounded by walls built starting in the 12th century, with a half-dozen gates (or entrances) and a maze of streets that make getting lost an everyday occurence. The real goal was to make sure that even if invaders were to breach the walls (it never happened) then they would got confused in the maze of narrow streets going every which way. The streets are mostly brick and traveled by pedestrians, bikers, motorized scooters, donkey-pulled carts, horse and carriage, and where wide enough, cars. And cats, I've never seen so many cats in my life! There doesn't seem to be any one type of transportation that takes precedence over any other and humanity is moving everywhere in every direction. Amazingly, I saw very few accidents (they usually involved a scooter) as there seemed to be an invisible rhythm to which everyone moved. I got it down after a day, and really enjoyed walking through the narrow streets, though I was constantly worried about Irie when she was with us. She did get a bit overwhelmed by it all.

Three other things worth mentioning. One, watch out if it rains, which it did while we were there - drainage gets blocked and the narrow alleys don't allow in the sun to dry it out. And if there is construction... double whammy. On the alley from our Riad to the Square they had dug a massive hole (probably in an attempt to fix the drainage system) and there was literally a half meter of passage and even the scooters were driving through this logjam which after the rain was a muddy mess! Two, it was very cool to hear the call to prayer 5 times every day. It gets broadcast throughout the city over loudspeakers and I captured it one evening from the rooftop of our Riad. Three, the doors: old doors, big doors, short doors, mosaics, iron, wood, you name it, and many doors can open smaller for humans and bigger for (in the past) donkeys, etc. You could make a book of just pictures of doors, but more remarkable is the calm that hides behind them. It's a tale of two worlds in the cities of Morocco: the craziness of the streets and shops, and the tranquil oases that lie beyond.

The real center of activity is Jemaa el Fna square (meaning: "Place of Executions"), labeled as the busiest square in Africa (or even the world).
It is a bustling place where caravans used to come to trade on their way to or from Timbuktu. Today it is full of story tellers, snake charmers, monkey handlers, musicians and dancers. Shops and restaurants surround the square and great views can be had from the rooftop terraces of a few of these restaurants. At dusk the food stalls come out and the smoke from all the cooking can be seen from afar. To the north of the square is the famous Kaotoubie Mosque though non-muslims are not allowed to enter. It was also built in the 1100's and stands high above the medina. It is a must to wander into the Souks (literally: "markets") and shop for lamps, carpets, silver, spices, gems and fossils, jewelry, pottery, music, food, etc.
When you do, get ready to be annihilated by every vendor. I like to haggle, so find it fun, but it can be very intimidating. I found that a smile and a firm "no" worked just fine, and to keep on walking if I wasn't interested in their wares. Once inside, my rule is the same as shopping for a car in the U.S. Don't let them know how much you want an item and always be ready to walk away. We got them to come down from their initial prices at least half, and once 80%. We DID end up buying a lot of stuff, and we had a good time doing it. If bargaining isn't for you, there are also "artisanal markets" that have listed prices that are firm. They are worth visiting even if just to get an idea about fair prices for items you might be interested in.

An aside about monkeys: Our first morning after arrival we walked through the narrow streets into the square needing to exchange money. Before we could even realize what had happened a monkey handler had a monkey sitting on Irie's arm. We said, truthfully, we have to go to the bank, and got Irie away from the monkey. But she was enchanted - she had just had a "cute" monkey sitting on her arm! She was also very curious about the snakes, though we learned that the cobras have their mouths sewn almost completely shut to avoid bites which means they starve to death rapidly so we did not go near that entertainment. After getting money she decided she wanted a picture with a monkey so we went back to the original handler (there were lots to choose from) and before we knew it she had multiple monkeys on her, then they were on me.
It's all blurry now, but as I was arguing with the guy about how much money to pay for the privilege of taking pictures with our own camera (he wanted $25), Lisa came over and informed me that she got bit by one of the monkeys!!! I gave him $5 and said take it or leave it and we headed immediately back to our Riad to clean the wounds. The Riad owner called a doctor he knew and then had Taria, one of his employees take Lisa to the public clinic where she got two rabies shots. She had to get another shot a week later when we returned to Marrakech, and still needs one more here in France next week. Scary stuff, to say the least. We were informed that most of the monkeys are vaccinated (for this very reason) and that being bit by a dog here would have been a much worse situation.

