Happy New Year!!!

Sitting in our temporary apartment here in Clermont, I am thinking about all the wonderful change 2010 brought, mainly Lauris and our move to France. The rate of change has slightly slowed in 2011, but has not completely stopped. Lauris is changing daily; Roberts swears he sometimes looks different in the morning than the previous evening (who doesn’t have puffy eyes in the morning…) and although it is hard for me to see him grow I only need to look at pictures of him last month. Our lifestyle is changing as well; we walk everywhere (although Roberts takes the tram to work now and then) and are thinking of buying a car only for weekend use. We are eating very differently, and the menu is changing constantly as I figure out what I can and can not grind, smush, mash and process into frozen cubes for Lauris. And the change I feel most? Not language, somehow it already seems normal that I hardly understand a word anyone is saying (as a Yankee in living in Georgia I found myself in a similar situation). But the distance between us and everything else – family, friends, familiar places, stores. This distance is exaggerated by my lack of access to the internet currently, if I had my email, my reference resource, my spider solitaire… or maybe I would only feel more isolated, as I would see what I’m missing in Chicago, Gaŗezers, Greenville.

Most often asked question: “What do you like best about France?” And the good thing is, there is enough that I can’t instantly make up my mind. The food is excellent, the cheeses, breads and wines only the tip of the iceberg. Truffade, a potato casserole that has enough cheese to drown a yak, is probably my current favorite. Fries. The freshest seafood is available everywhere, we ate mussels outside at the Christmas market (Marché de Noël) from a vendor in a little wooden booth. But food may come second to the French devotion to families and children.

When I read that most French children are in school at the age of two (three if it takes a little longer to potty train) I was worried – the American attitude is obviously very different. And although it still worries me, I am constantly amazed at the attention lavished on Lauris by everyone and anyone. We regularly get bumped to the front of lines; ticket lines, cashier lines, airport lines. I’m glad pick-a-boo in Latvian is ki-kī, otherwise I might have misunderstood all these strangers saying ku-kū to him. And where I’m told the French stereotypically do not go out of their way to assist strangers, a baby stroller opens doors everywhere. The devotion to children is so strong, it even has a bizarre side effect; lack of children’s activities. The first weeks I struggled to find activities that would get us out of the house. In Greenville we were frequent fliers at three of the local libraries due to storytimes, “bouncing babies” and playgroups. The city of Greenville also had TONS of children’s events such as “touch a truck” (children were allowed to climb in and out of everything from fire engines to ice cream trucks) and the local Starbucks hosted a storytime with free “cappuccinos” for all attendees under 5. Here, the aquatic center has a children’s swim once a week, but that’s all I’ve been able to find. My search for a local library still continues (I found one in a suburb that is pretty far to walk), and as far as I understand, they do not have programs at the library for children. So what do moms do all day with these kids? They spend them with family. Grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers with kids, raising a family seems to be truly a family affair. So what is left for moms like me? I found a mom and baby playgroup that is a spin off of the local International Women’s Club, so I do have access to moms who speak English at least once every few weeks, and of course this has opened the door to meet some new people that will open more doors… so I hope.



Arc de Triumphe, Paris, December 2010



2011, here we come!