Ecole Maternelle- woo hoo!

Etienne had his first day of "ecole maternelle" on Friday. He goes 4 days a week m/tu/th/f from 8:30-11:30 then a 2 hour break to come home for lunch (I need to adjust to this!) and then goes back from 1:30-4:30. At the risk of repeating myself the greatest part is....it's FREE preschool for 3 year-olds. His teacher is young and pretty. Her name is Stephanie. Etienne makes the 29th student in the class, so Stephanie and her assistant Veronique have their hands full I'm sure. He was so excited about all of the trucks and cars in the classroom and the scooters and bikes to use on the playground. He was very confused though that he didn't eat peanut-butter and jelly out of his lunch bag at school and doesn't get why he has to come home and go back (hmmmm me either- it's tradition and the French are SLOW at losing old traditions).

Denis and I had to laugh this morning dropping him off because it is so funny to see all of the different types of parents and cars bringing their kids to school in the village of Sergy, a shiny new BMW with Swiss plates, a mom with her stroller and house slippers, really all kinds of people. I guess this is what school is all about- exposure to the world.

After we dropped Etienne off, Xavier and I dropped Denis off at CERN and then headed home for morning nap. Xavier had started napping just once in the afternoon, but now that I have to pick Etienne up at lunch and bring him back, it kind of cut right in the middle, so today he's having 2 naps. On the way to CERN, however, Denis was almost in tears laughing as we listenend to Virgin radio and a program they have called "weekend de merde" literally "shitty weekend" where listeners call in trying to best each other with stories of why their weekend was so bad. I can't mention all of the stories, but the one that won was a guy who proposed to his girlfriend down on one knee in a suit and tie in a fancy restaurant and she said "no" and the whole room applauded because they didn't hear the answer- awww- poor guy.

Nice trip to Guewenheim ending with stomach flu:(

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We decided to go visit Denis's parents this past weekend. We are not used to being able to drive to see family, so this was a very easy trip for us. We packed up the 307 and in 3 hours we were there. The trip is from France to France, but we drive most of the way in Switzerland! We were more than ready to get out of the temporary house and be in a real house for a couple of nights. Denis's mom made red cabbage with chestnuts and apples (a yummy French side dish in the fall) and Denis felt like a little kid again. We all got "manalas" for breakfast. Manala is an Alsatian word for little man and they make them around St. Nicolas and Christmas. They are little brioche breads in the shape of a man- kind of like a gingerbread man except made out of brioche. Etienne ate 2 whole ones for breakfast on Saturday morning! Denis and I got time to oursevles!!! Saturday morning we snuck out the door and headed to Masevaux, 2 or 3 villages away, and we had a coffee in a little pastry shop and then I headed to "Chez Elsie," where Denis's cousin's daughter Chloe works now as a hairdresser, to get my hair highlighted and cut (blond and chocolate highlights and in a longish bob). Denis headed off to his cousin Brigitte's for more coffee.

Saturday afternoon we dropped by Jean-Luc's house in Michelbach to give his daughter Mathilda her 5th birthday present. It was a short visit made even shorter by Xavier throwing up all over Denis and in the kitchen sink- poor baby. He continued to throw up through the night and the next day. Then came the fever. Etienne got the flu on Monday- fever, vomiting, etc. It is now Tuesday night- the boys are all sleeping and I hope we will wake up tomorrow healthy. It has been about 60 degrees in the Geneva area, so I want to get outside and play. I did go for about an hour walk this afternoon with the boys just to breathe some fresh air. Apparently 5 other families from our CERN toddler group have this same flu- so guess where we picked it up?

Next on the agenda- I am dying for a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, but I have to drive to Geneva to find it. The closest one might be at the airport and I may be headed there tomorrow. Tomorrow evening we meet the owners of the house we are renting who decided they didn't want to sign the lease unti they meet us. Thursday, Denis and Etienne meet with the principal and new teacher at Etienne's new school "ecole maternelle" in Sergy. Hopefully he can start on Friday! We also have a ton of forms to fill out so that our container(s) can make it through customs and get to us. If we're feeling good tomorrow, Etienne may go to the daycare at the mall to play with some friends and he needs a hair cut.