The food was delicious. Breakfasts at the Riads consisted of fresh-squeezed OJ, coffee and tea, breads with various spreads (jams and honey), hard-boiled eggs, and yogurt. A perfect start to each day. Tajine is, along with couscous, a national speciality, and we had it at least once each day. It is named after the special pot in which it is cooked and served, and consists of a stew usually containing one meat and various vegetables. Delectable! The food stalls at night in the Square were a lot of fun. All the vendors have workers trying to woo you "in" to their tarp-covered piece of concrete. Luckily, the owner of the Riad where we stayed advised us to avoid the buffets as the food often sat out for hours, and it was a great piece of advice. We found a place packed with locals that served deep-fried fish, eggplant babagnoush, fries, hot peppers, sauce and bread which, while a bit fatty, was soooo good and it cost the three of us about $10 total. We also liked this place that served a Moroccan veggie and chick pea soup (with wooden spoons that made us wary of their cleanliness), and sticky sesame honey twists called chalakia. The three of us would eat there for about $3, total! We all fell in love, especially Irie, with the sweet mint tea that is served everywhere. They would serve it at every meal, while bargaining for carpets, at the food stalls, anywhere anytime. It can be green or black but is loaded with fresh mint and sugar cubes. They make a big deal out of pouring it into one of the upright glass glasses that are used (instead of mugs) from way up high in the air, then mix it back into the pot until the color and taste is just right. Then all the glasses are filled and everyone drinks. We bought ourselves a set.

Finally, to get out of Marrakech for our long drive over the Atlas Mts. and into the desert, I had to get a taxi to the rental car business AND DRIVE BACK INTO THE MEDINA ALONE! I can't possibly impress on you readers what that was like for me, a stranger to the medina 3 days ago, to find my way back into the medina through the right gate and to the Riad. It was crazy enough driving in the modern part of the city, but to do it in the maze of ever-narrowing streets and to get it right the first time was an admittedly proud moment for me. When I walked back into the Riad, both Lisa and the owner seemed a bit surprised to see me. Obviously, following the same route back out of the medina was far easier.

Not Morocco

2009-01-06T19:42:00.008+01:00

We've got a few more Morocco posts coming, but have a few other bits of odd news from the past few weeks.

Two days before we left, I crashed my bike, hit a curb and went flying over the handlebars. Got my hands out to break my fall. I spent our vacation sleeping on my right side as a rib on the left side was, at the very least, bruised. It is getting better. The bike, on the other hand, is done, finis, totaled.

I have also decided to go back to school. I am officially registered in two online psychology courses at a community college in Oregon. I will need 7 pre-requisite classes in psychology before I can apply for acceptance to the Masters program in Mental Health Counseling at SOU (in Ashland). My goal, when finished, is to become a private practice therapist.

Irie got to open her Christmas presents after we got home, and in retrospect seems to have had a good, non-traditional holiday abroad. She is back to school and is currently having a fun sleepover with her friend Abbie.

While posting, Irie lost another tooth:

Maggie stayed with our french friend Hélène and had a great time.

Lisa and I have finished our Carte de Sejour process. We need only go buy 550€ worth of government stamps and we can have our official "green cards" en France. Process ( a lengthy journey) to be posted later.

C'est tout.

Christmas in the Sahara

2009-01-04T20:33:00.017+01:00

The Christmas season is a challenge for me. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving because it is full of bounty, gratitude, sharing and love. I also like that it ushers in the Christmas season full of lights and good wishes. It makes a dark and cold time of year brighter. I love dancing in Festival of Lights the day after Thanksgiving. I love how the town lights up and splurges on the electric bill for a month. I love our tree and homemade ornaments. I love Christmas music. I don’t love the gluttony and the greed. It is a tragic reflection of values when a shopper gets crushed in a WalMart stampede. I don’t like the traded obligation of cards and presents. Unfortunately I see some of what bothers me in my daughter, and I saw it this year. As Christmas approached Irie would bee-line to the glittery (junky) Christmas decorations and candy displays in the stores, asking me to buy this or that, or this and this and this. Je veux, je veux, je veux - I want, I want, I want. We knew we would be traveling over Christmas, are only in this apartment for 1 year, so knew the decorations would be at a minimum, and homemade. Our little tree came out of a trash pile on the curb and was pathetic. But after a good vacuuming and some creative bending it was ready to be dressed up. We brought one homemade ornament from home (made in preschool). I made several ornaments out of foam balls and napkins in my crafts class. But what really pulled it all together was the flowers and kukui nut leis my hula sisters sent me. The tree is really quite lovely. I let Irie buy a set of cards with stickers that she could decorate herself and she worked hard writing them all herself. Irie got a major case of the greeds when we put the presents under the tree. These were the ones that had come in the mail from the grandparents. She was relentless with begging and complaining, so after several warnings the presents were put in the closet until after the trip. I did have compassion for her--everything was different and foreign, she was being hauled off again and couldn’t spend the holiday with her best friend. But the entitlement had to stop.

In planning a trip over Christmas we usually like to go somewhere warm. We would have had to fly quite a ways for that. We considered a real winter fairyland trip--Strasbourg, Prague, Vienna--but the crazy train schedules made us unable to plan it. “Why not Morocco?” Exotic, not too far, French-speaking, maybe warm, some sun, and hey! A Muslim country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas!!! At one point during the trip Irie actually said it was her “worst Christmas ever.” great. I think she’s changed her mind. She did say it was her best New Year ever. We deliberately planned our desert trek for Christmas day. Definitely not a Christmas that will slide into the annals of “which year was that...?”

