Getting permission to come to France for a year (you have to go to the consulate in San Francisco and pay money and jump through other hoops) is only part of the process. Once you've arrived, there is another step. You receive a "summons" from the Office of Immigration and Integration to go to a mandatory medical examination here in France on a certain day at a certain time. Then you have to pay more money and provide more information. And then you get another stamp in your passport that means you can stay. It is not clear to us what happens if you don't get the other stamp. But they say that if you miss the summons three times they will kick you out of the country or not let you come back again if you leave.
Anyway, Le General does things by the book. And since I had missed the summons twice already, Le General made sure that I responded to the third summons.
Le General and I went to the office in Avignon. There were lots of other people there from lots of other countries. Then they called me into an office and literally weighed and measured me (I was 92 kilos 183 centimeters if you're interested). Then they gave me an eye test that lasted 10 seconds (if you can say the first letter you're done). Then they put me in a room with three other people: a Turkish person, an Algerian, and a Brazilian (I peeked at their passports).
Then a doctor came in and took me into another room and gave me an X-ray to see if I had tuberculosis. Then he asked me if I smoked and made me show my teeth "like this" (whereupon he smiled a smile of crooked yellow teeth). Then I got a special paper and I was done. Here is a picture of me holding up my X-ray:
Look Ma, No Tuberculosis!
This is all quite ridiculous of course. I've already been here for quite a while. Wouldn't I have already spread my tuberculosis by now if I had it? And why do they make only adults do this, but not kids? And why do they check only for tuberculosis but not all the other communicable diseases? And what would they have done with me if I had had tuberculosis? Is this just a ploy to raise more money for the slowly crumbling French economy? I tried to put these questions directly to French President, Nicolas Sarkozy:
Lush.
Anyway, I got that all taken care of so that ends the that part of the tale.
Now I will tell you a little bit about Cheval Passion, which is the name they have for a giant touring horse fair that comes through the area once a year. It's very much like a county fair except it's only about horses. The French are horse crazy so far as we can tell and we were invited to go along with Asha's friend Camille and her brother and mother. There were horses of every size and color from all over the world. Here is a picture of three fillies together -- American, French and Argentenian:
We even watched people play a form of basketball on horses.
It all culminated in a two-hour horse "spectacle" that took place inside an indoor coliseum. There were thousands of people in attendance (tickets were 37 Euros!). There were lights and music and performers in ridiculous costumes making the horses perform all kinds of humiliating tricks. There was also a very spooky emcee with white makeup and a dandy costume:
All in all, it was an "interesting" evening.
In other news:
Ed has been trying harder to learn French. He recently placed his first "business-related" phone call (much more difficult than an in-person conversation where you can use sign language). It was a great success. The ball was volleyed back and forth over the net several times, and the conversation ended amicably and at a natural termination point.
Ford's friend Nicholas slept over.
The new load of firewood got stacked:
And Asha is having a slumber party. (The date on the invitation is wrong . . . it is actually this weekend):
Last weekend we drove to the town of Tarascon (near Arles) for a small girls' soccer jamboree of sorts:
"Small Girls" -- Get It?
It was too cold and windy for Averil, Ford and Ed to watch, but we were with Asha in spirit. While she played, we went on a walk through town to stay warm.
The walk was totally boring. So we decided to spice up our visit by buying three French lottery tickets (1 Euro each). It was fun to go into the tabac (tobacco store) and practice French on the semi-exasperated cashier. Ed: "I would like to see the green one please? I would like to see the red one please? I would like to see the blue one please?" But it was so exciting to scratch our tickets!
Imagine If We Had Won!
Tarascon is on the banks of the Rhone river. Right across the Rhone is the neighboring town of Beaucaire. We drove across the bridge to check it out.
Beaucaire:
We decided to find a place for lunch using the time-tested technique of eenie-meenie-minie-moe on three adjacent restaurants. We lucked out. Our choice turned out to provide one of the best meals we have had since we've been in France!
Everyone was reading about the big news in France that day:
That's Right! Jane Fonda is Getting Better With Age!
Then we went back across the river to Tarascon to tour a famous chateau called the Chateau de Tarascon. It was large, cold and drafty and there were no elevators. Still, we got some good pictures:
The chateau was the site of some amazing historical events. At one time, Napoleon imprisoned Joan of Arc in one of the towers as punishment for impersonating George Washington during the French and Indian war. She only got out because she dressed up like Charlemagne and picked the lock. We got to see a replica of the actual hairpin she used!
Any self-respecting small town has to have a cat lady. The cat lady for Vaison la Romaine happens to live at the end of our street. And she runs a cat house situated behind a hedge very near our back yard. Here she is, standing next to the cat house:
She is our friend. She is very nice. She is cogent and kind. She never fails to inquire after our well being. And two times a day, she walks from her house to the back yard of the house next to us to deliver food to the semi-stray cats (we guess between 5 and 7 in number) that live in the neighborhood. She carries the food in a sack that looks like a large purse. You can see the sack near her right elbow.
