Read Any Good Books Lately?

Probably I am the last person on the face of the earth to have read Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner". I guess that's what happens when you a) have a baby combined with b) living in a foreign country.
Anyways, I just read it this wkend in less than 48 hours with interruptions for my daughter, my husband, my in-laws, my students, eating and sleeping (though not much of that).
So it got me thinking how to use my blog for my own benefit..... if you are reading this, then I ask you to post a comment (you can remain anonymous, use your name, use some code name, just pick your poison) telling me a great book you think I should read that you've read relatively recently.
I'm going on vacation in a few weeks and I want some good books with me, but for me to get a hold of them in English, I'll need to start looking now.
So please, readers, take a minute, even if you have NEVER commented on my blog before, and give me a lead on a good book! You might even get some titles for yourself from others.
How about title, author, genre or fiction or non, and one thing or sentence about what made an impression on you or why you are recommending it.
I accept all kinds of books - they do NOT all have to be in the "heavy emotional memoir" category like the Kite Runner!
Thanks for playing!

The Signing Baby

Helen Keller ain't got nothin' on my girl.
I was not a believer when I started teaching Estelle sign language for babies at 8 months, as she just stared blankly at me. But after a many many weeks, she starting mimicking the signs for "milk" and "eat" and "more". I felt some encouragement.
Now, at 15 1/2 months, the girl can produce at least 20 different signs, and recognizes and understands many more. She's a signin' fool. The other day whilst changing her diaper Estelle was staring off at the door to her room which was exceptionally closed to keep out the noise of Thomas and his parents. Her door is usually only closed at night, and it is dark of course. All of the sudden she started signing for "rabbit", and I thought "what the heck is she doing, there's no rabbit over there, just the blank wall near the entrance to her room". I glanced over and had to let out a gasp, as there, on the back of her door, was a cut-out of a rabbit I had put there just after her birth, totally having forgotten it as her door is never shut while we are in her room in the daytime. She smiled at me and kept signing away for rabbit.
"GENIUS!" I cried out to no one in particular.
Here is a little video of her signing on command, which is also amazing because she knows what it means when I say "What's the sign for...." Unfortunately for you viewers they may all look a little jumbled or the same on this video, but in fact they are quite distinct and clear for the most part! If I can't make a living teaching or translating, Thomas and I are going to take Estelle on the road and get people to pay a euro (that's like 400 US dollars right about now) to watch her sign on command.
Of course just after I stopped shooting this video, she starting hollering "Au Revoir!" at the camera. Too funny.

All Saint's Day

Thursday was November 1st and thus "Toussaint", the French All Saint's Day holiday. Halloween is of course linked to Toussaint (but not many people in America know about that). At any rate, here in France, everything is closed, and most of the country was happy to "faire le pont" (make the bridge) for the long weekend by taking Friday off too.
We have been happy to have Thomas' parents with us since Wednesday afternoon, here to visit and to take care of Estelle & send us away for an overnight with friends and a day-long spa treatment on Friday.
Friday morning, with lists left everywhere for my mother-in-law, and one last long hug for Estelle whom I have never been seperated from overnight, off we went at 9 am with our overnight bag packed.
Oh, but the cruel joker somewhere who wants to constantly deprive my husband and I of anything resembling a romantic getaway (reference the honeymoon that never hapenned due to chikunguyna in the Indian Ocean - most everyone in my life knows that tragic tale, or The 4-day trip to Corsic cancelled, etc) struck again. We never left our street that day until 6:30 pm that night. Car trouble, turned out to just be a dead battery, and, of course, the day after Toussaint on a "faire le pont" weekend, try finding a garage that is open. Finally Thomas got a battery and all was well, the the spa-day was a bust, but thankfully as it was already paid for we get a credit for another time.
And that night we still went and stayed at our "other" home here, chez Craig and Doug's villa. Where we drank champagne, I played piano on the baby grand by the fireplace for an hour, and we slept without keeping an eye on a monitor. Saturday morning I read a book for an hour over my tea, and Thomas and I spent the day together, alone, tooling around the shops. We felt like we had used a Get Out of Jail Free Card. And yet we were home by 5 pm, patiently waiting to see our daughter again, after being gone only 24 hours.
How will we ever go to Marakesh for a week? Heavens.
Moving on, today we had a play date with Elliott, our half-Dutch half-French friend who knows sign language like Estelle does.
Here are some photos from the park this morning with Elliott, followed by a video of Estelle learning to use a spoon tonight at dinner!

