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We survived our first 2 week vacation from school!  Reese’s nanny was also on vacation so both kids were home for 2 weeks.  Ryan traveled during the first week but was home the second week and he took a few days off so we were able to enjoy some family time.

We had some nice weather during the break so we spent a lot of the time at the park or taking walks.  Halloween was during the break so we painted and carved pumpkins and went to a friend’s Halloween party where we met 2 French families who have kids in Makenna’s school.  Makenna also got to wear a costume to her dance class, which she proudly announced to her class that she was Tinkerbelle, although I’m pretty sure it’s a different name in French so they probably had no idea what Makenna was saying.  We also did a few art projects and went on the carousel.

Now Makenna will have school for another 6 weeks and then will have 2 weeks off at Christmas!

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One of the things that is interesting, and sometimes charming, about France is how in some ways they are “behind the times” or do things the old fashioned way.

In school, each child has a notebook that they take back and forth to school and is the method of communication between the teacher and parents.  The teacher may write a note in there about something specific, or put information in there such as upcoming events or how there is a cafeteria strike the next day (which has happened several times in the first 2 months of school!), or the parents could write a note for the teacher.  Instead of the teacher printing things out and stapling them/putting them in a folder/using a hole-punch and binder, they print things out, cut them and glue them into the notebook.  It’s not the most efficient way of doing things!

While schools in the US may provide information online, hold parent-teacher conferences etc, the schools here create a cahier de vie, or “personal diary”, which tells parents how the class is run and what the class has been doing and learning (and again the information is printed and glued into a notebook).  During each 2 week school vacation (which happens about every 6 weeks), the children take this notebook home for the parents to review and then they bring it back to school after the vacation for the teacher to add to it.  Makenna brought her cahier de vie home for the first time and it was so nice to see everything that she has been doing since she doesn’t tell us much!  This will also be such a nice souvenir for her to look back at when she is older.  It had information on the teacher, teacher’s assistant, how the class is run, photos of all of the kids in the class, photos and information on the activities the children do throughout the day, photos of kid’s birthdays that they have celebrated, songs that they sing, and more.

Makenna also took home a cahier de travaille, or a workbook, which included all of the projects she has done in class so far.  This notebook stays home with us and a new one is sent home at each school break.

I just love how different some aspects of school are here and that Makenna is getting to experience this.

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This year we have had some unseasonably warm weather in October so one weekend we decided to go hiking up one of the volcanoes in the chain of lava domes which is about a 15 minute drive from town.  I had seen pictures of wooden steps that are built between some of the volcanic hills and there are beautiful views of Puy de Dôme (the largest volcano) from Puy de Pariou so off we went.  Apparently you can hike up these wooden steps to the top of the puy, but that must have been on the other side somewhere and we took the hard way up through the forest.

Ryan put Makenna in the hiking backpack and I had Reese in the baby carrier on my back, so it was quite the workout!  It’s about an hour hike up to the top and we made it in around 45 minutes, so needless to say I was pretty tired by the end.  We stopped a few times just to catch our breath or take a drink of water.  When we arrived at the top it was really windy and right in front of us was a huge volcanic crater; it was breathtaking!  We walked around to the other side and found the wooden steps leading down and towards the next hill.  After taking some photos and enjoying the views for a few minutes, we headed back down the trail that we hiked up.  The kids loved it and it was great exercise for me and Ryan.  I can’t wait to do it again in the spring when the weather warms up!

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This year we celebrated Halloween with the expats a little early, because Halloween fell during the school vacation and most people were going to be away.  One of the families hosted a party at their apartment in town and had most of the American families attend….thankfully it was a very large apartment because there were a lot of people!  There were lots of treats to snack on and the kids painted/carved pumpkins on the terrace.  Makenna found another pirate friend and Reese hung out with his new friend Parker.  Since Halloween isn’t a big holiday here and there is no trick-or-treating, it was nice for the kids to have a way to celebrate.  I can’t imagine what Makenna is going to think when she sees what Halloween is like in the US!

OK.  I don’t even know where to start with this post.  Do I start with how amazing the menu is?  Do I start with how amazing the amount of time kids have to eat is?  Neither comes close in comparison to the US.