We recently learned that she has other operations around town. A few days ago, Averil found her about 6 blocks from the house climbing a ladder (brought there by her husband in the back of their car) and delivering meat to strays at the top of this 12 foot concrete retaining wall:
Stray Cats Live in the Bushes At the Top of This Wall
Dishes of Food and Water and Top of Wall
And there may be even more to the story. Averil, Ford and Asha have also discovered cat food dishes situated under a fence near the Roman Ruins in the middle of town (about half a mile from the house). They suspect that our friend is also feeding the cats there! But so far, it has not been proven. If we learn more information, we will be sure to let you know.
Most of the cats keep to themselves. But there is a cat named Celina (the name we gave her, not her real name) who has adopted Ivy as her best friend and comes over to visit every day. We think Celina has a home but we are not 100% sure. Here is a picture of Ivy with Celina:
They love each other very much.
That pretty much sums up the cat situation as far as we know. The town's dog situation is slightly more complicated.
There are two basic categories of town dogs: those that walk around on leashes, and those that walk around freely all day. French people love dogs. There are large water bowls conveniently situated at regular intervals around town:
There are not a lot of restrictions placed on the town dogs. They are allowed to go anywhere they please:
Some people think it is a problem that there is so much dog doo-doo around town. We will admit that there is quite a bit of dog doo-doo in the town . . . certainly much more than poop-bag-toting Seattleites are used to seeing. You just have to take care where you step. Not a big deal.
We think the out-of-towners are more prone than the locals to be offended by the amount of dog doo-doo in town. We met a Dutch woman who lives on a street near us. She started off by complaining to us about the amount of doo-doo on her street. This is a picture of the street, which she calls "Dog Sh_t Alley:"
She says she is going to talk with someone (or that she already has?) to try and get this situation cleaned up. We can't figure out if she means she is talking to the owner(s) of dogs or civic leaders, but we have noticed that her house is closed up and she has headed back to Holland where we're sure they have some sort of handy gadget that cleans the dog doo-doo right up with ultraviolet light or something. Have you noticed how all the best gadgets come from Holland?
Anyway, the civic leaders of Vaison la Romaine have taken at least some half-measures to try and address the problem of too much doo. For example, next to the post office, they recently installed a designated hygenic space for dogs. The dog is supposed to go in this little five-foot by five-foot gravel area and then the owner is supposed to scoop it up and throw it away. It's kind of like a communal cat litter box, but for dogs:
This is a nice idea, but you can tell people aren't used to it. Which is problably why it comes with instructions: (1) take a sack and a shovel given to you for this purpose (or something like that); (2) scoop the excrement; (3) deposit it in the garbage can.
The town has only one such hygenic space. And how do you get your dog to signal that they want to go to the hygenic space in the first place? Won't they just go whenever they feel like it? And how do you get there in time if you and your dog happen to be anywhere outside of about a two-block radius of the hygenic space when your dog needs to go?
As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of dogs that wander about town with no owner or leash. They are obviously not strays. And they know exactly what they are doing and where they are going. They seem very competent.
We recently met one such dog at the bottom of the hill about 8 blocks away. She is very friendly. She has no tail, but she wags her stump. We call her Jean Bobbit (we are not sure of her actual name because she has collar but no tag). She followed us home and played with Ivy and Celina in our yard:
It was fun, but then she had to go home. We just opened the gate and sent her on her way.
Of course, eventually Ivy will have to return to the United States where she'll have to intergrate into a more structured environment. So we are are training her. She's making progress:
When I met Ford and Asha at school this afternoon, Ford and his friend Nicolas announced that they had a plan to ask Nicolas's mother if Ford could spend the night at Nicolas's house. They went and asked her permission and she readily agreed (or so I am told). So I took Ford straight to Nicholas's house (which is in the country . . . they raise grapes for a living). Nicholas's mother said to pick him up tomorrow at 5:00 (I think). I told her that she was very agreeable, thank you, and Averil utilize telephone for communicate with her on tomorrow.
So much for Ford . . . . At least we still had Asha to keep us company for the night.
But not five minutes after we walked in the door, Asha got a phone call from her friend Manon. Fortunately, I was there to record the action live! (Turn up the volume and you can hear Manon on the other end).
So now they've each gone off for a sleepver. Oh well. We'll concentrate on other things.
Like staying warm:
We Ordered a Load of Firewood To Be Delivered Next Week!
Drying laundry the low tech way:
Finding a new anti-dog-on-sofa device since this one doesn't seem to be working out:
Messin' with Sasquatch:
Contemplating the mistral that hit this afternoon:
And uploading old videos, such as this exciting clip in which Ford has phoned a friend to ask for advice about homework:
Our friend Anne invited us to spend the holidays with her and her family and friends at a rented chalet in the Alps. We accepted!
We left Vaison on the 27th of December. On the four hour drive to our destination, we passed through Albertville (site of the 1992 Winter Olympics) and Grenoble.