This Little Piggy

Went running around the apartment:

I can't get a photo of her face on in this pig getup from my sister. But that clip on curlycue tail is to die for.
But the star of today is THIS little boy grinning away in this old photo from his 4th birthday:

My brother Wes, Halloween man himself, born a goblin this very day 40 years ago! That's right, FORTY. Kids born on Christmas get the gyp of a lifetime, but kids born on Halloween are ALWAYS guaranteed a party, one way or the other. I spent my childhood riding the Halloween-birthday coat-tails of my brother, only 3 years my senior and the Jim-Bob to my Elizabeth. Look at that little blond cutie, fist clenched in triumph for another year of one big party and a pillowcase of loot. Hard to believe he now has 3 kids of his own and just built himself a sizeable shed (more like a barn!), after his deck and deerstand (not necessarily in order of importance). All of my brothers are amazing (every girl thinks that I suppose), and they can all build stuff. But Wes deserves special recognition for doing it all without our Dad there to help, explain, guide and motivate--he's just figured it out himself. He has become the Man with a Plan. Must be all that candy all those years that fuels him and keeps him going. We used to ration out our candy. Of course you eat all the good stuff first, and then after 10 days or so, all you've got left is a pile of Special Darks, Dum Dums, and way too many Tootsie Rollls. At any rate, if he is 40, than I'm not far behind. Damn.
In other news, yesterday brought a fabulous visit from Gerardine O'Callaghan (Irish? Why yes) a colleague from 3 years ago here in Nice who is back in the green hills of bonny Ireland but was here visitng in Nice.

Ger and her friend Quentin (in the photo with us) tried valiently to teach Thomas and I how to dance in June of 2005 before our wedding. They did their best. If only we could have been as elegant as them.
And, in other exciting news, look what I re-found in the Frozen Foods Store (there is no equivalent of this that I know of in the States- a store of just freezers, everything is frozen? Does this exist in America?). BAGELS. Occasionally, in this one store (named "Picard", as in Captain Jean-Luc from Star Trek), you find bagels. They aren't bad, for a frozen bagel. It's no H&H, but it's better than rubbery Lenders. My favorite part is the subtitle to explain to the bewildered French customer what the hell they are "Petits Pains Americans" or "Little American breads". Cracks me up.

Halloween Party

Today Estelle got ready to have a party. Here are some photos of her getting into the spirit of things.


This afternoon she got together with her little group of friends from when they were all just inside their mother's bellies.
Everyone was here but Maxence, who remember is up in Paris, and, broke her wrist the other day and has to wear a cast :-( Here is a photo of her, damn cute, even with a cast.

First we met up in a nearby park for some frollicking on the slides, etc. Here's Ellliot in his "vampire coat and tails" costume, with Lucie behind him, and some other kid in green who wasn't with us but clearly was attracted by our style....

Elliot and Estelle (who was not at this time wearing her pig ears headband and tail, but rather her Burberry hat)

Pauline dressed as a Witch!

Then we convoyed back to my place for Halloween pumpkin cookies and fun and games.
"WHAT KIND OF COOKIES?" was the question of the day....


The group: Fransiska holding Elliot, Noelle holding Lucille, Isabelle with Alessandro, Me and Estelle, Celine and Thomas, and Sylvianne holding Pauline.


This is the aftermath!

