The kids keep coming home with stories about things that the French kids are very interested in hearing about from an American perspective. Max was surrounded by older girls when I picked him up from school today because they were all asking him questions about Pokemon and looking at a book that he had with him. Quincy and Tabitha say that with the limited English that their peers have... they often ask if something is good rather than whether they like to do something. Quincy thinks this is hilarious and has started using this phrase often. Today I had an experience that I can honestly say I have never had in my life... I was having a drink (an appertif) with my next door neighbor and she offered me a cigarette! Of course, I declined but she didn't even jump to the assumption then that I don't smoke, she just said "okay" and lit one up herself. Can you imagine that happening in the US? I feel like I am truly a resident today! I got my supermarket frequent shopper card! I was proud of myself that I could actually figure out what the clerk was asking me when she asked if I lived here and if I shop at that store often. When I said yes, she promptly handed me the application form (which I could fill out unassisted!!!) and I now have my keyring card. Just like home!!!
We had a great day today. The kids keep enjoying school more and more each day. They seem to be making some real friends and doing as much school work as they can. We are a little worried that people use a little bit too much English with all of us and that if we get too used to that, we will not learn French as quickly as we should. I took a long walk around our neighborhood this morning and took some pictures of my favorite daily sights. It is just unbelievably pretty here! I spent most of the day again trying to tackle more of the unpacking and organizing in the house. Max and Calvin did come home for lunch today which was a very nice break for all of us. The kids unearthed their bikes and spent quite some time after school riding around the neighborhood. While they were out and about, I met our immediate next door neighbors. They are a wonderful retired couple who only live here in the summer unfortunately and outside of Paris the rest of the year. Ironically enough, she is a corporate translator who translates French, German and English! Her husband is a retired electrical engineer who also speaks quite good English. We had a nice long chat and drink on their front "terrace". Josh joined us when he got home from work. Tabitha again hung out with the girl in the other house next door and she actually went swimming in their pool. The water temperature was 69 degrees!!! They had a good time! The girl seems to be big for her age as we found out that she is actually only 8. She is very nice though and apparently practiced English for two weeks with the translator neighbor just so she could talk to us!! We found out that her father is a commercial fisherman and her mother is a physical therapist! She also has a 12 year old brother that Quincy will need to meet one day soon. We are apparently the talk of the town and the whole neighborhood has been speculating about where we are from, what we are doing here, etc. Quite amusing! They are all eager to get to know us but their English is a bit more limited than this neighbor today. One man said "Hello" to me today as I was leaving the boys at school, he then said "You are from America" and gave me a big smile, then he said "Au revoir" and walked away. Everybody really makes an effort! My pictures are just various sights between our house and the boys' school (an 8 minute drive).
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