Easter!

 Above:  Estelle & Léna enjoy an April Fool's Fish chocolate.
Below:  A great card from Lisa & Dan for my license!

 Estelle & Léna get a great Easter package from Aunt Joanie!
 
 And in it was something for moi-meme!

A few days before Easter, Estelle had her first Wind Ensemble concert at the Conservatoire.  Here she is, with 2 girls on flute and a little boy on basson who are in her 2nd grade class.  The two other oboists are 3rd graders.

They played 2 songs.  It was very sweet, and fun. Then the older kids took over and things got serious!

Easter day, after mass (Estelle played and her grandparents got to see her, it was great!).  Then we had a wonderful leg of lamb meal that Thomas made.

I made "Susan Our Beginning Cook" scalloped potatoes, thanks to Joanie & Mom scanning me the recipe.  Anyone recognize the serving utensil?

 

On Easter evening, Léna lost her first tooth!

On Tuesday, we had to take Léna to the American Embassy in Marseille to renew her passport as the American Consulat in Nice is temporarily closed.  This photo is just next to the Embassy at the Marseille Prefecture.  It's quite impressive.

Today, after finishing my last day of university teaching, I walked all the way home on the Promenade, and enjoyed looking at things I never have time to enjoy.  Below, a ferry, the beaches....

Above - the Negresco. All in all not a bad walk!

The pink slip

When French people used to take their driving exam, at the end, if they passed, they would be given the "pink copy" of a form and that meant they had been successful.
Now, because it is so difficult to pass and people get violent when they don't pass especially when they're on their 2nd or 3rd time trying, results are mailed to you a few days later.
I got mine today in the mail:

You must have a minimum of 20 points to pass.  I had 20.5.  By the skin of my teeth.  Interesting, I got a 0 out of 3 for "know how to set up yourself and ensure security while driving".  i.e. I didn't check all my mirrors and show I was adjusting my seat before clicking my seat belt.  Maybe it's because I was too busy listening to Joe Inspector test his 6th grade English on me and smiling politely at his POODLE who came with him.
Yes, that's correct.  Did I mention this cost me almost 2 grand?
Anyways, who cares, it's over.  I love the final verdict on the form.  They circle either "favorable" i.e. we look favorably on your performance or "insuffisant" i.e. you can't cut the mustard.
To celebrate, I will eat a piece of torte aux blettes (swiss chard sweet torte) that I bought for myself at the bakery.

Palm Sunday

 Today Estelle played her oboe at mass with a small group of young musicians.  It was great!

 Meanwhile, this creative project was done by the children at "Eveil", which translates as "awakening" which is for kids who are essentially a bit young for CCD classes but to give them a little social group within the framework of CCD.  Léna helped to make this yesterday afternoon.

 The church looked so lovely today with all these enormous palm leaves!

 I think I've posted about this tradition before, but in France on Palm Sunday, the custom at the beginning of mass is that the entire parish is outside the church where the priest blesses the palms and the "buis", which is either boxtree or boxwood in English.  Also sometimes you see laurel branches or even olive branches around here.

 There's Léna lower right with green leggings and sandals.

 Here you see the children and parishioners holding up their palms and boxwood for the blessing as the priest walks around sprinkling holy water.

 Léna can be seen hiding behind the flora.  She loves her "teacher", Sophie.  You can't see Sophie but you can see her arm lovingly placed around Léna.

 It's an impressive sight, this tradition.  I am always impressed.

 Estelle, meanwhile, had a great (and musically educational) time playing in four of the different pieces - processional, hosana, offertory, and exit songs.  There were 3 violins, a cello, drums, a guitar, and a French horn (which p.s. is just a "horn" in France.  ha ha).

We had a great Palm Sunday!  After our meal, both girls headed out to different birthday parties.  One more week of school and then 2 weeks off!  Everyone is looking forward to a break.  Spring is here and Easter is almost here!  Yeah!

Semba

Last weekend, Léna had her turn to have the class mascot, Semba. 

 Basically its every parents headache.  Pressure to do more in an already jam-packed weekend, take photos everywhere, make your life look oh-so-fabulous.  And then print out the photos and paste them all into the Semba's "journal" for the class with witty comments.  In French.

 Léna and Estelle, however, LOVE having the class mascot!  Semba had to ride on the tram.

 

Semba had to go to Léna's music lesson.

 Daddy had to make crepes for Semba.

 Semba had to come to swimming lessons where he was reunited with other kids from Léna's class.

 By the way, Léna swims in that huge pool with no floatation devices whatsoever.  She can even swim down to the bottom to grab a swimring.  It amazes me - she's not even 5!

 Then Semba had to go to the ice rink!

 Here's our friend Caetan with the girls.

 Then Sema needed a concert and dance party.

 Sunday night, Semba fast asleep after his busy weekend.  Amen, the mascot weekend is OVER!

Voting in France

Last Sunday and today (they are always 2 rounds one week apart, even for presidential elections) were municipal elections in France.  Here's Estelle going to vote with Thomas:

 It's the most bizarre election process I have ever seen and the most horrible waste of paper you can imagine.  13 years later and I barely understand.  I am ashamed to say I don't want to.  I should, but I don't.

 Yes that is Estelle putting her paper ballot into a glass box.  In Nice, with a population of 350,000 people, the 5th largest city in the country, and they've got paper ballots.

 Anyways, our UMP mayor Estrosi got re-elected to no one's surprise.  But around the country the "Front National" which is like a crazy Tea Party-like group continues to gain a LOT of ground which is rather alarming.
Meanwhile:  one day Estelle has a playdate and her friend arrived with a rose for her:

 This is not the first time that Estelle has invited a little girl over for a Saturday afternoon playdate and the child has arrived with a single rose, wrapped in tissue, as a gift.  The first time was 4 years ago.  Now, again.  Learning about customs is a never-ending process.
 
When she left, she wrote this goodbye note on the easel.  This little girl was Estelle's best buddy at her "old" school and now they never see each other anymore.  They were so happy to be together again.

 And then, I found that Léna had been out "taking photos" with Estelle's camera again.  Above:  under the bed.  Below:  the fridge. [please note that this is just one part of my fridge.  If you don't see your photo, don't fret, it's there, it's just out of Léna's line of vision].

Well, we have just changed our clocks last night and so back to 6 hours time diff with VT and everyone on EST.  I keep thinking of my Dad who loved to holler out both the "new" time and the "real" or "old" time all day long the day after we changed the clocks.  He knew it drove people crazy and so he would bellow it out with a grin every chance he got.  I of course have taken on this habit but it loses it's flair in a bi-lingual home.

This weekend has been 100% full of events and work and I feel like the weekend never happened, especially since I had a migraine come on in the night Thurs/Fri and had to resort to my opium suppositories.  The French do so love their suppositories.  But opium at 3 a.m. is pretty wild, I have to say - and when you're that bad off you'll take anything, anyhow.  Plus I like thinking I am like Sherlock Holmes, known for his opium weakness.  :-)