Time- lunch is for 2 hours.  Yes you read that right.  And kids have the option of going home for lunch, which a lot of them do.  So they have 2 hours to walk/drive/bus/tram home for lunch and spend time with family for a little while and relax before returning for the afternoon.  Or, they have time to eat their lunch at school slowly and enjoy it and socialize and go to the bathroom etc.  For Makenna’s age, they probably spend more like an hour and a half (I think? Still don’t understand everything completely in French) at the cafeteria between taking time to line up and walk down and use the bathrooms after lunch and get ready for naptime.  But for real, I’ve heard lunch can only be 25 minutes in the US….is that really enough time to get your food, sit down, eat it (not scarf it down) and relax for a minute before you have to go back to class?! NO. Sorry.  25 minutes is absurd.

Menu- lunch is a fixed menu, one meal for everyone.  If you don’t like it, you better learn to like it.  And it’s healthy.  It’s a 4 course meal.  It is freshly made desserts.  It is fresh not frozen.  It is in-season products.  It is GOOD.  Seriously, Makenna eats better at school than at home sometimes.  The meal includes an appetizer, a main dish, yogurt or cheese, and a fruit or dessert.  I will translate the menu from the photo above:

Monday– chicken wings, macaroni, gouda cheese, plum

Tuesday– shredded carrots with orange, roasted pork, green beans, yogurt, cookie

Wednesday– mackerel with mustard sauce, zucchini stuffed with beef, cantal cheese, banana

Thursday– tomatoes and corn, white fish, creamed spinach, garlic and herb cheese, jelly roll cake

Friday– celery salad, lamb and sausage coucous, veggies, yogurt peach and apricot smoothie

Cost- Definitely more expensive than in the US.  However, that is to be expected with the quality of food.  It is also based on your household income.  If you don’t receive any discounted rate, it could be a whopping 7-8 euros per meal.  We are still waiting to find out how much we will have to pay.  However, people we know have to pay around 4-5 euros per meal which to me is a reasonable price for a quality, healthy meal.

I honestly feel bad that in the future my kids will have to quickly eat their food, while probably not enjoying it or appreciating it, and be subjected to low quality/unhealthy food if they buy their school lunch.  I am going to be printing out the school menu for each week so we can look back and remember this!

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For the last few days of Ryan’s parents’ visit, we took a short trip to Paris.  We went by train (as usual) and rented an Airbnb apartment near the Eiffel Tower.  It was in a beautiful neighborhood and was decorated in the typical Paris style that you would expect.

We had to head straight to the Eiffel Tower to get some family pictures.  Ryan forgot his selfie stick (which is key in these situations) so I pressured him into buying one from one of the shady guys selling things on the street.  Well, that was 3 euros wasted because it didn’t work!  We got our pictures and then it was time for happy hour.  On the way to a café we were looking for, we passed a patisserie and we had to get some desserts to have with our afternoon drinks.  We decided on eclairs and I chose a pistachio one since I usually get chocolate.  OMG this was the best dessert I’ve ever had in France.  It was so so good, I’m already dreaming about when we can go back and get another!  After walking around a little bit more, and searching for a new lovey because we forgot to bring Makenna’s lovey, we headed back to our apartment.  Paris has Uber Eats which is the best when traveling with young kids, so we ordered dinner and ate in our apartment.

Like every other time we’ve gone to Paris, it was chilly and raining.  We made the best of it, and tried to spend our only full day doing as much as we could before it started pouring in the afternoon.

We started by walking to the Arc de Triomphe so Nana and Dzia Dzia could see it, then we went to the famous English bookstore Shakespeare and Company.  This bookstore has been featured in several movies, and while it’s not the original (the original closed when the Nazis invaded Paris and never reopened), it has a lot of history.  The original store was frequented by famous writers such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and served as a place for them to socialize, write and even use as their postal address.  The store is mentioned in Hemingway’s book “A Moveable Feast”, so I purchased this book there and had them stamp it with the store’s logo.  Both the old store and new have been a haven for expat writers, and the current store has been a place for writers to sleep if they need a place to stay.  All is asked is that they work a few hours in the store and read a book a day.  I took some photos and browsed the shop which was really interesting with lots of little rooms on 2 levels.  We bought Makenna a few special books and I bought a couple books about life in Paris.

After the bookstore we had hoped to take a boat ride down the Seine, but the weather was not cooperating.  As it began to drizzle we decided to find a restaurant for lunch.  We chose a restaurant nearby in the Latin quarter that featured the traditional dish of raclette.  This was the first time I had raclette in a restaurant; the only other time I had it was at Ryan’s coworkers home and he had a very large raclette heater.  I was given a plate of charcuterie and cornichons, and then a small raclette maker with potatoes on top of a heater to keep warm.  There were several little trays to put cheese on and slide under the heater.  It was delicious!