On Christmas Eve Rick picked up the rental car in Marrakech, drove it into the medina (this is a BIG deal that he will post about later!) and we loaded our stuff. We had a long drive up and over the High Atlas mountains. We made our way to Tamegroute and our hotel, Sahara Sky. This place is run by a German astronomy buff and it was here we saw our first Christmas tree. Our Christmas Eve dinner was a yummy turkey tajine. Our last minute Christmas shopping was from a Berber who set up a little “boutique” in the hotel. We bought 3 turbans for the trek. Irie got a coral necklace (the Sahara used to be a sea), Rick got a ring made out of coraline (which broke on a drum on New Year’s Eve) and I got a Croix du Sud (which I lost somewhere in Essouira and got another one I like better). The Croix du Sud (which also happens to be the name of our building in Fréjus!) has a nice story. If you are caught in a sandstorm you simply lay your croix in the sand, pointing in the direction you are going, place two stones on it, and when the storm is over unbury your croix to reorient yourself. As life can be stormy I think we can all benefit from a Croix du Sud.

Christmas morning arrived and Santa managed to find his way to Irie and brought her a very warm hat with built in scarf. We had some time before meeting our bivouac team so we wandered outside and met Mohammed, who was showing off his camel brought over from the dunes nearby. He gave us a test drive then accompanied us into town and gave us a tour of the Islamic library. This place is amazing. At the edge of the desert is housed an ancient collection of Islamic texts, including works on astronomy, medicine, math, arabic grammar, as well as the Koran and its explanatory texts. Much of the page headings are done in elaborate calligraphy in gold. Some pages are made of gazelle skin. The oldest dates to the 13th century. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside. We were then led through an ancient labyrinth of dwellings to the local pottery ateliers where we saw a demonstration of a foot operated wheel and what goes into the various glazes. In good Berber tradition we took some tea with a shopkeeper, discussed how much we were going to pay for our little green spice keeper, reaffirmed we weren’t ready to buy carpets, and declined the offer of trading Irie for 1000 camels.

Later that afternoon we met Naji in his 4x4. He runs the bivouac company. Naji received calls on his cell phone while Yussef, our actual guide, helped us climb on the camels as traffic rolled by. Our camels crossed the street and headed into the outskirts of town. We departed from M’Hamid, which is literally the end of the road. In addition to all the bivouac outfits and Berber carpet merchants there is a heavy military presence as the Algerian border is only 40km away. Happily the Algerians have their border patrolled as well, and previous skirmishes have settled down. We trekked on, leaving the town behind, passing school children, working burrows and trash heaps. Once well past town the sea of bushes adorned with plastic bags stopped. Maybe in 2000 years archeologists will marvel at the remains of plastic water bottles. The desert wasn’t exactly what I expected. First it started all scrabbly, like some of those photos of Mars. There were more bushes than I expected. The sand made itself into tiny dunes along the way, you could see the humble beginnings of what may later be a massive sand dune as the Sahara grows. The further along we went, the more dunes appeared. I imagined we’d see an endless sea of dunes, no plants, no rocks, but I think we’d have to trek for miles for that. We were on our camels for 2 hours. Irie complained the last hour. My friend Melissa has a saying about a chapped ass, meaning something annoys her. Well, me and my camel know what a chapped ass really is. After we parked at our tents we had about an hour before the sun went down. Yussef unloaded everything and disappeared into one of the tents to prepare dinner. We toured some of the nearby dunes and gazed into the endless horizon as the Christmas sun went down, with no sound but Irie’s heavy breathing and the camels’ snorting. We marveled at Irie’s clothes covered in sand. The sand is REALLY soft. Yussef pounded sand out of the “mattresses” and pillows already stored in the tent and laid out our bed. We thought 5 camel hair blankets would be enough. I’ve never had Christmas dinner made by a Berber who speaks Arabic and some French, in a tent, by candlelight. We had chicken tajine and it was GOOD. It was a clear night and the stars cannot be described. Yussef built a fire and we sat around talking. We were his only clients. He answered our questions about Algeria, women voting (I think he got this wrong), desert wildlife, and he told us a joke. I didn’t have much trouble understanding the Moroccan people speaking French, but Moroccans learn French in school or on the job. Sometimes a vocabulary word could just not be found, but it was always amusing as we circled our way around a word.

Despite the incredibly clear night it was not too cold. But the mattresses were thin for middle-aged joints. Somehow we slept through sunrise.
When we crawled out of the tent Yussef had pulled the table out and set up breakfast.
He prepared the camels and we were ready to go. Rick and I had switched camels this time, and it was heaven compared to the way in! I woke up with back pain but it worked itself all out with the bobbing sway of the camel. It was a gorgeous sunny day and before we knew it we were back at our car, thanking Yussef with smiles, a tip, and Rick’s gloves. And HERE it is on video. Then in good Berber fashion we went to the “uncle’s” shop to look at stuff, hung out for an hour and a half, had some tea and discussed how much we would be paying for the 3 carpets we fell in love with and had had no plans to buy before setting foot in the shop. As we left with our carpets we were told we’d be giving a ride to someone’s “uncle” as he was going our way.

