La Vie francaise

As I expected, my good intentions of writing every week took a dip over the last 2 due to having 2 boys to entertain on their hols! But back to work today so I thought I would give a little insight into la vie francaise.

Before school broke up for the holidays the school held the Loto in the village hall. I say village hall, it is more accurately described as a large gym where local sports groups play handball and basketball and known in french as la salle polyvalente. It was on a Friday and started at 830 pm. Knowing that the French rarely start on time we arrived slightly late but weren't the last. We had the basics of how to play explained to us and bought our cards and counters (cartons and jetons). It turns out that it is Bingo. The counters are used so that they can re-use the cards each time. The French are quite addicted to their Loto and go to at least one a week. Many take it very seriously with chatting and noise discouraged. Even at the school's event, where the kids were included and expected to take part, children older than 5 were expected to sit at the tables and not make a noise! The boys had been practising it all week at school and did well identifying their numbers. We didn't even get close to a full card and never managed to be the first to fill a line - so no prizes for us. The prizes ranged from a sledge filled with children's toys and books to a gift certificate for €100 to a 5kg bag of flour and some cider! They broke for coffee at 11pm and still had five more games to play. The kids had been good but even they had a limit to how long they can listen to numbers being called out in French! So, using my leg in a brace as an excuse we left.

As previously mentioned we started the process of registering our car in France. The MOT centres here don't fix anything that is wrong - just fail your car and you have to then pay to re-test later. So we booked the car in with our local garage, Monsieur Perrot to get anything fixed that needed it before the test. When we went back to pick it up he said that he hadn't done much except change a couple of bulbs so he hadn't yet worked out how much we owed him and that he would give us an invoice, sometime!

We had been told that registering the car can be a lengthy and frustrating process. But also that if you are organised it is ok. So we got organised. Having made a list of everything we needed and the order it needed to happen. We started slowly ticking things off. I think it is the length of time that it takes that is possibly the frustrating part but happily we got every document that we needed. Last week I left the house before everyone else was awake to get to Foix, our principal town with the Prefecture, in time to join the queue for the carte grise - the official document for your car similar to the V5 in Britain. I was 5th in the queue as the doors opened. Then we had to wait some more for the ticket machine to wake up in order to get our number to be served. It was a very orderly process and I felt quite French sitting with my dossier folder like everyone else! 10 minutes later I was at the counter passing over all the necessary documents to a very bored lady who obviously did this day in and out. Then I moved on down the hall to pay our tax for the carte grise - this time no queue. Then there was one final thing to do - find Intermarche and the man who makes the registration plates (plaques). Knowing that the kids would enjoy seeing the plates go on I took them home. We then went to our local garage and the very nice Monsieur Perrot put them on for us - and still hadn't worked out the invoice!

Where do I start?......

I knew moving to France would, like everywhere, bring its own challenges. From having done a lot of research and talking with others who have already trodden this path I knew about the long administrative processes and the French love of paperwork. I knew about the settling in process, how it is a bit of a roller coaster experience until you begin to feel more "at home". What I wasn't expecting was the accidents of life.

Snow was forecast for our area for Sunday 29th. It was our youngest's birthday and we had promised him months ago that he could go skiing on his birthday to make up for the fact that he wouldn't really know anyone well enough to have a party. We woke up in anticipation of a white-out. But alas, nothing. So we headed off to Ax-Les Thermes and the resort of Bonascre. It lies south of Foix about an hour and a quarter from our house. We had winter tyres on and so felt confident that we would be ok on the roads. The snow didn't appear until we got to Ax. We saw many people putting snow chains on and wondered if we needed them. The sports shops were selling them so we decided not to be macho and buy a set putting them on as we saw the hill we needed to climb to get to Bonascre.

Blizzard conditions up the mountain!

We got to the top and set about organising ski hire and ski passes. We then headed up the mountain in the gondola. The weather got worse with every metre climbed. We got out half way up and immediately found ourselves in a snowstorm. Visibility no further than a few metres. Not the weather the children are used to and certainly not what they were expecting. But they slowly got their "ski-legs" back and we wound our way slowly back down the mountain. After about 3 hours we decided that we would call it a day and head for some chocolat chaud. 


