Language Lessons

Bonjour, all of you:)

We've all recovered nicely from Katherine's recent "near poisoning" of the family, and we're ready to live dangerously again.  No more city-park chestnuts, though - those are just for tossing in the river.

Speaking of the river, have I mentioned that Katherine and I get to cross not one, but two rivers each day on our way to French class?  We really do, and we're taken by the beauty of each of them every time we cross.

The Saône River

Again, the Saône

The beautiful Rhône River

Lyon lies at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, and the city is home to many, many bridges which cross them.  Each morning after we drop the kids at school, we head to our own language class.  It's about a 30 minute walk- just right.

 Leo's feet never tire of walking in Lyon!

We've been in our classes for only three weeks, but already I'm really fond of each student in the class with us.  We are all from different countries and cultures around the world, and there for the same reason: to learn French.  We are lawyers, doctors, chefs, college students, ski instructors and, ahem... a high maintenance classical singer.  But, this daily intensive French course equalizes us all, and I love it.

The classes are challenging, and our teacher is a serious task-master.  That said,  I can tell how we have all become connected in a really neat way.  And, since each student is studying there for varying lengths of time, each Friday we may or may not bit adieu to any of our fellow classmates. 

This week was the final class for two students, and I could tell that everyone was genuinely touched when they were handed their completion certificates.  The class is absolute immersion, so we've all been thrown into the same den of confusion.  

The girls' French is so good they can talk to their friends and we have no idea what kind of plans they're making.

This is the picture above Leo's coat hook at school:)

Crêpe-making with friends from school is a universal language.

All that said, there are days when we feel like we understand everything, and the language sounds beautiful and clear.  Those are great days.  I had one like that last week.  It was so energizing, and I felt like I had cracked the French language egg.  Personal pronouns and indefinite articles, you have no power over me! 

Other days the egg falls on my face, and this is what I seem to hear from everyone, everywhere: "ajdpoineinjakldnklfj osijkld;ak oiand k;laj ioajkla;lknwlknk;aldkjioehnkl;akdjal jflkaj lkajkldiujwpondkl;vhap;djfa klda;iwjekl;adkn balkdj?"

My blank stare is also a form of universal language.... 

Cora is an expert photo-bomber.

Laughing at my language skills...

Daphne can translate "Mussels" in any language.

We'll remain in our daily classes through at least mid-December and, all kidding aside, we are learning lots and lots each day.  It's actually very helpful that after three hours of immersion class, we step outside and are still immersed.  What is the French word for immersion, you ask?  "Immersion!!" See?  It's so easy...

Finally, to entice more of you to visit us, here are some random shots from our walks.  My cousin, Heidi and her husband are joining us here in October.  Who's next??

The Basilica, seen from between the towers of St. Jean Cathedral

A very crowded market in La Croix-Rousse

The view from La Croix-Rousse

A recent Jazz festival in our neighborhood (complete with Accordion)

So many restaurants and shops have cats here.

 

Isn't this the best bookstore entrance you've ever seen??

Cora's very worn shoes after a long day of walking.

Much love to you all,

Aaron

How to poison your family in under 30 days

Hi Everyone. This is actually Katherine posting under Aaron's name. We couldn't figure out how to allow me to post under my own name.  Those of you who know me will be shocked to hear that I had tech trouble (ha ha).  Aaron insisted I write this post, since I am the one to blame for almost poisoning our family. Me. The doctor in the house. Should have known better...

What happened was this: I took Daphne and Leo to the playground the other day. As we've already mentioned, the playgrounds here leave a lot to be desired, so the equipment didn't hold their attention for long. What seemed most interesting was all the nuts on the ground. There had been a gigantic wind storm through the day, and a ton of nuts had been knocked down. They were chestnuts. I remembered them from the prickly shell.

Daphne came up with a great plan: "Let's collect them, and roast them, and sell them!" Leo got right into the action, dashing around picking up every nut he could find. "We'll sell so many, we'll get rich!" he was shouting. "We'll be millionaires!"  I couldn't squash their enthusiasm, could I? I helped them smash the pods that weren't broken open yet, so they could get even more nuts. I figured we probably wouldn't really sell them, but at least I could roast them and we could enjoy them. There was a refrain playing over and over in my head by now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-cxnPRwbNg  (Aaron loves this guy!)

We collected a lot of nuts. The next day, Leo and I went back to the park and got another bagful of them. When Aaron saw them, he said, "are you sure you can eat those"? I said, "well, they wrote a song about roasting them, and we've had roasted chestnuts before at Christmas parties, and the trees were in a children't playground, so I can't imagine any chemicals were used on them." There was another couple there collecting nuts with their kids. They must be fine.  But, did I look it up online? No.

You can tell this is not going to turn out well, right?


We had 3 big bowls of them by now.