Poudlard

As Scout Finch says in the infamous words penned by Harper Lee, "What in the sam hill are you doing, Walter?"
This was my thought this morning at 9:15 a.m. when I went to the "Carrefour", which is a French "hypermarché", or sort of like Target meets Walmart meets Hannaford's, or whatever enormous grocery store is the biggest one you can think of where you live. Today I thought "what in the sam hill is going on here?".
As a rule, I hate going to Carrefour. Selection? Yes, it's there, for the most part. Random American and English products at astronomical prices not to be found elsewhere in France? Yep, also there (example, I paid 8 dollars for the smallest jar of peanut butter that exists, like the size of a tennis ball).
But the reason I HATE going into Carrefour is the lines. There are literally 52 checkouts, and in general about two-thirds to three-quarters of them are open at any given time. But it doesn't matter, because there is always, always a line, express lane, whatever lane you choose. And the endless, endless aisles stretching over hundreds of square meters are always crammed with people and carts and strollers and trolleys and what have you. What's more, so many people work there that it is baffling to me. There are all kinds of Carrefour workers whizzing around on rollerskates, wearing headsets. It is all so very high-tech, and yet, in the end, it's Stalin-era breadlines.
There is a frenzy, and sort of panic on the faces of every customer in the store. I always tell Thomas it is like it is the apocalypse, the French are awaiting the end of the world, TODAY, right now, and they have to stock up on everything they possibly can RIGHT THIS SECOND and then get in THE LINE.
I attribute this to: lower prices than the other smaller grocery stores, much more space thus many more products and more variety: so when people want a lot of something, or a deal, or big ticket items, they go to Carrefour. Which is, like everything else in France, closed on Sunday.
This makes Saturday in the store borderline hilarious, for an American. I am often reminded of the film "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", or, Alan Arkin and Peter Faulk yelling "Serpentine! Serpentine!" in that 1979 American comedy classic "The In-laws". If you've seen either, you know EXACTLY what I'm taking about. It's a visual.
But today was Friday, not Saturday. I went early, like the senior-citizens in the US, going for the early bird special. Why suffer? Because there were things I needed that can be found no place else: Brown sugar, Halloween balloons, peanut butter. These are the desperate situations that drive me into the Carrefour.
I walked in, and pandomonium. People everywhere, huge lines. I was confused. I hiked from one end of the store to the other, grabbing my precious items, and then bit the bullet and got in line. And lo and behold, what do I see all around me that people are buying? Books. One by one, in front of me, to the left, to the right, individuals are laying a thick paperback tome onto the running belts either all by itself or amidst other random things - a bottle of coke, several bars of chocolate, tea. toilet Paper.
I got up on my tiptoes to get a better look. There were 3 teenagers in front of me, babbling away, excitedly clutching their books so that I couldn't even see. And finally one of them gently handed it to the cashier for scanning.
Harry Potter, book 7, translated into French. Just released today in all stores across the country, not allowed by French law to open early, or at midnight (labor unions), thus at 9 am when the doors opened......
Poudlard (the French translated name for Hogwarts, Harry's school) and all its stories await the entire non-English-reading population today.
Interesting to note that a French teenager posted on the web his own translation into French back this summer after the original English version was released July 21st. It was immediately removed and he was promptly fined or thrown in jail or some such.
I eavesdropped on the 3 teenagers discussing whether or not Snape really did or didn't kill Dumbledore. I smiled and thought "oh boy, I could just lean over and spill the beans here!" But of course I didn't!

On the Road to Recovery

Many runny noses later, it's time to read library books (upside down).

First cold

The end of breastfeeding and the start of a few hours a week in a daycare = sickness. Estelle is in the throws of her first real cold. Runny nose, sneezing, yucky cough, the works. Making it difficult for her to breathe, thus difficult to sleep normally. Meaning we don't get much sleep either!
I am thinking of my sisters and my mother, all together this wkend for a long, long-standing traditional fall get-together in New Hampshire for lots of talking and some shopping. I'd give my right arm (attached to a baby aspirator at the moment) to be there with them.
To offset the blues, here's a video of yet another French nursery rhyme, called
"Bonjour ma cousine!"
Here are the words Thomas is singing:
"Bonjour, ma cousine,
Bonjour, mon cousin germain
On m'a dit que vous m'aimiez
Est-ce bien la verité?
Je ne m'en soucie guère (2 times)
And then there is more to it but Thomas stops because of Estelle's lack of interest! This is when he says "Cut!"
The rest would have been:
"Passez par ici and moi par là
Au revoir ma cousine et puis voilà!"
This means:
Hello, female cousin!
Hello, male first cousin!
People tell me you love me, is it really true?
I have no worries, no cares..."
And the ending, which he doesn't sing, is "you go this way, I'll go that way, goodbye female cousin and there you have it!"
This is a normally an interactive rhyme with hand gestures and movements, which Estelle is usually fascinated by but with her cold the girl just don't give a damn!