200m from the bottom I turned to stop waiting for our youngest to start off again so that I would be behind him ready to help if needed. I was going slowly, too slowly and in turning right the back end of my left ski didn't. However the leg and the knee did. I heard a "crack" and fell over. Having previously ripped my right ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) many years ago I knew what it felt like. So believe thatI have managed to do the same to my left!!!


The fun didn't stop there though. After being transported down the hill in the sledge head first, I was put in the front if the ambulance as there was a bloke on a stretcher on the back. As we're heading off down the very steep slope the ambulance starts sliding out of control towards the edge and the crash barrier! The other helper in the car got out and put herself between the barrier and the vehicle to try to push the car around so that it was back facing down the hill. After this I discovered that there was only one chain on one tyre as the second chain had broken. 


We crawled down the hill in first gear. Then about 2 turns from the bottom and the clearer roads we came upon a bus coming up the hill. It had stopped to put chains on. He hadn't thought about stopping before the hill! So we sat for ages watching the driver get in and out the bus inching it forward and back to get it aligned with the chains and every time  he got out he slipped on the ice. By then there was a huge queue behind us and one guy decided to overtake - then he realised why we'd all stopped as we couldn't get passed the bus! So he put his brakes on and slid right into the back if the ambulance! To top it all I had been needing the loo since about 11 am and had not yet been. I was now fit to burst and couldn't hold it in any longer so I told the ambulance lady and she got a sheet out and held it, with the help of my hubby, to maintain my modesty whilst I did the biggest wee ever at the side if the road!! Took us 2 and a half hours to go a journey that should normally take about 40!!! 


When we got to the hospital I was seen quite quickly and had my knee x-rayed to check there was no fracture. I was then given a full length leg brace to stabilise it and keep it straight. I have to keep it like that for 10 days waiting for the swelling to reduce. I had to then phone on Monday to make an appointment to see the specialist surgeon on Wed 8th. Which, perhaps unlike the UK, I got with no problem. The surgeon will then tell me how bad, or not, my knee is. Hadn't planned on experiencing the French medical system so soon. Haven't yet joined their social security system or taken out insurance - so lets hope the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) works! On a positive note my husband is till here to drive the kids to school and ensure we have some food - so something good has come of it. Who knows what will happen next week!

Challenges

 I wrote last week about the challenges I had to face this week. Some went well, some didn't happen at all and then there were challenges that popped out at me!

First up was getting on with everyday life without my other half. Having done this numerous times before I thought I would have this nailed. But having to cope with it 3 weeks after having arrived in a new country, with all of our "life", bar what we fitted into 6 suitcases, in a warehouse somewhere in the UK, and hundreds of miles away from friends and family was a lot harder than I imagined. It has led to some lows this week and brings out the "snappy mum" in me. This is where the smallest things that the kids do, which would normally be dealt with calmly lead to me shouting and sounding like a crazed banshee. Not helpful for anybody! But we have all managed to make it through the week unscathed.

Getting the headlights swapped over for left-hand-drive ones is the first step of 8 required to get the car registered here. Luckily the husband of the estate agent lady that we've made friends with here knew a guy who sells Volvo parts just in the next village along. And amazingly enough he had lights for our age of car! There was just the simple problem of how to get back to the house (4 miles away uphill) whilst he had the car for 2 hours. I normally hate having to depend on others and have never been good at asking for help but I tried it on Tuesday when I asked our lovely Dutch neighbours if they wouldn't mind picking me up and taking me back. They were of course delighted to help. This week really proved how much nicer life can be when people help out with just little things.

The main challenge I faced this week was my confidence with the language and that was going to be tested on Friday at the course for parent volunteers to help with school cross-country skiing groups. I knew I had to get skis but wasn't sure where the best place to hire them would be. The headmaster caught me at school drop-off on Monday to ask for my height and shoe size as he was going to get me skis and boots from the central store. He also warned me that there wasn't much snow at the training area and therefore the course might not happen. I didn't know what I wanted to hope for. No snow, meant I didn't need to get out of my comfort zone and yet I wouldn't be able to help out on the school trip. In the end, the course was cancelled but the head said I could still go to help out, I just wouldn't be qualified to take a group. So at least I will still see the boys try a new sport and help with the translation!