By the time we finished lunch, the rain had picked up and after walking around for a little while we decided it was raining too hard to keep the kids out so we went back to the apartment.

Our short time in Paris included several drives and walks through the city, which were truly my favorite part of the trip.  Just looking at the beautiful old architecture that is everywhere you look, whether it be a monument, fountain, apartment building, store, restaurant etc really is so special.  Taking in the city life, which is so different than our small city life in Clermont, is fascinating and exciting.  Each time we visit Paris I fall in love with it a little more.

The next morning Ryan’s parents left for the airport to head back to New Jersey.  We had some time to spare before we had to get the train back to Clermont, so we spent it doing – a lot – of walking.  We walked from our apartment to Champs-Elysées, all the way to Jardin des Tuileries and by then I had to go to the bathroom.  There was a public bathroom there, but of course it didn’t open till 11am!  So we walked to a nearby café and had coffee before heading back down Champs-Elysées and back to our apartment.  And just like that it was time to head back “home”.  When we told Makenna we were on our way to the train station she said “but I want to stay in Paris all the time!”  Me too sweet girl, you are wise beyond your years….

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Am I really writing this post? Is my first baby really old enough to go to school?!  Well, in France most kids start school at the age of 3.  It’s not obligatory, but it is free and it is when formal schooling starts, so why not?

When we moved here, we thought we would be here exactly 3 years which would put us at moving home in December of this year so we figured we just wouldn’t be sending Makenna to school since she would only be in school for a few months before we would be leaving.  So, we didn’t look for an apartment near the international school (Massillon) where most of the expats go.  Once we found out we’d be staying here longer than we thought, I quickly signed Makenna up to start Petite Section at the international school.  After several months I had an epiphany and thought “why am I sending her there??”  There is a French public school about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, whereas Massillon is far enough where I would need to drive and there is no parking lot so I would have to fight for street parking and then take Reese in and out of the car and then do this 2-3 times a day depending on if she came home for lunch (which many children do).  In Petite Section, there is no English class so Makenna wouldn’t be benefitting from learning any English at the international school anyway.  So I quickly made an appointment at the nearby public school and decided to make my life easier and give Makenna the experience of going to a true French school.

In June, there was a meeting for new parents that went over all the basics.  Ryan was out of town and our sweet nanny was so kind to offer to come with me to try and explain everything.  After sitting through an hour and a half of nothing but French, my head hurt and I probably understood 75% of it.  The nanny doesn’t speak English so she tried to explain things to me slowly or in other words that I would understand.  All in all it worked out.  Then I had to wait until September 1st to go to the school and look at a list taped to the window that would say which teacher Makenna would have.

The first week of school was gradual.  On Monday we took Makenna to school for only 30 minutes to meet her teacher and see her classroom.  Ryan’s parents were here so they were able to come and experience it with us.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids were split into 2 groups and one group went to school on Tuesday and the other group went on Wednesday.  Thursday began the normal schedule where all kids went, and there are 28 of them in her class!  Makenna’s teacher has a teacher’s aide, but it is still a large class of 3-4 year olds.

Parents have the option of sending their child for just the morning 8:35-11:45, or the full day until 4pm.  We decided to start with just the morning and see how things went.  After just a few days, Makenna said she wanted to stay at school for lunch and wanted to stay the full day so she is now going to school all day and eating lunch at “la cantine”.

Makenna is loving school.  She has already done some art projects and we have been told she is working on a project where she will have to come home and tell us a story by memory.  There is also a class mascot “Lulu”, a stuffed bunny, that each child will be able to take home for the weekend.  The class has several projects throughout the year, one of them being a liaison between their city school and a school in the suburbs where they will communicate, share projects and meet with them once or twice throughout the year.  The kids go outside for playtime every morning and the courtyard is attached to the courtyard of the elementary school so Makenna gets to see her friend Elis (our Brazilian neighbor who is like her big sister) every day.  Sometimes we walk to school with Elis and the girls hold hands and give each other bisous (kisses) when they say goodbye, it’s so cute!

When Makenna first started, her teacher was worried she might have to try translating some things if Makenna didn’t understand everything, but she said there have been no problems and that Makenna not only understands everything but speaks well and without an accent!  (thanks to our nanny and Ryan!)