The Godfather

Think that's Estelle in between her two cousins? Wrong. It's Heather, my newly appointed goddaughter, Wayne and Cole's sister, who is 5 months younger than Estelle but RIGHT behind her for just about every milestone!
Thomas is "ravi" (this means "thrilled" or "delighted") to have been asked to be Heather's godfather. This is his first godchild, and my 2nd. My two godchildren are in this photo! Wayne with a whopper of a cold knocking him down this week is #1.
Cole escaped having the wrath of GodMother Julie.
So someone else in the family will stand in as 'proxy" at the baptism. Damn that Atlantic Ocean!

Dance Dance Revolution

This little film represents just an average moment, experimenting with movement.
What on earth is she looking at off to the side the whole time? You can imagine....someone is doing their own little dance for her to imitate...
Thomas' spontaneous comment at the end is great. Anglophone readers, can you get what he says?

The Big Letdown

Unlike the semi-final match this evening where South Africa slaughtered Argentina, last night's semi-final between England and France was neck and neck, right down to the wire. First the English led, then the French, and then, finally, the English. A low-scoring game, and fantastic to watch. We got a babysitter and off we went, into an English pub, the English on the ground floor, and the French fans on the 2nd floor. What a scene.
But, it was not meant to be.
The best part of the night was Thomas and I going hime on my bike shortly after midnight, me on the seat holding my legs slightly bent and out to the sides, him pedaling standing straight up in front of me. We whizzed along thru the streets of the old town, giggling and weaving around the pedestians. Just like the old days (and nights) of our busy social life B.E. (before Estelle). It was all so exhilirating, despite the rugby loss - but unlike times of yester year, this evening's bike ride home included a pit stop at the ATM to get cash to pay the babysitter. Ah, reality.
And so, here are photos of some happy moments this weekend. Estelle playing with Elliot (remember Elliot, the little boy chewing on her hands at the Epiphany party back at the start of the year?). Here is the old photo of them for January:

We love Elliot, who, like Estelle, is the child of a foreigner mother (she is Dutch). Like Estelle, Elliot lives in 2 different languages, and, like Estelle, Elliot also has learned sign language to help hearing babies commuicate quicker. Elliot, who walked at 10 months, is only 6 weeks older than Estelle, but he can run circles around her now, and recognizes and produces 40 signs, whereas Estelle has 10 or so.
Other friends Estelle visited this weekend are Zack and Madison, "uncle" Craig and Doug's hungarian veeschlas at their Mougins villa.

Let's see what's under your Hood

Today, Estelle got her first vehicle. It's been out on the balcony for 8 months, a gift from a friend leaving town. Today it occured to me that she might, in fact, be ready for it. We cleaned it up, and---well, it ain't the Monaco Grand Prix just yet, but there's potential.
She has inherited her late grandfather's mechanical genius, as she began to unscrew all the big plastic coloful parts of the chariot (which is meant to happen as part of the 'game" for a TODDLER). (p.s. have now accepted I have a toddler, after some self-help group intervention). A few days ago, I disovered the bin of unloved and unwanted videos IN ENGLISH at the local Catholic Aid shop - and lo and behold: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which we have been enjoying in 20 minute daily installments during snack time. Thus she seems thrilled to have her own version, though I'm a bit sad Dick Van Dyke can't join her for a number. She squeals whenever he dances.