Another unforeseen challenge was something that should have been a breeze - changing the brake light. I it is something I have done before. I had spare bulbs, I had the instruction manual. It was all in english so no problem with understanding. However the bits that were meant to twist and remove just refused to budge! Having spent half an hour on it on Wednesday I was determined to give it another go on Thursday. Perhaps it was the sunshine, or perhaps it was the screwdriver I found that helped the cover to come off - either way I succeeded. Definitely the small things that give most satisfaction!

Next week holds the bitter sweet pleasure of hubby back for 2 nights. It will be lovely to see him but then there's the same mini-grieving process to go through when I drop him off at the airport. It's also the school trip to Beille for the ski de fond (cross country skiing). On top of that the forecast is predicting 3cm of snow on Sunday so my youngest should be entertained on his birthday!

Three Weeks In

A six month "stage" or the start of a new life in a new country? My emotions are on a roller coaster at the moment and possibly because of being away from my "home" country for close to 6 years I am currently wishing to be amongst those who speak my tongue and within a short drive of friends and family.

For the boys it is the end of the first 3 weeks of school. They have done fabulously well. I don't think I would have been too happy to be abandoned with a group of people that neither you understood nor could understand you. We have had tears mainly at school drop off from the youngest but the staff have been lovely and are really trying to reduce the pain of their transition. The school only has 2 classes; within each there are 3 different class groups. Our youngest is in CP - the first official year of school. But in reality all French kids have been at school in les maternelles from about 3. CP just formalises the learning and when they officially start to read. He has the Grand Section of maternelles with him in the morning and the CE1 (class above CP) with him all day. In the words of the teacher - she's not left with any time for the fun stuff in class because she is concentrating on the reading, writing and maths between the 3 ages. The eldest is in CM1, the second last year of primary school. He has CE2 and CM2 in the same room with him. His teacher is also the headmaster. He doesn't teach on a Friday so that he can do the paperwork that goes along with the job. There are no TA's and no school secretary. This is a French country village school with only 65 children.

The school has made efforts to accommodate those children who don't have French as their first language. This means that Monday and Tuesday they are in their respective age group classes following the national curriculum. Then on a Thursday and Friday those who don't speak French have special teacher who comes in to teach French language. There is a centre for asylum seekers nearby so there are a number of children who are in the group. The boys are coming out with more words at home, slotting them in the middle of english sentences.

The boys have also joined a football club. Unfortunately the training is at different times. The youngest on a Saturday and the eldest on a Tuesday at a village 15 minutes away. This makes it a logistical juggling ball to get the youngest to basketball in the village closest to the house at the same time the other is meant to start football! A french neighbour across the way has a son who does the football training and he has offered to take our eldest - so hope he remembers!

To sum up - how's it been so far? Well for the boys they are slowly making headway with the language and feeling more sure of what happens at school. My husband has headed back to work in the UK to ensure that we can still pay the bills. And me? Well I lost my best friend and am left feeling a bit liked a beached ship. I speak the language, but not as well as I would like and talking can sometimes be an effort. I end up restricting it to what I need to say. We are in the countryside and I am discovering that the beautiful sunrise over the Pyrenees, the huge numbers of birds of prey and deer loping over the fields is not sufficient. I need more stimulus, more options of courses and activities. And, I never thought I would say this, I miss like minded people - who have given up a birth country to settle in another. But that is why we decided to rent for 6 months whilst house hunting. We have committed to no more than a mobile phone contract and the cost to register the car in France.

Week four looms with 2 challenges - getting the headlights swapped over to LHD ones and a day's training in ski de fond (x-country skiing) for me so that I can accompany the school on their day out in early Feb. Just need to find skis to rent, find out where the course is and understand it! Not much then! Will update how it all went next week.

New Year - New Country

Well, almost 2 years since my last post. We've swapped sand for farmers' fields and views of the Pyrenees. Birds of prey everywhere - sitting on fence posts or tree branches or even on the ploughed fields. We've narrowly missed being hit by a deer streaming across the road in the dark and we've spotted 2 red squirrels. In the past month we've managed to move a houseful of our belongings to storage and travel with 9 bags, one box and 2 cats from the Middle East to France. Squeezed in a UK family Christmas and started our 6 month adventure in France.

The boys have started in the local school and we've managed to survive the first 2 and a half weeks!