We arrived that afternoon in the strange, tiny town of Notre Dame du Pre. And we do mean tiny! Less than 300 people live in this town, which is at the end of a long windy road high in the mountains. It is a real throwback to the old days and way off the beaten path, hardly visible on any map. (You can mapquest it if you happen to have a computer.)
You Can't See Notre Dame du Pre
on This Map Even if You Squint!
Look 20 miles to the left of Italy, 75 miles below Switzerland and you still can't see it!
(Okay, on this map it would be between Chambery and Bourg-Saint-Maurice.)
Notre Dame du Pre in Real Life
Our "chalet" was a converted barn. The "houses" next door are still more or less barns. A pleasant odor of animal dung and wood smoke permeates the town. The town has one foot in the 1920s and the other foot in the 1980s.
Front of Barn Chalet (we stayed in back)
Edifice Next to Our Barn Chalet
There were just a few of us staying in the barn chalet: Our nuclear family, Anne and her two children, Anne's brother and his wife and their three children, their friends and their three children, their other friends and their four children, their other friends and their three children, Anne's mother and her gentleman-friend who were departing on our arrival, some young adults (relationship unclear), a variety of friends-of-children's-friends, our dog, two kittens, and a small black rabbit in a cage in the corner of the kitchen. All told, there were roughly 25 people at any one time including approximately 14 kids ranging in age from about 8 to 16 years old.
The first full day, the four American interlopers went skiiing at a very large resort called La Plagne approximately 20 minutes away by car. It was great skiing, surprisingly economical and BIG! There are about 30 lifts. The sky was bright blue all day long.
Everyone at the barn chalet was very nice and welcoming to us. The French kids were as helpful and jolly as could be, and very mature. In the evenings we had great meals, thanks to the organization and cooking of Anne's sister-in-law Catherine. One night we served American chili, which they were familiar with as chili con carne. We think they kind of liked it. We are certain our chocolate chip cookie bars were a big hit with the kids. You would think they might simplify with so many to cook for, but it was always several courses and home-made desserts. We ate in two shifts since there were so many of us.
Kids Eating
The next day two groups went to ski La Plagne. The older kids (teenagers led by 16 year-old Lucy) skiied by themselves all day. Ford was invited to join this group and was in heaven without parental guidance.
Anne and Averil led a group of younger skiiers which included Asha. Ed explored La Plagne on his own for most of the day (having deftly separated himself from the teenage skiiers after only one run).
That night it snowed a lot! We had 8-12 inches new when we woke up. Ivy was in doggy heaven. She liked to submarine through the powder.
After Snow Romp
That day, Anne's brother Pierre took a group of us on a Randonnee' ski. In Randonnee, an artificial skin is attached to the bottom of the ski and special bindings are added that allow the heel to move freely. This allows one to ski cross-country style on downhill skis and walk upslope. It was a long (3-4 hour) tour through deep powder with a particular emphasis on going uphill. At the end the reward was a long downhill run right to our doorstep.
Setting Out (Pierre Consults Topographical Map)
There Was a Cascade (Waterfall) at the Top of the Tour
Anne's Brother Pierre
Anne's brother Pierre is very skilled in the snow and outdoors.
In the evenings, the kids played games. Here, Asha, Naomi, Paul, Jane and young Pierre are involved in a high stakes game of "Guess Who?"
Here the kids are watching a movie:
That night it snowed another foot at least! The teenagers decided to go back to La Plagne for another day of skiing and invited Ford again since he apparently did not slow them down. Our 4wd South Korean Hyundai performed amirably even in deep snow (and with 9 teenagers packed in like sardines). There was so much snow that several small avalanches were to be seen on the short drive to La Plagne. Ford was again in heaven skiing with his new teenage friends. (One of the things you will notice about French children is that they are always very kind to younger kids.) Asha and Averil took a snow shoe with Anne and Alice. Asha loved to tromp through the powder, mostly in circles.
On New Year's Eve there was a party in the barn chalet with music and dancing.
It went on until 1:30 a.m.
Here's a picture of Averil and Anne celebrating the New Year:
It was sad when we had to say goodbye to our new (and old) friends the next morning (January 1st).
We were forced by circumstances beyond our control to stop at "Quality Burger" in Grenoble on our way back to Vaison.
"J'aime qu'on me Supreme!"
When we arrived home that evening, we listened to and read nice messages from family and friends. Thank you all for cards, calls and emails. They bring us much happiness. We received nice congratulations also on our 18th wedding anniversary as of January 1st! Ford opened the champony.
18 years!!
We hope you have a good 2012! Happy New Year!
Postscript: We believe Ivy has acquired fleas from the barn chalet, school starts up again tomorrow, we received a certified letter from our car insurance advising us that they did not receive the check Averil hand-delivered to them two months ago, and it's raining so hard our lawn/walk is a lake. But we say: "Vive la France!"