A swaying camel replaced my dancing on the Plaza, billions of stars replaced my tree, and camels stepping over rocks and sand while Yussef checked on us with the occasional “Ça va?” replaced my CDs. Irie ripped through sand instead of ripping through presents. Not much in the way of tradition this year but we had more a sense of togetherness than ever before.

In case you missed the link in the text, here's the Christmas in Sahara video.

Bonne Année

2009-01-02T11:12:00.009+01:00

We are home from one of the most incredible vacations we've ever taken. Morocco is a very special place, exotic and alive, a mix of the storied old world and the modern. It is a feast for the senses, and while that made every day seem like a journey in and of itself, it is also exhausting and we are glad to be home. Luckily, we brought home plenty of treasure (and photos) to remind us of this dynamic country to which we'd love to return someday.

We have so much to write about, so many experiences, so many miles traveled, yet I find it important to start at the end of the trip. Our last night in Morocco found us back in Marrakech, back in the medina, back at the Riad Saba where we started our trip (and what a trip this city is!) on New Year's Eve. Riads are Morocco's unique mix of B&B and hotel - lush, well-decorated rooms surrounding a central courtyard - truly an oasis from the storm that is the Marrakech medina. Jabrane, our lively host, put on a festive party for the guests that involved a drumming group,
traditional Moroccan feast, plenty to drink, and a traditional Gnawa musical group that played on the rooftop terrace well past the ringing in of the New Year.

What stands out, however, was the profound way we ended what was for us a very profound year. As I wrote in my last post, it has been a transformative year, so to transition from 2008 to 2009 with a diverse truly universal blend of human beings was very meaningful. Our party included families (children included) from Morocco, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Libya, Spain, and us representing both the U.S. and France. With the exception of the young Libyan woman, everyone in the group spoke at least two languages including english so we were all able to converse easily. Before the drumming group arrived, Jabrane brought us all together in the courtyard, poured everyone a glass of champagne, and asked me to give the toast, however, Lisa (being Lisa!) had something important to say so asked if she could do it. She gave a short but moving toast that went something like this: "In a troubled world we come together from various corners of the globe. And the greatest hope for peace in the world is in these individual interactions, where we can look each other in the eye and say hello, no matter where we come from. These are the ripples that can spread across the world and are our greatest hope for peace and happiness, which we all deserve." It was this wish for a more intimate celebration that kept us at the riad, rather than partying with the throngs in the crushing, muddy mass of humanity in the central square. Here's the video of the festivities.

I guess we got a bit involved with our conversations and fun after the drumming group, so these are all the pictures we have from the evening: New Year's Eve photos.

We will have many more Morocco posts coming on the blog this week. Happy New Year!

Joyeux Noël

2008-12-21T07:09:00.005+01:00

We leave for Morocco in one day, it is 5 days until Noel, 11 days before it will be 2009, 30 days and the U.S will swear in a new President. Since we will be away from our temporary home in Fréjus, away for Christmas and away from the computer until 1/1/09 when we return from Morocco, this is my Holiday greeting, a review of our 6 months in France, and a personal inventory of my thanks for getting/creating such an experience and what I’ve learned from it.

2008 was a time for discarding the typical, the known, the tired, and embracing the new, the strange, the unfamiliar. Undoing and remaking. Renewal and hope. Evolution and lessons learned. Taking on such an endeavor is a risk. One never knows what they will find when they shed the comforts and familiarity of the daily grind. A trip like this can be a grand success and still consist of many failures, some get do-overs, but most are one-of-a-kind events that will have to remain difficult lessons from which we learned something très important but don’t get the chance to improve or try again. Within this “strangers in a strange land” experience, we have been buoyed by our friends and family back home. Whether in good times or difficult ones, to have those who love us dearly only an email or skype call away makes it all seem easier. We know we have a support structure of people who care and that makes the risk-taking seem less daunting. That is also true for all of you who take the time to read this blog because you wish us well and are interested in our journey. You are all appreciated. Merci!

Where have the last 6 months gone? Well, here’s June, July and August in a paragraph:
Packing our house of 11 years into a locker, driving across the country in a rented SUV with dog, 3 weeks visiting old haunts with a year’s worth of baggage (or is it a lifetime’s worth?), leaving our dog with caring family who go out of their way to make sure she gets to Paris ok, finding our way through NYC for our blissful week on the QM2. One full crazy day (driving on the left) in England visiting Stonehenge and Salisbury, our horrible experience with Flybe and the extra $500 it cost to get our stuff across the Channel on a 90-minute flight to Brest, somehow getting everything to fit in our petite French rental car and that first long drive in France with all the foreign signs, our week in Granville on the Normandy coast - visiting Mont St. Michel, D-Day beaches, Caen, and just getting accustomed to being in a strange land. Taking the train to Paris and the whirlwind month we experienced there - loads of history, art, food, shopping, Irie fits and riding the Metro, Lisa and I realizing that we haven’t spent this much time together since the summer of 86, finally finding Maggie in the spaghetti-maze that is Charles DeGaulle Airport, and the weird sensation of starting to become familiarized with a place only to uproot again. Another rental car, this time a large van (because we have Maggie) that is too tall for the parking garage where it is parked, oh well, onward to the Alsace region of France for a week, having a pool and Irie making friends, exploring the beautiful wine region and Strasbourg and thinking about what might have been (we were originally going to live there), and finally...the arrival to our home in Fréjus, France on August 30.