As for school lunch, I will be writing a separate post on that one.  You’d be shocked at the menu and the length of time they have etc.  I am so happy Makenna gets to experience this aspect of school while we’re here.

Another interesting fact about school here is that the children go to school for 6 weeks and then have a 2 week break.  This might be a little difficult for parents who work, but most parents either have a grandparent/nanny/daycare that they can use for these times or there are camp-like activities for kids during the breaks.  A lot of families take vacations at these times, since the French have 5 weeks of vacation and sometimes these breaks fall during a holiday.  On Wednesdays, some classes don’t have school.  Apparently this has changed several times through different presidencies, but as of now some schools can choose whether or not kids below 2nd grade have school on Wednesday.  Others have school but only in the morning.  Wednesday is usually a day for extracurricular activities.  I have chosen not to send Makenna to school on Wednesday, even though her school does have class in the morning, because she is continuing to go to the dance school that she went to last year and the class is Wednesday mornings.

When Makenna started school, Reese started going to the nanny that she went to.  He goes from 9-12, 3 days a week, which gives me some time to go to the gym or whatever I want to do without kids.  It really winds up being closer to 2 hours of free time after I factor in the time of walking to and from the nanny, walking to the gym or wherever I’m going, etc.  It’s nice to have some kid-free time and it’s also great for Reese to be with other kids, another caretaker and also to start learning French.

I’m excited to see what this school year brings.  I can’t wait to see the progress Makenna makes in speaking French.  I look forward to hopefully volunteering for school field trips and other activities where I can also practice my French and maybe make some French friends.  I may be missing out on socializing with the other American moms at Massillon, but this will be an experience to treasure!

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I am really getting bad at keeping up with our blog!  Here I am a month later writing about Reese’s birthday.  Honestly the most daunting part of sitting down to write a post is uploading photos!  Well, enough procrastinating….

While August is usually a time of 3 weeks vacation for Ryan, this year he had to travel a couple times during the month and he was in Canada for the last few days of the month.  On the day he flew back his parents flew over from NJ, just in time for Reese’s first birthday.

Ryan wanted to have a pirate-themed party for Reese, so I did what I do best and got on Pinterest to start planning the decor and food.  Like every other time I’ve gotten ideas from Pinterest, things took more work and time to put together than I thought, and we were working until the last minute to get everything done!  But the party was a success… and we had a huge sigh of relief when it was over!

We invited some friends and we were happy to have Ryan’s parents here too since we didn’t have any family here for Makenna’s first birthday (well, any of her birthdays).  Against my better judgement, I followed a Pinterest idea and provided the kids with inflatable pirate swords.  This led to some loud and “energetic” sword fighting for awhile, but it thankfully didn’t get out of hand.  Then we set up a “Captain Hook’s ring toss” and that kept the kids happy for awhile.  Ryan did an awesome job making a pirate ship out of a watermelon and filled it will fruit.  We also had “fish and chips” (chips and Goldfish crackers) and homemade pizza.  Ryan’s mom helped me make cupcakes for the guests and a small vanilla cake for Reese.  This time I decided to keep it pretty simple for the cake since Makenna’s first birthday cake looked like brains (instead of the beautifully piped rosettes I wanted to make from a Pinterest photo), so I decorated Reese’s cake with a little pirate garland I found on Amazon and used an icing pen to draw a simple treasure map.  MUCH better.

Now the most memorable part of a first birthday is always when that sweet little baby eats cake for the first time.  Well, I’m not sure if it was because Reese was teething, or didn’t take a nap, or was just not feeling our singing but he cried when we sang Happy Birthday to him and he wasn’t interested in the cake!  We tried singing to him again on his actual birthday and he did the same thing!  We have videos to look back and laugh at, but hopefully next year he enjoys it more.

It was bittersweet celebrating my baby boy’s first birthday.  He is no longer my little baby, but HOORAY we made it through the first year!  We had a rough beginning adjusting to having 2 kids, failing at breastfeeding, dealing with a baby who cried 24/7 until we found out he had a milk protein allergy and acid reflux, and having him teething almost constantly since he was 4 months old (he has 9 teeth and has 3 more working their way through!!).  I have been so blessed to be able to stay home with him and witness all of his firsts and see Makenna interact with her baby brother.  It has been an amazing year watching him grow, watching the love between our 2 kids, and seeing how much joy he has brought to us all.  And yes it’s true….little boys are mommy’s boys!! 🙂

Happy 1st birthday Reese Joseph!

