Atherton Family Notes

Christmas break. If you are a mother of toddlers, or have at one time been a mother of toddlers, you know what these words can do to you. They can send surges that of fear through your veins so powerful they compare to the electricity of a summer lightening storm. Unless you have a trip planned or loads of family around to entertain them (in other words… dump the kids with them), this time can be a test of your strength as a person, power as a mother, and over all removal of what little sanity you have left. When you throw a grown man on vacation into the mix well, you might as well pre-register yourself into an insane asylum.

I have spent two weeks at home with these people. Two weeks stuck inside a 1400 square foot home while it was rainy and cold outside and no where to go. Two weeks with an impatient 5 year old, a whiny 3 year old, and a 2 year old. (No need to describe THAT one!) Oh, and then there is the grown man who is “on vacation” and refuses to do ANYTHING. And nothing we did!!

The week before Christmas was spent doing errands and final preparations for a Christmas at home alone. We tried to avoid the grocery store and mall as much as possible because every mad man seemed to be in a last minute rush to buy grandma and little Nicky a gift that they were not expecting to have to buy. I headed out the day before Christmas Eve and bought the food we would need for the weekend and a big Christmas feast.

Christmas morning was a quiet day. The kids have not reached that insane stage of getting up at 5 am to see what Santa brought. I figure I have one more year before that kicks in. We all slept in until just after 8:30. The kids ran down the stairs after we reminded them of toys, toys, and more toys! They dove right into the dollhouses that Santa left while I prepared a breakfast. We had wonderful omelets, bacon, chocolate chip bread, fruit, and fresh juices. We stuffed ourselves like a Christmas turkey!

We caught my parents on line and they were able to talk with them. You would have thought they had young kids at home to wake them up at 5 am begging to open gifts from Santa. They have no such excuse; they were just crazy people up at 4 am! The kids opened the gifts from family while Nana and Papaw got the joy of watching from the computer.

When all was said and done, I surveyed the damage and began asking the very simple question, “What was I thinking?” Tiny little dollhouse parts were all over my house. An entire village was sitting on my living room floor. I believe we doubled the population of St Gregoire with the 2-inch dolls.

The rest of the day was uneventful and a simple quiet day at home. We stayed in our pajamas most of the day and were able to get on line with Ken’s family later in the day. It was a more reasonable hour for them. By mid afternoon I started fixing dinner. The first order of business was the turkey. I pulled it out of the cellophane to find that a strategically placed sticker covered the scaly feet of the turkey. I calmly called Ken over for a peek and did a small heebie-jeebies dance without calling the kids attention. At that point, I was not sure I wanted to do turkey anymore. Maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner wasn’t so bad of an idea. Just another shock in the French food category but that is an entirely different post that I plan on writing one day!

I really loved the quiet calmness of the day spent at home. No hustle and bustle of going here and there. The kids enjoyed a whole day of discovering their new toys. As the day went on it was clear to me that Ken and I were in trouble for the rest of the vacation. With Christmas out of the way, what were we going to do with ourselves? I had looked into several vacations including Prague, Bordeaux, and Disneyland for Sadie’s birthday. I quickly discovered they were either to pricey or the weather was not going to be bearable to haul kids around in. So here we were, stuck at home with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I was going to go nuts!

The Monday after Christmas we went shopping to see what kind of fun Ken and I could come up with. We found a 1500 piece puzzle that we both liked. It had pictures of Bordeaux castles, grapes, and wine tools on it. We started right in on it that afternoon and by nightfall we were half way done with it. I began wondering that if this puzzle that was supposed to last us all week was going to even last 2 days. What I had not bargained for was that 500 pieces of the puzzle were with print, the other 1,000 pieces were PLAIN WHITE!!! Whose bright idea was this? Which one of us thought this was a good idea? It took us another 2 full days to finish that puzzle. OK… for Ken to finish that puzzle. I just could not bring myself to sit there and plug piece after piece in to see if it fit. I waited until he had narrowed it down by half before I suddenly was not busy with other things anymore and could help. I know how to play this game! We both put the last 2 pieces in at the same time and let out a shout of joy. Our eyes had gone cross and my forearm was sore from picking up little pieces and pinching them. I painstakingly applied the glue with a piece of foam supplied with the glue. I applied layer after layer. While I was busy with that Ken ran to the store and arrived back with another 1500 piece puzzle of Mon St. Michel. This time the white was replaced with shades of blue. That puzzle has not left its box! It is like child birth, you have to let your mind forget the pain of the labor before you can face another one. He also brought home one of those 3-D globe puzzles. It looked interesting and he broke it out. Because the pieces were all numbered, it took only a day to put it together. Turned out pretty cool and we have set it out on the shelf. In one of the boxes we found a brochure for more puzzles and laid our eyes on a 15,000-piece puzzle. We thought about buying it and tackling that one. Then from somewhere we received a smack over the head and came to our senses! Can you imagine how long that would take to complete? Where do you even start on that one? Where would you store that? Maybe that is a project we can tackle when we have a table in a finished basement to put it on and the memory of all those white pieces has escaped our minds.

