Happy Thanksgiving!
Talk of pilgrims, Butterball, Stove Top and NFL football are not things you’ll find today in France. It’s a beautiful sunny day here in the south of France, but “south” is just mumbled, as we had our coldest morning yet, a crisp 25 degrees. That’s on the heals of a light snowfall yesterday morning. So much for mild weather the year-around. Sophia and Keaka are at school (they wanted to stay home to celebrate Thanksgiving – no such luck). Marlene is fixing a “big” dinner tonight. Looking for a turkey is a fools mission, so we focused on looking for a ham (jambon). There are so many varieties of ham readily available in France you get dizzy looking at them all. But, we looked anyway, and did get dizzy at the grocery store. Certainly, no canned hams. We had hoped for a typical ham roast like you find in every U.S. grocery store every day of the year. Not available. We saw some very strange looking chunks of ham, but nothing we dared purchase, let alone eat. So, it’ll be a nice little chicken for the French-style Thanksgiving celebration. We’re envious thinking of you digging into that delicious turkey and slicing that great looking ham!
Life in a foreign country really isn’t that foreign. Life is life it seems, no matter where you are. Sophia celebrated her 14th birthday with a party at home. See the two photos. Those ARE French kids, and they wanted an American party, so an American party it was. American music, ping-pong, an American cake (well sort of), soda and potato chips, and you get the idea. Keaka played hockey in Nice last Sunday. The ice arena (along with a championship swimming pool) was on the 5th floor of a building, with a four-story parking structure below. Most interesting was that seating was on one side, with glass enclosing the arena on three sides (see photo). And, see the photo of Keaka getting ready for the game. The Marseille team is winless, there’s body-checking for the first time, some of the players are much bigger than Keaka (you can only do so much with 105 pounds), the style-of-play is a bit different......and, I’ll let you figure out how it’s going. Keaka played with a cold, and upon returning home he ended up in the hospital late that evening. As has happened in the past, the cold presented some wheezing and asthma-like symptoms. He was struggling, so the struggling really got going with the call to emergency (112 for English and a French-speaking operator – you figure), the communicating with three French fireman who arrived at the house, and the dealing with French-speaking nurses and a doctor at the local hospital. Great fun. Keaka was treated quickly and after a four-hour episode we were back home at 2:00 am. Pretty nice hospital, by the way. We mentioned some time ago that France is a country of contradictions. Well, you can’t do anything without loads of paperwork and hoop-jumping here. U.S. emergency rooms can certainly be tedious, especially with paperwork and delays, unless you are just about dead. Not here. Quickly into the emergency room, hand them Keaka’s international health insurance card as ID, get the treatment and out the door. We never even signed a document. For such cautious folks always concerned with security, we were amazed. We were later told by a friend that there’d be no charges for the ambulance or the hospital treatment. This is France, you know. We’re not sure why we are paying for international medical insurance? It seems that when the French say everybody’s medical is covered, they mean everybody. The doctor prescribed two medications for Keaka. Price at the pharmacy? A grand total of $13.00. We figured it would have been nearly $100 in the U.S. There’s something wrong with the picture. Oh yes, school is going as school usually goes. It seems that French public schools have many of the traits of American public schools, only you can add teacher strikes (already had one) and no substitute teacher if a teacher is absent. And, yes, our kids are struggling taking most classes in a French-speaking environment. Off to a conference with two teachers tomorrow. That should be interesting. Were trying to focus on getting Sophia and Keaka into a high school for next year. Some tough decisions on which schools would be best (all-girls? private vs. public?). We can’t show up for the entrance tests in Portland, we can’t make the family interview (thank goodness for Skype), and there’s paperwork and deadlines. And, of course, it doesn’t appear that Sophia and Keaka are sold on the schools we believe they should try to get accepted at. Hours spent on the phone with Sprint the last few days over a billing dispute. Talked with eight, that’s eight, different representatives in two very long phone calls. They’ll have to get back to us no earlier than next Monday because of the holiday. What holiday? Christmas comes early here, too. The Christmas decorations have been up for a couple of weeks along the famed Cours Mirabeau in downtown Aix-en Provence (see the photos). Maurice still chews socks and any other clothing he can get his teeth into, and when he can reach it, loves to eat French butter just as well as American butter. The dog ate Sophia’s teeth retainer that she must wear every day. That happened weeks ago and the appointment with the dentist is still a few weeks off. Sophia’s chronic hip pain continues and she goes for an MRI (it’s an MIR in France) early next month. Do you really think the MRI will be free? I do love France. Anyway, moving to France really doesn’t change life that much. It’s even dark at 6:30 in the morning and the idea of getting up isn’t very appealing. But, we’re all happy and looking forward to our Thanksgiving chicken dinner tonight!
Tomorrow night we’re in Marseile to see a big league French soccer game. Olympic Marseille (I guess they’re like the Los Angeles Dodgers) will be playing somebody. We pick the kids up at school at 5:20 pm and drive the 25 minutes to the main Marseille train station, then grab the subway for a 15-minute ride to the stadium. There’s essentially no parking at the stadium or around it, so the subway should be interesting. There’s dinner in the mix, somewhere. Can anybody say McDonalds, the official French restaurant for the Wilson family? The match begins at 8:15 (don’t know way so late....we can’t only presume our French friends want to eat dinner before the game). It should be a kick (ohhhhhhhhh).
We just got an invite to have dinner at a French family’s home on December 14. We met the couple through hockey. Keaka has already declared he’s not going because he’s not friends with the couples’ son, Axel. The couple are both doctors and we feel badly because they struggle along speaking English with us, while we say “bon jour” and move right into English. They asked what we preferred to eat at their home? I was caught by surprise. I always say “anything would be fine and meat would be great”. Oh, not here! I fumbled all over the place and finally reached that always polite, “whatever you fix will be greatly appreciated”. I’m hoping they serve fish, which I haven’t eaten since I was five-years-old. I’m calling it the best option. It should be quite an experience. Stand by!
We’ve finally completed our planning for the December 22 – January 5 Paris Trip, as it is referred to. The trip is almost entirely via train. Various train reservations, one car rental, an 8-day Paris apartment stay and a number of hotel reservations. The trip goes something like Aix-en Provence to Paris to Amsterdam to Dusseldorf to Heidelberg to a famous Bavarian castle for one night (that’s where the car comes in) back to Heidelberg on to Strasbourg and back to Aix-en Provence. We should be sick of trains, well at least Marlene, Sophia and Keaka. I’m sure you’re getting ready for the travel logs of that trip (ha!). I promise, no Eiffel Tower photos (unless Marlene makes me).
We hope you all enjoy the holiday!