Temporary Housing Sucks

Sunday we moved from the quaint little "gite" in Vesignin to a more commercial temporary house in the Citea complex. Both places have pros and cons, but for now all I can see are cons because I cannot wait to get into our own house with our own stuff. The gite was more charming with a fully equipped kitchen including a raclette machine and several different size glasses for wine. However the bathroom was always musty smelling and Denis had to duck in the shower. (He had several episodes of bumping his head on the stairs and on the kitchen doorway and cussing afterward claiming the house was made for Hobbits). There was no bathtub, so Xavier got put in the kitchen sink. Sunday when we had to leave, I was up at 6 am with Xavier and started to clean and pack up. At 10 am we were supposed to vacate the premises but the house was far from being sparkling clean like the owners wanted it. The funny thing is for 4 hours straight I was cleaning and packing. BUT with a 3 year-old and 1 year-old dumping goldfish out all over and slobbering on the furniture, it's like 2 steps forward, 3 steps back every time you clean. Long story short, the picky Belgian owner lady scolded Denis that we hadn't swept upstairs and she complained that she would have to do some cleaning before the next people got there. I felt badly for a quick second until I remembered the hell I've been through and the 4 hours I spent cleaning and then thought you know if you decide to have a guest house that you rent out for a small fortune, you may have to clean the guest house- too bad Belgian lady.

Now on to the Citea temporary house. It's also 2 stories- more modern- a full-sized dishwasher instead of the mini one in the gite, but not nearly as well equipped. There is silverware, but not a single spatula or other tool for cooking. There is no oven, but there is a fancy microwave with a "grill" in it that we tried, but when smoke starting coming out we turned it off. I don't know why but my allergies and asthma are going crazy in this place. I threw a clean sheet over the couch because you can see the dirt and yuck from the many people who have used the house-ick. On the bright side, it is literally much brighter here and Denis does not have to duck to go through doorways- lots less cussing. Also, there is a bathtub. Right when we got here the boys wanted to jump in and play and I let them. Later on Sunday night I got to take a relaxing bath for the first time since we've been here- and on top of it- the bathroom was actually not cold so I was comfortable! That was nice.

Today the boys and I met a nice British family at McDonald's (the only place nearby for kids to play inside- believe me I'm looking for other options but every time we go Etienne meets a friend). Par hasard, the husband works at CERN and the wife invited me to the CERN mom's playgroup tomorrow! Hooray a place for the kids to play and for me to have an adult conversation. Must go call her now to arrange to meet! On a side note, the house that we found to rent does not have a shower!!!! Isn't that funny. There is a bathtub that may or may not have a shower attachment, but no stand-up shower. So if you come to visit (and please do) you'll have to use the bathtub.

Hooray for Nina!!!

Denis and I agree that the past 3 or 4 weeks have been some of the most challenging of our lives. We have asked each other several times if we made the right choice to leave San Diego. We finally are in a "gite"/ guest house in Prevessin-Moens near his work at CERN. It helps a lot to be just on our own- us 4. For the first time since we arrived in France the boys are in bed at a decent hour. The house is a little humid, but it is very lovely. The kitchen is fully equipped. I even made tacos tonight! I bathed Xavier in the kitchen sink also tonight because there is only a stand-up shower here. Etienne likes the shower now, so that's good.

We found a park down the road to play in this afternoon, but it started raining pretty hard and kids started to flee for home with their parents. Etienne started crying because well, frankly he has never had to leave a park due to rain. He was so sad to see the kids start to leave. We had to drag him to the car kicking and screaming. He is a San Diego boy through and through. He really misses his friends and contact with other kids. We are starting to look for a house, but our things won't arrive until the end of November. And without us living in a house we can't actually sign him up for the correct school. I did find out today that I can leave him at the daycare in the mall for up to 2 hours. 2 hours costs 3 Euros ($4.50). It's opened on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Little kids here have Wednesdays off of school and many then go to school Saturday morning. Denis tells me that the good cartoons were always on Wed. morning. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I think I will try to drop him off and see how it goes????

And lastly, the subject of my post "Hooray for Nina." Upon returning to our "gite" this afternoon, the owner of the house gave us a package that came for us. It was a huge Halloween package from my mom and dad (the boys call mom Nina). It had pumpkin and maple leaf garland for decorating, Halloween plates and napkins, marsmallows, Reeses peanut butter pumpkins, skittles, 3 boxes of goldfish crackers, pumpkin flashlights, cool Halloween cards. Etienne was so happy to get a present and Xavier just said "wow". I said "Hooray for Nina" and Etienne replied, "Hooray for marshmallows!"

Peugeot 307 SW sport

Denis and I finally found a nice family car within our budget. His knees do not fit under the steering wheel, but otherwise he has enough room. Knowing that it will probably be mostly me driving the kids around and he will take his bike or a bus to work ,we are going with it. We are partial to Volkswagens, but believe it or not it was hard to find a Passat wagon here, with Germany just over the border. I think our VW's in San Diego were made in Mexico anyway. http://www.automattei.com/imgauto/peugeot307sw_1%5B1%5D.jpg

This should show a picture of what it looks like. We get to go pick it up on Friday afternoon- so it will be a nice 31st birthday present for me!

It's still been rough settling in, but we are very eager to go out on our own and find a house. Etienne asks for bagels and for Doyle Park every day. He has acquired a taste for "petits pains" with nutella in the morning, but you just have to watch that he doesn't eat the whole jar of nutella. He also enjoys car rides around Alsace because we frequently see tractors, cows, horses, and even mountains.