For New Years Eve we took Sadie and the kids out for a birthday celebration. We ate at the best place in the world for the kids (at least in their opinion)… McDonald’s. We then headed to an aquarium near us in St. Malo. It was a fantastic experience with lots of sea life. We saw crabs as big as my head and I swear their legs were as long as mine. There were turtles as big as a 2-year-old and tons of sharks, fish, and jellyfish, snails and even Nemo and Dory. The best part of the experience was a small ride in which you climb down a spiral staircase into a “submarine” that takes you on a ride through one of the giant tanks. Fish were swimming everywhere and right up to out faces. Yeah, it does not look any different than looking into a fish tank but somehow knowing you are under the water with them seemed to make it much more interesting. We then headed to a small film that I was reluctant to go to. Not understanding French, there was no thrill in watching a movie about submarines for me. The place was empty and we were the only ones in there at the time the doors closed. What we saw was 3 movie screens, one in front and two on either side of us. They were shaped like portholes on a sub. The surround sound took us through the sounds of the sea, seagulls, bells, and other coastal things. We heard the latch and dive of the boat and saw as the water bubbles rise all around us. Fish swam up to the window and all around the boat. The kid’s heads followed them all around. Carissa’s fingers never left her ears! I spotted krill fish and turned to Rissa and said “oh look krill, that means a whale is near” (who says you do not learn anything from movies?) At that moment you heard whale noises and saw the screen go black from the whale. The only thing visible was the eye until it swam further away. All of a sudden I began smelling a very sweet smell and wondered if Ken smelled it also. We wondered if it was our imagination or if it was really part of the show. The appearance of a mermaid seconds later confirmed it was part of the show. How interesting and fun!! But wait, it gets better! The mermaid blew us a kiss and out from somewhere below the screen appeared bubbles that filled the room. Every one of our faces lit up and cried “OOOOHHH…” That’s impressive when you impress the adults!

We came home and had birthday cake and gifts for Sadie and switched into New Years Eve mode. We bought a huge array of French finger foods, chips, and sparkling apple juice. I set the clocks ahead by 3 hours and at 9pm we celebrated “midnight” with the kids. We had party hats and noisemakers. We popped open confetti rockets. (Let me tell you the joy I felt when Ken bought those at the store! ) and toasted the New Year. We taped a penny over the front door for good fortune. I made sure it was a British coin because I wanted to have “royal money” in the next year! As part of an expat board, I hear of lots of customs, traditions, and superstitions from around the world. I thought I would expose the kids to them this year. The penny over the door was one of them. Others were eating 12 grapes before the last stroke of midnight for a healthy year and packing a suitcase with one item of clothing from each of your family members and walking around the house in them to make sure you travel in that year.

After the kids went to bed, Ken and I had a quiet evening at home. Ken worked on a video of Sadie’s birthday while I watched the French version of Dick Clark’s rocking New Years celebration. We had champagne, a toast and a kiss at midnight.

The following day we tried out another custom, this time a French one. Here they have small cakes that I would describe as croissant dough with apple filling, and baked inside is a small ceramic duck. Whoever finds the duck in their piece of pie gets named the “king or queen” and wears a little gold paper crown that came in the box. Celia was our lucky winner and wore the crown proudly all night.

By Sunday evening, I was so ready for everyone to get out of my house back to school and work! I was sick and tired of picking up toys and paper five times a day. I commented to Ken my joy of things becoming calm again. I have spent the last two days cleaning every nook and cranny in the house while it was only Sadie and I at home. Today is the first day of the New Year that I can sit around and have a little peace. Now if the kids were not home from school today things would be great! I guess I will dream of tomorrow and pray I will not have to check into the asylum.

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Learning a new language can do funny things to your mind. Learning two new languages in a short period can totally send smoke out your ears from the friction it causes. I find it odd and yet, fascinating at the same time, what the mind will learn. What you remember and learn in one language and yet can not remember in another. Let me give you some examples as to why I find this fascinating enough to bother writing about it.

Several weeks ago, I was picking the kids up from school and while we walked home, we discussed their day. An older lady walked by us and turned making several “double takes”. I imagine she heard us talking and was confused by it. I smiled at her and sure enough, she used the opportunity to strike up conversation. In French she asked if we lived in town. I answered that yes, I did and that I have lived here about 6 months. She then asked where we came from. I told her America to which she shot out the most surprised look I have ever seen. She then switched to English telling me that she thought for sure she heard a British accent in me. This led me to believe only one thing was possible… she has NEVER heard a British person talking! If she had ever encountered a real British accent in her life, she would never have mistaken my grotesque American accent with that of the eloquent British one. We talked for a few more minutes about living in France and living in Germany. When she discovered I had once also lived in Germany, the conversation turned to German. I do not exactly remember what the rest of the conversation was but one thing that struck me as odd, was the last sentence she said to me. It started in German, switched to English, and finished with French. ALL that wrapped up in one long sentence. I walked away, not baffled by what just came from her, but baffled by the fact that I understood completely what she had just said! How was it possible to run through 3 languages at one time and be understood? How does the mind make that kind of switch?