When we got home, Leo kept asking over and over when we could start our scheme to become rich millionaires by selling the roasted nuts, so I looked up a recipe online and got to work. Scoring the shells was not easy, so I just decided to start with about a dozen, to see how they would taste. After simmering in salt water for a few minutes, they roasted in the oven and made the place smell great!!

We let them cool a bit, then cracked one open. Oh no! Very bitter!! Had to spit it back out. We cracked another one open. It smelled really bitter too. Neither Leo nor I even wanted to try it. But, I didn't have time to think about it much more because we had to get dinner ready, and we had a couple of new friends from our language school coming over for drinks. "I'll look up another recipe tomorrow, OK Leo?"

Fast forward to after dinner and our guests have arrived. Christoph is a ski instructor from Austria and Maximilian is an economics student from Germany. We met them in our French class. They came over for drinks. Christoph noticed the 3 big bowls of chestnuts right away and said, you aren't going to eat those, are you? They're poisonous! We call them "Horse chestnuts".

Well, a quick search online told me that we had gathered 3 large bowls of toxic chestnuts. Egad! Symptoms of toxic ingestion include vomiting, lethargy, etc, etc. Oh no! Leo said at dinner he didn't want to eat any more. Is he getting ill? He only had a tiny bite! And spit it back out. I hope tonight won't be our first trip to the local ER! We don't even have health insurance officially yet (that post will be coming soon).  I checked on him. Seemed fine.  Commence the nice evening with our guests.

Left: edible sweet chestnuts. Right: toxic, poisonous horse chestnuts frequently found on French playgrounds for children

This morning I broke the news to Daphne and Leo that the chestnuts are poisonous. My plan is this: let's take them to the river and have a contest to see who can throw them the farthest into the river. Leo was disappointed about not becoming a millionaire, but remembered that it was actually Daphne's idea in the first place. But, he was up for a trip down to the river. It took a while to throw all those chestnuts in. The swans came by to see if we had anything they'd like. Even they turned up their noses.

Adieu, toxic horse chestnuts. In my next post I'll write about my plan to learn how to cook while I'm here. Because, to be honest, when I think about the future, it just wouldn't sound plausible to tell anyone that I lived in France for any length of time, but never learned to cook.  

Paul Bocuse beckons me to learn to cook while in Lyon.

The Wonder of Gouter

Hi, all:

The kids have started school.

I know, I know... most kids are in school.  But, the transition from three years of home-schooling in Minnesota to full time French public school in Lyon was something that had me nervous as well as excited.

The new walk to school.

Happy to report that 9 days in, things are smooth.

The girls' language skills are solid enough that they've assimilated into the daily routine of the school quite easily.  Also, they both have been accepted very warmly by their classmates. They have been answering lots and lots of questions about what it's like in the United States:)

Katherine and I have also been warmly approached by many parents who have offered lots of help with French administrative red-tape, each time with an understanding smile.  That's been great.

Streets are quiet during school hours

I felt like this cat when we dropped the kids off on the first day...

Leo is managing his first ever year of school like a champ.  The language barrier, for him, is a significant one.  Happily, his teacher is just what anyone would want in a Kindergarten teacher, and Leo is learning loads and loads each day.  His French will be better than mine by Christmas.

The school schedule here is great.  Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30 to 4:30pm; and Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 to 11:30am.  This schedule allows for any extra-curricular activities to be attended to outside of school hours, which we love.  Music lessons, sports, etc., all take place away from school.

After school exploring

Working off our bread

                                           

Katherine already wants a car

We've been using the after-school time to explore the city, better aquaint ourselves with the neighborhood, and also to make daily trips to the seemingly endless array of Boulangeries. Seriously-how does one city make this much bread?  We're happy to do our part and keep them baking.

This lovely bread has olives baked inside:)

Raisin Pecan Breakfast Bread

One very important daily routine we've come to know: the importance of Gouter (pronounced 'Goo-tay).  Gouter is the daily, unconditional snack which all French children (and most adults, honestly) partake in, just as school lets out at 4:30pm. Honestly, it is an unmissable event, and is almost a sweet treat. It's like French 'tea-time,' and we've seen kids eating every thing from half a baguette with a chocolate bar stuck inside, to beautiful little cakes from a local patisserie.

A very nice chocolate croissant

Gouter Moustache

Gouter makes solid sense, as most families don't sit down to dinner until 7:30pm at the earliest. The sweet ritual is a great way to relax after school, and to charge up before homework time.

Doughnuts are terrified of Gouter

After their first day of school last week, Cora came home so tired and hungry that she wouldn't even take off her backpack for Gouter.  She ate the entire treat with her 'sac a dos' firmly attached.

Note the backpack...

I have no idea what these are, but I want one!!

Leo has occasionally taken to asking for 'second gouter.'  I agree...

Katherine's Gouter

Daphne is adjusting well...

Katherine and I have begun our French lessons as well.  This has been fun, as we're both in the same class so we can study together at home.  So now we get Gouter, too...