I recently read articles about how social media can be toxic, and how it can make someone’s life look so wonderful when in reality it isn’t.  It inspired me to write this post, as I’m sure a lot of people look at us and think about how great this life as an expat must be.

Now let me start of by saying, yes, this life as an expat is great.  It has blessed us with many positive things: I get to stay home with my kids, we get to live in a beautiful country that many people wish they could visit, Ryan gets a LOT of vacation time, we get to travel and visit other cities and countries, and we get to experience another culture and way of life for a little while.  We have thoroughly enjoyed the food, the wine, the coffee, the pastries/breads/desserts, and the city life.   We love that we can walk everywhere, and that we have people/business owners that we pass everyday that we always stop to talk to.  We love that we are learning another language and that our daughter is bilingual.  We are so thankful for the amazing healthcare that we receive here and how much more affordable it is than in the US.  We enjoy a less stressful, less materialistic life here.  I could talk a lot about the positives.

Of course, most things in life have a negative aspect to it.  The biggest negative is being so far from family and friends.  We rarely see our family, our parents have come to visit once a year and we don’t see other family.  Trying to talk to friends can be difficult because there is a 6 hour time difference and we have young children that we try to keep on a schedule.  A lot of times we are out doing something or taking care of our kids or putting them to sleep when our friends are available to talk.  It breaks my heart that my mom and Ryan’s parents aren’t getting to see their grandchildren and experience all of their firsts and changes and holidays and birthday parties etc.  And sometimes it would be really nice to have family nearby to take the kids once in awhile so Ryan and I could have some time to ourselves.  There are times where parents just need a break and we don’t get that very often.

Because we are so far away, it is very expensive to travel back to the US.  It is also hard to take a long trip with 3 separate flights with 2 young kids.  We have decided not to make this trip until it is time for us to move home.  I have had 3 family members pass away since we have lived here and I haven’t been able to be there.  My grandmother passed away 2 weeks after Reese was born and I wasn’t able to say goodbye, to fully mourn and realize she was gone.

There is also the fact that we are foreigners.  There’s so much I could say about this and I will write a separate post about it.  But in summary, being different and speaking a different language can make a lot of things difficult and can test your patience,  confidence and morale.  There are many times we are stressed, confused, annoyed, frustrated etc because of the language barrier and the difference in cultures.

Many of us expats have a spouse who travels a lot.  This happens in the US too, but in general it can be tough on the worker and the spouse…and even the kids.  And when you throw living in a different country into the mix, it can sometimes make it that much worse.

Lastly, I have to mention the terrorism that Europe has experienced since we’ve lived here.  While awful things happen in the US too, it can be scary to live and travel in/near these areas have been affected by terrorism.  There have been times I’ve questioned whether we should move home, or if we should visit a certain city because maybe there could be a terrorist attack there.  But most times I try to think we must not live in fear and we need to live our lives.

This post isn’t meant to complain about things, but to shed some light on what the “full” expat experience is like for anyone who thinks it’s all glamorous.

But thank you God, and Michelin, for this amazing opportunity with all of its ups and downs!

Ok this post is a bit late….like the end of the summer late, but we did something life changing this summer and got an air conditioner!

Air conditioning is very rare here. Even many stores, restaurants, and doctors offices don’t have A/C….so summer here can be sticky (and smelly).  We survived our first 2 summers here without A/C, but when I saw another expat selling one, I had to snatch it up.  And according to Ryan, we are now living like rich people.  Now, this A/C is not like having central air in our home back in the US…its a big thing that we have to fill with water and stick a hose out the window.  However, none of our windows open by pushing them up, they open like doors, so when we put the hose out the window there is a large gap which we need to cover with styrofoam (which sometimes blows in and we have to fix it).  It doesn’t get too cool in here, but just enough to feel comfortable and it works better than the fans we were using.

It’s funny how you can adjust to things that aren’t what you are used to.  While we’ve had some days in the past that were about 100 degrees and very uncomfortable inside, we survived and it’s not a big deal to us anymore.  While I love the comfort of A/C in the US, I do think we overuse it.  Stores and restaurants have the A/C so high that some people need to wear a sweater.  However, I think in France they do the opposite.  In the winter the heat in the stores can be so high that I am sweating even if I take my jacket off.  Nowhere is perfect, right?