Oct 8 Bowling in Villefranche

On Wednesday afternoon, Oct 8, we visited one of my colleagues (who also teaches English in Trévoux) Mélanie and her 3 kids. We then went bowling in Villefranche, the closest "city" to the west of

our village, Chatillon. We had a great time visiting with them, and look forward to our next adventure together! Villefranche, about 35 minutes away, has a large selection of retail stores, movie theaters and restaurants.

Photos of Vieux Lyon

Thise photos come from Vieux Lyon as well, from Rue du Boeuf. The

Hotel Tour Rose has this beautiful pink tower in the inner courtyard. These pictures dont do the building or the area justice, they are just breathtaking!
On the left is the original door at the base of the tower, with a well to its right.

Oct 11 Annecy

We took our first long weekend adventure trip to Annecy in October to visit the friends we had made at Les Grottes de Cerdon

last month.

Oct 5 Lyon Vieille Ville

Our first official visit to Lyon as a family! We meandered the outskirts of town attempting to read the huge falling-apart paper city street map that we had and finally found an access street to one of the areas we were trying to get to! (We now have a GPS!) We first visited the Theatres Romains, the Grand Theatre, the oldest theater in France, built in 15 BC to seat 30,000 spectators and still used for modern perfomances, and the smaller Odéon, with its geometric tiled flooring. It was amazing to realize that this was the oldest structure that our kids and Derek had ever seen (I've been to Athens).

We then went downhill to Vieux Lyon and had lunch at our first Bouchon (bistrot/tavern) serving traditional cuisine lyonnaise. These iconic restaurants, named for the bundles of straw hanging over the door indicating the availability of food and drink for horses and stagecoach drivers, were the medieval equivalent of truck stops. Bouchon dishes rely heavily on pig parts used in: andouillettes (veal & pork tripe sausage), boudin noir (black... blood sausage), gateau de foies blonds de volaille (chicken liver mousse), and bugnes (beignets of fried pork fat). If your arteries haven't hardened reading all of this, you might actually be willing to try some of it when you come to visit us! Oh, on the lighter side, they have Quenelles (a sort of dumpling... really good!), Sabodet (pig's head sausage) and and Rosette (garlicky pork sausage)!

Sunday Sept 27

The return home to Chatillon from Paris was as long or longer than the way there. We were starving, and stopped in the middle of nowhere (seriously), and found a small village with a couple of good restaurants, picked one, and proceeded to have a three and a half hour LUNCH. Course after course... we waddled out, content and sleepy and had to drive the rest of the way (it is about 5 hours if you DONT stop to eat!) The scenery was picturesque, and we saw this chateau with moutons grazing below it!

Saturday Sept 27 Bateau Mouche

After a rather lazy day doing not much of anything, the kids stayed home with a sitter at Mehdi's house (and played Wii) while the adults all went on a fancy dinner bateau mouche on a beautiful warm Paris evening. The sky was clear, Paris lights sparkled, and Parisiens and tourists mingled along all of the quai's of the Seine River with picnic dinners of wine and cheese (mostly wine) as they watched all of the tour boats cruise up and down the banks. Ironically, we were a bit jealous of their spot, as they were at the same time jealous of ours (on a "croisière de luxe"). It was lovely to get to know Christian and Miriam, and to celebrate the beginning of our year in France with our dear friends Brigitte and Philippe!

Fri Sept 25

Then on Friday Sept 25, the kids and I went with Brigitte to visit Maxime's collège (middle school) and we were guests for his English class. They were thrilled to meet real Americans, and enjoyed practicing their English, while Heather & Brandon attempted some of their new French skills. Brigitte took lots of pictures and video, see attached!

In the evening, we all ate at Mehdi's house (across the street from the Duquerroy's), with his parents Christian and Miriam! The kids played Wii Guitar Hero all evening (Brandon was in heaven) and the parents enjoyed fondu... mmmmm! See photos attached!

Chez Les Duquerroy Sept 24-27

On Thursday Evening Sept 24, we drove to Carrieres sous Poissy in the banlieue ouest (western suburbs of Paris) to stay with our longtime friends Brigitte & Philippe and their two kids Maxime & Yohan. On Thurs evening, we were all invited to dinner chez Isabelle & Christophe who live in Poissy. These were 6 (of the 7) "Frenchies" who stayed with us in the summer of 2007 in our garage for 3 weeks! We all had a wonderful evening together... we wish Paris wasn't so far away.
Then on Friday, the kids and I went with Brigitte to visit Maxime's collège (middle school) and we were guests for his English class. They were thrilled to meet real Americans, and enjoyed practicing their English, while Heather & Brandon attempted some of their new French skills. Brigitte took lots of pictures and video, see attached!