Since then another 3 1/2 months of this year abroad have come and gone. The transition into what would be our home for the next 9 months, Irie’s first week(s) of school, and learning where the important places were like the grocery store, bakery, post office, and markets. Making new friends with the other Americans here - Michelle and Abbie - a godsend for Irie and us! Finding/buying used bikes so we didn’t have to walk everywhere, and learning to live without a car. Enjoying the beach and Mediterranean as much as possible, and learning how to kite surf before autumn descended. The difficulty of finding french classes/lessons, but once discovering Vous Accueil having our Life In France take off: Lisa teaching hula, making friends with Nathalie which leads to us becoming friends with their family (and meeting other friends, Hélène, Katell, and Christine), which leads to many fun evenings together including their introduction to an American Thanksgiving.

The normalization of life and schedules finally began in October:
Mon. afternoon crafts class for Lisa (an excuse to talk french with her friends);
Tues. mornings at Vous Accueil for french and Tues. afternoons of Rick and the ladies talking french for a couple of fatiguing hours;
Weds. Irie has no school, but I have french and she has piano lessons après midi;
Thurs. is OUR day! While Irie is in school we often go to the boulangerie for a du cafe et une patisserie while reading and discussing a french newspaper like Le Monde.
Fri. morning - more french lessons, and Fri. afternoon Lisa teaches her hula group; and, lately I have been biking/hiking every Sun. morning with Nathalie’s husband Laurent.
Add in our 1-week boat trip on the Canal du Midi, a 10-day visit by Grandpa and Grandma Browne, a 10-day visit by Athena, 3 short trips to the very fun city of Nice (a 50-minute train ride away), a night in Marseille, and our occasional nights with our new friends and we are living a full life here in France.

The first 6 months have been a whirlwind: of activity and relaxation, storm and calm, intensity of emotions and insight, all swirled together with the sights, smells, tastes, and sounds of a foreign land. Besides the new places, we have a new language, new friends, new culture, new foods, new appliances, new etiquette, new knowledge, and yes, new free time! Taking a year off is a something for which I am amazingly grateful! How lucky are we? Do I deserve such a treat?

The desire to make the most of it, both externally and internally, is what I strive for. Externally that equals all the experiences recapped above and blogged about extensively since we left home. Internally, it’s having the time to breathe, think about the first 43 years, and where I want to go from here, what I want my future life to look like. I have read more books in the last 6 months than in the past 6 years. I have had time to think about my professional life, and accept that I was ready for a change. Thus, I am returning to school, on Jan. 5, 2009, but that is something I will write more about later. Though Irie has struggled with being uprooted at times, she is tough, resilient, talented, and I believe will relish this experience...later, more than now. She is seeing more of the world than many adults ever get to see and it will contribute greatly to her blossoming into a successful human being. We are closer as a family, closer as dad and daughter and closer as mom and daughter. Lastly, plugging along at life in Ashland I didn’t realize how necessary it was, but this year has given me the chance to renew my relationship with Lisa. If nothing else came of this year that would be enough to make it all worthwhile. She is the love of my life and sharing all of life’s ups and downs with her is a joy!

Here is Lisa giving a less wordy, more graceful Holiday message:
O Holy Night hula

I hope this gives a glimpse into how thankful I am for the life I have, those who are a part of it, and all the experiences that allow me to develop, grow, and give back some of that energy to others. Happy Holidays and may 2009 bring everyone happiness and some unexpected journeys and surprises.

Irie speaks

2008-12-19T11:52:00.004+01:00

Bonjour! I like France so much. It is a very old place. Paris was so cool! I liked it because of the cool art, all the marble, and the Eiffel Tower. I liked the guinea pig, Muffin, in our apartment, but she pooped a lot. I was so glad when Maggie finally got here. I also liked riding the Metro and taking pictures. I missed having friends to play with so was happy when I met Tom and Clara in Alsace. We played and swam everyday and they just sent me a Christmas card.

I really like Fréjus, and our apartment. My bedroom is really cool because I like all the pictures and the turtle shell.
I'm so happy I met Abbie. She speaks english and is from Georgia in the U.S. and is 9 years old. She is my best friend in France. We play together and have sleep-overs.
School is getting way better for me, I now know what to do in class. Me and Abbie go to a special class with Madame Blanc to learn french, I really like the teacher. She also comes over and teaches my Dad. I went over to my friend Laly's for lunch, to her grandparents, last week. We ate seafood appetizers, mashed potatoes and meat, and for dessert a sugar crêpe.

