Stand and Deliver

Most people know I teach, and that 8 of my 10 siblings also teach. Neither of our parents were teachers, per se, though my mother certainly has taught by example and Dad taught you whether asked or not.

Having just learned of the very very sad accidental shooting death of my old St. Mike's professor, Prof Reiss, it gives an opportunity to look at the influence of teachers. I have been thinking about all those students who each have individual memories and connections with a teacher like him, and who will grieve his loss.

If politicians have power, what is it that teachers have? Promise, perhaps, promise instilled in students, to hold them accountable, get them to think critically, and encourage them to continue.

Here's a little story:

Monday night, for Thomas' bday, we left Estelle with Oana our sitter and went to the movies. We took Nice's new tram to go to the cinema. On the platform, there was a Japanese tourist trying to buy his ticket from the machine. A nice French woman helped him. Thomas and I were talking, me to him in English, he to me in French, as we often do now. Suddenly, a man behind me said to me, in a clear American accent "Can I put a 2 euro coin in this machine to get my ticekts?" "Yes", I responded, and Thomas proceeded to help the man get his tickets after the Japanese/French duo cleared off, speaking to him in English. The tram simultaneously arrived, and we got on. Once I boarded I looked for the man, and saw him with his wife, struggling with luggage and other packages maneuvering in the tram car. I approached them to make sure they knew they needed to "validate" their tickets in the machine on board. Now, in the light of the tram car, the man was facing me and I saw he had a windbreaker on that said "Harpoon", Windsor, VT. "HEY!" I said. We got to talking. Turns out they had been renting an apt for a week, had come home that afternoon to find the place had been robbed. Money, jewelry, etc, stolen. They were going to a hotel. They were pretty shook up, understandably, from the experience. But turns out the guy had gone to UVM, graduated in 1964. Now retired, they live in Florida.
We arrived at their stop, and we got off one stop early to help them with their bags and show them where to go to their hotel. "Where did you say you are from again?" I said "Well, Jericho, but really my parents are from the Northeast Kingdom, do you know where that is?" "Yes, I'm originally from Massachusetts but my parents sent me to St. Johnsbury Academy in the late 50's. I graduated from there in 1960." I said "Do you remember any of your teachers?" "Of course, Prof Pierce", he said. "Great skier, great teacher".

He is referring to Cedric Pierce, my dad's best friend and best man, and for whom my brother is named. This man, Peter Weiss, was genuinely moved to know that Bruz, as Dad called him, had just passed away last year after a long battle with Parkinson's. 48 years later, this man remembers his teacher, and broke out into a big nostalgic grin when talking about him, even after being robbed in a foreign country.

I'd wager no politician has that kind of power.

La Rentrée

"La Rentrée" is the French word that is used to describe going back to school in December. It's an official meaning, with a capital L and a capital R. In America, every school system decides what day is the first day. Not here. The entire country starts on the same day. This leads to, in my opinion, bedlam everywhere you look. But they are used to it so everyone just grumpily plods along that first week, traffic jams and long lines and hyper kids everywhere.

3 weeks after D-Day, I can barely keep it together. Everybody wants to learn English. Now. Everybody wants articles about je ne sais quoi translated. Now. Let's just say there's a reason why I haven't posted since Saturday!

Sunday we had a big American-style brunch with friends Emma and Florent, recently married this summer on the same day as my niece in America thus we couldn't attend their wedding. We enjoyed looking at photos of their ceremony and honeymoon (La Reunion and Ile Maurice - hmm, ring a bell, i.e. where WE were supposed to go before a mosquito epidemic thwarted us). All in all, a great visit over colored pancakes, syrup (bien sur!), bacon and poached eggs on English muffins, and for dessert, lemon meringue pie (I didn't make that, Emma did).

That afternoon Thomas took Estelle to the park and ran into our friends Helen and Jocelyn and their son Mael, who came back for tea and playtime since the weather was ominous. These are our friends who have a boat in Egypt (see the link to their blog on the sidebar).



Before they arrived from the park, I was home alone working on a translation when I heard some music from the street. Here's a video of the rando Spanish trumpet guy. Loved him! The video is so-so but the audio is pretty good. At the start he is picking up the money I had pitched at him from 5 stories up off my balcony. Also please note the dog at the socca restaurant who decides to accompany him. Olé!


In another news, Thomas celebrated his birthday on Monday. Turned the big "31". St. Mike's friends are rolling their eyes saying "she always did like a younger man". Hush up. As my aunt Becky says "Marry older if you marry for money, that way they die before you. Marry younger if you marry for love, then you die at the same time." She was joking because she married an older man whom she loved a lot, but it's a great saying and I whip it out frequently to defend myself. Plus I think one of my sister-in-laws would agree that it has no foundation!