Musee de la Marine / Trocadero

On Thursday, after a looooooooooooooong morning at the ANAEM to have medical screenings so that we could get our Cartes de Sejour, we checked out of the hotel, and took the metro to the Palais de Chaillot overlooking La Tour Eiffel. The kids and I visited the Musee de la Marine (lots of cool boat models) and then back outside to the Place de Trocadero where Heather danced to street music and Brandon enjoyed skating on his Heely's with an impressive background.

Hanging in the Metro

We love the long conveyor belts in the metro that help you get from one line to another. Check out these fun photos!

Visiting Lycee Honore de Balzac

Wednesday, Sept 24, we had the opportunity to observe English teachers at one of the best high schools in Paris. Then lunch followed with the teachers, their principal, and one of the head English Inspectors for the French Government (she inspires awe and respect with a bit of fear mixed in for flavor from every teacher who has the pleasure to be observed by her!) We learned a lot about the French educational system, which has definitely been beneficial to my teaching in Trevoux since then.

Paris Fulbright Orientation

Derek came home on Sept 22, and we drove up to Paris the next morning for my Fulbright Orientation Meetings. That evening, I had the priviledge to attend a concert commemorating 60 years of Fulbright in the Cathedral des Invalides next to the tomb of Napoleon. The concert highlighted artists who have previously participated in the Fulbright Program. Wow!

Sept 21 Les Grottes de Cerdon

The kids and I had an adventure with our friends Jacqueline & Philippe Padet as they drove us into a region east of here called Bugey. On the windy foothill road (we aren't far from the Alps), we passed an impressive monument built in the honor of the fallen members of the French Resistance who were never found after World War II. Then, we had a magnificent meal in the town of Cerdon next to an artisanal factory built in 1854 which still handmakes products out of copper... La Cuivrerie de Cerdon. In typical French style, we arrived at the museum for a tour at 11h45 but they were closing for lunch and wouldn't reopen until 14h so we didn't get a tour. Bummer. The food nearby largely made up for it. After lunch, we visited the Grottes de Cerdon, a underground cave galleries formed during the ice-age. The photos speak for themselves.

The icing on the cake was meeting the owner of the Grottes, Francoise St. Julien. We began talking and after learning that our daughters were almost the same age, and she was interested in arranging an exchange to the states for her daughter, Louise. We exchanged addresses and that story will follow later.

Rafael's 50th Birthday Party

We have been welcomed with open arms, lots of "grosses bises" (big kisses) and amazing dinners.. into the family of friends belonging to Maryline & Daniel Decombas-Deschamps. I went solo to this birthday party, as Derek was still in the states. Rafael invited 50 of his best friends and family to celebrate life with him. His brothers were hilarious, as evidenced by the attached photo. Also pictured are many friends singing an ode to Rafael with lyrics written about his life to replace the song's original lyrics. Finally, at the bottom, a photo of me with Pascal & Nathalie Loriot, both veterinarians, who live on the farm that we almost didn't find the first time that we were invited over. Did I tell you that story? Well, we were on the right road, but hadn't gone far enough, and we were looking at every mailbox to find their name. A man inside his house saw us, came out, and we said to ourselves "hey, that looks like our gardener Bernard... no it cant be... yes it can! We were saved! He got on his bicycle and lead us the rest of the way to the Loriot's farm. We had been in Chatillon only 2 weeks, and we knew about 6 people at the time. In this small town, every time we leave the house, we see someone we know.

Crazy Vehicles in Chatillon

Our town is surrounded by farmland, with lots of corn fields, all destined to be eaten by the cows, not the people... the farmer's market every Saturday doesn't even sell corn on the cob! :-(

Here are some cool crazy vehicles we've seen recently!

September 6, Concert at Eglise de Brou

Our new friends Nathalie & Pascal Loriot invited us to attend a concert at the Monastere et Eglise Royal de Brou, built between 1506 and 1532. The church is gothic flamboyant, and its roof is covered with varnished colored tiles which were very common in this region, Rhone Alps. Nathalie sang in the concert, which featured a Cantique from Jean Racine, a Requiem from the Masse of the Fishermen from Villerville, and its sequel, all written by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924), considered abroad as the musical incarnation of the French culture (I translated that quote from the program). I have the program if you want to know more. The voices of the women in the choir were like angels, and the accoustics and ambiance of the church were the icing on the cake. The entire concert was filmed (it felt a bit like Hollywood) and will air in 2010 I think.