Christmas this year is going to be really cool because we are going to be in the desert. We have a little tree that we found in a junk pile, but it's really pretty with ornaments Mom made, hawaiian flowers and kukui nuts. I got my Dad a big box of dark chocolates and a Morocco book and the rest of the presents are mine. I keep getting presents in the mail from family in Michigan. Since we won't be home for Christmas I have been opening presents each day. I got lifesavers and bubble gum so far from Nana and Papa, a jump rope from Aunt Missy, Uncle Randy, Kaden and Knoel, and a Sleeping Beauty dvd from Grandpa and Grandma Bailey. Merry Christmas, or as they say here in France, Joyeux Noël.

Noël preparations

2008-12-15T08:03:00.010+01:00

A busy week ahead. Getting ready for our French version of Christmas which, unfortunately for Irie, isn't living up to the American standards to which she is accustomed. She is tolerating the tree we found on the curb, tolerating the sparse number of ornaments (maybe because most were made by Lisa in her crafts class) and is very pleased with the packages that have arrived from the grandparents.
We are going minimalist as we have our trip as our present to each other, though Irie doesn't necessarily appreciate that sentiment just yet (I have empathy - she's a kid after all), and spent the weekend writing cards to family and friends that will go in the mail today. But she flipped out that we would be on the road on Christmas day, and that she would be opening most presents this Saturday, before we leave. She's not obsessing about Santa finding her but she started to get into this kick about poor Santa and the one-sidedness of his generosity. Well, that led to a teaching moment about the meaning of Christmas, giving, and selflessness. Sometimes I think she stops a tantrum just to get us to stop lecturing. To get in the spirit, we have been listening to Christmas music on iTunes and Irie has been watching Christmas videos on YouTube, while also enjoying the local Christmas markets and public decorations. Here no one decorates their houses on the outside, but most of the businesses do and the cities seem to put a lot of money into making the public areas look festive. They also take their separation of church and state seriously so all the decorations are of the secular variety, lights, trees, garland, etc., but a manger scene is not to be found.

We're on our way to Morocco in 6 days, our first voyage to the African continent, to a place that just oozes exotic mystique. We will spend 3 days in the medina of Marrakech in a Riad (their version of a B&B), then we drive to the edge of the desert where we will stay Christmas Eve before riding camels on a bivouac into the Sahara for a night in the earth's largest desert. What a way to spend Christmas Day, huh? Then we will spend parts of 2 days driving to the Atlantic coast where we will spend 3 nights in Essouira before returning to Marrakech for 2 more nights including what should be a festive New Year's Eve. We return home on 1/1/09.

Other news: I got a job. Shhhh, don't tell anyone. The story is typical of how one makes their way in a foreign land, getting to know the people and the community. I was having back pain after our boat trip so went to the local chiropractor. Talking to him in franglish it turns out his wife is the pregnant woman who was supposed to be Irie's teacher, and in fact, will be in March when she returns to work. Then, last week I ran into him again, and he asked me for my phone number because a friend who makes commercials needed an english voice-over and he thought of me. I just met with the guy this morning and he was très sympa and even offered to pay me for my work. I look forward to the experience, another possible friend, and linking to the commercial for you all when it's finished.

Lastly, we got hit with a major storm yesterday which kept us housebound. High winds, pouring rain (coming down sideways in the wind), and, as I found out this morning when I went to the bakery, high seas. Some of the beachside restaurants suffered some pretty serious damage, and lucky for us all, our friend Michelle had already documented it.

An Impromptu Weekend

2008-12-07T16:31:00.009+01:00

It's Sunday, late afternoon, and the sun has just disappeared behind the neighboring building. It was un beau jour, one of the nicest in weeks, as the strong winds of yesterday had calmed to nothing, and the cold of the night finally gave way to warmth this afternoon. Right now, Lisa is out walking l'Etang du Villeprey with her friend Nathalie. Earlier today, Lisa sat outside on our veranda reading, taking in le soleil while I went for a hike with my friend Laurent (Nathalie's husband). He picked me up at 10 am this morning in his sporty BMW and drove us to Le Rocher de Roquebrune which I have seen in the distance, but had not actually visited. Roquebrune is a gorgeous red "rock" that juts into the sky giving magnificent 360° views, both to the sea and to the snow-capped Alps. We hiked the path that ascended mildly upwards, through the trees, before getting to the base of the rock where we had to do some 4-point climbing to get to the top. It reminds me of Pilot Rock back home in southern Oregon, though bigger.