I have no photos of a birthday party because it poured rain, but we did get a sitter that evening and go out to the movies at least! And ate, of all things, mini pots of Ben & Jerry's, which are for sale in the movie theater. I held court at the counter telling everyone within range just exactly where that ice cream came from. I thought they'd give it to us for free. Nope. But did get several extra napkins.
However, here is a video of some happy birthday wishes (to themselves) from the party we had been at on Saturday afternoon. No quiet times with this bunch. Yowza.

The Birthday Party

Another weekend, another birthday.
Today was a party for the 3 other kids at Estelle's "nounou", Cathy. These are the 3 kids that have been full-time with Cathy for 2 years. Up to the recent start of the school year, Estelle "filled in" whenever one of the 3 wasn't there - a few mornings here, an afternoon there, etc. Now they have all turned 3 and this means going to school full-time (welcome to France).
Marie, whose grandfather hosted the party at his villa, no longer sees Cathy at all since she started school. Carlo, the Italian, goes to Cathy's everyday after school at 4:30 (yeah, no getting out at 2:45 in France!) and all day on Wednesdays (remember, so elementary school on Wednesdays in France). Mila's parents have opted for the half-day only, and so every day at 11:30 when all the kids go home for lunch, she goes to Cathy's for lunch and stays for the day.
These are a lot of choices. I have no idea what I'll do next year for Estelle. Cross that bridge later!

Here's Estelle enjoying the swing in Marie's Papie's yard.
The point is, Estelle loves these 3 kids, and all 3 of them turn 3 in September, so it was a big joint party. All 3 of them are also only children, so there are some sharing issues! Estelle was the model of perfection, of course!
There were gifts for everyone. For those of you that remember my gaffe at Christmastime with this same crowd (i.e. everyone gave presents to Estelle and all I brought was cookies), you can bet your bottom dollar I was not to be outdone THIS time. I came armed with a gift for all three of them AND cookies. Not just any gift - personalized photo frames with their names on them in 3-D and a photo of the 3 of them together that I had taken this summer at Cathy's. Everyone else's presents were toys essentially, and nothing educational. And to my EXTREME pleasure one of the kids' parents didn't bring a gift for Estelle thus I felt vindicated.


There were cakes galore. I sampled everything, bien sur.


We realized how nice it is to have a yard!

The Circus has come to Town

Sunday morning out little family went to the circus. This is the same circus went to last year, in a different part of the city. They offer open rehearsals for just 2 euros per adult - a big break off the regular price. And for a 2 year old, 30 minutes is just about the limit for sitting still. We went with Ines and her parents.

Here's Estelle's face when she saw the zebras:
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Whatever Estelle did, Ines did, and vice versa. So if her Daddy holds her, then my Daddy has to pick me up too......

And some big smelly elephants

Inside the show, a real Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom going on....

These girls truly enjoy each other.

Two Saturday nights ago was the annual festival on the Port of Nice. This was like a different kind of Circus, but, really it WAS a circus. The entire port is turned into a pedestrian zone, with a funky parade and a yummy food festival. Music and kids activities, etc. Then at 11 p.m. the big dance parties were to start. One of the biggest attractions at the start of the event (7 p.m.) is the Chef's Village. There are several stands and you pay 5 euros at any stand to have an individual portion of their one dish. These are not your local burrito houses - these are top-notch restaurants, including the ultra-famous Negresco hotel... We tried and enjoyed things we would never normally eat. Risotto something with saffran and something, anchoive blah blah blah and a sprig of god knows what floating around on a poached egg with creamed sole, vegetables stuffed with pureed something. It was fun.

Look closely and you'll see this ain't no American chew-chew festival - it wouldn't be French if you didn't have tables with white tablecloths and candles set up.

We had brought good old rice and peas from home for Estelle. We shared a table with some elderly people and their daughter (who herself was at least 55) and they were definitely in a different economic bracket than us. As a result we had the luck to have them offer us some of the things which they had bought so many of they couldn't eat. They were taken with Estelle but quite discreet about letting on just how taken they were with her. "How old is she?" the mother kept asking me. "Quite well behaved, quite well behaved." she would repeat this. Everytime she said this she'd push another portion of something our way. Then I brought out the big guns and told her I was one of 11. Always good if you want the entire table's conversation to stop. You know, they stop with their wine glass halfway raised to their mouth and say "Comment?" (this is another way of saying Excuse me?) 38 years old and I never get tired of it.