The 2nd photo has that Steppenwolf "Magic Carpet Ride" feel in my opinion. One hand possessively on her 'ride", the other almost haughtily on her hip,thumb hooked around a beltloop, a slight snarl of disdain and disregard for authority. WHO IS THAT KID? Thomas commented she looks like she's looking for a chicken fight like in "La Fureur de Vivre" - literal translation = The Fury of Living - or, after a lot of "huh" and "what?" on my part, otherwise known by its more recognizable title as "Rebel Without a Cause"...... I said 'La Fureur de Vivre? What a ridiculous translation!" He said "Rebel Without a Cause? THAT'S the original title? You must be joking!"
Some couples fight about money. Others squabble over translations of classic film titles. To each his own.

Dr. English

My friend Jeri, who lives in Toronto, has been working on her dissertation for 7 years. I met her in September of 2002, here in Nice, with her husband Gordon. She was here to enjoy a year in France and continue working on her dissertation. In 2005, when they flew over for our wedding, Jeri was....working on her dissertation. Now, in the fall of 2007, she has successfully defended....her dissertation - which is something like this: "Prolouges written for litterature pieces by French women in the 500 years before Jesus Christ" - or something like that. And it was something like 7329 pages, written in French.
The amazing thing is that the specialist who was to "judge" her work, of course is some French professor, now living in England, who phoned in as a conference call on speakerphone during her 4 hour long defence, in front of a jury. Jeri claims the woman was on a beach as they kept hearing seagulls cawing out of the speakerphone. Only mildly distracting on the 2nd biggest day of your life. The first being of course her marriage to Gordon.
Also hilarious is the fact that every physical action in the room where her defence took place had to be verbally announced into the speakerphone for the benefit of said seagull-befriending-somewhere-on-the-coast-of-England-super-specialist-lady. So someone would bellow into the speakerphone "The candidate (that would be Jeri) is crossing the room. The candidate is sitting down behind the table. The candidate is picking her nose"
I just had to share this, because I think a little insight into the wild and wacky world of PhD people is, well, secretive, and wacky.
Here are photos of Jeri and Gordon, the before and after. Doesn't she look composed?
The best part is that her last name really is English. So now she is Dr. English, except she is teaching women's studies, in french, but no matter.
The 7 year itch paid off! Now if we can just get my friend down in Virginia to pony up likewise - right huffy?

Labels

An American woman I saw the other day referred to Estelle as a "toddler". It's enough for cardiac arrest. "No, no, she's just shy of 15 months", I replied, laughing. "Exactly, a toddler", the smug New Yorker retorted back to me. What? Where is my baby, Estelle? Toddler? I think I'm in shock. I need a cocktail. Toddler? Surely I'll be, like, 40 or something when she's a toddler?

Fun at the local playground on Saturday afternoon. Papa does things Mommy hasn't dared to yet!
Ah yes, brownies for the rugby match, and little missy got a hold of the spoon.

The Impossible Dream

Just like last summer when France beat Brazil in the World Cup playoffs, something no one expected, the unbelievable happenned last night over in Cardiff, Wales.
France, who was being crushed by the oh-so-powerful-and-intimidating New Zealand All Blacks, with a score of 13-3 at half-time, came back to win and thus advance to the semi-finals in the Rugby World Cup.
I admit that my lack of comprehension about the game (see previous post- you know, throwing backwards, letting the ball "live", all those legs moving around in clumps) didn't dampen my enthusiasm last night. Quiet screaming by me, my husband and friend Pierre was the best we could allow ourselves since Estelle was asleep right next door in her room.
Just like last year during the World Cup, the streets were howling last night - the difference is that it is not the sweltering heat of July, and i am not 9 months pregnant.
This was one of the best games of ANYTHING I have ever seen. A nail-biter right down to the end. The underdog doing the impossible and coming back to beat the mighty foe. Thomas went from a state of almost tears to jubilation, dancing out of the balcony, you know, the usual, singing that damn Marseillaise (which is a bloody song, by the way, have you ever listened to the words?)
Frenchmen and women up and down the street, out on their balconies, hollering and hooting to each other.
What national team in America do we get this excited about? Maybe that infamous hockey game at the Olympics in the 80's against the Soviet Union?
Well, moving on - as a certain niece of mine who has just moved to England for the year & was quick to shoot off an email to me last night said, on to the next fight: Semi-final match, next Saturday, vs. England, who also pulled off an impressive victory yesterday in another quarter-final head-to-head against the other superpower, Australia. Now the All Blacks and Australia go back to their Hemisphere with their tail between their legs, eliminated in the quarter-finals both of them, a surprise to everyone.
And so, the age-old enemies meet once again - the French and the English. A very even match - could go either way. "We crushed them in.....(insert some year here)", my husband repeated several times last night, in the dark, falling asleep.
God save the Queen.