Yesterday, was another interestingly fun day in France with what has become our core group of friends here in Fréjus: Laurent, Nathalie (and sometimes one or both daughters Laure and Fanny), Michelle and her daughter Abbie, and us. We were also joined by one of Lisa's hula dancers, Hélène, and later, yet another new friend, Katell. After arriving at the Bruzzone's centre ville maison and having an appertif, we walked across town to a charity bingo event. I must admit that I have not played bingo even once as an adult, but hey, it was for charity, we were with our friends, and it gave me a chance to work on my numbers en français. The event, which took place in a local school, was nearly packed. The prize packages were quite nice including a trip to London and a trip to Morocco, but no one in our group won anything. At one point, the girls were bored so Laurent took them back into centre ville where the christmas marché is in full swing. We all came back through after bingo, in the dark, and enjoyed the lights, some vin chaud (hot wine), and the girls a few kiddie rides. It was very festive and reminded us that it really is christmas season. We then continued on our way back to the Bruzzones where the night got a bit more festive with drinks and wood-fired pizza from across the street. Here are some more pictures of the day from our friend Michelle who is always taking pictures. I like that! Not only is her camera better (notice that her night pics at the christmas marché are much better than mine), but then I can finally be in some pictures proving I'm actually on this trip too.

What Lisa and both remarked on this evening is that we had no plans for the weekend, so everything that occured (except for Laurent and I usually taking a bike ride on Sunday mornings) was completely spur-of-the moment and impromptu...and fun!

This and that (includes UPDATES)

2008-12-04T08:21:00.012+01:00

Irie lost a tooth last night, a first in France. She wondered whether the tooth fairy would find her, and we asked her what she thought. Her thoughts: that there is only one tooth fairy for the whole world, she has to speak all the languages, and gives whatever money they use in that country. We told her to put her tooth in her tooth pillow (which she brought with her) and we'd see what happened. She woke up to 1 euro and no tooth and was happy. We didn't tell her that in France they call it La Petite Souris (the Tooth Mouse), but realize she may get told about it at school today.

UPDATE: Irie came home from school and said, "here in France it's a Tooth Mouse." I asked, "well who came last night?" and she said, "the Tooth Mouse," so she immediately adapted to the custom here.

Lisa and I went to Nice on Tuesday, did some shopping, and yesterday we had our medical exams for our cartes de sejour. They were very basic exams, but included a chest x-ray to make sure we aren't bringing TB into the country. We now have to go back to our prefecture with 550 euros worth of government stamps and then we'll finally get our CDS. This is the card we had to apply for upon arrival (after getting our visas while still in the U.S.) that allows us to stay in France for longer than 3 months. If we were to stay longer than a year, we'd have to get it renewed each year.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's what the girls did while we were in Nice.

The weather here has definitely been cooler. Wearing coats and scarves, but this week the days are sunny and so at it's warmest in the early afternoon we might be hitting 12℃ or high 50's℉. Last weekend we had strong winds from the south which caused massively big waves, especially for the Mediterranean, and that was part of the same system that flooded Venice, Italy. You will notice in the pictures (Taken in Nice) that the mountains of southern France are now topped with snow. Pretty cool to be seeing snow while standing on a beach.

Fréjus Vous Accueil Fête with Hula!

2008-11-30T12:50:00.007+01:00

Wow. Yesterday was a special party put on by Fréjus Vous Accueil to celebrate their 30th anniversary. As we are members of this group and take advantage of some of their activities (bus trips, classes) we decided to go. Plus, my hula group, weeks ago, suggested they perform the dance they were learning to show the other members and let them see first hand that hula classes were now available too! And for a limited time only!

We went early to help set up tables and chairs. The caterers were also there with the place settings. The room was large and located in Port Fréjus, a few blocks from our apartment. Immediately on entering I was inspired by the location. We had 180º views of the harbor--packed with boats and the sea beyond them. My spirits soared anticipating that view while dancing. After making suggestions to a handful of French ladies about the number of guests, the number of tables, the math involved, and the possible placements of such, Rick finally gave up, watched them argue, moved tables as requested and shook his head as a standard U-shape finally filled the room. He then made the brilliant suggestion and necessary cajolling to get me to dance a kahiko to invite hula into the room. I danced Aia La ‘O Pele i Hawai‘i with good effect. My head was clear and ready and the dancers were ready for a warm-up. I'm not sure the effect on the organizers or the caterers, but later one of the caterers kept asking me questions or telling me things, as if I was in charge. Must be the effects of Pele!

There were 58 guests and the two girls, Irie and Abigail were accommodated with their own child's menu, kind of. They received shaved ham instead of a salad with foie gras. Their main meal was veal with veggies, just like the rest of us. They also tried out the cheese plate and of course loved the dessert. The wine was local, the champagne authentic. I could have stuffed myself, but as I was dancing later I paced myself. We sat with our friends Nathalie and Laurent, Hélène, and Michelle and Abbie. Everyone had a job: the 4 ladies dancing, Rick on sound and smile inspiration, Irie and Abbie on still photos, and Laurent shooting video.

We don't have fancy, organized costumes. We do have friendship, a lot of practice time and genuine intention of giving the gift of aloha. My French is limited, but I've done my best to convey to my group the spirit of aloha, what it means to be in tune and comfortable with your body while dancing, and what a gift it is to share something so profound that you have learned. Our class day is Friday, so we had a last minute chance to practice together. It was rainy, grey and cold, so I drew a change of scene on a whiteboard: sun, rainbow and the 4 of us dancing on a beach. I also let them know I was struggling with a heaviness in my heart about my own group at home. I likened it to growing pains, told them I thought all would be ok, and that performing with them the next day was the ultimate affirmation of hula for me, and exactly what I needed at this time.