We were on our way home by 8:15, and watched the huge fireworks display from our balcony while Estelle was fast asleep.


Lots of weekend fun!

Weekend off to a Good Start

Friday was a fun day for Estelle:
First, dressed for a stroll and a ride on the tram.

After nap, play date at home with Elliot and Mael, our little friend who sailed around in Dubai and Egypt with his parents on their dhow.


Today we discovered a beach we weren't familiar with: Plage de Darse in Villefranche. Tucked away beyond the old port of Villefranche, it was intriguing and fun - with a floating raft off the shore that you could swim out to.
Here's the walking path that leads to the beach.


Me out on the raft... The lighting makes it look like it's the end of the day but in fact it was 10 a.m.! Swimming out to this raft was a thrill for me - even though it wasn't that far really or that deep - but it did remind me of rafts at Shadow Lake in VT that we used to swim out to. Even sometimes the French Mediterranean can feel like home!

Estelle really felt independent today in the water with her "swimmies" on her arms - she did not want to hold onto us and twirled and turned in the water, giggling away.

As always, the huge cruise boats visible in the Villefranche bay - today's was called "Norwegian Gem". Thomas asked what "gem" meant in English. I said "bijoux". He said "But I thought that's what "jewel" was?" I realized that I don't know what the difference is between a gem and a jewel. In any event, it's the same word for both in French. This are the kinds of discussions you have on a Saturday morning on the beach in an international marriage. Never a dull moment.

A shipchandler at the Port.

Surfer's paradise?


Leaving to walk back to the car.

Yesterday when Elliot and Mael took out every toy, every book, every game, and every puzzle Estelle owns and then some, Estelle discovered a few things she didn't even know she had - like this decorative gift bag that looks like a teddy bear. Someone gave us a gift in it when Estelle was born, and I had it tucked into her bookcase as a cute backdrop to some books. Like I said, EVERYTHING got played with yesterday afternoon!

So today, she decided it was a hat. I came around the corner and found her just walking around the apartment with it on her head.


Sometimes, just the fake credit cards you get in the mail to promote something can provide hours of entertainment.

Who knows what fun tomorrow will bring!

911

Hard to believe it's been 7 years.
Wondering how all those families, all those fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and sons and daughters of all those people are holding up today.
Interestingly, so far, at 2 p.m. I have neither seen nor heard any mention of the anniversary over here in France, neither on the news or in emails or anything. Certainly must not be the case in America today.
I can almost feel the recycled cardboard ring around my Starbucks cup in my hand that I was holding in DC when I walked thru the glass doors at the office and my friend at work said "Look at this hoax photo on CNN of some plane hitting one of the twin towers".
On last year's blog I talked about what I did the night before the attacks - how I, like everyone, was having a casual Monday night, totally unaware of what some others had planned for the rest of the world just a few hours later.
When I was 22 years old in 1993 and living in New York, I worked in the World Trade Center in one of the towers as a temp. I worked on the 102nd floor for about 3 weeks for a company called Cantor Fitzgerald. I think I had to take 3 different elevators to get to work - I can barely remember. But I do recall the rush of energy when I would come up out of the 1 and the 9 subway from the Village, so many men in business suits and briefcases, long before the age of cell phones, hustling along, juggling their blue cups of deli take-out coffee. I was totally taken with it all and loved every second of my stint there. I was the one of two other women in this huge office of men on phones and staring at screens, hollering and bickering all day. Such a vibe I have rarely seen. It was, for that young Vermont girl, impressive. The take-out lunches and chopsticks and the reubens and pastrami sandwiches they would all eat at their desks. Totally enthralling, all of it. And all of it crashed down in a matter of seconds on this day.
Still shocking, 7 years later, and still sad.

Last Days of Summer

Here's a few shots of a trip to the beach last Sunday morning, Plage Passable, St. Jean Cap Ferrat....

Note the gigantic cruise ship in the bay behind Estelle and Thomas.


And a few from another beach trip a few weeks back in Villefranche...




This little boy in blue that we met at the beach, Samuel, took to Estelle's toys. He was 14 months old, his mother was 7 1/2 months pregnant. Yowza. Now that's just about Irish twins. Though she wasn't Irish, she was English. We had a nice chat.

One leftover shot from Estelle's birthday at Villefranche with Ines...

What does she do when she's not at the beach?

Get blue stuff on her face. Or, as illustrated below, dishevel the sofa. Note Winnie the Pooh and Mr. Potato Head are both victims of "The Couch Cushion Fort Gone Wrong"

Invite Ines over for a crackerjack play date:


When all else fails, there's always Daddy and Duplos....