Banking in the small villages around here (Masevaux to be specific) is quite frustrating. They will charge us 60 Euro cents each time we look at our account details on line! We are hoping when we get closer to CERN that the bank there will negotiate an "internet" package. I am so used to doing all of our banking online. On top of that, the Credit Agricole bank here does not necessarily transfer our money to the branch of the one near CERN. And, we have to pay for a debit card! Hmmm. We filled up Denis's parents' car that we've been using yesterday for 57 Euros- that's Diesel- but that translates to about 85 dollars a tank! I guess that double stroller is going to get used more than we thought.

More on the car to follow....

Arrived!

After 12 hours of flying, 3 hours of driving, 5 hours of a hellish stopover in London- this is due it's own post as soon as I can bear writing about it-, and very little sleep, we arrived at the Basel/Mulhouse airport around 5:30 pm Friday October 2nd. We were happy to see Denis's parents waiting for us with their car and their truck to hall all of our suitcases. The first two nights were really rough, but last night Etienne slept from 10-6, something close to a real night's sleep, and Xavier from 10-12 and again from 2-6. We made it to Denis's Tata's 70th birthday party yesterday in Rouffach at a quaint little restaurant. The lunch lasted about 5 hours and there were about 5 courses (aperitif, first course of fish and cold meats, second warm course beef stew w/ carrots and mashed potatoes (the creamiest ones I've ever tasted), spetzle (sp?), cheese course, and then many desserts- yummy- wait I didn't mention all of the wine- dry white, red, sweet white mmmm). Of the 5 hours, I think Denis and I sat for about 1/2 each because we were chasing the boys. But, the young cousins also helped to look after them. Etienne was playing hide and seek with Zoe, Elsa, Jeanne, Theo, and Amelia. He didn't eat anything except for many desserts when the time came. Xavier finally did take a nap in the stroller at the restaurant.

I haven't slept, but jet lag is now not as bad as it used to be before kids, believe it or not. Now I'm so used to getting no sleep that it just seems like a normal day that you have to suck it up, drink some coffee and breathe. I was disappointed to recently find out that there are no direct flights from Chicago to Geneva. I thought we were going to be able to fly home directly. We will have to go through Zurich, but that is not too bad. There are however many direct interEurope flights to Geneva.

Now it is time to get down to business: buying a car, getting our blackberries up and running, finding a house, a school for Etienne. We'll be in Alsace until around Oct.18th. We're going to visit my French host family from Angers who now lives near Montlucon in the center of France. We'll stay the night of the 20th with Beatrice and Jean-Paul and then head to Grenbole before we settle into our gite in Prevessin-Moens (http://www.gite-les-demoiselles.fr/index_en.html) We will be in the gite from Oct.22-Nov.7. Hopefully this may give us enough time to find a place to rent.

I was happy to see that there are "pumpkin days" coming up in the village of Masevaux nearby. We can take the boys and at least dress Xavier up in his hand-me-down pumpkin costume. They reassure me that there are now many Halloweeny things here, but I know it won't be the same. Etienne and I are reading Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin story that his best friend Jake gave him and he told me he wants to go trick-or-treating. Maybe around CERN we can do that?

To Beach or not to Beach?

It looks like our last 2 weeks in San Diego are going to be HOT, SUNNY, and wonderful. It's like the city is waving goodbye and sticking its tongue out at us as we prepare to leave. The beach is calling. Here's the problem: I've got rooms full of stuff to sort through, services to end, phone calls to make, mountains of laundry, friends to see for the last time, green-card forms to fill out, shopping to do (suitcase, running shoes, clothes, gifts, peanut butter). Thank God mom has decided to fly out for our last weekend here. It's only appropriate to end our journey here with her and with Jonathan's recent visit. After all, the two of them are the ones who piled into my white Plymouth Neon with me, half of the backseat covered in clothes, back in June of 2002 and drove out here from Illinois.

So much left to do, but there has been progress. We have finally chosen a moving company who we will trust to pack up all of our dear possessions, throw into a big crate and ship on a boat. They will wrap the furniture in plastic and pack everything else professionally. In fact, if we pack anything ourselves, they won't insure us, so that really lightens the stress of moving. We have sold the Jetta (sniff sniff- Denis's first car in the U.S.). We are preparing to sell the Passat, the grill, the tv/dvd, and everything electric that won't work in France- although we cannot part with our fancy espresso machine and Denis vows to make it work with an adapter at all costs. The newest little bit of news is that Etienne has finally decided to go poo poo on the potty- hooray! Why is this relevant to the move??? Because we really want him to go to FREE preschool in France and they have to be potty-trained to do it.

Wtih my infinite to-do lists scattered around the kitchen and by the computer, the only conclusion I can come to is: we need to go to the beach.