As we held hands before going on to perform I reiterated the message that what they were about to do was really special and the audience was lucky indeed. My nerves were kicked up a notch--not because I was dancing but because I had to introduce our dance and briefly explain hula in French. Can you imagine? BRIEFLY explaining hula! My little speech went fine, and I'm bragging, but we were great! It was so easy--the applause that greeted us when we entered, the view, Rick providing our smile prompts, the girls running around taking pictures, Laurent with the video cam, the appreciative and interested gazes from the audience, and best of all the feeling of oneness between the dancers. After dancing Ke Ao Nani my 3 students stood behind me with support while I performed my new dance, Honomuni. This dance about Moloka‘i and a jeep ride is our next project and it is a fast and fun song. Then we all held hands for our final bow to enthusiastic applause.

What happened next, in our chilly little dressing room, was not captured on film but lives in my heart. The 2 French women became tearful and cried as they let themselves realize what had just happened, what they had given, what they felt--for themselves and each of us. Michelle, my American friend, has experience dancing hula with her church, so she has been lucky enough to feel the profondeur of it. She and I looked at each other, beaming. I said to my French friends, "you get it." They nodded silently with tears streaming. They told me they thought of me and my worries with my group at home, and how they could see that the dance itself rose above the pesky, petty, mundane worries of life and made them seem small. I welled up telling Rick about it later, and am welling up now.

We changed back into our party attire and met our public. I was approached by 2 women who report their intention to show up next Friday. They have prior jazz/tap experience so I'm hoping to integrate them into my existing group. After the guests trickled away we helped with clean up and Rick, knowing what is best for me, encouraged a dance of the slow version of Nani Hanalei to close out the room. You can see video of Ke Ao Nani here or see side bar for YouTube link. Due to technical difficulties the end was cut--oops!

My French is improving. But love, aloha, friendship and hula transcend language.

Much love and aloha to all who gave of their time to read this, Lisa

Joyeaux Thanksgiving Americain!

2008-11-27T10:45:00.011+01:00

So, here it is the morning of our favorite holiday, and we are 5700 miles from home. Living in Oregon, while both sides of our families reside in Michigan, has resulted in a tradition of inviting others like us who's families are elsewhere. To the Margulis's, Bollings (and Ken), Dreyers, and Cranes - we will miss you today, but hope you have a joyful day of celebration!

Normally, by this time I've put the turkey in the oven and we are happily cutting, chopping, and preparing all the courses to be served in about 6 hours, with our guests arriving in early afternoon. It is a day of ultimate relaxation and good cheer with none of the stresses of Noel such as decorations and gifts. Good conversation, great food and drink, the communal sharing of thanks and chores, and to keep us all from passing out, an evening of riotous games. We described a game we played last year (a drawing version of telephone) to our French friends who are coming today, and we all wondered how that would come off in French. Tina, you are the best memory keeper--didn't "the dog pooped in the yard" become "it will be a sad day when a donkey leaves the church of the bleeding cross"? We might skip that game today :)

Like normal, Lisa has already made her incredible apple pie (thanks Grandma GG!), and we are prepping for the meal. We will also continue the tradition of having each guest write down three things for which they are thankful, and before dinner we each pick one, read it, and guess who wrote it. The meal will be very typical with one glaring exception - no turkey! I went to 5 boucheries to no avail. Turkeys here are a Noel feast and getting one a month early proved impossible, so I bought two whole chickens instead. The other major difference is that it is not a holiday here, so Irie is in school right now. She talked us into letting her have the afternoon off so she can make decorations, but she will be back in school tomorrow morning. Lisa will miss performing with her hula group at Festival of Lights but will perform with her group here at a party on Saturday. A glaring difference for her will be not having to wear leggings or a turtleneck as part of her costume!

We are having our American friends, Michelle and Abbie, as well as the Brazzones (Laurent, Nathalie, Laure, and Fanny) for dinner so it will be a bilingual fête. Here's a little piece of history tying American Thanksgiving and the French together, that many of you probably don't know. Look for updates this evening including pictures.

UPDATE: The fête was fun! We spent all day preparing, just like at home.
We all wrote our thankful lists en français, the apple pie is gone, and we have leftovers for the next week. My favorite was probably the cornbread/blue chesse stuffing (see pics). The Brazzones really seemed to enjoy partage (sharing) in the first American Thanksgiving and everyone finally left about 10:30. Irie will be a tired school girl today. Thanks to Michelle for bringing ice cream, brioche, her large coffee pot, and taking some great pictures! Thanks to Nathalie for the chocolate cake! For me, yesterday FELT like a holiday, so we succeeded in bringing our favorite holiday to our adopted country.