Par la Barbichette!

"Je te tiens, Tu me tiens
Par la barbichette
Le premier de nous deux
qui rira
aura une tapette."

This little children's rhyme/game is a favorite. It involves grabbing onto the other person's chin (their "barbichette" = goatee) and the first person who laughs or giggles gets spanked.
So, here is a little video of the basics of raising your baby in France: grab onto that barbichette for dear life. And beyond that, photos of my bangs and Estelle and Thomas robbing my wallet.

She Shoots, She Scores!

After breaking out in a one-day rash and looking like a creature from Star Trek, being diagnosed with "roseola", and having a slight urine infection treated with antibiotics, Estelle is back in business. Since Papa is off with some (roller) hockey this evening, it seems she got into the act.
Dear Readers: Enough clamouring for photos of the bangs! That requires someone to take pictures of me, something we have yet to manage as we come out of the fever/star trek/roseola/antibiotics fog. Patience. Suffice to say I look better than Sebastien Chabal (see previous post).

Rugby

France marches on in the Rubgy World Cup.
Does that guy scare you? He is the hero of France. His name is Sebastien Chabal, and he is absolutely TERRIFYING on the field. I literally had this man appear in my dream the other night. In fact he is very sweet and soft spoken, as I have heard him interviewed. Quite intelligent.
Next "les petites" (this is how the French rugby team is referred to, some kind of little national joke, harty har) are playing the scary "All Blacks" New Zealand team. This team, always dressed in black, and full of indigenous Mauri players, does a little tribal war dance on the field before each match to intimidate their adversary. It is poignant and hilarious. I encourage everyone to check it out sometime on the net if you haven't ever seen it.
More importantly, I speak to those of us born in New England, home to lacrosse, soccer and the NFL in the autumn: has anyone ever WATCHED this game? They throw the ball backwards. That's right, backwards. In a little chain of men. Sometimes they get together in a little group and throw one man up in the air so he can bat away the ball. Whoop! Up he goes, like one of those clown puppets that pops up out of its hiding place down in an inversed cone. Or they get in a big group bent over at the waist, and they butt heads, like rams all locked together, staring at the ground, pushing against the other team, and the whole clump moves all around in different directions like the thing you put your fingers onto on a Ouiga board. All you see is flats backs and lots of legs, moving moving moving. The referees circle and circle the clump, dancing out of the way when suddenly the ameoba gets a burst of energy and takes off in their own direction. They have their whistle at the ready (for what, I have no idea...) It's visually quite comic in fact.

For the love of my husband, I feign intent concentration during dramatic moments. He jumps up and shouts out things like "Fault! FAULT! That was a fault! The ball must LIVE and be free!" No joke that is EXACTLY what he often shouts. At first I was touched, I fell in love with him all over again, as I thought he was being so poetic and lyrical about this very brutal game. Come to find out it's the damn rule. The ball must "live" and "be free". Otherwise it is a "fault". So much for poetry.

New Throne

Was it I on Tuesday who said Estelle escaped the virus? Wrong.
104 degree fever and many frantic moments and days later, we have all lived to tell the tale. Barely, as I myself had a relapse on Thurs/Fri, just to spice things up!
In the midst of all this, Thomas' friend gives us a little armchair all for Estelle's very own.
Here is a photo and video of her enjoying her new throne.
The family that plays together, stays together. Or rather, that recovers from illness together by lying about on the floor on Saturday morning.