I have often sat trying to spit out a sentence to someone in French, only to be met with a look of sheer confusion. When I think about what I just said, I realize I started in French and ended in German. Ken says he does this as well. When fishing for a word, your mind reverts back to the first foreign language you learned it in. Ken says his French teacher often says “you are speaking Spanish, not French!” When at a loss, his mind reverts to Spanish. But you can not get too comfortable with it. When first arriving here, I always used the German word for “you” instead of the French one. Now days, I have a hard time remembering what the German word for “you” is and when talking with a German friend here, I use the French word in the German sentence. Thankfully she is kind enough not to point out my mistake or does not even notice.

Most recently what has sparked my curiosity about the mind has been Carissa. Her studies at school here have started to overshadow what she has learned or has not yet learned in English. She can recite the days of the week in French as if she were Mary Poppins singing Supercalafragalistic but coming up with the English versions is near impossible for her. Everyday in school, they say the phrase “yesterday was ___, today is ___, and tomorrow will be____.” Carissa can do this with any given day without any hesitation but in English… she looks at you like you asked her to speak a form of ape talk. The truly funny one is the year. 2004 (now 2005) is just a long word that she loves to say. She prances around singing it loud and proud. She knows what it is, the year, and knows it when she sees it written but ask her to say it in English and all of a sudden little miss Mary Poppins blows a gasket. It becomes two, zero, zero, five.

Celia is in the funny stage of turning every word into the American/French version. Ask her how to say milk in French and she says with all conviction, “meelk” even though the real word is “lait”. In all fairness, Rissa did this too with her German. They have the uncanny ability to make whole sentences sound like it could be the right words if you did not know any better. (And sometimes I don’t know any better and believe them.)

Studies say that kids who learn a foreign language by the age of 5 have more grey matter in their brain. This area is an important area for something, I know it is. I read it in a magazine recently. If I only could remember which one then I would quote it for you but, as you can tell… I never learned a foreign language before I was 5 years old.

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One of the really interesting aspects of Brittany is that it has been populated for a long time.  All over, there are signs of an ancient Celtic civilization, primarily standing stones similar in character to the famous Stonehenge.  On this cold January afternoon, out of sheer boredom, we went to see one of the larger constructions in the area near Rennes, called La-Roche-aux-Fées (the rock of the fairies).

Officially, the formation is know as a dolmen, derived from the Breton words for “stone table”, referring to how the stones on top are balanced.  It appears this site and others like it may have been used as tombs and may have originally been covered with dirt that has long since worn away.  There doesn’t seem to be any direct evidence that this particular dolmen was ever used as a gravesite, though.  The official local story is that it was “built by fairies”, hence the name.

La Roche-aux-Fées is an unusually large structure of its type, particularly in that it is tall enough for most people to stand up inside (at least at one end), and it is the second largest dolmen in France.  Archeologists have noted that the nearest source of the purplish-hued stones used to build the dolmen is at least 4km away, which makes the engineering effort that much more impressive.

Legend has it that a young couple about to be married should walk around the structure, counting the stones, and if they agree on the tally, their marriage will be harmonious.

Carissa and Cece thought that this was a wonderful place to play, but the wind picked up while we were there and made it too cold to stay very long.

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I did my very first photoshoot for someone else today and it went rather well. But before they arrived I tested my camera to make sure all was working right. These are the shots I got. Just thought I would share…

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(Original Message) Sent: 1/27/2005 10:49 AM

Because we are so close to the Atlantic Ocean, this area of France sees virtually no snow. I remember Ken telling me that last year when he was first set up working here, that this area got about an inch of snow overnight. One of his colleges told him that this was the first time his children had seen snow and they were around 10 years old. Those poor kids have never known the fun of bundling up in fifteen layers of clothes to go out and build a snowman or a fort only to return inside after ten minutes of play. Take everything off, drink some-thing warm and pile it all back on again to mom’s delight. They do not know the joy of getting whacked up side the head with a snowball or eating snow ice cream (taking care to watch for yellow snow).

Well, yesterday things changed! We awoke to a wondrous sight!! The whole town buried under a layer of snow. I was shocked and amazed. I could even hear the shouts of joy from every kid after hearing no school for the day. (OK, it was Wednesday and the kids do not go to school anyway, but still!!) Ken was barely able to get out of the neighborhood. He followed a car driving extremely cautiously slow to the point of sheer annoyance.

I am sure there were many a kid in town all bundled up and running outside to play in it. And I bet this day will be forever etched in their mem-ory as the day that it snowed in St. Gregoire! I just had to grab the camera and forever record this amazing sight! And now I share it with you…

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