September 7 Pony Rides

After taking Derek back to the Lyon airport to spend 2 weeks on the east coast working, I took the kids to the Poney Club Des Dombes (Dombes is the name of the cultural region we live in) for a "Journee Portes Ouvertes" where we had a tour of their stables. The kids each got to ride a pony, and trot on their pony. They'd both like to go back again for lessons.

First Week For Heather & Brandon

Heather has 11 different subjects in 6ieme (6th grade): Arts-Plastiques (Drawing), Anglais ("My name is Heather, I am American") LOL!!!, History (she is relearning last years curriculum in French... pretty convenient!), Math (too easy... even easier than regular 6th grade math), PE (Heather plays Rugby - she's tough), Francais (update to be discussed in a later post), Education Civique (life maintenance skills), Geographie, SVT (Science de la Vie et de la Terre), and Technologie. She starts her day at 8h00 and finishes at 16h30. She walks home with friends, which takes about 30 minutes.

Brandon and his classmates call their teacher "maitresse". He starts at 8h45 and ends at 16h30, with a 2 hour lunch break. Many students go home for lunch, but Brandon stays, plays, and eats like a king. He told me he feels sorry for kids in South Pas who must eat at the school cafeteria.

More Photos From Trevoux

These photos are also from Trevoux

La Rentree - The First Week of School

It is now the end of October, and I am finally updating the blog. La Rentree was challenging for the whole family: I had to learn how to change classrooms, figure out which of my six groups of students I was teaching, in which room, and remember all of the things I needed to bring with me. There are no bells to START class, only bells to end class. The first week, Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday were orientations, of sorts, and students began classes on Thursday at 10 am. My high school, Lycee du Val de Saone, had a cultural/patrimoine outing/sortie on Wednesday afternoon and we visited the chateau in the town of Trevoux where the school is located. Then we walked back down the hill into the city to visit the court house, still in use, which dates back to ---- . See photos above. Beautiful doesn't describe it properly.

Thurs Aug 28 Heather's School

We finally made it to Heather's new school, College Eugene Dubois, on Thursday afternoon. I had thought she was already registered, but NON, zeese vas note zee case! Un peu de panique, and then it was ok. Ne paniquez pas, right? They were very, very kind, and immediately put EZER (their pronunciation of Heather) into the 6ieme 5, one of 8 groups of 6th graders, and the one where she will have a very nice French teacher whom we have already met, Nathalie STILLKRAUTH. We filled out papers, paid for school lunches for the month, and promised to bring in the immunization records that we forgot to bring with us (left them in California, whoops). Thank you Dr. Hemant for taking such good care of us!

Thursday evening, we were invited to eat dinner with Sophie MACON and her two daughters, Manon (13) and Charlotte (11). Also invited were Rafael and his kids. Sophie lives only 3 minutes walking from us, but she has a view not to be believed: see group photo .

Friday, I was able to meet with one of the 8 other English teachers at my lycee, Madeleine. We met in Villefranche sur Saone, a city near Trevoux (again, I got there without getting lost!) I am now QUITE relaxed about the start of the new school year, and feel well supported by my colleagues! Monday will be the first day for all teachers, Tuesday is for the students in Seconde (10th) only, Wednesday will be just for teachers, and Thursday will be the first day for students in Premiere and Terminale (11th & 12th). Friday MIGHT be a normal day of classes, but the schedule will change before all is said and done so who knows!

Driving home, it occured to me the extreme efficacy of the traffic circle, known here as rond point. In the US, rural areas have tons of 4-way stop signs, or traffic lights which require electricity. The rond point eliminates the need for electricity, and saves gas because drivers just slow down; they only need to stop to yield if someone else is coming! Wow, Christina, that was deep.

Wed Aug 27 Parc de Bouvent

Beautiful weather, spending way too much time hanging around the house, ready to do something, anything touristy! Brandon really wanted to do pedalo... peddle boating, so I called up Rafael and found out where to go! After lunch, Heather, Brandon & I headed to Bourg, to a park just outside the town with another lake, and a beach for swimming, with lots of other activities for kids: trampoline, giant slide, rope swing pulley, etc. But first, we rented a kayak for Brandon, and a canoe for Heather & I. We didn't paddle very far or fast, but we had a great time. Heather and I enjoyed a quiet chat, and Brandon became an expert kayaker.