Last week was a crazy but good one. The kids continue to warm upto me, even taking my hand to walk up and down the stairs and sitting in my lap to read books. It all depends on their mood, of course. By the end of some days, they only want their mom to put on their bib or help scrape the plate. They repeat some of the English words I say, like "good night"; sometimes I get "peez" and "dankoo". I know a little more what's expected of them and of me, so that's good. It'm supposed to speak English to them but it's hard when I'm trying to tell them to behave. I try to say things in French and then English, but there isn't usually time. Reading books is nice cause I learn French words and tell them the English ones at the same time. I try to keep a notebook of all the words I learn each day, but usually by the end of the day when I sit down to write them, I've forgotten.
I'm still waiting for my laptop to be up and running-- the new charger is in the mail, apparently. I'll be spending a lot of time looking up words I forget and skyping ;) It'll be weird using an American keyboard again.
Some nights, the Marie-Laure and I watch movies. Usually French, sometimes American, once in English even. Usually I have a yummy herbal tea and sometimes chocolate. Life is simple at night, and nice. There's a church pretty much next door that chimes on the hour to tell the time-- ten strokes at ten, and one on the half hours. I love it and know I'll miss it. I see the church from my window and love looking out but hate when I give away the surprise of the bells. There's a good amount of down time in the afternoons when the kids are napping; I'm reading at least 3 books, slowly of course. Most nights I read Calvin and Hobbes in French, awesome right?
Anyway, last week, we went to the zoo. I love that I can see giraffes, turn the corner and see llamas, and continue on and see a castle here. It was a better zoo than I expected and a nicer day than it was looking like it would be. There were even some animals I'd never seen before-- having been to the San Diego zoo, I thought I'd seen all the possibilities of zoo animals. The habitats were nothing like San Diego's zoo's but nice. It wasn't necissarily organized so it was fun seeing monkeys next to camels next to goats. At the end of the trip, I had a bite mark from a donkey who just wanted more food. I paraded it around on Friday making people guess how I got the bruise. One person actually got close with "You were bitten by one of the kids?"
It was the "week of pleasure". Marie-Laure and I ate a bit too much chocolate, indulged in ice cream once, and even each had our own pizza one night. I'm still trying a lot of new things, like eating ray and all sorts of food. I'm learning a lot about French food and culture. There are definietly things I want to carry on to my kids, like the afternoon goûter of gateux / cookies. Well, I can't think of god examples now so I guess I should write those things down too.
I made blondies to bring to the party for the YSA on Friday, celebrating the beginning of the year and institute and everything. The week before that I made cookies-- if I didn't already mention that. Martine had asked me to make something for dinner on Saturday so I decided to make meatloaf. It's super nice being able to use an oven pretty much whenever I want again. Of course, I had that option over the summer; but life was pretty crazy. Also, I was trying not to make a dessert every day like I could in a perfect world. Anyway, the party was fun. I'd gotten to Rennes early and decided to take my first walk around town since my return. Oh, how I miss living in the city. I walked from the train station to the movie theatre to Place Republique to Place St Anne and settled at the Parc du Thabor for a bit of course.
On Saturday, I finally got to visit the chateau at ChateauGiron, because it was open for tours and stuff. It was a crummy day, raining and all; but I didn't really mind. I would've loved the rain if it weren't so cold. I feel like it's always cold here, even when the suns out. Maybe it's cause it's fine inside and looks crummy out, so I assume it's cold. Usually I go out with a coat and don't need it. I haven't reallt gotten out to explore my small town yet, but have only gone to the grocery store a couple times and to Henri's school. I better do that soon, before I get used to being lazy. Saturday night, we went to the movies to see La Guerre des Boutons which was very French and hard to understand; I followed but wished there were subtitles. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't wish that. It was a movie about two rival villages and the battles the kids and even adults would have. It was cute.
Sunday was a good one. My outfit was really cute. I took a nice nap, but missed the train that night. Wasn't really my fault, but I won't go into it. I took the train early Monday morning, so all was well. The kids were crazy on Monday, still cute but not wanting me to help them with anything. I was a bit distracted too because it was Sarah Dargon's birthday. I'm sorry she didn't make it to 21 but she accomplished so much in her short life; sometimes it makes me feel inadequate. Luckily I was invited to Mont Saint Michel for the afternoon and went in her honor. It was a fun time, so that was perfect. It's such a beautful place. It was my third time, and I like having the different memories. I mostly thought back to being there with my family. It made me miss them a lot, but also made me proud that I'm back here and making it without them. I feel brave sometimes. Usually I feel helpess but sometimes I feel able and adventurous-- as I think I already mentioned; I don't know.
The kids all have their moments. Overall they're cute, but they all misbehave like usual kids: They argue over toys and hit and push and all want attention. It surprisingly doesn't really but me; I just feel bad I can't alwayd control them. I think it'll get easier-- I hope. On Wednesday (oh, that was yesterday), we took another walk on the beach. It was kinda cold but nice and the kids were still a bit more willing to take my hand instead of gathering around their mom. There was one time when she had three girls holding her hands-- yes, only two hands. She managed.
Today was pizza day. There are a few food places within the square block and one of them uses our outlet or something for their fridge-- I'm not quite sure; but we get "free" pizza out of it so I'm happy. It was the second week of this. I hope and don't hope that it continues. The pizza is way goos and there are a ton of good sounding sorts to try. It was also a special treat day cause the Marie-Laure cale home with a couple crepes au chocolat for breakfast. It was my first crepe since my return. I was pretty proud to have made it that long before indulging and enjoyed myself eating that one.
Well it's a long post cause it took me a while to get back to it, but hey, I did it. Hope you enjoy.
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